#dylan oh / discourse.

[aemiron-main]

staring at the shots with the trans flag colours in the latest episode of the “feeling like you’re living in someone else’s body & having your bodily autonomy and rights stripped from you” show:

(especially with the matrix being obvious inspiration for severance vs neo being a trans allegory 🤨🤨🤨)

[ghostradiodylan]

Me discoursing about Dylan Lenivy’s depiction in fanfic: he is not a child, he’s a grown-ass man. Yeah, he gets scared when something is trying to eat him and his friends, but he’s far from helpless, even with one hand. He’s not perfect and he can be mean and stubborn and make jokes at terribly inopportune times. He deserves to be a fully fleshed out character like that! Portraying him like he’s some kind of perfect uwu bbgurl/continuously sobbing perma-victim does his character a huge disservice and is almost certainly informed by an insidious culture of homophobia and ableism.

Me when I play the game and Dylan comes on screen: oh my god looooook. It is ✨HIM.✨ The boy ever. An actual baby. My literal son. My perfect child. I will go to fucking war to protect you.

[possiblyunhinged]

I keep trying to write about the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of “woman” in the Equality Act and how it affects trans people—but I can’t. Not because I don’t have anything to say, but because my brain short-circuits from the sheer, mind-splitting exasperation of watching people talk about lives like they’re theory.

Watching cis men—many of whom wouldn’t lift a finger to stop a cis woman being assaulted in public because ���what if I get stabbed”—now crowing about “women’s safety” in comment sections like it’s a sport they just won? Fucking nauseating.

These aren’t feminists. These are people who’ve found a socially acceptable way to be cruel and dressed it up as virtue. It’s not safety they want—it’s a socially sanctioned excuse to hate.

This ruling isn’t going to stop women from being murdered, assaulted, or harassed. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s going to have virtually no impact at all on the vast majority of cis women. So what will it do? It’ll make life harder for people who are already struggling to survive.

If you’re celebrating that? I’d suggest you go outside, touch some fucking grass, and try making a friend who isn’t a hateful little prick from the internet—because honestly, I think you’re starved of kindness and compassion. You just want to feel something. And for some reason, you’ve chosen cruelty as your weapon.

And no, I don’t think your average person is running around Sainsbury’s flapping about whether a trans woman is using the bog next to them. I think they’re tired. I think they’re broke. I think they’re being told, every single day, who to blame for the erosion of their quality of life—and trans people are just the next ones being handed the bill.

What people forget is this: A tiny number of loud, hateful people make up most of the online discourse, and the rest of us are left with a bleak, terrifying impression of what everyone thinks.

What reflects reality? Cis male violence. What gets conveniently ignored in all this panic about toilets and changing rooms and “safety”? Cis male violence. What still isn't adequately being addressed? Oh yeah... cis male violence.

You think I’m walking extra quick down a quiet street because I’m scared Dylan Mulvaney’s going to jump out from behind a bush? An impassioned TikToker? Get a fucking grip. We are spending our lives navigating the behaviour of cis men. Our quality of life is shaped by them—whether they’re legislators or the men we (most likely) knew who harmed us.

And look—I do think there should be space for reasoned, open debate. I think any so-called democratic country should have that. But first, you’ve got to be honest about where you’re coming from. And right now, the level of disingenuous bollocks surrounding this discourse is fucking disgusting.

Where’s the outrage over the growing wave of violent misogyny being flagged by teachers’ unions in classrooms? How many more teenage girls need to be murdered by radicalised boys before these so-called “real men” are charging through the streets demanding actual legislative change? Or do they only do that when it gives them an excuse to be racist, crack open a couple of tinnies, shout slurs, and lob bricks at the police?

Where’s the legislation for that?

People call this “whataboutery.” I call it being fucking sick of bad faith arguments about something that, frankly, has very little to do with most of the people frothing over it.

Because I’ll tell you what this isn’t: a win for women. If anything, it’s a win for the exact kind of men who never cared about women’s safety—until it gave them permission to punch down.

And while people are busy foaming at the mouth about trans teens trying to survive school, we’ve got an entire generation of boys radicalised online into believing women are inferior—and no one seems half as outraged.

If you think banning trans girls from the bathroom at school makes anyone safer, you are not protecting women—you are telling the most vulnerable group in society that they are acceptable collateral damage in your war to feel righteous.

And if you think I sound angry—good.

I’m fucking fuming.

I can’t reason with this decision, because it’s unreasonable. It’s senseless harm, designed to appease a growing culture of cruelty that’s poisoning the UK. And it won’t just make life harder for trans people—it’ll hurt the people who love them, too.

It’s about the bloke I see at 6am every day on the dog walk, who has a trans daughter who doesn’t leave the house. Who’s too scared to go to school. And he walks this dopey, beautiful little dog he only rescued for her, because he’s trying everything he can to keep his little girl alive. Because there’s no healthcare for her. No support for him. And what does this country think is sensible? Making it harder for them? Fuck off.

And if we can’t make room for truth, fear, compassion, and basic fucking sense all at once—then what the hell are we even doing?

If you feel equally as helpless, here are some great charities to donate to: notaphase, transactual, genderintelligenced.

