#terfs found this post so reblogs are off now

[wiwaxia-official]

[adelaidedrubman]

some scattered thoughts on plagiarism and sharing creative space in good faith before i turn my phone off and walk into the swamp 

so, this is a post i have avoided making for well over a year now. because i have spent well over a year minimizing, excusing, and trying to convince myself that i’m crazy and just imagining things. even more so, convincing myself that it’s worthless to talk about, because even if i talked about it, no one would particularly care, and i would only cause myself more heartbreak by officially confirming that. 

but the past few days in fandom have dredged up a lot of things for me and made me reevaluate. i’ve found immense reassurance from seeing how ready and willing everyone is to band together to keep the community safe from those entering with the intent to copy the work of others rather than creating their own. i won’t lie, seeing that unity and mobilization on my dash was at times bittersweet when it was interspersed by reblogs from someone who’d plagiarized me. 

but i also took the opportunity to move past the hurt and remember this is a community — seeing others have the courage to come forward and talk about the plagiarism they’d experienced inspired me to open up to more and more friends in private about my own experiences, and i cannot describe to you how relieving it has been to find myself validated and supported. sincerely, to everyone who has lent me an ear over the past few days, i appreciate it more than you know. i’ve been brought to tears several times, and feel like i now have the strength to talk about this. 

this is also a post i have backspaced on several time, because. well. frankly it’s difficult to even allude to the vague category of most obvious thing that was stolen from me without this amounting to a de facto callout post, which isn’t my intention so much as getting out my feelings and hopefully opening a dialogue about the lasting harm plagiarism does. 

so. i’ll just start by saying one of the most hurtful things about plagiarism is that it destroys the implicit trust that everyone is entering a creative space in good faith. most of us don’t come into fandom and oc communities preemptively guarded and ready to go looking for instances of plagiarism, and are far more likely to perceive things as incidental overlap than malicious theft even under circumstances where the latter is more likely. personally, it didn’t even initially set off alarm bells for me when i saw an oc with jestiny’s exact design plus color contacts and terf bangs also sharing prominent symbolism utilized in her story. 

my first instinct was to be welcoming and supportive in the spirit of celebrating that creative minds can find inspiration from the same sources. even as the symbolism began less and less to in any way resemble the context of said source material and more and more to resemble the version of the story i told, increasingly picking up elements that weren’t in the original but were sure as hell in my fic. in fact, i went as far as to offer resources on the source material in hopes that it would motivate the person to dig into it and find a way to make it their own, still hoping this was a case of overstepping taking inspiration at worst. 

it was after pushing my goodwill that far and giving an out only to then see another of my most well-known scenes copied down to my exact wording and pacing that i got the nerve to block. 

and i was naïve enough to think that would actually end it — hurt as i was by what had already happened, at least it was over. 

nope. 

even after blocking, i went on to see the scraps of another of my most well known scenes lazily repackaged. (i can forgive ripping off jestiny, but i draw the line at sullying poor daniel’s memory. he’s been through enough.) in fact, it continued incessantly enough that i have had multiple people independently send me screenshots of the same passage from within the past month commenting on how blatant it is. 

it should go without saying what a violation this was of my boundaries and my creative labor. every single aspect of jestiny’s story is deeply personal to me, both because of the extensive effort i have put into researching and crafting it and because of the pieces of my own experiences and emotions its founded in. 

but more than that, what sticks with me is the violation of the implicit trust and vulnerability that comes with choosing to share a creative work. i stretched my benefit of the doubt to its limits at the expense of my own mental health, i assumed good faith and tried to make space, and when i could no longer endure i quietly isolated myself rather than risk sowing discord or simply being a bummer in a fun time space. it made me no longer feel safe sharing works that were especially personal. the pain of the experience was one of the primary reason i put wildfire on indefinite publishing hiatus despite still loving the story and greatly enjoying continuing to write it in private. 

still, after the past few days and my own slow process of opening up, i am beginning to develop a renewed hope that we can act as a community and look out for each other. i still genuinely want to think we can by and large share creative space in good faith, and that people coming forward will leave us more ready to identify and deal with bad actors when they do pop up. 

and i have hope that i can heal and find ways to be open and vulnerable with my work again. that might mean soon thinking critically about how to curate my fandom experience in a way that will minimize having plagiarism thrown in my face, but for now that’s still a problem for future liz. 

for today, i just want to thank anyone who has read this far (y’all know i’m bad at shutting up). i’m still not ready to be super detailed in public, but if anyone wants to know more about the 5 ws and 1 h, you’re welcome to dm me — although i might be slow to respond right now, because i wasn’t being hyperbolic with the title. i am going to be on a camping trip in the swamp the next few days, and might not be online much. 

i am excited to have the time to unplug and reflect, and look forward to coming back recharged. until then, please know i am so thankful for all of you, from the bottom of my heart. 

[deanwax]

admittedly I don't post in fandom spaces often but damn, you make one post about the hot older lady in fields of mistria and the reblogs are going off the chain. you have to understand that i'm an obscure lil freak doing weird original shit, 10+ is big numbers to me so to open the app and see Activity = 57 made me shit my lil pantaloons being like oh shit... TERFs have found me, or someone with the reading comprehension of a snail but the vigilante drive of 1,000 Karens managed to get to chapter 6 of Aure and now i'm gonna be strung up unjustly... but no... it's just more people saying they would kill god if they could date Elsie in fields of mistria

[purplenidoqueen]

why did you read “let’s hold transmisogynistic trans mascs accountable and not humor their bigotry” as “i hate trans men”? come now. the post only criticizes transmascs who engage in transmisogyny. nowhere does it say that transmascs are a threat or danger to trans women, just that they’re capable of being shitty to us and shouldn’t. you have to learn to read trans women in good faith.

Sorry for the wait! I have too little free time and too much to say on any given topic.

The reblog that garnered these messages can be found here.

Since this was split into two messages I'll have to respond in two parts, so bear with me. While I don't have much of an audience, it's important to me to head this off, so I'd appreciate it if anyone who reads this and agrees with my stances here also walks away with the message of patience and solidarity, and doesn't send messages her way for whatever reason. This isn't a callout and I don't believe in callouts; this is just how the inbox function works.

Anyway! First:

I can understand your rush to send off these messages, considering the amount of pushback you seem to have gotten, but as I said at the end of my reblog, I'm a trans woman myself; I've been out and proud with my she/they pronouns for over a decade. It's not about learning to understand trans women, is it? It's about the communication of ideas in the midst of a disagreement, itself in the midst of one of the most volatile and socially violent moments in our corner of the platform.

