#this isn't about the current discourse but it's also not not about that you know?

[douwatahima]

as someone who's been doing fandom stuff for over twenty years, i think one of the most important lessons you can learn is not everything is for you. we're all nerds on the internet, banding together because we feel at least a little unhinged about our favourite shows/movies/ect. there's going to strong opinions any way you slice it, and other people's opinions won't always align with yours. maybe someone is obsessed with a character you don't like or a pairing that makes no sense to you, but that person still has as much of a right to be in the space as you do. that doesn't mean you have to interact with those ideas, i'm a big proponent of blocking whoever or whatever you need to, but you don't get to tell them to stop just because you personally don't like it.

obviously, there are cases where this doesn't apply. if a take is super racist/homophobic/transphobic or someone is using their personal headcanon to harrass others, then absolutely that's something that should be addressed. but if it's just something harmless that irks you personally, you need to understand that that is a you problem and not a them problem. and, quite frankly, if you can't come to terms with that, maybe fandom isn't for you.

[hangryyeena]

hiding out in my Ryoma corner and avoiding Danganronpa fans on Twitter 🧯🛡️

[stilljuststardust]

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Guide to shiftblr.

Welcome shifttokers! I am Stilljuststardust! I am a LOA and reality shifting blogger. This is a guide to my blog, shiftblr, and my perspective of shifting.

Yes you're going to see a lot of LOA, many people including myself, believe manifestation and shifting are the same or at least connected.

I know it's probably overwhelming how different the community is. It is ok if you don't believe in LOA but please be respectful of those who do!

Everyone has different beliefs so please respect the original spirit of shiftblr. Please do not bring discourse here. You can block tags as well as people.

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Loa/shiftblr terms and their meanings

1. 4D/3D.

These are terms to describe the inner and outer worlds. The 3D is the outer world or the physical world. I know it's overwhelming how many posts tell you "the 3D isn't real" but please don't be alarmed by this. What they mean is that what currently exists in the 3D doesn't determine what you can and can't manifest and what is and isn't true for you.

So if you're bald and you want to manifest hair, the 3D might tell you it's impossible but since it is malleable you can gain hair through persistence in the 4D. So what's the 4D? The 4D is your inner world so thoughts, visualizations, beliefs.

The idea is that if you think as if you have it the outer world will change to match your inner world.

I feel like it's important to say now before explaining anything else:

No, intrusive thoughts do not manifest.

I have very intense intrusive thoughts usually revolving around my safety and I can tell you from experience they have never once manifested. You are safe. Your intrusive thoughts cannot hurt you.

2. Robotic affirming

Also known as the love of my life. Robotic affirmations are how many people manifest when they're struggling to believe/change their assumptions.

Robotic affirmations work without belief or feeling, your only goal is repetition. Whenever the topic comes up repeat your affirmations or think as if you already have what you want. This is what I recommend for people who are struggling emotionally because it's 100% ok to feel like shit. You can still manifest and feel like shit.

You say or think something to yourself that implies you have what you want and it imprints on your subconscious. Your subconscious will believe anything you tell it and with repetition you can get it to believe anything.

Your subconscious doesn't care what is or isn't true in the physical world it only cares what you are telling it repeatedly and consistently.

An affirmation is anything you say or repeat to yourself so avoid affirming against what you're manifesting. It's not that manifestation isn't working it's just that you're manifesting the wrong thing. You are ALWAYS manifesting and LOA is just a way to filter it to give you what you want.

You repeat something, your subconscious believes you, it manifests into your reality.

3. "Ignore the 3D"

This doesn't mean what a lot of people think it means. It's easy to misinterpret this as somehow gaslighting yourself so hard you don't know what's going on around you but that is NOT what this is.

Ignoring the 3D just means when you see something you don't want you choose to affirm what you want to be true anyway.

So if you want to manifest/shift to a new house and you wake up in your old one you don't have to magically delude yourself into not knowing where you are you just chose to affirm as if you're where you want to be instead of where you are.

Obviously you're aware on some level of what's happening, that's OK. Ignoring the 3D just means staying consistent with your manifestation even when you're shown the opposite of what you want.

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My posts on shifting

1.

Things to remember about shifting

2.

The senses shift last

3.

"Can I bring things back?"

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[oyasumire]

the current dungeon meshi yaoi/yuri discourse is good for highlighting fandom's constant misogyny problem but let us also talk about fandom's constant racism problem too because since the mlm kabru ships exploded in popularity, it's gotten harder and harder to come across kabru stuff that isn't him being reduced to a white man's plus one and like omg yall do this every time. any time we get a character of color in a series, yall have to make everything they do about the white person you ship them with because yall don't know how to let them be their own people. like kabru is my fave dunmeshi character, he is so fun and interesting and nuanced, and yall keep stripping that away because you want him to fuck your white boy of choice

[oldpotatoe]

as many of you know, gaza has now gone dark.

targeted israeli strikes have wiped out the telecommunications infrastructure. phone lines and internet services are gone. gazans cannot call their loved ones to check if they are still alive. they cannot call for ambulances for aid. if they survive the increased bombardment tonight and the following nights, they will bleed out alone with no aid.