[harocat]

I find lots of people who are into Cdramas have what I can only describe as “celebrity brain”. They only really watch shows that have their fav actor, always want the character played by their fav to be the endgame romantic choice (even if it goes against character and theme), and seem to hinge their mental health on whether a show with their fav does Big Numbers. Fans of male actors tend to have misogyny problems too, but I think most people who run an account dedicated to a Chinese celeb could afford to take a step back and remember that they don’t actually know these people

Yes it's very stan culture centered. This is one of the reasons I like Cdrama tumblr better. It feels like it's more about actually enjoying the shows (and yes, sometimes the actors), then endless forced promotion, discussion of heat indexes, fan wars, etc.

People have their faves here, and they share news about them, pics of them, etc. They go out of their way to watch their dramas (or at least attempt to if they end up bad lol), and they're happy when they're successful or popular. They share info about accolades and awards.

But most don't make that their whole viewing experience. They aren't becoming keyboard warriors for some dude they don't know and will never know. They're here because they love dramas, not because they have an intense parasocial relationship with an actor or actress.

The way the Wang Yibo blackface discourse morphed from people rightfully calling him out, to the WYB super fans taking over the conversation and making it more about how antis are using it to hate on him is such a good example. Now discussion of it is rebuked with 'oh no don't give the 🐜 more fuel to hate him', and that sucks. I don't give a fuck about antis. I care that WYB did blackface in his movie, and that pisses me off!! They're over there like 'I know in my heart of hearts WYB could not be racist' as if they've ever been within the same wide vicinity of him in their entire life.

With the Dylan thing it's so wild to me because:

he is the male lead

he is the endgame romantic choice

They're pitting him against the female lead for what reason?? They're not rivals. It's giving misogyny, and the fact that they can't handle a woman standing on an equal level with him (she was first billing because she was more famous at the time, yes, but she's also just as much the lead. LBFAD is pretty balanced in that respect). She must be below; both the character and actress. She must be the less popular and important character!! We are going to restructure the narrative of Love Between Fairy and Devil in our minds so it's entirely DFQC's show.

This same person was complaining about the Xiao Lanhua being a goddess storyline because it makes her too important and makes DFQC 'pitiful' (totally out there to me; every other Cdrama fan I know eats it up when a man is pitiful). Like, people would not care about Dylan in LBFAD, and he certainly wouldn't be getting acting accolades, if he were cool all the time in it. It's the pitiful moments, the emotional moments, that make people love him.

It's not even just LBFAD though. I saw major Dylan fan accounts undermining Bai Lu and cropping her out of pics when promoting Only for Love.

I think Esther and XLH just get it worse, because let's be real, LBFAD is good, their chemistry was undeniable, the show was huge, and regardless of how close they are now (we have no idea), it's obvious they were really good friends when on set.

[ivyial]

i think i know what bugs me the most about infinite darkness, which is also just an issue with RE in general.

everytime i think to myself "oh i'll rewatch infinite darkness", i'm only ever really thinking of the first two episodes, not the last two. all of that kinda dawned on me as i got to the end of ep 2.

resident evil has some pretty fuckin cool underlying themes: corruption, biological warfare, politics, treason, foreign policy, etc. most RE entries feature those themes as a starting point behind virtually every problem in the franchise. RC started as a result of the secret development of bioweapons to which the US contributed, damnation deals with the use of bioweapons in armed conflict, etc. then you've got some sillier villain motivations because it's RE and it has to be a little silly. but essentially, it's 1. virus/parasite/mold/BOW is being developed and 2. a private actor who's trying to either make a shit ton of money or just wants to bring about chaos gets ahold of it and 3. the US government is always kind of involved, somehow (and then there's a monster with a bulging eye and the place blows up).

so you've got these recurring themes which are most of the time dealt with in a more lighthearted manner: it turns out to be a big bad guy motivated by money or power who just turns people into monsters.

now the thing about infinite darkness is that it actually has a really interesting premise. you've got the war in penamstan, which features overt commentary on the US' foreign policy and involvement in other countries (callback to wars waged in the middle east), as well as the frequent accusations that the US is trying to get back at china by whatever means necessary. this is incredibly relevant in the international political landscape, and will continue to be for a good number of years. episodes one and two don't shy away from blatant criticism of the US.

and i keep thinking "FINALLY, it's getting serious." but it never does. because it's RE, and i love how unserious it is, yet i can't help but think about how it would turn out if it went through with its themes.

//

i'm coming back to this draft after watching death island because DI does a similar thing, but better? i think ID is essentially overly ambitious: it sets out too many themes and events and fails to follow up on them properly. you shouldn't start a discourse on imperialism and foreign policy if you're not ready to properly discuss the matter.

DI also weighs in on the bioterrorism vs capitalism vs the US government themes, but less seriously. it's all done through dylan, who has a certain set of views on the matter and wants to use the virus to reset the entire planet. but it doesn't really go beyond that: it's just dylan going "man fuck corporations and the US government" and then blatantly destroying the core 4 by giving them the most obnoxious reality check ever (which was EXACTLY what they needed). that's all. i like this better, because RE is a very unserious franchise at heart, and it shouldn't try to be something it isn't. the climax of any RE movie is always big monster with a countdown, like the games, and there's really only two solutions to that: either capcom starts using the CG movies to expand on the lore in a more serious way by divorcing themselves from the traditional layout of the games, or they keep the same formula as the games, but then they really shouldn't get into as much detail (there's just not enough time).