First, and perhaps most confrontationally, you didn't start with transmisogynistic trans mascs. You started with how this is our fight, and this isn't about them. That's the bit I take issue with. You say we have to stop excusing this behavior, and stop getting defensive and generalizing this shit, and that we cant be afraid to recognize their bigotry just because they’re also trans, but you are the one who started generalizing, and this is me recognizing it. You're lumping the guys who said "this is why we have to care about trans people, listen to trans siblings" in with the trans mascs -- including those which are profiles worn by the dedicated terf brigade that has been antagonizing Rita and other trans women for years -- who are spreading callouts and being part of the problem. We can't go into this acting defensive against our allies. I'll double down on this: You're playing the game the terfs want you to play.

To clarify a related point, this isn't about whether or not you hate men. I'll admit that I did check your reblogs, and that I give a little nervous side-eye toward some of the content you've posted, but that's honestly not my business and it wasn't the point. The point is that, whether you hate men or love them, whether you're helping to sow discontent among the community intentionally or unintentionally… you're still playing the game the terfs want you to play. This isn't about feelings; it's about the results.

"Nowhere does it say that transmascs are a threat or danger to trans women, just that they’re capable of being shitty to us and shouldn’t"…

Sure, but it does say

"it’s kind of fucking annoying as hell seeing transmascs watch all the insane recent transmisogyny and go “this is why we have to care about trans people, listen to trans siblings” no. this is about trans women."

And isn't that the point? This isn't just about trans women. This is about the BLM protest, and all the black bloggers who got called russian bots and were terminated. This is about every sex worker who straddled the line of post-porn-ban TOS as best they could and still got banned for presenting wrong, from trans women posting their faces to trans men posting their nipples. This is about every voice that has consistently been eradicated from Tumblr, and Rita's is the latest and the loudest explosion heard but hers is not the only one we should be talking about, and her situation and ours is not the only one that matters.

I did read the rest of the post before I responded, and I'll give the same note here that I give when "journalists" front-load their articles with falsehoods because they know that the first few sentences are the most important ones: if you don't want your work to be adversarial, don't start it adversarially.

Part two here, and since we're on to the second message I promise it's less about personal presentation of the message and more about the greater topics.

[shayberri789]

Tumblr Tips

With new users coming and apparently actually following me, I figured I'd may as well make a master post of "Tumblr Tips" and "Tips for new users and returning users" posts I have been reblogging lately.

Edit: make sure to check my original version of this post, apparently the read more option no longer redirects people to the original full post from reblogs, so you won't see the additions. I've linked it in comments

This post was made when Twitter Refugees flooded tumblr, so it's mostly targeted to them. However!! Reddit immigrants will get a lot of use from it too! I'll be adding reddit specific stuff too as I find them. For now, here is the best and clearest "tips for reddit immigrants" post I've found. Welcome to tumblr

Can't believe I need this category; Tumblr Safety Tips:

Don't List Minor Status

Lurk Before You Post - my comment: Learn the site and culture before you post, you're less likely to poke a beehive that way

Listen to this or you will be mocked by locals

Don't give out your real name! + The benefits of primary and secondary blogs

Privacy: make your likes and follows private

A common scam going around - be careful! It'll pray on your kindness in your ask inbox

For Starting Out:

Starting info for Twitter Refugees

A handy guide for starting up - with diagrams!

How Not To Be Blocked By Every Tumblr User

SERIOUSLY. PLEASE GET A PROFILE PICTURE.

Why Locals Block Empty Blogs

Free Profile pictures if you're out of ideas: [x]

Etiquette - or shit that annoys locals to hell and back if you ignore these:

Don't censor shit - it's cringe and annoying and can be harmful

SERIOUSLY DONT CENSOR SHIT

bitesyoubitesyoubitesyou REBLOG SHIT

Abuse the tags but don't clog the tags - unrelated info tags are not cool

Tips to Improve Your Experience:

Terminology (Blorbo, plinko, some classic jokes, etc)

More terminology: Poor little meow meow vs blorbo

Different methods of interaction explained - reblogs, asks, DMs, replies, etc

XKit to improve your experience

Themes! Make your blog look great

Also you can change the site colour palette - I like a soft blue, some like black, some white, but there's more!!

Tumblr Tags: Don't Use Quotations "like this"

Remember; it's your blog

How to post mature (Eg: sexual) content

Folk Stories

Blocking:

Block without hesitation, for any reason

It's integral to curating your online experience

An example of reasons to block someone - yes your reason can be silly. I've blocked people for posting x reader fics, for shipping my notp, because i didn't like their AU. Not because I don't like them, or have anything against them, I just hate x reader fics in general, or didn't want to see my notp, or I just got tired of seeing their posts in a fandom tag. Rather than demanding they change, I changed how my tag looks to me. And that is responsible blocking. I also block racists, terfs, homophobes, etc. I blocked someone who was mean to me in replies. Do whatever to make your online experience good.

Misc:

FOR RETURNING USERS! We have new things!

Added to the above, here are some things people in the notes have added: Comments are a thing, clarification on tag filtering, seriously follow @/staff and @/changes

To concerned twitter artist refugees

Also! You can shorten posts like I have by adding a "read more" option. On website, make a new line and click the squiggly lone button. On mobile, type :readmore: then hit enter! Everything after that will be hidden under a nifty button. I recommend doing it! Especially for writing longer pieces!

