#why do cishet men ruin everything

[annamariedarkholmes]

fox x-men movies: [comicsgate stereotype voice] and so then poor put upon straight dude bobby drake leaves that evil bitch rogue for someone cute and fun and carefree… kitty pryde 😍🤓 who never says no and is not like other girls and will totally let me… i mean, him… touch her boob 😍🤓

comic-verse kitty pryde’s dreams:

[ribstongrowback]

something that radfems fail to understand about rape, is that it's a system

they'll tell you that they do, but if they did, they'd understand why trans women are much more likely to be on the receiving end of it than the other way around, and for this you just need to look at the way rape culture works.

look at bill clinton. look at dominique strauss khan. look at harvey weinstein.

everybody fucking knew.

everybody shut the fuck up.

god was in his bedroom and everything was normal. people understood on a fundamental level that these powerful men could do whatever they want, and whenever they were "exposed" people jumped to their defence because it was normal.

There is a system in place and it is meant to protect specifically white cishet male from repercussions when they commit rape.

specifically white, because POC men are seen as animals.

specifically cis, because trans men are seen as either dangerous butches or weak women who must be saved

specifically het, because gay men are seen as pedophiles

and specifically men, because women can't want sex

I'm focusing on men here, of course, because that's what radfems see us trans women as, so the way rape culture protects cis women from consequences when they do commit rape and the intricacies of that are beyond the scope of this post

what I'm getting at here is that trans women are exempt from this protection because there is nothing normal about a trans woman anywhere other than within a 100% transfem space. a trans woman is expected to be a rapist. if a trans woman rapes someone she is dead. if a trans woman is ever in a grey area situation with anyone she is dead. if a trans woman ever makes someone else uncomfortable she is dead.

trans women face scrutiny at every turn. men don't. men just get to rape people and escape the consequences. their friends will stick by them. the media will comiserate their ruined career while they get million dollar gigs talking about economics or whatever.

a trans woman will have to move back into her parents and into the closet, and die.

that is what sexism, on a political level, on a systemic level, looks like. if you fail to see that, you cannot hope to help any woman.

[postalignments]

Spreading this for my American followers! As an American myself, I know that things look hopeless, but we can get through this! If your education is limited, feel free to reach out to me for help with any math as long as it's algebra 1 or anything simpler than that (I'm still learning geometry). And I personally don't know much about the history they'll deem important to stop teaching, but I do know a lot of ancient history and mythology, so I can help with those on the chance that you need assistance.

Stay strong, everybody. It's in the Constitution (Amendment 22, section 1) that he can't serve any more terms after this. And to change the Constitution, you would need 2/3 of the Senate, 2/3 of the House, and at least 34 states to approve. Remember that out of over eleven thousand proposed changes to the Constitution, only 27 have passed this!

Study up on civics. Learn about your government. Find out why it works the way it does. Read the Constitution, it isn't that long. Know your rights. It'll be harder for them to violate our rights if we know we had those rights in the first place. These people thrive off the ignorance of the public. So don't be the ignorant public.

Learn to cook. Start biking or walking instead of driving if gas prices get too high, both to save yourself the expense and because we all know what excessive unnecessary driving does to the environment. Do everything you can to reduce your expenses if you must.

Women who think this will be needed, stock up on birth control and anything you can use for an abortion before Project 2025 bans it. Everyone, do research on Project 2025, as much as you can, find out how it will affect you and your loved ones (because unless you're a cishet middle or upper class white man, it will affect you), and take initiative to do as much as you can to prevent it in the time we have left.

We just need to push through for four more years. It sounds long, but trust me, it's not. Four more years, and we can attempt at fixing whatever he ruins. Hell, we can start now. Do whatever you can to fight this, and if we're relentless enough, they'll have to give in eventually. The one good thing about this country being run by old men is that as of 2021, the life expectancy for men in the U.S. is 73 years. They'll be gone soon. Let's outlive them so we can make a better America that will hopefully learn from its mistakes for once.

If by some miracle sweet potato Hitler doesn't win come the end of the week, this won't be necessary, but should he win here are some of the first things to be aware of or do.

If you know a trans person, no you don't. Respect them as best you can in private but you know nothing in public.

Be aware that TikTok will likely be banned, find new platforms to spread information. Fuck Twitter and what ever tiktok replacement he's working on.

Learn to Garden, even in winter so you can feed yourself should prices skyrocket

Get an air purifier. The Clean Air Act is likely to be stripped of its power with the EPA deregulated, air quality is going to suffer

Should you have kids, try to supplement history/social studies education. That's the first place they will attack, if you need help ask, history teacher will help

Try and do what you can to be aware of your health before January.

Help one another. That's the best way we can move forward and make change in the future.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

some threads woven together flawlessly. or fumbled with intently until it's like Look [holds out a cat's cradle] but no. it's good & real

smthing "i can't believe it's this Telling!" about Romance(tm) being multiple times hearing this sentiment like. "okay talking about relationships right. dating has always come easily to me / i've been lucky / i'm Good At romance: i was not single for more than 5 consecutive days from the autumn of '34 to Now. but it wasn't until my late twenties 90 yrs & dozens of Romantic partners into it that, for the first time ever: one of those relationships was actually like, good." and it's like damn i can't believe it's that Telling. that the remarks have this would be twist / punchline (not actually delivered as such. it's not unexpected to them?) that still gets framed thusly as being Successful in dating. spending eons with a bunch of people involved in bad relationships, but you weren't Not dating

also reminded in terms of [i don't really have any podcasts i'm listening to] like one i was like "hm i've heard some episodes. i'll put this one on in the background" then dropkicking it out the window like 10 min in b/c irrelevantly this Guest was like "real talk. ugh it's sooo cool to be poly nowadays 9_9 everyone has to be poly but i'm Naught into it!!! i guess i Feel too much. i want PASSION and DRAMA!!! this is just like how pop in the late '00s / '10s was all 'feminist' telling you to be independent sluts well i care about true LOVE" and like. i don't remember but i don't think they were a man, i'm quite surer they were queer, it was just so fucking lmfao like would you get thee fuck out of here. we actually don't live in "it's like it's illegal to be monogamous :(" world you're not Edgy now b/c you're insecure about what you see as "trendy" but don't Get / don't want in on. you're not going against the grain for being like "maybe i Do want to settle down with my soulmate" like great news that's normative. pick another queer group to Project on b/c they'd rupture your idea of the Bounds of queerness where you're like "ugh they're so mainstream & ruining it for us True queers disrupting the cishet agenda (arguing for queerness to be on The Terms Of said cishet agenda)" e.g. ohh the cishet agenda is pro asexuality!!! (it is not. even if it was? is the Queer Agenda for some people to have to deny their own sexuality & "have" to have sex a certain kind of way with certain people? up next "bi women: gender traitors, why not Choose to (have to) have only certain kinds of sex w/certain people :)" trans people gender traitors We decide what everyone's gender is, bit fucked up of you to be deciding your own huh, what Assumptions are you making you sicko?? you Have to identify / present xyz certain ways or you're failing to be the gender vanguard like we are) like what if the queer agenda was about everything we Can do. we Can have this sex w/these people sure, & we Can: Not do that w/them. like oh no what if cishet men were able to get their hands on the gay resources only when we recognize Aro/Ace identities can ppl Say "yeah i'm....hehe....Not cishet"? legitimate question Yeah What Then. oh no. god's wounds What If you can just say you're trans now & change your pronouns every day. like yeah let's let everyone do that. what if we all did. oh no lol. oh my god more people are talking about polyamory like they're allowed to talk about polyamory & if my monogamy isn't Assumed ""normal"" & i might feel like it's thus more in question?? well don't mind me as i get defensive by way of Derisive & start scoffing & spitting at the queers making the rest of us look bad but we're Really fighting the fight out here (doing what we were already doing but now feeling extra smug & self satisfied about it?)

like "ohh i have too much Emotion for that" like who said you didn't. why do you think polyamory involves less emotion or passion or desire or commitment or whatever. it sure doesn't posit it necessarily requires More either. it posits that it is not monogamy. & like christ Congratulations then. congratulations on having too much of a heart. that is then used to sneer & backbite like i forgot that this person on this damn podcast also brought this up b/c a friend or acquaintance who was poly made whatever kind of proposition & here they are on some podcast going Ugh & talking about how they have too much passion, despite years of top40 telling them, according to them, that feminism is sluttiness now (again this is. according to them. Groundbreaking circling back to bog standard misogyny) & isn't it so groundbreaking in turn if a woman were to sing love songs? imagine. you can have emotions & passion & drama taking the parking spot a stranger wanted. You could've brought the monogamy with a poly partner, when the Agenda for it is always distilled to Exclusivity, like, bring your own, huh? like your own Feelings & Passions & Commitment. but obviously it is the assumption that the poly partner is the Inadequate one there who would be causing any relationship to be Lacking. b/c they sure didn't frame it as some matter of fact Mismatch or else try to start being outright about how poly people are, like the bisexuals, these sluts (feminists!!) who are only giving you Part of themselves when you deserve All Access to your exclusive, locked in partner!!! & like good lord do you ever? with your Reliable kinsey endzones binary gender soulmate for life, do you?? locking them in what, why. excluding what, why. accessing all of what, why.

