#I don't care how offensive you find a trope

[drinksglue]

A thing that bothers me is that a lot of pro-ship people are not pro-fiction, and a lot of people who call themselves pro-fiction are not actually pro-fiction.

Without getting into the hypocrisy of people who are pro-ship but not pro-fiction, there's a need to engage in a little bit of healthy gatekeeping here.

I've seen "pro-fiction" folks who understand that sexual topics in fiction are fine, even defending the especially gratuitous stuff as you'd expect, but then they still have their hang-ups about the use of non-sexual tropes that they find distasteful, and I've seen "pro-fiction" people call others "braindead" for being in fandoms they dislike.

So let's set the story straight.

Pro-fiction means all fiction. If you, at any point, claim a certain trope or theme shouldn't ever be used in fiction because it "might offend someone", then you are not pro-fiction. If you insult people for liking a piece of media or being in a fandom that you don't like, then you are not pro-fiction. You are only using the label because it makes you look good.

And for anyone who might be considering replying to this post with anything along the lines of "Yes, except---" then instead consider not doing that. There are no exceptions. Fiction is fiction. I will block you. Have a great day.

[heterosexistly]

How to write 911 characters: Black women

since its black history month, here's how to write Athena, Hen, and Karen. I want to do this because I see really offensive things in fanfic when people write them and that usually goes unnoticed.

Athena:

✨ reference the source material (for everyone actually) ✨

Athena is a very kind and affectionate person with her friends, she's a great listener and always willing to help others out. She's stubborn when it comes to herself and taking breaks. She's a great mom and partner, though conflict has arisen when it comes to letting people in.

2. her relationship with Buck is not necessarily motherly. If you like to write her that way, it's your story but be careful you aren't falling into the mammy trope.

that would include, treating buck as though he's a child that needs protection from everyone, a cartoonish fondness and exaggerative movements, mainly as a character just to prop up Buck.

3. do not write her speaking voice different from the rest of the characters. I've seen things like: "A' course sugah!" Not only is that inaccurate, it's inappropriate.

4. Athena's relationship with being a cop, being in an interracial relationship, and being previously married to a gay black man are all very complex issues in the black community that require research before speaking on. I haven't seen people ever go in depth with this in fics but the show can only encapsulate so much about it without offending viewers so if you'd like to be more candid, please take the necessary steps.

Hen and Karen:

✨black queer love, especially wlw, isn't just to support your main ship please appreciate them ✨

hen is very driven, very caring, very intuitive. She's always been a listening ear for others, and finds comfort in her friends' advice. She's a great parent and a great partner.

Her relationship with Chimney can be silly, serious, protective, and everything you need in a best friend. They both look out for each other and aren't afraid to call out bs. Her relationship with Athena is also really great and balanced.

Hen can be a older sister to Buck, but it's a lot more light hearted. They also can be idiots together and Buck holds a lot of respect for her. Again, do not reduce her to this, that will be insensitive.

While we don't see Karen a lot, you see how much she cares about her family, how she does trust Hen but has been concerned about losing her loved ones. She's a brilliant woman and she often hangs out with Athena and has been friends with Chimney before she was with Hen.

again do not write any of their speaking voices differently. most of the time, Hen code switches and rarely uses any slang so stay away from that.

[happy74827]

Just Words

[Siobhan Roy x GN!Reader]

Synopsis: Words can be hurtful (especially to most) but with Siobhan’s “5-star” personality and ability to not care about anything other than herself, you can’t help BUT spill some words. {GIF Creds: @olliviacooke// I took this off of google (fair warning) so I had to dig deep to find the OP}

WC: 2274

Category: Slight Fluff (?), Enemies to… trope {Trigger Warning: Foul Language (I really channeled the Roy family here), Logan}

I did not expect my first succession fic to be Siobhan… but honestly, I’m not complaining 👀 (fyi: this was a request and I stupidly forgot to “answer” so hopefully the anon who requested lovely Shiv finds this 💀)

『••✎••』

Siobhan Roy… mega bitch. You hated her. Well, that might be an understatement; you despised her. From the moment you met her, she was just a total and complete pain in your ass. Not to mention completely and utterly self-absorbed. She had the attitude and ego of a child.

So when you were made to work with her, you were less than pleased. Logan Roy, the only man who could top Siobhan in terms of being an insufferable asshole, had made you a deal. If you and Siobhan worked together to find a solution to the media shitstorm he was currently experiencing, he would put you on the team that handled the IPO of Waystar. It was the opportunity you had been waiting for, so you sucked it up and agreed.

You and Siobhan sat in the meeting, both of you looking like a pair of miserable children. It made Roman look like a ray of sunshine, and that was really saying something.

Logan slammed the door, causing you to flinch.

"Fuck," he said, taking his seat.

