#sexualization of a minor

[queenjunothegreat]

Just putting this out there, but with how uncommonly pretty Piper is, she was probably, like, max thirteen when she first saw one of those websites counting down to her eighteenth birthday.

[idolomantises]

Warning people who engage with my artwork and comics to be “cautious” because I don’t like pedo ships is very funny. Shipping discourse is so fascinating.

[joycomplexx]

Sexually harassing proshippers does not give you a moral high ground. Sending rape threats to proshippers does not give you a moral high ground. Spreading real CSAM/CSEM to proshippers does not give you a moral high ground.

Antis who accuse proshippers of sex crimes and then turn around to do these things? Clearly, fantasizing about rape and CSA is not their problem.

[starlit1daydream]

On the subject of Equius Zahhak: hypersexuality and patriarchy.

It's been a hot minute since I promised to write something like this, and I've been meaning to test a new writing style for these big posts anyways - so I'm going to try my hand at explaining my personal interpretation of Equius Zahhak.

Equius is one of my favourite side characters in Homestuck, and though the individual components of his characterisation are intentionally facetious and humourous, all of these components then come together to form a fantastic and deeply layered commentary, however unintentional.

Let's begin with the basics: our introduction to Equius proper.

The narrative makes it clear from the start how you're meant to feel about this guy for starters - he's a creep and a weirdo. Nepeta says as much in their very first interaction on-screen:

This is backed up by the narrator themselves exhibiting a discomfort with him, painting him as a cryptic and eerily observant loner:

Once again, he's making people uncomfortable. Discomfort is going to be a very common theme going forward, particularly once we tap into Equius' personal interests and the justification behind them.

The next sign is when we first see him properly on-screen, and the narrator is immediately mortified by the state of his room and advises us to move on with the story.

So, immediately, any cognizant reader knows what's up. This guy is a joke character. A punchline, a fool, a weird asshole with no redeeming qualities. This is, of course, the intended reaction.

...Which then brings us to the subversions involved with Equius' character. Every single off-putting and strange thing about him is subsequently repainted in a more flattering light by the conclusion of his screen-time.

What begins as an overcontrolling, possessive demeanour towards Nepeta becomes a genuine, albeit perhaps overbearing desire to protect his moirail from harm. The context of him being Vriska's neighbour helps us infer that he's very, very aware of the dangers of FLARPing.

What starts as a bizarre and testosterone-poisoned obsession with strength becomes more of a fleshed-out character flaw. It's an inherent fault that Equius cannot control that brings him more distress than anything else. We'll delve into that later.

This is not, of course, to say that Equius is without genuine fault. You are still meant to find problems with his behaviour, of course you are; the Aradiabot fiasco is an intentional violation of personal agency based around an unhealthy obsession. He allows himself and his moirail to die because of his refusal to disobey the vapid and classist hemospectrum.

Okay, so why is he like this?

I'm glad you've asked. This is where this delves more into conjecture, based around a few different things.

The state of the internet and online culture at the time of Equius' inception; and the ramifications therein.

What we know to be true about the aspect of Void, and how Equius interacts with it.

The added retroactive context of Hussie's handling of queer topics (as a non-binary person themselves!), particularly on the subject of gender identity.

Let's start with point one.

Equius and hypersexuality.

At the time of Homestuck's inception, it was a veritable fact that the internet was overrun with overt sexuality, oft for the sake of shock value as opposed to arousal. Screamers and shock sites like 2girls1cup, goatse, Mr. Hands... (that last one is particularly relevant).

I cite Mr. Hands in particular because therein we get to the use of bestiality as a gross-out punchline. This is what Hussie's invoking with Equius; you're looking at this guy and seeing a gross freak who hangs horse porn on his walls. It's appealing to the fact that:

Homosexuality was considered a funny punchline.

The furry fandom was considered a funny puchline.

Bestiality was considered a funny punchline.

And so, this thirteen year old child hanging gay horse porn on his walls is meant to be played for laughs.

But with the retroactive lens we're looking at this through now? It's not only deeply disturbing for reasons I don't think I need to explain, but it's also a portrait of unhealthy teenage sexuality and the ramifications of exposure to explicit content at a young age.

Because it's a veritable fact that Equius does not understand boundaries and has a deeply flawed relationship with his sexuality. It's the kind of hypersexuality induced by childhood exposure to sexual material, and I would go as far as to call it a kind of CSE.