Romance(tm) being defined by Exclusivity defined by entitlement to as much of this other person as you want, to ensure that exclusivity: compare w/the boundless potential Threats or already Violations to thee proper romantic relationship. spending too much time with other people, sharing too much with them, getting too much support, feeling too much towards them, valuing them too much, to say nothing of what could be considered "intimacy," which then yeah sure includes "well no kissing or sex" but yknow again that does need to be a bound you even accept, monogamy style, & even if you do, that All Thee Rest of it can be attributed to "well you shouldn't be talking to them / having these friends / doing these other things b/c that's a slippery slope to Romance (kissing, sex)." that the exclusivity is so often inevitably defined by, when pushed to it, Exclusion, e.g. like if everyone i loved was held at gunpoint & it's like only One of them could be Not Shot baby it'd be you like tf is this scenario?? gee it'd suck if everyone else died but baby as long as it's not you like The Hell. that it's about Everyone Else being shut out & Less & Lacking & deprioritized thusly in specificass hypothetical winner take all tournaments of disposing of loved ones like what in the christ. & this being an Isolating logic like well that soulmate should be Enough. & the instruction like, yeah any & all feelings passions desires wishes wants needs hopes dreams? file that away under "to be fulfilled by the One True Romance." it'll fulfill Everything in your life!! if it doesn't umm cough must've been doing it wrong. turn your discontent into Passion. philosophically muse on how Fulfillment may have eluded you but maybe just maybe we all still come closest in struggling through a marriage for a few dozens of years & also perhaps parenthood! surely. and don't even think of considering if this cosmos of the nuclear household is not in fact the distilled essence of all that one's life can possibly contain

of course two people can have a long term intimate relationship w/each other exclusively & it not all necessarily play into some nuclear family cisheteropatriarchy agenda moment lmao, but this is just the same as like. yeah people Can exist in ways that some rando today could look at & deem "are they not cishet" but where this is also not of the cishet agenda(tm). b/c ppl Have to be cishet(tm). & Have to be finding their monogamous cishet lifelong spouse. & sure Have to Not do otherwise, so why Wouldn't there be the narrative that all passions & emotions & desires & wants & needs & chance of fulfillment is a matter of the domain of Romance(tm)? the idea like oh you enjoy talking with someone? Love. you're excited / interested / affectionate? Love. you're dtf? either Love or else held to be the other side of the same coin: marked Lack of love(tm). wild that Stimming in enthusiasm is used in this Romance framework lmao as like a recognized Normal nd moment. love the enthusiasm. you could be stimming even more, about more. you could be enthused even more, about more. you Could. you don't Have to, But You Could. you don't Have to be involved in a way you consider some degree of intimate enough to have a particular classification on that basis, but you Could. you don't want to? alright awesome how many versions of a person there can be on this earth. why would one want to define it as "having" to be monogamous though b/c you're Too Legit to be poly. Too Legit queer to respect asexuality. Too Legit trans to respect someone's gender expression/identity being a casual, dynamic, easy experience.

also always noticing like "oh right, another day's work giving Others' feelings legitimacy & priority, & not my own" back in college times when like a couple of times having to outright or gradually* deflect acquaintances whom i'd interacted with trying to go for the dating route. & then nominally having to presume that they are the uniquely burdened one here like oh way to go (did not do fuckall), what is more Legitimate than disappointment re: Romance right. except it's like now hang on i'm also the one going "i thought someone was interacting with me trying to be friendly :/" like lol, no. & as though then taking on this impossible unilateral responsibility to demur from seeming [i want to hang out & interact] interest now on the terms of both neurotypicality (also normative) & amatonormativity. & being like "??" like what would someone even have particularly strong feelings about when i prommy i did not yet feel comfortable bringing even like most of the range of my personality, or comfortable in general w/what i Did bring, what's the basis of this lol. making up a guy. & like we are all performing we are all perceiving & interpreting without a direct channel into someone else's interiority. but like where's Any genuine intimacy leading into this lol? like still a No even if so but at least it'd be less perplexing. & if there isn't even expected to be any then also still No. tf was this one guy trying to start shit over buying textbooks & by start shit i mean keep trying to talk to me when crossing paths on (community college!) campus until i'm like no i don't wanna go to a movie b/c i don't really know you from adam, & he's like "well isn't that the point of dating, to get to know each other" like No this isn't cishet amatonormative marriage speedrun "i'm so good at dating i wasn't single for 93 years! each relationship was shit btw!" central get out of here. luckily he did. rando guys in public & semi public barely count yet also fully count

another thing that's different but the same is it's kind of jarring like another thing you Can do but it rankles within me like i hope to just like. someone being like framed as Superlative Exceptional....like great lmao such a broad thing & common thing & i am fully aware like "Uh Oh Eesh when i am imagining it applied to Me. i do not like it" like how we are [it takes all kinds]ing and [no accounting for taste]ing & all these things we sure Can do. but i do tie it to just like. arguing for people's worth as A Thing on this bitch of an earth where some people get to see others' lives as less than theirs & the supposed cure for this appealing on Merit. where even the Personal, Individual protection against this is "well, just find the one person who is like 'you're Everything & btw i'd drop dead without you like what would be the point of Anything'" like now what tf is reassuring about that lmao....this Other audio experience i forgot where i was already just not that interested but it grated hearing someone assure us that like oh this person's webpage is so Intriguing i Have to talk to this person. another thing much more formal & established being this ode to someone being like So undeniably extraordinary & incredible & superlative etc, like, lovely ode to someone, but i do reflect like eesh i just really do not want that. no ironic "xyz would've hated this!!" like just do not. i'm so Not about merit(tm). i'm so not about anyone Needing to be considered superlative or extraordinary by even One other person. so not about rising Above anyone else as the evidence of worth. so not about praising anyone by assuring people they're Not "Just" [another xyz. a victim. passive. content to abc.]....so not about being stuck in isolation with the immediate Family as one's only support (against The Family: as like. a political deal) until the only other way to exist is to escape, &/or be pushed into, the marriage, aka thee romance (against Romance: also a political deal)

where in romance(tm) is there Not this narrative about how you'd better find all the support & fulfillment you need in your whole self & life & being in This. where is there not "ideally" isolation. where is there not exclusivity as the definition. with this also ofc assuming the "correct" monogamous approach. & the cisheteropatriarchy. like yeah sure people Can do xyz that would resemble like ah the cishet lifelong monogamous partnership, & Not be of that agenda. like there Can be ppl who would be perceived cishet by someone to whom "cishet" has any meaning but like, without that agenda. we had & can have all our phenotypes without the concepts of white supremacy / antiblackness around which to categorize "race," we have all our bodies w/o there necessarily, inevitably being ableism. & in the meantime against the [we Have to xyz] & the Normative & the assertion of "merited" deservingness & the isolating & authoritarian & controlling & extractive & prescriptive & limiting, & plenty of other things....polyamory like supposed "opposite" of aromanticism but it's peak harmonious when like, it is also very much outside how romance is "supposed" to be, to the extent of like ohh it doesn't count b/c it is so uncontained by any Definitions. ohh i could never be polyamorous b/c they're Diluting themselves (there's the Isolating & Exclusivity definitions....the Most romantic relationship? baby idgaf if everyone else in my life died. you wouldn't either re: all your loved ones, right. why are you talking to them again. or hanging out with them again. or saying Love to them again or changing your plans for them or listening to them or etc etc. & of course you couldn't kiss anyone else, why Wouldn't this relationship crumble away if that weren't the case??? lol) like okay you're not polyamorous, that others Are is good for you. ppl being trans is good for cis people; no genders as constraining classes. ppl being ace is good for allo people; no compulsory sexuality. people being bi is good for everyone; same. etc etc etc. that They can exist as themselves unhindered = you can; that they can't, you can't. you're not Too Good to be them; acting/doing Better than someone else is acting/doing is like, about choices lol. versus [oh it's not even a choice i Couldn't be poly....b/c i'm too good for that] like. now what does this do for anyone exactly. but make you feel more secure through feeling superior b/c you're hearing more often more casually more proximately about different choices people are making for themselves

anyways surfacing from [my god. writing a post now] & i would like to emphasize "aromantic sure but & also anti-romance i mean it. like politically" & "lovelessness let's gooo. politically as well like can we Not with the affective-centric"

[lovestrucklaundry]

...

[cinna-wanroll]

On Homophobia Surrounding Queer Obi-Wan

Queer people get asked to settle or let things go so often that it baffles me. As a genderqueer, bisexual, and gray romantic person, my experiences get invalidated or criticized daily. It is exhausting. I feel that queer people are often pushed into scenarios where they have to prove who they are, but not too much, lest you cause discomfort to some cishet people who may be sensitive to "that sort of thing." Queer characters and expressions are, unfortunately, no different. 

What's my point? My point is that I should not be up at 3 am, my stomach turning, because of something I knew was bound to happen. As soon as I read that Obi-Wan's identity was going to be elaborated upon in Padawan, I expected the incessant whinings. I expected the shocked, ridiculously wounded alpha-male routine. And yet, as @sunflowersinheaven 's post: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/sunflowersinheaven/691110776621219840?source=share crossed my dashboard, I began to spiral. At first, sure, it was vaguely amusing. Then, it became sickening.

Still, I have a few things I would like to address:

This is not new. Obi-Wan was referenced as bisexual in the Revenge of the Sith novelization. Those claiming that this is to fulfill Disney’s queer agenda need to admit to the fact they didn’t know everything prior to this now, and if they have such a problem with it, then why not call out Lucasfilm too? They aren’t trying to preserve representation that is marginally accurate, they’re being a bigoted assholes. 

People saying this "doesn't prove Obi-Wan is queer" are fooling themselves. No, it's not pushing lgbtq+ identity(s) onto him just because he's around queer people. Obi-Wan uses gender-neutral language when expressing attraction, and he even addresses the fact that he generally finds the group of people he's with attractive. Obi-Wan says that he may want to kiss ALL of the people he's surrounded by, except for a character who uses she/her pronouns. Hmm. That does not sound super heterosexual to me. As a side note, for those who read this more in an a-spec interpretation, I am approaching this from an opinion that Obi-Wan experiences sexual attraction. I read this as Obi-Wan being confident that he finds people attractive but unsure whether he wants to act on that attraction. Therefore, somewhere in that bi umbrella is where I see his identity. At Obi-Wan's age (now, obviously, everyone's experiences with attraction are different and equally valid), I was sure I liked many genders. Now, what I wasn't so sure of was my romantic or sexual attraction toward them. Writing a character uncertain about their identity does not invalidate their current feelings. Sexuality and attraction (romantic and non) are fluid. And Obi-Wan being young is not an excuse to use homophobic/invalidating rhetoric to try to flip around on queer Obi-Wan supporters. 

