#I am for the girlies and boyish girls only

[spokenlikeatruequeer]

Reblogging straight sex doesn't mean I wanna fuck you, dude. I just like watching porn like the rest of us 🤷🏾 Please leave me alone.

[chasingshadowsblog]

"I'm no lady, I'm a Duck!" - Female Representation in 'The Mighty Ducks' Franchise

The Mighty Ducks trilogy may not be the first movies that spring to mind when considering female representation. After all, it is a trilogy in which there are only ever two girls at a time on each line-up of the Ducks team. However, these three girls, in their equally shared screentime with the rest of the cast, come across as considered, well-established characters with a diverse range of talents and personalities, who, depite their gender, cannot be considered as simply the girls on the team, but as players on the team. In D1 they were Connie Moreau and Tammy Duncan; in D2 Connie stayed and was joined by Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney, who both survived to D3. Each of these girls brought something special not only to the Mighty Ducks team but to The Mighty Ducks movies, and each is memorable for their own individual reasons and moments.

"Let's show these Hawks something really different." Movies like The Mighty Ducks are usually aimed at boys, and as such, the odd time a girl appears, they are the annoying older or younger sister, the bratty, sneering, cajoling, motherly, concerned, unattainable love interest girl character. Always on the margins, to be ridiculed, pined after or fought with briefly then forgotten about while the rest of the story happens. Depending on the role, they'll appear again at the end of the movie, achievement unlocked. While none of the girls in The Mighty Ducks are like this, Tammy Duncan, who could so easily have been the annoying older sister or the pretty love interest, is not portrayed in this way. Tammy is a figure-skater, recruited by Bombay, along with her younger brother Tommy, after he sees Tammy's figure-skating skills before a practice session. Bombay sees Tammy and imagines applying her skills to the hockey rink. "What do I know about hockey?" she demands angrily of her brother, after Bombay convinces her to give it a try. "More than you think," says Tommy, as he lays sprawled out on the ice after being knocked down by his sister in her anger. In the pivotal final game against the Hawks, Tammy and Tommy perform a goal-scoring trick using one of Tammy's figure-skating techniques. Tammy scores the goal. Tammy is an older sister. She is a girly-coded figure skater, compared to the traditionally boyish hockey players. She is scouted by Bombay for her talent and her potential to bring something alternative to the team. She joins in on the classroom fight, ending up in detention with everyone else. She insists that Bombay refer to them as "people" not "guys" and he complies (because she's there, too and she's proven willing to stand up for herself). Tammy is not annoying, or spoiled, or motherly, or a love interest for any of the boys. She is a part of the team and brings something unique to it. She's talented and tough, and, like Connie and Julie, her femininity is neither lost to her nor emphasised. She's a Duck.

"I wanna play. When am I gonna get my chance?" Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney is introduced to us in D2 as having "won the state championship for Maine, three years in a row" - single-handedly, I would assume, because it only takes her one hand to save the deciding goal against Gunnar Stahl and win Team USA the final game against Iceland. Nicknamed 'The Cat' or 'Cat Lady', for her quick reflexes in the goal, Julie is side-lined in D2 for almost the entire movie in favour of Goldberg. While it can be frustrating to watch this faster and (let's say it) superior player sit on the bench in favour of Goldberg, something important happens in the middle of the movie that brings depth to Julie's character - an admirable thing to do for a newbie in a sequel, let alone a female character. Julie goes to Bombay's office and demands to know when he's going to let her play. "I left my team in Maine to show the world what I can do," she says earnestly and justifiably, in an effort to convince Bombay to give her a shot. In this scene, Julie fights for her rights as a player on Team USA. She was scouted by Hendrix as being one of the best players in the country in their age bracket. It's only in anger about Goldberg's poor performance against Iceland that Bombay first lets her on to the ice - an opportunity she ruins by taking a dig at two of the opposing players before the game starts again. She could have easily stayed quiet, she was a new face in the Ducks-heavy team, but the writers gave Julie a chance to speak up for herself. As the second goalie, she is in a different position to all of the other new players - Kenny, Dwayne, Portman and Luis can all hop off and on the ice throughout a single game and get a chance to play, Julie has to wait for Goldberg to be out of the action. She knows she's talented, she's ambitious and she's frustrated that she isn't getting the opportunity to show that talent off. It's only by the end of the final game, in the shoot-out with Gunnar Stahl, that she finally gets to do that. It's only one goal, but it's one goal that wins Team USA the game. Is it frustrating that Julie is on the bench for most of the movie? Yes. Is it justified by her winning save at the end of the movie? Somewhat. I would argue, however, that it isn't the save that fortifies Julie's role in the movie as more than a "girl character", but her certainty of her own skills and her willingness to fight for her corner.

"I'm no lady, I'm a Duck!" Unlike Tammy and Julie, Connie has no unique or specialised skill to bring to the table. She is simply a solid, consistent hockey player, like Averman, Guy or Jesse. A fact which is just as important as Tammy's figure-skating or Julie's goal-keeping abilities. It's just as important to have these filler roles (for lack of a better term) be played by an array of genders, races and sexualities, as it is to have them up front and shining. It normalises the idea of a young woman, a person of colour, or someone from the LGBT+ community being there, being a part of something and not being special. Connie Moreau is a reliable player, who works hard and gets as much ice time as anyone else on the team. After Bombay meets the District 5 team for the first time, Connie is the first person to approach him with any kind of friendliness, she introduces herself with a smile, and proves to the audience that while none of the team shows any promise yet, she knows enough about hockey to talk stats. Connie isn't here to tick a box, she's here because she likes ice hockey. It's important to mention Connie's relationship with fellow player, Guy Germaine, in the context of this topic. A romantic relationship doesn't automatically weaken a female character, it's when the woman is defined by her relationship to a man that a romantic sub-plot becomes an issue. Fortunately, this is not the case with Guy and Connie. The two have a cute but subtle little romance arc throughout the trilogy that never over-shadows either the main plot or either of their own personalities. Like Guy, Connie maintains her autonomy as a person and a character outside of her relationship, and their relationship never gets in the way of their performances as hockey players. The romance could be deemed unnecessary but in this case it is handled so deftly that it only ever acts as a cute background detail to the wider story, it's a positive embellishment that fleshes out the setting and the story, as arcs like that should be. "Oooh, the Connie-meister! The Velvet Hammer!" Throughout the franchise Connie comes across as an open, kind and supportive individual, which is smoothly juxtaposed with her willingness to fight anyone who tries to mess with her team. She proves again and again that she will stand up for herself and her team mates no matter what, against the Hawks, against Iceland and against the Varsity Warriors. It is also worth mentioning, that in the 2021 reboot, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, an adult Connie Moreau (excuse me, Senator Connie Moreau) is shown briefly showing two of the girls on the Don't Bothers team the best way to tackle a player that's bigger than you. Connie represents a wonderfully colourful character. She is caring and supportive (traditionally feminine qualities) and displays her affection for her team mates by standing up to opposing players, off and on the ice. Connie may not have a flashy skill like Julie or Tammy but it is her entirely realistic and relatable personality that makes her stand out.

It might be difficult to hear this, but The Mighty Ducks movies aren't perfect. While they should be celebrated for their equal treatment of the main cast and the naturally gender-blind writing of all of the kids, there are a few instances that, while they don't diminish the good work done, shouldn't be ignored either. Interestingly, the majority of these shortcomings occur in D3 - notably, the only script in the trilogy not written by Ducks creator, Steve Brill.

D3 is often thought of as the best of the two sequels; D2 pulls a few fast ones on the audience in terms of internal hockey logic, while D3 holds up in that regard. While this can't be argued with I do think it falls short in some areas. D3 pulls back on the hockey content and focuses more on the kids, now teenagers and freshmen in a private school. It gives less time to the Ducks and more time to Charlie (their stand-in main character now that Bombay is out of the picture), and his battle with the new coach, new school and new team image. It's easy for something like female representation to get lost underneath everything else that's going on in the movie, but when you're looking for it there's something to see - and it's not great. Connie and Julie are largely left unscathed by the plot. Julie gets a very light romantic sub-plot with Scooter, the Varsity goalie, but I would argue that so little happens between them that, like the Connie and Guy romance, it doesn't detract from Julie's character but adds a bit of fun to the overall setting. She initially ignores his attempts at conversation after their first game, and when he approaches her at the end of the movie, she looks surprised but pleased and the scene is so brief it doesn't diminish either of their characters or the ending.

