genehasissues

[genehasissues]

Date Night

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What's WILD to me about the Milkvan discourse is that they mean endgame but they're using canon. Like Milkvan is already canon, you mean that it's not gonna be endgame.

[genehasissues]

In The Closet (At Rink-O-Mania)

 Mike Wheeler + Subtextual Queercoding 🏳️‍🌈 an @emblazons 1K free space gifset for @ice-sculptures

just because its visual & can be hard to discern, here are the "queer coding" aspects I chose, in order:

Mike stares at Wills mouth several times over the course of S3-S4 especially—the movie theater in S3 is another one that I didn't get to include, but that is as dramatic as the three I did manage to put here lmao. He also looks at boys like Eddie (and maybe even the boy behind Angela) with extreme interest, which was a gif I made but that didn't make the primary set.

Closet Imagery follows this boy around like a shadow, and has since Season 1. Bonus points for Mike being in the phone booth in The Nina Project, because...the closet is glass. 😂

Mike wanting girls out of "mens/boys only" spaces happens so many times its laughable. Hilariously, he also gets kicked out of the girls bathroom (the same way he kicks girls out of boys spaces) in Rink o Mania come Season 4.

The worlds most coded "you can admit you're gay to me" conversation happens between Karen and Mike in season 1, right after he puts El in his closet. ☠️ Bonus points for how Will must be affecting him is mentioned right before that happens.

Mike is disgusted / displeased with women several times over the course of the show. Not included in the gif: When Nancy asks Mike if he likes Eleven as they're preparing to make El a bath in S1; when Mike gets upset at the rest of the party for wanting to talk to Max despite not knowing her in MADMAX; him being mortified of lingerie along with Will in The Mall Rats in S3, when he looks confused/disgusted when Lucas tries to explain heterosexual romance to him throughout S3, and the way he takes El's hands off of him both while making out with her in Suzie, Do You Copy and when she greets him at the airport in Vecna's Curse. He also never kisses El for the rest of S4 after their greeting/walk at the airport + misses Angela hitting on him at Rink-O-Mania entirely, which you can make of what you will.

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guys I just noticed this on the left is Dr. Frank-N-Furter from Rocky Horror and on the right is Mike Wheeler’s main s4 outfit the triangle over the heart on the left was historically used to indicate people as gay and has now become frequent lgbt imagery (e.g. in Robin’s shirt) this is making me crack upppp

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Mike and Will, 1999

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At the picketing line outside netflix HQ on Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, May 12 2023.

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The 2023 Gender Census is now open!

[ Link to survey ]

The 10th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 9th May 2023.

It’s short and easy, about 5 minutes probably.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful - it’s what helped us get 40,000 responses last year.

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

For the curious, you can also spy on some graphs and demographic data for the incoming responses here.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

Image credit: Avery at Tradescantia Hub

[genehasissues]

who has seen dawson’s creek what does this mean???

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I think it's time to bring this back

Joyce and El being bathed in light because they are Hopper's "light." Will being bathed in light because he is Mike's lig[GUNSHOT]

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Noah before Vol 2: Will’s sexuality is up to interpretation 🥰 there needs to be no label, and either way Will’s love for Mike is really beautiful

Noah, after Vol 2: Okay we can cut the bullshit, it’s now clear that Will is gay and in love with Mike

Noah, 2023: Btw I’m gay too

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When the GA realizes Byler is real...

The Duffers

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Of-fucking-course they decide to choose the option conflating being gay and being a fucking pedo ahjsjsndnsjsk

fun fact i haven’t seen a single “is mike wheeler gay?” article but i have seen this

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hi byler tag!! let’s have a lesson on crosstagging! i know a lot of the byler tag population comes from twitter where things like this don’t matter so here’s a little crash course.

first: the difference between tags and searches. on tumblr mobile when you search for a term, by just typing in the word and hitting search, you are being brought to any and all posts that contain this term in ANY way. i’m going to use the ship buddie as an example because it’s a ship that’s also a word so it’s easier to explain. so if you were to search for the term “buddie”, you’re also going to see any post that has the word “buddies” in its content or it’s tags, regardless of if it’s about the ship or not.