How Tumblr Treats Celebrities and Popular blogs (If you're an influencer, prepare for hell. You'll get chased off if you try that here)

Tumblr Holiday - November Fifth Explanation

[sunieepo]

honestly, if i may, all of this talk about the way people treat trans women has reminded me of an experience i still remember vividly back when i was peripherally part of the tumblr / twitter mfrp community. which please note i was never a very active participant, i personally found mfrp very boring and so i was never really fully integrated into these communities - but while i was in them i did befriend a few trans women and i noticed a very persistent pattern in these supposed LGBT-friendly spaces regarding the moderation of trans women.

there was a persistent issue in multiple different mfrp communities i was peripherally involved in, in which trans women would always be regarded as "abrasive" or "aggressive", for making the same kinds of comments and jokes that tme people were making. and the (majority tme) moderation teams would almost always rule against trans women, silencing them or labeling them as deviants / weirdos for behaviors that they would be much more forgiving towards tme people for.

as a sort of bystander i didn't really have a leg in to comment on the actions of moderation teams, i could only offer being a friend to trans women as i watched them be ostracized from these spaces by the very same people who would plaster "terfs dni" all over their bios. i'm not saying this to pat myself on the back, there is definitely more i could have done in those situations, but i do want to call out why all these "fuck terf" type posts just never really resonate with me, seeing them be rbed by people who i know would just jump at the opportunity to demonize a trans woman again (and i just saw it happen earlier with that stupid shit slinging post falsely accusing a trans woman of something she didn't even do regarding cohost...) (i'm aware op of that post apologized for their behavior but what occurred is what occurred)

it's not enough to say "fuck terfs" and i hate that people always center on the buffoonery of terf behavior instead of centering and caring for and supporting the trans women in their lives. it's really frustrating for me to watch as a staunch feminist to continually see the way the lgbt community has let down trans women. the recent wave of discourse regarding "transandrophobia" is also extremely worrying to me - i have seen a non-insignificant number of posts made by certain people in that community that claim that the lgbt community is Too centered on trans women: as if it's a competition, and as if the visibility of trans women is somehow a boon to them rather than a consequence of people using their cause to simply be performative instead of genuinely uplifting and loving.

sorry this isn't the most well thought-out post, i'm just rambling and i have a lot of complicated feelings on this. i don't want to derail what's happening right now too much by bringing up other topics, but i will say i do think it's inevitable that at some point we do need to confront some of the "transandrophobia truther" type sentiments i've seen lately, because they absolutely are damaging to trans women and lead to situations exactly like this.

please, if nothing else, i really hope everyone takes this as an opportunity to be kind to the trans women in their lives. the least you could do is offer them your support. reblogging posts dunking on transmisogynists is not enough. we need to make our communities safer for trans women, and that doesn't end with car hammer explosion memes.

rbs off because i'm not interested in centering my voice as a tme person and this post isn't really something polished i want escaping from my social circle. if you're a mutual of mine and you're feeling unsure about my stance on some of the topics mentioned above, my DMs are open and i am happy to discuss, but at the very least all i ask is for us to be better to trans women. that's all.

[gothhabiba]

I think as someone who has followed you for a very long time (pre 2016) other anon will forgive me for saying that you have had open and long mutual interactions with trans women on this website the entire time I've followed you. I recently found an old post you wrote about trans women's right to determine how, what, and to whom to label genitals when "penis repulsion" was the special flavor of terf panic over lesbians dating trans women. I know you would never wave around what you've been doing as an answer to these people because it wouldn't change any missteps you actually made.

It's quite a lot to me that anyone actually could have followed you during that era and believe anything but that you were a little too credulous of butchcommunist's excuses when she started to get called out. Early on, she had trans feminine mutuals who also stood by her. You're certainly not being more supportive or writing completely new content about fighting transmisogyny to cover your tracks. You have been this way for as long as I have followed you. Feel free not to publish this if it seems too defensive, but I think some people's memories are shorter or more muddled than mine.

you're right that I'm wary of appearing to be 'doing PR'—people who are upset with me about this are perfectly within their rights to be upset, and if I can set anyone's mind at ease by clarifying that I believe that to be the case and informing my current followers who may not have been around at the time of what happened with this a few years back, then I'm happy to do that.

the post and the time that you're talking about were around the same time that I first started to feel reservations about some of her posts (like referring to "gender nonconformance" when asked specifically about trans women; or saying that no one is ever obligated to have sex with anyone else, and then later saying that she never "said or implied" that she thought it was trans women who were pressuring cis lesbians to have sex with them, when, like, you kind of don't have to, that is obviously what people are going to assume).

I discussed these reservations with people in my personal life (this must have been 2017?) but basically came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to unfollow or block her yet because my stance on counter-recruiting is that, when it seems like things could go either way (like, someone is still vocally denying animus for trans women or support for policies that limit transition, but evidently flirting with terf ideology), it is the opposite of helpful to cut them off.

because for sure the people who are not going to cut them off.... are terfs..... and so now you've closed the possibility (however large or slim it might have been) of them reading what you write and reblog on the subject and changing their mind. and I believe that terfs know this, and play up the whole "genderists ostracise you just for asking innocent little questions" thing, and use this to drive recruitment. but maybe this is credulous of me.

I also believe that if someone is plainly a 'crypto'-terf to the extent that they are knowingly interacting with self-professed terfs (so, barely 'crypto' at that point) then it is too far gone for that, and the only thing you're doing by continuing to allow them to reblog from you is furthering the point of crypto-terfs in the first place (namely, to draw people in by degrees through 'legitimate,' 'respectable' engagement with left-wing people that gradually shades into more and more overtly terf circles—same as any other fascist or far-right ideology). so that's why I unfollowed when I did.

during 2018-2019 I was attending grad school, which required 16-17 hours of work from me every day, and so I wasn't online very much at all—if memory serves, the 'private terf chat' thing came out somewhere in the middle of this time, and I unfollowed when I was 'back' and able to investigate / catch up to what was going on.

people are welcome to disagree with my ideas about terf recruitment and potential strategies for counter-recruitment, which I am not even sure that I'm right about but am merely trying things out as I go. it makes total sense for people to guess that I saw the writing on the wall and to view this kind of thing as affiliation, and I sincerely am sorry to anyone who felt less safe, then or now, because of my actions.

the reason that I haven't talked in depth about this before is that, like, again, it seems like spin! lmao

[gin-draws]

Hey! Sorry I didn't see these forever, but it's totally something I've been meaning to address and I just haven't had words for a while.

Firstly: fuck terfs.

The rest is long so it’s under the cut:

Having JKR alive and running around spewing hate has definitely not helped my love for the series. She uses money that we gave her to fuel her hateful bullshit, and to actively attack not just the trans community, but whatever issue she disagrees with in the UK. It hurts as someone that grew up putting myself into this world to have the creator openly using her power and influence to go after other marginalized people.

Even before JKR started openly being horrible I had worked hard to overlook my discomfort with stuff in the series (there's a lot of problematic stuff that 10 year old me could overlook but 32 year old me can't lol). A big part of me getting past that was just making her world my own through my art. I loved the community I found in the fandom on tumblr. I loved the people I could interact with over a shared interest and something that brought us all joy. Especially other creators that made the world their own.

