#we're also doing better on the ''not all of us need to be identified/stereotyped'' thing!! good job!! ^^ <33< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[silent-sentinels]

wait no you fucking

No name calling.

UGH. hey we need to sleep like actually or else we'll just do the ''oh nooo we can't call today we're too sleepy'' routine again.

okay. let's go brush our teeth then.

we were supposed to draw today...

we did. we doodled a bit during the day. you even semi-finished a piece

okay quite frankly that does NOT count.

well you can draw tomorrow then but we HAVE to do the important responsible bullshit first.

ugh. evil. evil!!! okay let's go i guess.

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

Hi there! How are you doing? I have some questions, well, a rant *plus* some questions.

I feel... safer with allo allies than I do with aro/ace communities (online). Does that make me aphobic/bad? I don't go by labels because for me, they're not necessary. If I *were* to label myself based purely on definitions, I would be aroace, specifically, demiromantic asexual. I used to go by this a while back.

I don't fit the stereotype of being aroace at all. I'll talk about the aromantic side. Unlike most arospecs i've seen online, I LOVE Valentine's day! I LOVE shipping! I LOVE consuming romance fiction. I LOVE romance et cetera et cetera and yet I don't experience it like allos do. I need a strong bond with someone in order to fall in love and it takes me really, really, long to do so. But once it happens, my love is not 'weak'. It makes me pass really well as allo because of this, but it makes a lot of people in the aro community mad because I'm 'stealing' a label to 'feel special'. I was always told I was not aroace, that I couldn't be aroace by definition. That I was alloromantic asexual pretending to be on the arospec. That I was too scared to be 'basic'.

On that topic, and I think this is unintentional, but... why is nobody batting an eye when an aro or an ace person shames an allo or calls them weird or basic? Because they're doing exactly what allo aphobes are doing to them. I had this conversation with a friend and he said, 'that doesn't happen, allo people don't get shamed especially by aspec people', yet, I keep seeing things like 'I fucking hate allos so much' and 'To all my aces, we're not like allos, we're better' or something along those lines.

Whenever I enter an aspec online space, I'm made to feel like an intruder because, as I said, my experiences are very similar to the allo experience EXCEPT for the fact that I don't feel romantic attraction unless a strong bond has been formed. I'm not saying the aroace community is bad in any way, don't get my wrong, I'm saying that there is a massive gatekeeping problem going around and so much bubbling hatred and separation, and I don't understand any of it. In a prefect world, I'd happily identify as aroace, but I feel ashamed to do so now.

The gatekeeping... the infighting, I don't want to hate the online community of which I'm supposed to belong but this... this isn't right. The allo allies don't do things like this. They don't make me feel insecure about myself. And yes, while I don't experience romance like an allo would, I feel safe around them. I need to ask, have you seen this too? Have you experienced this? Is this truly all in my head? What do you think?

I apologize for the vent or if I seem aphobic, I just really need answers and I'm tired of the constant hatred... How are you? Did you drink enough water? Did you sleep well today? Did you eat? Again, I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable with this!

Vents are totally welcome, Anon. Don't worry.

I'm really sorry you ran into gatekeeping, Anon. I feel like that's something that's really been on the rise especially over the last couple of years. It's a real issue and it causes a lot of harm. This should go without saying, but demiromantic people are aro, and have just as much right to be here as anyone else on the aro spectrum.

I do think at least part of the problem is social media in general and how things are set up these days. We don't have community spaces as much anymore, in particular we've lost moderated spaces where gatekeepers can be properly dealt with. And there's very little curation or organization. Things are chaotic and fragmented, and one person's experience and what kind of posts they say see may vary wildly from someone else's. There's also a competing needs issue, where one aro may need to vent about romance, another may need their romantic side validated and there's no way to organize so each can find the space they each need.

If finding aro spaces/blogs that are more accepting is important to you, Anon (and it's OK both if it is or isn't), my big advice would be seek out demiromantic blogs and posters specifically. There's some very good ones around and they'll be posting about aro things that are relevant to you, and even more importantly won't be gatekeeping demi identities.

For more aro-general blogs, there are ones out there that are also inclusive and anti-gatekeeping, but it may take a bit of work to find them. Be very liberal with your unfollow and block buttons. If someone is gatekeeping block on sight, but also if they're not posting the type of aro content that you need or want to see, you're allowed to organize things so you don't see their posts. Sometimes unfollowing is enough, but blocking also doesn't necessarily mean the other person has done anything wrong, it's just a tool to make sure you're not seeing a blog you don't want to see.

For the shaming allos question, I do think it's a complex topic. For me it depends on context. I definitely do not believe in any kind of ace/aro superiority, being ace and/or aro, or being allo are both neutral. Nobody's smarter or more moral or more pure or anything like that. But sometimes people say things as a vent in the moment and are reacting to a difficult situation they've been in. So for example someone may say 'allos suck' but it comes from a place where they've been very badly treated by allos for being ace or aro but they're referring more to the societal systems that are in place that privilege allo people and make life more difficult for ace/aro people, they don't actually believe being allo makes someone a bad person. (It can be hard to tell what's going on just from a post, again it's OK to unfollow and block, especially if it's just not what you personally need to see in the moment).

Personally I don't come across a lot of this type of stuff, but this is what I mean about things being fragmented, the blogs I follow just aren't posting about the infighting or gatekeeping and I don't happen to see it in the tags when I go in there. But I do hear about it second hand, and it seems like it's a problem on other social media sites I'm not on as well.

I'm sorry you've had a hard time, Anon. But I am glad you've found people you can be comfortable with and be yourself around. That's really important too. And thanks for the reminder that I really should drink more water today.

Hopefully at least some of this is helpful, but if you have more questions or want to discuss anything in more detail, feel free to send in another ask.

All the best!

[ca-suffit]

I hate having to say this because I know the importance of what you and everyone else is doing here but sometimes I wonder if always talking about races and defending Louis/Jacob on this aspects isn't doing him a disservice?

Let me explain,sometimes myself included when I find a group of fans so annoying that I end up hating their favs and I know that they find us annoying because we bring what they are refusing to see.

For example yesterday an artist has draw louis 4-5 tones much darker than his real complexion (mind you they had Armand complexion lighter than he is ,so they can do it) rightly a group of fans came upon him demanding accountability, everyone quoting etc...

Then I read another ''artist'' say,that's why she never does fan arts with Louis and I'm wondering how many think that way and that's probably why he is the lead with the least fan arts (non ship fan arts)

*English is not my native language*

hi and thank u for asking this! if u need clarification on anything I answer here bcuz of a language barrier just lmk in my inbox again, it's no problem.

also let me say first that anyone can give feedback on this. I'm not any authority on anything and I'm an anon account. I talk about topics objectively. It's always helpful to have insight from others who feel comfortable sharing more identifying racial info on themselves and giving opinions on this stuff.

ok so to the actual question

"Then I read another ''artist'' say,that's why she never does fan arts with Louis and I'm wondering how many think that way and that's probably why he is the lead with the least fan arts (non ship fan arts)"

the short answer to all of this is that....it's all an excuse.

how many artists of color draw white ppl every day and yet we never hear about a "struggle" from that side? there is one just the same but if ppl were louder about it, nobody would take it seriously. whiteness is "the norm." ppl would laugh anyone out of the room asking how it could be "hard" to depict a white person??

well. it's literally the same for anyone else. there is no excuse to be unable to do something like this. if an artist is unfamiliar with something then they practice to get better at it. I've known plenty of white artists who can draw ppl across racial identities and don't get feedback like this bcuz they work on improving and *listen* when these conversations come up with other artists. saying u can't draw a black man bcuz the "woke mob" might come for u is doubling down on being racist. not only are u saying it's not worth even *trying* to do the art, ur also saying all criticism makes u the victim and that's the most important part of all. "these conversations don't matter bcuz they make me feel bad and that's wrong :(" that's a typical white response to literally *anything* regarding race. that's a lot of why we're still here talking about this in every space. it's not only specific to white ppl either but usually that's the largest group saying stuff like this. white ppl don't have to think about race, so these convos easily get killed in even the most progressive spaces. a lot of times it makes white ppl feel racist to notice race at all and there's usually gonna be some person of color around to back up that "logic" and say it's "right." that's all it takes to shut it all down. that's a lot of what this fandom keeps doing too.