[berelex]

Severance season 2, and love-annoyed ramblings

I like Severance. It is a show whose base hypothesis is quite thrilling, and I have deeply enjoyed its first season. The dissonance between the two contexts, the unreportable abuses of Lumon, the wonderful kitsch of its aesthetics (all the dances and small parties, Milchik's performance was truly a sight to behold). And added to that, the crippling fear that this process would be generalized, notably when considering that pregnant woman (who was basically condemned to die, how come was is so little of a point of interest?) The finale was also quite wonderful, between all these moments of tension / revelations, the secret finally (partially) spilled, and this final public outcry by Helly.

Enter season 2. And let's say that whilst I still liked it, it hadn't the same feeling. Where the first season focused on this feeling of oddity, on this truly SF-like plot with high stakes, the second season was much more interpersonal. Which is a legitimate choice, definitely, moreover after Lumon's probable obligation to offer the outdoor public some guarantees as to its employees' treatment. However… oh boy did these interpersonal relations focus on love. All our 4 of the main cast experience some form of love, both inside and outside (slightly less Dylan George and Irving B?), and it acts as their main motivation. We get to see a bit more the lives of Milchik and Cobel, who do not have such stakes… yet it is as often the antagonists (or adjacent) who are portrayed as loveless, another recurring issue.

Mind me, this love is not bad in itself. It brought some great moments / tension, notably I consider the ORTBO episode as a small masterpiece, notably with the extreme counterpoint between the tent scene and the ensuing revelation. It also brings interesting dynamics as to Mark Scout, still pursuing his main objective and confronting his innie as to their not so common goals.

However, it feels like most of the stakes that were present in S1 (which were plenty interesting SF questions) faded quite a bit, compared to these love stories. Which I find quite a shame. The bitter critic of Lumon and the workspace ethics is much dimmer now, and even this overarching project that is Cold Harbour ends up being pretty underwhelming – just ensuring that love does not break too much the severance? (which still wasn't a frank success)

It does not make the S2 bad, mind me. It is still a good season of a great show. I just regret some of the directions taken, and the emphasis on love in most of the main storylines. My aromantism probably has a role in there, but love portrayal isn't a problem in itself.

However, I also witnessed the fan discourse about Severance these last months. And I must admit to be… I don't know, somewhat disappointed? I rarely look at the fan discourse, so I do not know how common is it, yet the pure quantity of posts focusing on the different ships (and mainly on MarkHelly / MarkHellyna) is truly a sight to behold. This show raises so many interesting and important questions, yet the direction chosen has driven people to mainly talk about these ships, which I find a bit of a shame. Not that I blame these posters to gush over characters they care about, I just hoped that the discourse would be more varied.

(however, I must admit that I do not understand at all the people shipping Adam Scott and Britt Lower. Please do not ship real people? Let them live their life / relation without external pressure, and let their friendship be no more than a friendship if they so desire?)

So yeah, just an aromantic SF enjoyer somewhat disappointed in the direction taken both by the show and the discourse, sorry for rambling.

[thenightlymirror]

Severance spoilers.

One interesting thing about Kier Eagan’s theory of the four tempers is that if people really are the result of a certain proportion of humors, then are innie’s some kind of adjustment of the tempers? Doesn’t the whole retreat from real life into severance suggest that a personality is the result of memories and not humors?

There’s a sort of expansion of the discourse on identity. In the beginning, you see Lumon recuperating their insurrection. Very funny. Then, the weird Kier black-washing portraits they give to Milchick. The brother-in-law selling out. (PS. All this is synthesizing, un-severing. Which here, is definitely a bad thing.)

I’m rewatching season 2. Paying attention to Helena this time.

Every time they say “Mark Scout” I hear “Michael Scott.” The ultimate office creature.

Outie Bert seems really evil haha. Not by any deeds. Just him and Fields are played by the most sinister actors ever. I was so jealous of that dinner. Oh to be three old queens.

Love the emotional infidelity that Dylan’s wife is up to with his innie. Excellent.

God I the dread Mark must feel when he realizes he had sex with Helly’s body with her not in it. Stomach turning.

It’s sort of a novel idea, to endlessly copy your soul so a growing percentage of copies get into heaven, despite your first copy’s sinful life. Extrapolate that into: God’s sin was to create life, and then had to keep duplicating it in order to create enough stillbirths to wash his hands of the sin.

Here’s a question: is Helena as Helly any good at Marcrodata Refinement? That seems like a skill unique to innies? Maybe I’m wrong. If she’s on the MDR floor, then it’s a real physical place that doesn’t require jacking-in via the severance implant.

So… outie Mark’s experiences of the Severance floor are just memory-territory opening up in his mind. The immediacy experienced is just this background space bubbling up to the main stage, like someone opening a door to the cellar and feeling a draft upstairs.

The episode 4 outdoor episode is crazy and just raises a lot of questions. This must be an entirely virtual space. Right???? And then they all have doppelgängers. Hahaha that’s a whole terrifying possibility to deal with. I mean, couldn’t they sometimes be in a hologram severed floor? What if that’s the twist for season 2? At some point they just make a matrix Lumon to subvert a second insurrection. I don’t know. I’m sort of beating a dead horse there maybe. (On second watch, these are clearly look-alikes, not holograms.)

I love the edginess of dark emo Mark and imperfect nepo-Helena who seems to like both the Marks despite herself also just pretending.

Where does Helena live? Does she have a life?

Bizarre Love Triangles.

