#the problem is that most people don't like women

[qqueenofhades]

I don’t have any words right now for what’s happened. Where in the fuck do we go from here?

I don't know. I really, truly don't know. We can't sugarcoat how bad things are going to get, and we can't pre-emptively give into it anyway. This is going to be an unprecedented time in American history (if, sadly, not world history) and the forces conspiring to make you obey will gain much of their power from you doing so in advance, without a struggle. It seems fair to say that America as it has always been historically constituted is over, and may not return in our lifetimes, but we also do not know that for a fact. If nothing else, the fascists will find it very hard to cancel competitive elections, and we cannot sit back, throw up our hands, conclude that voting is clearly meaningless, and let them do that. There are a lot of other things that we need to do, but that's one.

There are various postmortems to be written and nits to pick, but Harris was thrown into an impossible situation and did the best she could in 100 days. Even her critics agree she ran a pretty much flawless campaign. But this country simply decided that a well-qualified black woman could not be preferred over the most manifestly and flagrantly unfit degenerate to ever occupy the office. They decided this for many reasons, not least because large swathes of the country now live in curated misinformation bubbles that, under Government Czar Musk, will only get much, much worse. They were helped by the cowardice and complicity of the "mainstream media" that could have ended Trump's career exactly like they did to Biden after the first debate, but chose to preserve the profits of their billionaire oligarch owners and did not do so, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt and normalization at every turn. They also hounded Biden relentlessly over the four years of his presidency, never reported on the good things he did, and drove him to the historically bad approval ratings lows for a president who was by any metric, quite successful (and will quite possibly be our last ordinary American president for a very long time). Along with the searingly ingrained racism and misogyny and misinformation, Harris could not overcome that.

Democrats clearly had a messaging problem, but it's also true that the country, quite simply, does not care about "democracy" when the economy is perceived to be at stake. Not to over-egg the Hitler parallels, but yeah. This is how Hitler returned to power in 1933 -- on the backs of widespread economic collapse of the Weimar Republic; voters decided they just didn't care about the overtly fascist stuff, which he then proceeded to you know, do with genocidal vigor. Except the American economy in this case was actually doing well, which makes it even more baffling and indefensible. Enough people simply memory-holed Trump's crimes (aided at every turn by SCOTUS, Mitch McConnell not convicting him after January 6, Merrick Garland being far too slow and timid, the corporate media), liked the racist fascist behavior or felt that it wasn't a dealbreaker, and decided that in this election, he was the "change" candidate. It's insane by any metric, but that's what happened.

The country is deeply sick. We do not know what will happen. It's going to get bad. Barring a miracle, we will not have federalized abortion rights again in my lifetime, and there will be widespread attacks on public health, women's rights, immigrants, transgender people, and other vulnerable people. Even and especially the ones who voted for Trump. Never Thought Leopard Would Eat My Face, etc. Alito and Thomas will swiftly step down and allow their seats to be replaced by 40-year old wingnuts hand-selected from the worst the Federalist Society has to offer. SCOTUS is gone for the next generation at least. There is very little prospect of it being ever fixed in the foreseeable future.

Trump will never face a scintilla of consequences for his previous crimes; all the open federal cases will be closed as soon as he takes office and fires Jack Smith. The best we can hope for is that he dies in office, but then we get Vance and the cadre of alt-right techno billionaires ruled directly from the Kremlin. Putin is celebrating this morning and with good reason; he's gotten everything he wants. Trump will egg on Netanyahu in Gaza and abandon Ukraine. Democracy across the world will remain even more fragile and badly under threat. Authoritarians will be empowered and American withdrawal from international systems will percolate in very dangerous ways that cannot and will not be fixed in the short run. I really hope all the leftists who celebrate this as the "defeat of the genocide candidate" will enjoy all the genocide and suffering that's about to come. And yes, I do think the Israel-Palestine war fucked us in a large way. Jewish voters perceived the Democrats as insufficiently pro-Israel due to the presence of far-left antisemitism, even as the far left attacked the Democrats relentlessly and never targeted the Republicans. Arab voters abandoned them, possibly deservedly. What would have happened without the war? We don't know. You get the historical period that you get. Netanyahu and Trump can now do anything they want. Hope it was worth it.

As I said, I can't sugarcoat it. We are going to be paying for this in some form for the next decade, and probably longer. I'm not as absolutely shattered as I was in 2016, but I am much, much angrier. We all thought, we all hoped, America was better than this. It isn't. That, however, is something that has also happened before. What we decide to do next will shape how the next chapter unfolds.

This would be a great time to stock up on needed medicines, renew your passport online, and anything else you need to do in preparation for next year. Many of us simply do not have the wherewithal, whether financial or otherwise, to leave the country. I don't know what will happen with me. I don't know what will happen to any of us. This was utterly avoidable and yet, America didn't want to avoid it. At some point, there's nothing else you can do. You can point to media cronyism, Russian influence, etc etc., but the fact that two of the most qualified presidential candidates who happened to be women have now lost to Trump twice makes it unavoidable. The virulent rightward shift of young men (of all races) in particular paints a grim picture as to how the reactionary misogyny of the 21st century is going to essentially undo most of the progress for social and gender equality in the 20th. The patriarchy has been a problem for most of human history. Doesn't really seem like it's going to change.

The end result of this, however grim: we're still here. We are still living within our communities. If (and this is a big if) Democrats can retake the House, they can put some checks on the process for the next two years. At this point, we are in full-out buying-time, trying-to-prevent-the worst mode. We could have continued fixing things, but we won't be doing that. We will only be trying to preserve ourselves and our friends and our smaller spheres of influence. It sounds very trite to say that we have to have courage, but we do. There's not much else.

It's going to be an awful winter. We have two and a half months to see this coming and know how bad it's going to be, and... yeah. I don't know how soon the buyer's remorse will inevitably set in, but it will. Tough luck, people. You voted for him. You get the country that you decide to have. But the rest of us are also here, and what Gandalf says is still true. We wish the Ring had never come to us, we wish none of this had happened, but we still have to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.

I don't have a lot more. I'll probably be logging off for a while. I don't need to look at the internet for.... yeah, a long time. (Will I do it anyway? Probably.) I don't know what else to leave you with, aside from again:

Do not obey in advance. Do not act as if everything is foreordained and set in stone. Fascist regimes end. They always do. We are going to have to figure out how, and it will suck shit, but the alternative is worse.

Take care of yourselves. I love you.

[pluralsword]

you could argue that we did this sort of, it's a little more complicated.

You see, the reason we maintain our beard and shave it in specific ways is because transformer women often have helms that fill their face in similar ways at the cheeks or with chin armor. That helped the person who has been with this body the whole time fully absolve of herself of any dysphoria by being able to connect her facial her euphorically to a collective gender identity of womanhood of giant metal transforming robots from space since knowledge of the fact there are a lot of intersex human cis women who have facial hair (and intersex people are as common as redheads) wasn't cutting it for xem (hah). we dysphorically regret having to shave our beard recently to fly across the country out of fear of landing somewhere in an emergency where we'd be arrested for 'doing drag' at a public facility.