the only way to make progress is to normalize things more. ppl don't know how to draw different facial features, hair textures, skin tones? start practicing. look at art from black artists who draw black ppl and study how that looks. examine ur own antiblackness. learn about colorism. study the racist history of depicting black ppl in art so u don't accidentally recreate that unconsciously. know what the antiblack stereotypes are. the show literally gave us both in 2x7, ppl can even just go study *that.* a lot of ppl don't even know that is there, as blatant as it is.

this is why I said thank u for asking this bcuz it's an important thing to talk about. white fandom (a mindset, not a skin color) will use stuff like this to perpetuate the idea that talking about race *does* cause harm. it doesn't. it never will. it's the only way to make any progress. centering the feelings of an artist who doesn't want to bother drawing louis bcuz drawing black ppl is too hard / anxiety inducing is just straight up racism. idk specifically who this artist is or anything but this is stuff u see and then u stop supporting that artist. u don't coddle them about this either. it's a stupid, harmful thing to say. find artists who don't make those excuses and who can handle having these conversations, support them instead.

ppl should also always be looking for black artists in this fandom to support in the first place. none of the popular artists here are black and that's done intentionally by the fandom. everyone should feel bad about that tbh.

[eisforeidolon]

In regards to that post [X]:

We could talk about the same old fallacies - OMG, Dean's siren is a guy! Yeah, a brother. OMG, Dean was supposed to say I love you in the Crypt scene! Yeah, it was removed and replaced with what the writer explicitly said was the less OOC version of what he meant anyway, "We're family". We could talk about the blatant absurdity of statements like "Dean liked men it happened on my screen" which bear no resemblance to the SPN that aired. But we've done that before and others have got this reiteration of it well covered.

So I wanna focus for the moment on this particular even more repulsive gem: "Like he literally doesn't need to verbally tell us he's bisexual we just know. He may not know but we do. This is an unmovable fact sorry."

It tells us a few things. One, this person is a fucking idiot. Two, this person, yet again, thinks that ~*interpreting*~ sexuality from the way someone looks/stands/makes eye contact/eats pastry/whatever numbnuts conspiracy bullshit you like? Is more valid than how a character identifies and is identified by those who created him. People can just look at you and know what your sexuality is better than you do, there's nothing repulsive about that idea at all! I've got a mountain of shiny pennies that says if Dean had literally never interacted with a man for the entire span of the series, they would have insisted it was because he was so afraid of how much he wanted to fuck them. There was no way the writers could have written Dean that someone like that would have accepted as actually heterosexual, because that's not what they personally wanted, so that's not what they were going to see.

I'm not saying there aren't things that might be said about how relatively questionable some of the gay jokes in SPN are, especially in the early years in terms of making queerness a punchline. But if we're going to talk about that? We need to do it not only in the cultural context of 2005 rather than 2023, but in the context of portrayals of real world men - and particularly those in fairly rural settings who aren't going to be particularly conscientious in the way they rib each other. Which becomes a whole other discussion about where to draw lines when you're writing fiction and dealing with things that might be realistic but also potentially offensive.

Furthermore, I'm not saying there aren't things that might be said about how SPN continually used romantic tropes for platonic relationships and how it's not entirely absurd for that to land different with the audience when the characters are not blood-related. Except that discussion needs to include not just how maybe the writers shouldn't have treated it as such a joke that a relationship between two male characters might have been possible, but also how fans should absolutely not have equated a relationship being theoretically possible with any specific relationship they wanted being owed to them. Especially in the context of those romantic tropes being used so so so much more between brothers all the fucking time setting the tone. As well as how it's not just problematic to treat the possibility of homosexual relationships as a joke, but problematic to insist literally any closeness between two male entities is gay, reinforcing all kinds of nasty toxic stereotypes about sexuality and masculinity which underlay a lot of modern adult men's issues with expressing their emotions and having genuinely close and open relationships outside of their romantic partners. I've seen fans wonder how heterosexual dudes can watch this show and love the brothers' relationship without seemingly noticing the weird undertones of how claustrophobically intertwined they are, and I think it's very much that when it comes to wanting a fantasy of platonic closeness, they're looking for realism as much as most women reading trashy romance novels are - but that's a whole other digression and this is already too long.

At the end of the day, not only was SPN not created in the cultural context of Very Online Tumbrites in 2023, convinced that nothing should ever be is heterosexual and every fictional story should be about them and what they want? The fact their ostensible original point misses is the real world and most other media of 2023 aren't like that either! Some of these shippers come across like they've literally never seen two adult male friends interact with each other or any actual love stories in media - and it's not just early 2000's television characters getting this treatment from entitled shippers who want to use representation as a weapon against creators as to why they're owed things they absolutely aren't.

[queenrei]

Let me start by saying, this is a Libra STAN account 🗣...I've always identified as a Scorpio (Tropical) sun, but ever since I finding out i'm actually a Libra (Sidereal) sun, I've been diving deep into learning more about Libra energy. I've always had a little interest in it, being that I was born on Scorpio-Libra cusp.

Scorpios may have a bad rep for their darkness, vengefulness, and secretive nature, but it turns out that Libras have it even worse 🙃 From the term "lying ass libra" to being labeled as shallow, fake, and two-faced, Libra's reputation is not great. Honestly, I get it and understand. I've definitely been guilty of all the stereotypes, and I've been actively working on correcting them as I grow/evolve. But I can't help but get frustrated by people's narrow-minded views (and that goes for all pop-astrology btw) to think that all people of one sign all behave the same way is nonsense...The sun is in it's detriment in the sign and as a Libra sun, throughout my life, I've felt a constant struggle between my true self and the expectations of surroundings. It's not about being fake or two-faced, but rather, I've come to realize that I possess a chameleon-like ability to adapt to any environment. I actually really appreciate this trait as it has allowed me to explore various experiences and meet new people due to my open-mindedness.

When it comes to being shallow or a people pleaser, it's actually deeper than it seems. Personally, I consider myself an empath, cliché as it may sound. Putting myself in someone else's shoes is my natural instinct. So even if someone annoys or upsets me, I can put on a nice face and keep the peace. Why? Well, first of all, I don't like upsetting people. But it's also a peace thing for me. Trust me, it's not just about being shallow or wanting to please others. It's about empathy and finding harmony. It's exhausting argue and go back-and-forths with people Sometimes, it's just easier to handle things with kindness. I know it's not the best approach, and it is one of my toxic traits. Not caring about people's opinion is a challenge, but I'm improving over time. I admire those who speak up for themselves, even if it leads to conflict. I'll get there. However, I also value my peace, so I'll always choose my battles wisely. One thing I've stopped doing is talking shit behind people's back after playing nice. It's not something I'm proud of.

Another point to make, and it might upset some people, but whatever. We have this reputation for playing both sides of the fence, which makes people think we're disloyal and fake. But the truth is, we can see things from all sides and look past the surface. Sometimes people will vent to me, but they get annoyed when I try to understand the other person's perspective or point out their own misconceptions. Then, will try justifying their delusions or getting mad at me for not taking their side. I'm done with it now. As adults, it's crucial to empathize with others before shaming/invalidating them. I'm all about playing devil's advocate, especially if it helps someone confront a harsh truth they need to hear. I used to bite my tongue, but now I couldn't care less. Especially when it comes to people close to me, honesty is key. No need to sugar coat things just to make yourself feel better. And I hope they'd do the same for me. That's what keeping the balance is really all about, in my opinion.

