critterowo

[critterowo]

you may notice i use the phrase "my beloved" frequently. this is because i am in love with the world and everything in it. hope this clears things up <3

[critterowo]

hey, i've been gone a while. long story short i moved out and got a new cat. his name is boo :)

no clue what i'm gonna do with this blog but some people here are cool so guess i'm keeping it.

[critterowo]

Reblog this to prove your blog was made before the February 2022 tumblr resurgence

[critterowo]

tolkien fans are insufferable because you'll agree to watch the movies with them and then seven hours in they'll say "omg my favourite character is about to appear!" and it's a fucking siege weapon

[critterowo]

This was very lovely to wake up to. It's completely legit, in the replies people posted videos and pictures of the 'walk for El Vaquita', the fake protest to get El Vaquita desperately needed medical attention.

The comments in the tweet lead to celebration of a another Chilean comrade doggo named Negro Matapacos. And this is exactly the kind of education I want this month.

[critterowo]

What is the conservation status for The Game?

The Game

Conservation status: Least Concern

Classification: Non-native, non-invasive

The Game, while not as common a sight as it once was, remains a stable meme despite concerted efforts to eradicate it. This meme has been classified as a noxious meme by a large number of bloggers. "Noxious" is not an ecological definition; it refers to the effect that the meme has on humans, not the ecosystem. As such, while it does not reduce meme diversity, tumblr users are inclined to attempt to eradicate it anyway.

Unfortunately for these bloggers, the reproductive cycle of The Game actually benefits from concerted attempts to eradicate it. Declines in the meme's population since around 2013 were due not to eradication efforts but to ordinary memetic starvation; however, a viral post in 2020 has re-established a viable population and ill-considered eradication efforts have followed, bringing this meme firmly into the Least Concern category. Despite what one may have heard, The Game is unlikely to be lost anytime soon.

[critterowo]

Since joining Tumblr, I’ve met a lot of young queer people. Look, I’m a bisexual man in a gay relationship, and I’m approaching 30. I was still a kid when Matthew Shepard’s story was being covered on the news. I remember thinking, “I better keep my mouth shut about these feelings I’m having.”

And then I met Dominic when I was 12, and people could see how in love we were. And we got the shit beat out of us. The year I met him, some kids in the grade above me held me down against the bleachers in our gym and stomped on my hand until my fingers broke. Instead of sending me to the nurse, the teacher sent me to the assistant principal to explain the situation. She asked why the kids had beat me up. I said, “They were calling me gay.”

Her response was, “Well, are you?”

My, “I don’t know,” earned a call to my parents, and I was outed. Efforts were made to keep me from seeing Dom. Throughout high school, Dom’s stepmother intensified these efforts. He slept in the basement of the house. Although he was an incredibly talented student, he was prohibited from participating in any extracurriculars. He suffered a lot of physical abuse during those years.

The day he turned 18, he packed up everything he had and walked to my house, and we’ve lived together ever since. Things are better, but they’re not perfect. I’ve had trucks pull up next to me at stoplights and, seeing the pride sticker on my car, through old drinks and garbage into my window. I no longer speak to my dad’s side of the family. I haven’t been to see them for Christmas or Thanksgiving in years. One of my uncles had cornered me at Thanksgiving when I was 17 and said, “I’m not going to judge you, but I’d be happy to break your neck so God can do the judging a little sooner.”

I joined a support group for trans and intersex people. When I joined, 40 people attended regularly. Within the year, the group was half the size it had been. Some couldn’t make it anymore, because they were staying at the shelter, where their stay hinged on them agreeing to instead to attend homophobic sermons. Some were put in correctional therapy. Five of them died. Three of those, I didn’t know, but I knew Alex, the 19 year old who was fag-dragged in Kentucky and died a day later in the hospital, and I knew Stephanie, who went home to Alabama to care for her mom in hospice and was beaten to death with a baseball bat by her mom’s boyfriend.

Tumblr is not reality. The dynamic here does not reflect the dynamic out there. Here’s the part where I finally make a point, and it might be extremely unpopular - but guys, value your allies. Value each other. We are met with enough hate in our daily lives to enter an online safe-space and meet more hate from our own, over petty things. Don’t go after one another over every little thing you find problematic.

Learn to see nuance. Maybe the word “queer” bothers you, and you see a gay man using it as an umbrella term. Maybe someone called a trans man a trans woman because they’re confused about terminology, but the post where they did it was voicing support for the trans community. Maybe someone is just asking a question, wanting to learn more. Stop. Attacking. These. People.