The reason we say this isn't simply butch per se for us specifically (a human singleton is another matter) is because there isn't an oppositional dynamic between male and female to us. they completely overlap, there's just collective gender assemblage tendencies of components being put together and identified differently (some of our writing mixing alien robot trans material-aesthetic assemblage mixed with gender tackles this, the one that does so most directly so far is our One fanfic. there will eventually be original fiction), the term we use for in our sparktion/hearth/etc. assemblage model that most closely approximates butch is torque, but it is rather different in meaning since it's primarily concerned with the (clash of) momentum literally and metaphorically and not with being masculine (xenogender stuff is fun!). It's also not confined to a physical expression appearance, so helm shapes don't necessarily fit this, and there's no single umbrella for what torque looks like. it's all assemblage, which is very different from the real problem of butch erasure in 21st century human storytelling and history

In addition we've also built up musculature precisely because it is no longer dysphoric anymore to breathe meditatively / heavily when exercising since the chest feels more like how it should, because xey always loved and wanted to emulate the warrior gal vibe (we know this applies much more widely, too, but thought it was worth mentioning), and ultimately that our nervous system now feels so much better exerting strength with HRT than before. but how we dress we think doesn't normally quite fit butch and we recoil at the thought of being more heavily clothed or armored meaning we're perceived as more masculine. the oppositional gender human patriarchy dichotomy is painful to us, we're glad this is changing with a) people understanding how curvy and rounded a lot of armor historically is especially plate, and b) women in armor where sexualization need not mean sacrificing actual armor capacity is becoming more normalized

TLDR you absolutely can be a transfem butch lesbian and we absolutely ended up on a similar but very different route of being torquey zoomdare transfem (taganite) mutualists who will for convenience's sake communicating with other people we share this lovely blue marble with use the terms t4t, sapphic, lesbian, and sometimes butch if we think we have to explain why our gender isn't 'simple' (eugh we hate how reductive that is of binary trans women) but don't think we can get away with explaining xenogender stuff and plurality. unless we are fortunate enough to, I don't know, see our terminology take off or even better that this happens alongside other assemblage models with a growth of a worldwide curiousity and capacity to accept that no one will ever know everything there is to know about gender and orientation so nobody assumes anything of us, takes what we have to say for what it is, asks questions if interested in knowing and knowing us that way, and celebrates what we have in common and what differences we have <3

Is transitioning from male to female to become a butch lesbian a reasonable option?

it is beyond reasonable, it is one of the coolest things you can do on this bitch of an earth

[hadesoftheladies]

the problem isn't just women and girls losing abortion rights. it's the fact that men and boys still have more political influence. that has consistently spelled bad things for human societies. men and boys are most likely to vote for harmful policies to other human beings and the environment. they are the LEAST connected to and educated on socioeconomic matters (because of their privilege) and have no incentive nor credentials to lead. they don't even understand the problems (if them taking the fraudulent "male loneliness epidemic" seriously is anything to go by) and giving them more political influence is like placing a tripped out toddler in the driver's seat with millions of people more qualified and educated in the backseat.

these men don't know what goes on in their homes, how to run houses, what their children's birthdays are, and you think they'll know what medical aid even looks like? they don't even book their own children's doctor's appointments. they are the LEAST educated on societal infrastructure they don't know ANYTHING about how a society runs or keeps running and you want to give them more political influence/administrative power?!

FUCKIGN DUMB!

[velvetvexations]

my personal take on "antigonism" is that it's entirely what you make of it. which is to say, i agreed with your post explaining why you felt such a term was necessary, and i do think this mentality of "most of us are normal about each other" and simply assuming we understand each other's experiences by virtue of being trans is reinventing artificial gender solidarity between cis people ("bros before hoes", "girl's girl") but superimposed onto trans people. which can be particularly contentious, given that we're an extremely traumatized bunch with a lot of baggage and massively diverging perspectives on all kinds of things. relating to each other outside of conventional gender relations means we have to put in that much more work to bridge the gaps between us, because we can no longer rely on the common assumptions made about men and women to carry our interactions, if that makes sense.

i do think a whole word for transfem-to-transmasc solidarity does toe a line between being unnecessarily inflammatory and conditionally useful. i'm genuinely glad for the people who felt seen and appreciated by the fact that a transfem made so explicit her stance on intracommunity issues. i'm also sympathetic to the people who feel put-off by such a word. when does allyship become chauvinistic? there is no word for a non-misogynistic man to signal to women that he is explicitly anti-antifeminist, for example. do we need one? i think a vast majority would say no, on account of simply stating he believes in feminist principles to suffice. so i'm wondering what specifically the push was for you to coin a word around tfem4tmasc solidarity, because while i do think trans people as a whole need to take significantly more initiative about rooting out transmisogyny and transandrophobia both, i'm not quite clear on what could signal more clearly a transfem's stance on intracommunity dialogue than just saying "i believe in transandrophobia and condemn all radfems". all feminism, transfeminism included, has had their malicious actors-- the existence of transradfems isn't really anything noteworthy as far as the broader feminist conversations go.

i hope this doesnt come across as confrontational because i think the people who found comfort in the fact that you are willing to go that far for them is truly heartwarming. i just don't want to see us splinter further into microfactions over something like one person coining one maybe-overenthusiastic word on the internet

Sincerely, there is a word for men who are anti-anti-feminist, though, they're feminists. Granted, self-identified "feminist" men have somewhat of a negative stereotype associated to them, but still, feminist men are feminists.

One of the biggest reasons I think a term would be useful is because so many people feel unsafe in the trans community because of trans radical feminism right now that it can help them relax a lot when they see a trans woman identifies as such. Just reminding people with assurances that most trans women are Normal doesn't really help that when they keep running into ones who aren't over and over.

TRFs are aggressive about this stuff. Seriously, every single day, post after post, their primary form of activism is crying about TMEs stealing kinks and liking a children's toy too much. I feel strongly that should be countered. Even if they aren't the majority, they sure as hell act like it and repeat how great it is that every single trans woman except velvetvexations alone agrees with them.

To be absolutely clear, I do not think I'm the only non-weird trans woman! That is just literally what they say about me! They may be the minority now but that frog is boiling.

IRL transmascs are forced out of spaces and talked over when they're let in because mascuwinity is scawy, No doubt transfems have similar problems because some spaces are TERF-y, but that problem is exacerbated when social media is filled with TRF rhetoric because it gets drilled into people's heads they need to be worried about that, and I don't think "touch grass" is a good response to that.

Hell, what if someone touches grass and then they do happen to end up having people be transandrophobic/exorsexist/intersexist/etc. to them? "Oh, well, that didn't count, try again somewhere else, I prommy that's not Normal."

It's all about volume. I feel very, very strongly that volume is necessary here, to combat the feeling that that radical feminism is around every corner and help people feel at ease and know trans women are with them.

[romanianradfemmefatale]

The “there is a trans GENOCIDE going on” is so obnoxious to me, especially as a Black woman. Is anyone talking about the black maternal mortality rate as a “genocide”? Do we frequently call racist police brutality a “genocide”? As far as I’m aware no. What is it exactly that elevates/legitimizes transness as this non plus ultra of oppression?

Because it's a male movement,it started with males,otherwise it wouldn't have taken root in western society. Male entitlement is thinking that a boundary (getting rejected,not being welcome in female only spaces) is opression.

This is the model they are using to argue that there is a trans genocide going on,I first saw it on tiktok a few years ago,some of them are claiming we're already at the 8th stage.

If you look at this graph you can actually see that a lot of these apply to females and poc,yet indeed no one says anything about a black genocide or a female genocide,even the term femicide is highly debated.

It really is just an ideology born out of too much comfort,imagine going out of your way to be opressed (look like a woman) and then complain about "discrimination" (people seeing through your bs fetish),meanwhile females on the other side of the world can't even speak to each other lol.

