#tw oppression mention

[pokemon-radical-red]

I got this comment on a post that I made about being a trans man and noticing how we’re perceived by others. This person is blocked now because I don’t want some transphobe on my blog, but I want to talk a little bit about this.

I like how this person’s trying to convince me that I’m wrong while saying that the only people who would be attracted to us are lesbians who are into butch women. But they can’t use those exact words or else we’ll all KNOW that they’re misgendering us. It’s interesting. Let’s play a game! TERF or transandrophobe. (I’m not scrolling through their blog long enough to find out.)

Okay. Let’s pretend that we live in their world, where trans men are not also a porn category (as someone pointed out in a response comment), and get to the deep cuts!

Now maybe this person defines oversexualization in a different way, and frequently commenting on our bodies—especially our chests—is totally cool and normal to them, because I literally have a post talking about the Tik Tok trend of “oh trans man wants me to respect his pronouns but he has HUGE BOOBS!!! haha this is so funny, guys!” You may notice that in this example here, she claims to feel bad, but then immediately turns around and makes a joke about it. Is describing transmascs essentially as our chests not sexualization? Not to mention dehumanizing considering they refer to this person as “a he/they,” instead of a transmasc or a nonbinary person or anything else.

But if that’s not enough sexualization for you, or you think that it isn’t valid to be upset over that, you can look under the cuts for the disgusting descriptions of our bodies from some transphobes. From some of those “ladies who just like butch,” since they’re innocent and aren’t oversexualizing us because “nobody oversexualizes ftm trans folks,” as the person in the screenshot said confidently.

I wanna say trigger warning for disgusting oversexualization of trans men (including trans men who are in their teens!) under the cut, but huh… the commenter said that nobody oversexualizes trans men, so this can’t be right. (On a serious note, please do heed the trigger warning before deciding to open the rest of the post.)

[aspartameabuser69]

The way HH portrays oppression is honestly weird if not harmful, the only thing Heaven does is commit an annual genocide. That’s bad but actual oppressive regimes don’t act like that, it’s obviously written from the point of view of a rich person. The main character is a rich white woman. It’s about a rich white woman civilising the poor, the sex workers, the alcoholics, the violent.

Even redemption, it’s wallowing in pity. It’s not changing and bettering yourself. Angel Dust does not apologise for sexually harassing Husker instead it’s all of his actions being justified by the narrative. His punishment is sexual abuse. Yes he’s not a perfect victim, I’m not. I don’t think anyone is. But in the eyes of the narrative his actions that hurt people are okay because he’s been sexually abused.

Hazbin Hotel feels like there was little foresight for how honest to god awful the themes of the story are.

[elin-moon]

More on Alicent and her inconsistent character in season 2:

I feel like the writers and directors forgot what and who Alicent is as a character, what she represents. From watching season 1, I'd say Alicent is a representation of the women who not only live the way the Patriarchal society wants them to live, but also openly supports the Patriarchal system and shames women who don't live by the expectation, because for them it works so it should work for every woman.

This is most evident in Alicent's treatment of Rhaenyra, constantly going out of her way to put down Rhaenyra's authority amongst the men at court and in the council. Of course, it is all for her own gain, as Rhaenyra having less power means more power for her, which comes in the form of respect from the men around her. In everything Alicent does, she's looking to make herself look more endearing to the men around her by putting down another woman who is not behaving in the typical way that a woman is expected to be.

Such as with the really strong focus on Rhaenyra having bastards, not because she's sleeping around with a lot of men, but because the man she's married with can't have children with her; Rhaenyra is having bastard children out of a necessity to have heirs, but also because it is expected of her as a woman. If she were a man, no one would've cared, which is even said in the show:

"If I were born a man, I could father a dozen bastards." - Rhaenyra Targaryen

A man can have sex with as many women as he wants and have as many illegitimate children as he'd like, but a woman can't. If she does, she's considered a whore, which is exactly what happens to Rhaenyra, and Alicent perpetuates this by further spreading the rumours of Rhaenyra's infidelity and her children's legitimacy, all for the betterment of her own cause, to make Aegon appear as a better candidate for the throne. Alicent uses the Patriarchal system to her advantage to get what she wants, to put her son on the throne.

