#this is such an often repeated talking point
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trisockatops · 2 hours ago
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You being confused is simply not their problem. This is 100% a You Problem. You are trying way too hard to come up with some gotchya to dismiss trans people for a reason I cannot figure out, and if that's what multiple people are hearing, the problem is not how you are saying it. The problem is your belief. People are allowed to be confusing and messy. It doesn't mean you get to shove them into a different box so you don't have to deal with them. It means you have some work to do in letting go and accepting other people as they are and letting them be contradictions that confuse you because that's what humans do. I hope you're willing to listen and do that. It's hard work, but as someone who has done this kind of work a lot: it's so worth it. Not only will the work allow you to treat others better, but it will bring you an internal peace and freedom you had no idea you were missing.
It does not matter what you think. If someone identifies as trans, then they are trans, regardless of if they conform to your definition of a "good" or "acceptable" trans person. Cis people are willing to lump us all in as messy, confusing ('think of the children!'), freaks and perverts. They don't care. At the end of the day, we are all the same to them. You can either stand with us "confusing" trannies or you can isolate yourself repeating cis propaganda meant to divide us. We'll be here when you're willing to accept us, but it sure would be great if you didn't spend years stepping on us first. That's just a waste of time.
I don't think you're a trans ally until you accept trans people who don't want to transition. And I don't just mean medically.
I mean trans men who look indistinguishable from cis women and trans women who look indistinguishable from cis men and they're happy like that. Who have no intention of changing their style, presentation, or even pronouns.
Some women don't look like the stereotypical idea of "woman" and it's the same for men. But they're still men and women. I need you to understand that gender has no bearing on appearance and people's comfort in their own bodies is more important than the fictional idea of what manhood and womanhood looks like.
And, yes, some people can't transition due to disability or funds or whatever and they're included in this, yes. But you need to accept people who don't want to either. Who willingly make the choice to not transition in any way because that's how they're the most comfortable.
A trans person who doesn't transition is just as much their gender as anyone else of that same gender. Please get that through your head.
To any trans men who don't want to transition or change their appearance in any way: You're a man. You've always been a man. You will always be a man.
To any trans women who don't want to transition or change their appearance in any way: You're a woman. You've always been a woman. You will always be a woman.
The way your body looks doesn't matter in the slightest, your gender is real and legitimate and valid regardless of any other factors.
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alexanderwales · 2 days ago
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One of the things they went over when I took linguistics was the "euphemism treadmill", the tendency of initially-clinical or neutral words to undergo pejoration to the point that someone felt the need to replace the pejorated word with one that was clinical or neutral. And then of course the process of pejoration would start again.
The best example of this were words related to what we now call intellectual disability. In the past, "idiot", "simpleton", "moron", "feeble-minded", and "imbecile" were all relatively clinical terms. (This is one of those things that's often repeated, but if you go looking at newspapers from the 1920s, you do kind of wonder whether the negative connotations were just completely acceptable then, especially when they're talking about the successes of sterilizing the feeble-minded.)
The reason that pejoration happens is that while the word changes, the societal attitude toward the underlying thing most often does not, and so if they change the word and declare that this new word is totally neutral, then society's negative view is just going to keep making those words take on bad connotations. This will happen even with the most anodyne descriptions, like "mentally handicapped", which Google will inform you with a little warning is offensive and dated.
The linguistics class I took in the early 2000s spent a little time on the word "retarded", which by then was well on its way to complete pejoration (federal law was changed in 2010, from "mental retardation" to "intellectual disability"), but had not reached the point when it was "the r-slur". If I recall correctly, this was when "mentally handicapped" was still relatively in vogue, and sitting in that classroom I had thought that "retard" was going to go the way of "moron", a word that was used exclusively in a disparaging way. I thought it would be about as acceptable as calling someone an imbecile, I guess, which is impolite but which doesn't rise to the level of "slur".
But no, I was wrong. The euphemism treadmill will probably continue because we have not done anything about the underlying condition (that people with intellectual disabilities are less valued and looked down on), but "retard" has now become a slur, even if every other fucking word for low intelligence is still in common use as a disparagement.