now i will tell you what will happen in the next few days/weeks, and i pray it to be untrue. unfortunately the apartheid state, also known as israel, has been quite obvious and transparent with their plans.

the stated goal of many politicians over the years from israel, including netanyahu, has been to have the entire strip of land of gaza as israel, with no separate region for palestinians. i am not going to provide links, google is free and i am fucking tired.

what they had done before tonight, in the last two weeks, was destroy over 50% of buildings in gaza city as well as neighbouring areas, so gazans have nowhere to return to. gazans have been forced south, and israel will use this opportunity to have troops in north gaza (currently referred to as the ground invasion) advancing south while bombing "h*mas sites" in the south. israel will do this knowing there are plenty more civilians there that will die, causing terror and panic and having palestinians want to flee to anywhere, anywhere that is safe.

israel is doing this in the hopes that this panic and terror will convince egypt to open the border (well, the border israel isn't currently bombing) so that palestinians can escape to the sinai desert in egypt.

once survivors leave, the area that is currently the gaza strip will 1) be reduced in size if a lot of palestinians stay, should they not be bombed out of existence, or 2) be entirely absorbed into israel if very few palestinians stay, which is the ultimate aim of israel. those remaining palestinians will be moved to the west bank, or the remainder of gaza will be converted to west bank conditions where they'd go through the same problems palestinians in the west bank go through (reduced access to water, checkpoints to go from any place to any place within their own land, getting dispossessed, or randomly killed by racist extremist settlers).

now, egypt has been adamant not to displace the palestinians. in online discourse, people have been dehumanising palestinians by talking about past disruptions in other refugee areas and saying that is why egypt does not want to take them. while there may be slight truth to this from egypt's perspective, the major reason egypt is refusing is that no palestinian refugee abroad has even been given the right to return to their own land. and this will be the fate of gazans if they are made to leave in a mass exodus to egypt/other neighbouring countries such as jordan, which these leaflets from army-backed israeli are threatening palestinians with (photo from salfit in the occupied west bank):

therefore, what i likely see happening is the above bombardment (in increased numbers now that gaza has gone dark) -> mass panic in gaza, more so now that gazans are cornered in the south -> a reluctant egypt, but with the US will promise a large amount of "aid" money to egypt to facilitate the mass exodus of palestinians, the borders will open.

palestinians will be forced out. israelis are already planning on hoovering up the prime real estate there, for amusements park no less!

this is nabka 2.0. this is genocide.

btw, as we speak: israel's leading newspaper is already making claims that h*mas's main operation base is under shifa hospital. the hospital currently housing 50,000 displaced palestinians. the idf is claiming h*mas is using the hospital as a human shield, which is their new favourite phrase to justify killing civilians. so you already know what to expect in the news.

[edwardteachswombtattoo]

This isn't related directly to the current Discourse (TM) about Iggy Fingers and racism, but I'd like to point out that the two most thematically important people in Ed's life are Mama Teach and Stede. And there is a lot to be said about how indigenous women are treated (i.e. discarded) in various narratives, but there is something to be said about how Mama Teach influences and permeates the narrative despite having so little screen time. Ed's actions as a young boy, spurred by his desperate need to protect himself and his mama from his abusive father, are corrosive and defining moment of his entire childhood. He literally carries a piece of his mama (the red silk) close to his heart. We spend so little time with Mama Teach, but she's also kind of...always there, she's been there since the very first time we meet Ed (he's had the red silk the entire time, let's not forget).

One of the big reasons all this "Ed is abusive/Ed has anger issues/Ed is just like his dad!!!" stuff confuses and pisses me off so damn much is because like. Back in June of 2022, soon after I finished bingeing all of Season 1, I saw a lot of completely serious takes equating Ed's behavior towards Iggy as equivalent to Ed's dad abusing his mother. And those takes made me uncomfortable and baffled, but, you know, didn't want to start shit so I just blocked and moved on. But those takes have stuck with me all this time, not just because they are so blatantly wrong and very anti-canon but also because they kind of miss a fundamental aspect of Edward Teach that the show clearly wants us to notice. And you know, I made a post about this before, but I'm going to say it again.

During this scene that is being played for comedy (because, you know, it's a romantic comedy) where Ed is essentially recreating a family unit that is familiar to him, there are likely intentional parallels between this recreated family unit (father, son, mother) and the family unit he grew up in. But in this recreated family unit, Ed is taking on the role of his mama. We even have a (comical, but again I'm sure they did this on purpose) rehash of what we see in that Season 1 flashback, violence breaking out during a meal! Yeah, sure, this is being played for laughs but I really can't imagine the writers would make such strong parallels completely by accident and not intend this to mean something. Also, I have watched a lot of shows that have very serious scenes being played for laughs because the comedy aspect is meant to off-set what would otherwise be deeply uncomfortable and a jarring shift in tone. Ed's suicidal spiral at the start of Season 2 also does this, blending comedy with drama. I actually think it's a keystone of how Ed is written and in general how this show approaches these serious topics while maintaining tone. The "snail fork" scene being the perfect example. The racist French captain calling Ed what amounts to/is clearly meant to be read by the audience as a racial slur and Ed (understandably!!) getting very angry and having the guy skinned with a snail fork in what is meant to be both serious and a comedy beat in context.