The most important thing is that Alicent doesn't necessarily see this as wrong. I mean, look at her father, Otto Hightower, who constantly tells her that a woman could never rule, that it must be Aegon that is king, becuase he's the first born son.

"It wouldn't matter if she were Jaehaerys himself come again; she is a woman."

In his eyes, Rhaenyra could never rule on her own as a woman, and he sends this message down to his daughter. Society itself also supports him in his belief, as is evident by the Great Council of 101, where Viserys was chosen over Rhaenys to rule, the very first scene in the first episode. As every woman in the show, Alicent suffers under the Patriarchy, but she's been raised to believe that that is what's right, and any other woman who refuses to suffer the same and tries to push back against the system in anyway is wrong and should be taught better.

Alicent's loyalty to the Patriarchy is also presented through her piousness to the Faith of the Seven, a fictional religion that takes inspiration from real life Christianity. Now, we all know very well that Christianity is being used as a tool to keep women down and subservient to their husbands, encouraging them to be obedient to the men in their lives. Christianity is alos the root of purity culture, telling young girls they must remain pure and chaste maidens for their future husbands, and if they don't do so, they are harlots and whores and sinners and they will surely go to hell. Since the Faith of the Seven is so similar to Christianity, it supports a similar concept of women needing to remain pure before marriage, and Alicent would've been raised with this belief, so evidently believes it so herself. This would not only further tie into her treatment of Rhaenyra, who she believes has sullied herself by having sex outside of marriage, but also her treatment of other girls and women.

For example, Dyana, the maid that Aegon raped. While, by all means, Alicent does help her, giving her contraceptive Moon tea and money so she can get away without trouble, Alicent still helps the maid hide. It is suggested by the show that this isn't the first time Aegon's done this, yet he hasn't really been punished by the law in anyway, because he's a man, and Alicent knows this. So, the best she can do is offer Dyana (and possibly other maids that have suffered similarly) an escape from further suffering. But she also has to keep her son's actions a secret, because they are considered bad, and while Aegon won't get punished for it, it may give him a slightly bad look to the public and give Team Black something to use as proof that Aegon isn't a capable ruler, and Alicent can't have that. So, she makes sure the maids, like Dyana, don't talk of what's happened to them, paying them to get out as soon as possible. She knows she can silence them easily since their voices don't matter as mere maids, so her privilege as queen is used as well, making sure women beneath her struggle in silence.

Her perpetuating Patriarchal values is also evident with her daughter, Helaena. While she doesn't mistreat her in any matter and cares for her dearly, Alicent obviously thinks that what is bets for Helaena is for her to live by the expectations set out for women. She has her daughter married to Aegon at 13, and forces her to have children with him as a teenager. In the book, she's 14 giving birth to the twins, and in the show, assuming she's around 19 and the twins are 4, she gives birth at 15. Either way, she's far too young to be getting married and having children, but this is what society expects of her, and what Alicent pushes for, since she believes it is for the best. Alicent herself was a teenager getting married and having children young, both in the show and the book. Sure, in the book she's 18, but that is still quite young (as an 18 year old myself, I couldn't image getting married and having children), and in the show, she's about 14 getting married and 15/16 having her first child. Alicent lived by society's expectations, and it is evident in the show she doesn't enjoy it, but she believes she must, so she thinks Helaena must as well. In fact, she believes every woman must as well. She sees Rhaenyra doesn't live a life of servitude to her husband, and Alicent hates her for it, most likely being jealous of her freedom, seen most evidently first when Alicent is still young and Rhaenyra is still unmarried and refuses to marry even though she's given plenty of men to choose from while Alicent had been given no choice.