It's wild how much you can see people dancing around this. I said above that Google gives an "offensive and outdated" tag to the term "mentally handicapped", but they also give that to "retarded". However, if you go to "imbecile" they don't give that tag. To save you the trouble of looking it up:
noun: imbecile; plural noun: imbeciles
a stupid person.
archaic a person of low intelligence.
Ah, lovely. So it's okay, because it just means "a stupid person", it used to mean "a person of low intelligence", but it doesn't mean that any more, so ... not offensive, I guess?
Except hold on, what does "stupid" mean again?
adjective: stupid; comparative adjective: stupider; superlative adjective: stupidest
having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.
Oh, okay, I see. So in the archaic sense "imbecile" meant a person of low intelligence, but now it means a person who has a lack of intelligence. Totally different, very understandable. Nevermind that "imbecile" was pejorated in the same way that "retard" was, and that using a negative word to refer to someone who is lacking intelligence is basically the same thing.
I think if you want to fight against the pejorative use of the word "retard", you should probably be fighting against a lot more words, and you should definitely be fighting against the societal view that people with lower intelligence are lesser. You can fight the language issue all you want, but it's just going to lead to more cycles of pejoration. There's no way that switching over to saying "person with a learning disability" (as it seems the UK bureaucrats now favor) is going to somehow end it.
Personally, I'm the kind of person who just goes with the flow. I think people with intellectual disabilities are just as much people as anyone else, deserving of care and compassion, but I also value intelligence at least as much as my surrounding society does, and while I do make attempts to temper my language, saying that an idea is stupid rather than casting contempt on a person who is stupid, that's a mighty fine line to tow, and ... people just don't care. If I call a politician a moron, no one will bat an eye. I will refrain from saying the r-word, because people get mad at you when you do that. I think if I got hit in the head tomorrow and became intellectually disabled, I would be more or less happy with this.
I don't have a strong principled stance, more a stance of "come on, what are we doing here". Euphemism treadmill goes brrrr, language gonna language, I just wish the whole linguistic and social process didn't feel like some out of control machine that wasn't actually doing anything for anyone, and that people would pay more attention to the underlying mechanisms for how/why pejoration actually works. Changing the word is not going to usher in an era of understanding and equality, we've proven that, haven't we?
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isshonihongo · 1 day ago
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JLPT N5 - している [Part 1]
している is a grammar point that is very very important in Japanese. The “して” part represents a verb in the て form. The “いる” part is the verb いる, which will change to different forms (for example います、る or ます).
している actually appears in several levels of the JLPTs - from N5 all the way to N2! As for the N5 level, there are 2 main ways that you will see it used. In this post let’s look at one of them!
First, here is your vocabulary.
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【Repeated Actions】
First let’s look at how している is used with repeated actions. These actions are mostly physical.
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= I climb Mt. Fuji every year.
Notice the two highlighted words, 毎年 and 登って. If 毎年 weren’t there you would almost always translate 登っています as “am climbing”. However, because 毎年 expresses repetition, it forces us to translate 登っています as “climb”.
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= Traffic accidents happen on this street often.
起きる is a verb that can mean “to wake up” or “to occur”. If sentence #2 didn’t have the word よく it would be understandable to translate 起きています as “are occurring”. However because of the よくwe understand that there is repetition and so we go with the “occur” translation instead.
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= Well you see, Dad has been going to China for work once a month since last year.
This time the word / phrase that expresses repetition is 毎月1回 meaning “once a month”. This tells us that 行ってる is “goes” instead of “is going”. Also, the い in the helping verb いる can be dropped, making 行ってる a more casual way of saying 行っている. It also works for います so that 行ってます is more casual than saying 行っています。
Finally, take a look at the nuance section. This んです is actually a different JLPT grammar point. The gist is that it’s used when you want to answer a question with extra details that you think the listener/reader wants to know. The ん is a shortened version of the particle の.
【Occupation or Social Position】
している is also used to talk about someone’s occupation or social position.
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= Taiki teaches Japanese at a Thai university.
There is no period of repetition stated outright, but we understand that teaching is a job that you do over and over. Thus, you should use 教えています instead of 教えます。
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= Aya is a trading company manager.
