#we need a feminist movement again so bad

[catgirltoes]

Gotta be honest the constant objectification of women's bodies is a bit tiring sometimes.

[genderkoolaid]

Hi. You always post a lot of info so I'm wondering if you might be able to help me. Is there a difference between radfems and TERFs? Are they both bad? If so, why are they bad? Are there any dog whistles to look out for when it comes to these groups? Please ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable. I've seen a lot of people pointing out that they're bad, but never really saying why. I want to make sure I follow intersectional feminism and not those groups.

Radical feminism is the name of a branch of feminism. It originally got its name because it advocated for extreme changes to society to address female oppression, but developed into a specific worldview which I (off the top of my head) would define by certain traits:

Oppositional sexism. Men and women (or "males" and "females") are fundamentally opposed. Oftentimes this is bioessentialist, arguing that this opposite comes from biology, but it may also be framed as a political necessity; a radfem might argue that gender and sex are fake BUT we need male vs female as political identities in order to identify our "allies" and "enemies". Regardless, males and females are physically distinct and political enemies. You can tell a man from a woman, either from their body or their behavior, the two categories cannot overlap, and no other gender/sex-labels are relevant.

Fatalistic perspectives on patriarchy. Not only are males and females opposed, but this cannot be changed. This may be bioessentialist (the opposition comes from something in our nature, which cannot change) or gender-essentialist (the opposition comes from socialization which occurs as a child due to outside pressure and/or internal gender identity, and cannot change.) Focus is not placed on an ideal future where men and women are equals and social partners. Instead, there is a sense that there is no way to truly have a society with men and women where males do not oppress females, or try to. Sometimes this is more implicit and other times you have people who explicitly believe in creating & enforcing female-only societies.

Misogyny as the source of all oppression, or at least the most important & the one people should identity themselves as before anything else. Those who call themselves intersectional generally only really care about other issues to the extent that they affect women in some way. Part of the downfall of the original radical feminists was the fact that the dominant groups were upper-class white women, who ignored racism and classism and silenced poor women & women of color, insisting that anti-racist and anti-classist action distracted from The Movement & that calling out other women's bigotry was anti-feminist.

A general suspicion of sexual desire and sex, often expressing itself as whorephobia (anti-sex work) and anti-kink attitudes, specifically under the argument that they are inherently misogynistic and abusive. Sex is associated with men and maleness, which again, are inherently the enemy. Sex WITH men, or with a person or object that could be construed as male, is especially bad.

The impetus to make your personal life As Feminist As Possible– "The personal is political." That isn't a bad slogan on its own (it's true), but with radical feminists it expresses itself as a high standard of Radfemmaxing. You should be celibate if you are attracted to men, or become a political lesbian, you shouldn't be masculine OR feminine (anti-butch & femme sentiment), you should reject makeup and shaving, you should cut off male relatives and even abort male fetuses– and you must identify with womanhood and femaleness, while rejecting any identity related to manhood and maleness. It's not just that you should examine your desires and choices and question why you feel the way you feel (again, this is a good thing). Radfems have the belief that they already know the correct answer to that Introspection, and if you come to any other conclusion than theirs (I like wearing makeup because it's fun, I want to be a man because it fits me), then it's taken as proof you are still brainwashed.

TERFS are trans-exclusive radfems. They believe that being trans is not real, or at least not healthy or an acceptable feminist stance. TERFs tend to use the language of "sex" and "males vs females." Many use the term "gender critical," meaning they see gender as fake and damaging, while sex is real and the proper platform for feminist analysis. I once saw a TERF define her stance as "it's not degrading because its feminine, its feminine because its degrading." They believe in things like autogynophilia and rapid onset gender dysphoria, and attribute transgender identity with sexual trauma, internalized homophobia and internalized misogyny.

TIRFs are trans inclusive. They believe that transgender feelings are natural and should be listened to and followed, and that feminism should take gender identity into account. However, they still have a "male vs female" worldview. They may argue that transgender men's internal gender feelings led them to internalize male socialization, while trans women internalized female socialization, meaning that all trans people's experiences with gender and misogyny align most with cis people who share their gender identity.

In both cases, anti-nonbinary exorsexism and intersexism are unavoidable. TERFs will label intersex people as "males/females with a disorder" and attribute nonbinary identity either to internalized misogyny (FTX) or to avoid being held accountable for male privilege (MTX). TIRFs similarly fail to acknowledge how someone's socialization can be affected by intersexism. MTX people are either trans women in denial or flamboyant cis men; FTX people are either trans men avoiding their privilege, or cis women avoiding their privilege*.

Not everyone who uses radical feminist arguments or shares the general perspective openly identified as radfem. There are many "cryptos" who purposefully obscure their political identity to spread radfem ideas in queer & feminist spaces. Other people adopt the general ideas of radical feminism without consciously identifying as one, because of cryptos and how pop feminism often adopts their flashier ideas. So it's important to understand these qualities as on a scale, with some versions being more subtle while others are explicit.

Radical feminism always reduces trans experiences (& experiences in general) to a simple, uncrossable binary, based either in gender or sex. Nuance and cros- or non-binary gender experiences are seen as anti-feminist and aligned with the patriarchy, if not part of a targeted plan to hurt feminist movements.

*the idea of "AFAB privilege" is. a thing in some people's analysis of transmisogyny.

[doberbutts]

I remember reading a post that men are the oppressor class so why would they bother to dismantle systemic patriarchy when they actively benefit from its existence? And as I read it, I thought, Damn, so an entire half of the population can never conceivably help us, and the people who love men in their lives are doomed. It wasn't a helpful post. It basically felt, here's some actual material analysis on feminism and said, That trying to educate and make men be part of feminism is fundamentally a flawed effort, because again, they are the oppressor class, why should they care about uplifting the oppressed?

And it made me think about this very good pamphlet I read, explaining how the white worker remained complacent for so long because at least they weren't a Black slave. And that the author theorized the reason labor movements never truly created exceptional, radical change is because of internal racism (which I find true) and failure to uplift black people. And the author listed common outlooks/approaches to this problem, and one of them was: "We should ignore the white folks entirely and hold solidarity with only other POC, and the countries in the Global South. Who needs those wishy-washy white fragile leftists who don't care about what we think or want?" (roughly paraphrased.)

And the author said, This sounds like the most leftist and radical position, but it's totally flawed because it absolves us of our responsibility to dismantle white supremacy for the sake of our fellow marginalized people, and we are basically ignoring the problem. And that blew me away because this is a position so many activists have, to just ignore the white folks and focus entirely on our own movements. I wish I knew the name of the actual pamphlet, so I could quote entire passages at you.

