#[ i am legitimately not okay on several levels ]

[bestbeest]

Service Dogs and Prong Collars

While I personally am a very hippy-dippy +R trainer, and do not use a prong on my dog, I wanted to make a post in response to the common notion that "no real service dog uses a prong collar." I've seen this sentiment several times in the last week or so and it's worth discussing, especially given how harmful 'fake-spotting' can be to service dog teams.

Let's start with some context about the prong, first. Unlike some training tools, it's not an inherently aversive tool, in that if no pressure is applied to it (i.e. the leash is not pulled at all), it doesn't pinch or poke. A certain level of force has to be applied for the prongs to pinch the dog. I am NOT saying that prongs are not typically used aversively or that they do not ever hurt the dog. What I'm saying is that the prong itself is just a magnifying tool, which magnifies small amounts of pressure from the leash by focusing them on very small specific points.

I also want to note that some professional service dog trainers do use prongs as aversive training tools, and while I am personally of the opinion that if your dog is service-dog quality, you should not NEED aversers to train it, other valid professional trainers in the field do use them to turn out well-bshaved effective service dogs. And of course, many unskilled owner-trainers rely on them to bridge the gap between their lack of training experience/skill and the extremely high behavioral standards required of service dogs (yes, you CAN very slowly train a dog not to sniff other people by reinforcing it each time it chooses not to and then fading out treats; you can also just do a quick leash pop when it leans over to sniff someone, and the dog will get the memo much more quickly and without the level of skill at timing needed). So this post is not intended to denigrate balanced trainers who use the prong as an averser, either.

That in mind, here are a few reasons that that service dog you just saw might be perfectly legitimate AND wearing a prong collar!

The dog was initially trained on a prong and now associates it with going into 'work mode.' Service dogs need some kind of cue to tell them when to be extremely professional and serious, and when they're okay to just be a regular old dog. My dog loves going up to people and saying hello, but obviously he can't be doing that kind of thing when he's on duty. Knowing that, I decided from the beginning to teach him that the signal was wearing a certain vest, and being 'naked' meant he could goof off. Other handlers use different signals, and if the dog was initially trained using a prong, that may be its de facto signal to get serious.

The handler's disability gives them hand strength issues and even a very small pull can cause them to drop the leash. In this case the prong provides noticeable pressure much earlier than a flat collar would and reminds the dog to be very gentle with their person.

The handler's disability gives them balance issues and even a very small pull can cause them to fall over. See above.

For some reason (cerebral palsy, wheelchair user, grip strength issues, etc), the handler needs a communication tool that can magnify very small movements of the leash into something the dog can notice and understand. I actually considered using a prong for this reason, so that I could just put a small amount of directional pressure on the leash to signal to my dog that we were turning one way or the other, but ended up going with a different method. Because the prong condenses the total amount of leash pressure into smaller, stronger points, instead of distributing it broadly the way a flat collar does, much smaller or subtler movements of the leash or the handler's hand can communicate a cue to the dog!

This is just one example of why it's so important not to assume that a service dog team is fake because they don't look the way we normally expect service dogs to look. There's an incredibly wide range of disabilities out there that affect people in a myriad of ways, and even more ways they navigate and manage those disabilities. Taking photos of people and posting them online, talking about them behind their back, or even harassing them about their legitimacy in person can be incredibly harmful and can lead to disabled people not getting the support and resources they need. Think about that the next time you see a service dog that doesn't meet your expectations!

[littlesubbyflower]

Smoochy Kiss - E.M.

Modern AU Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary : You show Eddie a cute TikTok and he’s more than willing to recreate it with you

820 Words

Warnings - None? This is tooth rotting fluff. (if there are any warnings that you think should be added, please PM me and I will add them!!)

Author’s Note : I came up with this blurb out of spite over a legitimate TikTok that my boyfriend refuses to make with me even though I cried over it lmao. My fictional boyfriend Eddie would NEVER deny the simple pleasures of recreating TikToks. 

Thank you @myobmaya for always reading my ideas and helping me bring them to life! I am forever grateful and I love you always for it! 💖

— 🌻 — —🌻 — — 🌻 — 

The video started off simple, just a girl applying lipstick, smudging it a bit, and then her boyfriend’s hand comes into view and the camera pans to the left to bring him into view and he has kiss marks all over his face and he grins like an idiot. 

‘This is so cute, what the fuck?’ you think to yourself. 

“Hey Eddie!!” You call out, hoping he’d hear you from your spot on the couch. 

“Yes, sweetheart?” Eddie says, walking into the living room. 

“So, uh, I saw this video… and..” you look up at him while he’s now standing in front of you “Actually, never mind. It’s stupid, and you probably won’t want to. Sorry to interrupt whatever you were doing in the bedroom.” 

“No, no. Let me see it, baby.” He sits next to you and waits for you to show him the Tiktok you were previously watching. You unlock your phone and show him the video, and he gently takes your phone and watches the video three more times before he hands you your phone and bolts out of the room without a word. 

Moments later, he reappears with several different shades of your lipstick. 

“Do it. Let’s do it, please.” He shoves the lipsticks into your hands. 

“Really? You’d want to do this with me?” You ask, shyly. 

“Of course! If it’s something that will make you smile, I’ll do it.” He says seriously, kneeling in front of you. “Now get to smoochy-kissing, baby, those kiss marks aren’t going to appear themselves!” 

You laugh and pick up a pinkish shade, you apply it and kiss his forehead and his cheek. You pick up a darker shade and kiss his other cheek, his temple and his nose. He picks up his favorite shade, red, and applies it for you. You kiss his lips, his jaw and another on his neck. 

Eddie let out a groan, “Baby if you keep kissing my jaw and neck we will never finish this video.”

“Sorry. Ed’s, it’s just so tempting!” you giggle and kiss his jaw again. 

“Okay, perfect. Now, start the video and apply this shade like she did, and don’t forget to smudge it a little.” Eddie says, excitedly pushing your phone into your hands. You roll your eyes at his eagerness and start the video, doing exactly what the other girl had done. Eddie brings his ring clad hand up into the camera’s view and you pan the camera to him and he’s smiling like an idiot, looking at you with pure love in his eyes. You bring the camera back to your view and make a silly face before saving and drafting the video. 

“I’m going to screen record it and send it to the girls.” You say, doing just that. Once you send it to the group chat between Nancy, Robin and yourself, you just sit and wait for their reply. 

“I think this is the best Tikkok you’ve ever made.” 

“Sweetheart, this is the only TikTok I've ever made.” Eddie says laughing, and laying his head in your lap. 

“Oh, Robin is facetiming me!” you say as the phone starts ringing. 

“Hi Rob-”

You are interrupted by the sound of her gagging. 

“That video was so cute it was disgusting.” she gags again. 

“Post it! I thought it was sweet!” Nancy yells from somewhere in the background. 

Robin shushes her and looks back at the screen. “She’s right, it is sweet, but disgusting at the same time. Like, I'm gay and all, but that was next level gay and I would appreciate it if you did not subject me to that kind of content again.” She jokes. 