In this case, the しています simply means “is” or “has the position of”.
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= My little brother studies European history at a German university.
This last example is a good one to remember. Most times, if you say 勉強しています it will mean “currently studying”. However when it comes to being a student, the translation shifts to “studies (for an extended period of time)”. Actions that can be interpreted either way (like studying) will sometimes have time words / phrases like 今 (now) or 2、3時間 (for a few hours). That tells you that it is an action in progress. Other than those kinds of phrases, usually the meaning will be repetitive.
【Conclusion】
So there you have it! The first している is associated with repeated actions, occupations, or positions in society or work. It’s fairly easy to figure out if the sentence is talking about an occupation or a position. For repeated actions, the key is to look for words / phrases that express repetition and remember that they cause you to use the している version of your verb. With that, you should be fine!
Rice & Peace,
– AL
👋🏾
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twelvedaysinaugust · 2 years ago
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That anon is correct but the only problem is that this fandom has a very different view when its the other way around. The prevailing thought has always been that Louis should give up his time for Harry. He’s not working on his own stuff, he’s supposed to run after Harry. He’s not working on his album or the festival, we don’t see him because he’s going after Harry. Well if Harry’s not helping Louis then stop with the Louis’ following Harry around. Double standards and all
But I just don’t think this view is as prevalent as people say it is.
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aroaessidhe · 4 months ago
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2024 reads / storygraph
Greta & Valdin
contemporary fiction following two gay siblings who live together in central auckland
Greta, in her 20s, getting her masters and living on a shitty academic salary, getting over an unrequited crush, and exploring a new relationship
Valdin, in his 30s, who quit science for a tourism show, whose ex (he still isn’t over) is in his orbit again when work sends him to Argentina, and has to confront what he wants for his future
navigating adulthood, OCD, a messy eccentric Māori/Russian family
#Greta & Valdin#aroaessidhe 2024 reads#oh this is great. also so weird/familiar reading about people in nz especially cities i am familiar with#I enjoyed the quirky writing style and I really loved the central sibling relationship!#The plot is just kinda a lot of hanging out with various people and then having deep conversations with them. and repeat#(but also nothing ever getting SUPER in depth)#(often about things that they’ve somehow never talked about in the decades of being a family despite the amount of yapping they do?)#but not a criticism really that's kinda the point of the book i guess lol! I think it worked for the most part#It is quite unstructured which I didn’t mind for the most part but the end was a bit random?#there’s suddenly short chapters from other character’s POVs which was a bit whiplashy#especially being in first person (by the time I felt used to the new character’s voice the 3 page chapter would be over)#Also maybe I’m dumb and missed something but what was going on with their mum’s possible affair?#like they were talking about it at the end but�� i was confused if there was any conclusion drawn there. lol#there’s a review that’s like i hated this and all the product placement why do we need to know you got kapiti ice cream & went to [x] gelat#i just need you to know that we are like that about ice cream. they all have different vibes & giving that detail is just like...flavour#anyway yeah i thought it was good overall!#wlw books#mlm books
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hella1975 · 2 years ago
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got the train today and this lad sitting opposite me had never taken a train in the uk before so he asked me a couple questions and i showed him how to get the app up to track the route better and we wound up just kind of chatting the entire ride because it turned out he's a student in the same city as me and it was a bit awkward not just because we were complete strangers but because we were both struggling with each other's accents (he only moved from india a few months ago and his english wasn't completely fluent yet and i have an accent that is notoriously bad for foreign-speakers because it's v slang heavy and words/letters blend together and NOTHING gets enunciated so we were both going back and forth with it a bit) but we both just repeated/reworded things when necessary and we chatted for the entire hour and then afterwards he offered me his umbrella and to walk me home and i said no both bc i'd just met him and i didn't want him to get the wrong idea but still we both waved and laughed at each other bc of the rain when we went our seperate ways and yeah. it was just v nice
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lctibule · 1 month ago
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SPEECH PATTERNS — si-u
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complexity of vocabulary : ◼◼◼◻◻ emotion : ◼◼◼◻◻ sentence structure : ◼◼◼◻◻ profanity frequency : ◼◻◻◻◻ creativity : ◼◼◻◻◻ watchfulness : ◼◼◼◼◼
( bold all that apply ) ass. asshole. bastard. bitch. bloody. bugger. bollocks. crap. cunt. dick. frick. fuck. fuckshit. horseshit. motherfucker. piss. prick. screw. shit. shitass. chicken shit. son of a bitch. son of a whore. twat. wanker. ( given proper religious context ) christ on a bike. christ on a cracker. damn. goddamn. godsdamn. hell. holy shit. jesus. jesus christ. jesus, mary and joseph. sweet jesus.