I feel like Cobel is going to make a big mess of something. Milchick’s “throuple” theory is clearly a lie, but foreshadows the whole season in a funny way. Everyone is in a love triangle. Arborism.

So what would you do in season 3? Way jumping the gun. Eh. Just keep splitting, OR season three is all synthesizing! Two totally different people sharing the same body! (Okay they’re already doing this. It’s the whole show.)

[potatoes83]

@staff I'm not a social media person. For crying out loud, I don't even know how to or care to use tags, which are rampant in all things... I don't do the social media thing. I watch people that do, obsessing over likes and whatnot on their face-book, instant gram, whatever... A desperate quest for internet relevance.

This thing is different, and I haven't been here from the beginning or anything. You see something you like, or you just want to get something off your chest, you do it, you fling it out into the ether, and what will be will be. Maybe you're finding something 100,000 notes later landing on your dash that you originally posted. Maybe not. The point is, it was thrown out there for a reason, whatever that reason was, not just as clickbait to curate more likes and gain more followers. If this is indeed social media, it is social media for people who truly don't give a shit about their follower count, but also truly don't give a shit about a whole lot of the current mainstream rhetoric. Heaven forbid maybe, after a hard day at work or whatever, it might be a bit of an escape?

If you see something you like, maybe you follow that person. Curate someone's same sick sense of humor, or politics, or animals, nature photography, delicious recipes, any number of things that YOU ARE INTERESTED IN on your dash. And no, that's not living in an echo chamber, not that it matters, because this is supposed to be fun! It's a wonderful affirmation to know that you're not the only one that thinks a certain way, which is a rare feeling these days sometimes. Or maybe you just like that person who posts pictures of delicious cake, because you feel like looking at delicious cake. Someone telling me about their day on the farm. Someone telling me about their struggles with their faith. Someone showing me pictures of, oh I don't know, Victorian greenhouses and rustic log cabins.

I don't know if I am actually following anyone famous, nor do I particularly care. I'm following people that are interesting. I'm looking at things that are interesting. I'm getting into discourses that are interesting. And with that, I don't want to have to keep desperately swatting away the Dylan Mulvaneys and Kim Kardashians of the internet because some damn algorithm keeps getting ginned up and throwing them in my face. For every one of them, there are hundreds, nay, thousands of people who are actually interesting. And these are people that you would never see again because they just don't get the clicks.

I don't have any of the other social media. I have a freaking live journal, (hey, the 2000s called, they want their angsty teenager back), and whatever this thing is. I know I'm not, I can't be the only one who doesn't want a damn algorithm shoving things in their face every time they look at their phone. For crying out loud, as an official stance, you got rid of porn on the internet. Porn! On the Internet, why don't you just go ahead and take the pasta out of Olive Garden too?!? Any number of metrics would tell you that that was the nail in the coffin, turn the lights off, go home, you cannot survive making such a crazy decision...

But people are still here. Against all the algorithmic odds, people are still here. That must mean you're doing something right. That must mean a lot of people think you're doing something right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 🥔

An open letter to @staff

I already submitted this to Support under "Feedback," but I'm sharing it here too as I don't expect it to get a response, and I feel like putting in out in public may be more effective than sending it off into the void.

The recent post on the Staff blog about changing tumblr to an algorithmic feed features a large amount of misinformation that I feel staff needs to address, openly and honestly, with information on where this data was sourced at the very least.

Claim 1: Algorithms help small creators.

This is false, as algorithms are designed to push content that gets engagement in order to get it more engagement, thereby assuring that the popular remain popular and the small remain small except in instances of extreme luck.

This can already be seen on the tumblr radar, which is a combination of staff picks (usually the same half-dozen fandoms or niche special interests like Lego photography) which already have a ton of engagement, or posts that are getting enough engagement to hit the radar organically. Tumblr has an algorithm that runs like every other socmed algorithm on the planet, and it will decimate the reach of small creators just like every other platform before it.

Claim 2: Only a small portion of users utilize the chronological feed.

You can find a poll by user @darkwood-sleddog here that at the time of writing this, sits at over 40 THOUSAND responses showing that over 96 percent of them use the chronological feed. Claiming otherwise isn't just a misstatement, it's a lie. You are lying to your core userbase and expecting them to accept it as fact. It's not just unethical, it's insulting to people who have been supporting your platform for over a decade.

Claim 3: Tumblr is not easy to use.

This is also 100% false and you ABSOLUTELY know it. Tumblr is EXTREMELY easy to use, the issue is that the documentation, the explanations of features, and often even the stability of the service is subpar. All of this would be very easy for staff to fix, if they would invest in the creation of walkthroughs and clear explanations of how various site features work, as well as finally fixing the search function. Your inability to explain how your service works should not result in completely ignoring the needs and wants of your core long-term userbase. The fact that you're more willing to invest in the very systems that have made every other form of social media so horrifically toxic than in trying to make it easier for people to use the service AS IT WORKS NOW and fixing the parts that don't work as well speaks volumes toward what tumblr staff actually cares about.

You will not get a paycheck if your platform becomes defunct, and the thing that makes it special right now is that it is the ONLY large-scale socmed platform on THE ENTIRE INTERNET with a true chronological feed and no aggressive algorithmic content serving. The recent post from staff indicates that you are going to kill that, and are insisting that it's what we want. It is not. I'd hazard to guess that most of the dev team knows it isn't what we want, but I assume the money people don't care. The user base isn't relevant, just how much money they can bring in.