But I feel this is the same for men. Obviously, we should prioritize and have women-led and women-focused feminism. But saying that men are an oppressor class so they can't reliably be counted upon in feminist activism--it's such a huge oversimplification. And mainly, I'm a Muslim, and I've been treated with plenty of misogyny from Muslim men. And also plenty of misogyny from Muslim women. And I love my male friends, I want men to be part of the movement, and I dunno. Thinking about communities, movements, and the various ways we fail each other and what it means to be truly intersectional keeps me up at night.

I don't know the pamphlet you're talking about but I've read and been taught similar. There's a reason much of my anti-racism is so feminist and most of my feminism is anti-racist. Many people coming at this problem from a truly intersectional angle have seen that there is no freedom to be had without joining hands across the community. Not picking and choosing our allies based off of identity but off of behavior.

As used in a previous example, a white abled moderately wealthy man saying "wow Healthcare sucks in this country, why does this system suck so bad" should be told "hey, this system sucks so bad because it's built off of sexism, racism, classism, and ableism. You want to improve the system? Fix those things and it will be much better in the long run" and not "shut up you're a man. Healthcare is always going to be better for you". The second response doesn't fix that Healthcare is still a problem even if you are at the "top" of the privilege ladder. If we want true change, we have to dismantle the entire system at it's core and build it up without the yuck, otherwise you're gunna get to the top and realize this place sucks too.

Something something if the crabs worked together to hold each other up, they could all get out of the bucket and be free.

[radfemfessing]

I really dislike the "bro wtf is this we are in the bad timeline" comments under any posts that show some absurd stuff like Andrew Tate wanting to be british prime minister, Trump winning the election, Germanys being close to electing Nazis again, all the horror women in afghanistan or iran are facing, that japanese politician suggesting to forcefully sterilise women, Elon Musks weird takes etc. Because like. This isn't absurd, confusing or outlandish at all. It only seems that way if you are completely ignorant to misogyny and see these things as some lose connected right wing nonsense thats just happening. Women made a huge push towards equality and even some significant steps towards female liberation the past decades. It's not perfect at all, we still have a long way to go. But to men, this is already a nightmare and a worst case scenario. To men, this is getting threatening. Men DO lose A LOT when women gain rights or liberation. The left is completely in denial about that and it now shows in their naive "Oooh how is this happening" commentary everytime something completely logical happens. This isn't an islamist issue, this isn't a conservative christian issue, this isn't a right wing issue, this is a MALE issue. All over the world, men want to establish womens oppression more clearly again. They are doing it in various ways and have different opinions on how to do it, so at least they aren't standing as one unit (wed be fucked then). This has been happening for years but its now at its dangerous peak and its succeeding. Young men are porn brained little shits who were promised a slave wife and sex toy and aren't getting that. Everywhere where feminism has had some success. This is a war against women and our enemy are all men. The men who actively push for this. The men who vote for these men. And the progressive feminist men who go "Ooouuh this is the bad timeline oooouh whats happening". The latter shows how little men care and how little they pay attention to anything regarding womens rights. They don't need or want to understand why this is happening, they just need to express some mild confusion/distress and libfems will jump onto their dicks. Which is their main goal. I honestly think we are losing this war. Liberal feminism is toothless, the TRA movement is the most effective anti-feminist movement in decades. Most men are aggressively pushing for this, the others are useless. Our only hope is that men from different cultures keep bashing each others heads in because they have different opinions on how to enslave and rape women the best. Because if they realize that all men all over the world want the same then yea..

🐝

[grison-in-space]

Reading Men Who Hate Women (Laura Bates, 2020) at the moment. She's talking about the manosphere: the massive online communities of men who congregate to talk misogyny, ranging from PUAs to MRAs, incels and MGTOW. These aren't new topics to me—I've been following this off and on since watching Gamergate kick off—but Bates handles them well and I think this book could serve as an introduction if this is a movement with which you're not familar. By the way, it's been a decade since Gamergate this year. Isn't that a kicker?

(Incidentally, I first ran into the concept of incels way before I think many people did: when I was still on AVEN, c. 2006-2007ish, I remember a few occasions where users ran into incel communities and brought them to our forums to ask: is this like what we're doing? Is this like us? Consensus quickly solidified on the direction of "no," each time, not least because asexuality dialog at the time was extremely clear about divorcing desire from action, and it was very clear that the desires centered in that community were very different than the ones people in asexuality spaces were untangling.)

Bates handles the topic with grace, compassion, and a deep understanding that I really wish more writing on radicalization or terroristic networks used: people in real pain, who are struggling in pitiable circumstances to do their best and clearly need more support, can also in their pain be truly dangerous to others. Hurt people hurt people. Compassion for pain suffered is important—you can't understand recruitment without understanding that—but you also have to understand that pain, fermented in darkness, can create deadly poisons. Pain isn't essentially holy or cleansing or cauterizing. It doesn't accomplish anything good by existing. If we can relieve it, we should—but we should follow harm reduction principles as we do so, lest pain be allowed to multiply and fester.

What gets me is that in 2017, in the wake of the Google bro "manifesto," I spent a feverish week writing what wound up being a 20,000 word rebuttal studded with what eventually totaled 100+ peer reviewed citations. It got quite a bit of reach and covered ground ranging from effects of testosterone on behavior, the concept of effect size in sex differences, basic statistics, the ways that humans treat people differently based on their perception of gender, intersex trauma, and whether feminists care about men's problems (yeah, actually, and they should).

I released that piece, changed up my name and fannish presence—my long time pseud was tangled all over the piece's genesis—and hunkered down for the reprisals. I expected harassment and vitriol. It never really came: I ignored the comments on the post, after a bit, and I held boundaries on what I was willing to pay attention to. But by and large, I had no direct consequences from the Manosphere.

Perhaps the piece was too long (although I got many comments from people who read it and found it useful, and I included an index). Perhaps it was simply that I included a headshot of myself, with uncharacteristic red lipstick and characteristically buzzed hair, and cheerfully discussed throughout that I was butch and queer: sometimes I confuse people who are very focused on bioessentialist sex differences, because I don't fit their paradigms in the slightest.

About six months later, James Damore attempted to frame his incredibly poor decisions in light of his Asperger's, and I did get a couple dudes on social media presenting me with this information apparently in the hope that it would shock or embarrass me. I immediately pointed out, acerbically, that I'm equally autistic and that he was making us look bad, and they melted away again into the background. It wasn't really the well of terrifying anger and obliterative fury I was expecting.

I find myself reading these stories in Bates' book and thinking about the internet I grew up on: AVEN by 2005, WrongPlanet the same year, listening to people on the margins talk about their fears and hopes and dreams and theories about themselves. I find myself thinking about narratives and meaning, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and why.

