#the voice is like therapy

[inkskinned]

what is with men being mad any time a woman raises her voice where did that even come from. someone posted a video of a small electrical explosion, and the top comment was of course the woman screams. the second comment is women try not to scream challenge, level impossible. i had to go back and watch the video again. there is, somewhat fainty, a little gasp emitted off-camera, more of a yelp than a scream. it is mostly lost in the crack of the explosion. afterwards, you hear her voice, shaken, say, are you okay?

i am helping one of my friends train her voice pitch lower, because she wants to be taken seriously at work. she and i do each other's nails and talk about gender roles; and how - due to our appearance - neither of us have ever been able to be "hysterical" in public. we both appear young and sweet and feminine. she is cisgender, and cannot use her natural voice in her profession because people keep saying she appears to be "vapid". we both try to figure out if our purposeful voice lowering is technically sexist. is it promoting something when you are a victim to it?

a storm almost sends a pole through a car window. in the dashcam, you can hear the woman passenger say her partner's name twice, crying out in alarm. she sounds terrified. in the comments, she is lambasted for her lack of calm. how is that even fucking helping?

in high school, i taught myself to have a lower voice. i had been recorded when i was genuinely (and righteously) upset; and i hated how my voice sounded on the phone speakers when it was played back. i was defending my mom, and my voice cracked with emotion. it meant i was no longer winning the argument: i was just shrieking about it.

girls meet each other after a long summer and let out a little joyful scream. this usually stops around 12-14, because people will not tolerate this display of affection (as it has the effect of being passingly annoying). something about the fact that little girls can't ever even be annoying. we are trained to examine each part of our lives (even joy) for anything that could make us upsetting and disgusting. they act like teenage girls are breaking into houses and shrieking you awake at 3 in the morning. speaking as a public school educator: trust me, it's not that bad, you can just roll your eyes and move on. it does not compare to the ways boys end up being annoying: slurs in graffiti, purposefully mocking your body, following you after you said no. you know, just boy things.

there's another video of a man who is not allowed to yell in the house, so he snaps his fingers when he's excited about soccer. the comments are full of angry men, talking about how their brother is unfairly caged. let him express himself and this is terrible to do to someone. eventually the couple has to address it in a second video: they are married with a newborn baby. he was trying not to wake the infant up. there is no comment on the fact women are not allowed to yell indoors. or the fact that it could have been really alarming or triggering for his wife. sometimes i wonder if straight men even like women, if they even enjoy being in relationships with them.

for the longest time, i hated roller coasters because it always felt inappropriate and uncomfortable for me to scream. one of my friends called me on it, said it was unusual i'm so unwilling. i had to go to my therapist about it. i don't like to scream because i was not raised in a safe situation, and raising my voice would have brought unsafe attention towards me. even when i am supposed to scream, it feels shameful, guilty. i was not treated kindly, so i lack a basic form of self-protection. this is not a natural response. it is not good that in a situation of high adrenaline - i shut up about it.

something very bad is happening, i think. in between all the beauty standards and the stuff i've already discussed - this one feels new and cruel in a way i can't quite express. yes, it's scary and silencing. but there's something about how direct it is - that so many men agree with the sentiment that women should never yell, even in an emergency - it feels different.

is the word shriek gendered automatically? how about shrill or screech? in self defense class, one of the first things they tell you is to yell, as loud and as shrilly as you can. they say it will feel rude. most women will not do this. you need to practice overcoming the social pressure and just scream.

most women do not cry out, even when it's bad. we do not report it. we walk faster. we do not make a scene. what would be the point of doing anything else? no matter what we do, we don't get taken seriously. it is a joke to them. an instagram caption punchline. we have to present ourselves as silent, beautiful, captivating - "valuable."

a woman is outside watching her kids when someone throws a firecracker at them. she screams and runs towards her children. in the comments, grown men flock together in the thousands: god. women are so annoying.

[boneheadboner]

Sleep substitutes

[freckleslikestars]

(some of) my favourite lines from The X Files 5.12 Bad Blood

[galaxy-fleur]

Revisited RER recently, and I genuinely love Chris' and Rebecca's relationship so much... Gonna ramble about them for a bit here.