The CEO stated he wanted this to remain as sort of the last bastion of the Old Internet, and yet here we are, watching you declare you intend to burn it to the ground.

You can do so much better than this.

[bar-torr-old]

almost all of the fandoms im in currently have some kind of discourse so i might just make a comic or something for my ocs so i can have a good time 🤔

[tooiconic]

I know this is old discourse but I want to be on record saying that having that absolute clown (Dylan Mulvaney) on that ulta panel talking about "girlhood" was a slap in that face to women everywhere. They had two males sitting there talking about what it's like to be a woman... Oh I'm sorry a "girl". My blood boiled.

I support trans people and their human rights all day long. What I won't support is trans people speaking on issues that biological females, or even biological males, should be speaking about. Dylan doesn't understand what it's like to go though life as a biological woman, especially not growing up as a biological ✨ GIRL ✨ and never will. Just like people who are not trans should not be speaking on trans issues, they shouldn't be speaking on ours. Period.

Anyone who calls themselves a feminist, while blindly supporting biological males speaking for them.... Side eye, girlfriend, side EYE.

Call me terf, transphobic, etc. whatever. Be mad. ✌️

[citruscloudsandmoon]

Tag people you would like to get to know better

Thank you so much for tagging me @litterateur97 😁❤️ This was fun 😁🤩

Three Ships?

Lxmisa from death note. Have been shipping them since 2016 😍. All it took was this below scene 🤭. So even if they don't make sense, I will make them make sense to you 😘

Kaihil from Beyblade. I shipped them when I didn't know the meaning of shipping 😅 Beyblade V-force was streaming on toonami those days. Back then, I liked seeing Hiromi with both Kai and Tyson 😂. Then years passed. In my gap year, I re-watched both Digimon and Beyblade. And my love for kaihil reignited all over again. It only grew stronger when I was browsing ffn and deviant art all night 😍

Ulquihime from bleach. Funny story about them; I wouldn't have shipped them if it weren't for coming across gorgeous art of them by rboz. Wanting to know more about them, I started watching and reading bleach. So imagine my shock and misery when I came to know what happens in the end 😭🥲 but oh well, such is life and Kubo 😒. Still got the wonderful fandom where I can muse about them 😍❤️

2. First ship?

Kaihil was going to be here but I wouldn't count that because the grip they still have on me is insane 😭😍 So I am going to chose Kaede and Dylan from Mirmo anime

I would watch the show after coming back from school 🥹 the Hindi dub made it all more funnier. I was so happy when Kaede and Dylan got together 😭😍

3. Last song?

Dil Kay Isharay (DKI) by Taha G. It's an Urdu song and Taha G is so talented 💛🌻

4. Last movie?

White Chicks 🌚 this movie never gets old 😂

5. Currently reading?

Atomic habits by James Clear 🥲. I am right now trying to fix my routine and failing quite miserably in it. So while the boat is sinking, I am reading the said self help book to see if it would make any difference. So far it has kept me engaged 👀.

6. Currently watching?

Emily in Paris (S2). You have every right to judge me 🥲 but I just wanted to see what the hype was all about. And even though the show is patsy and Emily is starting to infuriate me (like girl you like Gabriel!!! Why the hell are you insistent in getting him back with his ex?! 😭), I can see why people like it. It's overall light-hearted and funny at some scenes.

Other than that, I am binge watching on friends sitcom along with my sister. Also I am watching the local urdu TV drama as well ' Mujhay pyaar hua tha'.

7. Currently consuming?

Roasted cashews 🤤

8. Currently craving?

Chicken Alfredo pasta 😭

9. Tagging now; @jkrobertson @kaflowypiec @neomoreheroes @green-mint @ishkajules @shewhodancedinthemoonlight, @professorchameleon @squicky-fannish-discourse @smoochme @wolborgie and anyone else who wants to do it 😁

Have fun 🌻

[hologramcowboy]

I swear what is up with male celebs dating the most problematic people. First Henry Cavill (which doesn’t surprise me because of his own comments he’s made), then Sebastian Stan (apparently he’s not dating her and is allegedly dating Annabelle Wallis now) Chris Evans, and now Dylan O’Brien. It seems like it’s a pattern for celebs to date someone who seems like a really cool person only to be exposed as either racist, homophobic, misogynistic, or fatphobic. And sometimes the person is all 4.

I honestly never had any problems with who any celeb dates and when I would see who it is, I would just be like “oh they’re so pretty” and “oh they seem pretty cool” and “I’m so happy for them” just for it come out a day later that they aren’t a decent person. Literally not being racist, homophobic, and etc.. is not that hard and is quite literally the bare minimum. It does not take that much to be a decent person. And i get those tweets are old, but everyone should know back in 2012 or 2013 or 2018 that saying a racial slur is wrong and it doesn’t matter if you were a teenager or a young adult, you should know better. And all of sudden deleting the tweets and blocking comments doesn’t necessarily mean you know better now, it just seems like you didn’t want to get caught and be held accountable. Either way, if they want to date those type of people then that’s their prerogative, but don’t expect that people will still look at you the same way. I honestly wonder what goes through their pr teams heads?