( this or that )
contractions or enunciation? straightforward or cryptic? jargon or toned? complexity or simplicity? finding the right word or using the first word that comes to mind? masculinity, neutrality, or femininity? formalities or abrasiveness? insult or injury? praise or equivocation? frankness or lies? excessive or minimal hand gestures? name-calling or magnanimity? friendly or blunt nicknames?
( important questions )
do people have a hard time understanding or hearing your character ? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never does your character’s point come across easily when they speak ? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never would your character initiate conversations ? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never would your character be the one to end conversations ? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never would your character use ‘whom’ in a sentence ? yes / no / only ironically your character wants to make a counterpoint. what word do they use ? but / though / although / however / perhaps / mayhaps how would your character pick up the phone ? hello / hey / hi / yellow / yo / yeah / [name]. / what’s up / who is this / what do you want / can i help you? how does your character end conversations ? walk away / ask if that’s everything / say that that’s everything / give a proper goodbye / tell their company they’re done here / remain quiet / they don’t how does your character address others ? titles / first names / surnames / full names / nicknames what social class would others assume your character belongs to, hearing them speak ? upper / middle / lower in what ways does the way your character speak stand out to others ? accent / vocabulary / tone / level / politeness / brusqueness / it doesn’t
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fandomunsexyman · 11 months ago
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One of the worst experiences is opening the Ao3 pages for a character you like and then the top results all have a tag that is their name combined with some variation of the word mother and immediately learning everything you need to know about how the fandom perceives them.
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emometalhead · 2 years ago
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bumbleblurr · 2 years ago
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hot take I don't think idw comics prowl is copaganda like are they not clearly demonstrating that guy is a shithead at every chance they get .
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novstie · 2 years ago
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yes, yes, yes, and YES! On the end of someone who frequently does that: Sometimes I don't have the energy to respond to people or I'm busy with another task. I promise that I'm never mad at anyone for talking to me- just busy. I will always get back to you eventually. Be patient with me, and I'll do the same for you.
Online communication is strange in that it's not always going to be an immediate undivided-attention interaction, but that's okay. It's normal for a text conversation to have dips of silence, just like any other conversation. You don't ever have to feel like you're "being held hostage" (crude phrasing, i know,) in a conversation. You're not obligated to have an immediate reply. Whether you need time to get your thoughts in order or you have other stuff do do in that moment, if you're talking to me and you vanish for a little bit, (or even a day), I promise I won't be upset. ESPECIALLY when its been disclosed to me in the past.
hi i just want everyone to know that i will never ever EVER be angry with anyone for not replying to my texts even though you’re visibly online and reblogging/posting. i understand that holding a conversation takes a lot more energy and effort than scrolling and posting and that’s 100% okay. take care of yourself first. the whole idea that you HAVE to reply to someone when you’re online is toxic and makes mentally ill people feel as though they are bad friends just because they can’t always reply within minutes. 
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why didn't they just use franziska for literally all of this.