Despite also being totally out of his depths here, Chris is incredibly tactile and comforting with her. He has always cared for those around him, but I can't help but think that he does his best to be calm and reassuring around Becca because she's the youngest and the least experienced of them all. And yet she's stuck in this nightmare, too. The way he puts a hand on her shoulder and encourages her attempts at healing Richard with a simple but meaningful: 'Richard needs you now.'

Those words are merely an acknowledgement of her skills, no iron pressure behind them. I like to think that he expresses his belief in her here, hopefully to help her feel less scared and anxious. It's the least he can do, really. And sometimes all you need is someone to just show that they believe in you so you can keep going with no shaky hands. It also reflects on his trust in reliance on her in future installments, too. I think it's kinda sweet how Chris believed in her and encouraged her from the moment she was this fresh recruit, stuck in an unforseen situation. No wonder they are so close and soft with each other in Vendetta.

Him immediately blaming himself for Richard's death, obviously having no idea how to process it quite yet, and then Rebecca being just as lost on how to answer, because what can you even say in this situation? It really rings home how they are both so out of their element here. They are not seasoned operatives we are used to seeing, they are just two people who are forced to deal with something they've never encountered before and try to process all the loss they are hopeless to stop.

I think it's incredibly telling that Rebecca's initial response is to focus on what she should do next, whereas Chris's is to blame himself. Both are obviously shaken by Richard's death: Chris because he couldn't do anything stop it, and Rebecca because all her efforts on healing him were in vain. But they express it differently in the moment. It's also painful how Chris can't even look at her, until he switches into 'It's my fault' line of thinking. Poor guy has been shouldering this kinds of losses since day 1. I do think it also falls in line with how they respond to loss in future installments, too. Very neat to think about.

And then Rebecca just breaking down in tears after that short attempt at laughing it off, and Chris just putting a hesitant gentle hand on her shoulder as he lets her cry it out with no words being said. While it made super sad, it's also a nice contrast to them not looking at each other in previous instance vs standing face to face this time around.

Funnily enough, I don't think he's being aloof or insensitive here, as I've seen some say—quite the contrary. As I said above, what could you even possibly say in this kind of circumstance that wouldn't be, at most, a flat-out lie? But what he can do is just be there for her. Which is what he does. And that: 'be strong, Rebecca' is simple but genuine nonetheless. They must remain strong, at least until they are safe and out of there. Still, he doesn't try to stop her from crying, he only says this once she quiets down. It's really touching of him, honestly. He lets her express her distress and then encourages her when she's done.

And this lil' pat on her shoulders and 'Just stay with me, kid' is so cute! Not to mention the thumbs up afterwards :3

It's a sort of small but comforting gesture that probably goes a long way to someone in Rebecca's position. I can't help but think if that's Chris' big brother instincts at work, which is ever cuter to think about. He's a great superior to be around.

Also, it's kinda neat how the way he touches her shoulder changes throughout the game. First soft, gentle touches, and then more assured and encouraging pats by the end there. Both are good, but I still love that tiny detail.

As a bonus, the fact that Chris is the only one awake between the three of them during the helicopter ride also strikes me as kind of interesting. Both Jill and Rebecca are resting and allowing themselves to doze off, but he just stays staring off in silence, obviously having a lot on his mind. Whether he stays up to watch over the two or because he can't bring himself to relax, it's sort of a cool detail.

[silusvesuius]

[vaguely-concerned]

walking through lucanis' mind prison. the tam lin of it all

[ghost-inthe-hall]

He's perfect

[sorry-not-feeling-it-right-now]

If it’s canon that there’s more then one voice then the 11 voices that we’ve met, does that mean it’s possible to have a Voice of the Therapist and this guy is just there to give therapy to the other voices

But plot twist, the therapist also needs therapy

[garpen]

YALLER

Yaller...

"Yaller need therapy once he's done with you."