Over time though, engagement kind of fell off on tumblr. (Where the reblogs at.. am I right?) And slowly I went from being able to ignore negative comments here and there because of the good interactions, to being worn out by the growing overwhelming negativity. People act like they can just demand things from creators and we somehow owe it to fandom to do what they specifically want.

Want that character to be white? Draw them yourself.

(Making characters bipoc brings out a shocking amount of anger from people for no reason but racism...)

I had tried to make the story I'd grown up loving into something that made me happy. I made the cast diverse because I grew up surrounded by all sorts of cultures and religions and it made my world a lot bigger. I sometimes played around with my own gender identity through my art, and it brought me a lot of joy. (Sirius was a fun playground for getting through a LOT of my own shit). But it brought out a lot of vitriol, and over time I just got tired of it.

I mostly stopped posting art because now it's something I do for me. My own characters and stories where nobody could send anon messages telling me "x should actually be white because---" I put a lot of time and love into my work and if it doesn't make me happy, I lose interest. Doesn’t mean I stopped drawing, it’s just not fanart as much anymore.

(I draw a LOT lol)

I miss the story I grew up loving a lot. But I can't actively put money in JKR's pockets, which distanced me from the series. A lot of my interaction with the community became a little too negative to deal with. And so over time I drifted away. It makes me sad to have strayed from that world, but it just became a little too toxic for me.

It still brings me a lot of joy seeing the positive comments, and people appreciating my old art means a lot. But I kind of moved on for myself, and now I don't have to worry about hateful comments about canon and race when I post my dnd characters lol.

I’ll probably be moving hp art I’m not happy with anymore over to my old hp side blog instead of deleting it, but as an artist and creative I’ve moved on to my own characters and stories. (If I open up commissions and people liked my interpretations of the characters, I would love nothing more than to draw desi Harry, or black Hermione, or Sirius not giving a fuck about gender. Lmao)

[sphnyspinspin]

[About Blog]

- This is my Transformers fan blog! I usually just draw and write and that’s about it. Considering I have trouble getting new ideas in my noggin I decided to open REQUESTS and ASKS. But I’ll only be taking a few at time—you know the whole OPEN and CLOSED signs will be very prominent. This’ll go for both drawing and writing stuff.

There’s probably going to be more stuff to add on to this so make sure to see if I updated anything important on here like DNI or ASKS and REQUESTS.

— — —

[DNI]

- Homophobic; Transphobic; TERFs; Sexist; Racist; NSFW; Proshipper; Ableist -

— — —

[ASKS]

1) Can Accept

- Pretty much anything that doesn’t make me uncomfortable. And I can be slow when it comes to checking my inbox so if you like what I do here, you might have to be a little patient. I like it when people just come by to say hi or compliment my work, so don’t be afraid to do so. You don’t need to feel obligated to spare my feelings too, I can take criticism when I need it.

2) Won’t Accept

- AGAIN! NOTHING CREEPY! Don’t ask me about personal stuff please, I’ll update small bits on how I’m doing, don’t be pushy. And don’t send me random links without context or at least a small description, it gives off creepy vibes.

— — —

[Fandoms]

- Transformers: Rescue Bots : Good God, this show was like the very first layer of my TF hyper fixation—not my biggest fixation just my first.

- Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy : THIS SHOW is my biggest fixation it’s so cute and wholesome and clever and fun it is such a good show I love the characters so much.

- Transformers: Cyberverse : PLEASE—this show is AWESOME, I praise it for the characters, the story, the character designs, the animation, the EVERYTHING(this is where I personally think Soundrod first originated).

- Transformers: Robots In Disguise 2015 : Hear me out, this show is actually kinda funny in a non-ironic way I promise, and the designs aren’t half bad.

- Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye : I have read zero TF MTMTE and I never plan to because I would actually die from dehydration after crying so long; but the fandom makes me laugh and I like the art.

- Transformers: Lost Light : Again I have read zero Lost Light comics and I don’t plan on it; because I feel like I know enough just from the memes.

- Transformers: Animated : This show SHOULD be more popular, and it’s the main reason I have my artstyle today (and please don’t bully me but when I found out my fave characters dies I stopped watching….. like immediately………. I didn’t finish season one).

- Transformers: Earthspark : This show, oh my god, I have a love-dread relationship with it; it has so much care-free positivity, an adorable group of characters, nice designs with world-building being amazing so far, but I know for a fact it will destroy me sooner or later. P.S. it already has

- Transformers: Botbots : This. This…. Where do I begin; oh right, literally the TF fandom parody—like I know for a fact that 85% of the characters’ personalities are inspired by random TF tumblr posts, you can’t deny that.

— — —

[Side-Blogs]

1) @transformers-bold-bright-brisk

- My blog for my TF fan Continuity project. Right now it’s mostly drafts and concept art and writings,

— — —

[Communication]

1) Follower Interactions

- I will do my best to answer ASKS because I am terrible at checking my inbox. Also, I’m going to try and reply to comments, but if I stop doing that—it’s not because I don’t like you guys, it’s cause I’m lazy and I usually don’t have anything interesting to reply back with. And please read my DNI, ASKS, and REQUESTS boxes before interacting, thanks. Also ask stuff will be tagged as either #sphny asks (𖦹////𖦹)•*°⊹ or #sphny answers (𖦹0 𖦹)•*°⊹

2) Mutual Interactions

- Hey! If you followed me and I followed you back and somehow we were able to become regular chit chat buddies from either in the tags, reblog games, DMing, and etc. then you probably know me enough to understand my thought process when I talk to people. And if you’re a new mutual and actually want to interact with each other more than same goes for you—read my DNI, ASKS, and REQUESTS boxes. I respect your boundaries, you respect mine—win win. I would honestly be very excited to talk to me people on this platform, I just get a little bit shy/anxious sometimes

— — —

[Posting]

1) Art

- When I post my art I’ll usually tag it under #sphny arts (𖦹w𖦹)•*°⊹. And right now I’ve been posting A LOT of RBA fanart. But if I feel really motivated to draw requests I’ll do my best to draw TF characters from other continuities in my style too.

