#''the creator of that word is a bigot'' yeah well so the fuck is the creator of the word transmisogyny. are you gonna stop using that or

[rjalker]

"trans men and nonbinary people aren't allowed to have words to describe the specific oppression they face, because trans women don't oppress them!!!"

well I hate to fucking break it to you but the term "transmisogyny" literally does not fucking mean "trans men and nonbinary people oppress trans women" it's literally fucking talking about how **cis people of all genders** react to and treat trans women in particular, punishing them for not being feminine enough, but then acting like when they are feminine, that it's all fake and performative.

The book it's from is also literally exorsexist as fucking hell and racist, (She fucking insists that the white western gender binary is only so prevalant **because it's right** and not because of the fucking systemic genocide and colonization white people have inflicted on other cultues!!! no, no, it's definitely because Everyone is either inherently male or female because their brain is gendered and nonbinary people are just actually binary trans people who are in denial about it so they can be cooler than trans women) and insists one moment that trans men are priveledged because they're seen as women, and then the next starts insisting that they never have trouble passing as cis men and despite the author's claims that she's only talking about her personal experiences, she also literally just pretends her experiences are fucking universal.

But okay. Sure. You can just say you don't give a shit about other trans people and think the oppression we face doesn't exist. You don't need to hide behind protecting trans women as your excuse. It doesn't fucking work. Transmisogyny literally does not fucking mean "trans men and nonbinary people oppress trans women"

Life is not a fucking game where literally all the negative status effects get pointed at trans women and everyone else gets the positive effects. That is literally not how this works and NOT EVEN what fucking Julia Serranno was saying when she coined the fucking term transmisogyny.

And even if that was what she was saying, it wouldn't fucking matter, because she literally does nothing but downplay and ignore all the oppression trans men and nonbinary people face, and fucking says nonbinary people only identify that way so they can feel superior to trans women specifically, oh and also they aren't actually nonbinary at all, they just don't want to admit they're binary trans, because then they wouldn't look cool enough -.-

so like, let me get this straight:

trans men get harassed en masse because they want to create a term to talk about the specific forms of oppression they face. According to some trans women, trans men talking about the oppression they face means they're speaking over trans women, despite trans women not having anything at all to do with trans men being oppressed by cis people.

nonbinary people talk about the ways we are oppressed that binary trans people don't face, and again, specific kinds of trans women leap to accuse us of speaking over trans women, acting like us saying "binary trans people have priveledges we don't" means that we're saying trans women oppress nonbinary people, even though trans women have nothing to do with nonbinary people being oppressed by cis people.

Literally just the other day I saw a post that said "afabs need to stop pretending they're uniquely oppressed for having a pussy".

so maybe, just maybe, the problem here is not trans men and nonbinary people speaking over trans women, on issues that have literally nothing to do with trans women.

Maybe the problem is people think being trans makes it perfectly fine for them to be misogynists, and certain trans women think that the forms of oppression they face (even when they're white, and able-bodied, neurotypical, and perisex, and well off financialy) are the most severe forms of oppression in existance, and that means they can do and say whatever horrible, bigoted shit they want, and it's okay, because they're oppressed, so they can't do anything wrong.

And these certain trans women, who think being oppressed in one way means they're allowed to be a bigot in every other way, now have a vested interest in making sure no one can "out compete" them in being oppressed, because they think other people treat their oppression as a shield to be a bigot the way they do. So any time other people talk about the ways in which they are oppressed, that are different from the way this person is oppressed, then that must, of course, be an attack on them, because if other people say they're oppressed by the same systems, just in different ways, then suddenly they can't use that oppression as an excuse to be a horrible bigoted person -.-

If you see trans men and nonbinary people talking about the specific ways that cis people and our cis-rewarding society oppress them, and you insist that they be silent and "listen to trans women", instead of talking about their own problems, you are literally just a bigot.

And if you say shit like "afabs think they're oppressed for having pussys" you are a fucking misogynist.

No, trans men and nonbinary people do not need to listen to trans women on topics that only affect trans men and nonbinary people. Trans women are not telepathic. Trans women do not get to remember all their past fucking lives. Trans women's experiences with misogyny and transphobia are not fucking universal. That's kinda the entire fucking point of having the term "transmisogyny" - specifically that the things it describes do not apply to everyone.

But certain trans women think that it means they're now part of an exclusive club of "the only people really impacted by transphobia and misogyny in any way worth discussing or calling out", and if anyone else dares to talk about the ways they're oppressed by transphobic and misogynistic cis people, then they take that as a personal attack on their victimhood, which they use as a shield for all their heinous behavior.

If you think the statement "afabs aren't oppressed for having pussys" is perfectly normal and fine and sound and totally a rational argument, then I don't think you have any concept of what misogyny is.

If you, like a person with morals, think that statement is fucking evil and misogynistic as fucking hell, then you do in fact have a responsability to call people out when they say shit like that, and support nonbinary people and trans men when they talk about the ways in which our society oppresses them.

How is trans women using the way they're oppressed as a shield to be a bigot any better than cis white queer people using their queerness as a shield to be a bigot? Or autistic people using their autism as a shield to be a bigot?? I'll give you a hint: it's not.

TLDfuckingR: Julia Serrano is exorsexist and lies about what trans men and nonbinary people experience. Nonbinary people and trans men deserve to have words to describe the specific intersections of misogyny and transphobia they face, and other trans people talking about the ways in which they're oppressed does not oppress trans women or demonize them, because cis people are the ones who systemically oppress trans people, not other trans people, and it's only a small but vocal number of trans women who are misogynists, and they need to be called out for their bigotry.

[irithnova]

Can't believe I'm discourse posting again but whatever.

While I may not have 100% been on board with the uh. Rusame edging response post because I have extremely "problematic" ships myself and have described Mongolia and China's relationship as being "married/divorced" so I'm not really any better than the edging shit in that sense, I think a lot of the replies were made in extremely bad faith and some pretty nasty people took advantage of the situation in their own ways.

The person who was vagued about had the right to respond of course and yeah it can be classified as ship hate considering it was put in the tags however people are seriously running over the fact that the poster themselves are Uzbek-Korean so yeah they'd understandably have some complex feelings about Russia and America if you know even the general history. The post perhaps wasn't worded that well and was an attack on rusame simply because of a comedic analogy of the relationship made by a shipper, but that anger didn't just come from like. Absolutely nowhere.

You had people in the comments slinging fucking 4chan lingo at OP (same person who did this supports a well known Zionist in the fandom why am I not surprised) and then much bigger content creators making posts and comments about how OP and their entire friendgroup are nothing more than butthurt sjws who are pushing people out of the fandom (and I can't believe people are still unironically using "sjw" in 2024 I guess anything is possible).

Extremely bad faith actors coming out of the woodworks who have had problems with OP and their friendgroup for completely different reasons using OPs hate post about rusame and the subsequent dogpiling as an excuse to publicly lie about the nature of the friendship and how it broke down. I find it extremely cowardly that months ago, when confronted privately about bad behaviour such as gossiping behind people's backs and confronted with the fact the person she was gossipping with is a prolific emotional abuser and racist, Verta blocked everyone and said she didn't want to get involved in "drama".

Now that someone within the group - a minor no less, who barely engaged with Verta herself during the course of her contact with them group, is being publicly dogpiled by multiple big creators - NOW Verta has the courage to come rear her head, engage in drama be like "they're all a bunch of sjws who hate white people!".

If you want to go back to 2016 for fresh "SJWS/feminists OWNED!" compilations, be my guest.

I find it extremely ironic how Verta is calling OP "fandom police" when Verta herself tried to gatekeep someone's identity/relationship to China....over hetalia art. I guess it's not policing when you want to be a bigot, but it's policing when someone from a certain background has unpleasant feelings towards a ship.

A lot of the vague posting about "WOW I LOVE RUSAME SO MUCH" afterwards I think was also extremely childish considering *gestures to the fact that OP is Uzbek-Korean* so yeah. They made an angry post about rusame that should have been handled privately between them and the person they were vaguing about however they do have some extremely personal reasons as to why they may have strong feelings about it.

It wasn't just an ordinary "rusame sucks and rusame shippers should die lol!" post made by an angry rando who likes perhaps Russia x [different country] and is butthurt at the attention rusame is getting but the way people are responding with "rusame is the beat ship evaa <33" posts in response to it - you'd think that was what OP posted instead of like. An emotionally charged (but poorly handled) post about Russian and American imperialism as someone who's family/countries has been affected by both.

Again I'm not in a place to judge rusame shippers considering the shit I ship and say - you can do what you want and I actually like cold war stuff myself. I just find a few of the responses extremely childish considering the circumstances surrounding why the post was made and a few were absolutely done in bad faith in order to paint OP as being nothing more than an angry sJw!!1 when. Again. *Gestures at Uzbekistan's history with Russia and Korea's history with America*

Also. I'm sorry but rusame is the most popular ship in the fandom right now. You guys will live if (1) child who comes from that background makes an emotionally charged post about it. There's no need for an onslaught of personal attacks and hateful anons. Jesus Christ I received death threats for shipping Monchu and I didn't even respond like that.

[eggflippo]

Friend, I want you to know this is a response by dttwt who had a space and discussed doing this as a response to people spreading a clip George criticising Quackity for streaming in Spanish and how it will lower his viewers. The targeted people are members who don't have a main English demographic and most of this shit was dug out from years ago (some WAY fucking back) so change IS a Thing (with the fact that words can mean other things in other languages).

sigh

friend, I saw the space, the hosts are not in dttwt you can go and check it yourself it's easy, they also weren't responding to that clip, they are actually POC who care about uplifting their already silenced voices in the community

the problematic behaviour happening long ago doesn't mean it's supposed to be ignored? change is a thing yeah, but there's a limit to the amount of shit stuff you can do because of the lack of education and normalisation of bigoted behaviour years ago

the gaming space has been so toxic for such a long time, we can understand WHY people did the things they've done and said the things they've said and HOW their views can change after joining the newer, less toxic communities with lots of POC and LGBTQ+ members but there are so many people we can excuse, the space that the content creators were the most active can be an explanation but it shouldn't be an excuse

I'm personally so sick and so fed up from all the years of being in these kinds of communities of people excusing everything with shit like that, this is dsmp and smp live all over again and I hate that

I didn't want to say names but in Forever's case I haven't seen an actual good apology from him, only deleting the problematic tweets, he's still friends with another bigoted cc but I admit I don't know as much about that. he's been WEIRD recently as well ON THE SERVER and I haven't seen anyone mention that

as far as I know, Etoiles and Elmariana were mistranslations

but there are still players like AYPIERRE who's definitely been antisemitic recently (example being his comments about Mike's skin during the debates), haven't seen anyone talk about that either. there's also a lot more about Aypierre I'm just not bothered to mention here

and to anyone who thinks I'm ignoring the different social standards of the respective countries, I am not, I live and grew up in a country that's also as much bigoted as the other ones and I can STILL see how wrong shit like that is, hell, even I've been "uneducated" years ago and said dumb shit but I'm normal enough to own up to my mistakes and not repeat them

cool 👍

EDIT:

What I overlooked earlier is that Aypierre is a racist and ableist piece of shit and I need him off that server, that's all. Not even a "years ago" situation he is actually actively racist. If nazi jokes are not enough to be upset for you all then maybe this could be more thought-provoking.