where as if you click the button that says “go to #buddie” you will now ONLY be seeing things that have the specific tag “#buddie” tags that are full sentences that include the word will not be included, and posts that only include the word in the body content but not tags will also not be included.

this discrepancy is relatively new to the tumblr search system and also it sucks! but it’s honestly just excessive to be avoiding saying other names and ship names at ALL to try and avoid entering other spaces, so really we just need to focus on staying out of the specific tags.

next: when crosstagging is okay, and when it becomes invasive. you should only be using multiple tags when your post makes a point about everything you’re tagging. when using one ship as proof or basis for analysis of another ship, you aren’t making any points about the former, so it’s appropriate to only tag the latter. it can be a little bit of a gray area sometimes so do what feels right to you but if anyone asks you to stop cross tagging, listen to them and respect the request. i’d say when it comes to the byler tag, just don’t cross tag. there’s enough exposure in this tag that it’s really unnecessary and just clogs other tags.

finally: when to censor. as a general rule of thumb, you don’t need to censor anything in your text body if you are talking positively about things. if you’re talking negatively, it’s common courtesy to censor names and ship names so that no one who is searching for these things has to see negativity. (also remembering to use neg and doubt tags but that’s something for another day). most of the byler tag is very familiar with censoring for negativity, as is evident with the m*leven variants.

in conclusion: if you want to post paralells between stranger things couples or characters, keep it to the byler tag unless you are centering the other ship in your post and making a point about them, not just using as byler proof. there’s nothing wrong with using other characters to draw parallels to byler, but respect the fandom spaces of people who want to discuss things other than byler.

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If Will Byers was a girl, then Byler would be way less hated, criticized and judged by the fandom. People wouldn't say it's "out of the blue," people wouldn't call it a "crackship." It would be praised.

Friends to lovers (usually slowburn) is one of the most popular tropes, but apparently only if it involves a boy × girl.

The Duffers have been establishing since S1 that the bond and connection between Mike × Will goes deeper than any of Mike's friendships, and even deeper than Mileven.

People only ignore this because it’s two boys. Seriously...

Imagine the exact same scenario: Mike and Will have been best friends since kindergarten. They were both lonely and both labeled as outcasts. They didn't belong anywhere. But together they instantly connected. They always know when something is bothering the other one. They are always there for them. They have at least one heart-to-heart per season. Their whole dynamic is undeniably beautiful. But instead of Will being a guy, he's a girl. Then what? The fandom would know that this is a beautiful slowburn relationship and they will be endgame. It would be undeniable.

People think that if the romantic relationship isn't established in S1 or even S2, then a ship between two boys is just a crackship.

We've watched Byler build up since S1. We've seen Mike lash out and ignore the police and his parents when he had his heart set on finding Will. We've seen Mike make Will feel better about everything he has gone through. We've seen Mike be genuine and real around him. We've seen them build each other up. We've seen them have fun and mess around together. We've seen them fight and make up. We've even seen some jealousy and awkwardness as they began getting older.

We've seen these two very close best friends slowly develop as they both attempt to "be normal," and hide their true selves. Byler is gonna be the greatest slowburn relationship of this generation.

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Duffer Brothers : We're going to make a character that is so bland-

Joe Quinn : Funky little queer boy. Does a little jig. Weirdo. Joe Keery looks great with his top off. D&D. Nerd. Good with kids. Rings.

Duffer Brothers : Wait, no, he's supposed to have a rivalry with Steve like Billy did and-

Joe Quinn : No. They're in a gay relationship now. That's his boyfriend. Big boy.

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Shitty public bathroom make out session. Romance

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Say, "Nancy can't say 'I love you' to Steve because she's actually in love with Jonathan," and no one bats an eye.

Say, "Mike can't say 'I love you' to El because he's actually in love with Will," and suddenly he doesn't understand love because his parents don't love each other so he didn't grow up with a positive, healthy example of a loving relationship modeled to him.

Nancy and Mike have the same parents. Maybe you're just homophobic.