2) Writing

- What I write consists of drabbles, headcannons, one shots, short-reviews, and other opinions I have that I like to share with the world. And I’ll give an itty bitty irl update just to notify I’m still alive. And they’re going to be tagged under #sphny speaks (𖦹<𖦹)•*°⊹ #sphny alternates universe (𖦹ㅁ𖦹)•*°⊹ #sphny originates character (𖦹▿𖦹)•*°⊹

3) Reblogging

- Oh boy. I reblog a very random assortment of posts. I reblog from mutes, followers, and strangers all the time. I’ll partake in reblog games I tag under #reblog shenanigans which would always be a new uquiz or for picrew challenges it would be #picrew shenanigans. When I reblog art or literally anything I COMPLIMENT THEM IN TAGS! And in the actual text part if I’m super eccentric about it too. And they’ll be tagged under #sphny reblogs (𖦹Q𖦹)•*°⊹

— — —

[Social Media]

- TikTok : sphnyspinspin2006 (There’s literally only three posts to my name)

- Instagram : sphnyspinspin (Barely Active)

- DeviantArt : sphnyspun (I never use this)

- Discord : sphnyspinspin (I’m VERY shy)

- AO3 : sphnyspinspin (I write very little on here)

[boy-gender]

hey dude, this might be a loaded question so no need to reply if you don't want to. but how do you deal with being surrounded by transphobia, like hearing people say transphobic shit and having to see radfem blogs/accounts or posts? a year ago i started to argue and beef with any terf i came across on here because of how fed up i was with being treated like shit and being walked all over, as a trans guy. but obviously that only did damage to my mental state and was a form of self-harm where i would go on terf blogs and hate read and argue with them. i still do it now sometimes and i'm trying to stop but if i do, i feel otherwise helpless in this world seemingly filled with transphobia. i just want to be myself and exist as i am, without weird cunts calling me a fetishist or a tranny or a mentally ill lesbian for being t4t. radfems and their allies make me so angry and i feel like if i don't at least show them that i hate them, they will start to abuse me again.

idk i have a lot more to say on this situation but yeah. do you have any advice or any experience on this?

I have very much been in your position, and sometimes I still fall into old habits of seeking out arguments online. It never makes me feel better, but I get so angry I feel like I'll explode if I don't put it somewhere. I actually found a few things that helped me reframe it though:

First, if I get into an argument here, on this blog, I am platforming the hate. I have to reblog it to argue with it, which means I am passing it on. This blog has hundreds and hundreds of followers, most of whom I assume are trans. Do I want to be a part of exposing them to the vitriol I see? It's bad enough I had to see it, I don't want to inflict it on other people. There are going to be trans people here who aren't as strong as me, who are in a bad place, who are in active crisis, and their safety is more important than an argument. Them seeing that one last bit of crap, that one horrible sentence that really sticks with them, could be the thing they torture themselves with past the breaking point. I don't want to give that to people.

This is why I don't reblog terfs to argue with them, I don't ever post the hatemail I get, and I don't show off hate I find in the wild. If I find something like a law that is hateful that can be fought against and has actionable options, or if someone is confused but I feel they're asking something in good faith and can be corrected, those I will reblog and speak about. I'll even talk about my own personal horrible experiences, because those are my stories and I can control how impactful I write them and how much of the nastiness of them I pass on. But those are very different scenarios.

I've started, when I see hate, to focus on my followers instead, and ask myself: do they need to see this? can anything be accomplished by having more eyes on this? can anything i say change the situation? could the harm done by passing this on outweigh any benefit? And once I've assessed those risks, I often find it isn't worth the argument. The best way to handle terfs is to block them, don't platform them, report them if you see something that violates community guidelines, and mark them as red on shinigami eyes to give others a heads up. You can even make a post like "hey username123 is a terf, you should block them" without passing on the shit they say.

But those are all public facing problems. I have a private tiktok, I have sideblogs with no followers/I remove the followers, and there are anonymous options like reddit and other worse cesspools. No risk of passing that shit on, so what holds me back from going there and having a field day?

One simple tenet. My being trans, being vocally and visibly and obnoxiously trans, annoys them far more than anything I can ever say. Terfs are, at the heart, a reactionary group. They don't exist without something to react to. Like a fire slowly being cut off from oxygen, they will wither and kill each other in infighting if left in isolation. Atleast the regular online scum will. This doesn't apply to ones that have the actual power to lobby for real world harm like joanne and the other big ones- but the odds of you talking to them online are slim. Let the terfs implode on each other and continue to exist. Your existence in a world that wants you dead is a radical act of defiance, and your existence despite what terfs say to you makes them froth at the mouth. No fact you could educate them with, no insult you could give them, will ever make them as upset as you simply living your trans life, thriving.

Piss them off with queer joy, is what I'm saying. It's far more effective. Not only do I not post hate I get, I never vagueblog or acknowledge it either. People sit there refreshing my blog constantly waiting to see the attention I'll give them with a snappy reply, and it never comes, and then they refresh more. I can literally see them doing this with an IP tracker and it's hilarious to me. What I do instead is for every piece of hate about trans people, I make two positivity posts about trans people. I FLOOD the tags with positivity and support. I drown out the hate that no one knows I got- because surely someone else has gotten it too. To me it's reassuring to go to a tag and see the love outweigh the hate- which it does. For every terf you find dozens of trans people in love with who they are. I would rather be a part of that. I'd rather pass that on.

It's also really rewarding. I can see in the tags of my reblogs- some posts have thousands- of people saying they didn't know they had options for their lives, thanking me, thanking other people who contributed to the thread, being so reassured and excited to learn there's hope. I suggest not just reblogging positivity, but also creating your own. Put your defiance into the world and let it give other people strength, and then when they come back and comment on it, take strength from them.

As for the world at large? Maybe I'm a bit more nihilistic, but I look at it two ways. First, trans people can never be totally eradicated via genocide. We are a group that occurs naturally and we will always grow back. If every trans person in the world were killed right now, and all knowledge of us erased, within a decade there would be more people who realized they were trans. They might lack community, they might lack the vocabulary to describe themselves, but they will exist again. Our culture might die- our people will survive. It will be horrific and tragic and a blight on the world that what was here was lost, but trans people and nonbinary people and gnc people and queer people will always grow back again, make a new community, carve out a new place in history. We always have, we always will. An interrupted history is still a history.