"I think it's rather romantic" - Alicent Hightower

"What's so romantic about being locked up in a castle and made to squeeze out heirs." - Rhaenyra Targaryen

Alicent is jealous of Rhaenyra's percieved freedom, of her ability to choose who to marry, who to have children with. Alicent doesn't see that Rhaneyra is still being forced to marry when she doesn't want to, she just sees the privilege of choice on who that Rhaenyra has, and she wishes she could have that, and feels that Rhaenyra is being ungrateful. As time passes, and Rhaenyra gets away with stuff women wouldn't normally get away with, such as having illegitimate children as her heirs and having an affair with the man she loves, Alicent becomes more and more jealous, and it turns into cruelty, trying constantly to put Rhaenyra down to make herself feel better; she's the one being a good woman here, she's the one following the rules that society set out for her, she she believes she is righteous in what she does. She believes women must live like her, living for the men around them and offering everything they have to men, even their ambition, or else they are wrong.

"You've gone too far!" - Rhaenyra Targaryen

"I!? What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law, while you flout all to do as you please! ... Where's duty? Where's sacrifice? It's trampled under your pretty foot again!" - Alicent Hightower

Alicent believes sacrifice is necessary, something women must do, and when Rhaenyra doesn't sacrifice her owns self for the men around her, Alicent believes she's not being a woman correctly, that she's behaving incorrectly because she doesn't live exactly as the Patriarchal society expects her to.

The Patriarchy requires women to sacrifice everything: their very freedom, their very rights, their very desires, all to be desirable to men, and religion is used to make women believed that these sacrifices make them righteous, that it makes them better then other women, which only strengthens the system as the women who are being oppressed support their own oppression.

This is who Alicent was in season 1, and season 2 fails to deliver this. She has sex outside of wedlock even though her religion would forbid it, and she tries to break away from what she started and tries to go back to Rhaenyra even though she hasn't been given a good reason to other than a desire for freedom from the system. While I don't believe her character arc of breaking away rom the system is bad, I feel it was badly written; it all happens far too quickly. In just a few short weeks (at best), she's gone from fully supprting her son taking the throne and being willing to make sacrifices to achieve this, to abandoning her son entirely while he's injured and longing to break away from the cage she's been trapped in for years. It's unrealistic, no one can change that quickly in a few weeks. This arc would make sense if it was more drawn out and build upon slowly. Perhaps Alicent's desire for freedom could be foreshadowed at best in season 2, and in season 3 have it fully manifest, but it being far too late for Alicent to escape and now she has to suffer with her guilt and regrets as she watches everything fall apart around her, driving her mad as she can no longer change anything, no matter how much she wants. She has build her own cage and chains, and now has no choice but to keep to them, no matter how much she hates it now.

But whatever, we shall see what season 3 will do with her character. Perhaps they'll fix up on the inconsistencies and find a way to make her character make sense in a satisfying way that somehow aligns with season 1 and 2, but we'll have to wait.

For now, I'm done.

[noperopesaredope]

Currently working on a video essay on Ever After High in which I talk about:

Classism (so much classism)

The poverty to prison pipeline

Religious abuse

Religious nationalism

The relationship between race and poverty (in the US)

American systemic racism

The history of racial oppression in the US

White privilege

Racial purity

And a general analysis in which I discuss how some of the themes in EAH relate to real world systemic oppression.

What the hell is wrong with me.

[sophieinwonderland]

I am never going to buy into the pluralphobia-deniers argument that all pluralphobia is misdirected ableism when discrimination against systems often manifests in the form of religious persecution.

"You're only being discriminated against because people see you as having a disorder" really doesn't fly when the people discriminating against or abusing you are claiming you have a demon in you.

I am lucky enough to have avoided this, but that's probably because we don't flaunt our plurality offline, and it's not something that's really known about by people that aren't immediate family. And we are lucky enough to have a pretty supportive family where others haven't been.

But this doesn't change the fact that many systems have experienced persecution by people who did not, in fact, see them as having a mental disorder.

Fear and prejudice against multiples is far deeper (and older) than just being ableism.

And it's frustrating to keep having to come back to this conversation with people who want to deny that systems are actually discriminated against for being systems. For being plural. For being any flavor of multiple in one body.

[queerbauten]

Stop accusing Jews of being Zionist. We've spent the last 2000 years being singled out and targeted by Christians, and we're really sick of it.

“He's not a Zionist. Can you stop declaring every Jew you don't personally like a Zionist? You don't get to determine what someone's personal beliefs are.”