D3 does, however, introduce us to Linda, a student at Eden Hall who catches Charlie's attention. And… that's it. I like Linda, but she is the opposite of what Julie, Connie and Tammy represented in the first two movies. Linda is introduced in D3 asking Charlie to sign a petition that will change the name of the school's offensive 'Warriors' moniker. When she realises that Charlie is a jock she turns away, but Charlie doesn't back off. Later on, they interact again and he manages to wear her down; she attends a hockey game and despite Charlie's behaviour during that game, begins to fall for him. After the Varsity game, Linda approaches Charlie and they kiss, after she thanks him for having the "demeaning Warriors name" replaced by a new Eden Hall version of the Ducks logo, which…Charlie had nothing to do with? Linda is a textbook "girl character". She is completely innoffensive, appears initially as a foil to the sports-loving Charlie, but in a single scene is charmed by his wiles(?) and tries better to understand him. She never interacts with another Duck, other than being present at the hearing, then appears again at the end of the movie, completely won over by him, without Charlie having done anything other than talk to her on a bench.

A similar character appears in D2, Maria, Team Iceland's trainer (the "Iceland is nice" lady). Maria's presence is brief in the movie, much shorter than Linda's, yet she only really appears as a passing love interest for Bombay, but not really for Bombay. His interest and their date seem to happen only so that Gordon can be caught by Portman and Fulton, and to supply another reason for the kids to lose their faith in him. After this, Maria is largely left to stand in the background with the rest of Team Iceland, without anymore play in the story. Compared to the other adult woman in D2, Michelle McKay, Maria's role is clearly there to serve a purpose relating to her gender. I would argue, however, that in this instance Maria is less a victim of the male gaze as she is a victim of narrative convention.

Outside of the main cast, there are two more women that share significant screentime with the Ducks, and both represent the negative and the positive aspects of the Ducks scripts when it comes to writing women. First there is Casey Conway, Charlie's mother and Bombay's love interest in D1. Casey disappears in D2 with a throwaway line about her marrying some random guy, and so she is no longer Bombay's love interest or present in the movie. As well as that, the kids are away from home at the Goodwill Games and so Charlie doesn't need his mother for now. Casey returns again in D3 to act as the adult influence in Charlie's life while Gordon is absent. Like Linda, there is nothing inherently wrong with Casey, but she is only present for her relationships to the men in her life - Charlie mostly, Gordon briefly. If she was meant to be the grown up voice in Charlie's head during D3, then why have Charlie ignore her advice and admonishments and why bring Bombay back to give him the speech that changes his mind?

"CHANGE IT UP!" In D2 we have Michelle McKay, who is brought to the Goodwill Games as the team's teacher. She is a foil for Gordon during his Air Bombay phase, but is otherwise her own character. I would argue that she is more defined by her role as a teacher (with no interest in the Goodwill Games) and her relationship with the kids than she is by her interactions with Gordon. Ms. McKay listens to the kids, develops a relationship with them and confronts Gordon when they can't. She is soft-spoken and doesn't seem to be interested in sports, although she does enjoy her brief stint as Coach. She is supportive when Gordon is neglectful. And while she does act as a foil for him for a lot of the movie, once he is back to normal again, she retains her personality. Bombay kisses her on the cheek in thanks for jumping in as coach, but nothing romantic comes of this. Their relationship is entirely platonic and no one will ever convince me otherwise. Like Tammy, Connie and Julie, Michelle retains her femininity (through her traditionally feminine traits as well as her physical appearance, dress and mannerisms) without becoming defined by it. Her personality survives intact to the end of the movie; she is there for the kids and isn't won over by Gordon or the sport.

I'm sure that female representation was the least of everyone's concern when The Mighty Ducks reboot, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, was announced, but it's clear that the good work done in the trilogy is being carried on here. While we haven't gotten to know these girls as well as their predecessors, Sofi, Lauren and Maya continue to represent a diverse range of personalities and talent levels, while holding their own narratives on the screen. As well as this, what Game Changers does differently - and which is representative of the eras both products were made in - is show girls playing on the rival teams. While the girls of the trilogy were wonderfully fleshed out characters, they were also the only girls. No other team in the franchise had a girl playing on it - something I've always thought was meant to reaffirm the Ducks as being the good guys and everyone else as the bad guys. In Game Changers, none of these girls ever speak, but neither do the boys - in The Mighty Ducks no one on a rival team ever speaks unless they are on the rival team. Like Connie had to do on her own thirty years ago, the addition of female players, simply in the background, normalises the idea of young women appearing in sports-oriented media (and movies in general), without making a big to-do or having to justify their place in the world.

The Mighty Ducks franchise is not without its problems when it comes to female representation but these movies deserve to be noted for their treatment of their female characters. In the few moments where they are singled out for their gender, those moments, and the characters involved, do not go unpunished. Early in D2 Portman refers to Julie condescendingly as "babe" and is immediately called out by Adam then, most notably, his future Bash Brother Fulton; during the first USA-Iceland game, Gunnar and another skater laugh at USA for sending Julie into the goal, for which she knocks them over and is disqualified for the rest of the game. These scenes are not meant for laughs, each one highlights the perpetrator as being in the wrong. Portman's behaviour causes a fight between the team and the instance during the Iceland game only reaffirms to the audience that these are the bad guys. The Mighty Ducks does not take its female characters for granted, none of them are there to tick the token girl box. The fact that there are only two on the team at a time may even be representative of the interest levels in girls' youth hockey at the time (this I can't say for sure as I wasn't alive when these movies were being released). There's a quick scene in D2, around twenty-nine minutes, that follows Connie as she skates circles around the Trinidad and Tobago players then passes the puck to Kenny, resulting in a score. During those few seconds of Connie handling the puck the camera cuts briefly to a girl in the stand cheering her on. If D1, D2 and D3 are representative of the time they were made in then I hope that Game Changers is also indicitave of the growth and current levels of interest and access for young girls in hockey. I'd also be interested to know how much The Mighty Ducks had an impact on that growth.

[lonelycelsadpilled]

Tomoko was such a relatable and important character to me, and as a kid I was so disheartened to see the anime YouTubers I liked at the time didn’t like her.

They’d call her weird and say ‘who would even act like this?’ But I understood her, and looking back, she was fifteen. I thought she was eighteen, but she was fifteen. Of course she’s cringe.

As a kid I would sit alone a lot. When I was around the age of seven, I’d get calls home saying that I was just alone all the time, but as a kid I just didn’t want to play with kids anymore. I wanted to be by myself, I wanted to be alone. I’d ask if I could work alone any chance I got, and that lasted until I left school. I actually left school at fifteen, Tomoko’s age, because I was anxious and stopped going. I struggled really hard to socialise and to feel like I fit in with others. I didn’t do my homework and I would get detentions where I’d have to miss the first ten minutes of lunch, but I didn’t care. The ‘friends’ I had at the time wouldn’t miss me, and I knew that. It saved the awkwardness. Eventually, I stopped hanging out with my friend group, and I’d sit alone instead. It was always so much easier to be alone because it felt like nobody liked me, but I didn’t really like them either.

I didn’t have the best view of women as a kid. In anime I’d only be exposed to girls who I couldn’t relate to. They were too girly, too bubbly, too obsessed with boys in their cutesy loving ways. Now I feel like we have way more female anime characters that are loud and boyish and gross and weird. Power from Chainsaw Man comes to my mind, though she isn’t completely free from sexualisation, but I do love her so much as a character. She was written by a man, after all, so I can’t expect her to not be shown inappropriately. Still, she is an ego-manic and is shown vomiting, not flushing, being generally gross and disugsting. It was honestly nice to see an anime girl with less likeable gross traits.