I am out of the loop on this one, has Henry's gf made other racist moves? If so 🤢🤢🤢 I hope he dumps her fast. Also, he's no stranger to stupid comments and failing to react in the face of racism and discrimination, sadly. It's why I'd rather avoid running into my idols, it's so much better to appreciate from a distance than find out celebs you love are racist, homophobic, mean, etc.

Celebs focus on image so, they are looking for perfect optics and tend to be quite shallow. So it's no surprise to me when their partners turn out to be shaddy. The thing is, if your partner is a racist but you want to claim you are not, I won't believe you because in supporting your racist girlfriend you are supporting racism so you are, in fact, a racist. People need to start taking responsability for their views. Did Henry date racist women? Yes. Therefore, clearly being inclusive isn't at the top of his values otherwise he could have never gone for a partner that has a racist mentality AND he has a history of this by now. So, while I admire his work and look, I question his views.

As for Dylan, his girlfriend seems extremely, how should I put this...lacking in neurons? My point is, I think, in her stupidity, she thought she was being cool by appropriating the n word. Which is beyond absurd. The lack of cultural awareness and empathy is quite sad. Ignorance should never be an excuse in these situations. It's why I hope that Cultural Sensitivity will be taught everywhere, because we all come from different backgrounds and cultures and we may have limitations imposed by our programming so it's important to learn about cultural differences and how to honor and celebrate them.

I question Jensen the same way due to Danneel, she was a bully in her early twitter years and also on the red carpet (see her maxim event interview where she disses bai ling) and she is truly questionable as a human, she tries to hide it through fake activism but high quality people won't buy that because they know those who truly value activism get involved on deep levels while she isn't even able to hold a coherent discouse about the causes she supposedly "supports". She also deleted her whitewashing of MLK when people pointed out that she shouldn't teach her children to white wash. Instead of using that opportunity to create a discourse and bring awareness to a highly important topic and give the people in the know a voice, she deleted their comments and then finally deleted the post. She then proceeded to call them "bullies" during a live she supposedly held to show she was an ally...I think that speaks volumes. Then there are the numerous lies from where she went to college, to how she got work, to pageant participation, to many, many more. Her character truly makes me question the real nature of Jensen Ackles' personality, because she contradicts everything he claims to stand for.

[thebisexualdogdad]

I was wondering if you could tell me about how you found out you are trans? Is just in having doubts about my gender identity recently but I’m not sure because I don’t have strong gender dysphoria. Also my therapist told me is probably just a phase but idk.

If you don’t want to or are uncomfortable just ignore this don’t worry.

Subconsciously I always knew but it just wasn't something I thought about because no one ever told me I could be. Like as a kindergartener my parents got called into parent teacher conferences many times because my teacher was "concerned" that I only wore boys clothes, hated playing dolls and house with the other girls and instead played with the dinosaurs and pokemon with the boys and generally I just fit in better with the boys etc. I always hated the idea of being a girl and wished i had been born a boy and once puberty hit I became super uncomfortable with my body and wore a jacket every single day to cover my chest from about 6th to 12th grade even in California heatwaves. Adults always told me that it was a phase, I was a tomboy and I'd grow out of it so I just ignored everything I was feeling.

I figured out i was queer first. My first celebrity crush at 5 years old was Lucy Liu in Charlie's angels and I had a total obsession with Jennifer Love Hewitt in ghost whisperer in middle school but again I just didn't think about it until freshman year of high school when the og pretty little liars came out and i saw Emily's story and went oh shit I like girls and don't really like guys so i must be gay so for many years i identified as a gay woman. Then at 19 I randomly watched a trans male youtubers coming out story and again it just clicked, I went Oh shit I'm a guy. At 21 after I started watching shadowhunters and saw Alec who i immediately fell in love with I realized I was actually bisexual and my dislike for men during my teenage years was really me experiencing severe gender envy and being jealous that i didnt look like them and wasnt percieved as a man like them.

Also at 21 I came out to two of my closest friends and one of them who i had been friends with since the first grade response was literally "Yeah I know" and I asked him how he knew and he said "whenever we played video games as kids you always picked the male avatars and most of the time you named them Dylan so your new name also makes sense."

So here's the thing, I know there's a lot of discourse about "people who don't experience much dysphoria can't be trans" but the only person who can truly know your identity is you. Everyone has a different relationship with thier body and just because you may not experience dysphoria the same way someone else does doesn't mean you aren't trans/non binary. If you feel in your heart like you are the opposite gender of which you were born, you're trans (or non binary if you feel like you are neither or genderfluid if you feel like various genders).

It's also perfectly okay for your identity to change. You can go some period of time thinking you are one gender and then later on go well actually I think I'm this gender or this gender non conforming identity now. Just like sexuality, gender is a spectrum and it's complex but it's your identity and you are allowed to identify and express yourself however you want.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Had a dream where there was Tumblr discourse from people insisting that Henrik was supposed to be asexual and therefore his relationship with Russ was "ace erasure".

The really annoying part is the only thing about that that makes it a dream was that it was on Tumblr. This exact discourse played out on the Digital Spy forums throughout Henruss. People who don't even know what asexuality is (if they knew, they wouldn't be saying "it's out of character for Henrik to want a relationship, he always seemed asexual" because ace people can still have relationships anyway lmao), saying Henrik was always portrayed as asexual and putting him in a relationship was a retcon.

