#then I saw a post that like set this off

[three--rings]

While writing today I was thinking...so I was writing something kinky, something that I find personally quite hot and that fit with the characters and scenario.  But I hesitated because...well I imagined people objecting to it on the grounds that it would be a Bad Idea to do In Real Life. 

And specifically, it reminds me of specific criticism I’ve heard leveled at the 50 Shades books.   And like, first of all I’m not here to defends 50 Shades, for one thing it would be really hard to do since I’ve never read them or seen any of the movies.  But also I’ve always thought some of the criticism they receive is unnecessarily harsh.  (Not all of it.  Just some.)

Because to me, a lot of people seem to really be unable to approach a work of fiction, and IN PARTICULAR a work about sex without pretending it is 100% Real.  And they direct their criticism accordingly: can you imagine doing this in real life, omg you would be arrested omg perverts omg sex crime omg dirtybadwrong.  

And like people never seem to stop and consider that...fiction is fantasy.  A safe exploration of ideas that are either unfeasible or impractical to enact in the real world.  I don’t care if your fantasy is being a pirate on the high seas or getting railed behind a supermarket, they are both impractical and full of moral, ethical and legal problems. 

But people act like, yanno exploring one of these things in fantasy is fine and the other is a sign that you’re a Secret Degenerate.  That you Don’t Understand That This Would Be Wrong. 

But like, I was brought face to face with this today, writing something that I’m very aware is at the least Extremely Morally Dubious in a real world context.  But writing it anyway because it’s hot to me and what the fuck is smutty fanfic for if NOT exploring these things safely.

And I just feel like so much of Media Criticism these days, especially of the tiktok/youtube variety, though I enjoy snarking at shitty things as much as the next person, but so much of it is pearl-clutching about fiction being unrealistic.  That if this Fictional Scenario Was Real it would be bad and unhealthy and dangerous and like, it’s always about the romance tho, isn’t it.  It’s rarely about how actually you’d get gangrene from that wound without antibiotics or whatever. 

And I’m really tired of this idea that Fiction for Women is bad because the audience is Too Stupid to tell the difference between fiction and reality.   And sometimes it’s about YA, and the argument is they’re too young.  Okay, fine.  But like, again, are you focusing on the bad advice about surviving in a wilderness or or you focusing on the unrealistic romances?

So yeah, I don’t know.  I think it’s important to acknowledge that fiction sometimes appeals exactly for the fact that it doesn’t follow the same rules as the real world.  That people can have something in fiction they wouldn’t want in the real world.  That, in fact, fiction is the appropriate place for that to happen. 

I don’t know, this isn’t coherent.  But I’m so tired of this argument that I see about oh people are too stupid to tell the difference between Art and Escapism and it’s all the fault of fanfiction and Dumb Media and like I think actually most people can tell the difference between indulgent media and stuff that’s supposed to be gritty realism but it’s armchair critics who equate everything to the same level of Depiction is Endorsement.  And unfortunately this has been the dominate form of internet media criticism for long enough that it’s all an entire generation has been exposed to. 

And as someone who writes indulgent smut on the regular and also has a degree in literature and psychology, like actually I’m not at all confused about the line between fiction and reality thanks. 

[oifaaa]

(tags via @violet-catsarelife )

no bc genuinely think the Jason adopts Tim thing is one of the best examples of people infantalising Tim and their perceptions of these characters ages being completely warped like why is a 19 year old with literally zero friends who's spent the last 3 years learning to fire guns in Russia gonna adopt a 17 year old who already has a decent support system

[qqchurch]

Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut had an arc where the MC crossdresses, is treated as a girl for the entire time, and has pseudo-yuri scenes with the main girl cast, and the staff changed the ED to show the MC in his girlself for the entirety of that arc????

what were they cooking

for reference, this is the usual ED and the guy's looks:

[garden-bug]

Is being critical of Sabine’s force sensitivity ‘gatekeeping’ the force or it is about how it undermines the established magic system and was not well written?

I’ll give you a clue it’s the second one.

[cerealbishh]

some pics of the outer range s2 cast hanging out(credit to chefseanvm, jmquinteros, christianjames_official, ybutterfly2, the.pbread, impoots, thetamarapodemski, and isa.arraiza on ig)

[wallylinda]

the popular alternate for barry working as a forensic scientist is to make him into a k-12 teacher but i really do think he has too delicate of a constitution for it. like can you even imagine he'd catch two teens making out behind the stairwell and turn so bright of a red that he starts wheezing in secondhand oxygen deficiency. he's way too hyperfixated on corpses just let him loose in a cemetary and all of his problems would magically fix themselves.

[poke-poke-poke]

finally back home after a tiring day - maybe a few minutes to relax won't hurt............

...

......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

wip + 'lineart':

hopefully when he wakes up, he'll wash his bedclothes... goomy slime + his shoes on the bed = no good------

[gelarshiesprofruitboarder]

@myxomat0s1s forced me atgunpoint to post these. its fine hell be fine.

rip tal youve been alive for what. 5 months? get emotions thrown at you // edit i forgot the last one. oops

[loveguts]

i’m not a transandrophobia truther in the slightest don’t get me wrong, but i think some people on here really need to realize and comprehend the fact that cis women, way WAY more often than not, hold extremely significant social and political power over trans men the vast majority of the time in our day to day lives

[jew-flexive]

everything i've learned about ofmd has been against my will but oh my GOD am i so glad i never watched that show....to all my mutuals processing yet another fucked up The Only True [& Christian!!] Redemption Is Death story line, ooof my thoughts are with you

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Adorned by stars | Changing States

When he hits the I-70, Jeremiah slots George Michael’s Faith into his ’98 Accord and drives with the windows down. His mother would chide him for two reasons: a) he’s wasting fuel and b) it’s begun to storm. But he likes the way the wind shears through his hair like a nail breaking drywall and he likes the way spats of rain settle on his skin like constellations because on the road, he isn’t just a hand for someone else to hold, a body to handle, a man who looks at another man and fears how much of himself he’s lost in his reflection. No. On the road he is the sky, adorned by stars of his own making, relentless in his abundance, blinking in the absence of any other light.

A little Changing States aesthetic & excerpt!

i'm so normal about him i'm so normal i'm so normal i'm so-

[dawnthefluffyduck]

Sunday doodles

[jce93]

thry have the perfect sun/moon dynamic but u guys arent ready to hear that js yet 🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫

[harrowharkwife]

.

[whimsica]

the pokedex is literally just the pokemon world's iNaturalist. it gets handed out to various 10 year olds and theyre sent to document pokemon because thats just what its like when youre 10 and have The Beasts type autism

[danystargaryens]

Do you ever go through your gifsets you’ve made and go: mhm i’m noticing a pattern here, i need to fix that.