People who blame the author for "ruining Obi-Wan's character," need to do some serious self-reflection. Why does a character being queer ruin their character for you? That is astoundingly ridiculous to me, especially coming from a group of people who so often express the opinion, "Oh, well 'gay people' always make their sexuality their entire personality," and various other bullshit. Really? And yet, you can't seem to overlook a character's sexuality, which ruins everything they are to you. Some of these people are the same ones who were creaming themselves over the Kenobi show, TCW, etc. Which, I mean, hey! Kenobi has been my favorite man since I was five. I get it! And yet, I'm still a fan, unlike the manchildren wailing about the fact that Obi-Wan likes men. Sad. Now, if they're claiming that Obi-Wan being anxious and emotional in the book ruined his character... leave your fragile masculinity at the door and remember what it was like to be a teenager for fucking once. I only say "teenager" in this circumstance not because I feel adults can't feel this way (I am an emotional, anxious WRECK y’all), but because these are not traits Obi-Wan keeps into adulthood. 

People who say this is either trying to invalidate his relationship with Satine or can't be true because of his relationship with Satine need to shut up. If you know my blog, you know I am a day one Obitine stan. What I refuse to engage in is bigotry based on my personal ship preference. (Although I am a multishipper). Select members of the Obitine fandom; do better.

To the people complaining: Please stop. I am tired, and people on the internet need to work on their goddamn (not so critical) thinking skills. If you don't want to accept part of a character, examine why. Your prejudice and weak claims that this is only to feed the "woke agenda" are rooted in misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, and I hope I never have to meet any of these people in real life. 

[edelegs]

a very unfocused analysis on why edelgard stans are mostly lgbt

I am constantly thinking about how Edelgard just doesn’t seem designed to appeal to cishet men. Like the joke is that Bleagles is the Gay House, but everything about her feels deliberately non-hetero. She’s dressed in sharp outfits covering her upper body, with proportions that don’t seem exaggerated. Her poise and the way she effortlessly flourishes her axe exhibits an air of coolness. While titties out =/= character of no substance, Edelgard being dressed more modestly suggests that she wasn’t designed with male-centred fanservice in mind. And she still looks absolutely stunning in her more modest attire (like seriously, I haven’t felt the need to return to cosplay in years but I want to do her academy look so bad). 

Edelgard is intense. She does not mince her words and she is constantly evaluating you. Though she tries, she has a difficult time understanding her peers initially. Early on, she talks about how she would sacrifice herself and others in the name of some greater good. She is terrible at communicating with her peers. She has to be seen as infallible. Her heart has been hardened for years and she assumes she has to stay that way. She also assumes everyone mourns the same way she does - which is why she (kind of insensitively) insists you move on when Jeralt dies. Because to her, grief has to be channeled towards action, or else you’ll get lost in it. This attitude is demonstrated time and time again as she presses on. It can make her come off as cold and unfeeling - but look closer, and she’s anything but. Her story is ultimately about her realizing that to achieve her goals, she needs to let people in and allow herself to want things like cakes and tea parties and lazy days in peace. The game leaves the player guessing as to how involved the Flame Emperor was in each Part I event, makes you feel hurt by her betrayal, and leaves you with a choice: do you follow the orders of the woman who tried to make you a god without your consent, or a young girl with questionable morals about to throw the world into upheaval?

Choosing her of your own volition (not for completionist reasons) requires the basic ability to sympathize with a woman’s pain. It also requires the player to read beyond her unwavering will and dubious methods to get a sense of how deep that pain goes and how the theme of humanity relates to her differently in each route. The player must be able to see a young woman’s desperate resolve to change the world so it stops exploiting people and ruining lives. They must be able to accept the fact that women can make the same morally wrong and ambivalent decisions that complicated male characters get to make all the time and still be the one to root for. This is not unique to LGBT+ people, but this population is likely to understand why Edelgard feels so strongly about why she has to change the system. 

I don’t think “Edelgard gets undue criticism because she’s a woman” captures the full picture. An important aspect of her treatment by certain parts of the fandom is that she’s a radical woman. Her hatred of the Church and the Crest system resonates way harder with people who have been hurt by institutions that are deeply engrained in our society. Siding with her means siding against the Church - which, while different from real world religious institutions, still invokes language about “sin” and “punishment. Choosing Edelgard will likely hit different if homophobic and transphobic Christians used that rhetoric against you. I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that the reason F/F Edeleth is the more popular iteration of that ship because most people who would choose to S-support Edelgard are LGBT+ themselves. This is not a revelation. To anyone in the community, it’s fairly obvious. 

Crimson Flower was my first route. I went into the game knowing absolutely nothing. I played it during the last week of 2020 and hoo boy was it cathartic. I felt like I was living out a gay revolution power fantasy, where I could truly change systems of oppression while fighting alongside a group of troubled students I’d shaped the lives of. Through your unwavering support, Edelgard learns that she needs to be human, that she must listen to her friends, and that she’s allowed to enjoy the world she’s creating. I love this character so much. It has been six months since I first played and I am still analyzing her, because there’s so much depth. Yet so many people fail to see that depth and dismiss her as evil, because they never had the will to understand complicated women in the first place. 

[panlyv]

Things don't have to have substance, bunch of straight shit has no substance and is still entertaining at the very least. BL should be allowed have masterpieces and... the direct opposite. Not everything has to be a work of art and it's fine for it to not be.

Not sure what the context for you hating KP is (I don't follow you and this showed up in the KP tag), but the actors can actually act and have great onscreen chemistry and that's why I personally enjoyed the show despite the flaws it has in addition to the Meta the fandom produced and the engagement the creative team allowed for the audience to have.

Can't say most of BL shows produced and their team + fandom can come up with the things the KP fandom has or had put in the effort/complexity the KP creative team has.

Most BLs have the most mediocre actors paired with the most lackluster scripts so, at least for me, it was a gem. Also, I'd been waiting for it for 2 years before it came out. *shrugs* It was different, it was mature, it stepped out of the university setting I was so mind numbingly tired of.

Sorry fandom ruined it for you. It was, for me, one of the most engaging fandoms since ITSAY and Not Me and for that, I personally liked it despite its various shortcomings.

hi anon! first of all! my main problem isn't that kp doesn't have substance per se. i agree wholeheartedly that bls should have amazing, complex, mind blowing shows but also allow room for more silly and turn-your-brain-off kinda series and everything in between. we as queer people deserve the same range of shows and reps as cishets get in their own television, but my issue with kp is that people keep acting like it was a revolutionary show. it was not! it could've been, for sure. i expected it to be, and i'll be honest and say i was completely let down by the end result because i, too, waited over 2 years for it to come out, i was really excited because i adore apo and the premise of the story seemed fantastic, but alas, amidst all the troubles this production went through, the final product did not survive and we ended up with a show much different from that very first 9 minute "teaser" that made us all enthralled in what apo and mile could offer.

to me, kp had so much potential to be a great, thought-provoking, mature show that completely deviated from everything we've been used to in thai bls, but what came of it was a contradictory plot with many many plotholes and characters that didn't make sense or added anything to the story. apo is a good actor, and so is mile, but none were phenomenal or oscar worthy as some of you try to make them out to be, and the rest of the cast was mediocre. the production crew had many issues too and the vp actors are two shitbags im not gonna waste my time on.

like. fine!!!! you can enjoy kp i don't mind!!!! just please stop putting it on this pedestal as if it was the best thing in the world. be realistic pls. it *is* exciting that it offered something totally new to the thai bl scene, yes, but that by itself doesn't grant it a gold star. the show *was* lackluster and we all know it could've been so much better had they followed that original teaser. or, hell, focused more on the actual story than on those saturated sex scenes.

as for the fandom. well. i have a lot of bones to pick with like 90% of the people who engage with kp content, but i do admit some beautiful fan work came out of it that deserves praise. but overall, a very much braindead fandom by the stuff i've come across. again, it's not like there was a lot to work with considering the changes they made to the plot (like the house porsche and his brother live in, which does not add up to the situation they are living in, when in the original teaser they lived in a very small apartment.) and most of the show was just a display of hot men that i was personally not interest in, but the lack of critical thinking and the will to overlook serious problems and situations for the sake of finding actors attractive was honestly baffling. when kinn >sexually assaulted< a drugged porsche, people thought it was cute. when vegas drugged porsche and attempted rape, he was a little meow meow. when vegas, again, kept being completely awful and disgusting with porsche and then proceeded to torture pete, it was a love story. when accusations came out that pete's actor had done terrible things, no one gave a shit because y'all are much more interested in seeing men fuck than in the wellbeing of those who he hurt. like wake the fuck up, what's wrong with you all? shows are allowed to be complex and problematic, my complaint is not that. i don't care that vegas is vile and that kinn is flawed, but i do care about how you people willingly excused their behaviours for vanity. i swear petev3gas girlies are the most repulsive people i've ever seen and i hate each and every one of them with a burning passion. it's fucking hilarious actually how many maaaaany of them are all very anti-th4rntype and m3w and "sexual violence is terrible!!!!" but were so very quick to turn the blindest of eyes to the countless awful things vegas did and have the fucking gall to root for petev3gas.

anyways. like kp if you want, but i'm sick and fucking tired of y'all holding the show to this high standard when many others are far better and more cohesive, with a much better message, characters and storylines. please develop some critical thinking skills that tiktok and twitter probably sucked out of your brains and learn to accept that not everything you like is a masterpiece and that's okay.

[lochnessies]

ok here’s a dissection of a post an anon sent me the link to and bc i have the worst time management possible and i completely forgot i had it lol so sorry anon here you go ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I am constantly thinking about how Edelgard just doesn’t seem designed to appeal to cishet men.

i hate to be the one to break this news to you op but just because a character doesn’t show skin like charlotte fire emblem doesn’t mean she isn’t designed to pander to men. she’s very much designed to pander to the (majority straight male) player base with her ‘uwu i only trust you professor omg did u see that rat? pls don’t look at my painting of you uwu’.

then there’s the whole edelgard c support in japanese where byleth makes reference to having come to her room for ‘yobi’ which is

there’s also the scene where byleth can make an unsolicited comment about edelgard’s breast size. which is… uhh… gross.

edelgard also has cipher cards that go from slightly fanserviceie to full on suggestive

and also her breast armor that my sister relentlessly mocked lol

and here’s a chart from the 3h subreddit about gender/sexually in regards to edelgard and edeleth. it’s extremely straight male. op might have just overlooked this since they probably don’t go on reddit and stay on tumblr (which unlike reddit is mostly female and has a high lgbt demographic).