Here they come crying about how it's not a choice! Yeah,being gay,black,female is not a choice,you don't become gay through expensive surgeries,being black doesn't come with the option of staying white. There is no such thing as a gender identity and if there is such a thing as gender dysphoria it shouldn't be treated by endorsing the patient through surgeries and "gender affirmation",just like we don't presrcibe ozempic to anorexics or nose jobs to body dysmorphics (ha,at least we shouldn't). Gender dysphoria doesn't make someone the opposite sex,it just makes them dysphoric.

The genocide argument is just fear mongering so you feel guilty to disagree with their ideology beause if you do you are participating in an *ugly buzzword*!

I'm so sick of their made up problems

Also let's take some of these points

While it may be true that they face discrimination for presenting gnc that is not isolated to transgenders,they also do not face any exclusion through dicriminatory laws as far as I'm aware,in fact many of them are gaining the right to female only spaces and sports? Many TIMs are winning awards in female only competitions (such as Dylan Mulvaney winning woman of the year) would that happen in an ongoing genocide?? (Did any jew win aryan of the year during the holocaust?)

It just feels a tad insensitive to compare not allowing males in women's prisons to the segregation of jews,no?

There aren't any basic rights being taken away from them systematically (if you think banning hrt on children is an infringement of body autonomy you can fuck right off,minors are also no able to get any tattoos is that a violation of their body autonomy? These are experimental medical practices,not something to play with)

What loss of liberty? What freedoms are they loosing? What systematic violence? A lot of TIMs are in prison for literal sex crimes because it's a fucking fetish and paraphilias go toghether not because they are targeted 😭 this is no stereotype or fear mongering either, it's a statistic.

In fact,if they were going through a genocide we would be able to speak against them freely without loosing our jobs and being shunned.

Edit: i just scrolled through the trans genocide tag on tumblr and surprise suprise most of it is TIM porn! The other half is them complaining about laws that restrict rushing children into medical transition...yeah boy what a genocide!

[northwest-cryptid]

So I realize that a lot of people might take this response in bad faith, and while I don't have a catch-all answer to the problem. I do want to state a few things I've seen and that I fear we in the left are chronically bad about. I genuinely hope that people won't view this as some ignorant idiot running their mouth; and rather as someone who's looking to help, because what I'm going to ask of you sounds a little accusatory.

A big thing is that you have to stop with the generalization. I've heard people say "but they do it" and "but it IS most of them" and such. I get it, I get it but you can't say "Cis, Straight, White Men are bad" and then expect the good Cis, Straight, White Men to still stand up for you. I've always been told "but the good ones won't care!" Yes, they will.

I was once told by a Rightwinger on a forum that "the Left are a powerful force in converting people to be conservative." When I asked him about what he meant exactly; he explained (with the use of far too many slurs and insults I'll be omitting) that essentially when otherwise Left-Leaning individuals see the way Leftists talk about them or people like them, it's very easy for Rightwingers to sweep in and basically say "we're not going to judge you like that." Of course they hide the fact they will judge you in other ways, but for that moment; they are a beacon of shelter from the otherwise very loud mob of Leftists who would deem you literally the most inherently bad person for being... a cis man.

Am I saying you have to go out there and start forgiving every bigot, humoring every fuckboy; stop holding sexists accountable for their bullshit? Absolutely not. In fact, what I'm asking you to do is stop firing a shotgun at a target that can only be hit properly with a sniper rifle. I'm asking you to stop giving the bad actors a scapegoat. I'm asking you to be specific.

If you take a young man, who doesn't have any concept of things like gender identity, the patriarchy, homophobia, etc. You take that young man and you look him in the eyes and you tell him:

"Men are a disgusting and violent gender, men do not deserve respect. The only good man is a fictional man. All men deserve to be treated poorly, women shouldn't have to put up with men. Cis men are the worst. Straight Cis Men should go to hell."

He's going to become a conservative rightwinger, because at least they won't hate him for being a man. They'll just hate him for being the wrong kind of man. It's easier for that man to seek acceptance through forcing others to be below him, than for him to accept that he is inherently a problem. If you instead literally word it as:

"Sexists and bigots, who would view women as nothing more than objects are disgusting. Anyone who would look down on, and see someone as lesser because of their race, gender identity, or sexuality does not deserve respect."

Well now he's not a target. Because he doesn't see women that way, he doesn't have racist thoughts; he's not currently a bad person and you're not talking about him. Now I know that a lot of people say "but I'm NOT talking about people like that!" I know that, you know that; you know who doesn't know that? The young man who's reading your posts, the young man who hears you at the store, the young man who read your forum response 3 months ago. What they see, plain as day is "men are a problem" and they're going to seek shelter from that.

Unfortunately for everyone involved; the shelter they end up finding so many times is conservative rightwingers. There are tons of people you can hear talk about this on youtube and forums, people who got indoctrinated because they would rather be praised for being a man than hated for it.

Now you might not talk this way, a lot of people don't; but a lot of other people DO. I see a lot of "the only good man is a trans man" or "the only good man is a fictional man" type posts, and even if you want to say it's just a meme or it's all a joke. You need to understand that when you speak generally, a man, especially a young man is going to see that and react to it. It's going to shape their idea of how the Left, who you represent to them whether you want to or not; see them.

If a young man who currently is unaligned on either side of the political spectrum sees a bunch of gay and trans people shitting on men for simply "being men" and not for the patriarchy, not for the sexism, not for male privilege and all that. Not actually educating anyone, not speaking out about the injustice; not discussing toxic masculinity or anything that may even shine a light on the issues people face. Just saying "men suck" and leaving it at that. Only to then see a bunch of Rightwingers saying all those gays and trans people are stupid and they are bad people and they hate men for no reason. That young man is going to make a no-effort decision in that moment to side with the people who do not openly hate him.

It's genuinely that easy for someone to become indoctrinated. Once they're in, they're rewarded for thinking less, promoting the ideals that promise them a higher spot on the social ladder; and generally following the mentality that Leftists are bad, and Rightwingers are good. They keep digging themselves into that hole trying to find a place they belong, somewhere they won't be hated; somewhere they don't need to feel guilty and wrong for just being who they are. Until they learn that the Right also thinks they're bad and wrong, they're a "beta" because they haven't fucked someone yet, they're a "soyboy" if they're not benching 200 pounds, making six figures, and banging a new girl each week. So now the urge for acceptance has shifted. Being a man means nothing if you're not "the right kind of man" if you're not an alpha, if you're not a sigma male then you're not good enough.

Go figure now they start viewing women as objects. That's not a woman, that's a ticket to not being a beta virgin anymore. She can be bought, she can be manipulated because he's an "alpha" he has money, he has control; he's a man. He's been taught all of this, he's been taught that "bitches don't matter." He's been told that working out and having money can get him any woman he wants. He's been taught women are dumb, that they're materialistic; that they don't matter outside of being a quick fuck. If someone tells him off, or doesn't like him it's because "she's a crazy bitch." I was once told "men don't have friends, men have competition." This is how they're taught.

So now you approach this man in some attempt to help him understand the faults in his ways. The problem is he's been convinced for the last so many odd years that by simply being a Leftist, or by being gay, or by being trans; you're wrong. Before a single word leaves you mouth. Because "all Leftists are special snowflakes who just get triggered by everything." Which unfortunately the internet has "proved" to him because of those videos of gay people screaming at cameras, or posts that generalize all straight/white/cis men to be bad people.