[manias-wordcount]

Have a request? Read me!

Okay so ive been running this shit for about a year and a halfish i think its time to talk about how i work. though before we start i just wanted to say im thankful for everyone who supports me or just reads a work of mine. it means the world to me and i enjoy being able to share my writings with a bunch silly and lovely people like y’all !!! 

General Rules for my blog!

Please don’t ask me for any personals information lol

like actually

this includes stuff like my age, where im from, etc. 

i share what i want on my own private time sooo like

dont ask teehee

Please dont make SA jokes in the comments of my stuff xD

i wish i was joking.

i understand some people use humor to cope

but thats no excuse to be joking about bringing out the rape whistle when a unpopular background character is staring at you

like i really wish i was joking but yeah

Don’t be rude in general in the comments of my stuff lmaoo

like its genuinely annoying.

it’s 10000% okay to not agree with my vision for how a story goes or how a character should react

but if that’s something you want to tell me, do not be rude about it lmaoo like where are your manners

like if you dont agree, you dont agree but neither of our word is law soo...

also dont fucking shame requesters or commenters if they’re actually doing nothing wrong

i’ve had way too many people complain or shade other’s completely reasonable requests like wtf???

but yeah practice some self-awareness before you speak your mind sometimes? 

you are not the only person in the room

okay rant over teehee

Some of the stuff on my blog contains sexual material

I really try to give warnings ahead of time

but don’t be afraid to point out if there's something else that probably needs a forewarning

also my words are not gospel

shit can be dramatized (im whore)  or romanticized for convenience of storytelling (im lazy) so if youre using this stuff to learn about sex uhhh

maybe dont?

Some of the stuff on my blog contains some dark themes

i also try to be transparent about those things as well

but for the record im in no way glorifying these dark themes

though as someone who is both creative and has seen/gone through so shit i do explore and work through some of these topics to myself as a person and as a writer!

Request Rules and Guidelines

i’ll write anything!! (within reason)

i think you guys can guess a bit about what “within reason” means

and i know the fact that i dont have a “NO LIST” can be inconvenient

but if you’re unsure if ill write something you want? just ask!

you can always ask in dms or in my inbox! either is fine  

that means i have the right to deny anything too, of course

long story short, y’all dont pay me LMAOO

i usually wont deny something but i will if it’s...

one: requested while my requests are closed (im sorry but no more means nomore!!!)

two: goes against what i believe in some way (i doubt anyone is going to request something political or bigoted so im talking shit like the fact that i will never write anything that takes place in the state of New Jersey USA because  i hate that place so much WHHAHAHAHA

three: you were mean to me AHAHAHAHAHAH

yeah this list isn’t long and very hard to get but i did want to make this transparent

before anyone starts requesting some new jersey aus..........

be respectful !!

not only am i human, im truly am doing this for free (for now, at least) and on my own time

though you should treat people who charge for their work with respect too.

its hard out there for us lil creators lmao

sometimes, less is better.

Super detailed requests can be tricky to navigate.

Again, im doing this on my free time and i average around 1K-2k words depending on what my life is looking like at the moment.

sometimes a super detailed requests require multiple parts that might not be released for a long time.

Or i struggle with getting a story im proud of putting my name while trying to respect the request.

If you want specific details to make the experience more personal to you, go for it

but do you really need to tell me what your request is in 11 full-length  sentences? do you really HAHAHAH

also if i aske you to explain something, please be able to explain it bc im not a mind reader and this guess and check thing is kinda stressful

try not to rush me lol

Im checking my blog everyday.

I see your requests and i promise im (most likely) not ignoring you.

i have other hobbies, and a life too, and possibly 20 requests ahead of you.

i try to get everything out asap but sometimes that’s like 2 or more months

BUT if you’re scared that your request may not have made it through the hellsite, send another one asking if i got the request! 

i’ll respond to that one if i have!

PLEASE TELL ME WHO AND WHERE THEYRE FROM IN YOUR REQUEST

like actually teehee

It stresses me when i just get a request and all that's included is the situation the requester wants and the character’s first name. Give me the full name or tell me where they’re from before i scour every single series i write for to check for repeat names

its not that big of a deal but im scared of fucking up for you guys aaaaaa

If you send me a weird or rude request as anon, im just going to delete it from my inbox for both of our sake

cough cough THINK LIKE NO PEDOPHILIA LIKE ACTUALLY

and im not gonna specify what i mean by “weird” beyond that just because it’s very much a random situation

im not naming anons but just kinda think ahead of time what you’re asking me (a stranger) to do and publish for you

maybe uhhh...check my masterlist before requesting?

i know its daunting

i know i have a lot on there

but there might literally be exactly what you’re looking for on there HAHA

if not though, absolutely go forward with requesting !!!!!!!

even if what you want is something similar to what i’ve already written, a few changes make a huge difference!

but when in doubt about characters or stories i’ve written before?

check!

if have the right to change the way i write a request (unless specifically stated otherwise)

all this means is that every request (unless a HC is specifically asked for) will start off as being written as a full length average Mania™ fic

if for any reason i decide it would be better in a different format, then i will change it (ex: fic  => hc)

UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK FOR A CERTAIN FORMAT

then ill keep true to that format no matter what happens 

but yeah ! that’s it for now at least. ill update this post if theres more hehe. also if you have questions, just dm me or put it in my inbox :)

[robinsversion]

Something I just realized, and why I think I was able to so easily let go of Harry Potter compared to most people, is that I dropped HP like a flea-ridden rag because I’m now so used to dropping literally anything and everything due to the epidemic of YouTubers and other public figures being exposed as pedos/predators/bigots. I was a panic at the disco fan. I was a cryaotic fan. I was a boyinaband fan. And that’s just three I can name off the top of my head, I’m sure I’ll probably think of more when I hit send on this post. I’ve been a fan of the work of so many people, and in some cases even just a fan of their public persona in general, but over the years they’ve gone down one by one, whether it was Br*ndon Ur*e’s racist and bigoted and rapey statements (none of which he’s taken accountability for and all of which he’s tried to just shove under the rug and pretend he never said them) coming to light in the public eye, Cryaotic coming forward as a pedo and then having his victims reveal that he’s a sadistic abusive asshole on top of it, boyinaband being exposed for praying on minor fans and later further abusing them once he got into relationships with them, and so countless more instances of public figure’s masks being ripped off to expose a vile face underneath. Hell, there’s many further creators whose work has definitely shaped me in one way or another, but who I’ve felt the need to drop once they were revealed to have done or said things that I am unable to continue supporting, whether being abusive to others behind the scenes or cheating on SOs or actively trying to ruin the lives of their “enemies” or developing cult-like relationships with their fanbases.

All that to say, yeah, by the time JK posted her transphobia manifesto, I had become so used to being disappointed by creators I admired, that cutting all my ties and love for Harry Potter was second nature, like a chore that I could do subconsciously. And bear in mind I was far from just a casual fan. I read all the books multiple times and watched all the movies (from the fourth one on I saw them in theaters opening weekend), had all the books (most in hardcover editions), and had all the movies on dvd. I had played most of the games, and one was even an all-time favorite right up until said manifesto. I owned a ton of merch. I was one of those people where my hogwarts house was my whole fucking personality.

But then it just stopped. It all just stopped. I dropped her, because I was well used to dropping things and creators, because I was used to being disappointed. I was used to being let down. I was used to people turning out to be shitty.

Anyway, if this even had a point in the beginning I can’t remember where I was going with it. I guess I just wanted to talk about how sad it is that finding out someone I supported is an asshole, is basically just a normal Tuesday nowadays. It was upsetting when it first started happening—at least, when it first started affecting the art and content I liked, I should say—but now, well, now I just move on almost instantly. Harry Potter was my childhood, but I cannot in any way co-sign the words and actions of such a viscous, sadistic, transphobic bigot, and no piece of content or art, let alone something so full of fault in hindsight like HP, is worth letting bigotry be welcomed into our society. I just wish everyone else who grew up with HP felt the same.

[wakraya]

If you've seen the patreon announcement, any thoughts? I think they've made the "right" decision for the staff, if nothing else.

Yup, I saw! I think it’s definitely the right call and I like the way it was all worded and put together. It highlights several things that I liked seeing put into words:

1) The Project is not Over, but they’re going to do a Big Chunky Update instead of several monthly ones. This is. Good for the team, but also for our own sanity as well. The flood of negativity every single fucking month was tiring, so at least now I hope with the wait, these people will fall out and simply leave the project alone for when it actually updates.

2) The team is working slowly on it! No crunch. No rushing. No schedules. When it’s done, it’s done, and there’s no deadlines to adhere to.

3) Hussie himself as a wall between the Fanbase and the Creators. Particularly, specifically mentioning that trans women of color were getting harassed with very aimed insults, and how he can’t simply put Harassment as something people have to ‘deal with’ in order to work on the project. This highlights exactly what I’ve been talking about, which is, every person harassing the team and laughing at the idea of it ending and celebrating think that they got the Moral Highground, but what they are doing is lashing violently against Queer POC. Congratulations, us! We as a Fandom are so fucking horrible we harassed the Team into stopping working Publicly, and yet they STILL are working on delivering a finished product! Clap, clap, fucking clap. I hope everyone always having to include how much HS^2 SUCKS into every single post they make is having second thoughts now. And I am not saying that everyone with a negative opinion on HS^2 is harassing the team or being a bigot, no, but everyone constantly keeping the vibe that HS^2 absolutely sucks and constantly throwing hate, and being weird in comments, are actively upholding the exact kind of vibe in the Fandom that allows for this kind of behavior.

It’s bittersweet to know there won’t be more updates until it’s over! But I can wait, we’ve waited for longer, lmao, and if I can see the hate dwindle as time goes on due to the inactivity, honestly, I’m all for it. I may take the time and actually make that ‘HS^2 Continuation Fanadventure’ Project I had in mind, who knows.

And I know people are going to STILL clown about this fucking post, I’ve already seen it around, and I imagine people are STILL going to ‘celebrate’ it’s over entirely missing the fucking point of what they’re celebrating. But hey, next week, at this time, they will be more silent, and I’ll still be here.

In the meantime, why not check some Fanadventures? Vast Error is a really fun one, and some members of the HS^2 Team have also worked a lot on it! In fact it JUST released a whole-ass new Animation today which I am going to be catching up on as SOON as I post this. So yeah! Disappointed in the Fandom, hopeful that at least things aren’t shitcanned, looking forward to less discourse, and hopefully the Team will stop getting fucking Harassed. Sounds good to me!