Tomoko was one of the girls that stood out to me when I was watching copywritten anime on YouTube before double digits. I really saw myself in her. She was anxious, had judgemental thoughts about people, struggled to talk, struggled with her self image and was a bit of a pervert. Am I happy to say that I was a weird and gross kid? Not really, but I hit puberty pretty early (I got my period at eight) and I grew up on the more inappropriate side of the internet. I was looking at sexual My Little Pony games, watching Kiss x Sis, watching and reading whatever weird pornography I could. I was pretty hormonal, admittedly, and I grew up not fully knowing boundaries and knowing what was okay, which actually sounds way worse than it was.

I don’t know. I feel like the people that hate on Tomoko didn’t grow up with her as a lonely and anxious kid who was exposed to the internet too early. My favourite anime YouTubers were social school boys who are now internet celebrity men, of course they don’t get it, she isn’t for them.

I understand she’s… Weird. Looking back on it, there’s some stuff you don’t really pick up on when you’re a kid. I mean, looking back on Lucky Star, Konata has a dad who was a lolicon and was pretty vocal about that. Wouldn’t he also go to schools and take pictures of the seventeen year old girls? I mean, I didn’t really take in any of that stuff, but I could relate to Konata liking anime and being online, the artsy Tamura character who likes girls kissing, the fujoshiness of Kagami (I’ve grown out of that, thankfully.)

There are some people that just didn’t grow up as, and currently live as, losers. They don’t get it. They don’t have to get it. There’s a lot of negative stigma around girls who relate to Tomoko, and I guess I don’t get it because she was one of the only anime characters I really saw myself in. I’ve never really related to a character the same way. It was nice to actually relate to something for once as a kid who didn’t see themselves in anybody.

[unbeleevable]

I'm so confused (maybe vent, idk?????)

From a very early age I've always liked things considered as "only for boys", but I also enjoyed "girly" things.

As more as I've grown up, and have explored my style and my likings, I've grown into a more "boyish" style of clothing. But, I still want to wear cute and fashionable outfits.

When I look at myself, I see a girl, but... Sometimes I see a boy? I don't know what's wrong with me, I don't know who I am.

I want to feel like a boy, but other times I want to feel like a girl. When I wear makeup, sometimes I feel weird putting on so much colour and just stick to maybe a black eye pencil, or maybe nothing at all, but other times I go all in.

I'm not transexual in any way (no hate to people who are transexual of course) , but I just don't know myself and who I want to be cause I enjoy being both.

[hawkwidows]

I’m not the anon but I agreed with some things they said, and I’m not afraid of stereotyping him at all, I think that’s a pretty big assumption to make for why people perceive his character as simply boyish, not liking to feel vulnerable, and so on. Maybe stoic is too strong of a word, sure, but what’s on the screen is what’s on the screen, I think the whole point was just that people’s perceptions have nothing to do with blending Noah and Will. It’s clearly due to something the actor brings intentionally to Will that is not his own personality, that low, quiet seriousness. And we’ve seen Will in some pretty tough spots. It makes sense he’d be sensitive in those situations, you know? He’s very special of course but he’s also just a guy

Also, being sensitive or a crier or soft isn’t bad yucky girl coding it’s literally just not something only girls do! It’s uncomfortable to see someone express traditionally feminine traits and have people go “yes, that’s a girl thing.” It’s what his bullies did. I think that’s the point: that we can appreciate these things about Will without constantly obsessing over his Girl role. He’s just Will

you've clarified things I could not comprehend in the og post so cheers tbh.

moving on:

It’s uncomfortable to see someone express traditionally feminine traits and have people go “yes, that’s a girl thing.”

and you just called them traditionally feminine traits. that's literally the whole thing. I am not the one using "girl" in replace of "feminine", that was op anon, and others minimising will's narrative, and I think saying "a girl thing" is missing the point of analysing something as feminine. I can't speak for anybody else, I don't know what you or op anon have seen, but when I ever discuss what was watered down to "girl coding", it's about the fact will is a male character who happens to have been written to express traditionally feminine traits more than other boys/men around him, and also the tropes his story falls under.

it's not a bad or weird thing to point out. noticing feminine traits is most definitely not my entire personality, which it feels like you're implying is for some people. I find it genuinely fucking cool they wrote a male character to follow multiple tropes and narratives usually given to female characters in the horror genre. it's unique and fresh and expressing enjoyment over that isn't taking away from will being a boy.

but he also isn't just a standard boy, btw. his visible difference to everybody else is kind of a big - and important - part of his story. and no, that's not me being wilfully ignorant to what you're saying - I fully understood you, I am just saying that while I agree he isn't overly effeminate or flamboyant atm, he is also not "just a guy".

I think you're making an assumption off my wording - which I get because it was posted impulsively - but holy hell that was definitely not the correlation. you agreeing with op anon but also being fine to stereotype him doesn't make any opinion here special, I mean great to hear you have no problem stereotyping him! but I wasn't making a generalisation. the will and noah criticism is often about noah's physique affecting how people perceive will post-st4, when even that is exaggerated.

people being scared to stereotype will IS a problem in the fandom, even if not related to that specific post, and I brought it up because it was similar language. but also, this is the first I'm hearing the word "boyish" used for will so consistently. what I usually see is people going to the total opposite end of the spectrum of how we know him in the show and making him tough, commandeering or stoic, instead of embracing his softness; and never what's happened here today, which is people insisting that others are 'making him girly when he is in fact boyish' - that's news to me!

from what I've seen, if you explore his canon gender nonconformity, it's too feminising and there's hesitance, even if it's the simplest thing. in fact, guaranteed someone reading me even mentioning gnc in the sentence previous just flinched because it's a touchy or tired subject. but I don't see that issue with mike in headcanons/fics/art, ever, which is what has led me to believe over time that people have an issue/fear with stereotyping will. and that has to come from somewhere in his visual/narrative design because where else could you get it from unless you can recognise the writer's intentions?

I know I've held back from posting more headcanons bc I've been worried people will assume things of me because they project assumptions, when I always take his gnc qualities, and potential, seriously.

also, like I mentioned above, nowhere did you touch on the fact will's narrative is consistent with that of female horror characters (and that's not a bad thing), which is what the people I've seen who may discuss any "girl coding" are often referring to, because it's relevant and unique, and worthy of analysing.

I'm linking this post that explains it more really well, but I know you'll either find it interesting bc you've never seen it before, or roll your eyes bc you already have issue with it; but I can't express more how I'm coming from a genuinely fascinated, excited and well meaning place whenever I might discuss will's narrative having anything to do with something traditionally feminine (which is just a harmless word that happens to have the prefix 'fem').

what’s on the screen is what’s on the screen low, quiet seriousness

what's on screen is being reserved, not stoicism. it's will going through tough times, and - in your eyes - involuntarily expressing emotion when he usually wouldn't......? well all I can recommend for you here is rewatching the show. honestly.

will is a lively, funny, expressive character. not near the same level as noah, but I struggled to understand the relevance in pointing out will's quiet seriousness and noah. are being loud and extroverted not traditionally more masc traits in characters than quietness and being reserved? would that not mean will's expressiveness is what makes him more boyish than his passiveness?

I feel as though the issue being expressed here is feeling importance in will being male and being gay, and so people deeming will's traits feminine = he falls under the 'girl' in other's tendencies to make things a boy/girl dynamic, hence putting such an emphasis on "will is just a boy!!". and I hear you, but being afraid to explore will's story because of optics in relation to his love interest does a disservice to his journey.

I have three (rhetorical, please) questions for that:

a) do you understand that will's story goes beyond his relationship with mike, and that sometimes when people are analysing will's narrative, they aren't even keeping mike in mind? aka there's no intentional placing of will in a feminine role in their dynamic?

b) do you also vocally criticise when people do the same as they may do to will, to mike?

c) do you acknowledge that ST is an 80s show, not set in modern day, and will is from generation x - where we happen to have gotten a lot of those 'stereotypes' from, and it may not be so bizarre to consider he grows up to be similar to the middle aged (visible!) gay men you may know today? or can you see how playing with his gender nonconformity or any stereotypical progression can be different to if he was, say, a 2024 gay high schooler in another netflix original, where it's then a tired writing decision?

I think that’s the point: that we can appreciate these things about Will without [...]

we are. we are appreciating will for who he is, and some of "these things" happen to include him being given roles in the narrative that are often given to female characters, and that's not making anything 'binary'. it's a part of the conversation of will byers. will is not the character who experiences girly issues in the fandom.