Second, the majority of people do not want us dead. The system may want us dead, and a very vocal minority with a lot of money and resources want us dead. But polls show over half of gen z identifies as some type of queer. Polls show most people disapprove of us being political hockey pucks. The violent reaction to us that you see is the death rattle of the conservatives, and they know this, which is why they're using the last of their power to do one last act of catastrophic harm. They only have the power to attack the most disenfranchised among us- queer people, PoC, the mentally ill or disabled, the extremely poor- and they will use it. Historically bigots get loudest right before their entire platform collapses in the mainstream. If we make it through the next decade, through the isolation and poverty and violence, we've made it. That's a big if for some of us. For many of us, we won't make it as individuals. I'm not gonna sugarcoat that. But our people will live on, and new trans people will come after we are gone

Now I'm speaking directly to you, anon. For now, my biggest motivator I can give you is to be here to see victory. Endure. Stay with us. I'm staying whether I like it or not. Stay to see all the queer people who will come next and all the beauty they'll bring and the things we will make. Come sit on my picnic blanket and watch the sunset with me. We might not be okay, but we can be not okay together, and we can start getting better together after that.

[thesalemwitchtries]

Welcome, stay a while

This is a shoes off household, so please leave your crocs by the door

Hello, my name is Salem, I also go by Slim. She/they pronouns. The header photo is mine, I took it at a ski resort near where I live.

I can also be found on AO3 as 5alemwitchtries

Currently working on:

Dreaming of A Grave, a Matt Murdock x Reader fic

Chapter 8 coming soon!

Blog Info:

I'm new to fic writing, and newer to posting. Outside of this I write prose for a school journal and essays for a collection that I'd like to publish. I might post snippets here now and then, idk yet.

For now I'm just looking to post a Matt Murdock fic that's been bouncing around in my brain, I'm not taking requests due to my already poor time management and lack of confidence in that area, but I do like to talk about ideas or receive feedback, so feel free to reach out and chat in whatever way you'd like!

Minors please do not interact, I will block. I don't post my own smut, but I reblog as I wish, so please stay off of my blog. This also goes for racists, homophobes, and terfs.

Navigation:

#slim ficc - for any fic of mine

#slim speaks - where you can find my replies and chit chat

#slim's pickins - fic recs and also things that I like in general

#fic recs - fic recs, there are also variants that include the specific character or fandom, like mm for daredevil, or tgm for top gun

#that's so slim - either things about me or that I relate to

#doag or #dreaming of a grave - where you can find chapters of doag, if links don't work

[makerofmadness]

People talk about needing to recognize terf rhetoric but I think y'all need to learn how to recognize proshxtter rhetoric too. I keep getting jumpscared by this stuff on my dash 'cus I blacklist proshxt-related tags so they stand out really easily. Even then often I'll see posts that say basically the exact same things as these proshxt posts that aren't tagged as such but I refuse to reblog them because I recognize the type of language used and the topics discussed.

Like bruh if people are complaining about "Puritanism" regarding fanfiction 9 times out of 10 they're just mad that people don't think there's any real benefit out of writing little jimmy x old man johnson smut fanfic with glorified prose going into detail on every stage of buttsex unless you're a groomer trying to use it to desensitize impressionable kids to pedophilia

they act like any form of fxcking moderation and standards is an attack against queer people, even when other queer people are complaining about this because most of us don't approve of kid diddlers either. Also Wattpad has rules and people still post gay mpreg constantly (which is not against the rules) so your point falls apart right there, stop trying to equate pedophilia with queerness you're setting our community back and playing into some of the very homophobic stereotypes that surround us. Just use a site that isn't ao3 for once in your lives and stop gaslighting yourselves into thinking that that's the only place where gay fanworks are allowed when clearly it's not. (No I am not blindly bashing ao3, I do think its tag filtering system is incredible and should be adopted by more websites in general because it really is a miracle for finding the kind of stuff you want. I'm just saying that I found it kinda pathetic how people treat it like any other site is fxcking 1984).

and these people act as if us not wanting child grooming material is equal to us saying that we don't think those topics should be covered at all. Obviously fxcking not, before any proshxtters try to say anything: I am literally one of the like three fans of the white day game series on here and those games cover some REALLY dark topics, including pedophilia. Among other things. The difference is in how it's handled. White Day covers it as a harsh reality and a dark facet of teenage life, one teen starts an affair with her art teacher and becomes pregnant, and she later takes her own life. Stuff like this does indeed happen in real life. And the game doesn't give detailed descriptions of sex scenes between them (which really isn't needed and doesn't benefit anyway except people who get off to it). It doesn't let itself become material used to perpetuate the very topic it discusses. Basically it's not gratifying.

i swear if I see like one more proshxt post on my dashboard I am going to actually try to make a guide to the dogwhistles and things to look out for, but for now I think I've discussed enough to make these posts a little more apparent. Obviously not everyone who reblogs these posts are proshxtters, but the inability to recognize the posts as being from these people is concerning.

[puppy-stevee]

hi i'm cj. welcome to jackass. *guitar twang*

this is a rewrite of my old intro post. this blog has gotten a little bigger in the past 8 months and there are a lot more of you (mostly from twitter), so i figured it's time to make some ground rules.

but first, the main links you can find me at:

twitter (only partially active there)

instagram

you can find my writing here and tagged under #my+writing (if you enjoy my writing, please consider leaving me a tip!)

i'm mostly a multifandom blog with a current focus on stranger things/steddie, but here's a masterlist of all of my tags

a few extras:

#fic+rec

aesthetic blog

i'm also on pillowfort and hope to start cross-posting there soon.

now, onto blog rules (also found in my bio):

-18+ only. ageless/blank bios are not accepted and will be blocked. minors Do Not Interact with my posts :)

-ik most of yall are new here but i am Begging you to actually reblog things. this isn't instagram or tiktok, likes don't share posts to your followers. 'based on your likes' doesn't work bc most of us have that feature turned off and we keep our blog's likes and following tabs private.

-look like a bot, get treated like a bot. blank blogs will be blocked and/or reported as spam.

-h*rry p*tter blogs/urls are blocked on sight. this blog is run by a trans man. terfs/radfems/supporters are not welcome here.

[eli-writes-sometimes]

Eli Writes Sometimes - Updated Intro/Masterpost

Last updated - 22/9/24

Hi! I'm Eli! I write sometimes (as the name would suggest)! I'm trying to be more active here on writblr, so I'm redoing my intro so it's more up to date with what I'm writing now.