Ok my last & final thought is Libras are definitely not as shallow as some people think. I mean, seriously, have you ever actually tried to have a deep conversation with a one? When it comes to delving into the depths of our minds, it requires a certain level of comfort and trust. And trust me, my mind is always spinning, and it can get pretty damn dark. I thrive on deep conversations and can go for hours about a topic. I have a few people that I go there with, and even then I usually wait for that opening or invitation to go deep, and then it's off to the ocean floor we go. It's all about the vibe I get from the person. So, don't underestimate Libras, because there's more depth than you think.

Wow, i wasnt expecting to go in like that for my first post lol. This was in no way a sympathy call for Libras, but its been on my mind and i felt the need to let it out. I love all astrology takes so feel free to express your feelings/thoughts.

[rin-and-jade]

3 questions:

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1

How do you Function. As A newly realized system?

I feel like we have a lot of different alters who are comfortable with loads of different things, we struggle a lot with boundaries and respecting each others needs.

And our communication is not yet so good....

We are very... blurry, perhaps we're stressed about this new development...?

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2

We have loads & loads of questions, can we ask a lot of those here? Or are there other places we could also ask? We don't want to overwhelm.

---------------------------------------------------

3

How would you even start getting diagnosed? Are there any pros & cons for, or against? Certain things we should look for in a therapist?

We know there's a lot of stigma, and we're worried about being gaslit/invalidated in the medical system, but we (mostly all of us, but not all) really really want help with this. And therapy. We just need someone trustworthy and safe....

We're/I'm very eager to work on this and better our lives.

---------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your time. Take care. <3

-🫧❄️

I have a some of posts that might help your situation, if you need a more detailed answer feel free to ask again, give them a read first! - Identifying parts - Welcoming systems: a guide - Blur, blend, fuse - All about being blurry - Cooperating as a system - System communication - How to know you're being productive (on the right path) with your progress, as a bonus (also make sure the links are right.. i ever hyperlinked the wrong ones. Notify me if they're wrong again)

Yeah go on and spam me. Im dedicating myself to educate people ya know? (Inbox or DMs are your choices)

To get diagnosed, it should start with searching places that offer such services. Im not sure what the 'certain things' that you're vaguely describing, but maybe, being respectful and not educated on the stereotypes of mental health disorders. Pros: being medically recognize might give you some disability support, or discounts with medications. Sometimes being diagnosed brings personal benefits to assuage denial and other things. It's up to how you use it. Cons: long waiting list, chances of meeting dismissal psychiatrists, possibly expensive fee which isn't possible for those experiencing financial issues. If it's not possible: i am here to help people when therapy or professional help isn't a choice or easily accessible! Feel free to take it with a grain of salt, i have been helping a lot of people over the course of 3 years and also have pursued final fusion on top of it too (yes, i was a system too) so i hope my experience and knowledge still can help you in some ways.

I hope that answers all your questions, good luck on your journey buddy.

- chrono

[trans-zhongli]

i think the discourse nuance here needs to be "a woman interested in BL/a man interested in GL is not an inherently bad thing, but it is important to criticize the rampant homophobia that does occur within fujoshi/(idk male equivalent) communities" but if you call out the homophobia you're called a racist and misogynist for criticizing a primarily female and asian fan base and if you defend the fan base you're called a homophobe and a fetishizer and like.

can i get some nuance? can i please get some nuance. im begging

like no it's literally not inherently bad to identify with a fan base or something you enjoy but we all need to be able to call out homophobia, racism, misogyny, lesbophobia, etc etc where it exists. BL fandoms have a lot of issues with stereotyping (top/bottom, gong/shou, uke/seme) and fetishizing asian men in particular that should NOT be ignored just because we're being nicer to fujoshis. while at the same time i've gained a better understanding lately of the origin of the term and culture around it, and i no longer inherently take issue with someone being a fujoshi even if it's kind of bad vibes to use the term.

just from my own perspective what i've seen is a severe straight-ifying of gay relationships in BL fandom, which is absolutely homophobic, such as assigning personality based on sex position or assigning sex position based on personality. it's extremely common to find actual heated discourse between two people who like the same ship but simply disagree on who tops or bottoms. which is homophobic. like i said, im only just starting to see the origins and stuff behind BL fandom, and it's also obviously not universal or inherent to be a weirdo simply because you are a woman who likes BL. but none of the criticism against the fandom that i have personally seen has been about the fact that it's mostly women and comes from japanese fan culture. it's ALWAYS pointing out, rightfully, the homophobic stereotyping that occurs in those spaces, as well as (a possibly vocal minority of) fans who are genuinely homophobic in real life and only like gay men as sex objects and do not respect them as people.

don't remember what my point was. just have some thinking pls

[danaalmasaeid]

Ennis Del Mar

Dana: Good Afternoon Ennis, It’s such a pleasure to have the chance to speak to you today. I've always admired your story and how you've changed over the years. I just wanted to talk about the topic of LGBTQI+ representation in film, television, and media and how this representation really improved in the 21st century. I know you'd rather be doing something else than talking to a small-time interviewer like me, but I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me about these important topics.

Ennis: Well hello there, it's really kind of ya to say that. I'm happy to talk about anything that might help folks understand the struggles that people like me have gone through. I'll admit, I ain't exactly an expert on all the fancy-pants media stuff, but I do know that it's important for people to see themselves represented on screen. When I was growin' up, I never saw nobody like me in the movies or on TV, so it's good to see things changin' for the better. Of course, there's still a long way to go, but progress is progress, ya know? What kinda questions did you have in mind, ma’am?

Dana: Before we get started, I hope you like the painting we put in the studio today, one of my good friends found out I was interviewing you and decided to make a special painting showcasing a place of tender embrace. And it’s yours when we are done with this interview.

Ennis: Well, I'll be damned, that's mighty kind of you and your friend, Dana. I ain't never had nobody paint nothin' for me before. I appreciate the sentiment, and I'm grateful for the chance to have a little piece of art to remember this interview by. Thank you kindly, ma'am.

Alright, let's get started. We’re here to talk about representation today, do you think that representation of LGBTQI+ people has improved in the 21st century and does media play a role in accurately representing LGBTQI+ people?

Well, I bet the media's got a powerful influence on people nowadays and it's time they start showing diversity. When people see themselves in the stories and characters on the screen, it can make a difference in their sense of belonging and self-worth. And when people who ain't identify with a certain group see the positive aspects of LGBTQI+ people, it can help break down all the old stereotypes and help create some understanding and compassion. But truth be told, there's still a whole lotta hate and ignorance out there, and progress has been slow. Sure, we're seeing more representation in movies and TV shows, but that don't mean things have gotten any easier for LGBTQI+ people in the real world. There's a whole lot more work to be done. 

Ennis, you mentioned that there's still a long way to go for LGBTQI+ people, please elaborate on that. What do you think needs to be done to continue making progress and help with the representation of the LGBTQI+ community?

You know what, the ignorance and hate out there need to be addressed. People need to be aware and educated about the struggles that LGBTQI+ people face on a daily basis. Also, all the discrimination they still face in other countries. Dana,  I ain't know if you heard of this recent news, but the other day, I saw a news story about how Uganda passed the bill for the death penalty for LGBTQI+ people. I think that these stories show us that we need more positive representation in the media, especially in the news, but we also need people to stand up and speak out against injustice when they see it. Be an ally and stand up to discrimination and harassment. Honestly, we need laws and policies that protect LGBTQI+ people from discrimination and hate crimes. And most of all, we need love and acceptance, people should be allowed to love who they want to love and live the way they want. If we could all treat each other with kindness and respect, regardless of who we are or who we love, that would be a huge step forward.

Now, this topic is a bit personal, If you are open to talk about your relationship with Jack, do you think things would have been different if both of you could have expressed your love in public instead of being secluded to one place, as beautiful as Brokeback Mountain is, I'm sure you wanted to travel to other places with Jack?