Allies are being driven away. Members of our own community are being ostracized. Others are feeling nervous and estranged, and it’s largely because of places like Tumblr, where the social justice movement is quickly becoming violent and radical. I am begging you, stop nitpicking “problematic” things and start directing your efforts to create real change. When it comes to comes to your allies, forget the “social justice warrior” mentality and put down your torch. Educate calmly. Be respectful. Be understanding. Be forgiving. And I’m certainly not saying that your anger doesn’t have a good place - when you are met with bigots on the street, congress members who want to pass hateful laws, violent protesters, abusive parents, prejudiced teachers, that is when you need to be a warrior. That’s when it counts. In the real world. When you have the opportunity to protect people from real harm. Attacking your would-be allies via anonymous asks is just going to lose us ground in the long run. And we don’t have time for that, not when trans women of color are being murdered every day, not when states are still fighting against marriage equality, not when there are politicians in office who believe that trans people are possessed by demons, not when we’ve just lost 50 brothers and sisters to one gunman, not when the media won’t even admit that the attack was homophobic.

Please step back. Look at the big picture. Look at where we are, globally. Don’t just log on to your safe space and attack your allies over small missteps. That’s like washing the dishes in a house that’s on fire, kids. Let’s fight on the battlefield, and when we come home to each other, let’s just focus on bandaging up our wounds so we can go out and win the war.

[critterowo]

[critterowo]

i cannot emphasize enough how important medical literacy is for trans people. for everyone, really, but especially for trans people.

and i don’t mean that you need to go to med school or become an expert or anything. i mean basic trans medical literacy. i have seen so many posts from trans people (primarily other transmascs) listing things that “no one told them” about surgery or hormones and they make me want to rip my hair out because the things they list tell me that they did absolutely no research about the medical decision they made, nor did they listen to their medical provider about it.

you cannot be serious when you say “no one told you” that anesthesia would make you sleepy or that testosterone would increase your libido. those are things that the bare minimum googling would tell you.

if you don’t know what effects something will have on you, if you don’t know what the process will look like, you can’t make an informed decision. and you also can’t know when something is happening that shouldn’t be. many years ago, a post went around warning transmascs that, among other things, their injection site for t would be red, dramatically swollen, and very painful. that should not happen. if that person had done their research or even just asked someone after it happened the first time, they would know that.

when you pick up your hormones, you can ask the pharmacist your questions. when you get your prescription from your doctor, you can ask them questions. when you book your surgery, you can ask them questions. when you are in the hospital bed before surgery, you can ask questions. if your provider doesn’t know, you can find information online from reputable sources. if you know other trans people who have done what you’re doing, you can ask them.

i know that it can be intimidating to seek out medical information if you’re not used to it, but you NEED to be informed about your own body. ESPECIALLY if your doctor isn’t. everyone should know as much as they can about the healthcare they’re seeking, but trans people especially need to be informed because providers frequently aren’t. don’t just take random tumblr posts as gospel. go look for information off of this site, double check it with other sources, talk to older trans people in real life if you can. there are trans people everywhere, especially transfems, who have been successfully DIYing their hormones for ages, and they can help you.

and remember that this urging for you to be informed is not because hormones and surgery are scary or dangerous or bad. it’s because they are healthcare and all healthcare decisions should be made from the most informed position possible.

[critterowo]

THE GOAT HAS BURNED

[critterowo]

Today’s anime dog of the day is:

Alexander from Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) Look at these two! So close they’re practically inseparable.

[critterowo]

reblog to pet the sad cat 　　　　　　 ＿＿ 　　　　　／＞　　フ 　　　　　|  　_　 _ l 　 　　　／` ミ＿xノ 　　 　 /　　　 　 | 　　　 /　 ヽ　　 ﾉ 　 　 │　　|　|　| 　／￣|　　 |　|　| 　| (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__) 　＼二つ

[critterowo]

send 👁👁

[critterowo]

I just finished a 10 page paper and during my research for it I found a study on how people compare attractiveness between a trans and cis person. The only difference during the ratings were saying the person was trans or cis, there wasn't a difference in photos.

And surprise surprise, people were overall rated as less attractive just because they were labeled as trans!

So keep that in mind when people are pointing out individual features on a trans person or insists that all trans people are unattractive.

[critterowo]

every time i think i’m doing great or making progress in anything at all i launch myself 10 steps back and down a flight of stairs

[critterowo]

[critterowo]

You know what lads, the key to success is picturing this image in your mind whenever you do literally anything