Idk guys. Maybe let's stop focusing on Iggy Fingers for a hot second and think about how Ed's love for his mama is so strong and beautiful and eternal and in many ways the show seems to want us to draw parallels between Ed and his mother? Like. You can argue about how "people who are abused abuse people" and shit like that, but OFMD doesn't seem interested in turning abuse victims into abusers. It seems more interested in exploring how abuse victims (like Ed and Stede, for example) can easily fall back into the pattern of seeking out abusive relationships and/or validation from people who remind them of their abusers. Yeah, obviously abuse victims can abuse people, but they can also be trapped in a cycle of victimhood because they seek comfort in relationships that recreate this abusive dynamic.

And I'd just like to point this out: Stede also had an abusive dad who treated him like shit. And he was physically and emotionally bullied for a great deal of his life!! But the worst thing we ever see Stede do is neglect his wife and kids, which is bad but he never like. Treats them the way his dad treated him. And Stede isn't perfect especially at the start of the show, he has some racist tendencies to unlearn and some realizations he needs to make, but even when he's putting himself in the role of patriarch on The Revenge he never abuses any members of his crew, even though he is literally part of a culture where stuff like that is normalized. For all of Stede's faults, he genuinely doesn't want his crew to experience what he did as a child (an angry emotionally and physically abusive patriarch, constant bullying from his peers, etc.). And you know, if we can accept that Stede grew up with an abusive dad and actively chose to never recreate that abusive dynamic even in an environment where such actions are encouraged, I think we can also make the very easy realization that we are not meant to read Ed as an abuser/future abuser who takes after his dad. Because a big part of this show is that neither of these men take after their shitty dads.

Anywayyy go listen to "Suffocation" by Against Me!, a song that I feel encapsulates Ed and Stede so well. And while you're listening to that, I'd also recommend "Delicate, Petite, & Other Things I'll Never Be", which is an Edward Teach song if I've ever heard one. Peace and love on Planet Earth.

[centrally-unplanned]

Alright, last Current Events Drama post, is not a super valuable activity after all. I have seen a lot of Discourse that goes like "I may oppose these efforts but man the PR strategy of this Musk thing is pretty genius, they have a whole generation of people thinking USAID was funding the Liberal Media now". And they certainly aren't without agency, I agree there is an intentional PR strategy going on. In particular it is not just the creation of narrative, but the creation of momentum - every day is a new discovery, a new victory, a sense of progress.

But this isn't really that hard when your supporters are just really stupid? Like you can make shit up for these people! They don't care, they don't have that instinct that goes "okay hold up I'm going to need to see some sources here". The current Admin didn't make that happen, that is a deep, structural change around the internet flattening hierarchies and all that shit. When you know your audience wants results and also you can just invent results out of thin air then, idk, is this that hard? How could you not deliver that?

It is funny because the actual playbook here isn't even their invention, it is the same as the 2010's "Woke Boom". That entire model was that deep, slow, technical solutions to structural inequalities achieved via grinding electoral politics is boring. That shit is for fucking losers. I am not gonna have a role in that all! So instead we will achieve social change via randomly harassing my progressive coworkers for their black comedy tweets about AIDS until they get fired and have a nervous breakdown. Obviously - just like with the current right, don't be tricked! - there was another side of this movement that was much more serious, a huge side actually (we are just focusing right now). But for so many that serious side was window dressing, the real mush was that you got to feel like you were a part of something, doing something, and at a certain point they started running the show. This playbook being reversed really isn't that impressive (and also, in a sense, inevitable)

I will give the Social Justice aggros though that they had some standards - passing around photoshopped tweets was uncommon. Most of them did actually believe in this model for change (and so invented insane ideologies to justify it, but w/e). That isn't really as true on the right - I should partially walk back my statement above, a lot of these people aren't that gullible? They are just apathetic. So many people retweeting stuff about how The Deep State funnels millions to Politico don't really even care, for them it is a game. It is funny to own the libs. They laugh off your attempts at calling them out for accuracy - you care about that? What a cuck you are.

Which makes it particularly sad when you see the earnest ones, the ones writing essays about the implications of what USAID propping up the New York Times means for our political future. Nothing worse than being a true believer in a church where not only the leaders but also your fellow congregants know it is bullshit.

It reminds me of the Gamestop Meme Stock Crash and its slow, agonizing burn (a not unrelated event!). A bunch of people on the rise of the stock created the idea that buying Gamestop could Stick It To The Man, you could short squeeze the hedge funds, diamond-hands-hold that yield, bring Wall St to its knees - to the moon, baby. And some people bought it! And then the wheel turned, the crash happened, and most of the people posting those memes sold their stock and dipped so fast they had disappeared from the subreddits before they could even begin to say "bro, you thought I was serious?". Leaving a stalwart few holding the bag, spinning epicycles of conspiracy theories to justify why they had it to begin with. Which happens on autopilot a this point. You don't really need any PR strategy to make this happen.

[theworldsarchitect]

BLOG INFO - READ BEFORE SENDING ASKS🔧

This Blog is based off a Roblox game called Forsaken, specifically the character from said game, Builderman!