Woah, that's definitely a personal question ma'am, but imma answer it anyways. You're right, Brokeback Mountain was a beautiful place, but it was just a small part of the world. Jack and I talked about traveling and seeing other places, but we never could, you know, because of the way people would look at us or treat us. It was a hard thing to accept, but we made the most of what we had. If we could have expressed our love in public, I think things would have been different. We could have had a life together, not just a few stolen moments here and there. We could have seen the world and experienced all it had to offer, together. But that just wasn't possible back then.

What would be different if your love story with Jack had played out in real life 30 years after the events of Brokeback Mountain? 

Well now, I bet if society had been a bit more accepting of us LGBTQI+ people, Jack and I could have been more open about our love. Brokeback mountain woulda still been our little hideaway, but we coulda walked around town holdin' hands without fear of getting persecuted or hated on. Damn it, I think about that every damn day. I know for sure that Jack woulda been over the moon at the idea. We coulda finally gotten that ranch he was always dreamin' about. I'm sorry if I'm yammerin' on a bit, but it's hard not to think about what could have been. My whole outlook on life changed when I met Jack. It made me realize that love is the most valuable thing in this world and that life is mighty short. I woulda cherished every damn moment I had with Jack even more if I had the chance to go back in time. But at least things are startin' to look up for us LGBTQI+ people, and that's a bit of a silver lining.

I don’t want this conversation to end Ennis, I know you have to go back to your husband, but what advice would you give to LGBTQI+ people that are young and who are struggling with their identity and how to accept themselves?

I would tell 'em to be true to themselves, no matter what the circumstance or place they are in. It ain't always easy, I definitely know that for sure. But you gotta be proud of who you are and how far you came to be the person that you should be always confident about. Don't let nobody make you feel ashamed of who you are. Find some supportive communities that are tight-knit and can look out for one another and hold on tight to them. Life is tough, but with people who love and care for you, you can make it through anything. Thank you for havin' me, Dana. It was a pleasure.

[thechangeling]

I totally think Jinx is autistic/adhd. Not that I need to list proof or anything. As an autistic person with adhd i should just be able to say I hc a character as autistic or adhd or having both because I identify with them and that's that. But I felt like making a list for me and my friends. This is based on the symptoms and traits that I personally have. You might not relate to all of this if you're also autistic or adhd or comorbid like me and that's ok. We're all different.

Note: Autism is usually comorbid with things like, psychosis, bpd and ptsd or C-PTSD and Jinx probably has some of those as well. However I won't be talking about that because im not diagnosed with any of those things. (I think I might have C-PTSD but I'm not sure.)

-She has meltdowns. The first clear example of this is in episode three and then twice in episode four. Although those meltdowns are clearly caused by flashbacks due to her trauma, the reaction she has afterwords reminds me of a meltdown and it's very similar to how she acted in episode three when she was told to stay behind by Vi because she wasn't ready. The crying and screaming mixed with throwing the box to me was a clear meltdown. Meltdowns aren't always stereotypical rocking back and forth and aggressively stimming. Something they're angry, screaming and crying and throwing shit. That's what my meltdowns are like.

-she's very creative and a out of the box thinker

-She's a good shot. Autistic people have the ability to maticulously focus on very tiny details. In my experience this can make you better at things like archery or shooting.

- She displays clear signs of emotional dysregulation which is a symptom of both autism and adhd (very intense emotional outbursts and drastic changes in emotions, I get this is also a PTSD thing but still)

- she hyper focuses on her projects and has a clear special interest in building her makeshift grenades and bombs and stuff.

- She talks to herself and inanimate objects. (I do this a lot, it helps me process my thoughts). I get that this is probably because she's having auditory and visual hallucinations but the line between living in your imagination and actually hallucinating can get blurry. Believe me.

- She moves in a very ADHD way. She's always traveling on the balls of her feet in a very bouncy hoppy way. She moves with so much chaotic energy, all over the place. Also the way she sits is very autistic, always propping her feet up, or leaning over and hugging her knees to her chest. People call it the gay way of sitting. She also moves her hands a lot when she talks.

- She loves things that stimulate her and give her dopamine. Ppl with adhd are lacking in dopamine so we tend to favor things that give you quick and large doses of dopamine like video games. I think this is why Jinx loves the chaos of battle, the fighting and explosions. She finds it stimulating. Basically flashy flashy boom boom make brain go wheeeeeee. This leads me to my next point.

-Jinx is sensory seeking. The stereotype is that autistic people are all sensory avoidant, unable to handle bright lights and loud noises, but some of us are the exact opposite. Like me. Jinx is a very tactile person, she always hugs the people she's closest to (Vi and then later Silco), she puts her feet on Silco's lap when they're talking in episode 4 and presses her face to his and strokes/touches his face in episode 9. She blasts loud music in her workshop and she clearly loves watching things go boom.

- She's different. A huge part of Jinx's character is that ever since she was a kid she's always been the odd one out. She has trouble fitting in and belonging even with her own sister, but she wants so badly to belong. This is a huge part of being autistic or being neurodivergint in general tbh. People don't really like Jinx except for Vi and Silico and even they lose patience with her at times because she's a lot. She's a "problem" she's a shit starter, she can't be controlled. Growing up autistic/adhd you constantly get the message that you're a fuck up and you tend to internalize that as you get older.

- She's impulsive.

- She likes being up high. This is something that's pretty common amongst the autistic people I know and it's also true for me.

- There is also the scene where she takes an idiom literally which is classic autism. "They did a number on her?" "oh yeah which number?"

-She's loyal. Loyal to Vi until her sister (from her point of view) leaves and abandons her and then extremely loyal to Silco until he threatens to kill Vi. And even then after she shoots him she still apologizes and clearly regrets it.

-She has a huge problem with lying. This could also be a result of her trauma but in my experience autistic people place signifant value on honesty and being honest. I know I do. Anytime she catches anyone in a lie, especially someone she cares about or even THINKS someone's lying, she loses it. I also don't think she ever lies in the show. She may fake vauneability to get people to lower their guards around her but she never actually lies.

That's all I can think of for now. I adore Jinx and my heart breaks for her. I just so so much of myself in her. Poor lost girl. She just needs to be loved.

@littlx-songbxrd @have-a-holly-jolly-angstmas

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

hi, im fairly certain i have delayed onset ptsd. i've had all of the symptoms i experience except for criterion a and b for as long as i can remember, and a/b showed up after i remembered (memories repressed). i want to one day get diagnosed professionally for this, but i've heard that part of getting diagnosed with ptsd is comparing your symptoms to how you were before the stressor, but...i have horrible memory. i can hardly remember anything beyond a year ago and everything that happened before my trauma (6 years ago, and when i was very young) is essentially empty. i don't know what to do. the mod bios say some of you have ptsd, diagnosed and not formally diagnosed, do you think you could tell me or share resources about what the diagnosis process was like (if you're comfortable with that), what are the pros/cons of having, and not having a professional diagnosis?

Hey anon,

Just to preface, I'm from the US so your experience may vary, but personally I was 16 when I was diagnosed with PTSD, and the psychiatrist didn't directly tell me, I found out from a booklet I was given at the end of the appointment. But I have also been diagnosed with another disorder at 21 where it was more straightforward and the psychiatrist told me I had the disorder in question. So the process itself may vary.

But overall I think it's more helpful than not to get a diagnosis because, at least personally, I believe that when you're able to identify and name what you're struggling with, you can get a better handle on it and also seek proper treatment for it. This even goes for physical illnesses or injury - once you're able to figure out what's wrong, you can get help for it.

Also know that you don't need to meet all the criteria for a disorder to be diagnosed with it. There are different quotas, if you will, for how many criteria you need to meet, and this varies per how many criteria there are. For example, I know that you need to meet at least 5 of the 9 criteria for BPD to be diagnosed with it. So I don't know if not meeting criterion a or b disqualifies you for a diagnosis but because that only sounds like a couple, it's still possible that you could be diagnosed.

That being said, some cons to consider about getting diagnosed with PTSD, though in my experience there aren't many, is that, with any mental illness, you may be subject to ableist and/or sanist discrimination, bias, stereotypes, etc.