Again, this isn't some catch all solution. It's not going instantly turn the tide or something, but you have to stop using general terms. Be specific; don't say "men" say "Sexists" if what you mean is "sexist men" then say "sexist men." Because when you just say "men" you do imply "all men, including you; the man reading this." Whether that's what you mean or not. I don't believe that men are inherently born with a want for things like sexism and racism. I really don't believe men are some inherent evil born with bad intentions. I believe it's a combination of the way the popular culture tells them they should be something great; and the way the Left tell them they're a horrible person for how they were born. That's a fast track for becoming a "Crypto Hitler."

I cannot tell you how many genuine conversations I've been able to have with Rightwingers, where I've been able to sort of get them to see my side of things even just a little. Because I didn't point a finger at larger audiences. I was talking to a man on a forum just a few days ago about the inherent issue of sexism in an abortion ban. I made sure to use the word "sexists" and the word "men" as separate entities. When I was discussing how men have bodily autonomy that women don't, I would say just that; when I mentioned that sexists want to control a woman's body I would also say just that. He still mentioned several times "Well I never said I wanted to do that." To which I had to point out to him that I never said he did, I said Sexists did; so if he wasn't in fact Sexist then the shoe doesn't fit.

My goal in all of that was to absolve him of blame; but only so long as he didn't fit the bill for the sort of people who deserved the blame. I let him see it as a matter of simple fact. No different than saying "if you didn't shoot this man then you're not the murderer." I didn't say "everyone with a gun shot this man and therefore everyone with a gun, including you; is in fact the murderer." Because doing so would cause nothing but argument. Rather I treated the whole thing as though he couldn't have possibly been at fault right? By the end of it he came out of it saying that abortion still goes against his religious beliefs; but that he can understand how it's specifically a women's issue; and how there should be further discussion about the effects of abortion as a treatment that could potentially save lives. Crazy how that works right? I got a Rightwinger to admit that hey, abortion isn't an issue men should be speaking on. All because I ensured that he didn't feel as though I was pointing a finger specifically at HIM as a man, for being the problem; and instead let him come to the conclusion of whether or not he specifically fit the mold of a "sexist" or a "man." He told me that I was a lot smarter than "those autistic leftists" but he never knew I in fact am an autistic Leftist. That's literally just because in his mind he knows what an "Autistic Leftist" is, what they will say; how they will act, how they'll react. By not being that stereotype; he couldn't just label me some buzzword and write off what I was saying. In his eyes I was a man with a wife and was merely concerned over the safety of our wives and daughters.

Sometimes that's what it takes to make someone see things your way, if I explained to him that I'm a pansexual genderfluid individual who never intends to have children and just believes women should have the right to bodily autonomy for the sake of bodily autonomy the same as cis men have; well he'd probably write me off immediately.

I'm not saying you have you hide who you are, I'm not saying you have to appeal to their bigoted whims and humor their insults. However I am saying that you need to conduct yourself in a way that's going to show young men that you care about them too. That even the young cis white straight men have a place in a Leftist society; that they won't be hated for simply being true to themselves, how they identity; and how they love. That what we want is equality for everyone; and specifically what rights they have for simply being those things, that the rest of us don't for simply being who and what we are.

tl;dr We can save a lot of young men from becoming Crypto Hitlers if we actually stop talking about men in general like they're already Crypto Hitlers.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

To the previous Anon: The press called Queen Camilla "Camilla Parker Bowles" until she became Queen. I've also heard "Sophie Rhys Jones" quite a lot.

Camilla Parker Bowles, Sophie Rhys Jones, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle... It's not all classism. They just want more clicks. It's annoying, but I don't think it's really a big problem.

Why don’t you give being called by the wrong name a try and see if it’s only just annoying?

Because I’ll tell you this - being a Megan variant means that most people are going to spell my name the way they’re used to spelling it from other Megans in their lives. Starbucks baristas, hair salons, doctor’s offices, restaurant waitlists - every single one spells Megan differently. Doesn’t bother me. They don’t know me from Sam. As long as it looks like a Megan and sounds like a Megan, I don’t care. Just give me what I came in for.

But when the people who know better that are the ones doing it to you? Like your aunts, uncles, and cousins? Your teachers? Your closest friends? Your colleagues? It’s not annoying. It is a big problem. It’s called disrespect.

British press and British media know better. They know how these women should be identified, titled, and styled. It’s not annoying. It is a big problem. It is disrespectful. It is classism.

[danicat9]

Anything You Can Carry

Charlie Weasley x Reader

Warnings: female reader, not proof read, kissing, slightly suggestive, not much really

Summary: You’re one of Percy’s friends and accidentally develop a crush on his older brother while visiting Romania with Percy

A/n: Just watched Ever After and I was inspired to put a Charlie Weasley spin on it.

Your POV:

I was in Romania visiting Charlie Weasley with my best friend, Percy. Percy and I were the same age and met at work and quickly became friends. Percy and I were polar opposites, but we were as close as can be. He knew I had a love for magical creatures, so when his brother invited him to visit, he immediately asked to bring me, which Charlie had no problem with.

I was expecting Romania to be beautiful, but I wasn't expecting Percy's brother to be the most beautiful man I had ever seen putting the scenery to shame. I was incredibly shy around Charlie which Percy seemingly caught on to, but he thankfully brushed it off as me being in a new place meeting new people. That was until Charlie invited me to go on a hike to see the ruins of a castle buried deep in the nearby forest.

"You're going on a hike to a castle alone in the forest with my brother... without me?" Percy asked with a raised brow.

"You can come too, I'm sure Charlie doesn't mind," I said trying to hide my blush, "I'm sure he just asked me because you weren't here at the time. Ask him when he comes back inside."

"No, I don't hike anyway, too much dirt and grass, but I swear to Godric Gryffindor, please don't sleep with my brother."

"Percy!" I gasped elbowing him.

"What? Don't act like I can't see you, I’m not that oblivious! Besides, I know him, he’s my brother!"

"I'm not sleeping with your brother in the middle of the forest! But if I did it wouldn't be your business!"

"Everyone I know ends up sleeping with my siblings." Percy groaned.

"Well, you do have six of them so statistically speaking—"

"I know! If you sleep with my brother, please don't tell me."

"I'm not, and I wouldn't tell you anyway."

Percy and I continued to bicker until we heard Charlie coming through the front door and we immediately dropped the subject.

***

"This is so beautiful." I said with a smile.

Charlie and I were sitting on the steps of what was once a beautiful castle and we took in the scenery.

"You know there's a legend that this castle was abandoned because there was a battle between the Romanian royal family and the magical creatures of the forest. Only a few people survived to tell the story. It was mostly women and children but two men survived. It has supposedly been generations and it's all stories, but it makes you wonder what happened when you see what's left of the castle."

"I think I heard that story, you know why only two men survived right?" I asked.

"No, why?" Charlie asked.

"I'm pretty sure because their wives outsmarted the forest creatures and they were spared. The whole story has so many twists. The forest creatures are always painted as evil, but they really just want to protect the land from harm by humans."

"Wow, I never heard that and I come here all the time!"

"I only know because something similar happens in a muggle movie I like called Ever After."

"Well, you'll have to show me—" Charlie began but he was soon cut off by a snapping branch nearby.

Charlie and I both grabbed our wands and stood up.

"Is someone there?" Charlie shouted.

Even though the war was over and never spread much out of the UK, everyone was still very much on edge. Today was no different. It could have been an animal, but part of my brain was convinced it was a Death Eater.

"What are you doing here." A voice snarled.

Charlie grabbed me and put himself in front of me and held his wand out. I tried to get out from behind him, but his grip on my arm kept me in place so I settled on drawing my wand too just in case.