About me

My name is Elias, but I go by Eli most of the time

My pronouns are it/he (interchangeable, but please don't just use he/him)

I'm a minor, so please be respectful of that

When not writing, I play the flute and the piccolo

This is the picrew I made my icon with

@ev-enhotterthanyou is the best no 1 fan and husband I could ask for <3

Where to find me

I have a shitpost/fandom blog at @eli-is-an-idiot

My AO3 - I only really post about my fanfic on my other blog, but my fic masterpost is linked below if you're interested

About this blog

As you might have guessed, this is a writblr!

I'm aiming to read and reblog other's writing, as well as posting more of my own original writing

I primarily write fantasy, with a focus on queer characters, found family and magic, as well as stories based on my own experiences

WIPs under the cut

I have a lot of old ideas and rambles about stories on here, so if you see something from a few months ago and don't see it here, I've either given up on it or just not had any ideas for it recently and it felt wrong having it in my intro

Ok with:

Being tagged in tag games - I love these, and I want to try and interact with other people in this community more, so if you want to tag me in anything, please do!

On a similar note, feel free to send me asks or DMs about your WIPs or OCs, or just anything you want to talk about, I'm always happy to listen!

On the other hand, if you want to ask questions about my WIPs, I'd love that :)

Not ok with:

Any kind of hate speech or prejudice

TERFS, transphobes, homophobes, ableists, racists or anyone that doesn't respect other people's existence - unkindly fuck off

Bullying

Entirely NSFW or 18+ blogs (I'm a minor)

Wips and navigation under the cut:

Tags:

There is quite a noticeable pattern in my tags, if you couldn't tell

General writing things - #eli writes sometimes

Things that don't include my writing (including games) - #eli doesnt write sometimes

Tag games - #eli tags sometimes

Ask games - #eli answers sometimes

Art - #eli arts sometimes

Reading- #eli reads sometimes

Each WIP has its own specific tag

FANFIC MASTERLIST

WIPs:

I have a lot of old, dead or on-hiatus WIPs, so if you see anything about God of Chaos, Face the Music, For All In-Tents and Purposes or Jason King's Guide to the Supernatural, then those are all old stories of mine that I do want to go back to someday, but these are my main ones:

CURRENT WIPS

Five Man Band

A collection of ocs and story ideas that i'm planning on writing short stories around, and that I'm considering turning into a webcomic one day when I have the skill!

Here are the current stories in the Five Man Band universe I'm working on!

Shifting Faces

(used to be called just Five Man Band, when this was just an idea for one novel)

Phoenix Hunter is different - labelled an Anomaly, their ability to shapeshift has always been a guilty secret. But when they are recruited to the Anomaly Rehabilitation Agency, a place that promises to train them to use their powers for the better, it feels almost too good to be true.

Their suspicions are almost confirmed that once they meet their new team - a self-proclaimed "five man band", with only four disillusioned members left and one crucial member missing, leaving only an empty hole where she used to be - a hole that Phoenix is meant to fill.

With a threat bigger than all of them approaching, can Phoenix gain their new team's trust in time to stop it?

Intro post HERE

wip tag - #five man band (older posts) #shifting faces (current posts)

The Almighty's Angel

The story I'm writing for the 40K in 42 days challlenge, based around Kai's backstory and his past catching up to him.

Kai Allen has been free of the cult that he was raised in for 10 years, and short of the god he once worshipped occasionally showing up to taunt him, he's managed to put it all behind him. But just when he thinks he's finally escaped, a figure from his past suddenly reappears, searching for answers about what happened to the girl the cult revered as the chosen one, his childhood best friend, a girl apparenntly killed by the A.R.A. - a girl that Kai is far too familiar with. Kai must grapple with his former and current loyalties as he tries to keep his past from his teammates, all while a drama-mongering deity hangs over them all, pulling strings for his own entertainment. Will he overcome his inner conflict, or will it consume him?

Intro post HERE

WIP tag - #the almightys angel

OLDER WIPS

The Princess, the Pauper, and the Pirate

My main WIP, currently working on it the most and doing a nanowrimo-like challenge where I try to write 50000 words in three months rather than one

Three strangers. Three stories.  When Kai, Vera, and Rune’s paths cross in the middle of the forest, the three of them share stories and swear to help each other, come what may, as allies in a world out to get them. Together, they face everything from pirates to cruel parents, and work to try and take down the system that stacked the cards against them from the start.  Will they succeed, or will they be crushed like everyone else? 

Intro post HERE

Genre - High fantasy

Status - First draft

Specific WIP tag - #wip ppp

Face the Music

My NaNo WIP, I hit 50K and then immediately started working on something else, so there will be stuff about it, but not as much as PPP

When Miles Baldwin, a quiet kid who keeps to himself, is sent to a three-week long music camp, it sounds like a death sentence. But as he meets new friends, including trans boy Finn who is loud and proud about his identity, he starts to come around, even beginning to question his own gender. Irritatingly, not everyone is as open to change as Miles and his friends, and as the music swells and tension builds before the final concert, can Miles come to terms with his identity without falling victim to the bigoted nature of his fellow players?

intro post HERE

Status - First draft

Specific WIP tag - #face the music (I also used #eli does nano 2023 for other nano stuff)

Superlosers

Four roommates, each with a unique power, each with their own set of wildly different personalities. They barely know each other, the rent is due, and an egomaniacal villain is threatening to destroy everything they hold dear - and only they seem to care or want to do anything about it. For the sake of the world, let's hope they can get their priorities straight.

Intro post HERE

Genre - Urban fantasy

Specific WIP tag - #superlosers

The Remnants of Shadows

When beloved Alya Maxwell, renowned pillar of the small community of Blackburn, disappears with only shadows swarming around her house to give any idea of her fate, no one really seems to care, giving up on her as a lost cause.  But two teenagers, both from totally different background and both with their separate reasons for trusting her, don’t accept this, and they begin to dig into what really happened. But when old, buried secrets begin to emerge, how far will any of them go for the truth?

Intro post HERE

Genre - Fantasy

Status - First draft/having a crisis over the plot

Specific WIP tag - #wip tros

That's all for now, thanks for bothering to read this far :)

[sarcastic-salem]

So before I say anything else I want to specify that

I am transgender but I have decided to stop taking hormones.

I don’t know right now if this decision is permanent or not. What I do know is that I thought I would be happier being on HRT. And I’m not. I’m not happier and I’m disappointed with the results, which for me have been minuscule.