He’s just Will

exactly! and "just will" is not your regular male character, and I love that about him. but nowhere does that imply people don't treat him as a boy??

I absolutely know I've repeated myself a lot in this post, but there's a lot of jumping around so, eh.

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

Stephanie Brown's Playlist💜 (Circa 2011)

50 songs that I think our punk rock Batgirl listened to during Bryan Q. Miller's run (also none are sung by men🖕):

Anything but Ordinary by Avril Lavigne

For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic by Paramore

Miss Nothing by The Pretty Reckless

I Don't Love You by My Chemical Romance

All the Things She Said by t.A.T.u.

She's So Gone by Lemonade Mouth

Breath (2AM) by Anna Nalick

Torn by Ednaswap

Fade Into You by Mazzy Star

Everyone's Fool by Evanescence

I Am the Only One by We Are the Fallen

Breathe by Michelle Branch

Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson

Better Than Revenge by Taylor Swift

How Do You Love Me Now by Hey Monday

Bridges by Courage My Love

Take Me Away by Avril Lavigne

All Around Me by Flyleaf

Wasting Away by Tonight Alive

Make a Move by Icon For Hire

Love Bites (So Do I) by Halestorm

Rumor Mill by We Are the In Crowd

Roots Before Branches by Room for Two

Coming Down by Dum Dum Girls

Bury Me Alive by We Are the Fallen

Rock N Roll by Avril Lavigne

Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine

I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance

Try by P!nk

Celebrity Skin by Hole

Bang Bang Bang Bang by Sohodolls

Hurricane by Bridget Mendler

Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal) by Fergie

Closer to Fine by Indigo Girls

Dreams by The Cranberries

Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill

Just a Girl by No Doubt

Alone by Heart

Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

Seventeen by Marina and the Diamonds

My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson

Careful by Paramore

You Don't Know Me by Elizabeth Gillies

Freak Like Me by Halestorm

Bad Reputation by Joan Jett

Real Gone by Sheryl Crow

Kiss Me by Six Pence No Richer

The Chain by Ingrid Michaelson

My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne

Didn't add nearly enough Avril "I never said I was punk" Lavigne.

Steph coded albums?

Stephanie Brown was most definitely a pop-punk girlie at heart. I feel like she'd SO identify with how Avril Lavigne described herself: "I think that I'm just a rock chick. I like to rock out. I like to throw shit around. I like to go nuts. I like to lose myself on stage. I like to scream, I like to holler, I like to yell. And...I like to get my anger out."

Evidence:

Post-Crisis ended in 2011 and Steph was 19-20, so she was born in 1991 and must have listened to a lot of 2000s and late 90s stuff.

She loves wearing flannels, boyish jackets, beanies, and tucked in shirts.

She gives hella bisexual vibes.

In high school, she partied in old factories, subway tunnels and rooftops with "her crowd" (her words). Her friend Bailey seemed to be into punk rock.

But she doesn't have much of a campus life at university which has more fratty, middle class people; less were "her crowd" (she was struggling with uni expenses).

Women-led pop-punk and rock seems to explore a lot of themes that would mean something to Steph.

She was a working class latchkey kid and times were tough on her growing up.

She grew up fast; she had to care for her mother and she had a child at 16 whom she gave up for adoption.

A LOT of men around her have made her life a living hell. Her dad sucks. Her exes suck.

Don't forget, she's a talented pianist too.

And the important piece of evidence, she was into sk8er boi Tim Drake.

[2n2n]

Do you think Yashiro has a sad past? I mean we still don't know anything about her childhood. We know even more about the Minamoto family than she does. I have the impression that aida Iro is going to drop some bomb in relation to her past. In my opinion I think that her parents are probably either divorced or argue all the time, maybe that's why she desperately seeks a fairytale love. But I would love to hear your opinion 👍

I am not personally under that impression ....but it's true Nene-chan's youngest childhood is very well hidden from us, and I do think it will be a kind of 'drop' to see young, young Nene-chan.

This is the glimpse we've gotten of her parents:

While it's Not, Like, Impossible A Divorce Happened Before Or After This, or her parents are in some way unsatisfactory..... I do not personally see how that would advance our understanding of Nene-chan's complexes. Unlike Amane, I do not think Nene-chan's cheery attitude in younger life is a facade ... we see plenty of her attitude, anyway, at many ages (though we also see that her only friend seems to be Aoi, and we do not see her BEFORE middle school for more than a single panel).

middle school girlie...

I also think Nene-chan's bedroom and the frivolousness with which she can buy herself some clothes and toys, isn't really particularly signifying struggle.... her parents seem nice to her, and she can enjoy her weirder interests or aesthetics all she pleases. At the same time, it's a small bedroom, and a humble apartment complex.

Here, you can see younger Nene-chans.

I think her biggest fear in Hell of Mirrors is very real, very Nene-chan. You have to take it to heart I think, that the Hell of Mirrors itself is honest. I think if she had something like miserable parents arguing all the time, her fear would be something like getting into a bad relationship, being an unhappy wife, romance betraying her, or something, I don't know … (considering her abusive boyfriend this would be not very good thematically lol.... it is. already happening,,)

(in Japanese she says, "Domestic Violence Boyfriend" lmfao)

but Nene-chan's biggest fear is simply that nobody will ever want her. And given how few friends she has, and how none of her peers will remotely vote her into a nice role in a school play, I think that's Nene-chan's actual, for real, biggest problem! Crushing reality that she's just not hot!!!! Nobody would have you in that way! You'll be alone forever-- so what if your parents 'love you'?

[PS: please laugh with me that it's all boys in the portraits mocking her .... even Lemon is here ... that is so sad Nene-chan. The idea even Lemon would not have you. O-or a male Mokke,,]

I think THAT is her struggle, and it sets her apart from characters like Teru or Aoi (well-admired and considered attractive), Akane (who is well-liked broadly by the student body)-- people whos problems are not remotely 'Am I Desirable and Hot?'.

and yet continues the general concept of lonliness and pining we do explore again and again (Teru hides his pain while desperately loving his family, Kou is trusted with nothing important & is not taken seriously, Aoi hides her true self for disdain and mistrust of others, Mitsuba seems to PLATONICALLY pine for company and love, Sakura feebly reads books, hamfistedly attempts at proper socializing, embarrassed to do it wrong)....

I don't personally think a girl needs a 'reason' to be a romantic ... it can be tragic enough that a girl can want something so helplessly and be so bad at it. So beyond fail at it. So inexperienced socially she bombs over and over and over. We OPEN THE MANGA with Nene-chan being ludicrously bad at it....

I think Iro-sensei pities this immensely lol...

Personally? I think the spoiler is that young Nene-chan was very weird, worse than she is now, and perhaps even ... overtly strange and even... boyish?

As the Queen of Hearts, Nene-chan was raised as a boy:

In the Monster Nursery AU, Nene-chan is a very scrappy, rowdy kid:

We know Nene-chan made a conscious choice to become more feminine, when a boy she liked in early middle school, was into feminine girls:

I'm kinda hoping when we see young, young Nene-chan, that she is like, incredibly offputting to her peers, to other girls, to boys ... enjoying her strange scary ghoul plush... loving ghost stories ... rowdy and kinda annoying. Kind of a terrible rat?

an utterly undateable girl, who made her efforts come middle school to try to be a little different... a girl who, I like to think, Aoi saw being rejected, and, didn't want to reject like everyone else (even despite how determined to be alone Aoi typically is!! I think Nene-chan was special!)

It would be cute... if she was just so Tsukasa-like (: I would like Amane... to see her as a younger child, and feel kind of like .... "noooooooooooo... what... no.... why.... what ... this is a picture of a boy, isn't it? This ... can't..... . be. Yashiro... nooooooooo *so horny he's going to black out*" . make him feel weird and funny and kind of terrified by how alike to the rowdy, annoying Tsukasa she is. S-s o cute ... ghh-!

