#you need to go

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Happy pride month to everyone, but specially the pink pony girls who have wicked dreams of leaving Tennessee (and who swear Santa Monica is calling them), the small town boys who never cried to them just to their souls (and who’ll never find the love that they need at home), and those who need to pack up their bag, put a hand on their heart, say whatever they feel, be wherever they are (we ain’t angry at you, love)

[shadesofmauve]

I want to step away from the art-vs-artist side of the Gaiman issue for a bit, and talk about, well, the rest of it. Because those emotions you're feeling would be the same without the art; the art just adds another layer.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Grieve for victims, and the feeling of betrayal. But maybe let yourself off the hook, and be a bit slower to skewer others on it.

[junglejim4322]

Something that I have noticed is I know almost nobody my age that goes to a food pantry. I know people who regularly run out of money for food and in general have to eat an unsuitable diet because that’s what they can afford and they still don’t go to a food bank, im not sure if it’s because they’re embarrassed or maybe if you didn’t grow up going you don’t know much about it but if you’re financially struggling I really recommend it. And look into other options for food assistance too like community fridges and gardens and other programs that can assist you, where I live Salvation Army pays for an allotted amount of grocery delivery for low income people every month, in the summer farmers take excess produce to the library to be taken by anyone who needs it, etc. There are a LOT of resources for free food that you can look into especially if you are literally not eating because of your financial situation

[reesiereads]

I need ya’ll to realize running back to TikTok like nothing fucking happened is exactly what this motherfucker wants. He wants you to run back and to be grateful. He wants you to forget that the Supreme Court has just passed something that indicates they can pursue intense censorship and remove our access to free speech and non-propagandized/monitored spaces whenever they want. He wants you to be so focused on all this that you completely forget that he’s about to pass at least a hundred horrific policies stripping us of our rights as soon as this week. He wants you to stop talking about Palestine who is still in danger and is in desperate need of aid despite the ceasefire. He wants you to turn your attention away from all the people in LA suffering thanks to the fires.

I don’t want to say it’s just an app, because it’s not. I was incredibly sad about losing TikTok yesterday. Many of us had a community that meant a great deal to us torn away suddenly and I am not saying we shouldn’t be upset about that. But I am saying that as much as the Supreme Court has more important things they should be focusing on over banning TikTok we have more important things to do then run back to an app that was obviously used for a publicity stunt by Trump and will inevitably be influenced by him and his fascism.

We’ve been discussing boycotting Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and other Meta platforms due to their connections to Trump and his posse of billionaires. TikTok must be treated the same way so long as the CEO and company is in Trump’s pocket.

[shadow-queens-blog]

hey does this make sense? am i reaching?

[inkskinned]

the tradwife movement is the same as it has always been - back in the kitchen, back to breeding - it just has better branding.

when i was younger, i hated pink. i was not like other girls. this is now something i'm embarrassed of - this was not me being a "girl's girl."

but it was expressing something many of us felt at the time: i literally wasn't what girlhood was supposed to be. this is a hard thing to explain, but you know when you're not performing girlhood correctly. it isn't as easy as "i liked x when girls liked y" - because there were other girls that liked x, too - but i never figured out exactly the correct way to like x, or to be interested in y.

now there is the divine feminine. this is the same rhetoric it has always been: women are biologically driven to like pink and ribbons and submitting to our husbands.

the problem is that the patriarchy found a better PR team. because yes, actually, i want every woman to have the choice to be a homemaker. i also want her taken seriously for her legitimate home-making labor. i want her to be recognized as also having a job, just unpaid. i want men to have this opportunity, too.

but it is no longer "i made this choice and I love it." instead it is a sixteen-paragraph rant about how selfish it is that my generation isn't having kids. instead it's long videos about how if you feed your children processed foods, you're going to kill them. instead it is "this is what womanhood is supposed to be. i feel bad for any other choices you're making."

the shame spiral is just prettier. it is large houses devoid of personality. it is the implication: if you don't have this, you aren't happy. the solid, everlasting assurance: women are actually supposed to be submitting. this is the default. this is the natural state of things. all other attempts inflict suffering.

