#the images in my mind!!!

[strangersteddierthings]

I'm just imagining Steve becoming the gang's babysitter when they were younger (like around 6-7). Eddie pops round Steve's to pick him up for a date and the door opens to Steve with a kid on every limb. Dustin's on his shoulders clinging to his hair, Will's clinging to one leg with Mike on the other. Lucas and Max are both tugging on one arm whilst he's carrying El in the other. He's just like: 'the back-up babysitter is late and there was no one else to watch them' and Eddie just goes 'Marry Me'

Anon, ur mind. Imagine. The kids are aged down, obvi, older teens keeping their ages.

It's like their third ever date and Eddie still gets nervous thinking about the date and always over thinks what to wear and triple checks his hair even though it never looks different. And this time he's a bit more nervous because Steve had called an hour ago. Assured him the date's still on, Eddie just needs to pick him up at a different address.

So, Eddie finds himself a little confused when he parks the van in front of the Byers house. He hadn't recognized the address as such when he quickly scribbled it onto his arm but he's been here a handful of times before.

Steve's not waiting outside, so Eddie kills the engine and wonders up to the door. He lifts his hand to knock and realizes he can hear the sound of children scream-laughing. He knocks a little more harshly than he would have, to ensure he's heard.

"Who is it!?" Steve's voice yells out, muffled.

"Eddie!" Eddie shouts back.

"OH! Open the door, it's not locked!"

Eddie shrugs and lets himself into the Byers' household. The sight that greets him freezes him in place. Steve is twenty or so feet away from the door, one leg raised in mid-step, small hands clinging to his ankle as Steve just drags the kid with. Eddie recognizes Baby Byers in the process of being dragged, Baby Wheeler on the other leg. Steve's half slouched to accommodate Dustin on his shoulders, folded awkwardly in half to have both his little arms wrapped around Steve's forehead like some weird headband. He's hold a little girl that Eddie's never seen in his life with one arm, while two other kids he doesn't know have a death grip on Steve's other arm. All together it looks like every kid is trying to stop Steve from moving anywhere.

"Eddie!" Dustin shouts when he looks up and sees who entered the house. Dustin's the only kid he really knows beyond Wheeler and Byers because getting to know Steve meant getting to know the kid that was like his little brother. (Eddie doesn't know how that relationship even happened, but he'll find out one day.)

"Alright you little rugrats," Steve is laughing too hard to sound stern, "get off! I'm going to trip!"

And immediate chorus of protests arise. Eddie catches snippets of 'please don't go' and 'you're the funner sitter' and other things that boil down to, these kids do not want to be watched by anyone other than Steve.

"Sorry, Eddie," Steve shoots him a very apologetic look, just talking over the choir that surrounds him. "Jonathan's going to be watching the rest of their playdate but he's running late. I've watched you gremlins all morning, it's Jonathan's turn."

The kids start whining and pouting and Dustin clings to his forehead with even more force and just- Eddie's a goner. He and Steve have only gone on two dates, have only been on a first name basis for a month and a half. In fact, three months ago Eddie was convinced they had a mutual hate thing going on (not hate, turns out, mutual unrequited-but-actually-requited crush).

There's so much about Steve he doesn't know, and that Steve doesn't know about him. Favorite color, allergies, movie preferences, the little things that add up to the sum total of their personalities and what make them the people they are. But Eddie knows the important things. Steve's unshakeable determination, unwaveringly loyalty, devotion to those he cares about.

So, Eddie blames that fact Steve looks ever bit the domestic, doting father/older brother figure when he opens his mouth to suggest postponing their date so as to not disappoint the kids, and what he says is, "Marry me."

Steve's eyes go wide and freezes. The kids keep swinging off him and trying to tug him around and climb him, so he's swaying around but Eddie can see that Steve's brain has checked out for a moment. Eddie's face burns hot and he knows he's blushing all the way to his toes, Jesus, it's awfully hot in this house.

"I-uh, I didn't mean to say that yet."

Steve blinks a few times, coming back to himself, and then he smiles so brightly at Eddie that all his anxiety over his grievous faux pas slide away.

"Your van's big enough to fit all these creatures into the back, yeah? How about you help me take 'em to the park and we can discuss marriage at a later date."

They leave a note, so Jonathan doesn't panic upon finding an empty house and Eddie all but floats to the car.

Their third date might have turned into an adventure in babysitting for a whole day but that's fine, because it ends with the promise of a fourth, and a sly 'ask me to marry you in a couple of years' said with a smirk when he drops Steve off.