Like the joke is that Bleagles is the Gay House, but everything about her feels deliberately non-hetero.

i don’t like where this is going…

She’s dressed in sharp outfits covering her upper body, with proportions that don’t seem exaggerated.

so women who cover up must be lgbt because straight women are naturally more revealing? oh y i k e s

Her poise and the way she effortlessly flourishes her axe exhibits an air of coolness. While titties out =/= character of no substance, Edelgard being dressed more modestly suggests that she wasn’t designed with male-centred fanservice in mind.

“titties don’t equal no substance but here’s my post on how she has more substance because she doesn’t show titties” ok

And she still looks absolutely stunning in her more modest attire (like seriously, I haven’t felt the need to return to cosplay in years but I want to do her academy look so bad). 

yes she does. amazing design 10/10. i have a feeling this is the only part i’m going to agree with

Edelgard is intense. She does not mince her words and she is constantly evaluating you. Though she tries, she has a difficult time understanding her peers initially. Early on, she talks about how she would sacrifice herself and others in the name of some greater good. She is terrible at communicating with her peers. She has to be seen as infallible. Her heart has been hardened for years and she assumes she has to stay that way. She also assumes everyone mourns the same way she does - which is why she (kind of insensitively) insists you move on when Jeralt dies. Because to her, grief has to be channeled towards action, or else you’ll get lost in it. This attitude is demonstrated time and time again as she presses on. It can make her come off as cold and unfeeling - but look closer, and she’s anything but.

don’t really have anything to say at this part. it is pretty on the nose though i would slightly disagree with that last sentence a bit. i wouldn’t say she’s as i feeling as hubert is but all of her talks of the war boil down to how she feels and never her victims.

Her story is ultimately about her realizing that to achieve her goals, she needs to let people in and allow herself to want things like cakes and tea parties and lazy days in peace. 

????? what ????? her goals include imperialism, ethnic and religious targeting. her story is about having a set of beliefs and mowing down anybody who stands in her way. that has nothing to do with tea, friends, and lazy days. also am i supposed to be sad that she has to get up everyday and work? i do that and i didn’t start a war and only throw a pity party for myself

The game leaves the player guessing as to how involved the Flame Emperor was in each Part I event, makes you feel hurt by her betrayal, and leaves you with a choice: do you follow the orders of the woman who tried to make you a god without your consent, or a young girl with questionable morals about to throw the world into upheaval?

this isn’t an ideal situation but i think i’m going to stick with the woman who tried to make me a god since i’m not selfish and i know it’s not only my desires and life at stake here. plus the green hair slaps ngl

Choosing her of your own volition (not for completionist reasons) requires the basic ability to sympathize with a woman’s pain. It also requires the player to read beyond her unwavering will and dubious methods to get a sense of how deep that pain goes and how the theme of humanity relates to her differently in each route.

i’m not going to touch this since @nilsh13 made a post on it that i’ll link here. i agree with everything he said so to repeat it would be redundant.

The player must be able to see a young woman’s desperate resolve to change the world so it stops exploiting people and ruining lives. They must be able to accept the fact that women can make the same morally wrong and ambivalent decisions that complicated male characters get to make all the time and still be the one to root for.

literally the same reason i love rhea lol her goddess experiments are dubious at best but her reasons are the same you mentioned. i would say that i like this quality in edelgard too if her ending, while bloody, actually ended in a good outcome for fodlan.

This is not unique to LGBT+ people, but this population is likely to understand why Edelgard feels so strongly about why she has to change the system. 

i understand wanting to change a system, i really do. like edelgard, i’m an opinionated bisexual woman (who’s also physically disabled) so yeah i get it. and change can be good but it can also be terrible. even if the church was the boogeyman edelgard treats it as she still replaces it with her own shit regime. so it’s the same circus just with a new conductor.

I don’t think “Edelgard gets undue criticism because she’s a woman” captures the full picture. An important aspect of her treatment by certain parts of the fandom is that she’s a radical woman.

or maybe she does some pretty fucked up shit and it goes unacknowledged in her own route. and yeah she’s radical but in all the worst ways.

Her hatred of the Church and the Crest system resonates way harder with people who have been hurt by institutions that are deeply engrained in our society. 

and what about people who have been hurt by systems where their ‘merit’ didn’t measure up and they were left behind? what about people from nations that experienced imperialism?

Siding with her means siding against the Church - which, while different from real world religious institutions, still invokes language about “sin” and “punishment.

yeah the ‘sins’ and ‘punishments’ are used in relation to attempted murders which i think everybody can agree is a bad thing that needs to be condemned.

Choosing Edelgard will likely hit different if homophobic and transphobic Christians used that rhetoric against you.

it has literally nothing to do with ‘sins’ and ‘punishments’ in regards to being gay or trans. that’s you projecting. especially since the church has 2 canon gay characters and two coded ones.

like i can understand why having a church condemn you can be uncomfortable but i’m begging you to please look at the context of what’s happening.

I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that the reason F/F Edeleth is the more popular iteration of that ship because most people who would choose to S-support Edelgard are LGBT+ themselves. This is not a revelation. To anyone in the community, it’s fairly obvious. 

i was talking to nilish and he said

so yeah… while there is definitely sapphic femleth shippers out there, there’s still a whole lot of weird fetishizing going on from straight men about edelgard.

Crimson Flower was my first route. I went into the game knowing absolutely nothing. I played it during the last week of 2020 and hoo boy was it cathartic. 

i can tell. this wasn’t supposed to be a dig but it came out that way and i’m not taking it out.

I felt like I was living out a gay revolution power fantasy, where I could truly change systems of oppression while fighting alongside a group of troubled students I’d shaped the lives of.

so a gay revolution power fantasy (cringe) goes hand in hand with imperialism and installing a dictatorship? also the war had nothing to do with sexuality.

Through your unwavering support, Edelgard learns that she needs to be human, that she must listen to her friends, and that she’s allowed to enjoy the world she’s creating.

edelgard gets to learn how to be human all while hunting those who don’t. and she doesn’t listen fo her friends. she doesn’t even trust them. she’s willing to talk to byleth but keep the people who’s been by her side for five years in the dark about everything. and yeah she gets to enjoy her new words since she’s on top. hate to be a commoner under her rule after she burned down my village in her war.

I love this character so much.

clearly. and i honestly don’t care if somebody likes her. i do as well even if my sometimes scathing words can make it seem otherwise.

It has been six months since I first played and I am still analyzing her,

me too. please help me escape i’m losing my mind

because there’s so much depth. Yet so many people fail to see that depth and dismiss her as evil,

i mean, she does some fucked up shit that goes beyond any of the less than desirable actions of the other main characters and does an extremely poor job in trying to make herself seem innocent. i personally don’t think she’s pure evil but i completely understand where the people who say she is are coming from.

because they never had the will to understand complicated women in the first place. 

that’s big talk from somebody who implies that a gay pope is comparable to homophobic and transphobic irl religions and that leads an oppressive regime all because she uses the vague terms of sin and punishments that you have to gay power fantasy your way out of

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

I know at least some of you are men who date women and I have to ask, what is the thought process I how you conduct yourselves? I mean, honestly!

Talking to a guy online and I mentioned I have severe insomnia. He suggested masturbating or having sex.

First, what does he think is going to put me to sleep, an orgasm or semen? Because those two things frequently do not go together for women -- I mean they do for me, but he doesn't know that because he doesn't know me, so one assumes this is just advice he'd give to a woman.

Second, does he think I have somehow reached my late 30s with children having never noticed if an orgasm makes me sleepy? No, I've only had sex once and it was in early afternoon and then I got up and did dishes...

He told me not to take that the wrong way. I think incredibly offended is actually the right way, but I'm not sure if I'm offended by him trying to mansain insomnia or by the inappropriate nature of his suggestion. It's a toss up.

I said no, that does not help, because I wanted to see where he went with it.

He asked if I squirt because maybe that'd help.

...

Gentleman, has any woman ever asked you to measure how much cum you produce? If not, you should not ask her this question. That's the rule now, don't ask a woman about her bodily fluids until she asks about yours.

In a truly stellar moment, he goes on -- I'm not sure why, because I certainly did not encourage him with my complete and utter lack of response -- to tell me that a man's cum is the best treatment for depression...

Oh honey, no. There are so many things wrong with that idea. First, I never said I was depressed. Second, I promise you, semen is not magically absorbed through your cervix (because while he did not say it had to be applied vaginally, it was strongly implied) into your blood stream to be carried to your brain and your stomach to adjust your neurotransmitters. That is literally impossible. Second, suggesting that a woman has any use for your cum implies that you're going to skip a condom and that is not something you want to make people think when trying to pick them up as strangers, for a couple different reasons which should not require an explanation.

(My favorite, though, was him saying that this mystical power of cum was well known in Asia for centuries. Having an Asian husband, I can say that this is categorically NOT TRUE.)

He then asked for my number so we could text. And when I did not respond instantly, wanted to know if I was busy.

No, I just find you gross and creepy and want to wash my eyeballs out after reading that. I finally did respond to say that, albeit in a nicer fashion. (Not much nicer, but a pinch.)

This is only the most recent in a long list of inappropriate men.

There was a guy who told me he'd insist I find a job when I said I wasn't working. Excuse me? Followed by an immediate question of how I pay my bills. I cannot imagine how that would ever be anyone's business but mine unless I asked them to chip in. Not lewd but the control issues and invasion of privacy are still absolutely gross.

There was the guy who was asking me about my reading list. That seems safe and reasonable enough. Nope, he just wanted to judge my book choices and gatekeep whether I was a real fantasy fan. Thought I should be happy to have his approval. Sir, someone like you approving of any of my choices is actually the opposite of what I shoot for in life -- my aim is to piss off as many assholes as possible, I wake up asking "how can I ruin the most cishet white men's days today?" every single day.

Then there was the passive aggressive demand for a response guy. I dont think I even need to go in to detail.

Those are just the ones who annoyed me TODAY.

A guy messaged me about astrology, and because insomnia was the topic of the day, tried to fix it by suggesting melatonin. Not really offensive except for I said I had chronic severe insomnia that I had tried everything for and the man thought I was so goddamn stupid as to have not thought of that. If I tell you I have tried prescription sleep meds, you can be damn sure that yes, I have tried melatonin along with everything else because shrinks are fucking stingy with the good ones so you HAVE to have tried everything. He seemed sincere and was very engaged with a G rated conversation, so I'm gonna let that slide, though.