Need more proof of this? Dave Strider. Bro's weird sex puppets and usage of pornography as a punchline undeniably fucked Dave up, and explains the way he so regularly uses sex, particularly gay sex as a source of humour. Dave is the same problem that Equius rises, played seriously at a point in the story wherein these things are no longer treated so facetiously.

Furthermore, it becomes clear that Equius does not actually understand what he is consuming and emulating. Pornography isn't pornography to him, it's fine art. He's uncomfortable and unhappy with his sexuality because he lacks a label for it and doesn't know what it is he's feeling. This is tied to his Aspect of Void; but more on that in just a second.

This is uncomfortable. It is meant to be uncomfortable.

Equius' toying with casteplay and power dynamics is a clear representation of this frayed relationship - and it also segues into our point about his lack of self-worth.

Equius, the Heir of Void.

The Void Aspect. The Aspect of irrelevance, secrecy, ignorance, simplicity and absence, amongst other things.

The Heir Class. The Class that indicates an overabundance of the player's Aspect that overwhelms them and embodies them.

Equius is he who inherits, becomes and is consumed by emptiness. Because Equius Zahhak does not have a sense of selfhood or self-worth. The inference brought about by his title as the Heir of Void is that Equius is overwhelmed by nothingness.

Combine this with his Dersite status and the consensus on Lunar Sway (Prospit indicating externalisation, Derse indicating internalisation) and you get a very clear image of how Equius' title translates.

An overwhelming, consuming sense of internalised absence and nothingness. This is where Equius' hemospectrum adherence comes in! It's a cover up to compensate for his purposelessness and lack of meaningful identity. He sees himself as being deficient in anything real or of substance, and so adheres to the system placed before him because it is the only thing he feels he understands.

Once again, this is uncomfortable and a real phenomenon amongst teen boys. We see it with Eridan, too; young and confused teenagers with no sense of purpose falling into harmful and bigoted pipelines because they have no sense of direction otherwise.

(In a roundabout sense this explains Tavros' role as well; The Page indicates a deficit in their Aspect throughout the session and so the trolls lacking Breath in the form of directionlessness fits fairly well).

It's almost like watching a young boy fall into the alt-right, or start feed into Andrew Tate-style snake oil bullshit. It's the exact same kind of exploitation on a much larger scale; because it's the whole of Alternian society orchestrated by Doc Scratch.

You know... the Doc Scratch meant to represent online groomers?

So, we've been over about all I can cover about Equius' sexual trauma, lack of boundaries and emptiness/lack of self. So, how does this translate? Particularly thinking on the last point, I'd like to give my two cents about a very interesting headcanon for Equius that's been circulating a lot lately.

Equius, and gender identity.

A transfeminine reading greatly enhances the content of Equius' character, and provides a narratively satisfying character arc and means of development for them.

(From hereon out, I will be referring to Equius by the pronouns she/her).

I've seen Nekropsii sum this up beautifully, and I'll paraphrase this interpretation to the best of my ability; Equius' manifestation of masculinity is akin to a poison to her.

It makes her into a grotesque, testosterone-poisoned freak that physically cannot interact with anything around her without hurting it. It is the metaphorical confusion and fury of dysphoria made literal. It is the emptiness and lack of self that I myself can corrobate as a trans woman myself.

Masculinity is a curse for Equius. Much like quite a few other Homestuck characters (Dave & Jake come to mind), Equius really fucking hates being a guy.

So, this ties into my final point.

How I personally would have developed Equius had she been given the screentime to keep being relevant to the story.

The transfeminine character arc seems obvious. I believe that, if a person would be willing and able to tackle the more obscene and deliberately uncomfortable components of Equius' character, you could make an incredibly raw and interesting portrayal of transition and identity.

What's more; this is corroborated by Equius' closest relationship. Nepeta Leijon, the Rogue of Heart. The girl whose role indicates the ability to share identity and selfhood. Nepeta could very, very easily function as a catalyst for Equius gaining her own identity and being helped through the transition process. It makes an already STRONG and stable moirallegiance all the more interesting and heartwarming to witness.

This is not to say that Equius should not have agency herself, of course; an important part of this development would be the formulation of an independent self without debilitating outside influence. It would be allowing herself not to be consumed needlessly by Void.

Equius, and further relationship dynamics.