I feel like I’m constantly walking on eggshells in the transmasculine community. At least with the people I’ve encountered. Because my definition of masculinity has evolved a lot, but it seems like a lot of trans men are very eager to conform to the heteronormative societal norms that define “traditional” masculinity. Whether its toxic or not, and just never speak of it again.

I can’t do that — I can’t make myself be someone I’m not. And, for me, its resulted in a lot of bullying and misogyny. I mean, I know there are other reasons but I feel like me being more feminine than other guys constitutes a lot of it.

Feminine men are treated like scapegoats in the transgender and queer community. “Masculine” men see us as the root of all evil — we’re the cause of all the homophobia and infantilizing. And TERFs see us as easy targets either for bullying or to be converted into their cults.

On top of that, I no longer believe in gender roles and I just can’t do it anymore. It feels like even mens’ clothing is designed to make a statement and to portray machismo.

I do not want to make a statement. I don’t want to be told that I’m brave for wearing floral prints or the color pink. I don’t want to have to justify my every move down to the clothes in my closet.

I am always going to spread awareness about Civil Rights, and I am always going to remind people that Loki is a queer, transgender God.

But I’m tired, I’m stressed out — I’m losing my fucking hair.

I just want to exist.

Right now, I identify as nonbinary specifically agender or pangender. I don’t think I am particularly masculine or feminine. I’m just me.

I am still transgender, but being a transgender bisexual Heathen does not mean that I have answers to every queer Heathens’ problems or that I know the solution to every Civil Rights issue or whatever.

One of the reasons the @lokisbookworm account got shut down is because, aside from getting hate mail and death threats for nearly 4 years, I was starting to feel like an unpaid therapist. I want you guys, my followers, to feel like you can come to me for anything because I love helping people and making people happy. I really do.

But I cannot tell you if you are transgender or not. That is not up to me to decide — that is for you to decide.

And I cannot tell you if the crow in your front yard or the joker card you found in a library book is a sign from Loki or Odin or whoever. I don’t speak for them, okay, and whether or not I think something is a sign is not a valid reason to just skip discernment. And assume the best or the worst.

Never skip discernment.

This account was created by accident. Technically. I had another one and because I have no idea how to navigate this app aside from the simplest shit like reblogging and making a post, that other account got shut down when I was trying to delete a side blog. But the reason this blog exists is because I am trying to be a genuinely better person and I want to try to have a positive impact.

I’m not perfect and I have fucked up a lot. You guys have no idea how much of a piece of shit I feel like every day. For being narrow minded and argumentative and accusatory. Its embarrassing but its also disappointing because like…….I try to explain and people don’t want to hear it. To an extent, I don’t blame them — actions speak louder than words, right?

But this is the fucking internet and I’m not the kind of person who documents every single second of my life with a live post or a selfie. So what do I do? I try not to argue with people. If there’s a post I disagree with, I usually back the fuck off. Unless I’m triggered and being stupid because I don’t think rationally when I’m triggered. And if someone posts things regularly that I disagree with or that upset me, I unfollow them to avoid getting into arguments.

I do fuck up, I know. Part of the reason why that is because I cannot comprehend why people are acting like Tumblr is not a social media platform. When that’s exactly what it is. I cannot understand why people are so offended when you comment or reply to their posts. Especially when they’re able to turn off the replies and the reblogs.

Like the entire concept of Tumblr etiquette is expecting people to censor themselves in a public forum.

Jfc, this post has gone off-topic but um……Yeah, I’m nonbinary and transgender. Still queer. But right now, I am going off of my hormones and I don’t know what comes next.

I am still Milo.

I don’t give a shit about pronouns. People have misgendered me so much irl, I don’t even care anymore.

Happy Yule

&

Blessed Holidays

[darael]

Hey, friends. We need to talk.

We need to talk about TERF Shit™.

I've cropped the top of the below image because the person who reblogged it simply didn't know and they instantly deleted the thing once it was pointed out to them and I don't want anyone to think I'm criticising them here.

You see this?

Yeah. This is TERF Shit. It is also not TERF Shit. Let me explain:

Two of the four blogs visible in this chain are TERFs, emphasis on the RF. Second-wave, evil-is-stored-in-the-Y-chromosome TERFs (one has the "men in women's prisons" dogwhistle in her pinned post; the other has a very recent post at time of writing describing trans people having suicidal ideation as them enacting narcissistic abuse). Of the other two, one appears to be a deeply committed trans-inclusive feminist and anti-racist activist, and the other is a #girlboss #christianliving self-empowerment and wealth blog. What might surprise you is that those descriptions are in bottom-to-top order. Neither of the "her"-URL blogs is overtly TERFy.

The tweet, incidentally, is from a suspended account, so I have no idea what Quantum_King_'s politics are.

Here's what I reckon happened.

The original tweet describes something that is a genuine problem that we really should discuss. It does, however, set some misleading ideas in the reader's mind, too. Clubs and events do indeed profit from enabling predatory men; from creating situations that encourage men to be predatory. The "intentionally", however, is misleading. It suggests they're doing it in order to enable predation. The second blogger leans heavily into this idea. And, again, many of the things listed do have the effect described — but again, it's not because the organisers want more men to prey on women. It's because the organisers get more money when they enable men to prey on women. Now, I want to be very clear: this does not let them off the hook. This does not make any of the systems they've set up less harmful. And it does not make the perception of "female privilege" against which puttingherinhistory argues correct. The reason it's worth understanding is that if we misunderstand the aims of the organisers, we will be incorrect in our analysis of both causes and potential steps toward solutions.

Both of these people engaged in good faith. They fell a little into the trap of conspiracy, assuming that there's a grand aim of preying on women, rather than a system of incentives that enables that, but they also pointed out genuine problems and harms.

Then the TERFs found it. And what did they see? They saw a line of argument that played precisely into their ideology of patriarchy-reductionism (for the unfamiliar: this is the analytic lens that assumes that all unjust power structures are some combination of part of patriarchy, tools of patriarchy, and side-effects of patriarchy. It is analogous to class-reductionism in some schools of communist thought), implying that men are inherently predatory, all these systems are set up intentionally to enable/encourage/abet that predation, and so on. They even saw it coming from blogs with URLs that members of their hate movement might use.

So they boosted it.

And now it's on the dashes of people who don't remotely support TERFism.

And this is why we have to be careful. Not only with what we reblog, but with the framing of our analyses — because TERFs, as we've seen, consistently ally with fash, and we do not want to even accidentally phrase our advocacy in ways that appeal to fash and their allies.