Voted Least Likely to Ever Have a Boyfriend

[sunny-paws]

i litterally hate gender. i want to be androgynous but in the way that fictional men who always get mistaken for girls at first are like venti or sallyface or basil or mitsuba but allign more male and i love aeing called he/him but im afab and dont know how to come off feminine in a masculine way but i dont feel like a boy or a girl OR nonbianary or anything (ik theres more then that im agender and use xenogenders) and i constantly feel TOO feminind and think maybe its the hair but i dont want to change my hair because i really like it i have tomboyish sidetails WHICH IS THE HAIRCUT MOST CHARS THAT GIVE ME GENDER ENVY HAVE and i dress pretty androgynously and often am mistaken for a dude in public but idek how cuz i hardly look like one i have a natrually very flat chest and can only wear baggy clothes bc of sensory tho. OH AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON PIGTAILS THE BACK OF MY HAIR IS JUUUST LONG ENOUGH FOR SUPPER STUBBY PIGTAILS BUT STILL LOOKS SHORT SHORT AND PERSONALLY I LOVE WEARING PIGTAILS WHEN IM TOO LAZY TO DO MY HAIR AND MY SALLYFACE GENDER ENVY BUT I LOOK SO GIRLY I JUST WANT TO WEAR SKIRTS AND TALL SOCKS AND PIGTAILS IN A BOYISH WAY WHY MGMJDA ID STILL BE AGENDER BUT GOD I WISH I WAS AWAB :😭

[sapphos-darlings]

https://www.tumblr.com/sapphos-darlings/675496447908675584/imagine-that-when-you-were-born-your-entire-family?source=share the issue is, i kinda was raised that way. my parents were happy to have a daughter. i was given the toys i wanted, and i liked both "girly" and "boyish" ones. i was praised for my curiosity, creativity, pursuit of knowledge. i was called a leader type. my period was celebrated (and when i got my first period, my mom bought me a huge pizza). yet i am still traumatised by femininity standards. it's great when your parents treat you with kindness, but there will always be people who don't. not to mention that, for some reason, my mom was all i described above, yet still forced feminine appearance on me when i was a teenager (makeup, hair, clothes). the issue runs so deep it's horrifying. i also have adhd, and i was pretty much the "boy" standard, loud, hyperactive, disrespectful towards teachers... but for some reason, that didn't give me an early diagnosis...

Hello, Anon!

I've been expecting and sort of hoping for a message like this! The thing is, that post is one of my (as in, by mod Lavender) most popular posts, it circulates a lot whenever someone finds it, and it's also sparked a lot of commentary. But despite this, I personally don't consider the post a very succesful one.

I've been reading the tags and comments, and many have shared their experiences, not very different from yours. Stories about how no matter how great the home was, there was still the wider world with its prejudices waiting; that getting a good and loving upbringing didn't undo gender stereotypes pushed on female people outside the immediate family.

The post has genuinely moved some women, which I'm happy about, while others have been deeply frustrated, some even offended and angry. I suppose when a post like that gets a lot of notes, that's inevitable.

But the reading the post has been getting isn't one that I was aiming for.

My original idea was to imagine a girl growing up in a matriarchy. Matriarchy would have its own set of norms that would be just as accepted and natural as the current ones we live under. So what would a society where the girls are a priority look like? That would mean no concept of patriarchal femininity. I think she would be valued for her inner qualities, encouraged to explore and learn a wide range of skills, and free of fear and shame targeting the female body and sexuality. She would enter adulthood ready to live her own life to its full potential, without being weighed down by expectations of servitude or fear of being out of line. So seeing so many readers focus only on the personal level, I can't help but feel that my original intention didn't come through like I had hoped.

While writing, I was thinking of various things I've read about how girls and boys are raised differently. On such thing was a study that showed how adults are more likely to pick soft toys for female toddlers, while male toddlers were given stuff like building blocks and toy cars even though they all had the same selection available to them. I vaguely remember the study pointing out that heavier toys made with hard materials and moving parts are more interesting and help develope fine motor skills, whereas plushies don't provide the same benefits. And of course, socializing boys to take interest in mechanical stuff, being creative, and taking initiative starts already at this stage, while girls are directed towards playing the nurturer and being cute. So, in my mind, the points about how a family would raise the girl, what kind of toys she gets, and how the teachers and peers would react to her growing up, connected to society as a whole, not simply to choices made by an individual family.

Many women in the tags and comments have shared, like you, that their family gave them pretty much all that my original post lists, but that didn't mean they were immune to societal and cultural influences. Which I definitely agree with: it is a very valuable insight to just how much power society outside of family units holds. How just one family - or even just your mother - can't undo what the society and culture as a whole pushes.

And because I agree, I thought I had succesfully imagined that it's not just the family that celebrates the girl, but the culture as a whole. The culture would be what guides the family, instead of the family desperately going aganst the culture.

In the end, I'm happy that so many women have been so moved by the image I painted with that post. I'm also glad it's sparked so much conversation, and even debate. My original intention didn't come through like I wanted to, but that's fine. For some time I've thought about adding commentary to the post itself, but ultimately decided not to interfere with it, but leave it to the community as it is. Regardless of what I intended to do, I think that the conversation the post sparked is so valuable it deserved to unfold without me cutting in to explain myself.

So thank you for your message, and for this opportunity to say something about it! Thank you for sharing your experience, it's all very valuable to women as a whole.

-Lavender

[hologramcowboy]

Does disliking pink have some direct connection of being misogynist due to the new trend of barbie movie? Just asking because this new trend of flooding everything with pink makes me puke. And if I get a car with sparkly pink and unicorns I would rather request to change it rather than trying to be woke and trendy.

Disliking pink does not make someone misogynistic. I'm a cis female and I don't really like the color all that much either, just personal preference. The issue comes when you act offended that, as a man, you are forced to sit in a car with a little pink on it for 5 minutes. Acting offended by pink because its girly and therefore beneath you is the issue. He acted like it was a personal slight against him that they would dare put him with a girl in a car that had a little pink on it. I hope this is not a belief he is passing down to his kids, male or female.

I would question why you would be so bothered by the color that you would actually request to change cars anon? You can't even see the outside of the car while you're driving in it anyways so what does it matter it if has some pink stripes on it? Would that somehow take away from the racing experience for you? It's not about being "woke" its about realizing that a color doesn't emasculate you.

Pink actually used to be a manly color while blue was considered feminine, those roles only reversed in the more recent years:

Writer, lecturer, and colour expert Gavin Evans about the reversal of pink and blue on traditional gender roles:

"In the early part of the 20th Century and the late part of the 19th Century, in particular, there were regular comments advising mothers that if you want your boy to grow up masculine, dress him in a masculine colour like pink and if you want your girl to grow up feminine dress her in a feminine colour like blue."

"This was advice that was very widely dispensed with and there were some reasons for this. Blue in parts of Europe, at least, had long been associated as a feminine colour because of the supposed colour of the Virgin Mary’s outfit."

"Pink was seen as a kind of boyish version of the masculine colour red. So it gradually started to change however in the mid-20th Century and eventually by about 1950, there was a huge advertising campaign by several advertising agencies pushing pink as an exclusively feminine colour and the change came very quickly at that point."

https://www.businessinsider.com/pink-used-to-be-boys-colour-and-blue-girls-heres-why-that-changed-2017-10

I am living for this post today. 🥰

[doodlepede]

its so funny thinking about how the way i label and think about myself has changed, lets fucking chronicle this shit shall we? for fun

4-12: girl who was way too boyish to fit in with the girls but too female to fit in with the boys and they all made sure i knew it. i don't think you gain a gender until you gain even the dimmest awareness that you're a person and i think i was like four when that happened, maybe three idk. even when i was young, i felt somewhere in-between. i oscillated between phases of overcompensating to be one of the girls or boys in turns. one year I'd wear a lot of pink with my blue, because girls rule and boys drool, am i doing this right? next year, pink is nowhere to be found because im a tomboy, and pink is so girly and lame, right?

13-15: i discovered tumblr. i discovered that being trans is a thing one can be. i am repulsed by microlabeling, and stick to macrolabels. I'm into demigirl and then demiboy for a good while, most of a year i think, but drop it. its too microlabelly. i try genderqueer for a bit, but discover pretty quick (like two or three months) that attaching a synonym for freak directly to my identity is not healthy for me. eventually, i settle into plain and simple trans boy.