I'm not angry so much as confused. I just don't understand this behavior from men, because I do not remember the last guy I talked to who didn't cross so many blatant boundaries. These men are my age, so I know it's not a "kids today..." thing. Have you all lost all socialization skills from being in a pandemic and avoiding human contact for a year and a half? What's happening here?

It's not my profile because other than updating pictures (same type and quality of images), it has not changed. I thought maybe *I* had gone stir crazy and just lost all patience because I've been very reclusive since the clusterfuck over the summer, but I talked to my friends earlier and no, those conversations are the same, I'm precisely the same level of irritable.

If you have any explanation (I'm open to fucking crazy theories, btw), please let me know, because at this rate I'm kind of in despair how the human race while manage to continue procreating.

[sn0tcl0wn]

rant incoming (don't worry it's not me being mad, i'm just really hype about a book i'm rereading):

i'm genuinely shocked there's never been an uptick in interest in storm thief by chris wooding on this site. like of all places. it's a gothic dystopian YA novel with cyber and dieselpunk vibes with its main characters being a black disabled boy and a girl with chronic illness who live in the ghettos of a society that's built on greed and the bodies of people like them. there's a resistance and the fall of two civilisations. there's also a morally gray monster man. it's a book that's been living rent free in my mind since 2006. i'm currently rereading it as i do every so often and not only is it beautifully written and still holds up but the premise alone seems like the exact thing people would put on lists of diverse dystopian YA fiction or unique books for people who like dystopian fiction, steam/cyber/dieselpunk, gothic sci-fi, or eldritch horror. it has all of those aspects and i think a lot of people are missing out. it's also only one book and it's not too long meaning there's less commitment for people who don't want to read a whole series or start a series and never finish it (i hate doing that and yet i always do).

it's on my list of books i always wished there was an active fandom for because it's honestly one of the coolest fucking book i ever read growing up and much of the imagery it paints and it's story still inspire me to this day. it's at the top of my list of books i'd adapt if i had the chance and something i think people should give a shot. please read storm thief if you get a chance.

also kinda spoiler alert but also everything i'm saying next is either obvious early on (in a good story telling way, not lazy writing way) or straight up on the back of the book;

if y'all do read this book and i end up getting any messages from people whining about the cishetness of the characters i will scream because interracial friendship and love is just as revolutionary as trans and gay friendship and love. like the last time i suggested it to a group of people they complained about it "being basic YA" and "making the straight boy and girl fall in love" and to this day i'm still tight about that shit. like first of all it's obvious from the second they're introduced that they have little crushes on each other and their chemistry is really sweet and natural. it's a good m/f couple and one of the few genuinely sweet and healthy ones i read in YA fiction as a kid (ig you can argue codependency but they're just trying to keep the other one alive). second of all (and more importantly) until this book i had NEVER read a book with a black kid with dreadlocks from the ghetto being the hero of a sci-fi novel let alone being the dude on the cover AND getting the girl even though she's white. like ????? that was a Life Changing Experience for me and if you can't see why i really cannot trust you.

until i was 11 i only read about characters like me and the kids i grew up with in the hood in realistic fiction about being poor and black and sad all the time. this was the first teen novel i remember picking up about a black boy that didn't involve drive by shootings and the kind of racism i already saw and experienced every day. he was out there running from monsters and dodging eldritch storms while uncovering the ancient secrets of a chaos ridden society all while needing a respirator to breathe and wearing a dope gasmask fit. his name isn't some stereotypical "black" name, it's rail which is weird but i always thought that was cool as fuck. he's a character that if he wasn't described as "dark skinned and dreadlocked" in his intro, people would just up and assume he's white because you know why. his blackness is not his character, it's just a trait and he's treated like any other teenage orphan thief archetype only he's way fucking cooler because he has a gas mask and a dope ass artifact.

i will not tolerate any rail or rail/moa slander. he's a bad ass mother fucker and she's an equally bad ass secondary protag who's parents were rebels against the unjust political and economic powers at be and follow in their footsteps. she's also a very active participant in the story even though she could easily have been nothing more than a helpless damsel due to her waifish and sickly presence.

their friends to more arc is a part of the story's progression and their character growth, it is not the main plot point and i'm only spoiling that explicitly because if y'all really don't want to read a story with a m/f couple you can avoid this. but i will say that if you are among the shockingly common many who will straight up tune out when a guy and girl fall in love i really do think you have issues. like i get when it's forced in a really obnoxious way but a lot of y'all will read absolute garbage just because it's gay rep and then sleep on shit like this or other really cool books like hold me closer necromancer (completely different topic but i will rant about that next cause it's my next reread). it's sad to me y'all actively choose to miss out on cool shit because you apparently hate straight people so much that it will completely ruin something that's unique in every other way.

and again, highkey sick of people writing off m/f interracial couples as if the idea of black men being with white women isn't still demonized irl and rare in the media. this book was for kids, written in the mid 00s, and it managed to do what most mainstream media still rarely ever does.

[nightsh6de]

small killing eve rant

since season 3 of killing eve started, i’ve seen people all over twitter bitching and moaning about it. people who say that they’re fans of the show are actively shitting on this season. hey, i’m not saying you have to love everything about every show you watch. but y’all are seriously getting on my fucking nerves.

these people complain about the show more than they praise it; they whine that the “editing seems off” or that there’s “no purpose for the new characters & they’re soooo annoying”. if you weren’t just some rando on stan twitter, and actually a film/tv critic, i might listen to your complaints about the editing and casting. but you’re not critics, you’re just a fan. please know your place.

if you actually cared about anything more than villanelle/jodie (because she has some really wacky stans all of a sudden), you might be able to see that this season is absolutely fucking fantastic! we all sat through season 2, and i saw many people complain a LOT about that season. suzanne came in on the heels of an objectively mediocre season and has masterfully moved the plot and characters forward, giving them more development in four episodes than emerald gave them in eight.

the editing isn’t an issue. the plot and characters aren’t an issue. YOU are the issue. i can’t believe that people are seriously complaining about this season when we legit got a VILLANEVE KISS??? it makes me so furious to still see people whining when i’ve been here from the very beginning of this fandom & i’ve waited for villaneve since the beginning. twitter stans nearly ruined that moment for me too, and i’m still angry about that.

so please, don’t sit there and shit on a season that is funny, tension-filled, highly emotional, SUPER gay, and seems to be moving us closer and closer to villaneve (oh yeah, and that gave us a fucking kiss, if you don’t remember that). this season has taken us back to everything that was wonderful about season 1, while adding even more to it & giving us full-on villaneve canon along the way.

i can’t stress enough how important this show is, not only to me personally, but to so many other wonderful people i’ve met/know through this fandom. if you’re going to be a fan, make sure you at least respect the work done by both the cast and crew of the show. we get shit on enough by (mostly male) reviewers as it is; we don’t need people in the fandom to spread more negativity. this show is pushing boundaries and making the cishet men angry! we should be singing its praises from our rooftops!!

so, if you still want to complain, i kindly ask you to unfollow/block me. i want to enjoy this season just as much as we all enjoyed season one, and i can’t do that if i’m still seeing complaints from “fans”.

if you don’t agree with my view, there’s no need to attack. you feel free to do you, but i beg of you to reevaluate your place in this fandom: if you really aren’t enjoying the show at all this season, why are you still watching? if it’s not making you happy or excited anymore, why not do yourself a favor and just stop watching? that applies to all forms of media, not just killing eve.

i don’t get on tumblr that often, so i have no idea if this has been a problem on here, but if anyone wants to screenshot this and share it on twitter, i think it would have a bigger effect there. thank you for reading.

also, as i already know someone will try to come for me for a couple things i said above, let me make a few things clear: i absolutely adore each and every character (except for most of the men, they can fuck off lol), i love all of the cast and crew, and i have no hatred towards emerald or season 2. objectively, between season 1 and season 2, i think most will agree that overall, season two was much weaker. i’ve still seen it more than once, i still have several moments from that season that i adore, but it isn’t the best season of ke. that’s just my two cents there, and my view on the characters/cast & crew. please don’t accuse me of hating on anyone/anything from this show; i’ll just be forced to block you.

[a-queer-seminarian]

we are taught to interpret Esau’s trading of his birthright for a bowl of stew as impulsiveness, even (in Christian language) as a ‘weakness of the flesh.’ He chooses instant gratification over the farther off but far more valuable thing, and thus proves himself unworthy of his firstborn status and all it entails -- Abraham’s wealth and social power, but also Abraham’s relationship with God.

i don’t believe that.

Esau gave in to Jacob’s demand because he knew that Jacob would never have the means to compel Esau to make good on his word.

Jacob was physically weaker. Jacob was set to inherit the tiniest fragment of the wealth and resources that Esau would inherit. how on earth would Jacob ever wrest the birthright and the blessing he was owed from Esau?

Esau’s ‘crime’ here is less impulsiveness, and more a trust in the status quo. his world of patriarchy and primogeniture promised him his inheritance, whether he was a good man or bad, an honest man or a liar. he could tell his younger brother whatever Jacob wanted to hear, but down the road he could trust that their father would bestow the blessing on Esau anyway.

his reliance on the status quo is what allows Esau to hand over his birthright so easily -- because he knows that merely saying it’s Jacob’s now does not make it so.

Esau’s great failing is that he assumes that his culture’s will is God’s will.

the problem for Esau is that God does not play by human rules.

____________

in the Book of Genesis and throughout the rest of scripture, we see God working within the bounds of cultural assumptions and norms, rolling with the binary systems that human societies construct -- right up to the point where Xe doesn’t.