[girldraki]

sorry, didn't mean to imply the 049 article was well written! just meant that that's where the horror aspects kinda come from (or where they would come from if the creator knew what he was doing and didn't write the blandest fucking shit) and it's weird that people are romanticizing a character whose closest analogue in the real world is bigots. like 049 doesn't say that people are infected and Then They Suddenly Get Sick, it says they're infected and thus ruined even though they're just themselves and then tries to "fix" them in a way that destroys their personhood (you can probably see the connection there?). and honestly it's amazing that djkaktus is such a bad writer he managed to fuck that concept up.

also dunno if we said in the last ask but yeah it's obvious the connection wasn't intentional. we just saw it anyway

the thing is 049 as an entity is not a piece of writing and analyzing fandom behavior around 049 based on the existing text is doomed to fail because 049 is, like, first and foremost a sociological phenomenon (LIKE WE SAID. PRETENTIOUS AS HELL.)

scp containment breach came out in 2012 and, as we said previously, immediately became the single strongest force in scp fandom. it is in no way exaggeration to say cb has done more for scp than the mainsite ever has. there are HUGE numbers of cb fans who call themselves scp fans and have never even been on mainsite. so, first of all, we have to account for that segment of the 049 fucker demographic. they arent taking the article into account because they're never gonna read the goddamn article.

second of all. the raw numbers. cb is from 2012. the 049 rewrite is from 2018. collectively, 049 has existed for 12 years, 3 of them pre-cb, 6 of them post-cb and pre-rewrite, and 3 of them post-rewrite. in this entire time, this connection did not exist, because 049 was practically a non-character (we reproduced the original article over here in a google doc. there's very little going on there). the strongest thing about him was "my cure is most effective", which you'll note is like... absolutely nothing? dust.

so point is the collective canon of 049 thirst/fixation has six heavily active years prior to the rewrite and three semi-active years prior to cb being built upon. even post-rewrite content is often heavily predicated on pre-rewrite fanon, and some people just actively refuse to acknowledge the rewrite for reasons of personal preference.

so, like, logically, there's this preexisting and vast community of people who are into 049 in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with the rewrite, and have no interest in altering their behavior to take it into account, and all available information indicates them to be the majority both chronologically and by number.

analyzing 049 fandom based exclusively on the article is doomed to miss out on a huge amount of nuance because the article is not the primary source of fandom in the same way as, say, you still really have to read meri's article to Get what's up with meri past just "clef's daughter". so you cant... really go "isnt 049 basically about bigotry so fucked up how people wanna fuck him" because the thing is. to most of the people who wanna fuck him. no hes not and they (blessed souls) dont even fucking know what a djkaktus is, thank you very much, let alone read that newfangled article that takes away his connection to 035. we're sure there's an official word for it, but it's analysis based on the idea that people are acting on data (a very specific reading, no less) that, to be honest, most of them simply do not have

[calpalirwin]

Lunchtime Disaster

A/N: A thing for mostly @philthepegacorn.

Trigger Warning: ? Bigoted bullshit that in no way reflects my own views. If you’d rather not read it, that’s what the warnings for. Don’t come bitching to me for writing it because A.) I warned you and B.) this fic largely isn’t for you 😊

Word Count: 1.5k

And away, and away we go!

__

You were so excited about getting ready for lunch to see your old childhood friend, that you didn’t hear the first knock on your door. Or the impatient three thumps that followed a few moments later. Or anything beyond the music blaring from your phone as you exited the bathroom and found Michael standing in your bedroom doorway, arms crossed over his chest. So, you did the natural thing: you screamed.

Michael’s hands went up to plug his ears while you continued to shriek, “Michael! What the fuck?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!”

“You should really learn to lock your door.”

“You should really learn to not barge into people’s houses!”

“I knocked for one thing. For another, you knew I was coming over today. Didn’t you?”

“I-” you faltered, your eyes wide and mind racing with your plans. Were you and Michael supposed to hang out today? How had that slipped your mind?

Michael sighed, crossing the room to sit down on your bed. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“Michael, I am so sorry!” you apologized, sitting down next to him. “I must have mixed up the times, I just… Faith called me saying she’s in town, and I guess I got too excited to see her again, I forgot about any other plans I had. I’m so sorry.”

“Faith? Your high school best friend, yeah?”

“Yeah! And…” you trailed off to check the time on your phone. “I really need to leave before I’m late meeting her. But I will call you when I’m done, and we can hang out after? It’s just lunch, it shouldn’t take too long,” you tried to make amends as you got up, grabbing your bag.

“Lunch? I like lunch. Any activities that involve eating really.”

You laughed, pausing in the doorway. “You wanna come with?”

Michael grinned as he got up and skipped over to you, interlinking his arm with yours. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Michael listened to you chatter away about how excited you were to see Faith again on the short drive over to the restaurant. About how she had been your best friend growing up and stupid college and time made the two of you grow distant. “Oh, I’m so excited!” you said for the millionth time as you pulled into a parking space. In addition to getting to see Faith in you didn’t know how long, you also had some news you wanted to share with her.

“I can tell,” Michael teased you.

You smacked his arm, giggling as you did so. “Fuck you. You didn’t have to come.”

“And do what with my day instead? Not eat?” he asked as you both got out of your car.

“Is that the only reason you came with me? To get food?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s the only reason. But definitely like 90 percent. The other 10 is because I’m your new best friend, and Faith is your old best friend. So I should probably meet her.”

“Who said you were my best friend?”

He staggered dramatically as he pulled open the door. “The guys warned me. They said ‘Mike, watch out for Y/N, she’s only your friend to get close to the dogs’ but I told them they were crazy. Turns out they were right all along. I’m wounded. Truly.”

“You’re ridiculous,” you laughed, scanning the restaurant, spotting Faith at a table. “Oh, there she is! Faith!” you waved.

The woman turned her head to the sound, spotting you and smiling brightly. “Y/N!” she called out, waving you over.

The two of you crashed into each other for a tight hug as you both let out a small squeal of glee at being reunited, Michael standing awkwardly just a step behind you. He cleared his throat when he thought the greeting had gone on long enough. Faith peeled herself off of you to look up at him. “Oh? And who are you?”

“Faith, this is Michael. Michael, this is Faith,” you introduced.

“Oh?” Faith asked again with a slight lilt that came from wanting to ask if you were just friends or more without directly asking.

“Just a friend,” Michael clarified, understanding what wasn’t being said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Faith smiled at him.

As lunch started, and you and Faith started up a conversation, you began to wonder like you often did how the two of you had drifted apart. What with endless ways of staying connected, it was crazy to you that you hadn’t stayed in better touch. But after she came back from excusing herself to the restroom, you quickly remembered why. “What’s up?” you questioned, noticing her face pinched in disgust.

“It was a fuckin’ gender neutral bathroom…”

“That’s probably really helpful for single parents,” Michael commented offhandedly.

Faith shot him a look. “Yeah, but like make a single use family restroom for them then. Don’t make the existing bathrooms gender neutral. That’s gross…”

Michael pulled a small face, but shook his head and went back to his food. “Okay…” he muttered under his breath.

You, however, didn’t show as much restraint. “What’s so gross about gender neutral restrooms? It’s a restroom.”

“Yeah, but…” Faith looked around before leaning across the table and talking in a hushed voice. “This is how it starts.”

“How what starts?”

“The bending over backwards to make everyone feel safe. It’s a bunch of shit. There’s already equality with there being a men’s restroom, and a women’s restroom.”

“Which is great. For those who identify that way.”

Faith snorted. “As if there’s any other way to identify.”

Your skin felt like it was on fire with the level of rage boiling inside you. You definitely weren’t going to tell her your news now. “Well… It’s like Mike said. It’s great for single parents to have access to gender neutral restrooms.”

“Oh, I bet. But you could just make a separate restroom for that. But for everyone else? Just pick a restroom.”

“I don’t think it’s as easy as that.”

“Oh sure it is! Either you’re a boy, or you’re a girl.”

“But there are people who identify as both…”

Faith snorted again. “Please. That’s almost as bad as bisexuals. It’s an excuse not to make a choice, really. Or a way to be cool. Because bottom line, end of the day, you’re one, or the other.”

“Interesting…” 

“What? You think I’m wrong?”

“I think…” you said, keeping your voice tightly controlled, “that your viewpoint is a closed-minded one.”

“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. This one just happens to be mine.”

“That it is.”

“Anyway!” Faith decided before launching into a new story, but you couldn’t focus on anything beyond the gnawing feeling in your stomach. When the time came for the three of you to leave, you could almost weep with relief.

“I’m not sure I like your friend so much,” Michael murmured once you were safely tucked away in your car, and Faith in hers.

You let out a loud laugh. Then kept laughing until it turned into sobs, your body heaving as you hunched over your steering wheel. Michael’s hand reached over to gently rub up and down your back. “It’s alright,” he soothed, not quite sure of what else to do.

“No it’s not!” you blubbered, adjusting just enough to look at him, tear tracks down your face. “She hates me!”

“How does her being a bigot translate to her hating you, exactly?”

“She hates people like me, Mike!” you continued to wail, your tears now leaving wet spots on his shirt as you clung to him for dear life.

His arms wrapped around you, holding you to him. “Hey, slow down. What are you talking about? People like you? Are you…?” he let the question hang in the air.

“Bi? Yes,” you hiccuped.

“No, I knew that. I meant your identity.”

“Yes, I’m non-binary…” The confession fell from your lips, and while the word flooded you relief at finally saying it to someone else, Faith had tainted the experience even though she wasn’t here to witness it. “And now you hate me too, don’t you?”

“Aw, c’mon Y/N. I could never hate you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. I love you too much to ever hate you.”

That shocked you enough to choke on the next cry. “You… what?”

“I-” Michael stumbled, his face bright red. “I meant like as friends I love you.”

“Oh…”

“I mean… I’m in love with you too. But I was kinda saving that confession for another time. When you’re less… distraught.”

You looked up at him with your eyes puffy and red from crying, the tears making your lashes stick together. “You’re in love with me?” you whispered.

He chuckled softly as his thumbs brushed away the tears still on your face. “Of course I’m in love with you. Why wouldn’t I be? And no, I don’t care if you’re in love with me back. I mean… I do. But it’s not gonna change anything for me if you don’t. Because you’re you. And there’s nothing you can do, or be, that would make me not love you.”

__

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[takerfoxx]

In response to JK Rowling and Joss Whedon, my (former) idols

I really didn’t want to have to do this.

So in addition to…=gestures vaguely=…all of that, the last few months have been kind of sucky when it comes to learning some really unpleasant things about artists that I looked up to, admired, and was in fact inspired by. I’ve already spoken about the Speaking Out movement revealing a lot of ugly behavior from various wrestlers, some of which I was big fans of, and then later we got Chris Jericho being a full-on MAGA. Yeah, that all sucked. But those were just performers whose work I enjoyed watching. The one that really hurt were writers who I deeply admired, whose stories I love, and who I was heavily influenced by.

The first, of course, was finding out that JK Rowling, the author of perhaps the single biggest YA fantasy series of all time Harry Potter, is a TERF. This really sucked for a number of reasons. Firstly, I really like Harry Potter! I mean, I’m not a super fan or anything. I came into it when things were kind of dying down, like the whole book series had already been released and there were only a few movies left, but I still really enjoyed it, have all the books and movies and a fair amount of merchandise swag, including a nifty wand I got at Universal Studios. Shit, I got two replicas of the Sword of Griffyindor, thanks to them screwing up my order in my favor and sending me a duplicate! They’re on my wall right across from me as I type this!

But in addition to writing a book series I really liked, JK Rowling was supposed to be one the good guys. She’s been vocally progressive, often openly comes down on British right-wing nonsense, has supported various persecuted minorities, and is on record as being one of the few self-made billionaires to actually stop being a billionaire for a time because she donated so much money to charity. And while we mock it now, her revealing Dumbledore as gay was a huge deal at the time. Plus, she cultivated this reputation as Auntie Jo, that cool, supportive aunt we all wanted.