"Who are you?" Charlie asked defensively.

"Who are you? You don't belong here."

More branches snapped and I peered around Charlie to see these creatures I had never seen before. They almost looked like goblins or elves but not quite either.

Charlie didn't answer and the creature continued, "Haven't you heard the stories? This is our land. Men like you go missing for messing around here."

"I’m sorry, I come here all the time and have never seen you. I didn’t know." Charlie replied.

"We were preoccupied. This is our land and you're not welcome here."

"We'll leave now." Charlie said inching down the steps with his wand still drawn.

"No," the creature said holding up its hand, "she can go, you stay."

"What?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie," I whispered, "the legend, it's true. They killed the men and set the women free."

"You won't hurt her?" Charlie asked.

"She walks free, unharmed."

"Y/n, go, now, find Percy." Charlie said turning to me.

The gears were turning in my head and I had a plan, thankfully I watched a lot of muggle movies. I took a few steps forward without breaking eye contact with the creatures in front of us, especially the one who was doing all the talking.

"Can I take our bag?" I asked pointing to the bag Charlie had taken with snacks in it.

"You can take anything you can carry."

"Swear it." I said holding my hand out.

"Fine," the creature said shaking my hand, "I swear you can take anything you can carry."

I picked up the bag and swung it over my shoulder. Charlie's eyes were going between me and the creatures the whole time. Once I got the bag I started walking back towards Charlie.

"What are you doing, go!" Charlie exclaimed.

Without saying a word I quickly picked Charlie up. I had learned how to do the fireman's carry when Percy twisted his ankle and couldn't walk. While Percy was skinny, he was almost a foot taller than me so I figured I could at least carry Charlie far enough to get the deal. Charlie was the shortest Weasley brother at about 5 feet 8 inches, but he was also incredibly muscular and in turn weighed a lot. Charlie was startled and so was I if I was being honest and the creatures were jaw dropped. All of them began murmuring.

"You've heard the full story." The leader said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I have." I said with Charlie on my shoulders still stunned, “I know you’re only trying to protect the nature, and we mean no harm.”

"Well, I have to honor my end. If you can carry him off our land, you are free for good unharmed. I will admit you are very smart and the first to understand why we must protect this land, but you will never be able to carry him far enough."

"Try me." I said with a grin.

I started walking off and immediately had to heavily focus on my feet. Charlie was heavy and hard to maneuver with.

"Where did you learn to do this?" Charlie asked in astonishment, "I weigh 180 pounds!"

"So does Percy. He twisted an ankle once and I had to carry him into St. Mungo’s. You're shorter than him, but you have more muscle so it's just like carrying a more compact Percy." I said, "Besides, this is how the men survived the fall of the castle, the legend says their wives carried them out on their backs when they were told they could take what they could carry. I wasn't going to leave you there. Did you seriously think I would?" I asked now out of breath from talking and carrying him.

"Well, yeah. I didn't think about this because it didn't cross my mind that you could or that it was a possibility but I thought you would leave because you had the opportunity to go safely. You barely know me. I guess I'm lucky Percy twisted his ankle."

"Charlie, I would've stayed right there with you if I didn't have a plan."

"Why would you do that?" He asked

I didn't immediately respond, thankfully there was a slight incline so I played it off as concentrating, not like I was embarrassed to tell him why.

"Because, it's the right thing to do. Why should my life be more valuable than yours? I went with you and I was either leaving or staying with you."

"Well," Charlie said thoughtfully, "if you have the chance to save one life, especially yours, instead of no lives, wouldn't you take it?"

"Charlie, it's not the same. Besides I really—" I stopped myself and blushed hoping Charlie couldn't see from his angle.

"Really what?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing, are we off their land yet?"

"Another five hundred yards and it's land that belongs to the reserve. Now what were you going to say?"

I walked the rest of the way and set Charlie down before laying down on the grass in exhaustion.

"I’ve grown to really like you since I’ve been here, Charlie. I wasn't coming back without you. I'd never forgive myself."

Charlie sat next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, I think it was stupid and reckless, but thank you. You saved my life when you could've just left me."

"Don't lecture me about stupid and reckless, Dragon Boy." I huffed.

"I guess you're right," Charlie laughed, "I have no room to talk. How about we agree not to tell Percy anything?"

"Deal!" I said quickly.

"I can hear it already." Charlie said beginning to mock Percy's safety speeches.

"He's gotten so much worse." I laughed.

"I think it's the war, when Fred almost died it shook him up."

"Must be because before we left he said—" I cut myself off again realizing I couldn't tell Charlie that story.

"What?"

"He basically said be safe."

"Which you weren't." Charlie pointed out.

"Well, I'm sorry, next time a guy brings me to castle ruins on the land of territorial forest creatures fighting for nature, I'll leave him to die. I'll skip the gym from now on since I won't need to be carrying anyone."

“I really didn’t know that legend was true, I’ve gone so many times without a problem. I’m so sorry, y/n.” Charlie said.

“Don’t worry, it was an adventure.” I said shrugging.

“Well I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt. I like you too. I have felt bad this whole time because you’re my little brother’s friend, but I can’t help it. I’ve never met someone like you.”

“So what does this mean?” I asked quietly.

My head was reeling on the logistics of a potential relationship with Charlie since he was here and I was in London.

“Well, we don’t tell Percy, and maybe you let me take you on a date and see what happens from there?”

“Sounds like a plan.” I said with a grin.

Charlie leaned over to give me a short and sweet kiss just for it to be interrupted by a groan.

“Y/n, we had this conversation, my brother?”

Charlie and I looked up to see Percy who had been walking by and witnessed the kiss. So much for the ‘don’t tell Percy’ plan.

“I just kissed him after saving his life. You wouldn’t have a brother if it weren’t for me.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not.” Charlie laughed.

[pleasantly-painful-fiction]

I spent many years studying Hitler, the Holocaust, and the events leading up to one of the worst parts of human history, all in a desperate attempt to understand the HOW and WHY. How could a country - how could the world let something like that happen? Why was this allowed to happen? And the worst part about finally understanding was realizing how easily it could happen again, and how often it did happen again. Eventually you realize that Hitler wasn't all that special. Same with everyone else. You also realize that, had you been in the same situation as many German citizens, there's a good chance you would have done the same things. Of course, if you don't already know this, you probably won't believe it, and there's not enough time to explain it all.

But perhaps even more terrifying is how difficult it is to prevent a repeat. Unlike a frog, society doesn't jump out of the pot if you slowly heat the water. The holocaust didn't start in 1939 with WWII. It didn't start when Hitler came into power in 1933 either. The stove was turned on more than a decade earlier, and the water was slowly heating up, but most people wouldn't realize what was happening until the water was boiling.

And what's more terrifying than all of that? Watching it happen all over again. Those that were especially knowledgable about WWII/Hitler/the Holocaust, saw the signs in 2016 before Trump took office. They noticed the similarities in policy, environment, language, behavior, etc, and they tried to warn people, but the water was fine. No one wanted to believe it would ever boil. Those that weren't as familiar with that part of history couldn't see the connection. That is until a few years ago. Finally! Some people were noticing. It was being talked about. And yet... people still weren't convinced the water would ever boil. And they still aren't today.

The most terrifying thing is knowing that we are walking down a very dangerous path. It's knowing that Trump and the republican party have already started setting up the perfect environment for a genocide in this country. It's feeling the water get warmer and warmer, begging everyone around you to get out before it's too late, and watching so many of them refuse.