Honestly there are few things more laughable than people saying Henrik was previously portrayed as ace. Just... imagine genuinely believing that Holby City would've introduced an asexual character in 2010. Lmfao. Holby didn't even learn trans people existed until 2020, they never learned the word "bisexual" existed, they kept alternating between implying Serena was a lesbian and implying she was bi because they didn't know the difference... and I'm supposed to believe they had asexual rep a decade ago? Lol no, Henrik was just written as being repressed and sex-repulsed due to trauma. That was always the intent of his character. Guy Henry said during series 13 that Henrik was sexually attracted to Sahira. S13E04 has guest character Keira Balfour, who basically says outright that she and Henrik are friends with benefits (or at the very least, have had a one-night stand, but their interactions seem to imply it happened more than once). If Henrik was intended as ace, how do you explain either of those things?

He was written as heterosexual from 2010 to 2016 and then he was written as bisexual starting from 2017. That's it. Don't drag asexual people into your discourse just because you can't stand the idea of a disabled man having sexual or romantic desires, especially for other men.

(I know some people are gonna be like "oh no they're just using ace people as a cover up for homophobia" but... while some of it is definitely that - and don't get me started on how shitty it is of them to weaponise one part of the LGBTQ+ community as a cover up for hating another part of it - it can't just be that because the exact same people do this with Dylan, who has only had straight relationships so far. Not in the form of specifically calling him asexual, granted - every time I've seen that, it's been from ace people projecting so they can relate to him, which is a different thing and totally valid - but the idea of "oh well Dylan's too logical to have romantic or sexual feelings, if the writers dare suggest he does it's OOC!!" still appears.)

(Also I feel the need to add that I'm making this post as someone who thinks both Henrik and Dylan are probably on the ace spectrum. But like... I also think Henrik is genderqueer, doesn't stop me from acknowledging that the writers literally never intended him to be.)

[zumpietoo]

This might be an incredibly weird thing to have observed but from 2 videos(the compliment battle one and the pop sugar one) where Cole drags Lana for not wearing deodorant at all during moonshot and then dragged Dylan for being messy and I love how it showcases how clean a person he is. Dylan has been dragged by friends and even Matt for his bad hygiene and now Cole for being messy. I thought there was discourse that Cole’s messy/smells bad…I’ve read it in some SH fics a few times but our man has his shit together and not to drag Dylan cause I really have no issue with him but Cole has always come off as the more considerate one out of the two.

Oh I agree....I also quite love that Dylan IS messy and Cole is vaguely annoyed by this

[starshipsofstarlord]

Can you do a one-shot where the reader was born in 1996 and she’s the daughter of Nikki Sixx and Brandi Brandt and is the bassist and songwriter of Wallows and is best friends with her bandmates Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters, and Cole Preston and she helps 5sos write songs for the album Calm and starts dating Ashton and the fans go nuts (in the good way) with shipping?

Wallowing

ashton Irwin x wallows!reader / masterlist

warnings; references to sex, swearing, threats

“Come in babe.” You opened the door, inviting your boyfriend Ashton into your flat. He had been having a hard day at the studio, and had asked if it was alright if he came over. Of course it was, but he had got a warning prior to his arrival, that they would not be alone, and that if he wanted to clear his head, it was certainly not the right place.

“Fuck you, you’re supposed to be on my side man!” At the sound of Dylan, yelling at whom you supposed to be Cole, you pinched the bridge of your nose, squeezing your eyes shut as you welcomed your partner into your home sweet home. Out of all days, they had to be playing COD in your apartment today.

“Sorry bout that.” A light grimace filled your face, but instead of giving you criticism, Ashton simply laughed, following you through the apartment, as you tried to slowly pass behind your band mates who were occupying your living room.

“Not so fast young Sixx, get your well endowed ass back here.” A sigh fell from your mouth as you rolled your eyes at Braeden, pausing your movements as he turned to lean against the back of your couch to peer over at you. “We need to have a conversation little lady.”

Groaning, you threw your head back, smiling a small apology towards Ash. “We were going to go to my room, I’d rather just you guys play my PS4 without needing to interact with me face to face.”

“Would you rather he FaceTime you whilst you’re getting down and dirty, or stand there like a kid’s doll and allow him to pull at your arm?” Dylan mumbled, as you crossed your arms, Ash greeting your band mates as you moved towards the tv, reaching for the side button and turning it off.

“Y/n what the hell?” Cole half screamed, breaking loose as he was close to finally beating Minette and killing his gamer character. His hands flailed as he expected an answer, raising in the air as he held the remote.

“I could ask you the same thing Preston, so what’s the schtick that’s making you keep me here, in my own apartment?” He gulped as you enquired at him, raising your brow, as you leaned back into your partner who stood awkwardly behind you like a supporting shadow.

“Congrats on the album Irwin, it’s great to see our own band member aiding your band. CALM is sick, and she makes me feel the same, just in a different manner.”

“Stop being a salty little bitch would you?” You asked, smacking him on the upside of the back of his head. He rutted his head back, clasping the behind of his scalp with his palm, firmly turning back to cast an icy glare towards you.

This was the normal behaviour around here, you all enjoyed getting under each other’s skin. It was a sign of true friendship, that whilst sometimes still triggering some real annoyance, that made your bond of being band mates that much deeper.

They were doing the same thing to you now, speaking prolifically showering your boyfriend in compliments, to side swab you with cockblockery. In all honesty, whenever Lydia or another girl was on the premises, you returned the favour, though that did not your pulsating frustration decrease at all.