-I have no affiliation with the developers of Forsaken.

-This character is based off of the personality in Forsaken, not the real Builderman.

⚠️THIS MOD IS A MINOR.⚠️

RULES

NOTHING NSFW. Suggestive is okay, but nothing outright sexual.

Nothing about Gaza or Palestine. I will not respond to it.

MUST follow DNI rules.

Unless it is an in character response, I will not allow any hate/discourse and you will be blocked.

Don't criticize how I play the character. He has no set in personality. This is based off of MY interpretation.

CHARACTER INFO

Name: Builderman (Builds for short), David

Pronouns: He/Him

Format for text will be:

"This for talking,"

[this for an action,]

and bolded character names.

If I speak without bolded text, it is an out of character response.

CURRENT/PAST EVENTS

The C0rruption Event: Currently happening

- something is wrong with BM and no one knows why this is happening. He's been less happy, fatigued, and is somehow suffering from an illness.. He sounds almost encrypted, as if he's just a piece of code that was corrupted. A file. He's been losing weight slowly, with the problem being a lack of appetite because of his illness. It's up to the other Survivors and the Anons and everyone else to figure out what exactly is going on and stop it before it's too late.

Event tags:

"Event: Corruption"

"An unfamiliar voice."

"A voice that resents you."

DO NOT INTERACT IF:

- Nazis, pedos, maps, com/proships, zoophiles, groomers, abusers/abuse supporters, terfs, toxicity, discourse, NSFW only accs, etc.

HEADCANONS/AU FACTS BELOW CUT

(and tags, credits, etc)

-Builderman is one of the main architects, builders, and creators of Robloxia. He built the world from the neck down.

-He's cisgender, with an unspecified sexuality. It doesn't matter to him.

-while he looks like he's in his thirties, he's a lot older. Yk being the one who built the universe n all makes ya old

-OKAY I GIVE UP.... he's 4'9. I GIVR UPPT RNDKMDNDNS

-He owns Builder brothers pizza, manages Roblox HQ with Studios, designs blueprints and schematics for buildings and creations, and is apart of the main construction crew of Robloxia.

-He often tries to keep himself looking happy for other people to see, even if he isn't.

-He tends to stay optimistic when in bad situations. (In jeopardy currently)

-He will not appreciate you calling him David.

Tags:

Toolkit - interaction (in character)

Blueprints - Headcanons/au facts

Builders Club - mutual response

Schematics - inbox/answered ask

Damned - Forsaken specific

Events will have their own tags regarding what specifically is happening in said event.

Lampett - interaction (out of character)

OTHER @S

@lamperts-rokea - my Regretevator Lampert blog - currently turning it into my main blog

@ask-betrayal-goob - my Dandy's world AU blog

Also check out @yourlocalpizzaguyelliot - He runs an Elliot blog from the same universe Builderman is in!

Will add my main blog @ when it exists lol

Also planning on adding my new Lamprt blog, since my current is dead and is simply a fanart dump

Credit for dividers to @medical-meat for the wrench divider (thank you bbg)

and this cool person for the orange one ^_^

[felonytaxevasion]

Also on the topic of Foil and Parian, can I just say that I think they're literally fine and the age gap isn't something we should care about but the way Wildbow tried to shut down discourse about it is so The Absolute Worst way to go about it

Like the real reason we shouldn't care is that they literally didn't even have personalities for the start of the book and then WB backfilled behaviors and back stories for them after he decided he wanted them to date and just so happened to have already given them a squicky age gap. We barely see anything from them but what we do see doesn't really show Foil having teenage typical immaturity or Parian having the crushing overconfidence/existential horror of someone about to graduate college that makes them impossible to relate to said immature teenagers. Which is in part, because of the in text justification you could make, that the social power structures of Brockton Bay have been so thoroughly torn apart that age is nearly irrelevant to both character's current life circumstances.

But instead we have Word of God saying "actually it's fine because Foil is mature for her age. Really SHE has all the power in the relationship she's so mature" like man YOU wrote the book you have to know that's not the reason Foil and Parian scan as ok

[sophieinwonderland]

Hmm... what is the spiciest, most inflammatory thing to add to the current discourse about how to know if someone is faking???

Ooh! I got it!

You're not smart enough to tell!

That's right! You, random fakeclaimer who thinks you know everything because you know have DID or know someone with it, do not have the education or intelligence necessary to even BEGIN to be able to tell if someone "actually" has the disorder.

I'm going to hazard a guess that not even 5% of you armchair psychiatrists who think you're qualified to just "tell" if a system is faking have ever read the DSM entry on DID and the ICD-11 entries on DID and Partial DID.

And to be clear, that's not the standard you're supposed to aim for to be educated.

That's just the ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM!

If you've read these three things, then congrats! You've now achieved the absolute most basic understanding of these disorder possible.

Are you an expert? No.

Do you have enough knowledge of the disorders to be able to hold down a semi-coherent conversation with someone who actually knows what they're talking about? Also no!

But it's at least a start!

Now you can go from there and read Kluft's Clinical Presentations of Multiple Personality Disorder, which covers a WIDE RANGE of ways the disorder presents. Because yes, there are MANY presentations of DID!