The republican party is spewing hate towards American citizens. It's spewing hate towards people who aren't white, who aren't republican, who aren't male, who aren't straight, who aren't heterosexual, who aren't Christian, who aren't on their side; and they aren't even trying to hide it. The republican party has failed to condemn the Proud Boys, the KKK, the insurrectionists, and so on. The republican party is more worried about a book turning a kid gay than a person with a gun ending that kid's life. The republican party repeatedly refuses to work with anyone not on their side. They continue to repeat harmful lies and rumors about minority groups. They continuously blame the blacks, the immigrants, the disabled, the gay, the trans, the non-Christians, the women, the democrats, and whoever else they can come up with for every little problem in this country. They are actively supporting hate IN THIS COUNTRY.

They are doing the same thing Hitler and his party did. The. Same. Thing. They've even made attempts to register the Muslims.... you know.... like Germany registered the Jews.

So yeah, excuse me if I don't want a SECOND genocide in this decade. Excuse me if I don't want to repeat history. And excuse me if I definitely don't want to repeat history and have a second genocide in the 2020's in my own backyard.

If you don't like genocide, sit down, shut up, and open your eyes. There's no good option here, so pick. You can have one genocide or two genocides. You can protect your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc, or you can doom this country, Palestine, and many other parts of the world. You can help destroy this country, or you can try to save it.

The water is starting to simmer. Are you going to continue sitting in it until you're boiled alive, or are you going to try to climb out?

“undecided voters” as a concept is so hilarious like I can’t imagine making it to this point in the election cycle and being like “I still just don’t know….”

[ominous-feychild]

Hi, guys. It's me, Barlowe.

No fun aesthetics, none of that. We're addressing the election today.

I never thought I'd be political on my blog—and, in fact, avoided it except for where I really wanted to get things out to everyone, like Project 2025—but circumstances have forced me to step up.

For those who want to see my actual Writeblr intro, you can find it here. This post is getting pinned to my blog for a while.

So, hi. Barlowe here.

I'm an autistic lesbian with health issues I'm too poor to treat.

I'm currently in a relationship with a Mexican-American woman.

My older sister, although we don't really get along, is trans.

I do not care about my relationship with her. What matters is that she is in legitimate danger. Because of the results of the election.

My girlfriend? She's in danger, too. She had people yell and spit at and shove her during Trump's first term, and she had little to nobody she could turn to for help. Like me, she's chock-full of struggles and disabilities. So much so that I almost want to say she's had it even worse than me in that regard.

But I won't be comparing struggles here; that's not the point.

My little sister is still a teenager. She lives in Florida.

As a 13-year-old, she had people call her a slut for wearing a tank top.

A tank top.

It's Florida. It's hot.

She was 13.

Do you know the amount of rage I felt when I heard that?

I'm a nonviolent af grown-ass adult and I wanted to track down those kids to beat them tf up. I wanted to teach them a lesson to never treat my little sister like that again.

But they aren't the source of the problem, do you know that?

The source of the problem is their parents. The media. The internet, and echo chambers full of disgusting, sexist pigs who reduce women—and girls—to nothing more than sex objects for men.

“Grab 'em by the pussy.”

Did we all forget that?

Did we all forget how disgusting that pathetic excuse for a man is?

Did we ignore all of his crimes, all of the things he's done?

Why? Because Harris is a black woman? Because she's mixed? Because she's flawed? Because she didn't deserve to win?

Listen to me.

That's not good enough.

Maybe she didn't deserve to win. But do you know what?

Nor did Trump.

Trump deserves to be IN JAIL.

He's racist, he's xenophobic, he's sexist, a rapist, a homophobe, a convicted felon, and so, so much more.

And yet here we are.

How did millions of people vote a man like that into office?

I would've gone running for the hills at just ONE of those things?

... but that's not the point.

We're here now, except... things aren't quite as clear-cut as we've been led to believe.

There's an interesting saying that goes something like:

“People most often expect from others what they know of themselves.”

And what did Trump most love screaming at the hills?

That the votes of 2020 were rigged.

And he said to “find votes”.

Well, it looks like he found them.

Or, at the very least, he's gotten rid of Democratic ones.

There were bomb threats called in on democratic-leaning polling locations, machines “didn't recognize” ballots, democratic ballots were rejected for inane reasons, and ballots were burned.

Do you think a man so obsessed with so-called “rigging” wouldn't engage in it himself? Whether he truly believed it or not—which, it's been proven that he didn't, and only claimed so to rile up his cultish followers, causing January 6th—who's to say he wouldn't do it himself to “even out the playing field” so to speak? Who's to say a man like him wouldn't claim election fraud 4 years in advance just to pull the wool over all of our collective eyes later?

I'm not saying that he hasn't won.

But I am saying it's not goddamn over.

There's petitions you can sign demanding for recounts [EDIT: THEY DELETED THE LAST ONE!!!! THIS IS A REPLACEMENT!!!]. You can contact Harris to beg her to not take this lying down. You can—and SHOULD—contact the White House directly.

Listen to me.

Check out Project 2025.

My sweet, lovely girlfriend has been shoved and verbally abused—harassed into literal agoraphobia that she's already slipping back into just because of the election's results—by people who ate up the hateful rhetoric of the Right.

She lives in a Blue State.

Even while my trans sister was male-presenting, she was treated differently—coldly—before she cut her hair short again. Suddenly, people would smile at her on the streets again.

She's since started transitioning, and what about now?

My little sister was physically bullied while she lived in Texas.

They, too, are lucky I was never around for that.

Now, in Florida, I doubt she fares much better.

My friend, who's a teacher in Texas, has been forced to publish under a pseudonym and try their complete and utter best to hide their writing so they're not fired for her job. Why?

Because the MC's nonbinary.

My friend is terrified for their son, growing up in a world like this. They're terrified to have another kid—which they want—because 'what if it's a daughter?' They don't want to bring a girl into a world like this.

And they don't want to risk a pregnancy that can end their life.

People all across the states are being forced to give birth to the children of their rapists... or die because of complications in the womb.

Babies are being forced to die slowly in the womb rather than humanely, through “abortion”, after it's clear they're dying, but “still have a heartbeat.”

Queer folk, PoC, and immigrants have been targeted and live in fear for their lives. They deal with VERY real violence and harassment, even if you don't see it yourself.

This is all the lasting effects of Trump's first term as president.

He and his followers spread a hateful rhetoric strongly aligning with Hitler's before the man took over. They fearmonger and sell out minorities as the reason everything's wrong in this country.

They make minorities a scapegoat, and make them into targets.

Regardless of the actual results of the election, these so-called “victories” for the Right only embolden the bigots to act more and more egregiously.

It doesn't matter if you're “one of the good ones”. It doesn't matter if “most Republicans aren't like that”. It doesn't matter what you think.

What matters is reality.

And reality is: a Trump victory means victory for the extremists.

They ran with it the first time.

What do you think they're going to do with it this time?

This all isn't to sound doomeristic, though—I think we still have a chance. I think Trump's rigged this thing for a reason. I think we need to push for this stuff to be exposed.

But it's going to take everything we have, guys.

Sure, maybe Harris isn't perfect. She's questionable af in a LOT of places, and I personally hate her stances on Palestine. I'm sure most of all of us do. But, do you really think Trump will be any kinder?

Do you really care to doom everyone else off of the miniscule chance that he'll decide to help them?

Listen: Harris isn't trying to turn the States into the next fascist dictatorship. Trump is. Harris isn't showing EVERY single “preparing for a genocide” red flag. Trump. IS.