But for a while her stock has been dropping. Her preference for confirming “representation” via tweets instead of explicitly putting it in the text of her stories has raised the question of queer-baiting, especially with a whole-ass movie with a young Dumbledore and Grindelwald to make their relationship explicit but failing to do so. The whole Nagini thing from the latest Fantastic Beasts movie was pretty gross. And re-examination of various problematic elements from the original novels has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Now, none of these really looked to be intentionally malicious, of course. Just about everyone’s early work will have problematic elements; that’s just how people work. And the later stuff smacked more of ignorance than anything. But after all this time, it’s like, c’mon. You should know better by now.

But the biggie came when her transphobic views finally came to light. Now, this one had been brewing for a while, due to some questionable likes and statements on her twitter. But then she decided to just go public and published what essentially amounts to a TERF manifesto, one with a very “love the sinner, hate the sin” condescending attitude and had a real persecution complex air to it.

Now, I’m not going to go into detail about what the manifesto was about, what the circumstances surrounding it were, or how wrong it was. It’s already been raked over the coals, dissected, answered, and debunked in detail by people far more qualified than me, so odds are, you’re already well aware of its contents and the subsequent rebuttals. But the gist of it comes down to her basically believing that transwomen are actually cis men claiming to be trans so as to infiltrate and invade female-only spaces.

Yeah.

Okay, that’s gross, but…why? Why is someone so noted for being progressive and wanting to foster an inclusive environment making this the hill of exclusion that she wants to die on?

Well, that’s where things get tricky. She mentions that prior to Harry Potter, her first marriage was highly physically and sexually abusive, and when she escaped from that, she had no place to go, leading her to be homeless for a time.

Oh.

Well, that makes sense. Someone goes through a highly traumatic experience with a member of the opposite sex, has no support structure when she escapes it, is left to fend for herself, only to suddenly get rocketed into fame, fortune, and influence, which in turn leads to a Never Again mentality. She was hurt, no one was there to help her, and now she’s afraid of men invading women-only spaces to victimize others like she was victimized. So…literally transphobic. Literally a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist.

Guys, this is so fucked up. Like, how do you even approach something like this? She’s a victim in every sense of the word, so of course she’s going to have physiological damage and a warped view of things. I mean, if I found out that a close friend of mine went through the same thing and had the same prejudices, I would be nothing but sympathetic! I mean, I’d still do what I can to convince her to overcome those prejudices, but I’d still show sympathy and support for what she went through.

Abuse warps people. There’s a reason why so many abusers are abuse survivors themselves. It makes you terrified of being hurt again and often causes people to adopt toxic behaviors, beliefs, and reactions to protect themselves. I’ve already talked about it at length while discussing She-Ra and its own handling of the cycle of abuse, which included franks discussions of Catra’s horrible behavior, why she was the way she was, while never losing sympathy for her and rooting for her to overcome it. So if JK Rowling is an abuse survivor, is it really right to come down on her for having warped views because of that abuse?

But that’s the problem. See, she isn’t your troubled friend that you’re trying to help. She isn’t your cousin Leslie who’s a really sweet person but unfortunately adopted some bad ideals due to trauma suffered. She JK freakin’ ROWLING, one of the most famous, wealthy, and influential women in the world. She has a platform of millions, if not billions, which means her voice lends credibility to her bigoted beliefs. Alt-righters and other TERFs have already swooped upon this for giving validation to their awful beliefs, which puts trans people even more at risk. And as horrible as Rowling’s experiences might have been, the trans community is often the victim of far worse, and they don’t have a mountain of money and an army of defenders to protect them like she does. I’ve said it time and time again: just because you’re a victim, that doesn’t give you the right to victimize others! And bringing things back to Catra, as much as I loved her redemption in the final season, she was still a TERRIBLE PERSON for a huge chunk of the show, one that needed to be stood up to and stopped.

So yeah. That’s the messiness that is JK Rowling.

Now, let’s talk about the one that really hurts. Let’s talk about Joss Whedon.

I’ve made no secret of what a huge Whedon fan I am. Unlike Rowling, I was a HUUUUUGE superfan. Seeing Serenity for the first time in theaters was akin to a religious awakening to me as a storyteller, making it one of my top three movies of all time. Firefly is my favorite show ever. And I adored Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse as well. I love Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers. The very first fanfic I ever wrote was a Firefly fanfic that disappeared along with my old laptop. I know his style isn’t for everyone, but I cannot understate how much of a personal inspiration he is to me as a writer.

And like Rowling, Joss was supposed to be one of the good guys! Buffy was monumental in pushing the needle when it came to female empowerment. Will and Tara were groundbreaking as a gay couple. He’s been outspoken for years about his feminist views and beliefs and was seen as one of the most prominent and influential feminist voices in Hollywood!

And then things started to go bad.

One day he was on top of the world, the mastermind behind the first two Avenger movies. And the next, it seemed like he was in freefall. It’s hard to really pinpoint exactly when the change took place. Some would say him being brought in as a last-minute substitute for Zack Snyder to take over on Justice League after Snyder had to leave due to family tragedy, and the subsequent awful critical reception to that film tarnishing his image, even if those were very unique circumstances that couldn’t really be blamed on him. Others might point to Age of Ultron’s less than stellar reception, as well as criticism of some questionable jokes and certain creative decisions regarding the character of Black Widow, which then led to a more critical examination of how Whedon continues to write female characters, as while his work might have been revolutionary in the 90’s, his failure to evolve with the times had meant that many of his portrayals are now woefully outdated and problematic, with his vision for a Batgirl movie getting hit with a lot of backlash as a result.

Again, I’m not going to go into too much detail, as this is all public knowledge and can be easily looked up, but overall it seemed that Whedon entered into a period where he was getting criticized more than he was celebrated, and his image of a guaranteed hit maker was now in doubt.

But all of this wasn’t the big problem. All creators go through rises and slumps, and everyone hits points where they get hit with a barrage of criticism; that’s just part of being a public creative figure, especially a progressive one. And had nothing happened after, it would have probably faded, got forgotten, and Whedon would have moved onto the next project with no fuss.

But as it turned out, it wasn’t just a minor slump in his career. Instead, it was the priming of the pump.

In 2016, Whedon divorced his wife of sixteen years, Kai Cole, and in an open letter, Kai Cole accused him of being a serial cheater, who would have affairs with a great many women, from co-workers, to actresses, to friends, to even his fans. And in addition to raising questions of him possibly abusing his position as showrunner to elicit sex from those working on his projects, there also is the ugly question of how could someone who speaks so highly of women then go and backstab the person who was supposed to be the most important woman in his life, as well as lying to her and denying her the autonomy of deciding whether or not she even wanted to continue to have a relationship with him?

Furthermore, Whedon himself has not explicitly denied these accusations, and comments made by him seem only to confirm them.

Now if you’ll recall, I reacted publicly to this news, and despite my admiration of Whedon’s work, I came down on Kai Cole’s side, and stated that while things like marriage issues and infidelity were no one’s business but that of the couple’s, it did raise a lot of uncomfortable questions about how Whedon treated the women in his life and he really needed to get his shit in order.

But hey, a messy private life and a guy falling into temptation isn’t that big of a deal, right? Plenty of creators also go through multiple marriages and have problems staying faithful and still continue making great art. We’re all human, it’s a stressful job, and this shit just happens, right? Sure, it’s gross and a shitty thing to do, but ain’t no business of ours, right?

In late 2020, actor Ray Fisher, who played the role of Cyborg in Justice League, openly accused Joss Whedon of fostering a hostile work environment, claiming that the director’s behavior was abusive and unprofessional, and that Whedon in turn was protected by DC executives.

DC and Warner Bros. came down against Fisher, claiming they had done an internal investigation that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing (yeah, sure they did), and soon Fisher was out as Cyborg, apparently for rocking the boat.

But then Charisma Carpenter, noted for her important role as Cordelia Chase in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, then spoke up, claiming to be inspired by Fisher in doing so. She described Whedon did indeed foster a hostile work environment on his projects, that his often acted in a toxic manner, from asking incredibly invasive and inappropriate questions regarding her pregnancy to insulting her on set. She said that she made excuses for him for years, but after undergoing a lot of therapy and reading what Ray Fisher had to say, she felt compelled to speak out.

And this just open the floodgates. Other actors and actresses also came forward, some with stories of their own, others to offer support. Even Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, confirmed Carpenter’s stories and said that she no longer wanted to be associated with Whedon. Michelle Trachtenberg, who played the character of Dawn, stated that she also experienced toxic treatment from Whedon despite her being a minor at the time, and says that the set had a rule that Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone with her again, which really raises some sickening questions of what happened the first time. Even male stars have spoken out, from words of support and apologies for not speaking up earlier from Anthony Stewart Head and David Boreanaz, to an earlier interview with James Marsters, in which he described being terrified of Whedon, mainly due to an instance when Whedon was frustrated with the popularity of Marsters’s character of Spike messing with his plans and physically and verbally taking it out on the actor. There have been many corroborating stories of Whedon being casually cruel on set, on seemingly taking delight in making his fellow show writers cry, and even the man himself admitting to enjoying fostering a hostile work environment during his director commentary of the Avengers. We’ve joked about Whedon’s supposed sadism for years, but that was in regards to how he treated the characters in his stories, not the people helping him make them!

So yeah. That’s the problem with Joss Whedon.

So, do I think that Joss Whedon is somehow some kind of sociopath who lied about his feminist principles and deliberately put on a progressive façade specifically to get into a position of power so he could torment people? No, of course not. I think he was sincere about his beliefs, and I do think he didn’t realize the wrongness of his behavior. But that’s kind of the problem. See, it’s one thing to have kind of a trollishness to your nature, a sort of sadistic side. No one can help that. But when someone with that quality gets put into a position of power in which they are protected by both the higher-ups and their legions of fans, they are allowed to mistreat and continue to mistreat people. And by never suffering any consequences, that sort of toxic behavior becomes internalized, becomes a habit, becomes their moda operandi. And when you’re constantly getting praised as a creative genius and a wonderful feminist voice, any self-criticism just gets wiped away, and you think yourself above reproach, leading to what Joss Whedon became and went on being.

And you know what scares me the most about this particular issue? It’s not that I am a fan of his stories. It’s that I can so easily see myself turning out the same way.

Look, I’ll be upfront about it: I’m kind of a sadist myself. You’ve seen it in my stories, you’ve seen me gloating after a particularly dark plot twist makes my readers freak out. That sort of stuff is fun to me. There’s a reason why I have a much easier time in the dark and violent scenes, because I’m channeling something ugly within me. We all have a dark side, and this is mine.

But UNLIKE Whedon, that doesn’t carry over to how I treat people in real life (unless Monopoly or Mario Party are involved, then it’s fair game). Maybe it’s because I wasn’t given the sort of power and praise he did so early, and I was always taught to be considerate of other people’s feelings, but if I ever find out that I hurt another person or went too fair, I feel TERRIBLE, and it just throws me off all day until I apologize. Even if I don’t notice right away that what I said or did wasn’t cool (autistic, remember?), when it’s pointed out to me and I have some time to think on it, yeah, the guilt is on and I make a point to apologize to whoever I’ve hurt. I’ve even made a point to apologize to members of my family for inconsiderate stuff I said years ago as a little punk kid because it wouldn’t stop bugging me.

So maybe Whedon got too big, too fast. Maybe putting people on these sorts of pedestals, especially progressive ones, is ultimately a bad thing.