Eddie takes the phone out of your hands, flashes Robin a grin and pulls the phone back to be able to see his own face on the screen better. 

“You’re just mad Nance won’t let you do this with her!” Eddie teases. 

“You’re right, lover boy, she is mad that I won’t let her, how sad!” Nancy calls out from somewhere in the background again. 

“Well me and my darling here are going to hang up so we can post our disgusting video now!” Eddie laughs, earning a gag from Robin again before hanging up. 

“Hey! I didn’t even get to tell them bye!” you complain. 

Eddie shrugs his shoulders and purses his lips for a kiss. “I’d like an actual kiss now, m’lday!” 

“Let me post this video before I forget!” You add the necessary tags and music to the video before posting. “Okay, and done! It’s posted!” You lean down and press a quick peck to Eddie’s lips. 

“But I wanted a smoochy-kiss!” Eddie whines and pouts. You just laugh and push him off your lap and he falls to the floor with a light thud. 

“Sorry, not now, lover boy!” You say as you walk off to find the makeup remover and some cotton pads.

[theeio]

What got you into livio? Was it fic, art, another friend, or did you just see him and go: “wowza.”

HI IM BLOWING A KISS TO U CHRIS

there are…. SEVERAL factors to why i fixated on livio so here it is. ive written this elsewhere before but HERE IT IS AND HERE IT GOES:

Livio was a pivotal character in my absolute favourite episodes in Tristamp. Episodes 5-7 is one of the most breathtaking things I’ve seen in anime in a while. It’s not often you see such *strong* visual storytelling and show not tell in an anime, the BEAUTIFUL score and sound design, and seeing the tragedy of the blessing children, with the wonderfully done 2d animation, having one of the best action sequences in the season (Vash vs Livio), and how meaningful every moment was and how it aids in seeing the character’s motivations (especially Wolfwood). I could go on.

The found family between Livio and Wolfwood got to me. YES I KNOW. IM PREDICTABLE. Their moments, both in their backstory and when Wolfwood wakes him up...was so warm and tender it was unbelievable. How gentle they were as children, vs how the Eye of Michael made them to be now. Man that hurt. Also the bit in their childhood friendship montage including bonding by trying to smoke worm legs was INCREDIBLY FUNNY

And on that note. I think part of why love Livio is also because episode 7 was one of the FUNNIEST viewing experiences of anything in my LIFE. So story time I was watching this show for the first time with my older sister and mom, and when Vash was telling Wolfwood that in order to save Livio he needed to Make him remember (“There has to be something he cant forget") I joked offhandedly "lol wolfwood revives livio with weed" and then??? half a minute later THEY ACTUALLY WENT THERE?2?1?1?1?11?1?11?? WOLFWOOD ACTUALLY LEGITIMATELY REVIVED LIVIO WITH THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP AND WEED AND WE WERE LOSING OUR SHITS AND SCREAMINGGGG and then right after that Livio [REDACTED]s and then we were like

4. DVDJDBDJDJDKDJDKDFHKDDK but anyway yeah like, conceptually the episodes Livio in was RIDICULOUS but bro. I am UTTERLYYY OBSESSED with how they Made made it work???? So well??? Somehow those were the moments hit hardest emotionally for me. It was so, SO good.

5. Also Tristamp Livio relatable to me on an insanely specific level….like can’t move on from the best friend you made before you were 12 who had to leave from life circumstances, whose name also starts with “Nico” specific? Yeah me too Livio

6. And finally just. Knowing that Livio has SO MUCH MORE going for him in the source material? I haven’t read the manga yet but I’m so unbelievably excited to see more of this character, be it in Trimax or the next season of Tristamp. I love him and Razlo’s design and he intrigues me greatly from what I’ve seen and heard from manga readers. I’m vibrating at the idea of seeing him rigged up and animated in his full buff cowboy glory

OKAY IM DONE HDDJJDDJDJDK THIS GOT TOO LONG AND SILLY DHSKSHSKS have a livio scribble as a thanks🥰BYE

[crystalelemental]

Emerald League defeated. With the team I had planned on, which worked as well as I could've hoped.

The team is as follows:

Blaziken (Lonely)

Delcatty (Hasty)

Tropius (Bold)

Banette (Naive)

Walrein (Naughty)

Mawile (Jolly)

All were caught as the first female we encountered. I didn't reset for any natures. This is the only time Mawile has ever cooperated with me.

Blaziken absolutely demolished Sidney and Glacia. Admittedly, they kinda threw? Sidney didn't use Sand Attack, and Glacia didn't use a Water move. Bulk Up + Fighting move just broke both.

Banette obliterated Phoebe. Shadow Ball spam easily knocked out everything in one shot. Granted, crit on Sableye, so like...that's a bit cheating, but I count it.

Walrein slapped Drake apart, except for Kingdra who got her to 1HP. She did not outspeed Flygon.

Tropius was supposed to help against Wallace, but failed to outspeed Wailord of all things and got hit by Blizzard, dying instantly. I had revived Walrein to hopefully do this exact thing, and it Body Slammed until Walrein dropped. We were aiming for a paralysis, which we got on Ludicolo before dropping. Then...the fun.

I mentioned leading into this that I had a game plan for Mawile. That game plan is revealed now, through Baton Pass. Iron Defense Baton Pass into Calm Mind Delcatty. I admit, I threw in the Double Team boosts for funsies, to create this specific combo. It swept Wallace no problem.

And to prove its efficacy, we swept the League with it. You know what the really messed up part is? It was hard as hell.

Sidney's Mightyena has Roar. He can force you out and remove all your buffs. Phoebe's Curse ignores accuracy checks. Wallace has Rain Dance/Water Spout, which is going to kill you if it lands so you cannot fuck around that long. Glacia...okay, she only has Hail, but for some reason missed only one attack ever despite +5 evasion. I legitimately questioned if Ice Ball always hit under Hail and no one knew. And Drake has nothing, Shelgon's easy to play around. Paralysis is a bit spooky I guess, but he can't hurt Mawile. We had a legitimate, absolute bitch of a time on this one.

Which is kinda great. Emerald really did introduce counterplay to all its new tech. It does not make it easy to come in and sweep whatever you want. And I kinda respect that, even if it did ultimately pave the way for "the best and most consistent approach is just high damage offense."

That said, the same kudos cannot be extended to Mr. Stone.

(Note: she was 53 before starting League Sweep; Delcatty levels like crazy)

Steven's Skarmory can, as expected, not even come close to denting Mawile. And Delcatty has Cute Charm which just further locks down Skarmory's shit. Aerial Ace is a very funny anti-evasion strat, though. Would absolutely kill Ninjask. His team is exquisite in all else, and it feels only fitting that Mawile be the hard counter to him that she was destined to be. For added fun, had Delcatty not been -Def nature, we likely would've been fine, even without evasion. The evasion was just an added little fuck you to not even need healing items.