Oxford Languages definition of “Zionism”:

“[A] movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel. It was established as a political organization in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.”

Neil Gaiman’s 2023 beliefs:

“… Israel has the right to exist….”

That he advocates a two-state solution later in his statement doesn’t make him not a Zionist. Believing Israel has a right to exist makes you a Zionist. “Moderate” Zionists exist. “Milquetoast liberal” Zionists exist.

As for this idea that I’m accusing every single Jewish person [I don’t like] of being a Zionist… scroll through my blog, get me those receipts, and get back to me. You’ll be sorely disappointed.

[therquniverse]

TransHarmed OC~

Welcome Delilah to the family! She's a transfemboy, transtrender (Gender identity), pansexual biromantic transharmed! She uses she/her pronouns!

She's transdeath / transdead, desires to be in an abusive relationship and oppressed by some form of religion, and is 22 years old!

She wears makeup that looks like bruises and cuts, and works as a banker! She's normally only on phone calls all day, so she can look however she pleases!

She is currently looking for a partner through rq sites, and strives to be a perfect victim!

Her parents learned about her transids and she was cut off by her family, which was both upsetting and euphoric for her, as she now relies on her friends online!

Maybe she'll meet her one true abuser someday!

[local-redhead-bookworm]

I genuinely don’t understand how someone could watch Castlevania, a series where no one is morally perfect, and come away with the conclusion that “all vampires are pure evil, killing them is a mercy, and if a decent person got turned into a vampire they’d off themself”

[mellometal]

(I'm going to edit this with added links to resources ASAP. I just don't have all of them saved at the moment. I'm sorry. [Update: I'm gonna just reblog this post with resources. I was trying to edit this post with resources, but the connection was wonky.])

I wanted to make sure I got everything I needed to say in a way that's easy for everyone to understand. I'm gonna be honest, I was genuinely unaware of what has been happening in the world until about a week ago or so due to things going on in my personal life that needed my immediate attention. I've also been struggling a lot, but that's not important right now. Because I was unaware of what was going on in the world currently, I did research to educate myself, watched a lot of videos about it, shared a ton of content about it, am currently in the process of reaching out to representatives all over the United States to get the President to call for a ceasefire, and I've been trying to start the conversation with people I know in real life.

Don't try to use what 1sra3l is doing to Palestine, Gaza, Congo, and Sudan as an excuse to be antisemitic or Islamophobic. Do not try to justify 1sra3l killing innocent people in any way, shape, or form. I don't tolerate people who stand for genocide. Nothing justifies killing innocent people. Tigray, Puerto Rico, Hawai'i, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland are some more oppressed nations, to give some more examples.

Many of the people in Palestine and Gaza have had their homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, and so on destroyed due to 1sra3l bombing them. They're watching their own people die. They're digging through slabs of broken concrete to find their missing loved ones. They're putting the dismembered body parts of their loved ones in bags. They don't have clean drinking water. They don't have electricity. They're getting WORMS from having to drink water that's not suitable for consumption. Food is scarce and very expensive. People are dying from starvation, not having clean drinking water, and the inability to access adequate medical care due to extremely limited resources. Doctors are having to perform life-saving procedures without any type of sanitation, anesthesia, or any type of pain relief to give to the injured. They're performing procedures on the hospital floor and in the streets. They're now having to choose who's worth saving, watch victims die, and then move on to the next. The animals that are still alive are having to resort to eating blown off body parts of DEAD PEOPLE. This is just SOME of the things these people are going through.

There's also war going on in Congo and Sudan. Tigray is still suffering from the genocide on their people, even after the peace agreement in 2022 between Ethiopia and Tigray. Big tech companies are enslaving children in Congo by forcing them to mine for coltan. Millions of Congolese people are being killed. Many Tigrayans are still displaced from their homes, parts of Tigray are still being held captive, and school hasn't started for many children there because so many people are having to resort to living in school buildings or in tents. This is all just the tip of the iceberg and from what I found doing some quick research.