Equius' relationship with Gamzee (which I have always read as a one-sided kismesis) is also very important to me. This is not healthy. Equius is using Gamzee as a vessel for her fantasies and lack of boundaries, and through her black feelings she vents out her frustration with her sexuality and intrinsic need to obey and serve someone of a higher caste.

I don't think I need to tell any of you how well that works out once Gamzee goes sober. (I'd rather not dwell on the topic of the Makaras too long; that's something for a wholly separate post - and one that I'm sure would end up being rather scathing towards Hussie).

Finally, Equius' relationship with Aradia. This is also one I feel is unhealthy and once again one-sided. It is the same principle as Gamzee; merely in the red quadrant as opposed to the pitch one. Equius is using somebody as a vessel to vent out her feelings of purposelessness and frustration, and deliberately ignoring the lack of reciprocation.

Both of these connections are similar; and both of them end with Equius getting her shit kicked in.

How one would retool and treat these relationships post-character development is up to them, but I personally think it would be healthier for Equius to step away from both of them. I don't think Aradia would want or need Equius' continued presence in her life, and Gamzee is notoriously terrible at relationships. (We know damn well how a reciprocated blackrom with him turns out, just ask Terezi).

Equius, in conclusion.

That's all I really have to say on this matter; a long-winded and ultimately self-serving wall of text that I'm sure will come off as masturbatory and stupid when I read over it again. That being said, I wanted to lay all of this down in one place.

tl;dr - Equius Zahhak is a complex and interesting character with commentaries on teenage hypersexuality and unhealthy masculinity, and reading her as a trans woman provides an incredibly interesting character arc for her in the long term.

[kaliga-magna]

I need a handler not like someone who will take care of me like a pet but like someone who will wrestle me down and muzzle me like a feral animal

[yardsards]

absolutely enamored by rose quartz's body type and character design. especially after the pink diamond reveal. like, girl CHOSE to become a fat woman. and everyone around her (rightfully) thought she was incredibly hot for it. queen shit.

[msfish-fish-fish]

PUTERBOY CALLOUT POST.

yknow what i have been sick of this guy for a very long time now so I am calling him out in adjacent with @feathery-bastard 's callout post.

Now, it is not my usual cup of tea to make callout posts since I do not want to associate myself with drama, however there needs to be said something about Puterboy.

For the record, this guy for all I know is a 30 year old man traversing everywhere in social media in his freetime (which is almost 24/7). He may be a very inconspicuous man but please NOTE that he is actually a very concerning individual and I advise people to not only block him, but to also kick him out of any platform he is in. He is not only in Tumblr, but in Facebook, Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, AO3, Discord, Fanficton.net, everything you can probably name under the sun.

Not only is he in the Lord of The Flies fandom, but also in the Percy Jackson fandom, Kingdom Hearts, Empire of The Sun, Thomas the Tank Engine, Winnie the Pooh, and more. Please spread this to these other fandoms.

Please be aware of his actions. Here are the list of everything that we could document about his actions and behavior. He is a creepy individual that is borderline PDF behavior if you know what I mean.

[feathery-bastard]

update on my callout post two month ago

tw: sexualizing minors, racism, nsfw content

If you don't know what I'm referring to PLEASE check out my original post here: https://www.tumblr.com/feathery-bastard/769114115445751808/callout-post-cw-sexualizing-minors

so anyways, here's a masterdoc update with screenshots of puterboy's behavior. PLEASE block this man on sight, he doesn't need any more attention than he's already gotten.

[marshmellowtea]

honestly at this point i think we need to start calling out people who claim nonsexual kink doesn't exist or deride the idea of it for being acephobic because.......that's literally what they are lol. it's not hard to grasp the concept that people might enjoy the power dynamics or physical sensations associated with certain kinks without ever wanting the sexual component, and just because they don't want the sexual component doesn't mean that they believe their kinks are "sfw" or that they should think minors should be interacting with them in a kinky manner (in fact a lot of people who post nonsexual kink still have 18+ in their bio cuz they do in fact understand that nonsexual does not inherently mean safe for minors. crazy, i know).

[annabelle--cane]

I really don't think the majority of kids online are overwhelmingly sex negative or puritanical, I instead think that most kids who don't think like that probably aren't going to be posting about sex positivity on public accounts with their real ages listed. for very obvious reasons.

[theupsidedownsrealestateagent]

Steve takes Robin for a drive and doesn’t tell her where. Robin’s not paying attention, too tuned into picking a good radio station, that she doesn’t know where they are until Steve Parks.