Now that you've read that, do you feel like you have a good enough understanding of the breadth of the disorder to be able to tell if people are faking or not?

Well you don't! Because that paper is over 30 years old! More research has been conducted since and our understanding of DID has evolved even more!

Did you know that some studies have shown hallucinations are more common in DID than schizophrenia? And I mean this across the board. Auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory!

If you haven't come across this, you probably haven't done enough research into DID yet.

This is a topic specialists have dedicated their lives to and are still debating.

What makes you so arrogant as to assume you can tell who is or isn't faking with your degree from "looking at the first page of a Google search" university?

[olderthannetfic]

Im neither a proshipper nor an anti at this current stage in life, but at one point i was an anti i guess? And I hate it say it, but looking back, I understand why. I don't think I actually gave a fuck about Harmful Fanfic or whatever, it was just a substitute for therapy that i couldn't get at the time (because "literally neurodivergent and a minor" or whatever, but like...actually literally neurodivergent and a minor LOL).

As weird as it sounds like, no one cared about my ACTUAL PAIN, and that made me feel EVEN MORE PAIN, so i took it out on ppl who shipped "abuse", or whatever.

It's so stupid now, as an adult who is mentally better than I was then, but as ridiculous as it was, seeing someone ship an "abusive" ship or a "queer erasing ship" (like a canonically gay character with someone of the other binary gender)...it felt eerily similar to the actual abuse I was facing and the stress that everyone was putting on me to find a boyfriend or ask why my (closeted lesbian) self didn't like any boys.

But it was so much easier to keyboard warrior about how people who ship Bad things are Bad people, than it was to fix any problems in my actual life because...well, the actual problems in my life COULDN'T be fixed. That isn't a learned helplessness thing, there was genuinely nothing I could've done. So pissing off Shippers was, like, a vessel for that, and it *felt* like I was getting to lash out at the same people who were ACTUALLY hurting me, even though that obviously is not the case. Funny thing is, it wasn't actual fandom discourse that made me switch sides, it was getting to learn more about youth liberation movements and stuff, because it was then that I recognized the actual structures that were making me hurt.

I think one silver lining is it's made me more compassionate an adult. While I don't have any defense for the antis who do actual horrendous stuff like doxxing or sending death/rape threats, etc, I do have a lot of defense for the ones who were like me and would just make posts talking about how Wrong it is to ship certain things. I know that not all antis are in the same place that I was once was, and some are just genuinely immature brats, but it's like. . . I get it, you know?

The cycle of abuse/bullying is weird and it's not often a 1:1 "I had an abusive parent so now i'll be an abusive parent", sometimes it's the chronically online stuff like I did. It's also why I'm careful-careful to not engage and to just block or, even try to have a mature discussion if I can, and if the person I'm talking to is just "a little bit annoying" rather than "actual bully doing/sending illegal stuff". A lot of them just want to be heard, I think, and it really makes me sad that this is the way they choose to be heard...but also i get it, because i was that.

--

Yup. We often discuss anti tendencies in this framework.

People want control over their environment when they have none. They want the world to make sense and for there to be simple rules they can follow to Never Mess Up. This is a very common reaction to trauma and also typical of brains that like order and neat boxes and a world full of justice and logic.

The trouble is that a critical mass of "I'm just pointing this out" type posts does tend to make all the other teens with an issue around moral scrupulosity implode. (And let's be real, plenty of the antis themselves are secretly into dark content and are trying to pray the gay kink away.)

I have some sympathy, but I'm still going to tell people they're sealioning when they are and tell them they're flat out wrong about how fantasies work, not sugar coat it because they're probably a delicate teen. There's no need to be excessively mean or treat people as irredeemable, but I also don't like how we talk endlessly about compassion for teen antis and not for teens targeted by antis. It's similar to how there are all those complaints like "Hey, I work hard to manage my mental illness, but all the support seems to go to people who are letting their issues rampage..."

[leidensygdom]

I gotta say, one of the wildest radical transphobes' talking "points" is probably bathroom discourse. I can't even put to words how utterly detached from reality it is. It's terminally online stuff.

So, bathrooms. I don't know if somehow other people's realities are somehow vastly different from mine, but I feel like the extreme clear divide between "men's" and "women's" bathrooms is just not real. Where I live, stalls are often gendered, but how much they get used in that way is far less consistent.

For example: If the place had only the space to make one bathroom accessible, it's gonna be the women's bathroom. Always. It doesn't mean only disabled women have access to bathrooms- It means that the women's bathroom is also going to be used by disabled people. And this is common. Really common. Maybe it's because the women's bathroom tends to need more space- For pad dispensers and trash cans, for baby-changing stations (yes, I hate that these are only on the women's bathroom usually), and so on. Now- You see a guy enter the women's bathroom. Are you gonna micro-analize if the guy looks disabled enough to use it, or are you going to wash your hands and go on with your life?

Again, baby-changing stations are almost always located on the women's bathroom. It sucks- It should be in all bathrooms. But it's how it is. You see a cis guy enter with a kid. Or maybe not even with a kid- Just enters, wanders around, finds the baby-changing station, gets a diaper from the dispenser and leaves. Are you gonna throw a fit or just let this guy handle his kid?