So while it's good to be aware of those things, I still believe that it's worth it to get a diagnosis, because when weighing the pros and cons together, I find that your recovery is worth more than potential discrimination against people with PTSD and mental illness. But of course it's completely up to you whether or not you'd like to pursue a diagnosis.

Best of luck, and we're here for you if you need anything.

-Bun

[thaylepo]

A thing about tumblr I'm getting quite tired of is the increasing inability to say a thing is good without immediately putting something else down in comparison. And I don't mean as a joke. Posting "cake is awesome but if you like pie suck it" and the ensuing onslaught of pie versus cake lovers is the kind of fun we come here for. But we're constantly doing this to people too and it's become disturbingly divisive.

I get it, it's mostly marginilized people who don't ever get to do this literally anywhere else, and it's cathartic to send it out spiralling into the void for others to be like "yeah! Fuck em!"

But hey? Listen? Most of us? Are more than one thing. We aren't just queer or straight, poc or white, jewish or goy, trans or cis (don't get me started on that ironic binary). Most of us are multiple things. Our communities intersect and overlap.

Example: I'm queer. Specifically bisexual. I'm also ace. It would be fucking wild for me to say something like "aces rule, fuck all you sex havers, you nasty!!1!" It would be shaming my queer community for their identities, and shaming every other person of any minority or marginalized group who doesn't happen to be ace. Specifically shaming other bi and pansexual people, who are way too often stereotyped as sexually promiscuous. And that doesn't even brush on poc, who also face that stereotype!

You see where I'm going with this. Posting that, even in favour of asexuals, is straight up inappropriate. And yet I keep seeing this, and even worse, every fucking day, all in various forms meant to extoll one kind of person at the expense of their perceived opposite.

My dudes? You can't just claim "oh but I didn't mean all the good ones, or the queer ones, or the Jewish ones, or the poc....etc., obviously, that's implied". My dudes, no. It's not. It's never said, and it's never implied. And it gets really, really exhausting to keep seeing it. Over and over, knowing that hey, the person who reblogged this prolly didn't mean it like that, but also, maybe they did a little?

And then to start encountering people, in real life, who are so divisive that I've literally been considered "not queer enough" to call myself queer, despite identifying as queer for over twenty fucking years? Being determined, without my input, as cis-by-way-of-not-being-trans, when I have literally always been queer and gnc? By first the internet, to the point where I began to accept the label by default (until I had the mental wherewithal to realize that bullshit), and then by a person, in meatspace, in real life, who was so detached from reality that the possibility of any nuance beyond that division was unfathomable to them? Spewing that exact rhetoric almost word for word? This wasn't a chance encounter, this was an ongoing conflict that destroyed an important relationship in my life, eroded my self-worth over the course of months, and left me more desperately suicidal than I have ever been. I'm 36. This happened this year*. And I just keep seeing this shit.

I'm just done with humouring it, my dudes. It's important to discuss and address how the different facets of our various communities intersect with each other, the problems and misunderstandings and outright bigotry present in them. This needs to be addressed! Specifically because, in one way or another? We really are in it together.

But if you wanted to know how to divide-and-conquer communities that are supposed to thrive on diversity? You couldn't have a better example than this.

* 2021, for the historians

[talon-dragonbeast]

i really dislike this take, for a couple of reasons. even though i agreed with the original post (hi Watcher o/), the additions are... well. i have Thoughts. and i was just going to add my two cents, i promise, but then the post kept getting longer and longer... and here we are now! so, buckle up.

first of all, no, non-alterhumans hating on us isnt anyones fault, and especially not the kid's. the community gaining visibility was inevitable, it was bound to happen eventually. blaming some kids for the hate we get isnt going to fix things, believe it or not.

and also, this is important. people were always going to hate us, no matter what. no matter how slow we were, how careful, how gentle, how watered down we made our experiences. that would never have worked, for a very simple reason: people fear what they dont understand. they hate the theriantok kids with the masks and the quadrobics, yes, but lets not forget that they also hated the tumblr fictionkin, the forum-dwelling elvinkind, the past life havers, the exclusively spiritual therians, the clinical zoanthropes. they think we're all the same.

But theriantok brought more harm than good, a lot of therians there bringing light to stereotypes [...]. Yeah, they didn't mean anything by it then, but they just gave away bullet points to haters to mock us. [...] I dunno man, it's like some creatures on the community just asked to be bullied (no hate on anyone, again), just misusing terms and bringing up stereotypes

i wanted to highlight this part because its the one that left the worst taste in my mouth. i know you meant well, Watcher, but you werent right here. what youre doing has a name, and its called respectability politics (with a little bit of victim-blaming thrown in for good measure), the process by which privileged members of marginalized groups comply with dominant social norms to advance their groups condition.

this is queer discourse all over again. "butch lesbians/feminine gay men are just stereotypes! real lesbians/gay men are just like straight women/men!" "nonbinary people must be androgynous and only use they/them pronouns, otherwise theyre just posers!" "neopronoun users are making a mockery of trans people! they make the community look bad!" "you need dysphoria to be trans! getting misgendered is your fault for not making the effort to pass" and so on and so forth...

we dont need to water down our experiences so people can accept us more easily. people just need to be more accepting of experiences they dont understand.

oh, one last thing. this one is for @maxxy-million, because your addition made me a bit mad ngl.

A lot of humans I encounter don’t seem to have the capacity to love. It’s a shame, really. We are all, at our core, held together by love. Whether we are human, wolf, coyote, cat, angel, eldritch being, fish, pony, elf, unicorn… all we really have in this broken world is love. And yet, humans always seem to choose hate when it’s not necessary, they treat any small divergence as if it were a crime. It sickens me to my very core.

first off, we're not all, as you say, "at our core, held together by love". this is called amatonormativity. not everyone (human or otherwise) experiences love, and that doesnt make them bad. and before you say "love doesnt have to be romantic! everyone experiences love in some way", no, sorry, thats amatonormativity again. some of us are aromantic, and while some aro people still experience platonic attraction, not all of us do. some people are aplatonic or afamilial, and some even identify as loveless, and its alright. love doesnt make us human, and its not a requirement to be worthy of respect.

and also, being alterhuman doesnt make us better than humans, what in the misanthropy? alterhumans can be hateful too, its not just a human thing. we all have the capacity to be good or bad; it is our choice to be either.

(by the way, this is not to shame you and i am not mad at either of you. whoever sends hate to Watcher or maxxy-million will be met with my fire, so be warned)

In one of my classes we're talking about respecting minorities, and my teacher listed some. We have lots of types of discrimination: Racial, homophobia and transphobia, against woman, against children, against poor people... Literally whatever you can think of.

It's kind of sad, that with all of the technological advances that we have today, how far we've come in terms of acceptance... People can't respect. It's a matter of literally not being a dick, not insult someone. It's literally just that. You can think whatever you want about anyone, of course, free speech and whatever... But if you know your opinions are going to harm someone, why share them?

For example, I don't like that most parents nowadays just shove a tablet in front of their children and call that parenting. I found that lazy, harmful. But I don't publicly shame those parents, because I don't know their struggles, their point of view on their situation. They may just need a break. Maybe they don't have time to spend time with their children. But at the end of the day is not my business, and is not my place to share MY opinions about THEIR situation. They didn't ask for it, don't need it. And I should learn to shut up about it.

That's kinda what I was able to teach to my roommates about therianthropy, why they accepted me: At the end of the day, it's my identity. I'm not harming anyone, I'm just being myself. They don't have a say in it, I know me better than anyone. It's not their business to shame me, because they are doing it with malicious intent, just to harm me.

I know it sounds difficult, but just ignore them. And most importantly, educate them. I'll say it now, I'll say it again and again: Education is the best tool to end discrimination and violence. Haters are just that, haters. They attack what's different, what they don't understand, because they are just trying to harm and divide us. We need to stick together, and advocate for what's right. That's the way to end it.