So yeah. Emerald defeated. That was fun. Absolutely huge fan of Walrein, and while I didn't get to play to Calm Mind Banette, I have every confidence it would perform well enough to handle Wallace given access to Thunderbolt and Psychic. Blaziken remains the best, and running this nonsense Delcatty was divine. Mawile is actually great. Hit level 41 and you're pretty much set to do what she needs to do, and it really does just complete negate some fights. Tropius...buddy, I liked running you all game, but the League kinda dunks on you way too hard. Flying offers nothing, it's actively bad in several places, and Wallace is extremely too balanced for its sole Grass type move to do much. Especially since Wailord can both remove its potential Sunny Day/Solarbeam combo, and one-shots with Blizzard. I am not too impressed with Tropius, sadly.

Next up is supposed to be FRLG. I have to admit, I'm not super excited about it? I might do Platinum next. But I did want to cover everything, so...who knows, we'll see what I pick up.

[moved-to-aromanticsuzuya]

you said you didn’t know much about it so please understand I’m not trying to be aggressive or confrontational but ‘ramcoa’ is rebranded satanic panic stuff that is used to sneak right wing conspiracy theories into DID spaces. it’s not that the trauma behind people thinking they experienced ‘ramcoa’ doesn’t exist - it does. trafficking is real and so are cults and that sort of abuse is horrific and extremely real. however there is no need for a catchall term to describe several discrete but specific things - abuse is enough. torture is enough. trafficking is enough. the only purpose of ramcoa as a term is to legitimize satanic ritual abuse and other antisemetic conspiracies. ALL of the people behind the creation and promotion of the term on an institutional and research level are notorious frauds and satanic panic pushers, or they’re people who are citing those people as their only/primary sources. please be careful about what you’re legitimizing and promoting - it’s so dangerous to turn ‘believe survivors’ (a true and good thing) into ‘satanic ritual abuse was totally real all along’.

hey anon, thank you for writing this out and not being rude about it. I'm sorry it took a while to answer, I went to go educate myself but ended up... very confused! the more I try to research, the more confused I become!

I looked into WHERE the term ramcoa itself came from, and it IS tied to the ISSTD which, from my understanding, promoted the whole SRA thing during the Satanic Panic, right? overall the only thing on ramcoa I found that wasn't in the form of a carrd or Reddit post was the Wikipedia article on ISSTD (which I've been rereading so much to try to wrap my head around it all, alongside with the satanic panic article, that my head hurts). the carrds didn't say anything about SRA at all. and the reddit posts are all r/systemscringe and even THERE people argue about it.

I also see people who use the term ramcoa talk about how it's not the same as SRA? seems like it's a repurposed (is that the word?) term? from what I'm seeing, it doesn't look like anyone's trying to legitimize SRA, just talk about their experiences as trauma survivors. and they have a term they use for it. which isn't a bad thing, right? but then again, people in the same spaces also disagree and talk about how ramcoa isn't real. so uh. seems like it's a controversial topic...?

in any case, I will say that I am NOT trying to legitimize any antisemitic conspiracies. and i'm also NOT trying to dismiss anyone's trauma or police the way people talk about their experiences. I can't tell others what they did or didn't go through. this is all a pretty complex thing and I'm trying to understand the best I can. sorry for any weird or repetitive wording or if I came off as aggressive somehow. it's just a lot to process. you know

anyway, um. I've reread this a thousand times and my head hurts. so im just going to post it. hopefully it makes sense somewhat. okay. okay

[eldritchmochi]

Word prompt for the letters! SWORD TIME

mina pls that is so many letters lmao

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

okay, if it is not obvious, i have thought SO MUCH about disability in exandria, so heres a general worldbuilding headcannon vs character based hc but it's shown that disability isn't overly impactful in exandria. basically everything we've seen ranging from pcs like shakaste to big npcs like dancer and also smaller one off pcs like the moorbounder dealer in the city of beasts, whatever the name is, they're fully functional within society despite major physical disabilities and theres functionally not a whole lot of ableism at a surface level when it comes to worldbuilding (thanks matt).

however..... its not hard (for me) to extrapolate how the dynasty in particular would have a not great view on disability (thank u cherry for putting it into words as i was charlie day-ing over coping skills early on). it's not something that i talk about explicitly in coping skills (and may not since it would be really info dumpy and not vibe with the way i write or characterize the wizards lmao) but it's something ive spent a great deal of time thinking thru for the dang fic and my in-head notes are basically a) in a modern setting like coping skills, the healthcare situation moves at a glacial pace partly because elves live forever so what is a several year wait for a non emergent specialist issue and b) major disabilities, things that impact daily living to a significant degree that cannot be "fixed" with magic, are at best really only tolerated until anamnesis or consecution so the body can be reset into a more perfect form

i could wax poetic about the nitty gritty as it relates to coping skills specifically, but that is like, the base premise of 90% of the fic lmao

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

okay so, heres the thing: with the exception of a few squicks, if something is well written with some fukken *heart* i will eat up just about anything. theres some tropes i don't really get myself and haven't found anything with it that's interested me, like hanahaki, but i have fav fics involving things i notoriously avoid, like kid fic and hs aus. like legitimately, my absolute fav fic is a non explicit hs au, which considering i basically dont read non explicit fics OR hs aus is fucking wild

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

lets see, i did one here for an ashrym fic, and one here for general shadowgast so lets go with a single character, and a delightfully weird song for her

obviously imogen, again, because its funny. do not ask me why spotify recommended this german edm country album to me a bit ago but i listened to the whole thing and it fucking slapped, and this song immediately went on my hells playlist

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

I AM ONLY DOING ONE BECAUSE I DONT TRUST YOU MINA (ilu but also damn many letters lmao)

but callowmoore is just chefs kiss. i don't see anything necessarily romantic between them but i love the idea of the two of them bonding over being absolute gremlins. ashton definitely needs a charismatic wingman and fearne definitely needs someone who has (some level of) smarts re Doing Crimes, so the two of them playing off each other is just delightful and i love how soft they are with each other in cannon and in turn all the fanart (especially the forehead kiss???? im still not normal about that)

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

hmmmmmmmmmmm okay i guess maybe reylo? the rots kiss was absolute garbage rey deserves better BUT i am in theory into her domming the shit out of him but reylo shippers as a whole soured me on the ship and now i just hhhh no thank you, even from authors i trust to write it in a way i'd enjoy :C

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

T answered here! (basically no lmao)

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

homestuck :I like part of it was definitely the Fandom Cycle of falling out if interest with something, especially once there stopped being new cannon i could access but a bigger part of it was seeing all my fav artists and writers in the fandoms, particularly the ones 30+, PARTICULARLY Black artist, being absolutely shat on by kids for the crime of... being adults in fandom spaces basically, or otherwise creating fanworks that featured non-white, non-thin depictions of the characters. i live vicariously thru @/roundandtalented when they spam share hs art because i still love those characters but yeesh ye olde tumblr hs fandom got VERY toxic