So where does this leave us? How are we to treat JK Rowling and Joss Whedon, one who developed a lot of transphobia due to abuse suffered while the other became a toxic individual due to unchecked control and a lack of consequences? Can we still enjoy their stories despite them now being colored by their creators’ falls from grace? Can we separate the art from the artist, or do we have to do a clean split?

Honestly, I feel that has to come down to the individual. I can’t remove the influence Rowling and Whedon have had on me as a storyteller, and I still highly respect both of their talents despite taking major issue with their problems as people. And I’m not going go throw away all of my Harry Potter or Firefly stuff. Because that’s my stuff. It has value to me, it doesn’t represent the issues with their creators, and a lot of it was gifts from people who are dear to me. Though I do think it’ll be a long time before I return to either of their work, as I just don’t have the stomach for it now.

But I will be avoiding any projects they have in the future. I don’t want to put money in their pockets that might go on to support their toxic beliefs or behavior. And as for royalties for their past work that would also support the cast and crew of the Harry Potter films or those who worked on Whedon’s shows who do not deserve to lose money because we don’t want any of that money going to the creators? Er, that question is a little above my paygrade. I don’t know. You’ll have to all decide for yourselves. As for me, I still have a lot of thinking to do.

Regardless though, if I or anyone else is still able to enjoy their work, then it’s important to not divorce what these people said or did from the art they created, even if it makes enjoying that art less fun. It’s important to be critical about what we enjoy, to acknowledge the bad aspects along with the good, and open up discussion of those elements, because that’s what mature adults are supposed to do. 

And as for JK Rowling and Joss Whedon, whose stories I love, whose talent I admire, and whose past good work I’ll happily acknowledge, I do hope they both experience some sort of realization and enter into a period of self-examination that leads to them getting help for their issues, for Rowling to get help in coming to terms with her trauma and realizing that she’s wrong about the trans community and a full apology, and for Whedon to also come to terms with his toxic behavior and how he treats people, for him to make no excuse for what he did and sincerely apologize to those he hurt and work on bettering himself, as well as them both examining some of the more problematic tropes still present in their works. Because despite everything, I do feel that they can still be a creative force of good, and it would be a shame if they let themselves self-destruct.

But if not, then if it comes down to choosing between Rowling and the protecting the trans community, if it comes down between choosing between letting Whedon continue to make shows and protecting actors and writers from his abusive behavior, then I know who I’m siding with, and it ain’t the two individuals this whole essay is about. No story, no matter how good, no matter how creative, is worth letting sacrificing vulnerable people in order for it to be made.

[rjalker]

yeah, I fucking 100% support transmascs useing the word transandrophobia.

If you want to argue that they shouldn’t because “the creator is bigot”, well guess what? So the fuck is Julia Serrano. That doesn’t mean you tell transfems they can’t use the word transmisogyny.

People already shot down the word “transmisandry” because “misandry isn’t real” and like. what else are they supposed to do??? Do they have to misgender themselves in order for you to take their oppression seriously? They’re describing the specific intersections of transphobia and misogyny they face as transmascs. They kind of have to use words that mean “man” in the term. It’s a basic requirement.

Saying they /are/ oppressed but their oppression also doesn’t exist is just. ridiculous.

Turning every word they choose to describe their oppression into a joke is literally just bigotry.

everyone knows to listen to oppressed people when they talk about their experiences, but suddenly that rule doesn’t apply to transmascs because of the exact bigotry they’re talking about.

They’re supposed to silence themselves and not talk about their experiences because they’re not considered to matter. They aren’t actually oppressed and are just imagining it all. That’s literally the exact oppression they’re talking about. It’s a ridiculous and bigoted double standard and I’m tired of it.

Transmascs talking about their oppression does not silence anyone. Transmascs deserve a term that they can use to describe the specific forms of oppression they face, and they should not all be punished because the person who came up with the term is an asshole. That’s just a fucking excuse not to listen to marginalized people.

Because, again, I cannot fucking stress this enough, Julia Serrano, the creator of the term transmisogyny, is fucking exorsexist and yes, fuckers, transandrophobic as shit, who among many other bigoted things says gay people aren’t oppressed for their same-gender attraction. But I guess everyone’s just fine with that, considering I’ve seen only a single other person even talking about it -.-

No other identity is treated this way, and it’s ridiculous to act like it’s a normal reaction now just because the people affected by it are transmasculine.

Different forms of oppression existing and being acknowledged do not silence eachother. Trans people face different types of oppression, and we all deserve the language to articulate that oppression. If you understand that transfem people face a unique intersection of transphobia and misogyny, then how is it difficult for you to understand that that also means transmascs face a unique intersection as well? You might as well argue that nonbinary people don’t face any unique intersections of bigotry -.-

I just don’t understand how people who aren’t transmasc think they have the right to silence transmascs when they talk about their oppression. That kind of logic wouldn’t fly with any other oppressed minority, so why is it suddenly okay when it comes to transmascs? Is it, by any chance, the exact bigotry they are talking about??

If you want trans people to unite in solidarity, then that means that we all need to have the words to describe our experiences, and we need to listen to people when they describe experiences that we don’t share, instead of fighting and silencing eachother.

You cannot argue that they aren’t allowed to use a word because the person who created it is a bad person if you don’t apply that rule to anyone else. Julia Serrano is homophobic and exorsexist and yes, transandrophobic, literally lying and coming up with completely contradictory arguments against transmasculine people facing oppression or having priveledge, and unless you’re going to argue just as vehemently that people have to stop using the word transmisogyny, then you are not fucking allowed to tell people they can’t use the word transandrophobia.

It’s hippocrissy to the extreme, and it’s literal bigotry.

If you are not transmasc, you do not get to tell transmascs what oppressions they do or do not face, and you are not allowed to tell them they don’t need or deserve a word to describe that oppression.

Allowing a white trans woman who’s blatantly homophobic (she literally says gay people aren’t oppressed for their same gender attraction, and says butch women are treated better than traditionally feminine women!) exorsexist (says nonbinary people are actually binary trans, but refuse to accept it so that they can feel superior to trans women in particular) and racist (she insists that the white western gender binary is so prevalant because it’s the most natural and right, and only brings up the nonbinary genders of other cultures just to immediately dismiss them as “extraordinary” and therefore not to be counted as being real and natural) to act like the fucking authority on what oppression transmascs do and do not face and says they’re priveledged for being seen as women is not the fucking awesome progressive stance you think it is.

[angeloncewas]

dont wanna make this ask long bc i am tired and dont have the energy to be a well spoken (?) person rn but it probably will be long anyways, so sorry!! but like. as somebody who has hyperfixated on both idubbbz and schlatt (along with a plethora of other problematic content creators, i really know how to fuckn pick em!!) they absolutely foster a dogshit community, at least outside of platforms like tumblr, where like. you cant really avoid fandom culture like you can on twitter or ig, if that makes sense. on here, if you wanna post about your favorite youtuber, whether you tag it or not, other fans will likely see and if you say some bad shit, you will likely get called on it, whereas on ig basically only your followers will see it even if you use a hashtag and on twitter its like if you arent in a subtwt/fandom then you basically dont interact with any subtwt at all unless its an accident, ya know?

so like. i think what im trying to say here is that while ive met a lot of fans of both these creators, especially schlatt, who are great people as far as i can tell, i am also specifically on the fandom side of things and as soon as i step out of that space i realize that a lot of people who watch them are not actually minorities like me and my mutuals who can catch on to satire or who watch their more behind the scenes stuff where you can see them act like a decent person or even call out people for the things they usually joke about which just. fucking sucks. it sucks that, as much as i do believe schlatt is actually a good person (and sort of idubbbz, although i dont really watch him much anymore for a plethora of reasons, mostly related to the fact that i cant stand his jokes anymore even if he is playing a character as he's said before), he also keeps doing terrible fucking things and im really glad his actual friends have been calling him on it recently, especially after that jackbox video (which is a whole other thing on its own bc it literally seemed like nobody wanted to be there basically the entire video?? like as somebody who watched all the jackbox videos before that one, it was really fucking off in that call and the jokes were next level fucking upsetting), but sometimes it's just kinda like. exhausting. bc his community is already fucking bad now, you cant undo accidentally fostering a community of fucking racist homophobes who dont get that you're playing a character, unless you kinda drop off and build a whole new community from that, which would be stupid to do at this point in his career. not really sure where i was going with this tbh, but i thought i would chime in on this discussion as a viewer of mainly schlatt, but also a past idubbbz viewer who is basically a seasoned fucking vet at dealing with shitty fanbases because of him and many other dumb youtube white boys

(also, note on that anisa thing: ian's main fanbase was definitely pissed just bc she does sex work and a lot of them are too fucking young or just too fucking dense i guess to clock the fact that he's putting on an act bc, like i said before, they either dont watch his behind the scenes content, or they do and they kinda just miss those moments between still trying to entertain where he gets genuine. that being said, a lot of people outside of his fanbase were also pissy bc anisa is a less than spectacular lady if you really do your research on her, kind of a bad person but it's not something a lot of people know about, especially since one of the few videos made on it was by fucking creepshow art)

sorry for the rant again, i feel like i do this every other week now and i apologize, you just seem to have the best discourse and i enjoy partaking <3 hope you have a good rest of your day/night/whatever time you're reading this!

—🦷

Thank you for the input (don't mind the rant !) and I hope you have a good rest of your day too <3 For post length, I'll answer under the cut :)

Yeah, I get what you mean (I think ahdsufsd). Fandom as a concept is pretty... I don't even know how to describe it, but it's the kind of thing that I feel like white male Redditors would think of as pussy shit, y'know? Like the Ricegum gang isn't a fucking "fandom" they're a... well, a fandom, but they're not gonna admit to that. So when you step outside of a community like Tumblr (the queerest place on the internet TM) you come into contact with the faces of the fandom you're dealing with and oftentimes they're a lot less like you than you might've thought from the similar interest. It's like going to a Weezer concert and realizing you're surrounded by incels (this is a JOKE).

Satire's a rough topic because some people don't think it should exist at all. Like any words that can be directly interpreted as bigoted or problematic should not be uttered. I disagree with that, I think it's one of the most interesting forms of both social commentary and comedy, but I do see the problem. There are people who watched Filthy Frank (to take an example from that other anon) and didn't know or care what the point of his actions were (I don't know what they were tbh - I never watched him, but it sounds like he's a pretty decent dude) and instead read his jokes as-is. There are thousands upon thousands of people who aren't gonna get satire and that's a problem because if they're already bigoted they're gonna see people like Schlatt and iDubbz and whoever else as truly validating.

(Largely unrelated but yo, is iDubbz still going? Are the views alright? Is the adsense popping? Has he just kept going with Content Cops? I haven't heard about him since the girlfriend thing dropped.)

"you cant undo accidentally fostering a community of fucking racist homophobes who dont get that you're playing a character, unless you kinda drop off and build a whole new community from that"

I think this is what's pertinent when it comes to discussing Schlatt. After the Jackbox video (for me at least, he might've been there before) he put himself at a crossroads. If he'd apologized, said "sorry, I took it too far, that was a mistake" - yeah, plenty of people wouldn't have forgiven him and plenty of bigoted fans of his would've said that the apology was just to placate the snowflakes on Twitter, but to the sort of in-between people it would've shown that he's able to recognize and reconcile his mistakes. He could've transitioned into content that's A) actually good (when I say that the video was bad I don't just mean in terms of racism, I mean it straight up was not entertaining) and B) less "edgy" for the sake of. I wouldn't expect him to go uwu squeaky clean, but he's already reeled in the bad people, so if he really wanted to foster a good, progressive audience, he has to do something significant to show that.