Bathrooms get cleaned on the regular. A lot of times, you may wanna go there, and get told it's being cleaned, and just get asked to use the other gender's bathroom. Cleaning can take hours. If the men's bathroom is being cleaned and everyone is now using the women's, are you going to deem the bathroom to be the world's unsafest place or are you just go take a pee and leave?

Fucking hell, sometimes the stall you want to go to is incredibly dirty. It happens. No need to get on details. Just the kind of stuff that makes you want to not use it. Or maybe it's clogged, or maybe it's not working. Maybe there's a note saying "Broken, do not enter". Do you cry about it or just go find another stall- Which may be on the other fucking gender's bathroom?

Most times I'll use whatever bathroom is available. One is busy? Ok, let me get to the other one. I'm AFAB and while I don't present femininely, I still look like a woman to most people. Have I ever been in danger because I cleaned my hands besides someone with a dick? No. Grow the fuck up. This isn't even rare. People will switch bathrooms for speed. People will switch bathrooms because one of them is out of paper. Because one of them is out of soap.

The mall in my current city recently installed "Family" bathrooms. They're not being marketed as unisex, or inclusive, or anything. Just "family" bathrooms. For everyone. They're great. It's the bathroom everyone will use- Men, women, anything in between and outside of that, kids, disabled people, etc. There's a bunch of stalls adapted to different needs. There's accessible stalls. There's pad and diaper dispensers. There's stalls that have a big toilet and a little toilet so parents can go with their kids. There's tall sinks and short sinks- So disabled people and kids can reach.

And, to nobody's surprise, there's no reports whatsoever of any sort of assault in them.

I'm just. I don't know. I'm sorry you can't detach the existence of a dick near you from immediate assault. I don't know why that changes in the context of a bathroom- I've never (in my long life of using whatever bathroom) been in danger for that. And I'm talking as someone who has had some unsavory experiences in other situations. Grow the fuck up and maybe stop basing your views on imaginary scenarios y'all need to come up with to justify your hatred of a minority. Maybe if y'all got off your keyboards and went outside for once, you'd realize bathrooms work much differently from whatever weird ideal you have formed about them.

[kitsune-pop]

i have feelings about b-127 from transformers one

(also spoilers for the movie)

I've seen plenty of discourse around b, we all have. "he's annoying and cringe!" "he ruins the movie!!" etc. I'm not here to talk about your personal preference in comedic relief. I want to talk about b in a way I haven't seen anyone do before (and if someone has tag me I wanna discuss things!)

tfo is pretty clearly a story about disenfranchised workers reclaiming their rights and autonomy. fairly cut and dry. orion and d-16 have different ideas on how to enact change, plot moves forward. but b does stand out amongst the cast as the only one who isn't completely destroyed by the revelation of sentinel's betrayal, nor does he go through a radical personality change like Orion, d-16 or even elita. he stays his lovable self

why is that?

b admits himself that he got reassigned to burn pit duty. he plays it off, but it's made abundantly clear that he's unhappy. his work station is treated like a dungeon, and it very well may be! they had to climb up 50 levels of trash just to get out! which begs the question; did they have to sneak past 49 other trash watchers? or did the other ones just ignore them?

are the sublevels only for the ones the enforcers don't like or have any use for?

I'm going to pivot to talk about myself and my experiences. (we'll get back to b in a sec) I am very neurodivergent. autism, ADHD, cptsd and likely others that I haven't figured out yet. it's hard for me to keep a job. whether it's overstimulation, rude customers callous or abusive management, I lose my job a lot

I've never once quit

every time I've been fired, it's come out of the blue. no warnings, no talk about "how to improve your performance." just walk in, walk out an hour later unemployed. and it's always over something that I have no real control over. and it's because I'm neurodivergent. I know it is. I'm loud, make obnoxious jokes, talk too much, pretty much everything b does

and I'm punished for it

it's always the same way; they find some way to shove me out of sight. I'm certainly not an amazing worker, but I follow the rules and make sure all my work is done before I clock out. I'm worth more to keep than to train a new person. so I'm sent to a department that no one goes to. or I get locked into a night shift that takes over a year for me to escape from only after the manager who put me there quit. I'm not stupid, I know why. I'm off-putting to neurotypical people. so I clam up, shut down, become an automaton for whatever company I work for

and it doesn't matter

my managers always find some mundane thing I did wrong literally months in the past and use it as an excuse to fire me. it's happened three separate times and I can even see my current managers gearing up to do the same thing

I'm b, and b is me

he represents the coworker you don't like, the obnoxious neighbor who's too nosy, the friend of a friend who tries way too hard to be funny. he's the guy who you shove in a corner and forget about and he deserves freedom and autonomy too

I deserve freedom and autonomy

we all deserve it, it is our right as human beings to not be viewed as pieces of a machine to be shattered beyond repair and replaced when necessary. regardless of whether or not you enjoy spending your personal time around me. Orion and d are both unsettled by b, but quickly realize that he just wants to have real, not garbage (literally) friends. and then they realize that, yeah he's annoying, but he's kind, big hearted and just an overall sweet guy

I wish someone felt that way about me when they see me so disassociated at my job I can barely register the words they're saying to me

I wish a single one of my previous managers understood that about me

I wish I didn't live in constant fear that my apartment, my cats and my food weren't all at risk just because someone doesn't like my vibe

is it any wonder why they stood up and fought for themselves? is it any wonder that d became Megatron when he realized that his superiors viewed him and all his protocol following glory as nothing more than trash to be pushed around? is it any wonder how angry he got when he realized he was a single simple mistake from being forgotten?