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

answered once here with ashton and here with astarion so i guess i gotta keep the train going with "a" name characters

hmmmmmmmmmm

okay lets say abby from ncis (i have watched Many crime procedurals lmao). i imagine she and i would be GREAT fashion buddies, especially when i'm bubblegum pop kawaii to her scary goth. we could swap tips on breaking in big stompy boots and all the best places for cute clothes, and i think we're fairly close in size too so could even SWAP gasp The Dream

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

god i do not know if fandom as a whole has picked up on any of the various things i've built in my fics but tbh i think its absolutely hilarious how i inevitably write a porn/camming au for like every fandom i write multiple fics for. it happens, every single time. EVERY TIME. in fact, mine and cherry's sg camming au started with me lampshading this trend i have, laughing about how FINALLY here was a fandom where i couldn't write camming and make it work, except whoops i thought too hard on it and made it work. this occurred over the course of like..... a single evening. i had the basic outline sketched out within twenty minutes of me being like "theres no way i could write camming into critical role, NO WAY" i am not even exaggerating

so i guess maybe my hilarious contribution to critical role is the contemporary magical setting proof-of-concept???? cherry did say there werent really that many at the time i asked because i lov me some modern aus

there are maybe some letters left idk at this point lmao but here is the meme for those of u who made it thru all that

[neuroticboyfriend]

Hi, I hope you don't mind this ask, I just kind of- wanted a space to verbalize some of my thoughts on my complicated feelings about my own disability. And, idk, maybe this could resonate with some other people too.

Basically, I've sort of considered myself disabled for a little while, because, well. A disability is something that impacts your ability to function and carry out tasks and activities, and my abilities to do those things is certainly impacted. But I always felt guilty for thinking of myself like that, because most of my struggles felt like they only impacted the things I did for leisure, and it felt like I was being overdramatic. Even now, it still feels weird to call myself disabled, like I'm doing something wrong.

I say all of this because it's set-up to the fact that I recently realized that I have a lot less functioning than I thought I did. I am in school, and I have good grades, which is a large part of why I was dismissing everything. But I realized that I still only take four classes, and they're all decently easy work (as in, the intellectual work I have to put into them isn't particularly high), and yet I still rarely go to a full week of classes and can't do much outside of school once I get home from a school day. I do eat regularly, but that's mostly because I'm lucky enough to still live with my very nice father who's willing to cook for me, and when he's not around, I essentially don't eat food that takes any preparation beyond "open a container".

And. It was a very strange experience to come to this realization, and instead of being saddened by it, feeling happy and lifted up. Instead of being crushed by the weight of things I couldn't do, it felt refreshing to newly recognize how surprisingly short my limits are.

Now that I think on it, I believe I know why I felt that joy. On some level, I'd already known my limits, and loathed everything they kept me from doing, but I'd never really made the mental connection that those limits were due to my disability. In addition, it felt legitimizing to my struggles to realize that there was a deeper reason than I'd thought as to why I struggle despite having an easy life. (Of course, disability isn't the only legitimate reason why someone can struggle, but it's hard to apply things you logically know to your own emotions sometimes)

So. If anyone else is still reading this, I guess what I want to say is that it's okay to be glad that you're disabled, or for your first reaction to realizing that you're disabled/more severely disabled than you'd thought to be joy. It can bring you a sense of validation to finally feel like you have a reason for struggling with things most other people seem to find easy. It isn't selfish, and it isn't just "having an excuse to be lazy" or "invading the space of real disabled people".

thank you for sharing your experience; i relate to this, too. and this kinda reminds me of how i felt about being fat. for the longest time, i felt like i was too fat, and didnt deserve to take up so much space. it lead to me having a really distorted, hateful view of my body.

but once i encountered fat liberationists, many of whom were actually bigger than me, things changed. i saw them be happy and fight back. they taught me to stop blaming myself. the fategories allowed me to see myself in relation to other fat people, instead of skinny people through BMI.

im between small-mid fat, but BMI says im morbidly obese. for a while i thought i was just comforted by the idea that i wasnt as fat as I thought i was, but that felt fatphobic to me. until i realized, it was that i realized i wasn't too much, because none of us (fat people) are. all bodies are different, and that includes size, too.

the comfort ultimately came from finally being able to look at my body and see *me* - not the skinny person i was "supposed to be." i was humanized, as who i really am. in both cases - disability and fatness - its recognizing the reality of our existence that affirms us.

[nightmaremybeloved]

i dont know if its worth it to make a post or not, entirely because it seems as though these kinds of controversies are just going to be par for the course from now until forever. so i will just say:

this blog isnt going anywhere right now.

it is a sideblog. i dont post on it nearly as much as i used to back when the dsmp was still running. my personal thoughts and opinions are less often shared now then before. i dont have plans to change this, im not as attached as back then.

supporting victims of abuse is important. i think its really unfortunate that mcyt and the dteam space in general has a tendacy to treat it with varying levels of severity all hingeing on the negative consquences for an individual creator. supporting victims is supposed to be about Supporting someone who's been though a very difficult experience where they have felt neither seen nor heard. it should not be about tarring and feathering their abuser because you specifically hate that guy.

dteam, and this new george situation, is complicated entirely for the fact that everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for them to fuck up--legitimately rooting for their downfall. does that make what george did okay? No. but it does mean that this is incredibly more nuanced entirely for the fact that people unrelated are interjecting their opinions in order to maintain a Holier Than Thou apperence. which is unnecessary and helps no one, least of all caiti.

anyways take everything I say with a grain of salt, i am obviously no grand authority on the matter. but i will probably contiune with my sprotic posting on this blog--at least until i've completely lost interest.

love to everyone who is leaving ❤️ i can definitely see this as a straw that broke the camel's back scenario and i wish y'all the best

[peppertaemint]

I was wondering your thoughts about this still to this day, hate on SuperM from fans of the groups (mostly EXO-Ls), that were in SuperM. A reaction channel recently featured a few SuperM videos and the comment section was a g.d. hot mess. I cannot believe almost 5 years later and people (again mostly annoying ass EXO-Ls) are still being petty and childish asf about them. Anything from: they were created for evil (yes evil lmao) purposes by LSM to it was a horrible time for Kai and Baekhyun because they were so overworked and LSM scolded Baekhyun for his opinins so it's odd that some EXO-Ls would like that group to they were created to "take down" BTS because LSM was jealous etc etc and all that bullshit. Sometimes I can't believe I'm part of the idiot species who think like that lmao None of those excuses for hating a group with seven talented and attractive as hell adult men, make any sense. The overworked shit drives me nuts the most because it's once again babying these grown ups who are old enough to make their own decisions and knew juggling multiple groups was going to be tricky but wanted to be part of it. I am so sick of "fans" being angry, upset, defensive or hurt on behalf of these adults. LSM scolded Baekhyun. Okay??? Lmao Like that's between those two and nobody knows the level of the scolding anyway. Baek didn't say "LSM cursed me the fuck out and told me he's gonna kick my dog next time he sees him" scolding can even be done playfully. I just can't wrap my mind around all the stupid excuses to hate on this group. EXO-CBX are having a comeback this year and Baekhyun is having an Asian tour and a solo album (I forget if that's been confirmed though lol) on top of an EXO mini album. No fucking cries of being overworked there. What do you think is behind this SuperM hate because I saw six (sorry Lucas lol) ridiculously talented people who enjoyed being around each other while singing fun (arguably) catchy songs. People saying that group is over and Baek and Kai will never be part of that group again, meanwhile Taemin in November called Baekhyun SuperM's leader. Idk if that group is done for good but to still be bitter and bitchy about them is mindblowing to me.