But he didn't.

Maybe for the sake of his career, maybe because he likes those bigoted fans, maybe because he just doesn't get it - I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. I spoke earlier about doing what is right over what is easy and in the case of Schlatt it just feels like he really did take the easy way out. Whoever he is in his personal life doesn't change how he's perceived online and the kinds of people that are idolizing him for it.

(And yeah I saw the video on Anisa when I Googled her to check if they were still dating, but then I saw who it was made by and I was like oh well whatever avhfdfkj)

[briek58454521]

Let’s rant about bigotry in media and fake allies.

.Look. I get it. You want to believe that your cartoons, media and celebs are completely perfect darlings that can do no wrong, but let me be frank. I don’t care how much you don’t want to talk about it. I care about the creators who keep inviting the discourse their way through their idiocy. Whenever a creator gets in trouble for doing shit like making jokes about slave hats on a live stream, or including a blackface caricature in an art book, or killing off their gays the very episode they come out or are introduced, there’s always a subset of people who say shit like, “it was a mistake, they didn’t mean it. It kinda gives us as a leftist community a bad name when we keep attacking each other like this”.

Let’s dismantle that. And let’s break this down in three basic points I’ll use throughout. 1. It is not your place to accept an apology that was not for you, especially when in regards to racism, sexism, anti-LGBTA+ bigotry, and anti-semitism. 2. We need to stop lumping in actual criticism with alt-right idiots being shitty about marginalized groups existing, because ultimately, infighting is not the end of the world, and disagreements are not inherently bad. They are a fact of life. 3.  Most importantly of all, just because these people claim to be allies, that does not mean that they are. Because make no mistake. CARTOONS ARE NOT ANY LESS EFFECTED BY THE BIASES OF THE ENVIRONMENTS WHICH PRODUCED THEM THAN ANY OTHER WORK OF ART.

Now. Let’s break down that shit completely.

1. I used those examples as a jumping-off point, but in general, this shit always happens. A creator fucks up, they get criticism which was unquestionably earned, they get rightfully dragged, and the creator uses the backlash to garner sympathy from their audiences and paint their critics in a bad light and whine about Cancel Culture. NOW, I already talked about that in another post, but basically, it doesn’t exist, and is used as a weaponized shield from criticism. 

Thing about all of that as well is when the creators keep bringing up how they didn’t mean it like that. Most people would answer this with, “doesn’t matter, what matters is what you did”, but there’s something else that people don’t talk about. This is usually a bunch of white people excusing this shit. Or otherwise, a bunch of people who weren’t actually affected by the latest controversy. And therein lies the rub. Allies, let me put it this way. WHEN THE SUBJECT OF THE CRITICISM IS ABOUT THE PORTRAYAL OF MINORITIES IN MEDIA, YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO EXPECT SAID MINORITIES TO FORGIVE THOSE CREATORS WHEN YOU WERE NOT AFFECTED BY IT.

Remember the Lana Del Rey controversy, where her dumbass ended up getting shit for her statement filled with venom towards other artists? Could have been cleared up if she had just accepted that she messed up and didn’t word her statement correctly, but no. She lashed out at the people who told her it was kinda racist to lump a bunch of black female artists into a conglomerate of artists who just, “twerk, cheat, have sex, and get money”, and dismissing feminism as needing to accommodate women “like her, who were more delicate”, perpetuating inadvertently to the idea that black women are less delicate, white women are petite, demure, and need to have a place above the others. AND LOOK, it’s how she responded that sealed it. Accusing her critics of being the actual racists, who hate women, and conflating the criticism with.....ugh....a FUCKING RACE WAR. Do I EVEN need to explain the problem with that?

The point is that it was idiotic of her to assume that she didn’t deserve the criticism because she “technically didn’t mean it”, when ultimately, she wasn’t the victim, she wasn’t the one who ACTUALLY got hurt by all of this, and that most of the criticism WAS NOT ANYWHERE NEAR as vitriolic as Lana accused it of being. And people do this to minorities all the fucking time. Where the praise for the work is what matters, but then they’re just upset and looking to be upset about things when they....sorry, when WE have shit to say about the fuckups. Constantly, minorities are expected to praise bare minimum bullshit lest we have self proclaimed “””””allies””””” get pissy that we aren’t playing along. Well, sorry, but, I think it be time to stop with that shit. It doesn’t matter how pure you think that person is. If the people who are the actual part of the controversy have shit to say about it, MAYBE LISTEN TO THEM instead of trying to force people to accept the apology that wasn’t even yours to accept, nor was it for you to shove in our faces to shut us up. And if you dislike that I’m saying that, just know. That’s exactly what you’re doing when you pull that shit.

2. As simply as I can put it, complaining about how a trans person is portrayed badly is not the same as complaining ABOUT the presence of a trans person, and to lump that shit onto the other pile is dishonest and willfully ignorant. When we keep getting upset about the tone, or upset about, “WAAAH, they said a me-no-like”, and lump that in with the actual facists looking to erase us from the history books, we are doing half of their job for them, and normalizing shit like what I saw the other day, where on Twitter, some asshole complained, “Anime is supposed to be an escape from reality. Adding black people to it kinda ruins the point.”

I’m gonna talk about it in the next point, but for now, understand this. NO ONE says shit like that just out of the blue without having it come from somewhere, and that attitude is all too prevalent.

In cartoons especially, criticism of the NB lizard from She-Ra is not being bigoted towards non-binary people, because the use of a fucking lizard to portray them is the ACTUALLY bigoted thing. And to lump in criticism of that with the criticism of She-Ra not being conventionally attractive enough for men to masturbate to the fucking minor is only going to long-term HARM any discourse. Because having these conversations as well as discussing these issues and educating each other about them is how we AVOID THEM. Criticism is not just a vector for asshole conservatives to be pissy about your existence. It’s also a veritable TREASURE TROVE for how not to fuck your shit up. And when we all get it, we learn. I get it, you don’t want to do shit wrong, but when you do, as everyone will, the backlash will burn itself out, and once you’ve fixed it, people will be very forgiving. Because, and it’s gonna sound mean....THAT’S HOW AUDIENCES WORK. THEY WANT TO FORGIVE YOU FOR WHEN YOU DO SHIT WRONG. So just...fix it. And listen. Yeah, you’ll get called stupid, you’ll get called “moron”, but you will have saved yourself from getting that shit ten times worse later on down the line. BEAR IN MIND, THOUGH, any of you already typing about how that’s enabling cyberbullying under the guise of critique, IT’S NOT. There’s a wealth of difference between the two, and trying to distract from the point with that is just a red herring. So stop with that.

And now....for the biggest one of all.

3. See...here’s the thing. About that anime douche. That doesn’t happen in JUST anime. It’s been around for decades, and has been a thing to this day. The WoW community got upset about womz being in power for the past 15 years, and have gotten on their high horse about black people being in the game, stating that if they were around sooner, maybe it wouldn’t, “SEEM TOO POLITICAL”, with that Asmongold jackass trying to start a second wave of GamerGate because one of the people at Blizzard said, “Black Lives Matter”. Fantasy as a genre has been so rooted in racism, that the inclusion of goblins for the most part is synonymous with anti-semitism towards Jewish people. Captain Marvel was pilloried for the past two years because the mean lady said that shit needs to change and wasn’t too nice, and also, me don’t like her too much. Basically, tone policing over a personality that we still give Howard Stern a platform for. In cartoons, the inclusion of black people is seen as an inherently political opinion. The rumors of Gen 6 Apple Jack possibly having a black voice actress prompted comments such as:

“The thiing with AJ is clearly anti-white/conservatist as a response to Trump America. What is opposite of country redneck female? Of course, and urban black woman.”

“It’s the fact that she’s black that bothers me.”

“Killing a blonde freckled Southern character for some political agenda is the last thing I want to see.”

The news of Velma Dinkley being gay was immediately pounced upon with shit about a homosexual agenda, and constant bullshit about how it was so forced, or whatever. This shit always happens, and is gonna keep happening. You know why?

Because the entertainment industry is not ready to accept minorities. The games industry is not ready to accept minorities. Cartoons are still not ready to accept minorities. They accept them for a moment, until those minorities challenge someone’s ego. Fans embrace a character until they’re a woman, or a POC, or on the spectrum, or LGBTA+. The existence of us is denigrating to these idiots’ escape, not from reality, but from us. It’s bad enough that they have to put up with us in the real world, but even worse that they have to see us in fictional shows that aren’t real.’ Us merely BEING AROUND is a bad thing, and to ask for some improvements is met with bemoaning about agendas.

Supposed allies begin and end their support with how much money we put in their wallets and how much we stroke their egos about how woke they are, and actual allies are lumped in with actual offenders. If we get upset that a show they’ve posited as so enlightening is actually the utter pits and not in any way healthy, they get upset. Tell a Reylo they’re shipping something toxic and dangerous, they’ll get upset and yell racial slurs at John Boyega for sitting next to Daisy Ridley. Say, “Fuck Arthas”, people get upset jump down your throat about how you hate forgiveness. Tell people that the Grinch ought not to be forgiven, people get upset you’re strawmaned about how you hate forgiveness.

They just don’t understand, or care about the essential fact about all of this. As I said earlier. The environments which produce the worst of offenders in these fields, and the problems we hate seeing so much are in no way less affected by the biases that they were cultivated by. And media has never been any more ready to accept minorities as people and as worthy of being portrayed as people than literally anywhere else right now. And speaking up about that is what gets these fake allies mad, especially when they LIKE the media. What makes these people so mad is not the troubling portrayal of POC, or women, or minorities. Not that we are routinely ostracized for existing in cartoons, not that this shit happens at all. They don’t give a flying fuck about any of that. It’s the thing that they have to put up with as a result of that that makes them the most upset.

Criticism. And they don’t like that.

And no matter whether or not these cartoons are made by bootlickers, or this movie was made by a TERF,  or if this creator has a history of blackface, racism, or has made garbage statements about women, if you aren’t nice and considerate enough towards their feelings, you’ll make them, and us, the allies, feel uncomfortable. NO DWAMA, just not too divisive feedback that’s ultimately worthless as it was made purely to try to appease idiots and the people most affected by these issues at the same time, meaning it had to be watered down past the point of no return in order for us to factor it in with our jaded mindsets and worldviews that are the direct cause of the problems we complain about, yet keep exacerbating through our ignorance and unwillingness to change.

If you aren’t like that, and don’t believe you should be lumped in with that, don’t behave as if you are that sort of person. But, even then, if you aren’t...listen to the actual experts. Stop listening to some white guy’s idiotic hot takes about black rep, and actually listen to black people. Listen to trans people instead of some cis white chick with no understanding of trans issues. Stop platforming the worst of offenders within these communities as the bestest ever. And most importantly....

remember that horses don’t exist.

[zorilleerrant]

I’m so fucking tired of all this “fanfic is literature!” bullshit trying to prove that there are good fanfics out there. Like, yes, there are novel-length works, feature film length fanvids, murals that cover the entire outside of a building. And yeah, of course they don’t take any less work than any other kind of art.