Petition for recounts. Tell Harris not to give up.

And contact the White House telling them this is not acceptable.

Complain about the bomb threats. Complain about the lost ballots. Complain about the tampered-with ballots. Complain about the burned ballots, complain about the rejected ballots, and don't stop fighting tooth-and-nail like Trump kicked and screamed after the 2020 election.

Don't give up. It's not too late.

And, to my followers?

Let me make this abundantly clear.

If any of you voted for Trump? If any of you wanted him to win, or for Harris to lose?

Then get the fuck off my blog.

I don't give a shit what kind of relationship we've had in the past, or if you liked my writing, or any of that.

A loss for Harris is a win for Trump—it's that simple.

You aren't morally superior for choosing not to vote for Harris no matter WHAT reason you had for it. You aren't morally superior for finding her dubious, for hating her views on Palestine, or for refraining from choosing either of the two evils.

You're a coward.

An enabler, comforting yourself by telling yourself “at least you didn't have a hand in {whatever turned you against her}”.

Sure, you didn't kill the sheep.

But you left the gates open for the wolves.

And that makes you responsible for their deaths.

You knew the risks of leaving the gate open. But you did it anyway.

And, to any of you who voted for Trump?

I want you to know I HATE you.

No matter what, no matter who, no matter WHY.

I consider you all equally responsible for anything and everything that happens as a result of his presidency if it comes to be.

It isn't “just politics”.

It isn't something you can just wipe your hands clean of.

Maybe you don't have to face the consequences for the things that come from this, but I, the people I love, and countless others do.

It's not “just politics”.

It's our fucking lives.

And I hope, one of these days, you learn to regret it as much as the rest of us.

So, to those of you who left the gate open?

Do yourself a favor.

Get the fuck off my blog before I find out you did.

[kennytheworkingclasshero]

Alongside Stan, we've also seen Kenny experience addiction issues. Most notably in the episode Major Boobage, where he spends the majority of the time favouring the escapism that cat pee offers him from his day to day life. Kenny is often spending his time taking care of his sister, dealing with his parents' own inebriation and their tendencies towards domestic abuse, as well as having to go through painful deaths over and over again. The relief and happiness he feels when he is able to go into another world, where he is experiencing the things that he loves (good looking women, obviously), is enough to make him do it again and again (despite how worried his friends are).

This is similar to Stan, as seen in Ass Burgers when he has to come to terms with his parents divorce, as well as developing depression and a sense of cynicism in the world. He takes to alcohol very easily in order to numb the pain and be able to make it through his day.

Kenny and Stan are both victims of addiction being passed down genetically; Kenny with his parents being addicts and Stan with his father and grandfather being addicts. However, I do think their reactions to addiction is very different, and it all comes down to the environment in which they were raised.

For Kenny, he grew up with two parents who were very clearly addicts. There was no hiding it, they were always drunk or high and their kids knew that. Kenny as Mysterion even asked them to stop getting high as frequently as they do, which is seen in the episode Mysterion Rises when Carol says they did what he asked and they "stopped gettin' high every night." Kenny has deep rooted trauma which stems from his parents addiction and what happens because of it, like neglect and domestic violence. That is why when Gerald is giving his speech at the end of Major Boobage and he says "Problem is, the more you go into that world, the more you need to go. Until you start blowing off all the real people who care about you." Kenny resonates with this, looking down guiltily and saying to himself "Yeah, I guess so."

Him and his siblings experience this everyday and that has real material effects on their lives. This is seen in The Poor Kid when the McCormick siblings are taken into foster care because of their parents neglect. Karen asks why her mom and dad went to jail and Kenny replies with sentiments that are similar to Geralds speech, of them "blowing off" the people that care for them in real life; "Sometimes, people do stupid things. Sometimes they don't realize what should have come first. Until it's too late."

He doesn't want to become like his parents, he wants to put his family (and more specifically, his little sister) first. Because she's all he's got, because he has taken on the role of her caregiver due to his parents struggle with addiction. If he gives into his own 'needs', who will be there for her? That is why he restrains himself and that is why the way he has been brought up, despite being surrounded by addicts from a young age, has made him want to distance himself from substances.

This is not to say that Stan's upbringing didn't have an effect on his addiction, but the Marshes are able to put on the front of a more put together family due to their economic status, in a way the McCormick's simply cannot. They are middle class, Randy has a good job, they live on the 'good' side of town. Randy is a terrible father and an idiot, who doesn't put much effort into his family members lives, but he is a functioning alcoholic. It is easier to hide and therefore, Stan's trauma is not as clearly linked to substances and addiction as Kenny's is. Stan also does not hold much responsibility for other family members in the way that Kenny does and because of this, it is easier for him to fall into his addiction in the way Kenny isn't. Stan isn't even particularly introduced to alcohol by his father, but rather a group of cynics.

However, this does not absolve Randy from his responsibility for his son's addiction or trauma. It still stems from Randy, but it also functions differently from Kenny's.

[actuallyyangxiaolong]

You made a lot of good points here, so I decided to do some more research.

It looks like, broadly, Gen z is very left wing and progressive. I'd say that the most concerning thing are the shifts: according to this USA today article, Gen z men shifted 15 points to the right compared to 2020, with Gen z women shifting 7.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/11/07/trump-win-men-gen-z-voted/76095027007/

For a voting demographic to change by 15% in 4 years is pretty shocking. And that to me does indicate that there is a problem. It may not be as large of a problem as some people are making it out to be, but it is definitely significant and shows a gender gap. Especially since, historically, younger people have been a strong democratic voting block.

The main problem we are running into is also that we have such limited data on this, which is part of why anecdotes are so common.

Also, yes, Gen z men and boys who were polled supported Biden. But that support did not show up in the actual election numbers, with Harris. Which leads me to believe that sexism and racism were large drivers in this change- that could indicate radicalization, or could just be proof that our society is sexist and racist. I think we'll have a better answer for that when all of the voting data is fully counted.

Having watched my grandparents become people who only parrot what fox News says, my dad spiral towards conservatism after becoming a Joe Rogan fan, and having been pulled towards radfem communities on Tumblr back in 2015, I do want to warn against the dangers of dismissing this. Radicalization is very real, and spending time in small, insulated communities the way the Internet allows makes it much worse. The kind of YouTube and Twitter algorithms that shove Nazi shit in your face, combined with the isolating effects of the pandemic when lots of young people were at a critical time for their social and political development, is not something to be brushed off.

I'd even say that the statistics you mentioned about identification of "very conservative" shows this. That number has increased by 4% among young men since 2004. Yeah, it's not a large number, but not every Gen z guy watches Joe Rogan or games constantly. But it is certainly enough to indicate that there has been an increase in young men who are alt right and extremely conservative- that number could be explained by this type of radicalization. It's probably not a massive wave of fascism, but it's enough to be concerned.

Especially because young men have already been engaging in some of the political violence, which rarely happens without some sort of radicalization.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-teen-machete-arrested-voter-intimidation-polling-place/story?id=115310490

Also, this isn't meant as an attack on op- I wanted to see what the data said myself.

Tldr; the reality is probably somewhere in the middle, radicalization among young people is a problem but it's not catastrophic. But also, we don't have a lot of good data, so it's hard to draw conclusions that are grounded in evidence

remember when millennials said we weren't going to be as weird and stupid about gen z as boomers were about us? lol that didn't last long huh

[velvetvexations]

My early socialization experience was weird as hell.