Oh, Anon. It's a sport to hate SuperM. A passionate hobby for many. Before I had listened to the group, I was told by quite several people what a "fail" they were, how terrible they were, etc. When I encountered them, I was expecting the worst.

Now, there are legitimate reasons to criticize. A lot of the music is ridiculous, the concepts ridiculous, etc. Like, the entire "Avengers" concept was flawed from the get-go. Peak cringe. But, at the end of the day, it's still a group with 6 of the most talented people in the entire genre. That can't be denied. And for that reason, I do have reason to believe it will return at some point. When you have a diamond, you wear it.

If you're expecting EXO fans to stop making hatred a sport, it will never happen. They are the original army; they're the blueprint for BTS's fans. EXO paved the way for BTS, and so did their fans (ppl are so dumb if they can't see that, but I digress...). They love to be butt hurt and make it everyone else's problem. I'm always grateful that the problem with shawols is that their standards are sky-high, lol. And they rarely waste time on such nonsense.

And I'm with you. I give zero shits if Baekhyun gets scolded at work. Who hasn't been scolded at work? I scold and get scolded, lol. That's work. Unfortunately, a lot of the people drawn to the kpop "stan" thing are people who aren't familiar with having an ambitious and demanding career. For us that are chasing something, you do work hard and overstretch yourself and get scolded and fail and try again. Lots of things happen if you're chasing a dream. What I hate is the "overwork" thing you bring up because it's just very clear these people don't know what it's like to go after your dreams and start succeeding. And they don't understand what a lot of people's lives are like. Only slept a few hours and went to work? Yep, that happens. Working all day and hustling a side business at night or studying or something else? Yep, that happens. Traveling for work so much you forget where you are or what your hotel room number is? Yes.. LOL. I have to keep the little thing they write it on or I'll be in big trouble.

[the-force-awakens]

Yes yes yes!!!! Even in the movies, the whole “at least he’s not on fire!” “What’s left of him isn’t on fire!” scene to me felt very much like a friendly/familial bickering, they weren’t being rude or mean to each other, they were both a little shocked at the state of everything and that’s how they communicate

They!!Are!!Friends!!And!!Love!!Each!!Other!!

Yes, exactly! Even when they're bickering, they're both very visibly enjoying themselves. Poe's barely restraining the urge to smile, you can see it in his eyes, and Rey doesn't even try to stop herself from smiling when she whips out the "you're difficult". Poe's also smiling when he approaches her, even as he starts being sarcastic??? Like...they like each other, they just bicker as a love language?

Like these are not the expressions of two people who hate each other. They're exasperated by each other right now, sure, but the banter is so familiar for them by this point that they're also enjoying it underneath the frustration.

It also irks me (but just goes to show how frankly astoundingly little the fandom actually pays attention to these characters/can't read them) because we know what Poe and Rey look like when they're interacting with characters they hate/cannot stand...and that energy is not here?

by contrast, think of poe's expression uh. any time he's dealing with the first order, or his anger with holdo when he believes she's just leading them to their deaths. think of rey's absolute fury at teedo or legitimately any interaction with ren (barring the five minutes she gave him the benefit of the doubt and he instead chose to be the one true dick) - Rey does not minimize her anger or frustration with people. She sure as hell doesn't smile smugly at people she hates and can't stand, she's a feral little sand gremlin and if she doesn't like you, you're gonna fucking know it.

And altho their banter/bickering match does deteriorate into a genuine argument, let's see what else happens here shall we? Poe puts his two cents in ("you're the best fighter we have, we need you. out there, not here") and walks away before it can get any worse, allowing them to cool off. And Rey is visibly okay with this, she doesn't look worried when Poe walks off, instead she just has that "fuck my friend rightfully called me out on my shit that I don't want to unpack yet" look. Like, Rey is the queen of abandonment issues - after knowing Finn for a day, him leaving in tfa was enough to hurtle her into a traumatic flashback turned Force vision; and there's no doubt the throne room made that worse.

And look, I'm also the queen of abandonment issues, it's one reason why I relate so heavily to Rey. Which is why Rey's lack of a reaction to Poe walking away strikes me so profoundly: because Rey isn't afraid he won't come back. It takes a seriously deep level of friendship to achieve that. I experience that with my qpps 99% of the time, and that other 1% is when my anxiety is really awful but even underneath that I know they won't leave me. Rey seems as confident in Poe not leaving her as a friend, as I am my committed platonic life partners. Let that sink in for a minute.

which is just another point for me for my qpp jedistormpilot hc tyvm

What happens after that, is that when Rey decides to leave to find the wayfinder, she isn't surprised when Poe shows up to (as far as she knows, tho we know he and finn were planning on going) say goodbye, and immediately makes sure they're on good terms before she leaves, just in case.

Poe also checks in on her before they leave because he notices she's acting strangely/drinking in the scenery like she won't see it again, and promptly spends...a lot of the movie worrying about her?

He grounds her several times in the novelization(s).......but is also one of the reasons Rey snaps in the desert with Ren and the transport. In the junior novelization (iirc), she thinks about all the horrible things Ren has done to her and her friends, and one of the things she thinks before she loses control is how he tortured Poe. And then (I can't remember in which novelization) it's Poe's voice who snaps her out of her shell-shocked daze following the transport blowing up. In the regular one, he also gently tells her in the ship to go take a minute and he'll take care of the flying so she can just....have a breather and process what happened and doesn't hold what happened against her in the least (which we also see in the movie).

And BONUS points he trusts her instinctively aboard the Steadfast when she gets a Force feeling (I think the line in the novel is something like "when she got that look, a fellow knew he ought just to follow"? Or it may have been another scene I can't remember). Like.....they're friends. I don't know how much more explicit the movie could have made it, unless folks wanted them sharing a secret handshake or wanted them to briefly pause the movie to add a powerpoint presentation text above their heads going "they're friends". They bicker and they argue and they get exasperated with each other, especially over their similarities (because Rey is a lot like Poe), but they genuinely love and care for one another, and to be quite honest saying otherwise is a huge fucking disservice to how much Daisy and Oscar put into crafting their dynamic.