...sorry, I got a little emotional at the end there

b-127 in transformers one means a lot to me

not because I see myself in him

but because I see my loved ones in him

[amalthea-13]

The Stella Dilemma

Introduction

Hello all, it is I, the Ultimate Stolas Kin and Stan, Amalthea! Welcome back to another episode of me torturing myself!

Okay, okay, I'm being dramatic. I am currently unwell due to a headache but LORD do I gotta talk about this with someone. So come along all.

To anyone who likes or enjoys Stella as a character I ain't got beef with you. Despite my aversion to her character, I consider her pretty interesting.

Don't get it twisted though, I am committed to my man lol.

However, I noticed some discourse regarding Stella. I will be keeping GIFs to a minimum. My headache can't handle all the movement and flashing.

There are 2 parts to this discourse and I will be tackling both sides.

Part 1: Stella and her Poor Writing

Part 2: Stolas Stans and Their Aggression

I know many of you are confused why I am even picking up this argument, but I genuinely want to give both sides the benefit of the doubt and a sense of "middle ground" for more constructive conversations in the future.

Both Stella Fans and Stolas Fans are prickly things and it genuinely is because of simple things that can be cleared up with an unbiased perspective.

While I will always protect and defend Stolas along with fans like myself. I do have a lot of mercy for Stella fans since well my best pal is one lol. We've had a lot of conversations regarding Stella and despite disagreements I have a more nuanced take on Stella due to that fact. Anyway lets dive into this essay!!!

Stella and her Poor Writing

When it comes to Stella's writing there are many, many issues due to the fact the narrative is so focused on Stolas and Blitz.

It is similar to well- Steven Universe! One of the biggest issues Steven Universe suffered from was the fact the gems didn't develop unless Steven was in the room to witness it.

Stella is only relevant when Stolas or Blitz are involved and therefore it makes it hard for us to learn anything about her, but the two most important things being her background and motives. One reason I believe Stella is an aggressive person toward Stolas is because she is angry the men around her have so much control over her life. (This is speculation and headcanon so take it with a grain of salt.)

The big issue with Stella is she is purely a "big bad" and we have no reason as to why she is so terrible. Sure she is rich, but so is Vassago, Bee, and Asmodeus. So why is Stella in particular the way she is.

However, as a Stolas Stan the biggest issue many of us have is that- when discussing Stella's issues as a character, for some reason Stolas has to be dragged down somehow.

*sigh*

I don't understand why this phenomenon is so common, but the minute Stolas is brought up in the same sentence as Stella all hell breaks loose. Stella Fans become angry because they feel like she was robbed in some way. Stolas Stans become prickly because she is an abuser and anything that isn't condemnation is immediately read as excuses for her behavior.

It is a lose-lose battle either way. Therefore, we need to stop having Stolas conversations in tandem with Stella. We can dislike her and have disdain for her while also acknowledging there are major, major plot issues regarding Stella.

There is a major disconnect between the things she does and the reasoning behind it and that alone should be enough. When discussing female characters, even mean ones, we need to be open to the possibility that there is room for improvement writing wise.

Stolas Fans and Their Aggression

Before anyone get's mad at me for bringing this up. I want you all to go double check the required reading of my blog and remember, I am that bitch when it comes to defending Stolas, but as an AFAB person I have the capacity to care about queer and gay men, while also acknowledging the issues with Stella's writing.

I can have capacity for both.

Moving on, Stolas Fans are normally abuse victims in some way. Regardless of the abuse they're usually chronic people pleasers that struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation. They want genuine connections in life and can't have it due to how their trauma effects them.

How do I know? Well I am a Stolas Stan and Kin for a reason.

Moving on. Speaking to my community from a very genuine and loving place-

Ya'll gotta let people discuss Stella without taking it as a slight against Stolas. While I may be the posterchild for shit-talking Stella, it doesn't mean we can't have chill discussions about where the Hellaverse Squad can improve in her writing.

Not every Stella Fan or Critic is an abuse apologist. A lot of them simply want to see abuse more accurately portrayed in Hellaverse and I can get behind that 100%! However, the only time I push back against them as we saw the other night is when they try to suggest Stolas is somehow an abuser or self victimizing.

The only time you all should be pushing back is if they're stating false rhetoric or things that cannot be backed up by canon. That's it.

Conclusion

At the end of the night both sides have their issues. Hell, I even have areas to improve myself, but remember the block button fucking exists people. If a conversation is to triggering or frustrating, just block atp.

I apologize for how short this essay is, but work really killed me today. Love you all!

Askbox is open!! I will answer!

Tag List:

@larryisnotagirl

Want to be in my tag list? Send in an ask!

[transfemme-shelterdog]

Different studies show different things, but the key thing I’ve noticed is a lot of studies show that the rates of violence are very similar. There’s no trans group that faces more or less violence.