#freya talks aai2#my goals of not being a forgotten/forsaken hater are not going well. he goes from 'kay is a dear ACQUAINTANCE' to 'i've not known her for#very long but i know she'd never kill anyone' to 'you are the kay i know so well' in the span of a few hours and it's like.#okay so you know it was too early in their acquaintanceship for this to really make sense but you still wanted a 'deep' and 'meaningful'#relationship to take the lead in this plotline. his sister is literally right there. it wouldnt have been hard to swap her in either because#she's literally investigating the smuggling situation. it would make perfect sense for her to be there following a lead instead of suddenly#revealing kay's promise notebook went missing. im not saying that the super-gentle super-meek persona would have made more sense with#franziska but honestly it wouldnt have made sense with any of them because it's more a caricature of a character rather than being an actual#previously unseen facet of one but you could've done so many more interesting things with franziska! she has an actual personal stake in#edgeworth's decision to continue as a prosecutor or not and we could get actual insight into how her own relationship with prosecuting and#its inextricable link to her father has affected her as a person. like when you show amnesiac kay the prosector badge all she says is that#it feels heroic warm and familiar like someone she knew used to show it to her often. and like cool. it's basically telling us she and her#father were close. which we already knew. imagine if franziska had said something like that or had had a more complex reaction. there would#be so many avenues to go with that!! you'd even be able to delve deeper into what edgeworth thinks about it all. like what if franziska was#just. happier. without her memories. then you'd have a story where edgeworth has to reckon with whether it might be kinder to let her live a#different life where she's unburdened by literally everything she's been made to go through and give her the same opportunity of starting#over that he now has.#im just writing fanfiction at this point but like. the amnesia plot is so frustrating to me HAHA they dont even do anything interesting with#it!! it's just oh she's lost her memories and we need to get them back because she's not 'herself' anymore without any discussion of like.#the nature of identity or living as who other people know you as vs whoever you might actually be#WHEN THE WHOLE CASE IS ABOUT EDGEWORTH DECIDING ON HIS PATH FORWARDS AND GRAPPLING WITH BEING THE PROSECUTOR EVERYONE HAS KNOWN HIM AS#whatever. WHATEVER.#annotations#some people might argue so it's not rehashing old conflict between franziska and edgeworth and like ok. she literally repeats her 'are you#running away from me again' line during this case. does that sound like the words of resolved conflict?#i know WHY they use kay. it's because they need to justify her place in this game and because they want to play on the pseudo father-figure#thing they played up in aai2 to contribute to the overall themes of fatherhood this game is dealing with. and to that i have to say that i#might just not be the audience for it because i've never bought that version of their relationship and i dont think kay should be in aai2#anyway. plus i posit that franziska would've still worked for that theme because. literally everything. about her.
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lilgynt · 10 months ago
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i’m sleeping at night i’m eating more regularly im reading again i dont have panic attacks before and during work - after work im usually pretty chill and i dont have a crazy stupid dependency on weed. life got better and it only cost me like. 100 to 300 bucks per paycheck. like 100 base pay but 2 to 3 bc i usually hit bonus bc im amazing and hot. now i’m amazing and hot here without all of that
#personal#nah that weed or alcohol post made me think about how crazy i was using weed#had a 3 month t break due to not getting that job and not wanting that to repeat#and also broke#had some recently and it’s fine!#but i’m not insane thinking i don’t have any for the following days or specific days or my days off#i’m just like cool. grab that again later at some point#or not bc i barely got any work done the weekend i had it#but like i was taking anywhere from 5-20 edibles per day#my record was 40#my nightly routine was opening a bag of incredibles and eating them all and like#i’m still proud of this i don’t care#my friend who wiped my tears first time i did a bong told the group we were in#oh yeah i mean i know pot heads who do insane amounts but ive never seen anyone take so much and just be fine like graham#but insane the amount i was using for the entirety of my old job#like im glad im out of that now#weeds fine and i still enjoy it but im glad its just enjoyment#i remember talking. to my mom and saying how much i hate how often im using it but its the only thing keeping me from hurting myself or my#dad during the whole. thing#and also how for a while sleep gummies were the only thing that kept him calm enough to sleep or just. not be as scared#my boss asked for my birthday today and there is no polite way to be like heyyyyy#is this for a birthday thing bc i’d rather not.#i don’t have a great track record and really all it made think about was bringing my dad home#still thankful that my friends suprised me so throughly and that’s a fond memory but even ballon’s and a note on my desk#makes me feel queasy i’d rather just ignore till im home or actively celebrating it#it hasn’t been so bad in the past couple years but i guess last year made me regress a bit with the bad birthdays
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autolenaphilia · 11 months ago
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I talked about the problem of Windows system requirements being too damn high before, and how the windows 10 to 11 jump is especially bad. Like the end of Windows 10 is coming october 2025, and it will be a massive problem. And this article gives us some concrete numbers for how many computers that can't update from win10 to 11.