[theliterarywolf]

hello lit, I saw the recent asks about ai stuff and it made me curious to ask you, since you seem like you understand the ai situation stuff better than I do and I have a lot of respect for you in general. I hope that's okay!

so, to preface, I am 110-thousand-% against ai "artwork" and writing and anything that involves taking someone else's work and "creating art" out of the mangled pieces of other's creations, and the hellscape of bullshit ai nonsense re actor's likenesses and voices. It genuinely boils my blood to a severe degree. I basically wish ai technology was never invented, especially not spread to the degree and usages we're currently seeing in all creative spheres.

that said, I'm rather unsure how the situation sits around one case of ai use, specifically in the area of translation, and specifically for personal use. So, I absolutely don't mean the localization of anything for purchase (like translating games or books), where it absolutely should be done by actual human beings familiar with both the source and target language. but something like: an artist you follow doesn't speak your language, but you want to know what they're saying in the description of a piece they posted, so you input that text into a translator to hopefully get a better idea. Absolutely NOT submitting any images of their work in anyway to anything ai, just attempting to translate what they said beneath it.

Is that still just as bad as the other things mentioned before, that's usually brought up in regards to ai? is it different or worse than using google translate? does it depend on how it's being used?

I guess, I'm just curious what you're opinion on something like this is, if you don't mind sharing. And apologies for such a long ask!

Okay, see, what you're describing is fine. Because you're making use of tools for the sake of accessibility, which is something that more people-focused (can't say 'ethical' anymore because, let's face it, the IT industry is currently in shambles) companies have been trying to do: want to travel in a foreign country but don't have the funds to hire a translation companion or time to learn the language? A 1-to-1 translation app would be perfect!

For what you're describing to be an issue, you would have to either:

A: Take a bunch of the original artists' descriptions of their pieces, translate them, shove the descriptions into an AI software bank, and then try to publish the results as your own

Or B: Be looking at a piece of foreign source material, using a translator on it and other works by the author, then shoving those results into an AI software that scrapes text, and then posting the results on an online storefront like Kindle and saying 'Am totally legitimate author! Give moneys please!'

So, no: using translation software is nowhere near the same level of tomfuckery that people are rallying against when we talk about how AI Bros have turned something that could have been a viable tool into a cesspool of theft and illegitimacy.

Also... Aw. The first part of this ask really put a smile on my face, thank you.

[calamitysshatteredson]

I was tasked with finding this particular thing... last week. But I did it, here it is, mission complete, filled out, and even added the activity bit in case anyone should find this helpful to use for themselves

[ GET TO KNOW YOUR WRITING PARTNER! ]

Knowing your writing partners can potentially make writing together a lot easier. Repost, don’t reblog.

NAME: Orin is fine. I am like a cat, I can still ignore it.

PRONOUNS: They/them for the sake of ease, because “whatever’s funniest at the time“ makes people understandably nervous.

ACTIVITY LEVEL: The slowest. Not lots. Not for lack of interest, I just have the whole limited creative energy thing and being here is technically my downtime. ...Also trying to be careful about using my hands too much when I'm doing big projects. Guess what I always seem to be doing.

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: Tumblr messages for RP things... when they work. Let's see if Tumblr improved upon them randomly lacking alerts, shall we.

NAME OF MUSE(S): Sephiroth.  …No last name.  Usually. "Jones" is still funny to me, what can I say.  (There is also a Prompto and a Noctis from FFXV, and an additional dangerous urge, but I'm sure it'll pass.)

EXPERIENCE/HOW LONG: This blog?  Since 2015.  How long have I been writing Sephiroth?  Haaaaaaaa, oh, much… much longer than that. What's time, even.

BEST EXPERIENCE: Every partner’s magnificently unique.  I really enjoy that I can have ten threads of the same basic scenario and ten completely different paths.  There’s fun and heartrending and “what even was that” and many, many verses that just kind of flashed into being with one dumb “What if…” My favorite things are being legitimately surprised by Seph's responses, but there's no way to tell when that'll happen or why.

RP PET PEEVES: Used to be the folks who’d insist that RP "should" be a structured thing that you must make time for and must keep up with and must treat a certain way, but I noticed the RP community mostly decided to remind each other that this is a hobby.  A beloved one, and one I do enjoy making time for when I can, but just… I don’t even treat my work like "a job", I’m sure as hell not gonna treat my limited free time that way.  You guys do you, though.

MUSE PREFERENCES FOR ANGST / FLUFF / SMUT: Yes.  Generally it’s angst and fluff that rapidly spiral around each other because I am me.  Smut tends to take a lot more effort and energy, and this muse… he gay an emotionally dumb and picky af. I was infamous for smut once, honest.

PLOTS OR MEMES: All of the above and then some.  Sometimes a reply is just a reply, sometimes it… continuously destroys all of us for many months. ...Sometimes it accidentally creates an AU that lasts years and is still going...

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: Whatever works for what’s being written.  I’ll either write something I feel is too short or I’ll write several more paragraphs than I intended, there is no middle ground. Be free.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: Usually night when it’s quiet… and I have energy… and the mental ability to do it… and feel physically okay enough to try… and–  Yeah, “when I can” is the best answer.  Not as often as I’d like, but it does happen. No, really.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE: ...Can I go with the stock answer of we're all a little like the characters we write and leave it at that.

Tagged by: I done stole it. Tagging: Whoever wants to make use of this.

[monrosemeadows]

Things I would love to see addressed in Watch_dogs 4 (or future titles/spin offs/DLCs/add ons):

Aiden's relationship with Damien. I don't need a complete run-down of their entire history together, but I'd love to get some insight on how Aiden ended up in Damien's care, and why Damien, cunning as he is, decided to take Aiden under his wing. Was there an alterior motive? What was their relationship like? Was there a foundation of trust or was it purely professional?

Aiden's childhood/ teenage years. What led Aiden to fall into a life of crime? What was his relationship with his father like, since his mother's fear/hatred for him didn't seem to faze Aiden, and Nicole seems blind to it. Why did his mother flee the country with her children and what became of their father after their departure? How did he find Jordi, and how long did it take to establish a level of trust between them that allowed Jordi to entrust him with business? Also... was Jordi's 'double-cross' planned beforehand, was Aiden in the know or not, and if not, how did he survive? Side Note: I am aware that the novel 'Dark_Clouds //', which Ubisoft outsourced to author John Shirley, touches upon this ever so slightly, but afaik, this wasn't confirmed to be canon.

The fall of DedSec San Francisco. I believe that Legion plants the seed for us to connect DedSec London being targeted as terrorists, to be the catalyst for the downfall of several DedSec cells globally, but Reginald seemed to have left DedSec SF behind the moment his relationship with Zane entered more serious waters, and he met Zane well before the events of BloodLine. Did the gang simply pass the torch once they entered another stage in their adult lives, or was something else to blame entirely?

Zane. Though not as mandatory, Zane seemed to have been the driving force behind Reginald stepping away from DedSec and his 'Wrench' persona, indicating that his relationship with Reginald must have been quite serious. If so, what caused their break-up? And who is Zane, to begin with? He seemed to fall in good graces with Markus, thus he must've been good to Reginald, as Markus tends to be quite protective toward those he holds near and dear.