16-20: no more questioning, we're done, it's figured out, im a boy, im a man, im a guy and a dude. if you imply I'm anything else, anything less than a complete man, I'll kick your ass. it's a big comfy macrolabel, lots of room to spread out, like a stereotypical big hoodie. I'm cozy.

21: :)

I'm not actually questioning my gender, I'm still perfectly comfortable in my big ol boy hoodie, I'm just also grown enough to acknowledge the grey areas i wasnt comfortable enough yet to. here's the fuckin thing, autism can affect the way you understand your identity from a young age, and you're likely to make conflations about it, such as that if neither boys or girls will accept me as one of them, maybe I'm neither, or maybe i need to overcompensate to the point that it's undeniable what side I'm on. i did both, several times, the latter in both directions. i also am straight up trans either way, i desire to medically transition, and i would even if i were the only human left on earth and had absolutely nobody to pass for. so where the line is between which gender-feeling is autism and which is transness, idkkkkk both things are inextricable from my being, existence, and experience. i dont think it super matters either, its not like being a neurotypical trans makes your gender-feelings more pure in any way. the desire to separate autisitc gender-feelings from trans gender-feelings is the same desire as microlabels, its an oroboros, I'm not interested in dividing myself into bits.

honestly if asked, i think my gender is just trans. transgender, the trans kind of gender, gender in a trans sort of way. im in my comfy boy hoodie but it's not zipped up yknow.

[linguistics-and-such]

1st Person Pronouns in Pocket Monsters Special

I thought it would be fun to have a look at what 1st person pronouns the Pokèdex Holders use in the Pokèmon manga, Pocket Monsters Special (known as Pokèmon Adventures in English).

Note: In Japanese, there are a ton of different 1st person pronouns people can use, and Japanese media often makes copious use of them. In a lot of shounen and shoujo manga/anime casts, you'll often get a large variety of 1st person pronouns in use by different characters to help flesh out their personality traits.

Note: I am not a native Japanese speaker, and I only have a conversational level in Japanese, as opposed to a fluent level. As such, please don't take anything I say as gospel.

* Red (レッド) ^ Fighter (戦う者): ore (オレ)

* Green Orchid (オーキド・グリーン) ^ Trainer (育てる者): ore (オレ)

* Blue (ブルー) ^ Evolver (化える者): atashi (アタシ)

* Yellow de Tokiwa Grove (イエロー・デ・トキワグローブ) ^ Healer (癒やす者): boku (ボク)

* Gold (ゴールド) ^ Hatcher (孵す者): ore (オレ)

* Silver (シルバー) ^ Exchanger (換える者): ore (オレ)

* Crystal "Crys" (クリスタル 「クリス」) ^ Catcher (捕える者): watashi (わたし)

* Ruby (ルビー) ^ Charmer (魅せる者): boku (ボク)

* Sapphire Odamaki (オダマキ・サファイア) ^ Conqueror (究める者): atashi (あたし)

* Emerald "Rald" (エメラルド「ラルド」) ^ Calmer (鎮める者): ore (オレ)

* Diamond "Dia" (ダイヤモンド 「ダイヤ」) ^ Empathizer (感じる者): oira (オイラ)

* Pearl (パール) ^ Determiner (志す者): ore (オレ)

* Platinum Berlitz (プラチナ・ベルリッツ) ^ Understander (知る者): watashi (私)

* Black (ブラック) ^ Dreamer (夢みる者): ore (オレ)

* White (ホワイト) ^ Dreamer (夢みる者): atashi (アタシ)

* Lack-Two (ラクツ) ^ Arrester (逮捕る者): boku (ボク)

* Whi-Two (ファイツ) ^ Liberator (解放す者): atashi (あたし)

* X (X) ^ Loner (籠る者): ore (オレ)

* Y na Gabena (Y・ナ・ガーベナ) ^ Flyer (翔ぶ者): atashi (アタシ)

* Sun (サン) ^ Saver (貯める者): orecchi (オレっち)

* Moon (ムーン) ^ Mixer (調合る者): watashi (わたし)

* Sword Tsurugi (剣創人) ^ ???: boku (ボク)

* Shieldmiria Tate (盾シルドミリア) ^ ???: atashi (あたし)

Here's a rough outline of what all these pronouns indicate:

* watashi (私): 私 watashi is one of the more formal ways to refer to oneself in the 1st person. The fact that it's written in kanji and not in hiragana or katakana increases the politeness. When it's used by women, it can be perceived as casual as well, but it's usually only used by men in formal situations.

* watashi (わたし): わたし watashi is slightly less formal than 私 watashi, due to the fact that わたし watashi is written in hiragana. It's a safe way for a woman to refer to herself in both formal and casual situations. It can be used by men in formal settings, but it comes off as somewhat stiff if men use it in casual settings. When spelled in katakana (ワタシ), it can perceived as quite rough.

* atashi (あたし): あたし atashi is a less formal, more feminine version of わたし watashi. It has a "girly" and "cutesy" tone to it. The fact that it's spelled in hiragana makes it a pretty neutral 1st person pronoun for girls.

* atashi (アタシ): アタシ atashi is a rougher version of あたし atashi , due to it being spelled in katakana. It's one of the most informal 1st person pronouns a girl can use, though it still has the same "girly" and "cutesy" tone to it as its hiragana counterpart.

* boku (ボク): ボク boku is usually used by boys but can be used by girls, particularly tomboys. When spelled in kanji (僕) or hiragana (ぼく), it can be a formal way for boys to speak, but when spelled in katakana (ボク), and when used by girls, it's pretty informal.

* ore (オレ): オレ ore is a very rough, "boyish" way to refer to oneself in the 1st person. It's rarely used by girls. It can occasionally be spelled in kanji (俺) or hiragana (おれ), but the katakana spelling (オレ) is usually preferred, because it helps emphasise the roughness of the pronoun.

* orecchi (オレっち): オレっち orecchi is a slightly less rough version of オレ ore. In this case, its first half, オレ ore, is spelled in katakana, while its second half, っち  cchi, is spelled in hiragana. This pronoun is usually used by boys who want to appear tough but not quite as tough as boys who use オレ ore.

* oira (オイラ): オイラ oira is similar to オレ ore and オレっち orecchi, but it has a more "friendly" and "country bumpkin" feel to it. It's usually used by boys who want to appear tough but don't want to use オレ ore. One could consider オイラ oira to be a cross "between" ボク boku and オレ ore: more gentle than オレ ore, but more rough than ボク boku.

And, just for fun, here's a list of the many other kinds of 1st person pronouns that I've come across in various Japanese media:

* watakushi (私): 私 watakushi is one of the most polite ways of referring to oneself in the 1st person. It can be used by anyone in formal settings. It's almost always spelled in kanji (私) and rarely in hiragana (わたくし) or katakana (ワタクシ).

* atakushi (あたくし)/atakushi (アタクシ): あたくし atakushi is probably between わたし watashi and あたし atashi in terms of formality. It's often used in fiction by princess-like characters or high-born ladies. It can have a somewhat superior and "snooty" tone to it.

* atai (あたい)/atai (アタイ): あたい atai is a very rough corruption of あたし atashi, usually used by girls. It can almost be thought of as the feminine equivalent of オレ ore, as both are usually only used by people who want to sound tough or aggressive. It's usually written in katakana (アタイ).

* watasha (わたしゃ)/watasha (ワタシャ): わたしゃ watasha is a bit of a "country bumpkin" version of わたし watashi. It's gender-neutral but is usually used by girls. It can be perceived as semantically plural due to the しゃ sha, which is used to make some formal pronouns plural, like 我が waga becoming 我が社 waga-sha. It can carry a single meaning notionally, however.

* atasha (あたしゃ)/watasha (アタシャ): あたしゃ atasha is the feminine equivalent to わたしゃ watasha. Like わたしゃ watasha, あたしゃ atasha has a bit of a "country bumpkin" feel to it. Also like わたしゃ watasha, あたしゃ atasha can carry a plural meaning due to its しゃ sha, though it can still be used in a singular context as well.