I'm certainly not the first person to worry about radicalization of young autistic people, especially autistic men. Not even close. Paradoxically, it's a group of people for whom an understanding of intersectionality is crucial: young disabled men often alienated deliberately from conceptualizing themselves as disabled, without the tools to understand why life is hard and painful and never seems to reflect their experiences, trying to construct understanding beyond one's singular, isolated defective wrongness—which is what's left, if you take community off the table.

(Have I mentioned how grateful I am that so many autistics are trans spectrum? Imagine if we weren't, and if I didn't have so many transfeminine sisters funneled along those same currents and drifting closely enough alongside to understand. My sisters, so many of whom are out there living and modeling better ways to understand and participate in gender as a social activity: by figuring out what is most comfortable for you, understanding that comfort for one might be agony for another, and taking steps to shape your own life into a fashion that wells forth the most peace and joy. It's a message we all need to hear, but that is a group of people I hear singing so loudly from my place in a different wing of the choir, and I love them for it.)

I don't have answers. As is, so often, the case these days, I have only grief and love, and the determination to build better structures where my own hands reach. I had intended to direct my career, once, to undermining the entire concept of "good genes" models of evolution and explaining how their convoluted connections to natural phenomena are better explained by other, more direct motives. Since 2020, I've been moving in a new direction—but what precisely it is, I'm not sure.

Sex differences is certainly a piece of it, though. Even if I find myself often enough writing that it's not enough to know a sex difference in one species to assume that another will reflect a similar relationship: we should study sex differences in animals, but we really shouldn't assume that humans will have the same ones or work the same way. I suspect this won't be the first time I tangle with that community. I suppose it depends how much authority I can accrue as protection first.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/749333039047442432/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost74884185043?source=share

Sorry, long rant incoming.

Someone in the replies said it, but I think it needs to be said again where everyone can see it: I think a lot of the attitude that anon is somehow secretly pro-censorship because they think certain preferences are skeevy, and strenuously insisting that bad attitudes can NEVER be media's fault.... idk, maybe take it out of the context of debates about sexually explicit/pornographic media for a moment?

There are works of media that had pretty direct effects on activist and political movements, good and bad. Uncle Tom's Cabin inspired a lot of people to fight against slavery. The movie Birth of a Nation, which showed a history of the U.S. with the KKK as heroic, is considered by most historians to be a major contributor to the revival of the KKK in the 1920s. The Nazis used films, books, music, art, and so on in their propaganda, knowing it would help their ideas go down more easily. The Soviets did too. Every dictatorship did. Even democratic countries have done it as well, usually but not always in more subtle ways.

Do none of those count, because "oh, people who were going to be convinced by Birth of a Nation would be racist anyway"? "Good, non-racist people wouldn't be convinced by it"? I mean, the latter is true: there were plenty of people, especially black Americans but plenty of white allies too, who boycotted the film at the time. The NAACP led a boycott. But do you really think NO ONE was convinced? (What about people who previously didn't feel any way about it one way or the other? Were they just innately more evil, even if it might've just been that they weren't aware? Do supposedly progressive people in fandom realize how much this sounds like Christian original sin rhetoric...) And does it matter purely about media fully changing minds, or also how it galvanizes people who already think one way? If it gives them new talking points, new ways of thinking about it and convincing others? If it helps them believe their cause is more important and worth fighting for?

So why does this all suddenly change when we're talking about sex? Is porn really this special class of media where somehow all the rules about how we can both like things and also be critical of how media (fiction, news media, whatever) influences us - "be critical of the media you love," as a tote bag sold by Feminist Frequency said - just stop applying for some reason? Or maybe if something is bypassing your rational brain entirely and going directly for the pleasure centers, there's all the more reason to think critically about what it's saying? Propaganda is designed to bypass all that, too.

Also, if media really has NOTHING to do with it, that just wouldn't explain why it's disproportionately anime that feature these specific elements that seem to attract more people arguing for why it's wrong to be upset by rape or child exploitation in real life. I don't believe that everyone who watches slavery isekai or lolicon approves of those things irl - I think for the vast majority of people, it IS a fantasy and that's the point - but I have noticed that in places like the Anime News Network or Crunchyroll forums, the comments become a cesspool of creepy people arguing for why ages of consent should be lowered and mean feminists who don't like watching media with rape in it just need to get over themselves, in a way they just don't when you're talking about Attack on Titan or My Hero Academia or Shoujo Romance #4891 or whatever.

As another person in the notes said, abusers ARE opportunistic. They'll use something like Twilight as easily as they'll use the most uwu, soft, "non problematic" ship to argue for why they're allowed to abuse you. But I don't think that means we can't be critical (not calling for censorship, of course! but like, writing op-eds and stuff) of media that makes their arguments a little easier, maybe even directly makes their arguments for them.

You can believe both that everyone has the opportunity to read, watch, listen to, play what they want and make up their own minds about it, and that it's wrong for the government to ever decide what media is and isn't "acceptable," and also believe that media often is saying things that aren't apparent on the surface and that you should be critical of those messages, *especially* with the stuff you like.

The point is just that porn isn't like, fundamentally different from other fictional media in this way. (Or, hell, I would argue that fictional media isn't functionally different from other mass media in this way. If anything, fiction's politics are often more insidious in a way that makes it easier for them to reach people who might not otherwise be open to those messages in the form of, say, blatantly right-wing news media.)

It's particularly strange to me when people jump all over someone for expressing how something can be insidiously creepy in a more mundane way. The line people are upset about that used the word "unpack" was just making the point that even if we can agree lolicon isn't outright advocating pedophilia, even if we agree the point is that it's a fantasy and they're not like real children at all and that's what people like, it's still working within an idealization/fetishization of helplessness, innocence, and dependence, and that still has a lot that you can critique from a feminist perspective. It's still a thing that plays into some crappy societal ideas about who women are supposed to be, and is selling that to men as a romantic ideal. There's still a lot we can talk about there! And it's still totally fair for women to be wary of men where that seems to be all they're into - because for some (and I believe this was what anon was initially trying to say was their experience), it does impact how they treat real women. It doesn't have to be everyone for it to have an impact.

There's a lot of anime that presents women that way, even way outside of lolicon. A lot of it's anime I like! I'm still critical of that aspect of it. I still wish that particular part of it were different.

I still don't see how this makes me "pro censorship" unless I believe some kind of institution should mandate that that not be included. And whether that's the government, or the industry itself (people do kind of narrowly focus on "the government" in a way that would make a lot of industry-run censorship that was still very harmful, e.g. the Hollywood Hays Code, not "count"), or anyone, I very much disagree with that. Creators should be able to create what they want. A lot of what creators are doing with this is unconscious, is reflecting societal biases they learned but haven't thought deeply about.... which is precisely the point of critiquing how those show up in a work.

