#we are not monsters

[natalievoncatte]

This isn’t another Supercorp ficlet, though I may do one soon.

I’m going to get political. I’m sorry, but I need to vent. If that’s not for you, I’m going to put a “read more” cut before I start my rant.

I’m not going to do that because I’m worried about being offensive. I think most of the people who enjoy 547 short stories about the same blonde and brunette yearning for each other would probably agree with me on all of this.

I’m putting it below the cut because some people have a limited bandwidth for dealing with politics, culture, etc, and that’s okay and needs to be okay. We can’t all be warriors 24/7.

Rant starts now.

I watched a movie tonight where one of the main characters is clearly gay and quickly develops a teenage infatuation with a member of the same sex/gender and this dynamic drives the plot in a classic star-crossed teen lovers story angle.

I went to view online discussions about it and of course the first comment thread I find on social media is full of hate and vitriol.

The chuds all the same thing: “stop sexualizing them”.

A QUEER ROMANCE IS NO MORE “SEXUAL” THAN A STRAIGHT ONE.

Depicting a boy falling in love with a boy or a girl falling in love with a girl is no more “sexual” than depicting the same thing with opposite gender/sex characters.

Implying that any queer romance is innately “sexual” in some dangerous/perverse/exploitative way is absolutely 100% homophobic and needs to stop.

Crying that “two women can’t be friends in a movie anymore” when historians and journalists try to declare actual queer relationships “just friends” is homophobic and needs to stop.

Queer youth aren’t fucking monsters for existing and adults aren’t monsters for treating their feelings as real.

The monsters are the “youth pastors”, cops, ministers, businessmen, doctors, and other patriarchal predators who call love a sin while they molest and abuse and torture and drive kids to suicide.

[clood]

on this day of me making all of the posts, i opened up east of eden to remember i had stopped on this specific page to talk briefly about the following paragraph:

“What freedom men and women could have, were they not constantly tricked and trapped and enslaved and tortured by their sexuality! The only drawback in that freedom is that without it one would not be human. One would be a monster.”

this is from john steinbeck’s east of eden, published in 1952.

in reading these lines for the first time i felt so disappointed and alienated, and then for a moment i was like, “oh well. this was published in the 50s!”

the trouble is, the sentiment toward asexual folks and asexuality still remains largely the same: we are told we are not normal, we are weird, some might even go so far as steinbeck did and call us inhuman. and shit like this hurts!! whether you see it in a book by an author you love or on your dash in the year of our lord 2023.

to my fellow ace friends, we’re fine just the way we are. we’re wonderful, even!!

idk why i’m really even making this post but like. i had to stop and read the paragraph out loud and process it and feel it, so i guess you do too??? support your ace and aro friends.

[0w9]

i think people should show some more respect when talking to schizophrenic people !

[letsburnthatbridgewhenwegetthere]

I summon you again for another important life lesson @smalmony

it’s transfem, not transfemme

we may be faggots but we’re not fucking french

[nonebinary-leftbeef]

DEVASTATING the lyric you've been mishearing is better than the real one

[demigods-posts]

headcanon that percy stays ready to clock the minotaur. this man would pause his lunch break to give this bull it's horn a third time. this man would dehydrate for two days if it meant he could murk this bull at the end of it. this man's beef with this walking beef is so grandeur. it was the first monster he killed the moment the battle of mamhattan began. this is one of percy's consistent bloodlust moments and no one will ever fault him for it.

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Always love how much folklore especially creature folklore emphasizes that there is a way for you to win. These are the steps to ensure the dead don't rise: take them out through a hole in the wall and give them iron shoes. Vampires cannot abide sunlight. If you hear a dog howl on a churchyard path turn around and get home as fast as you can. Iron and salt and the colour red. None of this doomed idea, the world is incomprehensible but if you're a bit clever you'll survive it just fine, there's always ways out.

[puddingcatbeans]

to be perfectly honest. i don't care if it is cheesy or cliched or idealistic. i like stories where the core of it is about kindness, the warmth we can offer others and the gentleness we receive in return. maybe the moral of the story IS love triumphs. it better fucking be

[lilly-townshend]

hey STEB NATION (me and 5 other fish enthusiasts) how are we feeling

[bluegiragi]

i drew johnny "soap" mactavish as phreak (the original design) from overwatch.

bonus (just for fun):

[lemonspades]

She's so helpful in the remake isn't she?

[parasocial-paradox]

Babe wake up Massive Monster dropped pronouns for each of the cotl characters

based Massive Monster moment for being so casual with fans in their YouTube cuz some people didn't know 🙏

That ain't mean all your oc followers are automatically hit with the ✨️NONBINARY LASERBEAM✨️ though, I think this is just a base game suggestion

[bioethicists]

it's very important to understand how a personality disorder diagnosis functions in the psychiatric system, even if you identify with the diagnosis or find it useful.

personality disorders on your medical record will be used to discredit anything you say or do. they indicate "don't bother listening to this person; apply treatment regardless of their wishes but also they're probably manipulating/attention-seeking so maybe don't bother treating them". needing support becomes attention-seeking. behaviors that would be treated + supported in someone without this diagnosis are ignored or treated as manipulative. providers are instructed to "withdraw warmth" (a real thing in the DBT provider's manual, btw) in response to self-injury or suicidal ideation.

if you have been dx'd with a personality disorder professionally, you likely understand this.

now, here's the important part: this is not an issue of 'stigma' against a politically neutral, pre-discursive True Disease which is being Unfairly Maligned. these diagnoses were formulated based on the idea that some patients cannot be trusted, that some patients seek care too much. they are applied to patient charts as a justification for withdrawing care or as a dismissal of someone "not getting better" fast enough. in the uk, they are often employed by the nhs to shame or problematize people who use large amounts of nhs resources, arguing that receiving a lot of care through the nhs is a negative behavior stemming from a disordered personality.

there are elements of personality disorders which resonate strongly with many people, including myself, but you need to be clear-eyed about the origins + functions of this diagnosis. as a whole, they were created + function as ways to discredit + mistreat noncompliant or "difficult" patients. 'reclaiming' them is not going to change how they function systematically- it is going to make it easier to engage in this systematic neglect by evoking 'ableism' or 'stigma!' when people question the utility or application of the diagnosis.

[iseathegalaxy]

"but no one ever bothered to check the seas, so I'm going to"

all of us:

[sclappin]

Man whose definition of "monster" is extremely flexible.