It’s the field that Starcourt used to be. The town hasn’t figured out to do with the land yet, so for now it’s just a giant plot of land,

Steve grabs her by the hand and starts tugging her further into the field. Robin assumes Steve knows where he’s going since he keeps referring to a piece of paper.

He’s not talking, too focused on navigating and making sure Robin doesn’t trip and break her neck. He’s clearly on a mission so she stays silent, knowing when he’s ready he’ll explain.

It takes a solid five minutes, and sure Robin’s a little sweaty now but the way Steve’s entire face lit up when it seems he’s found whatever he’s looking for.

“Oh my god, I think this is it!”

Robin’s eyebrows raise up in question, “And what is, it?”

“This is. This is, the movie theater bathroom.”

Robin does a dramatic gasp, “Where it all started!”

Steve claps his hands and points at her with excitement, “Where it all started!” And he takes a seat roughly where they would’ve been that night. Robin follows his lead and sits down too.

He sighs, and Robin thinks he’s looking a little spacey. She nudges to tip of her shoe o his and asks, “So you wanna talk about why you brought me here? I know it’s not for our anniversary.” Waggles her eyebrows to let him know she’s teasing. It’s how they’ve shown each other how much they care over the years.

Steve catches her eye before looking away, “Kinda seemed like the only good spot. And y’know been wanting to tell you this for a while but it’s a little inevitable now.”

“Inevitable? If you don’t want to tell me you absolutely don’t have to”

Steve laughs, “No, no it’s not like that just I know me and I’m going to want to talk about it.” He pauses finding Robin’s eye again, taps there’s shoes together a couple of times. “I’m gay Robin.”

Robin’s face goes soft, she grabs his hands and yanks him into, because of their positions, a pretty awkward hug. “Huh and here I thought I was gay Robin.” She squeezes him lightly, kisses the top of his head.

Steve groans, “You’re the worst!”

Robin stills for a second realizing , “So, is there something going on between you and—“

“We made out last night and I’m pretty sure he’s my boyfriend. Robin I have *so* much to tell you!”

[massiveladycat]

with all due respect for proshippers, which is none, you disgust me. you're so obsessed with shipping incest it's like you think the only thing that makes a good plot is siblings swapping spit. i wouldn't trust you with human decency. and let's talk about that teacher x student romance, that's just sad, bro. like, seriously, do you not know the difference between romance and actual fucked up shit? you're the kind of person who thinks a minor x adult relationship is just "forbidden love" when it's really just a predator grooming their victim. you actively sexualize things that have happened to real people, things that have traumatized people and things that have changed their lives. you actively justify sexualizing children, sexualizing rape, sexualizing non-con. you're disgusting and i would be disappointed if i could ever birth a child like you. go get a life that doesn't revolve around supporting abusive dynamics and predatory behavior. nobody wants to be associated with you. just remember, while you're out here being a proshipper, the rest of us are actually respecting people who know the meaning of consent and respect. it doesn't MATTER if you think fiction has no effect on real life. it's so horrible that you think your pedophilia fanfics and abusive ships have no impact on anyone. do you know how many people you will hurt by going out there, writing some fanfic that tells them that everything that happened to them was okay and right? that there's a group of people that think what happened to them was hot? that if they put their story out there, there's a chance that you may sexualize them or justify their abuser? that they should've enjoyed it? fuck you. fuck every proshipper that tries to justify themselves with 'whimsy' or 'just fun.' fuck you.

[supervillain-smut]

People: find Lucanis attractive for multiple reasons

Fucking weirdos that need to take a break from the internet: YoU'rE fEtIsHiZiNg HiM bEcAuSe Of HiS aCcEnT!!!!

[atopvisenyashill]

Fancasts From Atop Visenya’s Hill

-> Conan Gray as Satin of Oldtown

Satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the Night's Watch; the name he'd gotten in the brothel where he'd been born and raised. He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven's ringlets.

[bugbuoyx]

Dear transmascs, your worth is not tied to your beauty, handsomeness, or willingness/ability to please. Your worth just comes from existing and being you and you do not owe anyone anything. You don't owe anyone femininity, subservience, or self-hatred. You don't owe anyone masculinity either for that matter. You can just be. You aren't alone and you will find people who love you for you, yes even cis people.

[xyfanficarchive]

this fandom is full of braindead puritans i literally cant-