People love to talk about "secretly 'anti' attitudes" but at the end of the day, support or opposition to censorship is pretty straightforward. You believe someone should be stopped from making a particular kind of media, or you don't. If you don't, you're not pro-censorship, no matter how much you personally may not like that that media or a particular aspect of it exists. Most people who care about media have some media they wish didn't exist. It's about what they do about it that makes them pro or anti censorship. Talk to people who donate to or even work for the ACLU or other anti censorship groups; most of them don't like racist or sexist stuff, but they also don't believe it should be banned and that's the point.

Bringing it back to the discussion at hand, I think the point was just that you can't be blind to how power dynamics influence this stuff. I wouldn't even say specifically cishet men are at fault here, since some people who read this blog seem to think that anyone saying that is automatically talking about bioessentialism as opposed to like, societal stuff (don't ask me why, this has been explained on here enough times in enough different discourses over the years, I think). I'd just say anyone with power in that particular context. There's a reason why it's specifically mainstream media, aimed at groups in power, that tends to draw in creeps excusing the real thing... in a way that just similarly is not true of people in fanfiction fandom, who are usually a member of one or more oppressed categories, exploring that in their own marginal work. Fans of rape fanfiction just don't act the way that fans of slavery rape isekai do. It's because there is fundamentally a difference both when you're someone whom society tells you are entitled to everything you want in this particular arena, and also when a work is mainstream, broadening its reach, and speaking a particular message from the lens of people with economic and social power (who are making these mainstream works) and given approval by publishers/media studios/etc. in a way that is not the case with amateur work with tiny audiences. And, frankly, there's a difference between something that eroticizes rape from the point of view of the perpetrator vs. the victim.

Not a difference in terms of how legal it should be. Not a difference in whether every single person who watches it or likes it is bad. But a difference in terms of what it's saying, how it's saying that, and often the effects they have as a result. That, too, is true with every topic, not just sex.

I feel like a lot of people getting mad at these do fundamentally agree with this, but just have a weird blind spot when it's put in any sort of terminology that reminds them of certain bad arguments they've seen in fandom, uses any words that can be dismissed as "radfem" or "anti" or whatever, and so just refuse to engage with the actual meat of what is being said.

If you do actually believe though that it's wrong to EVER think media can have a negative effect on what people believe about irl issues, because there was always something "already there" that was going to "come out anyway" if it affects you that way (again, people: this is "original sin" rhetoric), and if you ever privately judge people for the media they like you're secretly pro-censorship. You do have to recognzie that both you personally come up short and also most peopel doing real concrete real world things to fight censorship would also come up short!

I think sometimes of an editorial that said "if you love Return of the Jedi but hated the Ewoks you understand feminist criticism" in terms of how you can be bothered by the sexism of a piece of media in a way you'd be bothered by any one individual element of it, and still overall like the whole. And also, you can be offended by something, even wish it didn't exist (don't we as nerds all have entries in some franchise we like or another that we wish didn't exist for fannish reasons?), without believing that it should be officially made to stop existing or have never existed in the first place. That last part does actaully matter as like, its own thing. It is in fact separable from just being able to have personal judgey feelings about media and about the people who liked it.

And opposing it does not mean in any way that we have to just stop thinking critically about the media we love, or that we have to act like media can never have any influence on people. We on the left tend to talk about sexism, racism, homophoia and so on as being influenced by culture and society. Well, guess what is part of society and culture? Fictional (and other kinds of) media. That's part of that societal programming we get. It's why you'll see some of it even from people whose parents very much tried to resist teaching them certain things, because they get it from media anyway. I was raised by strenuously feminist parents: it was the media that taught me what gender roles were and how I was expected to adhere to them.

--

Look, I realize it's a bit rich of me to say this, but people are not going to engage with your actual points if you cannot be more succinct.

[earlgreyinpajamas]

Any recs for merthur and time travel? Or like, modern au when Arthur gets out of the lake? Thanks!!!!

time travel

Complementarity, Entanglement and the Uncertainty of Destiny —or— A Feminist Mage in King Arthur's Court by Jenrose (@jenroses), procoffeinating (@procoffeinating)

Merlin was once told that Arthur would rise again at the hour of Camelot's greatest need. But a thousand years pass, with no Arthur. When the last war comes, and the world dies, and Arthur still doesn't return, Merlin suddenly realises that the hour of Camelot's greatest need… was a thousand years ago. Sometimes he's a bit slow on the uptake. Fortunately, he's figured out how to go back. What would YOU do if you had 2000 years of experience in the body of a 17 year old, and absolutely nothing left to lose?

Note: E-rated sections clearly tagged, can be skipped.

~~~

we can't talk about time travel without talking about this fic: i.e. the finest 100k words fix it

2. time, mystical time by andiwriteordie

Finally, the man tears his gaze away and meets Arthur’s eyes once more. “I seek the aid of your Camelot,” he says, but his voice sounds more hesitant now, as if he’s had to change his response for some strange reason.

Merlin can’t help but believe that reason is him.

“As for who I am,” the man says with a bit of a chuckle, and he glances around the room again at familiar faces, at his friends. “I am Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot.”

Or:

When a mysterious stranger shows up to Camelot claiming to be Arthur from the future and seeking help for his sick consort, Merlin learns some things about himself, about Arthur, and about a future he never dreamed was possible.

~~~

wonder who that consort is

3. you can call me dangerous (these are the sins of my youth) by wastefulreverie (@wastefulreverie)

When an accidental spell sends Camelot's future crown prince spiraling into the past, it's up to Arthur to navigate secrets past and present.

Or: Arthur and Merlin's son cannot keep a damn secret.

~~~

i'll admit that it doesn't have the most conclusive of endings, but i had a blast reading this fic ergo the rec

arthur returns

A Faire Fight by Zaharya (@zaharya)

Arthur caught sight of Merlin when there were maybe fifteen of them left. He faltered, jaw dropping open, and it was pure luck the man charging at him had terrible aim, or he would’ve failed out of the melee right then and there. Pulling himself together, he made quick work of his attacker, before putting some distance between himself and the others to collect himself. And, perhaps, to stare just a little. Merlin was… magnificent. He wielded his sword like an extension of his own body — a lesson most of Arthur’s knights had never truly mastered. His movements were quick and precise, yet fluent, graceful in a way Arthur had never seen before, as he landed disqualifying hits on two, three, four opponents in rapid succession.

Or: The one where Merlin brings a returned Arthur to a medieval faire and they fight in a tournament.