A reunion between Aiden and Raymond Kenney. As much as either man likes to declare that they are lone wolves that prefer to avoid team-sports, they have both proven to excell when supported by outside-influence. And, according to the Bad Blood DLC: Aiden still owes Raymond a beer. I would love to see these beautiful minds get back together and reminisce.

Time-Shifting. As much as I love and appreciate grandpa Pearce, the, almost, senior-status age already proved to be a hinderance for the script and plot for BloodLine. I think early to late 40s is an okay age-range for WD4, as it could neatly shimmy itself on the timeline directly after WD2.

Mystery health concerns? Throughout the narrative of BloodLine, Aiden seems to hint at some physical limitations that surpass his mere age. Not to mention that he fainted twice, and then slipped into a coma. Though, given the plot from the Legion campaign, we can assume that Skye Larson was likely involved, since she did have a partnership with Rempart. Even still, I'd love to know whether Aiden's high-adrenaline, little sleep lifestyle, simply left marks on him, or whether he is legitimately hiding some slumbering illness from those around him.

[crystalelemental]

Rune Factory 5 is going to be the death of me.

I'm at the Forest of No Return at this point, and things are simultaneously going really smoothly and really badly.  On the one hand, equipment is unreasonably good.  I made a Wind Cloak, which is astonishingly low level for the stats it provides, and now we're all basically immune to damage.  Even bosses are dealing maybe a couple hundred.  I managed to forge excellent twin swords as well, which covers Alice and Hina perfectly, and a Spiked Hammer that makes Beatrice somehow even stronger than I am without an elemental affinity.  I haven't been able to upgrade Elsja's punching gloves, but we'll get to that.

Town friendship is going well, if a bit slow.  Everyone except for Ludmila is level 5 friendship, and Heinz recently had salted rainbow trout as part of his rotating stock, so I bought several to give Ludmila over the next few days to speed that process up.  My wife pushed past my progress, so I know full well another character drops in the town if I do the forest and subsequent section, ruining this progress.  I'm on hold until then.

Which means it's time for sidequests!  Part of it is building up crop levels, which is going okay.  Spinach is level 9 and Kumo has a quest for level 10, so provided my sickle can get to 10, we're in business.  I am less than optimistic, however.  The bigger issue is the other side quests, which are steadily killing me to death.

One is making a gigantic vegetable.  I don't know if Spinach isn't able to become giant, or if I'm doing something wrong, but the Gigantizer isn't working.  Priscilla tells you "when they mature," which I thought meant before fully grown, but that wasn't it.  I tried again with fully grown spinach, but that didn't work either.  So I'm kinda stumped on how to pull this off.  I guess I could try with the corn?  I legitimately don't know what to do with it.

Then there's the tree seeds.  Ryker mentioned wanting oranges, and after like three weeks of having no idea how to find oranges, I cracked and looked it up.  Turns out, there are two completely hidden locations where you can randomly find seeds for apples, oranges, grapes, and general lumber with twinkle trees.  I have found zero orange seeds.  It's been over a week.  I have so many twinkle trees and grapes, but zero oranges.  I need to find these soon, none of the trees do well in winter and Ryker wants goddamned 20 oranges, I don't think I have that kind of time.

Around all this, there's supposed to be a looming typhoon.  My wife told me hers hit in summer, and I'm bracing for that one.  I tend to skip a lot of introductory dialogue since it's repetitive, but I think I skipped Hina mentioning her mom sensing the typhoon coming in, because everyone else was also talking about a big storm...but the next day was a festival so it was super sunny and nice, and now nothing is happening, and I'm wondering if the holiday negated the typhoon and I spent over 200k on Wettable Powder for nothing.

But the grand supreme champion of frustration...is Palmo.  Upgrading shops is wildly expensive.  Not by actual cost, mind you.  In sheer money dollars, I have so much raw cash I could buy every upgrade twice over.  Not even with Seed points, although those are rarer.  With the newest badges, I can farm Seed points whenever I wish, and it's honestly not too much trouble.  No, I'm talking about lumber and stone costs.  The first upgrades were sane.  The second were pricey, but could be achieved.  3000 lumber is downright ludicrous.  Those Twinkle Trees better be packing lumber on the order of 500+ if this is to be in any way achievable.  I've heard Heinz' rotating stock can carry it, but at 500 gold per piece, we're looking at 1.5 million gold per upgrade, for something to the order of 9 million for all upgrades.  This is assuming you can even hold that much on your person in a day, given his rotating stock only opens around 3, and he closes shop at 6.  Just by volume that feels like a multi-day project.  It's outlandish.

I know a lot of this probably isn't required, and I'm reaching the point I very well may consider it optional and move on with my life.  The postgame is also in question.  I don't have any true opposition, but at present there are just too many factors hindering my general progress that I can't even think about that right now.  Between lack of oranges, lack of any substantial progress toward renovating the town, and inability to move forward on story until we get Ludmila to friendship rank 5, I'm kinda souring on the game a bit.

[abandonedaccount1234]

really random thought i've had since I finished watching one tree hill last year...the oversexualization of teenagers in media is a conversation that needs to be had.

TRIGGER WARNING:

Mentions of SA towards the end. It is 🚩flagged🚩for you to move past if you need it.

the oversexualization of teenagers in media is a conversation that needs to be had.

friendly reminder that while some actors are adults, their characters are often not. and it makes me personally really uncomfortable with just how comfortable media is with oversexualizing teenagers.

it's made me feel this way since I was like 14 myself and i realized some adults are sitting in a room somewhere writing sex scenes about literal children together. like...what? how is that okay?

or when i saw people (**emphasizing it is not everyone, not even close but still needs to be talked about**) legitimately upset there weren't any sex scenes in fucking heartstopper. charlie is literally 14 years old when the show starts, what the hell is wrong with you.

i think prime example is shows like euphoria or even bringing it back to one tree hill. both shows with showrunners/executives who purposefully oversexualized and adult-i-fied teenagers beyond their years, especially young women and then shame those same characters who choose to be sexually active in different ways.

it feels like the media is reinforcing these ideals of growing up too fast, almost? if that's the best way i can explain it. you have people in real life saying everyone is on their own timeline and then the media shows teenagers doing adult things, and then people either feel 1) like they're way behind or b) that it's okay to shame people who aren't living life on their own timeline that may be faster or just simply different than someone else's.

sex and exploration is natural. it's a part of life. sex and exploration is just about inevitable for some at that age. that's not the problem.

the problem for me is with shows that use their script as some perverted fantasy about minors. or have fans who over sexualize them because the actors are adults but their characters are literally sophomores/juniors in high school.

while the characters may not be real, the sentiment towards them is. and i feel like there needs to be a conversation about that as a whole. if you wouldn't morally say that to, do that to, or even thank about anything in that realm about a 16 year old in real life as an adult, why is it okay for you to say that about a fictional character of the same age and mentality?