My mother wanted a daughter to treat like a doll with all the extremely gendered nonsense that entails - and was also a second wave radfem and former political lesbian, which...yeah she was half all in on the gendered shit, but also half in weird denial about it. My dad...is the one I got my auDHD from, and the result was that he raised me exactly the same way his parents raised him - which was also very gendered, but he didn't notice that. He didn't notice how differently they treated him and his sister. He just noticed what they did right by him and what he wanted to repeat. He taught me how to use tools and rebuild car engines and be handy and outdoorsy; while my mother was giving me the whole "oh sweetie don't get your dress dirty (: oh yes you should be a #girlboss in STEM but fixing a chair is too dangerous for you to do alone why don't you get your dad to help (: are you suuuuure you can lift that 8-pound object???" thing, my dad was teaching me how to operate a forklift and training me with good lifting technique and encouraging me to haul shit twice my size and letting me learn the kinds of lessons that can only be learned by minor injury. Damned near the only thing he WASN'T doing was the whole "man up" schtick, but even THAT I kinda got a detoxified version of; there was a lot of value placed on keeping my complaints in perspective, building my emotional regulation to the...best of my limited ability, and trying to solve problems independently - again, his WHOLE thing was pretty much just "what would I repeat from what my parents did to me? What would I change?" With absolutely no regard paid to "what was different for my sister? What would have been different if I'd been a girl?" Because he straight up didn't notice that shit.

As a result I fundamentally don't care that he can't quite get gendered terms right for me, because whatever, he's always treated me like just a she/her boy anyway.

Meanwhile, like I said, my mother considered herself a feminist, full on tried to force herself to be a lesbian about it in her 20s, and yet she STILL constantly underestimated my physical strength, treated my appearance like it was the most important thing about me, and kept pushing me to sit down and "be polite" - but she usually didn't SAY these things had anything to do with me being a girl, and in many cases probably didn't even realize they were herself. "Girls can do anything boys can do - but also if you fight back against your [also prepubescent, but male] bullies They Will Kill You To Death They Are Stronger You Cannot Win" was a sentiment I got (in much less clear terms) ALL THE TIME from her through elementary school. She was obsessed with my appearance, in that distinct radfemmy "well sure butches are cool but uh by butch you still mean skinny in form-fitting clothes with a pixie cut, right?" kind of way. She would never say I should dress "more ladylike" and would get angry at family members who WOULD say that out loud - she even introduced me to the concept that crossdressing is fine (sometimes) and that trans men exist (in which she made it clear she thought of us as just weird butch women) - but she would get really, really weird and cruel if I wore jeans she considered "unflattering".

And that's just the thing, about why all flavors of radfems are wrong about how "socialization" does and doesn't impact people! She never tied gender to a good half or so of those messages, so even after I started transitioning, they still felt like they were always aimed at me. Meanwhile, I got the same kind of auDHD from my dad that made him never see the gender of his own upbringing, only "things my parents did that I would repeat vs. things they did that I would not" - I only realized just HOW aggressively gendered my mother's behavior was by studying sociology years later.

Terfs are wrong that early socialization is destiny, everyone responds to the same messages the same way, and GNC "men" are treated wonderfully.

T[i]rfs are wrong that we all ONLY ever internalize messages aimed at our ACTUAL genders and trans men can just shake off misogyny because it's not REALLY aimed at us, regardless of whether that claim stays in the realm of "because WE know deep down that something is off when we're being called the wrong thing" or gets all the way into the batshit belief that everyone has ESP for people's essential soul gender and GNC men ARE treated just fine and it's ONLY eggmode trans women who get mistreated (and they all do regardless of how well they do or don't perform masculinity) and trans men are all totally raised as men and never treated misogynistically in the first place because of that soul gender ESP.

And ALL radfems are wrong that there's a rigid, universally applicable set of rules as to what socialization looks like based on your gender - just because there ARE broad patterns that DO need to be acknowledged doesnt erase the fact that from person to person there's a LOT of variance for a LOT of potential reasons, and that ends up meaning that in order to figure out what it means for trans people, you DO have to do a whole individual level examination - including by diving into the whole dysphoria-inducing disaster that is being perceived as the wrong gender and all that comes from it.

Also I sometimes half-jokingly identify as cis-bigender because between the thing with my parents, the fact that when I hit puberty it became apparent that I'm actually intersex, and the fact that I'm pretty sure I'd have been on the femboy-transfem cusp had I been AMAB, over 10 years into transition I finally feel manly enough to go high femme when the mood strikes, and I've finally gotten comfortable calling myself a girl when it's funny, I think that's a very fun label and about as accurate and honest as any single term comes.

I wish I could frame this ask.

[keeperesque]

I think anyone who reduces common complaints about misogyny in fandom spaces (f/f ships getting overshadowed, sidelining of female characters, the way rl women are treated, etc) to 'their fans just aren't insane or horny enough to compete w/ yaoi fans!!' has never interacted with people who actually like women

[fenrichaita]

Sometimes I wonder if people understand that you cannot make people stop comparing mentally ill and neurodivergent people to like serial killers and horror movie monsters without abandoning most of how we conceptualize and categorize mental illness. It's not like an ableism that comes from outside of the DSM or ICD from laymen, it's entirely baked in. The entire mental health system is about categorizing mentally ill and ND people as threats, liabilities, and inconveniences, while blaming it on intrinsic brain illnesses based on the ideas of typically incredibly biased and bigoted psychologists from several decades ago which are not founded in evidence (and said ideas persist mostly unchanged with the reasonings merely altered or justified with a shrug). The fact that after every mass shooting there is more posturing of "mental health awareness" and increasing MH services, when most mass shootings are committed by radicalized cis (and usually white) men tells you that a lot of this is security theatre. The MH system really just makes it more unsafe to seek medical help but it helps "neurotypical" people feel better, and it is the comfort of "NTs" that is most prioritized by this system. And of course, anyone who commits acts of extreme violence like mass shootings will likely be labeled mentally ill first (rather than radicalized, exc.) because of the circular logic that no one can be a Threat without being mentally ill. Do you see The Problem?

[lebensmudewing]

Give up intersectionality, it is not mutual from any group you try to care.

You root for the disabled in hope that will help disabled women, but within disabled groups the issues of disabled women are overlooked and minimized. It's "niche" to talk about how experts ignore autistic women, it's niche to even acknowledge that women are in more risk to become disabled due to autoimmune diseases.

Black people rights are important for you, but black men don't see the liberation of women as something fundamental to their fight.

And I won't even mention lesbian women, because the whole LGBT thing is a shitshow, they can't be real homosexuals anymore.

You are spending energy in people that don't give a shit about women. Women should be the core of everything, all those causes should be fought from a female POV. Stop asking, stop negotiating, stop saying that it is about equality or liberating all people.

Also, and maybe I'm wrong, but I think most problems could be solved if women actually had more power and resources. Yes, powerful and rich women also face misogyny, but they have more chances and independency.

Maybe I'm insanely pragmatic, but I don't see value in pressuring people to not use certain words or display fake awareness that lately doesn't reflect in real things such as elections.

It's the same mentality I have about things like DV, like, what is more effective, give women more independency or try to teach men to stop hitting their wives and deconstruct themselves and how patriarchy hurts him too?

It's possible that I'm delusional, but Feminism 101 should be more "learn how to get your shit together and be safe from moids and controlling people" and less about "negociate with moids, then with black moids, then with disabled moids, then..."

Whats your unpopular radfem opinion?

Mine is that I do not get mad when radfems still wear makeup, especially if they’re cutting back on it heavily.