~~~

safhjsdfhjdl so cutee

2. Let’s Talk by Salamandair

Merlin has had a terrible, awful, no good, very bad week. So, he goes and vents to the one person who would understand

~~~

as far as i am concerned, this is what happened in the last 5 minutes of merlin season 5

3. I think of loss and I can only think of you by wanderingtrickster

Arthur comes back... but not the way Merlin expects. On top of that, he can hardly believe it's real. Seriously, he... hardly believes it. Though it becomes easier when Camelot's former king tackles him into the bathtub and they both end up soaked. On top of that, Arthur is being surprisingly affectionate.

In his own way that is.

~~~

one of my fav arthur returns fics

[comradekarin]

That last ask you got here, just reminds me of the fact that while TS fandom claims to be all about feminism and women supporting women, it surely lacks intersectionality and it SHOWS and this is in great part because that’s the kind of advocacy they get from the celeb they worship, that’s why is dangerous to just pander to one kind of feminism as if everyone had an universal experience, when it couldn’t be further from the reality, we need to have those conversations we need to learn from one another and whoever has a privilege, should make good use of it to uplift those who can’t at the moment

Yup!! That’s basically the point I’m trying to hone to be honest. Again, I absolutely believe we should support female artists in the music industry, especially when they will be held to higher standards than other male artists (even in that area we can have a conversation about the dynamic race plays between male artists, too). However, it’s imperative we discuss how Taylor and her fans only use feminism to tell other people they can’t be mean to her, or critique her. Are these group of people the minority in the fan base? Maybe, sure. But should we sweep it under the rug and let it fester just because it’s the minority? No.

Do I believe the average Taylor Swift stan is normal and doesn’t hate black women? Yes. I believe there’s a lot of them who just enjoy her music and don’t feel the need to bash other black female artists in order to prove how much better Taylor is. Nonetheless, there’s still a large group of her fans who claim to support all women but will not hesitate to degrade and shut out the voices of woc making valid criticisms against Taylor. Just look at the Matty Healy situation. A white woman’s partner is exposed for making disgusting racist comments about black women, and the responses are not “this powerful rich white woman is continuing to date this man and is being complicit through her silence, which is enabling his repulsive behavior and she needs to be held accountable” but instead “we need her to stay away from this bad man!”. Yes, because the image and reputation of this white woman is more important than the dangerous rhetoric her partner is spreading about the same women she claims to support! Yes, because this white woman can have a collab with the same woman (ice spice) her boyfriend was making racist remarks about and everything is ok! Yes, because it is the white woman who is the victim here, and if you can’t see that you’re a misogynist!

Taylor’s silence during the wave of transphobia, the criminalization and banning of drag shows, the uptick of hate against black women, and so much more just makes sense when you look at the company she keeps. Didn’t her team try to sue a journalist for stating Taylor constantly toes the line with conservatives and white supremacists a few years back? Just look at the CO2 emissions drama where everyone was like “man I hate privileged white millionaires” and then she dropped an album and everyone forgot? Any critique for Taylor is met with these responses: A) Taylor isn’t the worst apple out of the bunch so why is she getting attacked like this B) Y’all would never do this to male celebrities so just say y’all hate women C) Why is Taylor blamed for the actions of other men or D) [justifying anything Taylor has done].

So, what you’re saying is correct anon. We can not talk about feminism and supporting “all women” while also trying to lump the struggles of all women into a single category. The initial Feminist movement itself excluded other women of color, it was something only meant for white women. White women have a level of privilege over other women of color, and we can’t pretend they don’t because they’re just “women, too”. White women and their fake white tears have done so much harm to marginalized communities, especially my own black community. I want this conversation to actually mean something, for it to be a moment of self reflection, for it to actually be about supporting, advocating for, and uplifting the voices of all women. I don’t want this talk of “support all women” to only be brought up when someone attacks your white fav.

[avatar-legends-confessionblog]

That hemoglobin iron nonsequetir is wild... I mean, iron's in myoglobin too, so if bloodbending worked the way a lot of its fan think it works then that theory would naturally be borne of it... Although that's just a few grams in a whole body, a far cry from the 60% of water unless you get creative like Magneto, hehe.

...Ah what the heck, I'll brainrot bout "bloodbending" for a bit.

Bloodbending is definitely not just moving around the blood in people's body and making them move along with its sloshing, it's a nickname for manipulating the water in all the body's tissues similarly to how you can move the water in plants to make the vines move. Water is present in all body tissues, not just blood. The technique probably focuses more on moving the water in the tissues besides the blood, logically.

If bloodbending was specifically sloshing around blood and making people move that way, the technique would be prima facie bad because that will just kill people. You are describing stopping the blood from flowing, creating, at minimum, mitral regurgitation and capillary leakage. It would also definitely cause edemas and permanent brain damage. Again, among numerous other complications, including death after a couple minutes of it.

So if bloodbending was literally moving people around by manipulating the flow of their blood, it should be outlawed because that's just not something can be done safely.

(Not to mention the fact that the movements would not physically look like they do in the series if this was how it was done. And the interrupted bloodflow would be turning anyone being bloodbent blue or at least pale, which would be an obvious tell if that were the technique.)

Bloodbending forcibly robs people of bodily autonomy, and Katara is pro-bodily autonomy and thinks that forcibly taking that away from people like it was taken from her is a deep violation and act of violence against another person. That's very in line with feminist teachings and just human rights ideals in general.

Also, even outside of that, it's assault. Like, legally speaking, this would classify as a form of assault unless you're doing it to yourself or with express permission. Assault is already illegal so I think it's fine to specify that this type of assault is also illegal.

Bloodbending is not about the literal movement of blood, but to entertain the idea of that:

Most of the time I see people suggesting using it to stop bleedout, what they're describing will absolutely just create an embolism. It's sad because the obvious answer if you want a medical application for "waterbending blood" outside of the healing magic is using it in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment. (I can't imagine it'd be very sterile but that's at least an application that makes some level of sense to me.)

And if you want a medical application for the thing that bloodbending actually refers to (puppeteering bodies through the movement of the water in tissue), the obvious practial answer is assisted physical therapy.

But given what we see of the technique, I'm inclined to thing that would not actually do much to help the muscles develop and would further injure any patient that needs physical therapy in the first place. Still a more sensical application idea than holding blood in place in a vein "so it doesn't bleed out" instead of wrapping it in a bandage or something though.

🤔

[hallowedbetheirname]

Does God actually carry out justice? A personal testimony by me (not one of those 'ex-gay,' 'ex-pagan,' 'ex-witch' bs)

Content warnings for mentions of gamergate and other hate groups under the cut. I’m not writing this to beg for forgiveness nor to ask for pity. I’m writing this because I have a strong inkling that there are people who need to read this. 

When I was younger and still believing I was cis, I was an avid anti-feminist and anti-SJW. It was not a time in my life that I am proud of, but that’s how I was. I remember GamerGate and the anti-feminist creators and fully supporting them. In my logic, I thought they were just calling out the TERF nonsense you see online, so I didn’t really see a problem. When GamerGate was labeled a hate group, I was furious. I was like “They’re fucking labeling GamerGate be a hate group now?! Do they really hate different opinions that much? The KKK are a hate group and they’re nothing like them!” 