I think pointing to singular studies saying it ‘proves’ one group faces more violence is not the right move. But using multiple studies that show that the rates of violence are similar and that we should focus on liberating and protecting all trans people is the right move.

Different studies show different things

Oh, I'm aware. I literally have a degree in Criminology and have worked on published papers. I know how studies work. I also know that there's very little quality research on trans victims of crimes, due to a number of factors. We have to work with what we have. I simply posted the results of one study, as it was SRS and is related to the current discourse around transandrophobia. Is there gonna be other SRS with other info? Sure. But for a Tumblr post, and not a dissertation or even literature review, it's good enough.

the key thing I’ve noticed is a lot of studies show that the rates of violence are very similar. There’s no trans group that faces more or less violence.

I never disagreed, I said something similar in the post you're talking about. It's relatively the same, which is the point I'm making here. Another poster claimed that trans women/fems are victimized much more, the study I cited says the rates are about the same. Yes, trans men/mascs are victimized at relatively the same rate. I never said that they're victimized at a significant enough rate to say "Well actually, it's the inverse"

I think pointing to singular studies saying it ‘proves’ one group faces more violence is not the right move

Again, not my point. My point was that it was relatively the same rate, with men/mascs being slightly more, but not a lot. I was pointing out that the claim that trans women/fems are victimized at a far higher rate isn't correct. And again, this is a Tumblr post, not a published paper. One citation is more than enough when most people on this site don't even give one when they make bold claims like "trans women are victimized much more than trans men". I cited my claim, where's their citation? I'm 1 for 0 here, and that's good enough.

But using multiple studies that show that the rates of violence are similar

I showed it in one. Work smarter, not harder Anon.

we should focus on liberating and protecting all trans people is the right move

Tell you what Anon. When transradfems stop denying that trans men are victimized for being trans, then I'll focus on posting about liberation. Until then, I'll keep calling out the bullshit claims made by these bigots until my fingers bleed all over the keyboard.

Ball's in their court.

[moeitsu]

Since it's pride month I wanna talk about something I've noticed in the Red Dead Redemption fandom:

The Bisexual erasure of Sadie Adler and Arthur Morgan.

I apologize if this comes across as harsh, but it's something that's been on my mind since I started interacting w/ this media. And as a bisexual, I wanted to discuss it further.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with shipping these characters with the same sex. Personally, I am a Charthur shipper till the day I die. I don't ship Sadie with anyone but her husband, but I still enjoy seeing the fanart and headcanons of the women she's shipped with.

That being said, these characters are not lesbian or gay. That's literally a fact, and if you think otherwise it is bisexual erasure.

Let's start with Sadie Adler. Her entire character arc is getting revenge on the O'Driscolls for killing her husband. Whom she mourns for years, and talks about frequently with Arthur/other camp members. Now, if you want to ship her w/ Abigail or Molly or whomever, go for it!! But she has loved and still loves her husband. She is not a lesbian, and she didn't just magically turn into a lesbian after Jake's death. If she had any love interests other than Jake, this would make her bisexual. (even Sapphic is still a more appropriate term than lesbian)

The same goes for women in real life who have dated men first, then dated a woman. Just because their current partner is the same sex doesn't mean we can assume they are suddenly lesbian. Calling characters lesbians even if they have been in a relationship with men before is bisexual erasure.

This same concept is applied to Arthur Morgan. He had previous relationships with women. (one of whom he still has strong feelings for) and he is attracted to women. We see this with his greeting dialogue and when he compliments people. I believe Arthur's character is more likely to be bisexual than Sadie's, given his interactions w/ some of the men in the game. But that doesn't erase the fact that he's still attracted to the opposite sex. Arthur is not a gay man. Disregarding his past relationships w/ women is a form of bisexual erasure.

There is a huge double standard here because if these character's were actually lesbian/gay and the fandom decided to ship them with people of the opposite sex (i.e headcanon they are bi), there would be a major discourse.

Whenever bisexual women and men are presented in the media I always notice a few things:

Bi women are "secretly straight"

Bi women "don't know their lesbian yet"

Bi men are "secretly gay"

As well as this funny little graphic below ↓

Like I said before, I am bisexual. And if I'm being honest this years pride month has been exhausting and mildly infuriating with how the community seems to disregard bisexuals in a hetero relationship.

I stopped talking about my bisexuality with people because once they know I have been in a committed relationship with a man for seven years, I am suddenly excluded from the conversation.

I've had ex-friends tell me that I only identify as bisexual to "fit in" with the queer community. I've had people in college assume I was lesbian bc of the way I dressed, and then try to tell me that I must be secretly lesbian when I tell them I'm Bi. (Ppl also assumed I was non-binary bc of the way I presented but that's another story)

This stuff doesn't just happen to fictional characters, it happens to real people every single day. I'm honestly tired of ppl saying "well my headcanon doesn't hurt anybody, they're not real." Yes it does!! You are supporting Bi erasure!!

That's all I'm gonna say on this topic for now. I'd love to leave it open for discussion, but please be nice. This isn't a call-out or me trying to antagonize the queer rdr community. I just wanted to get it off my mind.