Run, howl, bite.

Watcher out

[hellomynameisbisexual]

There are at least as many bi and pansexual people in the world as lesbians and gay men combined, at least according to surveys of western countries. But bisexuality is poorly understood - leaving bi and pansexual people feeling that their sexuality is invisible or invalid.

In Episode 1 of the new season of BANG!, people who are "attracted to more than one gender" share their experiences, and Dr Nikki Hayfield highlights some particularly damaging, often "biphobic", stereotypes.

To the outside world, Rose and Sam* look like any other straight couple. They're in their mid 20s, affectionate and obviously really into each other. The thing is, they're not straight.

Sam identifies as pansexual and Rose is bisexual. People define each of these sexualities in different ways, but for Sam pansexuality means that he's attracted to people irrespective of gender (as in, it's not important) and for Rose bisexuality means she's attracted to people "across the spectrum of genders".

For those shouting "but bi means two!", some people still use bisexuality to mean they're into just men and women, but others have broadened the definition as a response to the increase in trans identities and in resisting binary understandings of gender.

Both Sam and Rose came out in their early 20s, both had same-sex experiences and attractions in their teens and, initially, both put them down to teenaged "confusion" or "acting out".

As Sam tells me in this episode of BANG!, "Heterosexuality was expected of me and that's why it took quite a while to realise I wasn't that. It's why my parents still don't know [I'm pan]… I wouldn't be disowned or anything, but it would confirm that I'm the sort of black sheep, and that I'm less of a man in some way, and that doesn't feel good."

Rose grew up with an openly lesbian aunt; her family environment was welcoming of queerness. But she thought bisexuality meant 50 per cent attracted to men and 50 per cent attracted to women, and that the label didn't fit her because she's attracted to men more of the time.

That's until she turned 21 and stumbled across a Tumblr post.

"It said, 'you can be 70 per cent attracted to men, 30 per cent attracted to women' and I was like 'Oh! I think I could be not-straight then!'"

Soon after, Rose came out to her mum.

"When I told her… she was like 'Oh, I think I'm bi too!', I was like, 'What?! Why didn't you tell me! That would've really helped my coming out journey if you'd told me'," she laughs.

Rose's mum explained she had tried to come out as bi to some lesbian friends in the 1980s, but they told her she needed to "pick a side". This kind of discrimination from within queer circles makes bisexuals particularly vulnerable to social isolation, with many reporting that they feel "not straight enough" for straight circles and "not gay enough" for LGBTQ+ communities.

Rose and Sam are part of an open and supportive friend group, but even so - people close to them make incorrect assumptions about their sexualities because they are in a male/female relationship.

"We have had a friend who we know and love so much come up to us really drunk… and be like, 'You're just so straight! Look at you two!'... and I was like, 'No we're not!' It was sort of a funny situation but also… I don't think it's a funny joke to be like 'you're straight, haha!' Because you just don't know," she says.

Dr Nikki Hayfield is a senior lecturer at UWE Bristol, whose research explores bisexualities, pansexualities, asexualities, and LGBTQ+ sexualities generally. She's also bisexual herself.

"People do tend to take our relationships status as a signifier of our identity, and so it's much more difficult for bisexual people to be out about their sexuality, because their partner… doesn't indicate their sexuality in the way that it does for heterosexual people or for lesbians and gay men," she says.

"Bisexual people find that even if they've been explicitly out about their bisexuality, to say their friends and their family and their work colleagues, when they're in a relationship all of a sudden it's as if they didn't make that declaration of their bisexuality, and they find that people around them assume that they're 'gay now' or they're "straight now'."

Author and columnist Emily Writes was happily married to her husband when she came to terms with her attractions towards women. While her husband was incredibly supportive, coming out to some of her friends and family was trickier.

"A lot of people saw it as 'Are you getting a divorce then? Which I thought was really odd because that never crossed out minds… We have a really happy marriage and I don't see how that changes anything," says Emily.

As someone with a public profile, Emily copped the same social media flack as bisexual celebrities like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus: That they are claiming queer sexualities as a marketing stunt. Another common biphobic trope.

"When I see somebody being like 'Oh now she's gay coz it's cool.' I just have this thing in my head where I'm like 'I've been gay! I've been gay! The whole time I was gay!' She says. "It's this thing around bisexuality or queerness, that people want you to perform it for them and if you don't then are you allowed to say that you're queer or bi?"

Here's why this stuff is so important:

- The Youth '12 survey, of 8,500 New Zealand secondary school students found young people who experience "both and same sex attraction" (gay, lesbian, bi and pansexual students were lumped together in this survey) are more likely to be bullied.

The majority of them had deliberately self-harmed. 18.3% had attempted suicide in the past year.

- Also - the proportion of them experiencing significant depressive symptoms has increased from 27 per cent in 2001 to 41.3 per cent in 2012. Opposite-sex attracted students had no significant change.

- Several overseas studies also suggest that bisexual people are at a higher risk for poor mental health outcomes than both straight and lesbian and gay people.

What can we do to help?

Sai, Charlie and Emma are students at Wellington High School who identify as pan and bisexual.

"Just normalise it. As much as you can," says Emma. "A lot of TV shows are having a lot of casual background queer characters and not making their queerness who they are… Let's hope it continues."

"I do think the term "it's just a phase' is so strange," Charlie says. "Because, if it is a phase why can't that person, like, live in that phase and be comfortable with that?"

"People are a lot more quick to shut it down the younger you are because they're like 'oh you don't know any better'," says Emma.

"It's just people with ideas about what things should be, having a go at people who don't fit their expectations, just like it happens with just your regular old homophobes," says Sai.

"I guess I just wish I had bi parents, then I'd know it was a thing. Or just bi people that are open and in my life,"

Rose, the bi woman in a relationship with pansexual Sam, has some good advice, too.

"Until I meet this new person coming into my friend's life, I'm not gonna presume what gender they're going to be, that's just putting my friend in a box... I kinda just assume everyone's bi unless they tell me otherwise."

* Rose and Sam are not their real names

[autumnblogs]

Day 10: I think the true purpose of this game is to see how many qualifiers we can get to precede the word "self" and still understand what we're talking about

https://homestuck.com/story/1642

I don’t think anyone has said much about Calsprite. There’s not much to be said. I’m pretty sure, based on the Juju rules, that this Lil Cal probably doesn’t count as the real one - supposedly, any version of a Juju from a Doomed Timeline doesn’t count as the real thing? In any case, it’s a very mild comfort that this being isn’t a source of even more power for the already arbitrarily powerful Lord English.

Another thing that I think is interesting to note is that Dave’s use of iPhone technology marks him, in my opinion, as a poseur. While I am by no means advocating against buying from Microsoft’s competitors, but Mac vs. PC is one of those parts of my childhood, and as an actual IT Professional I’ve learned more than a little about the way that they brand themselves and the history of Apple’s struggle for market share - Apple doesn’t advertise its products as computing alternatives, or as productivity software, or whatever - Apple sells a lifestyle. Apple products are styled as the sexier, more cerebral, more artistic, more individualistic alternative to Microsoft’s products, a computer not for the Office Drone but for... well, the Hipster. Hipsters have stopped really being a thing, or at least, nobody calls themselves that any more.

Like the vast majority of subcultures, I suspect the hipster subculture has kind of been swallowed by time, its symbols expropriated by Capitalism, its center hollowed out and its aesthetics packaged for mass production, as the cynical and jaded approach to popular culture of the hipster, along with its more enthusiastic counterpart “the geek” (actually pretty well personified by John!) became more mainstream - both stereotypes are probably a part of Homestuck’s general commentary on fandom. Fandom is something I think Homestuck talks about, but I don’t think it’s something Homestuck is about in quite the same way that it’s about, say, Narratives, or Reproduction.