In The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, Jewish scholar Joy Ladin focuses on the elements of gender inherent to the system of primogeniture that places the firstborn Esau over the secondborn Jacob in every way. To her, biblical maleness comes in different “flavors” -- the roles expected of a firstborn son are different from those assigned to non-firstborn sons. She says,

“Jacob and Esau are both male and are born almost simultaneously, but they are assigned at birth to very different gender roles. Because Esau emerges from the womb first, he is considered the firstborn, heir not only to Isaac’s worldly possessions but also to the relationship with God that Isaac inherited from his father, Abraham. Though Jacob is born holding onto his brother’s heel, he is considered the second-born, expected to accept the authority of his older brother, who, after their father’s death, will be the head of the family. Like the gender binary, this law of inheritance, called ‘primogeniture,’ creates a lifelong, life-determining binary division between males who are and those who aren’t firstborn sons. And like the gender binary, primogeniture turns biology, in this case birth order, into destiny. The way male children are raised, the roles they are assigned, and the futures toward which they are steered are determined by whether they are or aren’t firstborn sons.” (p. 36)

Esau has grown up understanding that his inheritance is his destiny. It’s what he’s been born for, what he’s been raised for, what he is entitled to. Why would he believe that he would ever have to make good on his silly promise to Jacob to hand over that destiny? It’s set in stone, inviolable.

at least it is in the eyes of men. but not to God.

“If God were committed to the gender binary idea that people are unchangeably defined by the gender roles we are assigned at birth, then either Esau would have been destined to inherit Isaac’s relationship with God, or Jacob would have been born first. But as God reveals to Rebekah before the twins are born, God intends for the younger brother to usurp the elder, prenatally linking God’s blessing to trans experience. (Ladin, pp. 37-38)

in the ancient past and in the present day, countless roles get assigned to us as soon as -- or even before -- we exist the womb. biology is presumed destiny in so many ways: our gender, our race, the class and geopolitical location and family into which we are born, supposedly map out what our personalities will be, how our lives will go. and certainly these things do shape us, both by nature and nurture -- generational traumas come packed into our very cells, while our environment and how others treat us based on our assigned roles impact how we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

but even so, even so, biology is not destiny. especially not if God has any say in the matter.

for God is the great binary breaker, no respecter of persons or prejudices, unbeholden to the status quo. indeed, God almost seems to delight in upending our assumptions about who is blessed. secondborn sons and eunuchs, women and disabled persons, impoverished persons and disenfranchised peoples -- these are the ones whom God selects, again and again, to be recipients and agents of divine blessing. “blessed are the poor;” “the last shall be first.”

Esau assumes that biology, his status assigned based on birth order, is destiny. he does not fear his younger brother, who is rendered powerless by their culture to claim what he is promised in a moment of hunger. and probably this is safer for Jacob -- because when Esau does finally realize, too late, that Jacob is a real threat, Esau becomes murderously angry.

when Isaac is duped into giving Jacob his blessing after all, Jacob cannot stick around to claim the wealth and status that comes with it -- he must flee, or die under Esau’s hand.

i wonder if some of the violence we see in our time, and across every time and place, stems from the same kind of rage and fear that Esau experiences:

the rage of the ones who are raised to believe the world belongs to them, that they are entitled to certain blessings and privileges, only for the truth to pounce on them unexpectedly -- the shocking truth that biology is not destiny, that they are not inherently superior, that what they thought would be theirs without question might could be snatched from them after all.

the divine right to rule. manifest destiny. the ‘white man’s burden.’

white men who assume they are entitled to white women, so that the mere thought of a Black man winning a woman’s heart is enough to incite them to brutality.

white women who understand that the police are their personal body guards, to call down upon the bodies of Black adults and even Black children on a whim -- and are indignant in the rare circumstance that they are told otherwise.

men and white people who expect the best jobs and properties to go to them, so that anyone else advancing over them seems an appalling injustice.

cis women who perceive trans women as “invading their spaces;” cishet couples who think LGBTQ/queer couples ruin “the sanctity of marriage;” persons who are accustomed to being accommodated without even realizing it sneering at “safe spaces” and trigger warnings....

and on and on.

Esau had every reason to assume that his biology determined his destiny -- that he could make an impulsive promise, make a big mistake, and everything would still turn out in his favor. he was born into a world that told him so every day -- even that God sanctioned these human assumptions and systems. But God does not.

“God’s disruptions of gender in these stories make it clear that even the gender roles that matter most to human beings are not sacred to God. ...God in the Torah uses gender, but is not bound by it. On the one hand, God depends on gender to transmit the covenant across time and space, so that even after hundreds of generations, Jews will still see themselves as children of Abraham. On the other hand, God disrupts gender as a way of making God’s power and presence known. ...In these stories, faithfulness to gender has little to do with faithfulness to God. In fact, God counts on the fact that people are not bound by gender roles. The covenant with Abraham is founded on Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob’s embrace of trans experience: their willingness to live outside the gender roles they were born to and become the kinds of people they are not supposed to be.” (Ladin, pp. 57-58)

Faithfulness to human constructs has little to do with faithfulness to God. God blesses us when we can imagine beyond the narrative we are assigned -- as Jacob does in this story where he demands a birthright the world does not intend for him....and as Esau eventually does.

In Genesis 33, Esau catches up to Jacob after decades apart -- and Jacob expects violence. He sends gifts of livestock to Esau and conceals his most cherished family at the back of his huge household. But to his bewilderment, Esau is no longer murderously angry at having “lost” what he grew up assuming he was entitled to -- he rushes to his brother, throws his arms around Jacob’s neck, and weeps.

Esau was raised believing that he would own everything, and his brother nothing -- that Jacob would be one of many members of Esau’s household, subservient to him. But now, he does not even feel entitled to the livestock that Jacob offers him: “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what’s yours.”

Jacob is relieved by this unexpected reconciliation, exclaiming to Esau that “Seeing your face is like seeing God’s face, since you’ve accepted me so warmly!” He never expected Esau to accept what Jacob has known all along -- that biology is not destiny; that neither of them are bound to human constructs like birthright; that they can live a different way than the way prescribed to them, one in which both of them thrive.

___________

now, this story is by no means perfect. Jacob was able to imagine bigger for himself, to escape the destiny assigned to him -- but he does not imagine big enough. he does not use his new station to liberate others.

he becomes a patriarch -- assimilates into patriarchy and the power to own other human beings, to rule over every member of his household, rather than challenging the whole system that once oppressed him. i am reminded of trans persons, persons of color, women, who once they manage to acquire power for themselves never use it to help their fellow marginalized persons up. they land positions of power and use that power to oppress others as they were once oppressed, rather than using it to try to forge a new, better system for all.

Jacob the second-born becomes Jacob the patriarch. his household will be fraught with all the woes that come with this system that stifles all within it. his wives will hate each other and battle each other for what little power they can grasp. his sons will do the same, subjecting the younger Joseph to violence when, like Jacob, this little sibling dares to dream of being something greater than what his society assigns him.

what if Jacob could have imagined bigger? what if he had used his one fragment of shining clarity about how patriarchy and primogeniture stifled his true self to empower others, not only himself?

what if we could imagine bigger? what new and beautiful world could we build?

[remuswriting]

So, I’ve decided to write up this post about my pet peeves even though literally no one asked.  This focuses on a lot of things but the majority of it speaks about male readers.  I’ve noticed the majority of people who write male reader are cishet girls and while it’s great that more male reader content is being made, the content is not always the best when it comes to accuracy.  These are all things I’ve noticed as a gay man and I feel like should be addressed and fixed.

Something to keep in mind is that I say gay man throughout this but you can put in any sexuality or gender (besides cishet) in there that makes more sense for you.  Obviously mlm doesn’t mean gay men but gay relationship because man loves man.  Just wanted to put that disclaimer out there.

Submissive Reader

Okay, so the reader being submissive is totally cool and everything but not when it’s literally every single male reader post out there.  Now, submissive in this case isn’t just sexually but ‘personality’ as well. The media depicts a lot of gay men as very feminine and over the top or incredibly soft, which everyone says is submissive.  This idea feeds into heteronormativity, which means “denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation.” You could also just say that it’s forcing straight roles onto lgbt people, even though they’re not straight.

The reader doesn’t need to be all soft spoken and uwu just because you want the Haikyuu guy to be the dominant one in the relationship.  Personality doesn’t go with what you’re like in bed because why would it be?  Do girls always act like the way you’re writing submissive male readers just because they ‘bottom?’  No, they don’t.  It’s very aggravating to read because it literally discredits every guy who doesn’t act or dress that way and may ‘bottom.’  I know gay guys who literally just wear ratty t-shirts, cargo shorts, and sandals they bought three years ago and drink beer like no one’s business. They’re still gay submissive men who are being looked over because people want to use heteronormativity when it shouldn’t be.

  Over Sexualization + Fetishism

This is not always the case but I’m going to mention it.  A lot of cishet women read or watch yaoi and find it so incredibly hot and then become obsessed with mlm relationships.  If that is your reasoning for writing male reader, then don’t. It’s already disgusting enough that me being in a relationship with another man has gotten me messages asking who tops and who bottoms and what the sex is like.  It’s really easy to see who sees mlm relationships as yaoi and fetishizes it and who sees mlm relationships as relationships between two men.  There are blogs who are ran by gay men and them posting nsfw things dealing with mlm is completely different than a woman doing so. We are not your fetish.

Also, the over sexualization of gay men is when you’re always thinking about mlm couples having sex and you have to make everything sexual is starting to become more and more prevalent in any fandom and real life, which is disgusting and ridiculous. When a mlm couple goes to the store to get groceries, don’t find some way to make it where they’re going to have rough sex when they get home.  Let them buy their fucking groceries and have a fluffy moment.  You ruin the quality of the writing when making everything sexual.

If you write smut, then make them use lube and a condom.  Spit hurts so fucking bad, an asshole isn’t like a vagina that self-lubricates, so use lube.  I’m literally just saying that I don’t know any gay men that would rather have spit be used to prep instead of lube.  Also, I know you all think it’s so hot for guys to come in each other, but it’s so unsanitary.  Of course, if they’re each other’s firsts, it’s not as disgusting (still disgusting) but if they’re not each other firsts; have them wear condoms.  They should be getting tested after every sexual partner to make sure they’re not getting any STDs.  There are some STDs that literally never go away and they need to wear a condom any time they have sex or else they could infect that other person.  Yes, I know that you’re writing where they’ve never had sex with anyone before but let’s be real with some of your prompts.  Majority of men have sex in college and when they got to bars, so it’s not unlikely for them to not be a virgin.

  Sexualizing Minors

I know everyone has an opinion on this, so here’s mine; don’t.  I don’t give two shits if it’s fictional, you are still sexualizing minors. I don’t understand why you are all so dead set on only writing them in high school when there is literally a whole time skip to use.  According to Japanese law, you become an adult when you’re 20, which means that high school guys should not have any smut written for them.