To top that off, President Biden is refusing to ceasefire on Palestine and Gaza. HE'S SENDING MORE MONEY TO 1SRA3L INSTEAD. 1SRA3L, UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW, SHOULDN'T EVEN BE DOING WHAT THEY'RE DOING. THEY'VE BROKEN SO MANY LAWS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW. THE AMOUNT OF LAWS THEY'VE BROKEN UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW IS ACTUALLY SCARY. MULTIPLE PEOPLE IN CONGRESS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SILENCE ANYONE (specifically they have been trying to silence Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress) SPEAKING OUT ABOUT THE WAR CRIMES BEING COMMITTED AND FUNDED WITH AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS. Oh, but Biden had all the time in the world recently to visit grieving families here in the United States who have lost loved ones due to the rampant gun problem in this country that STILL isn't being fixed. That's nice. /s By the way, I'm not criticizing him for visiting grieving families. I'm criticizing Biden for funding the genocide of innocent people instead of putting a stop to it. The civilians in Palestine and Gaza didn't do anything to deserve what they're going through right now. That goes for all oppressed nations.

We might end up in World War III, and that's gonna be a HUGE problem for the United States if we get involved instead of staying out of it. We don't have enough troops for when and IF WW3 happens. I'm not kidding. When NORTH KOREA is saying that what Biden’s doing is fucked up, you KNOW that it's bad. I don't want World War III to be a reality. I don't want that to happen. I want to say that WW3 will never happen, BUT I CAN'T. History WILL keep repeating itself.

As far as boycotts go, the list of brands that have ties to 1sra3l is overwhelmingly long and the brands that have no ties to 1sra3l and support Palestine are small in comparison. However, the big three to focus on boycotting are McDonald's, Starbucks, and Disney. They're the companies who contribute the most money to horrific shit like what I mentioned here.

I keep seeing many people leaving disabled people out of the conversation and it's irritating because disabled people exist all across the globe. For disabled people, boycotting many of these things that I haven't even listed here may be more difficult, if not impossible, for them to do for a variety of reasons (mainly medical). Obviously I'm speaking in a general sense. It all depends on the person. Reason why I'm bringing this up is because I saw a few medication brands on the boycott list. I've seen people say to just get the generic brand of their medications, but that might not be an available option for them, depending on their insurance.

I don't eat at McDonald's much anymore (actually haven't eaten there much if at all for years), I don't have a Disney+ subscription, and I rarely get Starbucks anyway...so it's personally not a huge loss. There are better things to watch. There are better places to eat at that are more Pescatarian friendly. There are also better places to get myself a blended coffee made with almond milk and extra fixings if I'm feeling fancy. I know there are people in food deserts, in financial strain, and have accessibility issues. I'm not talking about them.

When and if you can, shop and eat out locally. I'm sure they'd love the business! It also helps boost your town's local economy! If this isn't a viable option for you due to financial difficulties and/or accessibility issues, do what you gotta do that's the most sustainable for you, your family, your animals, and whatnot. Meaning if the only grocery store you have in your area is Walmart or it's the only place that's affordable, you're not evil for getting your groceries there. Because we're all struggling right now, myself included. Also, for anyone that's going to suggest a dollar store or a food bank, not everyone has a dollar store or food bank in their area, or has easy access to either of those things. The one thing I will say is do your best to be mindful of the things you buy.

For all my fellow American followers, Canadian followers, followers in the UK, and Australian followers, call and email your representatives and demand a ceasefire if you haven't already. This is especially for my fellow American followers. Call and email President Biden and Vice President Harris. CALL THE WHITE HOUSE. If you're going to a protest, be safe, be respectful, cover up anything identifiable on you, try to go in a group if you can, and all that good stuff. Sign petitions! Donate if you can.

There's so much shit going on, and I think I've discussed enough of it here. It's gotten way too long. Sorry if I missed anything. I wanted to at least cover the big stuff.

[sneakyboymerlin]

Why do so many people in this fandom obsessively treat Morgana like she’s nothing but some passive helpless eye candy who can’t make decisions for her own adult self and is just pushed and pulled and shaped by the men in her life… I’m serious, you all need to manage your misogyny.