Of course there are hours and hours of labor, tears and cramped fingers and writer’s block threatening to send people over the edge. Of course there’s worrying about audience reception and working through self-loathing and trying to move forward instead of stewing in regret. Of course people pour their heart and soul out onto the page. That’s the way writing is.

But I don’t want to hear anymore about oh, look, this is a Bible modern AU. That’s a Shakespeare retelling full of OCs. I don’t want to hear about the Sherlock Holmes crossovers and the comics reboots and the sex written back in to the censored novel.

What I want to know is: why do you think The Da Vinci Code is worthy of a Nobel Prize? Why do you think the last three things some interns wrote under James Patterson’s name are works of unparalleled genius that would bring even his harshest critic to tears? Why do you think the latest installment in some random procedural series you pulled off the shelf at the grocery store has redefined, nay, reinvented the genre?

Because here’s the thing: yeah, there are great writers out there writing fanfic. There are traditionally published authors, there are writers who make a living off their writing, there are people who have been practicing for fifty years. And there are mediocre writers. And, yes, there are bad writers.

Yes, there are fics out there that have clearly never been run through a spellcheck, where every i is lowercase and the dialogue is jammed together in one paragraph. Or ones that have been run through spellcheck too many times, where words that are clearly not what the author meant sit right next to a random verb in place of the main character’s name.

Yes, there are fics out there that have no narrative structure, that are essentially random thoughts not even loosely connected by theme, or plot advancement, or character interaction, or even a break marker reading Five Days Later.

Yes, there are fics out there that are more outline than story, that read like someone had an idea but didn’t care to follow through.

Yes, there are fics out there that try to copy something well known and fall flat, or seem like they don’t understand why the original works, or just sound terrible.

Yes, there are little kids who have never written anything before, thinking they’ve come up with the greatest story ever told. And teenagers writing about things only their direct friend group cares about and wondering why they’re not famous yet. And self-centered young adults whining about their parents, or school, or jobs, or life in ways that make no sense in the context of the work. And middle aged women who said to themselves “how hard could writing a novel be” and it shows, and middle aged men who are transparently talking about their own divorces and somehow think it’s their bitch wife’s fault.

Yes, there are people who are clearly only in it for the porn, and it’s not even very good porn. Yes, there are people who think they’re brilliant but they’re really just egotistical. Yes, there are people who plug away at millions of words and still can’t string a decent sentence together by the end of it. Yes, there are people who think they’re protesting this or that kind of bigotry when their works actually subtly reinforce it. Yes, there are proud bigots.

Yes, there are people who misunderstood the original creator’s point, not intentionally subverting it, just completely didn’t get it. Yes, there are people who forget major facts about the canon, ones whole characters were built around. Yes, there are people who ask for criticism or fact checking and yell at anyone who tells them anything is wrong. Yes, there are plagiarists, yes, there are bullies, yes, there are trolls.

Yes, there are bad writers.

We’ve all seen them, we’ve all started reading one of these works and closed out. Or finished it, and went, wow, that was bad. Or kept reading and saw it got better, or kept reading and saw it didn’t. Or watched it get adopted into more capable hands or maybe just ones better suited to that particular project, or watched it get remixed or watched someone else write the same prompt or watched it inspire something brilliant. Or sighed as we realized that was the only new fic in our tiny fandom, the only writer for our favorite rarepair, the only work with that trope or side character or AU we were particularly jonesing for.

The point is not that fanfic can’t be good. The point is that fanfic can be bad and that’s okay. That’s the thing that means it’s a living art form, a genre still growing and teaching and creating itself. Fanfic can be bad, and we don’t have to defend that, or disprove it, or say yes, but.

There is no yes, but.

There is no but your teacher never bothered to show you there are more books out there than the ones on your assigned reading list. But you never pick a random book out of the bargain bin and find there was a reason it was there. But you don’t see the original fiction the publisher rejects, but you don’t see the rough drafts, but you’ve never looked closely at the unfinished works in a famous author’s Complete Writings.

We can’t stoop to that, because the very beauty of fanfic is in the medium unconstrained. No gatekeepers. No one to tell you you’re the wrong gender or the wrong race or the wrong sexuality. No one to tell you you’re too young or old or disabled or foreign to publish. No one to tell you you’re too inexperienced, or too inexperienced in that genre, or too unqualified to write.

No one to tell you it won’t sell, or it’s too weird or different. No one to tell you it’s too long or too short, or broken up into too many parts or not enough. No one to fight the legal battles of brand names and real people and places and oh, yeah, borrowing from other works.

No editors unless you want them. No mods saying ‘this is a good kind of thing to say, and this one is bad’. No deadlines to rush you and no publication dates to make you grind your teeth and wait.

No idea that’s too out there, no character that’s too niche appeal, no topic that’s too taboo to address.

It’s not that fanfic is literature. It’s that literature isn’t literature.

[hellyeahheroes]

War on Comcisgate...or rather Richard Meyer and the Very Bad Horrible No Good Day

First of all thanks to @majingojira for making screencaps of this, since I could not get the whole thing due to being blocked by the main clown of this spectacle.

So for quite few days idiots of comicsgate are screaming how Eve Ewing has been hired to write new Ironheart series despite having no prior comics experience and more and more industry professionals bring up that they have gotten jobs at Marvel or DC despite having no prior experience writing comics. Neil Gaiman was the last one to chime in and say that when DC hired him to write Black Orchid he had no comics experience and was hired for his work as a journalist.

And then Richard C. Meyer a.k.a. Diversity & Comics decided to go “well actually” on Neil Gaiman and butted in saying Gaiman had published works before Black Orchid. I kid you not, he tried to explain to Neil Gaiman his own career. And Gaiman rather patiently pointed out that yes, he had other comics published before Black Orchid but he was hired by DC before any of them seen the light of day because making a 144-pages fully painted graphic novel takes fucking time. So yeah, Meyer apaprently thought that the time when he was humilated by Jim Jefferies wasn’t showing that he has replaced his brain with his own cock enough and needs to top it by making an even bigger fool of himself.

As someone on twitter put it, basically the real-life equivalent of this has happenned

But that is not all my dear friends. Because, in what might be the greatest display of irony, certain person entered the picture. For some time there were rumors that ComcisGate and Ethan Van Sciver in particular are getting close with Vox Day. You might have heard of Vox Day as an anthor of Arts of Dark and Light novels (which are so awfull there is an entire thread on Sufficient Velocity going through everything wrong with them) or that time he launched Sad/Rabbid Puppies movement to rig the Hugo Awards to not award works he deemed as too political or made by women or minorities (and failed as whenever he managed to domiante any nomination with his picks people would just vote for No Award) or as creator of shady foundraiser for an alt-right comicsbook Alt-Hero. He is so bad that when antifa put him on a list of Alt-Lite, people maisntreaming nazi views in media, they made a note “we’re not sure if we should just call him an outright alt-right at this point”. Meaning they found him more radical than fucks like Milo Yiannopoulous or Sargon of Akkad. To prove connection between Day and Meyer or Van Sciver would be pretty damning for their claims Comicsgate is not a hate group.

So how does Day enter the picture? He just launched a comics publishing company, which he named Comcisgate Comics. And he promptly trademarked (or copyrighted I’m not sure) the Comicsgate name.That’s right, a bigger, nastier bigot just fucking robbed these morons. I don’t know if Meyer or EVS invited him into them house and he promply robbed them them or if he just saw how they’re making fools of each other and decided they’re worthless allies but can be used for his next get-rich-quick scheme. I don’t know which I’d find funnier. 

Comicsgate wanted their world work like fiction they consume so much that their wish come true and they got hit with a fictional trope. This is a real-life equivalent of being Hijacked by Ganon.  I think there is one word to describe my feelings about it: schadenfreude.

So here we have the big bad boogey man, the supposed rising power that will change comics forever - face of the movement humilated by one of the most respected creators in the industry and their very name stolen by a white supremacist. As certain clown put it:

- Admin

[autismgavemychildvaccines]

Why I’m Ashamed to Be Christian

So, now that I am literally sick of the Measles nonsense (no, fucking literally, working 12+ hour shifts on an incident management team has got me sick and tired enough to call in tomorrow), I’ve decided to do a non PH rant, though it’ll for sure rear it’s fucking head somewhere in here. Instead, let’s tackle something real fun. Religion! Time to buckle up.  In my half fucking awake daze that I was just nudged out of, something really wild hit me. My faith, my belief in a very specific God with a specific book (though I admit that other religions, so long as their origin is not a company or a tool to oppress others on the outset, are valid/likely just as true) makes no God damned sense.  (For reference, here I will claim my most closely related sect as my own; American Evangelism [though if one were to ask in person I’d say “non-denominational”, but historically, the two are close] and will be speaking as a part of a community I used to closely belong to but now have drifted away from on some granola-crunching dumbassery that is “I am a church of one” bullshit. I’ve wanted to be other things, but ever since I left the Freemasons, fuck all else has had much appeal.) So, first things first, Garden of Eden, right? Pretty fucking cool place, some might have even called it a perfect garden, a perfect place for humans and God to interact? But here’s my hang up with it. The trees of Life and Knowledge, and the rule that Adam and Eve could eat of any fruit except those grown upon that pair. Why even fucking have them?

 When I asked that as a kid in a faith based area, they said because it was a test.

 Of what?

 “Well, of our loyalty to God and our Faith, of course”. 