"What?" asked Siobhan, a tinge of irritation in her voice. It’s amazing how her mood could shift on a dime.

"Nothing. I'm just a bit tired of this fucking circus."

"Well, what the fuck do you expect? You made a public promise. If you can't make good on it, why not just say so? Why continue this fucking farce?"

Logan narrowed his eyes at her.

"If I wanted to hear that, Siobhan, I would have gone to my wife's bed. I don't need a cunt in my ear right now."

Siobhan rolled her eyes. "Jesus fucking Christ. I'm a realist. You're the one who wants to live in your fantasy world. Just fucking drop the bomb, tell the truth, and let's move on."

"The truth? And what is the truth? That my son’s a psychotic, drug-addled mess? That Kendall is a sniveling, entitled little fuck? A pathetic, whiny, little shit stain who can't do his job because he's too busy jerking himself off to his own sob story? Is that the truth you want to set free?"

Siobhan stared him down, and once again, you were surprised. You had thought the woman was completely brazen, but there were still limits.

"I'm not your therapist," she said.

"No. You're not. And I'm not going to sit here and listen to a woman with the emotional range of a fucking teaspoon telling me how to handle this situation. Now, I need to get on the phone with my PR team. Fuck off, all of you. Get back to work."

You and Roman both jumped up, quickly leaving the room. Once you were safely away from Logan, you took a deep breath and relaxed a bit.

"Jesus fucking Christ," you muttered, "I don't know how she does it."

Roman smirked, "Oh, she's a special snowflake—a real ball buster. You should see her with Tom. It's a fucking bloodbath."

“Tell me about it. It’s a raging dumpster fire, even saying more than two words to her. I feel like she's going to snap my head off any minute. I’m so tired of her bullshit, and she's the least of my worries. The whole family is a fucking disaster. And I don't have time for any of it…. No offense.”

Roman gave you a half smile. "None taken. You're right; I'm the best of a very bad lot."

"Well, at least you're self-aware."

“You fuckers talking shit about me behind my back?"

You turned and saw Shiv leaning against the wall.

"Always," replied Roman. "And it's fucking hilarious."

"Well, don't let me stop you," she said, rolling her eyes. Her eyes then shifted to you.

"I didn't realize we were having a fucking slumber party."

"Just having a bit of a break," you said.

"Oh, well, that's very fucking nice. I'm glad everyone is taking a fucking break because I've been dealing with our father, who is a raging psycho at the moment. You know, while the rest of you are fucking around, the company is dying. It's falling apart, and everyone is too fucking busy to give a shit."

"Come on, Shivvy. Take a breather. You’re starting to act like Kendall… and that's never a good look," said Roman.

"Fuck off, Ro.”

Shiv glared at him, then glanced back at you. The glare made you want to hide, but you refused to show fear in front of her. You had done it in the past, and it only fed her.

"Well," she said, "aren't you going to say anything? Or are you just going to stand there with your mouth open like an idiot?"

"I think I'll take option B. I'd like to live through this," you replied.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"I think it's pretty clear."

"Yeah, I suppose it is. I guess I shouldn't expect someone like you to understand."

"Someone like me?"

“Shiv,” warned Roman, trying to interject. Personally, despite his whacked-out sense of humor, you actually enjoyed his company. He was definitely the least obnoxious of the Roy siblings. “Let’s not get into this now, okay? Just drop it."

"No. No, go ahead, Shiv. Let's have it out. Right here, right now. Let's see if you can handle it."

Shiv stared at you for a few moments, then she smiled. It wasn’t her usual smug, condescending grin. It was different, almost sincere.

"You think you're tough?" she asked.

"No. I know I am. It's a little different, don't you think?"

"Okay," she replied, her eyes darkening. She leaned forward, her face just inches from yours. Roman just looked at the two of you as if watching a tennis match. "You're so sure you can handle me. So why don't you prove it?"

"Prove it? Like, what, punch you in the face? Is that what you want?"

"Although, as satisfying as that sounds, I was thinking we all should just move on… maybe have a drink, talk it over? Yeah? No?”

Shiv just looked at you. "Yeah, I'll pass. I'm not here to make friends, and I'm certainly not here to kiss your ass."

"That's good. Because, honestly, I don't see you as the ass-kissing type. Tom, yes. You? Not a chance. You're the type who wants everything to be handed to you on a silver platter. I'm sorry, but I'm not the maid. I'm not going to serve you or kiss your ass. I'm here because I have a job to do, and I intend to do it. That's it.”

"Oh, right. I see. Well, then, why don't we cut the bullshit and just get right to it. How about you go back to whatever shithole you crawled out of and let the real people get on with things."

“Guys-” Roman started.

"Real people? Real people? You think you're real? You think this is real? I hate to break it to you, Siobhan, but you're not a princess, and this isn't a fairy tale. You're not the queen. Your father isn't the king. You're a spoiled brat, and he's… well, he’s Logan. He's not even a king. He's just a bully."