None of the Haikyuu boys were even thinking about sex in high school.  The fandom has made some of them sex gods when they were all volleyball losers who only thought about school and volleyball.  It’s confirmed Kuroo was in college prep classes and he also forced Kenma to be on the volleyball team.  He only thinks about school and volleyball, sorry guys. Ushijima is literally only volleyball and it is so funny you guys think he’s all sexual.  The guy is too stupid to realize common things about earth and it’s gravity, do you really think he’s going to be all ‘daddy’ with anyone?

Another thing is how I don’t see the appeal for anyone to have sex in the gym or club room or in public due to the number of germs there are.  This goes back to people over sexualizing mlm relationships but there’s no need to have so many public sex things written about high schoolers. Instead of doing all that weird shit, write for the Haikyuu guys when they’re 20+ and do like college AUs (my favorite) or just follow the time skip.  I promise you, it’s not that hard when there’s a whole Haikyuu wiki page just about the timeline that breaks everything down into years and months.

 Americanization

Buckle your seatbelts boys because this is going to be a long one.

I notice in nearly everything I read is that you guys Americanize it.  Sure, you don’t know Japanese culture, so you write what you know. This is really annoying though because you’re taking away from the culture Haikyuu comes from.  If you want to make it like it’s in the United States, then make it an alternate universe instead of doing whatever you’re doing.

I have been writing Haikyuu fanfiction for years and have done plenty of research when it comes to Japanese culture from Googling things to intense reading to taking notes from what I notice in different animes.  One thing I’ve been working on for awhile focuses on Hinata, who is a trans guy. There are a lot of people who would just make it as American as possible but I’ve been researching about how Japan is with the lgbt community.  Just because I want to write a character to be something doesn’t mean I’m going to Americanize it.  Let me share what I’ve read.

Gay marriage isn’t really a thing in Japan.  Two prefectures have it but it literally means about nothing when it comes to the government.  If they just want to get married because they really love each other, then that may work for them but they will not be seen as married to the government.  It is still taboo for people to be gay in Japan, so no one really screams it from the rooftops that they’re gay and dating someone of the same gender.  Transgender people are just now getting places to go to get hormone replacement therapy and if I remember correctly, it’s maybe a handful of places but at least one for sure.  LGBT things in Japan are not the same as they are in the United States, so don’t write it like it is.  I’ve been told I’m writing it that way to create angst when in reality it’s because that’s how it is over there.

I’m going to come off as rude here but how the fuck are you guys writing their schools wrong?  They don’t go to different classrooms each period; they literally stay in one class all day and the teachers change for each period.  This is one of my biggest pet peeves because why do you have to Americanize this thing when it’s literally clear as day something that doesn’t happen over in Japan. Here are some things about Japanese schools.

They start at 8:45am and end at 3:15pm.  Schools in Japan go from Monday to Friday but used to be Monday through Saturday. There are three terms: April to July, September to December, and then finally January to March.  Each term gets a report card and finals.  Classes are 40 minutes long with 10 minute breaks in between to do whatever as long as you’re back in your seat before the next class. Elementary and middle schools always had some type of field trip, so if you could always have reader meet one of the boys on the field trip because maybe both of their schools went to the same place.

It’s not that hard to look this stuff up.  To look all of that up, it took maybe 30 minutes because I was checking different sources to try to fact check somethings.  I’m just one for accuracy and it drives me nuts when someone doesn’t put in the same effort I did into making things as accurate as possible.

 Settings

I’ve already discussed school setting, so let’s go into some settings that are typically written incorrectly.  This is usually because people don’t have actual experience with that environment.

University

I can’t find just a whole lot all about university in Japan but I’ve found some, so I’ll share what I’ve found.  University students take fashion seriously because they’ve been forced to wear uniforms for the last six years.  In the United States, we value comfort over fashion and I’ll admit I’ve gone to lecture in pajamas before and not cared because it was an 8am class but it’s not like that in Japan.  Everyone tries to look as good as possible because they finally can.

Dorms are not like they are in the United States.  My living situation right now is more like theirs than the U.S. aka I live in an apartment by myself (I need a roommate though because rent is so fucking expensive). About every student lives in an apartment and there are no dorms unless you are a foreign exchange student and you’re still technically in an apartment but you have a roommate you didn’t pick. Characters can live in the same apartment complex if you want them to but Kenma literally lived in a house in his second year of university if you want to have that accuracy.

They don’t change their major once they start college.  As much as I could see some of them constantly changing their majors, you just don’t do that in Japan.  It’s a pretty weird concept because my mother changed her major six times before she stuck with nursing and I know a guy that has been at a two year college for five years because he keeps changing his major.  They decide what they want to do because they start university and have to hope they’re going to like it.

I read an article from someone who went to university in Japan and the entrance exams to universities are apparently the hardest part about university there.  You don’t have to really work much to pass classes in Japan because all you need to do is show up to get the units for the course.  Some classes don’t even require attendance, you just have to write a report by the end of the semester.  This is so different than university in the United States where you are literally drowning in homework every single day and debate on dropping out constantly.

Hospitals

As someone who has multiple family members who worked in hospitals, which made me be in hospitals constantly as a child, and had a lot of medical issues, it is the most annoying thing to see people write hospital wrong.  There is so much information online that you can look up as well as just asking people you know who have been in hospitals as either patients, visitors, or employees.  This is going to based off of American hospitals because I was having a difficult time finding things about

In regular hospitals, you cannot leave the floor without anyone knowing.  There is literally no way to break out of there without someone knowing. This applies to at night too because there are always nurses there at the nurses station because they have to check up on patients and give medication as well as help people go to the bathroom.  Doctors don’t stay at night because their shift is during the day.  You may not have the same nurse twice while in the hospital because they work 12 hour shifts.  I don’t know if this is the same system as in Japan but nurses don’t work every single day if they work in a hospital, they do have days off where other nurses will take their shifts.  In the United States, some hospitals have four 12 hour shift days in a row and then three free days.  Nurses change patients a lot because of the people taking that shift or they have to go work on a different floor.

You are required to eat, even if it’s through an IV.  Also, you always have an IV in your arm if you are admitted to the hospital because it’s just how it is.  Typically regular hospitals aren’t all that pretty and I’ve been to like dozens for multiple things, but psychiatric hospitals usually have the prettiest grounds. That’s just a random thing that I’ve observed in my 21 years of going to hospitals.

[full-course-identity]

Give me your thoughts on uuuh Jake

wew boy

okay. gonna word dump this, and probably other interpretation asks, so I can get the words out there.

from my POV, there’s 3 types of canon Jake + 1 fanon vers + my personal interpretation. lemme explain what they are;

Book Jake, who I don’t have enough experience with bc I STILL haven’t finished the book… >_>;

2River Jake, who is kinda oblivious and very in-the-moment impulsive (not so bad he’s jumping place to place ADHD like Rich, but like, not considering that maybe dropping everything to seduce Madeline or Christine is a bad idea when he clearly really likes Chloe). these are debatably survival mechanisms bc of his family (and wealth, if you want to go into the “being rich actually traumatizes you and locks you into dissociation” theory–but to be fair, this is partially reliant on thinking Jake is Genuinely Rich. … well, not Rich as in… yeah); ignoring any pain he feels in favor of getting dicked down and forgetting about everything for a while. very “I’m not sad, I’m busy!!!!!” 

Bway (possibly the new canon general for all Jakes since it sounds like London’s is modeled after him but just… toned down), who is still oblivious, but towards other people’s emotions instead of himself; he’s manipulative, a little impulsive but a lot more malicious about it, and he knows exactly how hurt he is about his parents. this jake’s awareness of himself makes him act worse because he knows this is the only thing that seems to help and it’s basically the only thing he actually has control of. his wealthiness is undeniably present and Bad here because the reason taking what he wants and not caring that it hurts people is his main coping skill is pretty much only because he’s been allowed that privilege all his life. i tend to think this version of him should be done by a white cishet dude (despite jake’s actor on bway being genuinely FANTASTIC) bc being marginalized in a high school should’ve curved a lot of the “endless power and privilege” he gets for being rich (Not That One). 

[i… think this jake has ‘better’/more nuanced writing in BWay… but i don’t think it fits the musical nor is it the overall direction i think it should’ve gone. BMC feels best to me when there’s a heavier element of Dark Humor that briefly nods to a Larger and more Fucked Up world behind the bit we see in the musical. making it largely a twisted comedy, maybe even ramping that up further with more whiplash lines like jake’s “which means the house is empty, so that’s fun”]

Fanon Jake is… like most of the fanon characters in BMC, a bit… “bipolar” (like, radically shifting depending on the situation). the BMC fandom has been born with heavy engagement from minors in the current fascist climate of fandom as a whole. as a result, you have three general uses of jake that as “approved of” by somehow the exact same people despite being conflicting in a lot of ways. THIS IS NOT ME SHITTING ON FANON, i actually think most of this fandom is just a casual romp for most people and that shouldn’t be snatched away from them nor mocked nor treated like you HAVE to be logically consistent when this is just a fun hobby for most… but there are still trends i notice:

1: Jake the sweet bi disaster who loves their significant other and is just a little bit hopeless in their silliness and Down For Whatever-esque personality. this is often used for shippy pictures and memes and cute little oneshots, plus, of course, fluff.

2: Jake the tragic abuse victim who is extremely sad and has to learn to love again and has always been selfless, plus or minus a permanent disability post-fire. this is of course used for hurt/comfort, plus in combination kinda with michael in the bathroom-esque posts and tragic art, often also used as an example of the squip being the worst for jeremy or rich guilt trauma. also: aesthetic and moodboard posts.