* wate (わて)/wate (ワテ): わて wate is a somewhat dated Kansai dialect pronoun. It's informal and gender-neutral, and can still be seen in some, usually older, forms of Japanese media.

* ate (あて)/ate (アテ): あて ate is the feminine equivalent of わて wate. Like わて wate, it's an informal Kansei dialect pronoun, and also like わて wate, あて ate somewhat dated. It shows up in some forms of Japanese media, particularly older ones.

* wai (わい)/wai (ワイ): わい wai is another Kansai dialect pronoun, possibly a severely corrupted form of わたし watashi. It's informal and usually used by boys. Amusingly, it's also a homophone of the Japanese word for yay or yippee, ワイ wai.

* ware (我): 我 ware is a very formal 1st person pronoun that is almost "literary-style" and is usually used in writing. It can be made plural by adding 々 ware.

* waga (我が): 我が waga is an extremely formal, gender-neutral pronoun that literally means my. It can be made plural by adding 社 -sha.

* ore-sama (オレ様): オレ様 ore-sama is usually only used sarcastically or by fictional characters who are extremely arrogant. It can be accurately translated as my esteemed self. It's almost exclusively used by boys.

* jibun (自分): 自分 jibun is a neutral, semi-formal pronoun that can be used by anyone. It's also the reflexive (-self/-selves) form of all pronouns in Japanese. This is actually a very good choice for a 1st person pronoun if you're non-binary and don't want to gender yourself.

* uchi (内): 内 uchi literally means house. It has two uses. Firstly, it can be used as a gender-neutral, somewhat formal way of referring to oneself and members of one's own's group, as in our family, our class, etc. Secondly, 内 uchi is used in western dialects, particularly the Kansai dialect, usually by girls, to indicate a "girly" and "cutesy" tone. In the second case, it's usually written in hiragana (うち) or katakana (ウチ).

* ora (おら)/ora (オラ): おら ora is a corruption of オイラ oira. Like オイラ oira, it has a bit of a "country bumpkin" tone to it and is usually used by boys. It's considered rougher than オイラ oira. It's usually written in katakana (オラ).

* me (me)/mii (ミー): me, or ミー mii, is from the oblique case of the 1st person pronoun in English, me, though it's used for all cases when applied in Japanese. It's often used by, usually male, characters in Japanese media who are meant to be from America or some other English-speaking country. It's quite rough and informal.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. :)

Note: If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy my post on gender-neutral 3rd person pronouns in Japanese.

[addieredgrave]

What is womanhood? Was it the colour pink, ribbons and being gentle? Was it the colour blue, soccer and being loud? Was it the attempt to be more boyish to be liked? Never was I’m more insulted than being called girly. Never did I feel more unimportant, weak and burdened than knowing that I was a girl. “Strong boys” and “capable men” drew within my mind, hoisting the curtains on my self pride. Is “tomboy” an excuse or validation, only time will tell. Maybe I still try to hide the fact that I am a woman not from pride but impulse.

[diary-of-a-simp-beta]

My Girly Diary

@miss-boss-bitch has set me the following task in order to become a vapid basic bitch sissy.

I am to keep a diary/blog, that I must update every day. Each entry must cover all ten topics that Princess has chosen for me to write about. The idea is that I spend so much time reading about stuff to put in my blog and writing about it that I have less time for my old boring stuff like video games etc. She also hopes that the way she’s chosen the topics and the frequency means that I will spend so much time on this stuff that I will genuinely become knowledgeable in it, replacing boring make knowledge with it as it requires my brain to find it interesting. She’s also really hoping I won’t be able to stop myself giving an opinion if I hear any of the topics being discussed in a nearby conversation, letting others suspect my girly interests.

If I fail to do a daily entry, fail to cover all ten (or any additional topics given), or do not write an entry of sufficient quality in her opinion, I must pay her a £10 fine or be blocked. I must also write in as girly way as possible so that girly language starts leaking into my vocabulary in my day to day life. So she either gets to turn me into a total super basic bitch for her amusement, or gets to profit from my failures. Either way she wins.

My 10 topics are:

I must write about one of my three role models. @miss-boss-bitch told me to pick three celebrities who I feel would be my role models as a bimbo. Having to write about at least one of them a day with all 3 being covered in a week period will help make me obsessed with them. I have picked the following; Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande & The Kardashians (Semi cheating as 5 sisters on that group but she allowed it)

I must write about a celebrity who is not one of my idols but that I have written about in my diary before. This will help make sure I keep up to date on celebrity culture.

I must write about about a celebrity I have written about before but not written about in over a week. This will help make sure I stay up to date on my favourite celebrities.

I must write about a celebrity I have never written about before. This is to keep my knowledge on different celebrities expanding so that I gain a wider knowledge than just focusing on a certain few.

I must write about a male celebrity or a male I know in real life. This is to keep my mind in what girly girls like: cock. I must emphasise what I like about the male I write about.

I must write about fashion. This is because I need to learn clothes are way more fun than games or films or other stuff. Fashion needs to be my live passion.

I must write about makeup. I need to become an expert on makeup so that I know how to make myself look like a slut for men.

I must write about some girly pop culture; eg TV show or music. This is so I spend time with girly media rather than typical boyish stuff. I am not a boy.

I must write about a girl I saw today that I admire for non sexual reasons. I need to be a good girl and good girls like men, so I need to learn to only admire other girls for their clothes or makeup etc. This will start making me see girls I know as BFF’s rather than trying to impress them by pretending to be a man.

I must include picture, either images if a blog, or cutting scraps and sticking in a diary. This is to waste more time doing girly things and to help me admire the celebrities for being better than I could ever be.

I have been allowed certain leeway for the first few days but from Monday next week, the fine system will enter effect if I fail.

[ihavetoomuchhomeworkforthis]

(TLDR at the bottom)

So far, my gender journey or whatever you call it hasn't really felt normal. There hasn't been any moment of realization, no, "I've always knew" and there wasn't any feeling of everything clicking into place when I found the right word. None of the labels really seem perfect, many of them seem okay. I should maybe start at the beginning.

In kindergarten-1st-2nd I never really wanted to play with the girls at recess. We sort of automatically separated ourselves by gender, and the girls always seemed too, well, "girly," so I often tried to play with the boys instead, even though I didn't get to participate that much. My best friends were two guys and a girl who I somehow deemed less girly than the rest. When I was 5, I asked to get my hair cut really short. It ended up being a bob instead of boyish like I was probably hoping for, and we donated the hair that was cut off.

In 3rd grade we moved, my hair had grown back out, and I started telling everyone I was a boy all the time. When they didn't believe me, I'd mention that one time I saw this old guy at church who had long hair in a ponytail, so that meant guys could have long hair too. One time I was sitting with a couple guys and one of them asked if I was a boy, why did I use the girl's bathroom? And if I had been more self confident I might have been able to explain that nobody believed me, and I'd never told any teachers, and there were security cameras outside the bathrooms, and besides, it was just habit. Once, during gym, I asked to use the bathroom and went into the boy's bathroom instead. It wasn't that different, just the stalls were a different color, and probably there were urinals also, I don't remember. Thankfully nobody was in there, so I just used the bathroom and went back to gym. I sort of gave up telling everyone I was a boy all the time in 4th and 5th, and I wasn't really good friends with anyone except maybe one boy. I was determined to hate the school because it wasn't my old school, and I had really liked my old school.

Skip to 6th and 7th, and I had a school chromebook, which I used to discover the concept of "lgbtq" and do a bunch of "am I trans" type of online quizzes. My best friend in 6th was a girl, and in 7th we drifted apart because she had sports, so my best friend was then a boy in band who was the only other 7th grade horn player.