[purpleguysimp]

Sometimes bitches forget not everyone lives in the same fantasy world where you can be as open as possible about everything like I'm sorry I cant ask everyone pronouns whenever i meet someone new but I also don't wanna be called 15 new slurs

[ritterintahlia]

Our first ever Metallica fanfic: Bloody Ice (Colorado Winter Gothic) now available at AO3

James is sick; there are dæmons in his blood that are slowly destroying him. Jason intervenes.

Spoilers and warnings: magical realism, AU,��injury mention, demons, not beta-read, Colorado Winter Gothic (?), hurt/comfort, attempts at Latin

- the deer in question is vantablack - when James looks at Jason at the shore, he looks like this - some things (e.g. time/ages) do not match up; it is intentional

[grimaticerror]

Get this

White supremacists have a patterned history of labeling Hispanics or any marginalized group that migrated to America as.... uh ahem "retarded".  Bigots realize they are just projecting or attempting to continue the cycle of othering marginalized groups like this to keep their race or complexion at the top baseline of power and they will continue to make any excuse to keep it that way. I've literally been told I was retarded because I identified with something queer by people I would've hoped were joking. Racists and bigots have always been the narrow minded retards, you give them any course material from an ethnics studies class and they wouldn't be able to absorb any of it because of their own disinterests in not serving their agenda and this continues to be a tragedy for education across America as ethnic study classes have been banned in the state of Arkansas due to being ...."racist" towards white people, or as they claim, molding marginalized groups to see themselves as "professional victims," which is just.....🙄 To call an ESL Hispanic student retarded imo is very retarded. 

I went to a segregated school in South Los Angeles that consistent of nothing but black and brown students, some of brightest complexions from that school were never truly white, they were at most Spaniard/Latin ethnic mixtures from Europe and south America. I used to struggle so much in that pre-cal class back at that school, but it was a class you were put in if your grades reflected the potential of passing. That class consisted of my other peers who were in my honors classes in previous semesters. However, the whole backrow of kids in that class were migrated ESL students from Mexico/Salvador who were able to score 90% or above marks on their exams. My pre-cal professor always mentioned if people who didn't even speak a lick of English were able to pass their math class, that btw wasn't even taught in their language for a second, made him saw the potential of anyone passing because of the universal language that is math. 

I took that class, I did my best, failed, and cried about it with my other fluent English-speaking friends. At the time, I was embarrassed for myself but the older me now who went through extreme lengths of bullying and harassment for their marginalized identity by people from high white segregated areas that lived nowhere close to the poverty baseline in the LA county, I'm able to look back with a lot more appreciation with my experiences there, I wouldn't trade it for another school that was brighter in the northern white baseline of schools in LA. Infact a lot of the honors  classes there I felt were so fun and interactive, and I'm happy knowing I wouldn't have received these experiences had I gone to a brighter school. Having attended a white college in comparison to a black and brown school, I now know I wasn't really missing out on that much as I was told by the runaways that came from white schools. 

I wasn't inferior for being part of a marginalized group. I was just surrounded with disgusting bigots who proved they really didn't give af if they were putting down other ethnic/marginalized groups to keep themselves above power by oppressively labeling others. It didn't matter if they had latin or black friends either. It didn't make them less racist, they're latin friends were literally just misguided victims who think they can sympathize with their oppressors. Maybe you could convince them of their inferiority but not me, no, never me. Not ever again. 

[overmorrowpine]

okay this is a very specific vaguepost but . trans separatism is Bad. yes there should be posts on specifically trans women's struggles but there should also be posts on trans men's struggles and i don't see those like ever. a post saying that trans women being considered evil men is bad, that's fine,, but everyone dogpiling a transmasc who was like "they also say that about us" is Bad. trans women don't have Special Extra oppression, they just have oppression in the various flavors it comes in. same with trans men, same with nonbinary people. "hey this post was specifically about trans women you have a point but please make your own post" is fine. "this is about trans woman and i really don't like how you have to make it about you" is?? not.