More after the break.

https://homestuck.com/story/1643

While Homestuck has been a story that involves some time loops, Act 4 is where it really gets off the ground as an actual Time Travel story. The thing about Time Travel stories, like the thing about Cosmic Horror Stories, is that once a story starts having Time Travel, or Cosmic Horrors in it, it’s that genre forever. This is why DND, for example, is part of a cosmic horror story, because something like 20 years ago, an adventure writer decided that there should be the Far Realm, and now it casts its sticky pall over the rest of the game’s setting.

Homestuck sidesteps this issue largely by involving all of the genres that do this to a story, and just kind of blending them all together into a genre-busting stew. Homestuck is a superhero story. Homestuck is a creation story. Homestuck is a theogony. Homestuck is a cosmic horror story. Homestuck is a time travel story. And so on and so on.

https://homestuck.com/story/1657

And so began one of the greatest partnerships in the history of Paradox Space.

Also of note is that Terezi compares Dave to fire here, not the first or the last bit of symbolism linking him to that element. It’s pretty strongly linked, in general, with The Hero, in kind of the same way that the color Red, and the Sword is in these sorts of things.

Dave fits the Classic Hero Archetype a lot better in a lot of ways than John does, and Bro has been training him for that role since birth. On a much larger scale, Lord English has decreed from his position as the overlord of Paradox Space that Dave is the Hero who should defeat him.

https://homestuck.com/story/1663

Friendship proves once again to be one of the most powerful forces in the universe, changing John’s direction, and steering him away from disaster.

https://homestuck.com/story/1667

Not much to say about this conversation, but the transition between Karkat’s explanation of the Veil and the beginning of [S]Jack: Ascend is smooth as fuck.

https://homestuck.com/story/1670

Our very first self-indulgent author self-insert; the Fourth Wall is explicitly identified as a Fenestrated Plane. 1 Point for the Narrative Contrivance hypothesis.

https://homestuck.com/story/1692

Dave actually does care immensely. Not only does he spend a ton of his time being overshadowed by cooler more powerful men like Bro, and John, now Dave even has to spend his time being overshadowed by cooler versions of himself - and that goes in both directions - both Davesprite and Dave seem to think that the other is the more real, more cool Dave!

https://homestuck.com/story/1710

As a Light Player, Rose is preoccupied with Meaning. She sees it everywhere, and she certainly sees where it is not (at least when she is not Miserable with a capital M). Meaning and Value - Fortune - is not intrinsic to this item, but it is instead bestowed upon it by the fact that Rose loves it, and by the work that Rose put into it. The Rabbit is a labor of love and a treasured belonging, and the Love in the Rabbit is the Light that the Seer Sees.

https://homestuck.com/story/1714

I’m pretty sure that John and Kanaya only talk to each other about twice in all of Homestuck, which is a bit of a shame! John and Karkat are really a lot more alike each other than either of them is comfortable admitting (which I think is probably why Dave is attracted to Karkat). By the transitive law of friendship, it seems to me that John and Kanaya would probably be pretty good friends. On the subject of the other diagonal line in the quadrangle of friendship, I wonder if Rose and Karkat talk to each other pretty much ever?

https://homestuck.com/story/1715

The clear indication here is a parallel between Dave and Sollux, but like a lot of things that probably didn’t go as intended with the Trolls, nothing much ends up materializing from it. I suppose that by fucking off to do nothing for the rest of the adventure, Sollux gets to live Dave’s dream for him, so there’s that.

https://homestuck.com/story/1720

Adorable. This is one of the happiest little moments in the comic.

So often, characters are cut off from one another by moments. They just miss each other, or literally can’t understand each other because of supernatural shenanigans, or can’t communicate with each other on screen because of the way that communication can’t happen unmediated in Homestuck.

And even when they can talk to each other, often the awkwardness and pain of communicating with other people, of trying to get them to understand you the way you actually are, instead of only seeing you one certain way, is too great, and communication proves impossible.

But here, Rose and Dave don’t need words to hang out.

They shut up and jam.

(It’s also incredibly sweet that Rose‘s actual in-person esteem of Dave is so great that she cannot restrain her own thought process. For all her joshing, she really does think Dave is cool.)

https://homestuck.com/story/1722

Also incredibly sweet that Rose’s first order of business as soon as they’re done playing around is to destroy that goddamn puppet.

https://homestuck.com/story/1754

Just missed him.

https://homestuck.com/story/1775

I wish not to contemplate the implication that Homestuck Sprite Mode Legs are actually wafer thin.

https://homestuck.com/story/1812

Nearly as soon as Rose has awoken and absorbed herself from the Doomed Timeline, she gets down to business alchemizing a lot of dangerous and powerful artifacts in preparation to fuck shit up. I’ve never thought about it much before, but I think it’s not hard to say that the memories she absorbed from the other timeline cause Rose to embrace her more reckless and less charitable side. She comments on her own dangerous pursuit of power, and then immediately ignores that train of thought.

https://homestuck.com/story/1836

Dave sure is fixated on bottoms.

https://homestuck.com/story/1852

Note to self. Come back to this.

So far, the only thing of note is the number 12, a portent related to the victors of Homestuck, if only coincidentally.

https://homestuck.com/story/1857

Dave’s sincerity senses are tingling. Maybe it’s an instinct since he and Roxy are pretty similar people, maybe it’s just because Dave himself is not nearly as insincere as he wants to be.

Dave’s anxiety about being watched is also probably best exemplified by his insistence on hiding his eyes behind glasses.

https://homestuck.com/story/1887

Adorable!

I wonder if Andrew already had the sprite designs for these squirts, and their names picked out at this time.

The hair and accessories are certainly correct.

https://homestuck.com/story/1895

Before I get too much further into this sequence, I’d like to pause and take a second to just appreciate this prose. The style is captivating.

The shipping pun is also pretty good.

https://homestuck.com/story/1903

BladeKindEyeWear has already done a pretty good job explaining what the Ultimate Riddle is, so I won’t belabor it too much more than he has here. The Ultimate Riddle itself is, “What Will You Do?” And the answer to it is, “Do What You Will.”

Do What You Will isn’t just the inscription on AURYN, it’s also an extremely old phrase intended for spiritual enlightenment, historically first formulated by Saint Augustine in his Sermon On Love, where he puts it thusly, “Love, and Do What You Will.” The Love that Augustine is talking about is not Romantic Love or even familial love, but Universal Unconditional Love - goodwill toward everyone and everything, to have one’s Heart’s Desire be that everyone should flourish and be happy.

Another formulation, the Wiccan Rede is, “An It Harm None, Do What Ye Will,” perhaps a more detached, declaration. In either case, the Will here is not talking about merely chasing simple wants, but an invitation to follow one’s true will, not to respond to simple passions, but to take voluntary action in accordance with who one is as a person.

https://homestuck.com/story/1905

threatening.............

https://homestuck.com/story/1922

Jake Harley begins a life of serial abandonment.

https://homestuck.com/story/1930

I really should have brought this up first when Rose and Davesprite went back into time, but this is about the time Homestuck starts to get lousy with all kinds of alternate selves, Dream Selves, Doomed Selves, and so on and so on, and from a narrative frame of reference, they’re actually all literally the same guy - the actions of one version of a character inform us about all versions of that character.

More on that later.

https://homestuck.com/story/1931

More Roleplaying. John has a wild imagine spot.

https://homestuck.com/story/1934

Dave stares at the blood on his hands, and contemplates his death for a long time.

https://homestuck.com/story/1936

Some immediate foreshadowing in here. Jade, I’m pretty sure, is one of the few people in Tavros’ life who shows him some genuine unconditional friendliness, so it’s no wonder that he latches onto her.

The way he does is still pretty creepy though.

https://homestuck.com/story/1940

As long as I’m mostly focusing on the emotional dimension of Homestuck, the two major emotional beats in this Flash are the Sovereign Slayer slaughtering WV’s army, revealing the source of his self-loathing and trauma, and the death of Jade’s Dream Self.