3: the one I have the least good will towards: Jake the “why does everybody woobify mlm? You can’t portray him without flaws! queer boys aren’t your fetish!!!” with an attached, clunkily written reasons why he was an asshole that is also simultaneously watered down so you don’t think he’s a Monster bc then you’d be vilifying queer men (well, more like they’d feel bad about their cutesy-er ‘emotional support’ art and writing which is Totally Different from all the other cutesy emotional support art and writing). 

basically, Meta Trying To Make Jake Reasonably Flawed But Not Evil in this fandom is RARELY genuine–it’s more often than not moralistic hand-wringing made so that they can wash themselves of the guilt for actually enjoying something with a character they portray as mlm, or otherwise the guilt of enjoying anything romantic or sexual involving men or queer people period when we’re apparently not supposed to do that anymore, as decreed by the radfems infesting our spaces. 

and, well, or you’re an mlm writing this post, you’re probably young and still feeling extremely sensitive and scared about your identity. i once saw a very wise post by a trans person who had been trans for a long time, who said that when you first come out as trans (or queer in general, but especially trans people who are beginning social or physical transition and coming to terms with themselves) you are obvs on High Fucking Alert and so you’re insecure and scared of anything, ranging from “obvious transphobia” to “just trans people enjoying themselves and exploring transphobia in fiction or else their own sexuality”. again, this can relate to a lot of identities tbh, and as such young mlm either cis or trans can get very Itchy about people enjoying mlm content.

anyway.

wrapping it back around to me: i edit jake on a case by case basis (sometimes i even make him eviler or meaner based on what’s set up during Bway, he’s just not my usual go-to villain), but i tend to think of him as a tragic Mr. Peanutbutter-y sweetheart who kinda knows he feels like shit yet also knows that if he stops to assess it, it would make his life a lot harder in a time where he can’t afford that. his relationship with chloe is extremely toxic (chloe abuses him horribly, specifically), and so he tries to claw his way out of it only to be continually back in by chloe and her bullshit. 

this is why he doesn’t really get... well. he genuinely thought the thing with christine was going to be permanent; he wasn’t jerking her around, he thought he was over chloe and wanted a girl as cool and fun and genuinely nice as her. afterward he Gets It, and so feels Really Bad--at a time where he doesn’t have his house, his legs are broken (i don’t tend to put him in a perma-wheelchair), his parents have abandoned him, and he best friend is in the hospital. guilt crashes in on him from all sides, and he just has to... pretend it isn’t, even as he can no longer stop himself from thinking about it.

if i was to do a jake focused story, it’d probably be a dating sim where you play as him and watch his life change in conjunction with his attempts to find happiness again; you can either choose decisions that help him greatly or ruin his life so ver much... hmm. lets file that under hashtag “story ideas i’ll never use even though they could be great”

to wrap this up: i like jake. i don’t... really enjoy most of the written content (fanfic, meta, sometimes even the storylines on ask blogs) in this fandom about him or... really, most of the characters, which i feel bad about--i’d enjoy it more if it was every in conjunction with my usual Wants in a fic, which is, like. extreme angst.

BUT

i do still like jake, and i can super enjoy his portrayal in memes and visual art

he’s just not my total fave, but like, the reason he tends not to come up a lot in my content is more what i’m focusing on and why. i’d be happy to use him in stories if his presence fit.

as a bonus

here’s the ships i’m happy to use him for, generally: deere, michael/jake, brooke/jake, toxic chloe/jake, and of course, different ocs/jake

his identities/labels: cis, bisexual/romantic... tho sometimes i actually go for bisexual and aromantic! outside bway and eviler jakes, i’m good with him being any race, and even then it’s just a matter of suspending disbelief re: privilege theory. also, PTSD probably, and maybe generalized anxiety as a result. maaaaaybe autistic too? adhd would be a hard sell for me since he seems super put together in a way that’d be extremely difficult for every form of adhd, but i can see him being neurodivergent on the spectrum + like dyslexia maybe. oh, and i sorta-kinda think he may be color blind? but really i’d drop that at a moment’s notice if it’d be easier to write him without it lol.

his interests: one is more or less sports in general, tho i think that, unless he went straight for track or swimming or something Olympics (which he probably can’t do now...), that’s a high school or some college only focus for him. so, besides sports, i think he’d kinda like the satisfaction and steady growth of Collecting Rare Things That You Have To Look For, like cool rocks, bugs, etc. 

as for careers... some form of doctor something, maybe a businessman of some sort but he’d likely try to curve his power in that field as much as possible; he inherits his parents' assets and company or whatever, but he probably takes a backseat to that and only really has it out of a sense of ‘it’s my job as my parent’s kid to keep the company going--without engaging in the same awful legal issues they did--for as long as i can’. one of my fave jake-is-there stories, vanceypant’s spicy bis-focused fic 1999, has him owning a restaurant, and that was cool as hell.

also jake loves dogs. especially golden retrievers. yes.

[nightcoremoon]

i only like pop music when I can choose to hear it.

if rock's on, I'm on board. even if nickelback or creed is playing and I fucking hate them both.

if metal's on, I'm on board, as long as it's metal and not grindcore or deathblast or djentfuck or whatever the fuck else 4chan is concocting in their parents' basements.

if r&b's on, and I mean real r&b and not just "cishet male literal sex predators are sad", I'm on board.

if jazz is on, I'm on board, and I'm not even the biggest fan of jazz.

if classical music is on, I'm on board- I'm just so goddamn sick of vivaldi's spring, beethoven's symphony number five, bach's toccatta and fugue, pachelbel's canon in D, and liszt's hungarian rhapsody. THEY HAVE OTHER SONGS, GUYS.

if opera is on, I'm on board, just as long as it's not just fucking one of three ave marias by andrea bocelli. there's more opera artists than bocelli and there's mores songs besides ave maria.

I think you can see where this is going.

if rap is on, I'm on board, as long as it's not just fucking Drake Drake Drake Drake Tyga Drake. they're not even good rappers ASIDE from being two steps from pedophiles. give me wu tang, tribe, roots, nwa, public enemy, kid cudi, wiz, biggie, tupac, outkast, kurupt, beasties, jay, bone thugs, busta, eminem, nas, nate, luda, cypress hill, childish gambino, tech 9, snoop, give me real rap with meaning, feeling, flow, cultural impact, bass, clever lyrics, RHYTHM.

if country is on, well, if it's pre-9/11 i'm on board but if it's post-9/11 then fucking kill me. because post-9/11 country music is glorified pop with subliminal fascist ultranationalism and commercializations for alcoholism and cars. except for lil nas x and probably a small handful of others I don't know or care to know because I don't give a fuck about country music.

if punk's on and it's real punk I'm on board but not if it's just nasally white boys crying over an ex girlfriend or ugly british men with bad hair because THATS NOT WHAT PUNK IS. black flag, bad religion, bad brains, jack off jill, ice t, cromags, poison idea, rancid, misfits, against me, nofx, even sum 41, green day, offspring, and four year strong have redeeming qualities. but plain white tees, all american rejects, all time low, mayday parade, ramones, sex pistols, simple plan those are just pop groups who play four chords kinda fast, maybe yell sometimes. and while I do like songs by these bands, they are essentially pop, not punk.

if grunge is on and I mean like alice in chains (not rooster) or soundgarden (not black hole sun) or nirvana (not literally half of nevermind) or stone temple pilots or mudhoney or mother love bone (oh yeah and pearl jam is there too but honestly pearl jam is overrated, mike and eddie were way better in mad season, temple, and all the other configurations) then I'm on board. even if it's A- tier grunge like pumpkins, bush, live, spacehog, screaming trees, melvins, silverchair, veruca salt, l7, meat puppets, blind melon, local h, which isn't AS good but it still quality music made outside of commercialized bullshit which is what grunge was created to ESCAPE FROM after england fucking ruined metal in the 80s with hairspray and leather taking precedence over the actual music itself.

wait look commercialization ruined metal and grunge and punk and r&b and rap and country. I wonder why that is-

The Fucking Pop Music Industrial Complex.

so, look. there's a lot of music I don't know. I couldn't tell you billy eyelash from lil rubber ducky. maybe they're amazing and maybe they're not. I'm not gonna talk shit about modern music or pop music or anything. my problem is I can't go anywhere without hearing katy perry or taylor swift or miley cyrus or any number of dumbass inbred white trash idiots, and they all have like 80 songs each on replay. drake and cardi b are the same way, without the inbred and white parts. but they're all still horrible people made worse by $$$. it's a huge circlejerk of millionaires sonically engineering the airwaves to brainwash the masses into the sweet sweet ad revenue from youtube spotify itunes etc. it's made as a product to recycle. "Your style's like garbage cans meant to be taken out on a weekly basis, ever since your first record you've been in a state of suspended animation." There's no artistic integrity in the same song made over and over again except oh this one's about someone breaking up with you over booze and this one's about someone you broke up with because they cheated. 😑

Now I like some music that was made to sell for a product. Backstreet Boys, Nsync, New Kids on the Block, Britney, etc. I like it now 30 years later. Because I can choose to listen to it on my own terms. But I have no control over the shit they play now that's constantly pumped into my ears. It's all the same goddamn drivel and come a decade we're not gonna remember any of it. You know how much terrible music there was in the 50s? The 60s? The 70s 80s 90s and 00s were so full of the worst garbage anyone could ever churn out. Billboard was stocked to the brim with terrible music that nobody recalls and we only remember a tiny portion of it. The top 500 of 1982 is horrible. Even good bands like The Cars had boring unlistenable shit. There was good stuff too like Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull and The Who and other bands THAT DIDNT SELL WELL AND WERE PERCEIVED AS FAILURES BY CRITICS IN 1982. It's always been that way. The popular shit is always bad and the good stuff subsists through the popularity to be remembered fondly. Why do you think the 80s are making a huge resurgence right now in meme culture? Because we know that Toto and Men At Work and A-Ha and Depeche Mode and Tears For Fears are actually good no matter how poorly they may have sold back then. But now, post-9/11 with American culture becoming what it is today, it got worse. So much worse. I watched it happen. There's no nostalgia filter here, music just sounds different at its core. The notes themselves affect my ears differently and actually cause pain nowadays. I use the same pair of earbuds and I can listen to stuff from earlier time periods just fine, even if I've never heard it before. But new music now? Either something's different with production and mixing or I just have auditory hallucination issues. Which I don't. I don't even have chronic tinnitus. Something is wrong. And looking at the fossil fuels industry, the software industry, the cinema industry, the automotive industry, the prison industry, politics, social media, and the economy, there's no possible way that everything is just a coincidence.

The things that make money benefit the ones getting that money and hurt everyone else. That includes music.

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or maybe pop music just sucks.