And it's 240 million. damn. “If these were all folded laptops, stacked one on top of another, they would make a pile 600 km taller than the moon.” the tech analysis company quoted in the article explains.
So many functioning computers that will be wasted. And it's all because people don't wanna switch to a Linux distro with sane system requirements and instead buy a new computer.
Like if you own one of these 240 million windows 10 computers, Just be an environmentally responsible non-wasteful person and switch that computer to Linux instead of just scrapping it because Microsoft says it's not good enough.
Edit: as have been pointed out multiple times in the replies. It's really not "all because people don't wanna switch to a linux distro." It's really Microsoft's fault for this form of planned obsolescence.
My original post was lacking in perspective at best. And of course, people who use computers for work are often made reliant on Windows by their job and employers and can't switch. Or lack time, resources, and information to make the switch. Which is also due to systemic issues, such as lack of education, and the culture of obfuscation about tech that tech companies create.
Edit 2: Making this unrebloggable: now I really know what reddit mods mean when they say "the discussion has run its course" Like there is absolutely no conversation anymore, just repeating of points already made and responded to, just endless repetition
To quote @mlembug
Source
If you can spend 5-10 minutes writing a reblog clowning on somebody, but you can't:
spend 10s to do a basic courtesy of checking the appropriate pronoun of the person involved
spend 30s checking the reblogs of a post to see if someone also decided to clown on the same person
spend 10s to click on OP's post to see if it was edited in the meantime (and guess what: the edits in OP's post does indeed blame Microsoft for planned obsolescence, which you decided to blame her for not doing in one of your reblogs)
THEN YOU SHOULD NOT BE MAKING A REBLOG. EVER.
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wis-art · 8 days ago
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I think it's crazy how Trans misogyny is not exclusive to trans women, this is not a post downplaying how we are the biggest victims of this by a vast overwhelming majority, it's a post talking about how people of color are often masculanized and their features are often seen as less feminine and how that REALLY affects everybody. I'm speaking as a white trans woman, repeating what my black Trans boyfriend has told me about his experience. Back in the day when he still identified as a woman he, has been targeted and harassed by people who hate Trans women; calling him a "dumb ugly tranny", refusing to recognize him as a woman, which obviously at the time really fucking sucked. He is AFAB and my point here is this. Trans women like me, white trans women will never have to deal with having my racial features hypermasculanized, but a black Trans girl? She is the biggest victim in all of this, and it is heart breaking and something I never see talked about on this website. The level of oppression, "gender denial" Trans black women face is scary and it is something always overlooked and dismissed. Trans black women are virtually invisible in our society, art and face the worst oppression. Black lives are beautiful. And worth caring for and protecting, and talking about like any other life. I obviously can never understand or face the same kind of oppression, but you know what I can do. I can say that I love you and care about you and I want you to live and go out there and be yourself. Without you we would not be where we are today, and our queer rights in large part are brought to us by the black women who fought for us. I can support black people and listen to black people and try to understand the biases I picked up over the years of being raised in white supremacist society. Please if you are black it is so important that you exist and it is so important that you create. Put yourself out there, make things, make yourself visible, even if people pretend you don't exist. Please make it all about you.
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ozzgin · 9 months ago
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Yandere! Demon King Headcanons
You have accepted the Demon King’s marriage proposal!
I wasn't planning on writing a second part, but some of you gave me ideas and I decided on short headcanons instead. The image of a big, buff, evil Overlord lovingly doing house chores for their human was too tempting.