“I’m going to assume there’s a problem here. Are you sure now is a good time for me to be here?” Ash asked reassuringly, his gentle touch applying a loving presence upon your shoulder, making you smile despite the situation that was running through the discourse of your veins

You craved him, to feel his body atop, or under, or however else against your own. It was infuriating to endure how your band mates dragged their greeting to him out, all you wanted was to discard his and your own clothing, leaving it as a jumble of forgotten material on the floor whilst the pair of you were caught up in mess upon the mattress, limbs inclined to coil around each arch, and breaths long overdue and escaping into the air.

“It’s a good time for you overall pal, considering that your sales are sky high, taller than this one that is practically trying to hump your arm. No problems with your presence, except the fact that it’s turning little Brandi’s baby’s hormones into overdrive.” Braeden spoke, earning a guttural growl out from your throat, as your nostrils flared furiously at his words.

If you didn’t get on with it, then the Red Sea of the month would cause a flood that would stain your underwear. You’d have preferred to take action before that happened. “The work isn’t just on my shoulders loser, if you want a worldwide selling album, put in some elbow grease, instead of playing stupid games.”

“I’m good, and by definition that makes you stupid, because they belong to you.” He remarked, Cole chuckling and offering him a high five.

“I could just kick you out.” You promptly supposed, as Dylan messed around with his phone, surrendering to the game, as he ran his hand to define the ruggedness of his silvery blue locks.

“Band rules say no to that.” Braeden stated. “And Ash, feel free to replace this one, we could do a switch. You’re basically ready to move in together, so we wouldn’t have to go anywhere else to have rapid fire nights.”

“Do I even want to know what that is?” Your boyfriend asked, and you, without any thought or hesitancy, shook your head. He certainly didn’t need to know about that, it was, least to say, a mess.

There would be dares, and drinks, and tattoos put in the most awkward places with that artist set that you kept very far under your bed. It was a shock that Ashton hadn’t seen the word ‘narwhale’ on the heel of your foot, or maybe he did, and decided against saying anything.

“I put up with these idiots.” Dylan sighed, though as you whipped your head around, you saw that he was not speaking directly to any of you, instead, his

“He’s on fucking insta live.” Cole realised, leaving over to get his face in the mirroring of the stream, waving a hand to the fans that spewed hearts onto the corner of the screen.

“Prick.” You called Dylan out, watching as he laughed at your lack of amusement, and poised the self proclaimed camera towards you, also catching the person beside you in the view.

“Calm.” Ashton softly spoke, sending you a small and reassuring smile, which you were defeated to not permit the same in return

“Funny pun Irwin, but shut up.” You laughed, and shook your head, him finally catching onto what he had said.

“Yes that is the incredibly talented 5SOS member Ashton Irwin. I know right, what is he doing with us?” Cole read, watching as Dylan rolled his eyes at his band member’s behaviour, wanting to get his phone back, though his attempts were lacklustre.

“Or more specifically, her?” Braeden asks, walking behind the sofa and grasping him, dragging him closer to where the phone was propped in Cole’s hand, giving the fans a clear image of his face. “Is he joining the band?” He reads from the flood of comments. “I wish, but we don’t draw that much talent.

“Speak for yourself.” You groaned, walking closer, leaning your head over Ash’s hunched shoulder, releasing an awkward smile as he raised it, gently bumping your chin with the slope of his muscle. “Rude.”

“Where are you guys? Well, we’re at y/n’s apartment. She just got back and dragged this old slugger in off the streets. How charitable.” Cole spoke, smiling up at Irwin as he lightly punched his face, already too comfortable with his hovering presence.

“Why is he there? This one makes me laugh, quick shag, ain’t that right buddy?” Braeden thoughtlessly worded, his eyes going wide in an instant as the fans quickly tended to the realisation of what he had meant. “Fuck, oops I guess.”

To say that you were furious was an understatement; you could feel an ache in your hands, wanting to tear the idiot into dismal pieces until there was nothing salvageable left to fix.

“You guess?” Dylan snickers, covering his mouth with his hand whence he saw your murderous expression conquer features. It was vastly more terrifying than any anger you had ever portrayed, and he could feel the couch moving as Braeden turned, and squirmed from the sight.

“Lemasters, imagine your head on a stick. That is going to happen, when I get my hands on you, your gonna turn cold as I strangle the living shit outta-“ Ashton grabbed you, as your arms tried to grasp and throttle your band mate, flopping in the air, intently furious at his revealing slip up.

“I think imma go.” He bolted, and as you struggled out of Ashton’s grip, you ran after him, out your front door and through the modesty of your building.

“She forgot her key.” Ashton noted, coming around and sitting with the remaining pair on the sofa. “How one of you think it’ll take for them to return?”

“As long as it takes for her to kill him.” Dylan grasps his phone back, fluttering his gaze over the comments. “They’re kinda cute together, found my new OTP. Sorry Dylan and Lydia. Oh don’t worry, that’s fine, we gotta take what we get and currently y/n’s not getting any because we have a tendency to cockblock her.”

“It’s our duty as the men of the band.” Cole spoke, a scream reverberating through from the hallway, audible to those online that were watching the two worlds merging.

“I think she got him.” Ash said, smirking lightly, as he heard your voice bellow out in rage against the male. Yep, your band was messy, but his wasn’t much different. He could certainly get used to it.