I’ve grown a lot since then. I’m almost 30 now, and I know better. I know the effect that mindset had on the internet and by extension, everyone else. Now there is a rise of conservatism and anti-intellectualism sweeping across America, which of course, led to the shitshow we’re seeing in our government. 

I’m a Christian mystic, who is part of the Christian Witch movement and I work a lot with what we call the Abrahamic god (I call Her Thea). I’m at a point in my life where all labels I once had are more like descriptors than identities, but I still describe myself as them as an act of solidarity with the marginalized and self love. I was joking about conservative Christians with my fiance during a car ride one day, and I said, “If I behaved anything like them, Thea would drop-kick my ass to Timbuktu and I would be sleeping on the couch for a while.” It was funny, but Thea looked more grim towards me than ever. Suddenly, I was standing before Her in our space among the stars. 

“People are still hurt from the wounds you have inflicted on them,” She said to me, “They’re still struggling to heal from them.” 

Damn, I thought. I knew my actions had those kinds of consequences, but I didn’t dwell too much on that because there’s nothing I can do about it now (so I believed). Surely, I wasn’t that bad. I didn’t harass people, I didn’t reject anyone because of it, and I was still kind, right? 

She continued, “You were part of a hate group!” 

Hold on. “No I wasn’t! I just… supported them.” 

“I don’t see any difference.” Before my thoughts could begin to protest, She went further. “You got angry when it was first labeled a hate group! You might as well have been a part of them.” 

I could feel Her glare coming from all angles. She was… less angry, and more disappointed and hurt. Before that point, it had occurred to me that colonization had hurt Her connection with the people, as I believe She had connections to all people before that point. That’s a story for another time, though. It was dawning on me that I, too, had contributed to that. And I was sad. I think this may be the first time I felt truly remorseful (without hating myself into oblivion). I also felt like a disobedient child being scolded by a flabbergasted and disappointed parent, like Simba was by Mufasa in the Lion King. I understood then why most people preferred to think of Her as a parent (I have a different connection to Her but that’s beside the point). 

“I’m sorry, Thea. I really am.” I apologized quietly and in response, Her look softened and She was standing by me again and put Her hand on my shoulder. Then, I was back in the car, and this time, She was driving. 

“Am I going to have to sleep on the couch?” I asked. 

She released a sigh in relief. At this point, I felt like Mowgli on Bagheera’s back after he had finished disciplining him (I don’t remember if that’s in the original or the remake). “No,” She replied. “You’ve grown a lot since then, and in the beginning, mostly on your own. I am impressed.” 

That was the end of that conversation. She and I spent another few moments in silence before I had come back to reality. I told my partner this and we were able to joke about it. The rest of the day was pretty great.

I know that I will be laughed at and scorned for this by a lot of people, but for once in my life, I don't care. I just want someone to have hope that justice still exists, even when it really, really doesn't feel like it. If they have a Christian background and still believe, I want them to know that Thea does not sit idly while people are hurt.

If this can reach just one person and give them hope, then it's worth it.

[sawthatmountainburn]

I haven't watched the barbie movie and don't really plan to, I just have a problem with some arguments people have been making in its defense, as they are weak arguments regardless of what piece of media they're defending. specifically it's the "this is just feminism 101 for kids, it doesn't have to be a whole manifesto!" type of dismissive arguments.

first of all, if a movie is marketed as feminist and the fanbase praises it for its feminism, people who go see it will have certain expectations based on their own idea of feminism, since feminism is an umbrella term for different ideologies whose common trait is that they want rights for women. who counts as a woman, what specific rights they should have and how we should get them are all points of contention, without even getting into intersecrionality just yet. (very broad generalization, also some leftist feminists disagree with the 'rights' framing) there's only so many grains of sslt you can take, before you decide this is just too far away from what it was presented as and clearly, many women feel this way about the movie.

second of all, regardless of how a piece of media is marketed, it is always fair game for critism, whether that be from a feminist perspective, an anti-racism perspective, a leftist perspective or whatever else you can come up with. to demand that people simply not bring up these critiques because it's ruining people's fun or it's not that serious (but still serious enough that you call people misogynists for criticizing it?) is blatantly reactionary. it's the same thing angry geek boys do when you point out their funny little sci-fi and fantasy shows have weirdly few POC in them. you can say a criticism is in bad faith or based on a misreading of the text (I've seen this about the gynecologist scene, for example), sure, but what I'm seeing more commonly is just a total dismissal of these critiques and perspectives, as if the movie simply isn't subject to it for whatever reason.

expounding upon this, the "feminism 101" part of the argument is similarly reactionary. to reiterate what i said in my last reblog about this, the way people talk about this movie gives me the impression that it's way more suited to the ~2012-2014 pre-gamergate era of tumblr feminism, when people said stuff like "eyeliner so sharp it could kill a man" and feminist criticism was treated as more of a checklist of good and bad tropes. we're almost a decade past that era, with many events that changed the political and pop cultural landscape in the meantime, so what was passable back then might not be such now. we've talked extensively about intersecrionality, issues of race have been brought up time and time again, especially in light of the BLM movement and anti-Asian racism in the COVID era, queer issues have also been gaining more and more traction, etc etc, I can't and won't recap the last decade of political development. my point is, if you're a feminist in 2023 (or any other type of left-leaning politically active individual, but the barbie discourse is about feminism, so that's what I'm talking about specifically) you cannot simply ignore these issues and say multiply marginalized women will have their time, but they need to wait for the privileged women to go first. actually, it was always unacceptable to demand marginalized women support more privileged women while getting nothing in return, but it's even more obvious and ignorant in the current era, after we've been trying to make people understand intersecrionality for years.

it's also insidious how the implication is that feminism needs to be dumbed down for kids (a dubious claim in the first place) and for some reason, that dumbing down involves flattening everything to being about the most privileged women possible. why shouldn't young privileged girls learn about the issues that face their less privileged peers face? why should girls of marginalized groups have to sit and listen about the issues facing their privileged peers, but never being given the tools to discuss their own issues? whom does this dynamic serve exactly and why is it not only acceptable to continue to exist, but it also important to so vehemently defend?

I'm not trying to tell people not to like the barbie movie, that's really not what I care about. I'm saying the types of arguments being made reveal a failure of intersectionality and a dismissal of multiply marginalized women's issues, coupled with a self-centeredness which should be unacceptable to any serious feminist. stop making excuses for a hollywood blockbuster funded by a multi-billion(!!) dollar toy company and start giving a shit about the women in need right in front of you!