I'm sorry. I have nothing to say for myself 😔

Yaller= yall will = you all will

I'm not even country or anything this is just gen how I speak. I try spelling out what comes through my head but sometimes I forget and just like spell/sound out what words sound like to me lol

A more accurate spelling would have been "Y'all'll" ? (ew the apostrophes make it look ugly) but the way I say it out loud sounds more like "yaller"

You all should be thankful you can't hear the way I speak it's honestly an atrocity

[philiponmycracker]

Dr Chandler is literally obsessed with the dramatic cunty little bitch, who has nobody to trust in this world if not the hot doctor. Doc would love to keep this twink in his pocket if he could. So unfair they didnt even get to make out. They want eachother so bad, no I ain't crazy

[marc--chilton]

(mgv) for a not-so-insignificant portion of his life, house was terrified of being suggestible to the alpha voice as john wasn't afraid to supplement his punishments with them so house would be physically incapable of not complying.

the first time wilson used the voice on house in a fit of frustration after house's incessant needling regarding wilson's obvious lack of life fulfillment ("you're not happy, you're just married."), house was genuinely afraid. he avoided him for days. wilson, mortified by his own loss of control and desperate to apologize, did Not let this be what killed their friendship, effectively (accidentally) sabotaging his own marriage to bonnie by prioritizing his relationship with house over his relationship with her. again.

[bitchfitch]

I've been seeing a new shrink for like. a month ish now. ok. and the thing about this new round of talk therapy is that I've been in and out of therapy for uhhhh 13? years at this point. More than half my life. so I know Exactly what is wrong with my skull and what to do to mitigate it, but in order to stay on my meds I have to keep going to talk therapy.

And this combined with the ADHD/autism thing of 'if I'm not interested in a topic there is not a power in heaven or hell that will make me stay on it instead of switching to a topic I do like', has been a challenge for my new shrink.

She will be trying to like, help me emotionally cope with the cruelty of the American healthcare system, and I'll be "Yeah I'm forced to stay in poverty to maintain access to healthcare but big whoop, cant do anything about it and I'm at peace with it, Anyways So there's this character called Miquella Elden Ring and I think people didn't really understand his vibes until the dlc- yeah no this has nothing to do with that I'm just thinking miqy thoughts"

[utilitycaster]

I must admit I do find it kind of weird when people are like "hopefully Bells Hells will talk about their feelings as a group this time" like even the prior two campaigns, where the parties had, in my opinion at least, much stronger bonds and regular communication, it was pretty rare to have a single big "having it out" group conversation as opposed to a number of side conversations, and on the occasions when they did have a large conversation as an entire group a lot of people whined that it wasn't good because it wasn't a corporate ice-breaker and/or grade school style "go around the circle and say something nice about someone else". Like there is not going to be a fix for discourse because some people are wicked stupid, is the problem, so don't let that bother you, and conflict resolution takes sustained time and many forms and it's more interesting if it lasts a while anyway so stop being so fucking scared of it because it will make your taste in fiction dull at the very minimum.

[shaw-punsexualnerd]

ever think about how probably the hex get to chill with the drifter also because the drifter does make their job simpler.

Both the techrot and the troops need time to readjust from waves of culling, hence the hex are genuinely thrown in moments where they have time to properly think: whether that brings peace or lets buried grievances resurface is another thing though :)

[anris-resurrection]

I Head canon that if. IF. Bill were a twink, and not an amorphous eldritch horror, he would be a creepy old man.

[stuckwith-harry]

i am handing in my b.a. thesis (on motherhood in gothic fiction) in a few short days and though i have been complaining about having to write it for six months straight, right now i am actually feeling bereft of future opportunities to write academic papers about my silly little interests. for instance right now i really want to research & write about dracula daily & genre & the impacts of the newsletter format on the narrative (the addition of a timeloop)

i think about format and the specifics of narration a lot when i'm writing my own little things and i loooove when the narration - not just the narrator, but the act of telling the story - is part of the narrative. love when the narration is diegetic! love an epistolary novel (like dracula!) for this reason. should read more of them

inventory by carmen maria machado (short story! read it immediately!) is a GREAT example of this. the format of the narration is so integral to the story. does more than elevate it imo, i would argue the story genuinely wouldn't work any other way

g*d. i'm gonna have to become a video essayist