but you can no longer say i'm not like other girls. you can no longer reject this image completely. you cannot find it revolting, even if you know that the underbelly is toxic and festering. sure, it is the same repackaged patriarchy. but the internet does not have shades of grey. you should support and reward other women! your disgust is actually internalized misogyny. not because you are seeing a vision of yourself the way they're trying to train you to be. not because you feel her ghost pass within an inch of your earlobe. not because your father will eventually ask you - why can't you be like her?

because they figured out how to make it beautiful: women will sell other women on this idea, and we will find the singular loophole in feminism. sure, she's shaming you in most of her videos. sure, she implies that a different life is obscene. but she just wants you to be happy! you'd be happier if you were listening!

and the whole time you're sitting there thinking: i'd actually just be happier if i had that kind of money.

[caracolcondiarrea]

I need to talk about puy du fou, In Toledo, Spain. bc i went this year with my school and i nearly cried bc of how amazing it is.

ok, firstly, its a theme park (kinda) but instead of attraction there all shows of Spanish history such as el cantar del Mio Cid (el ultimo. cantar)(personal fav) or lope de Vega scaping the law while baing with a lot of women (pluma y espada) and other shows with birds or one that shows how one town converted to Christianism. THEY ARE ALL AMAZING. THEY EACH ONE HAVE A THING THAT MAKE THEM AMAZING, FOR INSTANCE, IN EL ULTIMO CANTAR, THE SCENARIO IS A CIRCUMFERENCE AND THE SEATS ROTATE TO CHANGE THE SCENARIO.

There was also a walk-through of a recration of one of Columbus ship´s, at one moment, it all moved to simulate the waves and I just wanted to cry bc of how well made it was

but without a doubt, the best show of all was the nigth one (which you have to pay more for it but is completly woth it, 1OO%) It tells the Spanish history from the middle ages, to Spain currently. some things they tell are, but not limited to: columbo arriving in Spain after getting to "Las Indias" (America), the Spanish civil war... it was all amazing.

The only thing I can complain about is that the actors didnt actually spoke, they had pre-recorded audio, but it´s the least of your concerns there.

one of my friends (which I think I like) almost didn´t went bc she went in october, she finally go to go and she decided to look at my face at some times bc she already saw it and she knows i love theater. Man i wish i could´ve seen my faces when in el ultimo cantar the seats moved.

and also, that trip was just, amazing, one of the best trip´s i´ve ever done, and I think that it´s mainly bc i went with friends. before going to puy du fou, we were a few hours the day before at Toledo city and wow, TOLEDO IS BEAUTIFUL. I LOVED THE FEW THINGS WE SAW, IT WAS ALL AWASOME. ITS BEAUTIFUL.

(also that when we were leaving puy du fou, me and the girl that i think I like were just talking about space, and she said "the moon looks lovely tonight" (for those who dont know thats a way of saying to someone that you like them) AND I COULD´VE SWORN WE ACTUALLY HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOW IN KNY SHINOBU SAID THAT TO TOMIOKA, I KNOW SHE KNOWS WHAT DOES IT MEAN, SHE KNOWS I KNOWS WHAT DOES IT MEAN. WHAT I DONT KNOW IS IF SHE ACTUALLY MEANT IT THAT WAY OR MEANT IT LITTERALLY, anyway i said to her "yes it does " (bc it´s the way of saying yes). She hasn´t said anything that migth suggest that we´re something, but AAAAAAAA how am i supposed to do? Bc i know some things that migth suggest it appart from that (ex: one time she came to my house for dinner and her sister and her were having a stupid figth, more of a game figth type, and her sister said that she has the hair dyed. a few days after that, she just said to me "btw, I don´t have my hair dyed" and I didn´t even remembered back then that, so it may suggest that she overthinks it¿

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasasssdaadasasasaddssfafsdafgsdafgsfafafafafagagagagagagagagagaagahahhghahghagagghagagzahghaghghgaaghg

[bruciemilf]

Batman isn’t a mask; It’s a leash. In this essay I will—

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[samerpal]

🚨Trapped Family in Gaza Appeals for Help to Survive🚨 🕊️🇵🇸 🍉🌹

Hi 👋 my friends My name is Samer Abu Ras, and I am reaching out to you with a heavy heart and shattered hopes after the war in Gaza destroyed my life and my family’s. Our days were once filled with peace and security, but now we are homeless, without shelter or income, facing a bleak future. My wife Shorouq and our three children are suffering from psychological and health traumas due to this catastrophe. We lost our home and our jobs, and now we seek warmth in cold streets.