[zytes]

this manatee looks like it’s in a skyrim loading screen

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

[ineed-to-sleep]

Collection of bg3 sketches I've been nibbling at over the month. teehee

[s-aint-elmo]

part 2 of my pining falin agenda aka I STAND WITH MARCILLE THAT DRESS WAS CUNT

part 1

(ID in alt text)

[inkskinned]

the thing is that they're so fascinated by sex, they love sex, they can't imagine a world without sex - they need sex to sell things, they need sex to be part of their personality, they need sex to prove their power - but they hate sex. they are disgusted by it.

sex is the only thing that holds their attention, and it is also the thing that can never be discussed directly.

you can't tell a child the normal names for parts of their body, that's sexual in nature, because the body isn't a body, it's a vessel of sex. it doesn't matter that it's been proven in studies (over and over) that kids need to know the names of their genitals; that they internalize sexual shame at a very young age and know it's 'dirty' to have a body; that it overwhelmingly protects children for them to have the correct words to communicate with. what matters is that they're sexual organs. what matters is that it freaks them out to think about kids having body parts - which only exist in the context of sex.

it's gross to talk about a period or how to check for cancer in a testicle or breast. that is nasty, illicit. there will be no pain meds for harsh medical procedures, just because they feature a cervix.

but they will put out an ad of you scantily-clad. you will sell their cars for them, because you have abs, a body. you will drip sex. you will ooze it, like a goo. like you were put on this planet to secrete wealth into their open palms.

they will hit you with that same palm. it will be disgusting that you like leather or leashes, but they will put their movie characters in leather and latex. it will be wrong of you to want sexual freedom, but they will mark their success in the number of people they bed.

they will crow that it's inappropriate for children so there will be no lessons on how to properly apply a condom, even to teens. it's teaching them the wrong things. no lessons on the diversity of sexual organ growth, none on how to obtain consent properly, none on how to recognize when you feel unsafe in your body. if you are a teenager, you have probably already been sexualized at some point in your life. you will have seen someone also-your-age who is splashed across a tv screen or a magazine or married to someone three times your age. you will watch people pull their hair into pigtails so they look like you. so that they can be sexy because of youth. one of the most common pornography searches involves newly-18 young women. girls. the words "barely legal," a hiss of glass sand over your skin.

barely legal. there are bills in place that will not allow people to feel safe in their own bodies. there are people working so hard to punish any person for having sex in a way that isn't god-fearing and submissive. heteronormative. the sex has to be at their feet, on your knees, your eyes wet. when was the first time you saw another person crying in pornography and thought - okay but for real. she looks super unhappy. later, when you are unhappy, you will close your eyes and ignore the feeling and act the role you have been taught to keep playing. they will punish the sex workers, remove the places they can practice their trade safely. they will then make casual jokes about how they sexually harass their nanny.

and they love sex but they hate that you're having sex. you need to have their ornamental, perfunctory, dispassionate sex. so you can't kiss your girlfriend in the bible belt because it is gross to have sex with someone of the same gender. so you can't get your tubes tied in new england because you might change your mind. so you can't admit you were sexually assaulted because real men don't get hurt, you should be grateful. you cannot handle your own body, you cannot handle the risks involved, let other people decide that for you. you aren't ready yet.

but they need you to have sex because you need to have kids. at 15, you are old enough to parent. you are not old enough to hear the word fuck too many times on television.

they are horrified by sex and they never stop talking about it, thinking about it, making everything unnecessarily preverted. the saying - a thief thinks everyone steals. they stand up at their podiums and they look out at the crowd and they sign a bill into place that makes sexwork even more unsafe and they stand up and smile and sign a bill that makes gender-affirming care illegal and they get up and they shrug their shoulders and write don't say gay and they get up, and they make the world about sex, but this horrible, plastic vision of it that they have. this wretched, emotionless thing that holds so much weight it's staggering. they put their whole spine behind it and they push and they say it's normal!

this horrible world they live in. disgusted and also obsessed.

[notbecauseofvictories]

I'm re-reading the Discworld series for reasons, and honestly the most relatable part of reading these as an adult is how many of the protagonists start out being tired, used to their little routine and vaguely disgruntled by the interruption of the Plot. Sam Vimes wants to lie drunk in a gutter and absolutely doesn't want to be arresting dragons. Rincewind is yanked into every situation he's ever encountered, though he'd much rather be lying in a gutter too. (Minus the alcohol. Plus regretting everything he's ever done said witnessed or even heard about fourth-hand in his whole life.) Granny Weatherwax is deeply suspicious of foreign parts and that includes the next town over; Nanny has leaned into the armor of "nothing ever happens to jolly grannies who terrorize their daughters-in-law and make Saucy Jokes"

Only the young people don't seem to have picked up on this---and that's fortunate, because someone has to run around making things happen, if only so Vimes and Granny and Rincewind have a reason to get up (complaining bitterly the whole time) and put it all to rights. Without Carrot, Margrat, Eric, etc. these characters don't have that reason; they're likely to stay in the metaphorical gutter and keep wondering where it all went wrong or why anything has to change.

............well, that's not quite true. You get the sense that Vetinari knows how much certain people hate the Plot. And as the person sitting behind the metaphorical lighting board of Ankh-Morpork, he takes no small pleasure in forcing the Plot-haters specifically to stand up, and say some lines.

[esprei]

wimdy

(reference image below cut):

[chorus-communities]

time and doom huh. different bg ver under the cut

[runwhileyoucan]

This image came to me in a vision by the way.

[southern--downpour]

WHAT’S THAT, PUPPET BOY?

[emthimofnight]

Reoccurring nightmares

[araneapeixes]

lesbian bed death - goth girls are easy

This art is now available as a print <3

[who-is-page]

[vibigalbya]

[leather-field]

Pathologic characters as random images in my phone. Part 1 (there will be more)