For 8th we moved again, and before moving, I decided I wanted my hair cut really short again, to show up at my new school looking like a boy, if that were possible. So my mom actually did cut my hair that short, and we donated it again, and I went into 8th grade with short hair and awkward bangs which were difficult to avoid letting fall into a middle part. My automatic new best friend was the only other new person in 8th grade. We were nothing alike, but the whole year I sort of felt stuck with them. They tried new names and pronouns every couple months, and when I mentioned not really feeling like a girl (sort of obvious from the boyish haircut) they wanted to help me find the right name and pronouns and label as well. I hadn't actually hated my name, and I wasn't really ready to try to find the perfect label, but we ended up trying Kai they/them, and Ashe he/him, both of which never felt quite right. Halfway through the year they adopted people into our friendship and I was shy so I became such a third wheel that I may as well not have been there, but it felt wrong to leave them, and I didn't know anyone else very well. I started talking to my mom about these things and she's loving and supportive thankfully, but she didn't quite agree with any of it, or the idea of finding labels, because "we're all just people," and she's right maybe, but the different perspective on things was confusing.

9th (and 10th so far) I didn't really make any "best" friends. I put both they/them and she/her on the beginning of year get to know you papers, and wrote that my name was fine but I wished I could find one that felt less feminine, and that they could shorten it however they wanted. I thought if I had been born a boy, I might want to be a girl, and I might like to wear dresses and make-up. I started thinking maybe I was cis after all, and maybe I was just attention-seeking, which was an oddly disappointing thought, and seemed backwards from the "normal" experience. Then again, if I were cis, would I be spending so much time thinking about it? I'm okay with being a girl, but I don't really feel like I fit perfectly in that box, and I wouldn't mind being a boy instead, but I think I'd feel just as much of a misfit there, too. I don't hate my breasts, they're pretty small anyway, and when I wear feminine clothing (rarely) it looks nice (because girly clothes are designed to look nice on a girly shape), but if I was magically flat-chested one day I don't think I'd mind at all. The summer that I cut my hair (I've grown it back out since then), I tried to dress as masculine as I could so I'd be percieved as male on the playground by my grandparent's house, and it worked, and there have been a couple times that people thought I was a boy or just couldn't tell, but was that actually really cool and exciting, or was I making it up and just telling myself that I enjoyed being mistaken for a guy because I wanted to fit in with the idea of what being trans was based on the online quizzes and stuff?

I also started wondering about sexuality, and feeling the same weird backwards disappointment about possibly being straight, and wondering if it was strange not to have had a real crush yet, with the exception of a strange obsession with a guy in 2nd grade. I think maybe if I'm attracted to anything at all, it would be androgyny. Girls with short hair, boys with longer hair, girls with muscles and masculine features, guys who have more feminine features and maybe wear make-up or nail polish, people who are completely androgynous. Some girls are pretty and some boys are pretty too. Is that okay, or am I just picky and that's why I haven't had a "real" crush yet, or am I deluding myself? What does it even mean to have a crush? Have I had crushes other than just the guy in 2nd grade and I've just been too socially awkward to realize or do anything about it? Or do I just not experience romantic attraction, only ...aesthetic attraction for lack of a better phrase? And am I a girl or not really?

I don't know and gender and sexuality are confusing and I'm still very much questioning and maybe I always will be.

TLDR: I don't understand my gender or sexuality and it's all very confusing please help haha

[dicks-wifey]

Falling for Nightwing

Chapter one:

My scarey vampire father hissed at me. "My daughter! Stay in your room. We have distinguished company tonight. I can't have you interfere. "

"Ah! B-b-but why-y? I promise to n-n...not interfere. I know where I b-belong."

"You belong in your room! If you are needed, the maid will escort you, but that is unlikely, given your iq." My vampire dad crackled and swished his cape around as he floated away down the hallway.

I begrudgingly made my way up the stairs to my grand but cold feeling room. My pale and hollow features ridden with sadness as I am once again banished to my room for being such a disaster of a child. Father may be tough but he loved me enough to know when to hide me away so I didn't feel embarrassed by someone seeing my dreadful features.

In my room, I wallow in self pity. I know I do not deserve to do so, but my soft feminine heart can not take such harsh comments from the brutal truth of a man's words. I let out a wobbly cry into the palms of my hands, my small frame shaking at the mere velocity.

A soft knock startles me from my pity party. The maid pokes her head in, "Miss, your father requires your presence. Let's get you cleaned up a little first."

"R-right away...I am a c-complete m-m-mess right now. Father will h-hate me..."

The maid smiled kindly, like she agreed. She cleared the snot from my face and dressed me in my finest navy blue tudor renaissance dress, which was high fashion in the recent 16th century.

At the end of such an extravagant make over, the maid tries to put my hair in a half up half down look with a sparkling diamond in crested hair clip to tie the whole thing together. But, I suddenly stop her, finding the hair too feminine and girly girl. I do not appreciate nor fit with those traditional girly hairstyles. Instead, I simply grab a hair tie and tie it into a messy bun before smiling at myself in the mirror. The maid looks disgusted but quickly smiles back acting as if I hadn't caught her.

I turn to the maid quickly with a nervous smile, the action making her take a step back in what looks like caution, as if I had some serious disease. Hah. I look up at her

"W-w-why exactly was it t-tha...that father w-wanted me?" I ask in a meek, petite voice.

"You see Miss, your father would like you to use your feminine influences to garner a better deal from the batman." She turned, "I'll escort you."

My coquette, small frame turns left and right through the many hallways of my father's mansion as i follow the maid, while my thoughts take the same sharp turns through my brain. I try to reason as to why father would trust a hideous beast as my self to help him with the important matter. Maybe, just possibly, he could believe I'm something more than a mistake. No! Of course not! I want to slap my caked up face from the stupidity of the thought.

While shaking my head, I see a boyish figure in red, black and yellow, lurking in the shadows. Suspicious. Something I should surely warn father or at least the maid about, but I instead turn my head straight ahead and forget exactly what I had just seen. Surely there will be no consequences due to my actions, or lack there of. Haha, of course not. My smile is eerily serene and the maid looks back at me before walking faster, as if trying to lose me.

As I enter the dinning room, I see a full spread of food, which is unusual because father doesn't eat that. The batman is sitting adjacent to my father, robed in black with silly little ears. How baby girl of him.

"Wonderful!" My father cried. He stood and clasped me on my shoulder, " Mr.Batman, may I introduce you to my favorite and only child."

The batman looks to have been startled, horrified even, by my introduction, but I shake away that thought as when I blink again, he is as composed as ever, though he fails to maintain eye contact.

He stands, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

As he sits back down, I swiftly grab a seat close to him and scooch my way closer to his side, causing the chair to erupt in a painfully long screeching noise in a rather quiet room. My actions hault when my father stares me down in anger, his entire body rumbling and tumbling. I stop so he doesn't punish me later by making me watch a compilation of Brent Reviera videos for four hours straight. Again.

"So Mr.Batman, I still insist on the original details of my proposal. I don't believe the consuming of humans to be immoral from a being such as myself." Says my vampire dad. "I truly believe that this is a fair trade for what I offer you."

I look between the two with fast eyes, not wanting to miss a second of either of their reactions, despite Mr.Batman maintaining his stoic and constipated look. He makes me quiver in my Chanel pumps. Old ones of course, father would never spend much money on little old me.

As I watch the two closer, more-so Mr.Batman, I try to figure out what would be the best way to seduce him so that I can do my one job correctly and successfully. I train my eyes on him hard and get a sudden thought of something rather disturbing. He looks like the type to have his lovers dress up as sailor moon characters, and make them transform into their costumes before partaking in intimate actions. Mhm, most definitely. I run a finger down his arm and wink.

The batman, seemingly doing his best to ignore my advances, looks over a document in his hand. "Unfortunately, I can't agree to that. I'm aware of the value of what you are offering, but this agreement would cause too much disturbance for it to be worth it."

"Curses!" Yelled vampire dad, throwing his hands in the air. "Perhaps a chosen few every week, you can obtain them based on the qualities I desire. For example, I enjoy when the men have small waists. I believe there is a human term for this. Soupy waists? Singular waist?"

I watch amusdely as the two have their silly little argument about their silly little topic. I havent a clue what theyre talking about, but it sure makes my father make silly expressions with his saggy, clay-like face. Caught up in the moment and not entirely focused on my food, I stab my spoon into the pile of food I'll probably never be allowed to eat again and swoop a big serving onto the silverware. Bringing it closer to myself, I begin opening my mouth as the two suddenly stop and look at me with panicked, frustrated and disappointed but not surprised faces. I eat the spoonful anyways.

"Curses!" Hisses my father.

I black out.