My original story link

🇵🇸🍉🌹🇵🇸🍉🌹🇵🇸🌺🍉🌺🍉🇵🇸🌹🌺🇵🇸🍉🌺

My children 🧒 👧 , who once lived in safety, are now gripped by fear and displacement. As a father, I feel deep sorrow and helplessness for not being able to protect them. Today, I am making a humanitarian plea, asking for assistance to rebuild our lives and find a safe and stable environment. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a significant difference in our lives.

Let us make hope triumph over despair and restore smiles and dignity to my family.

Thank you to everyone who listens to my plea and offers a helping hand and donation to change our future for the better.

With heartfelt gratitude and appreciation

Note our campaign vetted by

@sar-soor @el-shab-hussein @nabulsi @ibtisams

Verification source: number 196 on users el-shab-hussein and nabulsi's master list

Attached is my Instagram account, my friends, for more information and details.

@schoolhater🌹@victoriawhimse🌹@pocketsizedquasar-2 🌹@turtletoria 🌹 @rinnie 🌹@ut-against-genocide 🌹

@ethanscrocs 🌹 @punkitt-is-here @plomegranate 🌹 @gazavetters @anneemay 🌹 @buttercuparry @appsa 🌹 @malcriada @irhabiya 🌹 @feluka @sheplaysbassdotmp3 🌹 @opencommunion @papenathys 🌹 @rooh-afza 🌹@mohabbaat 🌹 @itsfookingloosah@magnus-rhymes-with-swagness 🌹@flower-tea-fairies 🌷🌹🌸🌺💐@fancysmudges 🌹 @brokenbackmountain @just-browsings-world 🌹 @aleciosun @fluoresensitive 🌹 @khizuo @lesbiandardevil 🌹 @transmutationisms @buttercuparry 🌹 @akajustmerry@annoyingloudmicrowavecultist 🌹

@tortiefrancis 🌹 @tsaricides @determinate-negation 🌹 @belleandsaintsebastian 🌹@4ft10tvlandfangirl 🌹 @tamarrud @queerstudiesnatural 🌹 @skatezophrenic 🌹 @awetistic-things @pcktknife 🌹

[hinamie]

post-graduation trip airport looks

[runawaymarbles]

The thing I keep coming back to, with all the *gestures expansively* is that real life doesn't have peaceful epilogues.

Every single win has to be defended. Forever. I'm sorry. It sucks. The Nazis lost until they stopped losing. The US had abortion rights, and then 50 years later it didn't. Empires fall, and then they invade other countries again. Oppressive regimes are overthrown and replaced with other oppressive regimes. You will never finish the work etc etc etc. Which is why it's so fucking important to be able to acknowledge and celebrate progress, when it happens. The people who came before you didn't put in all that work for nothing, and you aren't, either. You can't save it all for the Ultimate Victory because there is never going to be an Ultimate Victory. There's no such thing as a time when everything is good, and ours shall not be the commune of Heaven.

[seenthisepisode]

no offence but the reason tumblr is “dying” is, well, yes, of course the cursed like/reblog ratio and the change in user behaviour (because of people being used to how instagram and tiktok work) BUT also the lack of weekly shows. i say it with my whole chest, they don't produce captivating and engaging stupid weekly tv shows anymore because streaming killed that so you have spikes of activity here when Something happens in general fandom or up to three days after a new season of whatever drops and then it's a wasteland. this is obviously an old woman yelling at a cloud missing supernatural and the vampire diaries and pretty little liars and all these other shows type of post but honestly give me back weekly tv shows where i have something to watch for 40 minutes almost every day of the week after work so then i can read and reblog it on tumblr give it back for the sake of my sanity

[frenchublog]