Content: gender neutral reader, monster romance
[Main Story]
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The proposal, as you quickly found out, came as a surprise to everyone. Not even the King’s loyal butler knew of such intentions; he’d assumed they were finally going to destroy everything and everyone at once. To him, the dramatic scene of you and his Lord enveloped in flames was anything but a romantic confession. It was your final battle. So one might imagine the poor lizard’s confusion when the Demon King returned with you following behind. “S-sir?” He questioned meekly. The armored creature nodded at his servant. “It has been done. We’ll plan the wedding upon our arrival home.” The what? His baffled expression must’ve given him away, because the Demon continued: “What’re you gawking like that for? Didn’t I ask you earlier how humans forge a bond?” The butler stumbled to search for his words, swallowing dryly. “Well y-yes, your Majesty…I just didn’t expect it to be anything more than curiosity.”
The same speechless reaction repeated itself all the way to the Kingdom. Soldiers, diplomats, other monstrous entities of the unknown Land, they all greeted you in disbelief. So much, in fact, that you began to poke fun at their hesitant response: “I am his mortal enemy”, you’d announce with a dramatic bow. “Spouse! We talked about this!” the Demon Lord would quickly correct you, flustered.
Truth be told, you're not quite sure what made you accept this ridiculous offer. Perhaps a mixture of intrigue and disillusionment. The city you've dedicated yourself to stood no longer, burnt to a crisp along with its corruption and crookery. In a way, the monster had unshackled you from a responsibility you no longer wanted to bear. And if that wasn't enough to convince you, well, the sight of the Ruler himself kneeling before you certainly sealed the deal.
Although it may take a while for you to accept the idea that your worst adversary had actually been infatuated with you this entire time. Were there even any hints? During your last battle you nearly died. You'd crawled out of an enormous crater on your fours, bones shattered and ligaments torn. When you pointed this out to your groom-to-be, he stared at you in horror. "I had no idea humans were that fragile. I was trying to adjust my strength so as to not do any harm." You could only nod, patting away the sweat beads forming on your forehead. Uh huh. Maybe it's better you didn't experience his full range of attacks.
Ever since the devastating revelation, he's been extra careful when handling you. Sometimes he'll awkwardly hover his large hands above you, with a concentrated frown on his face. "What the hell are you doing?" you ask, eyeing him suspiciously. "I'm trying to be gentle." he'll answer. "You're not even touching me." Fair point, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
The Demon King will often ask you about customs from your world as a way to make you comfortable, just in case you get struck by the occasional homesickness. His Realm is very different from what you're used to, after all. Lamentably, his own years spent in the human world were not too fruitful from a cultural point of view. He was either busy stalking you or devouring the souls of the innocent. Now that he has nothing else to worry about, he will gladly listen and even do his best to actively participate.
You wake up shrouded in thick smoke. Overwhelmed by heavy déjà vu, you rush down the grand stairs, searching for the source of the fire. Are you being attacked? Enemies of the Demon King? You elbow yourself against the kitchen door, similar to when you left your home to find the city ablaze. The Demon Lord turns to face you, visibly overwhelmed and exhausted. You gawk at the scene unfolding before you and remember to close your mouth, mainly out of politeness. "It's too small. I'm afraid I cannot use it", he reveals timidly, holding a human spatula between his fingers to showcase the impractical size difference. You glance at the disastrous attempt behind him and manage to deduce he'd been trying to make breakfast. In an unspoken agreement, he steps back and allows you to take over.
"I'm surprised you let him burn down the kitchen", you mention to the butler once you get a moment to yourself. The scaly servant sighs, and theatrically lifts his clawed hands in hopelessness. "Pointless to argue with him when he's like this, (Y/N). In my entire life serving the Family, I've never witnessed a more stubborn leader." He points to the lavish portraits adorning the walls with a faint smile. "And, to put it frankly, he's obsessed with you. I've never seen him in a more deplorable state. Marrying a human?! The shame, the outrage!” he cries out. “No offense intended to you, of course. You must understand." You hum in agreement, a tad uncomfortable, yet sympathetic. "M-maybe it'll tone down after the wedding?" you suggest as encouragement. "Oh, no, I suspect it will only get worse", he bemoans in return. Then, he promptly straightens his back and resumes his duties.
You go on your own way, not wanting to burden the lizard in his work. As you cross the hallway, you find the Demon King himself scanning each room, somewhat agitated. He notices you and his features soften. "I was wondering where you'd vanished." You approach him with the words of the butler still ringing in your ears.
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