***having adults play teenagers play teenagers is whole other subtopic about setting unrealistic expectations through media***

i feel like this also goes towards fanfiction...how many times have you read something where someone had to point out several times they were not comfortable with writing smut either because of their age, the characters', or they just simply did not consent to do doing so because they did not want to and people harassed them for it anyways? i have many MANY times.

there are ways to go about sex in media targeted towered a certain age with taste and respect. every other way just sets unrealistic expectations and false narratives that masses of people are buying into. or are seeing as being okay. no one should be made to feel shamed. and no one should be made to feel pressured. it's even reflected in clothing and music as well.

my brothers and I are just about 10 years apart. what was in media when they were teenagers versus what was in media as I am feels vastly different. the overall what is allowed in any context feels concerningly different in the level it's reached, but the same with shows like OTH who were maybe a little too okay with what they were showing. this isn't anything new. it's just worse.

I think it's also important to bring up censorship in the sense that we don't want to go too far in banning what we show or talk about because you can never fully hide something from a kid. especially this day in age. it's honestly just not safe to act like things like sex and drugs don't exist. when you villainize them so young instead of having an open. respectful conversation, you make a kid more curious to see what all the fuss is about.

prime example are the shows Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World. (Boy Meets World for YEARS after it aired on ABC, having been moved to Disney Channel.)

the topics that were even allowed to be discussed on either are VASTLY different. BMW did a whole episode on the emotional vulnerability of cults. CULTS. Could you imagine disney doing cults today? I know that as a whole by the time GMW came out, tv had entirely shifted on networks like disney from family shows to kids show. that's a big part of the problem. being afraid to have respectful, safe conversations is where things go wrong. when people are left to figure things out on their own, it can go down hill very fast.

younger and younger there's pressure to do things like wear makeup and crop tops and have already met these certain milestones when it comes to love (and even sex) through what media tells them to do.

i think with so much access to any form of media via the internet today, younger generations are heavily exposed to far from innocent things younger and younger. that scares me. it scared me then. it scares me now.

and i don't know. it just makes me uncomfortable when i see someone be like "ooh, i went feral at this scene" and the characters are supposed to be like 16-17. And then the person commenting it is in their late 20s, early 30s or older. it's just not adding up to me. i do have problems with reading social cues so maybe I'm overthinking this.

maybe it's a conversation of separating art from artist? i don't know if i'm wording this right. i don't want to get attacked on here for not being sex positive or whatever. i absolutely am.

there is nothing wrong with having sex.

i think sex and affection needs to be a consented choice for anyone involved whenever they feel ready, safe, and respected. i just don't feel like that's being reflected enough in media, particularly in media geared towards young people. you can never be too respectful or too consenting. that fact that we live in an age where people have to say the find consent sexy in order to have their boundaries respected is a little mortifying.

🚩STARTS HERE>TRIGGER WARNING: SA

and then you hear about these horrible experiences people have and you have to start wondering why those people (particularly assaulters) were made to think it was okay to that. or even victims who are made to feel like they're crazy for having not been ready or people who get shamed for having not lost their virginity yet or been kissed yet.

because hatred and abuse of power is absolutely taught. we see this with the shitty alpha male mentality. young boys are being taught by online presences that they should be in total control of a woman's life and her body, that women should be servants to men and be grateful men even let them exist. those are people who are gonna grow up and go into the real world and think that is okay. who ar entirely unaware that women do in fact have rights.

THAT IS VERY SCARY. Women and LGBT youth are losing their rights to conservative agendas around the world. These combinations are lethal. They are deadly. It is so much more than just a sex scene.

It's understanding that assault, harassment, and harm have a spectrum. any form of nonconsenting advances are still assault, harassment, and harm. they are still devastatingly traumatizing.

and they start with social spheres of influence like the media and peers who tell them it's okay to violate someone else.

🚩ENDS HERE>TRIGGER WARNING: SA

you look at how teenagers are with social media today alone. while they are teenagers, they are still children. their brains are still forming. their ideals of what is right and wrong is being heavily influenced by what they see on a screen. kids are being exposed to too much and i'm just wondering when it's gonna stop. is it ever gonna stop? or have we genuinely reached a point of no return in society?

is this something scientists are gonna study 40 years from now and say this is where we went wrong? i don't want my future children exposed to the levels of adulthood that children are being exposed to now. this goes beyond how sex is represented.

it's a conversation about how do we as a society protect and respect the age timeline of milestones so there isn't so much pressure in the media to grow up faster than one needs to or should. parents and guardians can only do so much on there end. at some pint, some of the responsibility lies with the media being shown too. kids are sneaky. especially ones with strict parents. those kids need to be protected.

My mom used to love watching Law and Order: SVU. That shit was traumatizing to even catch glimpses of as a child. But my parents had safe, respectful conversations with me about what I saw so I would know what was and what isn't okay. i still shouldn't have been exposed to that in way shape or form (sorry not sorry mom, still love you🥰.)

this was a really long post and i don't tend to get a lot of interaction so if you do happen to see any of this by chance of a miracle, please comment and share your thoughts. i know mentalities around social media and sex are different around the world. i'm just curious as to how those conversations are had and how media is different depending on where you are with topics like these.

i don't even know how to tag this so this is probably really random

[i-merani]

Oh ok, no legitimate answer then. Just "I like my shitty US media and am going to keep paying attention to it as if it's worth my time."

The photo was my answer actually you just missed my point. But that is okay, I'll go into detail here.

"Seeing so many people complain about US-centrism but then be deeply into mainstream US shows and films is just confusing." — criticizing a country's policies and the popular, narrow worldview of many of its citizens (which often reveals their ignorance of other cultures, traditions and history) does not mean I can't appreciate that country's art. It's like saying if I'm criticizing Russia for the invasion of Ukraine I couldn't possibly like Dostoevsky or Tchaikovsky. But neither of these artists have anything to do with Russia's expansionist policies now. I can appreciate Russian artists and also citicize Russians for their imperialist worldviews. Same way, I can criticize US dominance, and US-centrism while enjoying US art. (You are making me explain concepts that are understandable to 5 year olds)

"I literally live here and don't own cable or streaming services because of how deprived of art and taste Hollywood is. Have not listened to new music in English in several years." — just because you are too lazy to look beyond surface level mainstream media that is being advertised to you 24/7 doesn't mean that American artists don't create meaningful art. You just seem to think too highly of yourself and refuse to look beyond "deprived art of Hollywood". There is nothing to be proud about in your inability to appreciate the artists of your own country.

I can enjoyed good american movies and music but I can also enjoy good french, russian and movies/music of many other countries. The problem with americans, hence US-centrism, is that they live in such a big country that they are unable to see past its borders and assume that everyone must be like them (and they rarely engage with other countries culture/art/cinema). So when engaging in topics where US isn't the cenre of the conversation (mainly about geopolitics), they obviously make wrong conclusions based on wrong assumptions.

You can like your shitty US media and keep paying attention to it as if it's worth your time, or you could be less lazy, look beyond Marvel and discover the beauty of your country's art while simultaneously being critical of its current policies.