[diabolicalcunt]

I feel the need to pin this cause I’ve always been notorious for people loving me when they first meet me, and then finding out that my political views are not extremely liberal. So here’s all the reasons you will hate me once you get to know me. Or not. I honestly don’t care I’m just sick of the ‘You aren’t who I made you out be in my head!’ conversations.

So my unpopular opinions in no order-

1. They/them is something that’s being encouraged by big brother to see yourself as non or less human.

2. DID isn’t real and you just disassociate a specific way. I look like I’ve been drugged cause I fall down ‘inside’ myself like a well and have no reaction time and can barely speak. I’m like a sloth. You pretend to be a anime character. It’s just coping.

3. The concept of trans genocide is fear mongering by big brother and means to keep boundaries between social groups.

4. To build off 3, the push to medically transition underage children is a move by big pharmaceutical companies to create a permanent customer. Because whether you decide to stay transitioned or de transition, you’re going to be on medication for the rest of your life whether you like it or not. There’s also the whole issue with child exploitation. You’ll be judgmental against Dance Moms, but you won’t say anything about a mom who transitioned her child when they were two years old and made them a social media star.

5. Trans men and women who have been charged with a crime belong in LGBT prison wings. Because we have created a culture where male rapists can put on its dress and be rewarded with a permanent stay in the hen house where they can victimize more women and the system will just cry transphobia and call the victims liars. You got a problem with that? I have never seen a trans man pushing to get put in men’s prison. I wonder why… 😐

6. Blair White is queen.

7. I will fight Henry Cavill on sight. I don’t give a shit how bad you want motorboat him. He’s a fucking pedophile.

8. Same goes for David Bowie. When I get to the afterlife I’m gonna make him wish he could die again. Ask me if you want my full on sight list. 😂

9. I stand with Palestine. Yes I think Islam is a horrible religion that is anti woman. I still don’t think kids should die for the grievances of adults and I think it’s fucked up Israel is doing the same shit Nazis did to them and expect us to nod and smile!

10. Qu**r is just as much of a slur as f*g*t or n*gg*r. I don’t use it and if you do I will block you no questions asked. Say gay! Say lesbian! Say…bisexual! 😱

11. Butch women are valid as fuck and I adore y’all . They aren’t trans men, fuck your lesbian phobia.

12. To build off 11, the new LGBT movement has been infected by woke homophobia and the new trans movement is nothing but conversion therapy in a mask.

13 . Radical feminists are women’s last hope.

14. Marvel movies always sucked, we were just kids and ate up the pretty colors.

15. Dune is a white male savior story.

16. Your fave is not autistic, trans, gay or whatever. You just need validation cause you have no confidence.

17. The Boys should have never cast Jensen Ackles and the Supernatural fandom needs psychological help.

18. Too many of y’all try to primp and posture as the gods of your fandom and yes I say that as someone who did the same and stepped away when I realized how cringe I was. Lording over autistic adults and actual children is pathetic. Get therapy and a real hobby.

19. While gender neutral fanfiction has its place. The trend that all fanfiction needs to be gender neutral is literally killing the creativity and frankly the spice to fanfiction. I hate this trend where piece of media needs to be sterilized so it can be consumed by anyone, even people just passing by. It goes against the concept of creating at its core. Sometimes things are made for specific groups. Sometimes it’s made just for you. The things you create do not need to be sanitized to the point there’s no substance, just a hollow consumption. Think of it this way. Would you rather have a hot pizza of your preference or would you prefer to just drink a bowl of water because someone on the other side of the world might not like pizza?

20. The WWE Divas belt was iconic. I get the whole take women wrestlers seriously movement and I agree! But god damn it, it’s a Bratz belt!!! Gimme!!!!!

21. I fucking HATE koalas. They literally only exist because humans have dumped millions of dollars and keeping them alive. If natural selection were allowed to take his course, they would’ve died off 100 years ago. The food they consume has so little nutrition that they have evolved to have the smallest brain to cranium capacity of any animal to create a built in helmet!! Why? Cause they are so stupid they literally fall out of trees and drop their infants!!! They shit on their young and have permanent diarrhea due to the 0 nutrition thing. They carry chlamydia. They’re so fucking stupid they can’t fuck and have to be artificially inseminated to continue the population. If I couldn’t get laid on my own, the government would not drop millions of dollars into making sure I do!! So why did koalas get it? Literally a waste of resources that could be going to feed thousands of hungry children and instead we’re keeping a fucking retarded (I’m on the spectrum fuck you) animal alive who should have gone extinct hundreds of years ago cause it’s supposedly ‘cute’!! God! I hate koalas!

[scholarhect]

frustrated because i want to get educated on feminist theory but idk where to start, especially since there’s so much flawed feminism out there (god, you’re saying i have to read it all and form my own opinion? but that’s so much work! just tell me what One feminist work i should read to know everything) but it’s so important because i’m becoming increasingly convinced that our deemphasis on theory is killing feminism.

we’re losing her. we’re doing vibes-based feminism we’re doing “whatever personal opinions i bring to the table without thinking about them are my political views” feminism we’re doing “it’s easy! if you don’t hate women and want them to die you’re a feminist!” feminism we’re doing VANITY feminism we’re doing “common sense” feminism (just a rephrase of “whatever personal opinions…” feminism) and we’re shocked that we’re losing. a political movement & ideology* that has NO thought behind it, JUST vibes. no pillars, no standards. what even is a feminist? when do you ever hear that articulated? unless, again, you’re hearing “a feminist is somebody who believes women are people :)” that’s exactly the problem i’m talking about.

this is why we’re losing ground to “criticizing beauty standards is antifeminist because it feels good to be pretty” feminism we’re losing ground to “you know what group has had it too good for too long? the transgender woman” feminism we’re losing ground to “feminism is for women AND men and the more we include men the more feminist it is” feminism.

frankly the way the transphobic feminism gains followers is it’s the only fucking side that actually gives somebody ARGUMENTS to latch on to. people are alienated by toothless no thoughts feminism and they’re going to people who are offering them some thoughts, and a bad argument beats the shit out of no argument at all. it’s like if you showed up to court with no lawyer? and you were like ��everybody knows i’m right, morally. it’s common sense. the strength of that will protect me :)” you are going to prison. we could be doing transfeminist theory we could be explaining the role of gender in society and how it’s constructed and how women both cis & trans are constructed as women but instead we’re saying “i don’t hate trans women because i’m normal :)” that’s nothing!!! am i making myself clear do you see what i’m talking about!

and then the other two things i complained about, the “feminism is anything that makes me feel good, as a woman” and “feminism is for men, actually” are just because when we have zero standards for feminism it can mean anything at all. we could be talking about these things but we aren’t.

i don’t know how to fix this (i could learn more, but what then? well i guess id post about it for my followers. good enough, i guess. so it’s just that i don’t know how to learn more) but i am getting so frustrated with the way things are now. i know there’s people out there doing real things in the feminist space but i don’t know where to look… lot of trans women on my twitter tl talking about feminism (and yes that’s something, but i am hungry for more than twitter threads <3) and they’re fighting an uphill battle over there. like. god

* i feel like it’d be the good feminist thing to do to come down hard with “feminism is a MOVEMENT” but we do kind of need internal ideology before we can have external movement, probably. seems like people who already have feminist ideas are more likely to engage in feminist actions when the time comes. but idk i’m no political movements expert. this post is just me giving you my two cents on a specific concept

[aloeverawrites]

Guys, I found at least two radical feminists who think the movement is unfairly targeting trans people, and they just want to focus on women's rights.