it is not erasure to say i am also a trans people and they do this to us to. it is not erasure to say that trans women don't have some kind of special extra oppression that makes them more important than trans men. we're all oppressed! we're all trans! we're ALL hated for our association with manhood! terfs hate us too, if we're "too far gone" and by that i mean medically transitioned at all, or even just knowing with certainty we're not women, they treat us as if we're as "evil" as cis men! just because their flavor of hating us is "you are a traitor and a monster" doesn't mean it's less than "you are trying to get things that aren't for you and you're a monster"!!

there is no kind of trans person they do not hate. it is not productive to insist that the hatred they have for trans women is more important than the hatred they have for trans men, it is trauma olympics all over again. sometimes it is trauma olympics! we are raped and beaten and killed too, and it is not helpful for our liberation as trans people to deny that or make it lesser because other trans people also suffer.

[efangamez]

It feels like you demonize escapism, but as a queer sexual assault survivor, I needed escapism for a while because I wasn’t ready to talk about it, and it consumed my mind whenever I didn’t have something playing.

I know many non-white people who also do this whenever bad things happen to them. Your reading on this is trapped in your own perspective, when people who are suffering around the world just as often engage in escapism if not more, because they are directly affected. It feels like an obsession with moral virtue is more important than the actual mental health of the people affected.

TW // SA, Depression, Racism, Genocide

First off, I wanted to offer my serious condolences and apologies that that happened. I hope that you were able to get the justice you deserved 💛 Endless love to you.

Second, I think it is a valid critique that white people engage in escapism in regard to domestic and foreign issues that they directly fund. Your instance is one of complete validity, as you were the one oppressed and harmed. However, we as white people who benefit and thrive off of the blood of those we have slain and enslaved, we don't have the right to "escape" these issues without blood being on our own hands. WE are part of the problem, and while yes mental health is important, and looking at gore and bloodshed all day long is NOT productive, we can STILL break from our escapism after we are soothed to infight for justice. Rest is revolution after all.

Now, is this to say that people should hurt or demean or make you impoverished because of your unwillingness to use escapism as a soothing mechanism to FIGHT for change? No. Not at all. But there are consequences, for me personally and professionally, that I can willfully not associate with you or support you. I don't owe anyone anything, and neither do you. Also, Inwood examine why, if you are indeed white, you had to point out other people have this same way of thinking. I know that. Why did you have to deflect? It's worth investigating for sure.

We in America do harm every single day whether we like it or not, ESPECIALLY as white people. It's up to us to fight against that and make the world a better place. Again, I'm not saying ALL escapism is bad. I'm saying look at WHAT you're escaping from, and afterwards, make an effort to stop it from happening. And also again, this is for people who are oppressing others, not for those who want to escape from the horrors that have been done to them for a while. Those are two completely different circumstances.

I hope you will read this in full, and if you have any questions, feel free to send me a DM as I will not answer further anonymous asks about this subject. Please respect my boundary 💛 Also, if you read this and see something problematic in my response, let me know! I'm very receptive to critique and want to be as inclusive and clear in my messaging as possible! 💛

[venting-town]

Also, no, violence ISNT “ always “ the answer..

But SOMETIMES it IS the answer, whether ANYBODY likes that or wants that or not

Example, if a kid is being bullied, MOST times the bully won’t stop bullying you if you just “ ask them nicely “ to stop or “ ignore them “. Even if you tell an adult ( even though a LOT of adults, at least the ones I’ve been around, won’t give a damn OR will just gently reprimand the bully. Some adults will even blame the VICTIM and take the bully’s side!! ), the bully may still choose to bully you

At times like these, it is ABSOLUTELY OKAY to beat the fuck out of the bully.

And no, the victim IS NOT “ JUST AS BAD “ as the bully for defending themselves. When the bully believes that their victim is an easy target, yet gets their reality is shaken violently by said victim, bullies often start rethinking about bullying them. Because they now know they’ll fight back

Not to mention that, if a friend of the victim beats the hell out of bully, that friend is NOT “ bad “. The bully is NOT a “ victim “. They got what they deserved

You DO sometimes have to/NEED to use violence to get the point across

This is reality.

Reality isn’t always “ feel good happy times “.

As I said, violence isn’t always the answer.

But sometimes it IS.