The death of her Dream Self is not nearly the beginning of Jade’s Trauma Conga Line, but it’s definitely the first in the chain of events that leads her to finally snap out of her learned helplessness and blind optimism, and to start taking her fate into her own hands. She’s been so sure of her destiny up to this point, and now things are finally starting to get out of hand.

Also, I choose to believe that the bizarre Squiddles interlude is the first moment that the Dark Gods make contact with Jade’s psyche. They know she’s about to die, and they’re starting to communicate with her.

Anyway, that’s all for today.

Yesterday’s cough turned out to be post-viral infection, since I had Covid the week of the 11th, so for now this is Cam signing off, Medicated, and Not Alone.

[builder051]

The comment in your one fic referencing “school shooter” is incredibly distasteful, ignorant, and insensitive given what just happened in Usvale. There’s a million and one ways to characterize someone and paint the picture of who this character is/ how they’re viewed, and yet you chose “school shooter”. You are a very talented writer and you seem like a good person, this is very disappointing to see.

Ignorant, hm, ok. Different folks are better versed in different things, and name-calling is not really ok, in any circumstances.

I do think I was assuming everyone would be looking at things from my perspective, which is probably buried in medical textbooks and mobility equipment right now. I freely admit that that's not where everyone else is, and I know it. My fault. I'm sorry.

While I also admit that I am very much removed from the news cycle (though I read CNN headlines on the daily), I don't believe we're seeing things eye to eye, on a broader scale.

I apologize that was offensive. I have used that turn of phrase to describe James at that age before, and my thought was of harkening back to my previous usage, absolutely not to make a comparison to something upsetting in today's news.

I'm going to take a step back and explain myself. Hopefully it helps.

I see James as a high schooler not quite as a budding adult and certainly not as a child, but as something else all together. Growing in breadth and muscle before getting the height. Verging on that satanic-panic look, with the pants and the hair and the band shirts with the flannel and the headphones whilst riding the bicycle...

"X x chic" is a term, perhaps on the more urban dictionary end of things, which encompases the discription I've just made above. It is, more or less, the physical description/visual profiling school administrators use when picking students they think need to be "watched" because they are "troublesome" or have propensity to be "bad."

In the setting of that part of the story (a flashback to the 90s), folks would be up in arms about Columbine, which is the event that gave birth to these misconceptions, the senior superlative of the "Eugine," etc. This is, again, a terrible way to phrase things, and I do apologize, but there hadn't been occurrences outside the "classic" school shooting, wherein students attending the school used weapons to terrorize the other students, teachers, and staff inside the school building.

Shootings from outsiders entering schools hadn't happened yet. Targeting elementary-age students hadn't happened yet, either.

The main takeaways from 90s-era school shootings were mental health profiling and improved indoor camera surveillance. Yes, this was also the time of the introduction of "duck and cover" and "lock-in" drills (many schools didn't identify what the 'disaster' was that the students were hiding from when rolling the info out to the masses, via PA system or otherwise). However, the larger conversations about kids and guns and school safety and police officers in schools and arm-the-teachers and changing legislation and all that stuff--- it didn't happen until well into the 2000s and 2010s.

So, I am truly sorry if my words have upset you or confused you. I am not making a comparison to a horrible event in recent news. I, too, am appalled that such a tragedy happened and that there is not legislation to prevent these awful happenings.

Just to be clear again, I was referring to a past event wherein school administrators used stereotypes to judge students for possible violent mental states by their clothing and hairstyles. I was not referring to recent news or any happenings involving individuals walking in off the street and harming small children.

[bi-sapphics]

the way we are treated by lesbians, straight women, and men of any sexuality is incomprehensible, even to us, and that doesn't even *mention* the fact that half the time it's not even just out of ignorance, it's *blatantly* out of malice with the intent to dehumanize and belittle minority victims for trying to be happy and live their lives peacefully. i applaud all the bisexuals who try their best to educate their fellow queer people who are being biphobic but inevitably get blocked, called out, and harassed en masse because these people know damn well what they're doing and don't want to educate themselves or be better about respecting and having solidarity with us. hell, this practically includes plenty pan people (though not all) of any gender, especially with the recent discourse on twitter where people are yet again insisting we’re just pan instead, as well as erasing bisexuals along with that. it's not even just a les/bi rivalry, we aren't supported by our other siblings who experience multi-gender attraction but don’t call themselves bi. WE ARE ALSO HATED BY OTHER BI PEOPLE BEING PICK-MES.

when we say we're on our fucking own, and truly cannot find safety with literally anyone in queer + trans spaces except like-minded bi people who actively combat biphobia until they wear themselves out and drop dead on the ground, we aren't exaggerating that in the least. we mean every single word and no less. this is exactly why i think bisexual activists, especially those who are bisexual feminists too, are such a huge inspiration to me; because they do fight until they burn out. they are verbally (or even physically, depending on the situation) beaten and abused on the daily, both by those who stay anonymous with no consequences, and those who know they can put a name to their hatred and violence because they can and will get away with it. we are rejected from places we belong or have a right to be in, and because of the bigotry we face daily, many of us often end up taking severe emotional damage to our psyches. some of us even give up and start taking and internalizing the abuse, which we don’t at all deserve, no one stands by our side when these things happen, and therefore we’re often powerless to hold anyone accountable. this is why we need more bisexuals who stand up against biphobia and don’t take no for an answer, as many as possible. it might be a useless attempt, but we are louder together and are at a point where we have to force others to acknowledge and listen to us.

i highly respect these authors, tumblr blogs, twitter users, etc. ─ even the ones i’ve had beef with or am blocked by ─ far more than a lot of other queer people. to be perfectly fucking honest, i value them above other modern LGTs who pretend to be online activists but aren't constantly under fire for every word they say or every opinion they have. they aren’t told they’re wrong regardless what they do or don’t. there was no effective movement led solely for the purpose of pushing them away for not being good enough. they may not always get the response or allyship they deserve, but they aren’t attacked and demonized just for being there in the first place since these walls were built and spaces created. they aren't disrespected so intensely for having not done anything that their own kind are always joking about them and mocking them, overtime to the point where they are not even taken seriously enough to be thought of with generic dignity when they identify themselves to lesbians and gay people. they aren’t ashamed to be honest about which queer subgroup they belong to with other queers because of all the assumptions that will be made without knowing anything of who they are or what they think. i don’t even just mean the stereotypes created by straight people that monosexual gays uphold, i also mean the harmful ideas said mono gays created about us too and how that forms our dynamic and (lack of) solidarity with each other. LGBT spaces are designed to band together in acceptance despite the deceptive lies from cishet people, but it defeats the entire purpose if the B can’t be included because of the deceptive lies from LGT people.

irdgaf if you have something to say about that in protest. bi activists, both online and in the real world, have real morality and know what they’re talking about. they respect people who respect us back since non-bi queer people can be hard to trust nowadays, and if you think they’re mean or oppressive for doing what they do then that sounds like a you problem that you need to unpack. i will always trust and support them first and they are my prioritized choice of people to follow and form circles with. until bisexuals can feel safer as we are and everyone surrounding us becomes less hostile, maybe that will change and we can be more diverse again. until that happens, you may very well get what you want, as i’ve seen some of these activists and thinkers suggest we lead our own bisexual separatism movement and label ourselves as our own minority unassociated with mono same-sex attracted people. if we don’t have any allies then there’s no point in pretending we do.

bi feminists and bi activists against any and all biphobia are so so so important to me and i just can’t explain it in full with the right words to honor them. i tried writing a whole essay post earlier but it just didn’t encapsulate my point well enough, so here’s another one that does. i’m not even kidding, with the shit i’ve experienced in the past year, bi women and bi sapphics are so incredibly brave and strong. you truly cannot understand the trauma, pain, frustration, and rage unless you are one. if you’re bi and you’ve ever faced controversy as a result of taking up the space you belong in and being your authentic self, or even claiming you have a right to do so and live your own cultural life (because you do!), then i am so fucking sorry and i hope you find the support network you need from other fighting bisexuals who really do want to protect and help you with no strings attached.