The think that the hate against trans people might be psyop by the alt-right infiltrating feminist groups, and honestly I agree.

Obviously we don't agree on everything when it comes to trans or women's rights but we agree on a lot, they seem like actual feminists.

Are we ignoring some potential allies because we can't distinguish them from the transphobes or am I just losing it? Is it safe to extend an olive branch at least while the right is going full fascist in America?

What do we think, is it worth the risk?

Edit: Eh. Thinking about it the ideology is harmful itself but. What I think we need to do is talk to people and have discussions. You don’t have to if you don’t have the spoons or anything, I completely understand, but just talking to someone and seeing each other’s humanity can really help get support for a movement too.

So don’t be afraid to have a conversation and encourage someone to question their beliefs.

Edit again: Nvm, just help the people trying to get out. The radical feminist movement is not really inline with leftist ideals. I still think it's important to see everyone's humanity because good or bad everyone's a human, but that doesn't mean you have to excuse anyone's bigoted beliefs.

And it is important to see why people are going into hateful movements so we can stop that from happening.

And if we see someone trying to get out, we should probably help them to do that.

Edit edit: aw baby me having hope lol. I still agree with everything in the last edit but this was cute lol

[eradicatetehnormal]

I Want To Take Men's Problems Seriously But

When women are out here saying "I can't get a promotion at work despite being there for ten years," "My husband barely does any caregiving work and leaves me to fully take care of the children and work my 9 to 5," "I'm getting a gun license to ensure my safety walking home because I was assaulted and the perpetrator was defended," "Everything I do is treated as lesser because it's feminine," To which the terminally online male's says:

"Yeah, that's all horrible, BUT when I'M IN A RELATIONSHIP THIS STUPID BITCH WANTS ALL MY MONEY!" It's hard to take that seriously. Especially since so many of the people who say that online say it in response to feminist rhetoric and swear we're in a matriarchy. It's always romance that gets used as the crux of anti-feminist arguments, and I'm just like I'm sorry, but individual romantic issues just aren't as important on a wider societal scale. Nuclear families aren't as important on a wider scale. With some systemic change, the community could help raise the child.

IDK man, I just wish that men would stop letting stupid people like Fresh & Fit or those guys from the Whatever Podcast be their spokespeople.

Edit:

So a terf saw this post and started following me. That scared the shit out of me, so to further clarify what I mean, I DO NOT HATE MEN! ROMANCE DOES MATTER! But when you're shouting over someone talking about broader societal issues with more interpersonal and specific ones, conversations become needlessly frustrating. Particularly when nearly every other thing outside of romance seems to be in the favor of boys and Men. Men do have problems with romance and I think women do need to make an effort to accommodate that. That being said, feminism just has more intense stuff to focus on.

Now there is stuff beyond that to talk about, like the male suicide rates and such, but, again, men have stupid people speaking for them. So any time that gets brought up, it's to shut up a woman, and not to start a serious conversation. Aside from venting my frustrations, my point was that a lot of these guys (online) are bad at making a case for themselves and why we should care about their movement when it's so focused on a specific attribute of life that newer generations, REGARDLESS of gender, are flat out rejecting. I don't have the solution, after all, I'm not a guy. Ultimately, men, are going to have to save themselves from whatever they feel is trapping them, and they're going to have to find, good speakers, and create good spaces THAT AREN'T the red pill community in order to do that.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Hiiii

Impatient anon again.

Thanks for the warm answer! 🫰🏻

Just watched the MV and I FUCKING KNEW IT!

The lyrics...I can't wrap my mind over my timeline going "I LIKED IT SO MUCH!" "HE MAKES US PROUD AGAIN!!!" as if no one can see THE PROBLEM with direction JK is going...

Yeah, right, he is an adult and all but when maturity is measured by how many women you fuck and call them hoes!?!?!? 😂😂 This is so disgusting and disrespectful. What it was once again? "pop R&B track with CLEVER expressions of feelings toward an unattainable person". Clever? Which part exactly? 🤔😁 Are we really talking about the same song?

And no, I don't think "it's just a song". He is an artist and he has responsibilities and the songs are his "face". He wants a reputation of a rich fuck boy? I really don't understand.

It feels hypocritical remembering what messages he was sending through music as a BTS member and now as a solo artist. "Surprise mtfckers, NEW ME ✌🏻". What a mockery.

I wonder if the single will have problems with feminist movement like it always happen with such lyrics or Jungkook is allowed to do whatever because it's him? I need a popcorn.

Ahhh, I'm too overwhelmed to form my thoughts into words rn and I feel like I'm hating on him which is not the case 😐 It's my disappointment speaking. As if I never knew him at all and it was one big illusion. Well, that's not far from the truth 😅

Funny how I really liked the song and his voice trying a new genre (he did really well) until the rap part and the music video until the girls were started to be presented as objects............

Hi again! You're welcome!

This isn't the real Jungkook (person). It's just the pop star Jungkook wants to be. I honestly can't even fully believe he likes girls. I think he doesn't need to relate to the lyrics at all and doesn't care about who writes them. He has an image and an end goal in mind. But, yeah, going from writing thoughtful songs to this is just...

I agree that he takes full responsibility for the sexist lyrics, because it's his song and he allowed it to happen. I don't think he's going for a "rich fuck boy" persona as much as "powerful, sexy, adult" instead of cute maknae. And adult=sex... He's always wanted to be seen as sexy and is there a better way to achieve that than just going around half naked talking about fucking all the time? (Yes, but his way is clearly working. He's been driving Army crazy.)

Feminists will be ignored, as always. And Hybe doesn't care about anything and neither will Jungkook, who might never even learn of our complains or otherwise just assume we're just haters (like how he only saw the comment about Seven being "dirty" and thought fans weren't reacting well to him being sexually empowered, when the lyrics are just bad regardless of the content).

I very much agree with the last paragraph. It's like what happened with Latto, but ten times worse.

Thanks for the ask, impatient anon!