Except again, what the fuck? Like, I get the idea of free-will, in fact I am a huge believer in individual free will (I’ll get to that in a sec), but here’s the stickler here. As any other creative type will tell you, we want our work to take on a life of its own. Like say I wanted to program a remarkably bright AI, and it worked, and all I wanted was for it to recognize me as its creator and to discover and enjoy what home I could make for it. You know what I wouldn’t do? I wouldn’t give an AI, even with some simulated free will, the ability to break certain rules. For example, I wouldn’t allow it unrestricted access to the internet or my personal accounts. I wouldn’t even give it the concept that such things existed, let alone put it right fucking there to be used. That would be a flaw, an imperfection in an otherwise perfect place. And yeah, there’s something to be said for giving free will with not-free consequences, sure. But two things: 1) Don’t be pissed when the thing happens that you allowed to exist in the first place and thus forced it to be a mathematical certainty now that you’re dealing with perhaps the most curious species to ever exist.  2) Don’t go blaming them for a lack of faith. If anything, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, an act that abusers often use to get what they really want and have a thin veneer of an excuse to make happen. Now doesn’t that sound a lot like a good number of the followers of this faith, as opposed to an almighty, omnipotent, powerful being? Hmm, something to consider there, maybe.  Speaking of followers, let’s actually also take a look at some of the prophets that we as American Christians often hold so dear. Now me? I’m a Luke guy, I like Luke. Peaceful, loving gospel for the most part, and I dig it. Peace and love, baby, that’s all I want coming from stories regarding a higher power that we had to hang up like a fucking tapestry to make sure we got all that love. But do you know who I fucking hate, and who I blame the most for how the American chruch is? Paul/Saul of Tarsus. Thiiiiiiiiiiis prick. This fucking Deus Vult Vulture. Actually in many ways, he really is the archetype to the Modern Evangelical fucking anything. Actively participated in the harassing, attempted extinguishing and successful terrorizing of a marginalized group. Then after being hit back for it, literally “seeing the light” and trying to be the fucking vanguard of said group only to lead it down a path where he’s suddenly the appointed expert of anything to do with the issue. And while he does this, he helps create the most violent and bigoted thoughts in the whole of the religion, and is praised for his visions as he says they are truly from God, and can thus act oh so righteously. This right here is a fucking problem, y’all. Like, I know the whole forgiveness idea allows for some mental gymnastics on how this could even happen, but even then to make a genocidal ass-face your de-facto leader aside from Christ himself for the next 2000 years is a fucking flip that even at the 1988 Olympics, if Christians were America, Russia would give them a straight 10/10.    And yet, for many of us, that’s exactly what we’ve done. Hell, we’ve even fallen into the forced victim narrative of the synopsis of this asshole:  “Oh well, you see, I was a heathen and thus I couldn’t help myself, but then like, the God of the people I was killing talked to me and like, now I have to do this (Take on the “burden” of leading the church) as penance for what I couldn’t help myself over.” We’ve fallen for it so much, that it may as well be hard wired into our nervous system to believe anything resembling it, just as we assume if something is flat, green and on a tree, it’s a leaf.  Maybe it’s why we as a religion (and let’s face it, other Abrahamic religions as well) are so damn good at beating down the marginalized while screaming that we are the saints, we’re the sacrificiers trying to make things better. Like, let’s have some modern day fun with this bullshit, man; let’s see how we treated and in many places continue to treat women.  Of the few churches I have been to, 100% of them had one dual-sided message that made me real fuckin’ uncomfortable, fam:  Part 1) That women cannot be trusted onto themselves and thus 2) Men must take control of them and society to not allow for some unspecified “Ridiculous bullshit”.  (as a fair heads up; I do fully recognize non-binary, trans individuals, etc, but for the sake of brevity I’ll be mostly referring to M/F in the traditional sort of way, because opening up Christianity’s treatment of anything regarding gender fluidity is a Ph.D. thesis for another day)  Now, I don’t know about y’all, but I know damn well that out of all the dudes I know, and all the lasses I know, they’re a pretty mixed fuckin’ bunch. It’s almost like their gender assigned at birth doesn’t really affect how reasonable they could be as people nor how much responsibility they should have. Obviously some cultural practices skew this quite a bit in so far that women are expected to take more responsibility, younger, and for less praise, but if anything that should help destroy, not reinforce that message.  And yet, the idea persists so much in Christian circles. And not just by the men themselves, but the women, also. For the longest time of my church going days, the pastor was a woman. She wholly believed it was just and right that her husband be in charge of everything, that women should be loyal to their men in all aspects. Then again, she also (despite recruiting members primarily from college) did not believe in evolution at all, so there’s that in terms of an intellectual hurdle. But regardless, this inherent submissive attitude within the faith (and even the half-hearted and self-congratulatory “Yeah but we REALLY are the ones making the decisions because we can withhold sex if we want” is essentially that too just a smidgen more empowering), when combined with the idea that men should be wholly in-control (which is a breeding ground for toxic masculinity if there ever was) is shameful. It’s what has allowed so much bullshit in the past, including these recent abortion laws. Now, I’m going to cover abortion in another post (I might get to it tomorrow; It’s been on the burner for weeks), but it’s super pertinent here.  We, as a religion, have allowed ourselves to tell women (just as we tell/told minorities before) that they cannot be trusted with their own bodies, that they cannot be trusted when they speak, and most certainly cannot be trusted to truly hold dominion over anything. And that has allowed the most insidious, hateful, bigoted, disgusting things to happen in the name of God. A God that while I am writing this post I still believe in, but my doubts about how genuine the message has ever been is hitting home. One whose words about peace have been ignored when they could be interpreted or pointed to to support war, where the rich can profit off the poor, or to support sexism, because we as men historically have wanted to control “everything of ours”, or to take the very free will we claim to hold so dear from those who need the ability to make their own decisions the most. Words that have been used to hold down good people from making lives better. Words that in the hands of those who wanted, could be profaned and desecrated and thus allow for profane and disturbing events, both on the grand stage of the world and behind the closed doors of any house in some small town. Words which are held up with a wink and a nod so that followers feel included when they are scammed by some fucking fried chicken joint who wants to make more money to fight against equality, or to pay for another $9 million jet for some asshole who croons about how the poor should be grateful they do not have the temptations of the rich.  To other followers, do you not lament that we are this way? That we have been this way for so long? Because I fucking do.  And to those who have been discriminated or marginalized or whatever else against because of your gender or skin colour or situation or victimization or  past deeds of any sort; I’m sorry. Genuinely, truly sorry you have suffered as you have. Sorry for what people have done thinking it was somehow morally or spiritually justified, sorry that they thought they were saving you. And I can assure you that I will never try to lead you as those before me have tried to. Though if it’s all the same, I’d like to get to hear you, and walk beside you. 

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin Additional Tags/Warning: wolfstar, jily, Marauders Medical AU, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Minor Character Deaths, Angst, Fluff, jily au, Wolfstar AU, Snape is a pervert, fenrir is a psychopath, referenced violent relationship, reference to drug use, reference to transphobia

Summary: Do Jily, and Wolfstar, get together? Does something bad happen?? 

(and @theeaglequeen I’m holding you personally responsible if people kill me for making this far too long!!!)

                                               Chapter 8: Let Me Know The Truth

“This is perfect, James, just perfect!”

They sat on top of the dark rocks looking out at Howth Harbour, watching the little white sailing boats. The gulls swooping overhead and the white horses on the waves completed the nod to white details in the landscape. It was an unseasonably hot Autumn day. Lily lay back down and closed her eyes, smiling dreamily. She felt the warmth of the afternoon sun on her body, and the warmth in her chest that had everything to do with the gorgeous man lying beside her. What a perfect first date.

“Glad you think so!” said James, grinning down at her.

He still felt bad for not booking a table at The Greenhouse, one of Dublin’s best restaurants. Once upon a time he would have thought nothing of it, but times had changed, and he couldn’t afford it. Rents in Dublin were surprisingly expensive, and his junior doctor salary was not very generous. Nothing felt good enough for a date with Evans. Eventually he had settled for a walk by the sea. He couldn’t have picked a better day for it. Maybe fate was smiling at him this time.

“Hey, look at the rabbits,” he said softly, inclining his head slightly.

Lily immediately looked up, the smile on her face growing.

“Oh James! That’s just so sweet!” she said quietly. “What is it with you? You managed to spot a fox, a seal, a hare, and now these guys!”

James shrugged.

“Oh you know, animal magnetism?” he winked.

“You daft eejit!” Lily snorted, smacking him lightly on his arm. “This is precisely the kind of nonsense you used to spout in college!”

“The nonsense you fell for, you mean?” he laughed, the sunlight sending his hazel eyes sparkling mischievously.

“The nonsense that made me think for years that you were a big-headed git, Potter,” she teased, leaning into him, her lips tantalisingly close to his.

He opened his mouth to retaliate but it was suddenly too much - her closeness, the vivid green of her eyes against the bright blue sky, the curve of her arched eyebrows, the upturn of those lips, the burning blaze of her hair, cascading down her shoulders, the freckles under her eyes. She must have heard his heart hammering, or seen the longing in his eyes, for all of a sudden, she had pulled back.

“Do you want to go for a swim?” she blurted out.

“What?” he said.

“Come on, you’ll love it! The sea is warmer than you think this time of year! Or are you not willing to brave the Irish Sea?” the challenge in her voice made him groan.

“What’s the point of bringing me on a date to the sea if we don’t swim, Dr. Potter?” she laughed, throwing her head back. “And I wore my bikini, and I brought a towel. Come on!”

That piece of information made him suddenly feel very warm.

“Oh fuck!” muttered James, smiling wryly as Lily pulled him up. “If I’d known, I’d have worn my lenses!”

“Come on, no excuses!” Lily said. “Scared, Potter? I didn’t realise English guys were wimps!”

“Scared?” he scoffed, pulling off his jumper and t-shirt in one go. “Looks to me like you’re the one stalling, Evans!”

She was stalling. Technically, she was just staring at him. Alright, she was damn well ogling Potter. Fact. She felt herself blush furiously.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, looking a bit dazed. “I’d forgotten you looked like that. I mean, from the anatomy tutorials and all that…”

“Huh?” said James, who was too busy taking off his trousers to be paying attention.

“Fuck,” said Lily, who was now staring at his muscular back and thighs, as she absentmindedly bit her lip.

“Did you hurt yourself?” James asked, turning around in his boxers and looking at her with concern.

She was nearly thirty. She was bloody well nearly thirty and she was acting like a love-sick teenager. Like she was back in college all over again, drooling over Potter and pretending she thought he was an idiot. And then becoming friends with him, practically best friends with him, and still pretending she didn’t practically swoon every time she saw him. Because by then she knew he was also kind, and funny, and so clever it hurt, and silly, and generous to a fault, and fiercely loyal, and laughed at himself all the time, and watched out for weaker students, and stood up to racist bigots and made her smile and laugh. And she was in love with him. Sitting next to him in the library despite the fact she could concentrate on fuck all when he was beside her, looking at his beautiful forearms, and his strong jaw, and his messy black hair, and his beautiful eyes and…

“Fuck!” Lily said.

“Er, Lily?” said James.

“Sorry, yeah,” she managed to say. “I, er, stubbed my toe.”

“Here, let me!” he said, dropping to his knees.

“I’m fine,” she said in a strangled voice, looking at the man kneeling in front of her.

“I always liked your feet,” said James, gently moved her toes. “You have uncommonly nice feet. And I like blue nail varnish, it always suited you.”

“You really are a charmer, as though you remember my feet!” she laughed quietly, running her fingers through his hair momentarily.

“I’m not!” he huffed, looking at her with a strange look in his eyes.

He stood up.

“I love lots of things about you. I love that you always paint your toenails blue. I love that you only properly wake up after 11am. I love that when you laugh, you throw your head back and close your eyes. I love that when you study, you highlight everything single word on the page. I love that you rub your sternum when you’re anxious and bite your lip when you try something new. I love that you always stop and talk to dogs when you’re out walking. I love that you call me out on bullshit. I love that you make ridiculous excuses for your awful sister, cause you still care, despite it all. I love that you’re too kind, and you give people too many chances.”

Except him. She had been too hard on him, and she had been wrong. She was looking at him with genuine regret.

“Not really,” she said.

She suddenly didn’t feel particularly confident. He was gorgeous, and she had seen him like this before, rolled her eyes at dozens of girls making heart eyes and him and at Sirius. And he had never seen her in a bikini before today…

He didn’t have his glasses on though, thank God.

“Last one in buys lunch!” she said, biting her lip, as she threw off her clothes at an alarming speed and sped past a stunned James Potter.

“Hey!” he shouted indignantly, as a beautiful blur of auburn hair and jade green bikini disappeared. “I can’t see a thing without my glasses!”

“English wimp!” she shouted back, as she dove head first into the sea.

“Evans, you’re so dead!” said James, unable to stop the laughter that bubbled up from inside him as he raced after her.

“Fucking hell! It’s fucking freezing, Evans!” he gasped a few seconds later.

“English wimp!” she laughed, treading water nearby and splashing his face in amusement.

“That’s it, Evans!” he spluttered. “This is all out war!”

He dived under water and she screamed and giggled as he grabbed hold of her legs and ducked her under the water.

Continue reading:  Chapter 8