"Is that supposed to hurt me? To insult me?"

"No, but you seem like the kind of person who doesn't take criticism well. You’re doing a terrible job.”

Shiv stared at you, her lip curled up in disgust. She looked as if she were about to hit you, but the rage was just a facade.

"Well," she finally said, "It's a good thing we're not here to play fucking games, then. So why don't you shut the fuck up and get back to work? Unless, of course, you don't think you can handle it. Maybe you should just go back to where you came from, and let the real people get on with things."

Your nostrils flared. It took every ounce of strength in you not to smack the look off her face. But you knew better. If you started a fight, Logan would take your head off, and that was a fight you couldn't win. So, instead, you smiled.

"Fine," you said. "If that's what you want. I'll do my job, and you do yours. But, just remember, the day is coming when this little charade is going to come to an end, and when it does, it's going to be a lot worse than it is right now."

You didn't wait for her reply. Instead, you turned and walked away, leaving the two of them standing in the hallway.

Once you were back in the safety of your office, you collapsed into your chair and let out a sigh. You had just gotten your first taste of a Roy fight, and it was worse than you had anticipated. The worst part was Siobhan had gotten the last word. It didn't matter that you might’ve won. She had gotten the last good word, and you hated her for it.

As the hours ticked by, you became more and more frustrated. You were angry and bitter. You were pissed at yourself for letting Shiv get under your skin, and you were angry at her for getting to you.

So, when your phone rang and you saw her name, you were tempted to ignore it. You let it ring for a few seconds, then decided to answer.

"Yes?” Your attitude was short.

"Get your shit together," she snapped. “We have a meeting in five minutes. We have a lot of ground to cover."

That was, in fact, false. By the time you arrived, the conference room was deserted, and only Shiv remained. She was sitting at the table, her laptop open in front of her.

"What the hell?" you demanded.

"I'm sorry. Did you want a fucking audience? Because that can be arranged. But, if you don't mind, I would prefer not to have any interruptions."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that we are both here, and we have a job to do. Now, either sit down and help me, or fuck off. I really don't give a shit."

You stared at her, and she looked up from her laptop, raising an eyebrow. There was no audience, and there wasn’t going to be one. So, you had two options. Either walk away and look like an idiot, or stay and possibly get chewed out again. You took a deep breath and sat down.

Shiv just hummed in response, then looked back at her screen. "Good choice."

For the next couple of hours, the two of you worked together, trying to figure out a way to turn the situation around. Arguments arose, shots were fired, and at one point, Shiv threatened to kick you out, but overall, it was a productive session. Logan wouldn’t be pissed, so that was a win.

"So," Shiv said as the two of you left the building, "Did you cool down?"

"What?"

"I'm asking if you cooled down. Do you feel better now?"

"Um, yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I? You know, besides the fact that we were at each other's throats for hours and the fact that we both wanted to kill each other. I'm peachy."

"Mm, peachy." She said the word like it was an insult. "That's a strange choice of words, don't you think?”

“What? The real people don’t use the word peachy, huh? Is it beneath you, Shiv? Do you only use fancy words and proper grammar?"

"Oh, I can be a real commoner when the situation calls for it. It's all about knowing your audience."

"Really? So, is this the commoner Shiv? Should I expect a new side of you?"

"Maybe.” She smiled oddly again. The one that made you nervous. "Maybe not. That depends on you. Do you want to know the real me?"

"No, not particularly."

"Good. Because I'm not interested in showing you. I’m just curious if you have what it takes."

"To what, put up with your bullshit? To put up with a spoiled brat who thinks the world is hers for the taking? Mmm, yeah, I think I've got what it takes."

"Okay, first off, fuck you. Second, you're a piece of shit. Third, I have something to tell you. So, listen up. This is important. Okay, ready?"

You were about to say something, but her expression stopped you. Her voice was low, her tone serious. You nodded.

"I'm a bitch. And, yeah, I have a temper, and I'm not a warm and fuzzy kind of girl. But, that's the thing, I don't need to be. I don't need to pretend that I'm anything other than who I am. I don't have to fake it because I know what I want, and I'm not afraid to go after it. That’s what you need to understand. It's not about what you think you need. It's about what you want and what you're willing to do to get it."

You just stared at her, unsure of what to say.

"So, let me ask you, what do you want? And are you willing to do what it takes to get it?"

You thought about it for a second. "I want a drink. A strong one."

A little comedy never hurt anyone. And judging by her expression, you could tell you had made her smile.

"Well, that's a start." Siobhan had a smirk on her face. "Alright, fine. Let's get that drink. Then we'll see how far that gets you."

"Yeah," you muttered, "I'm sure."

But, as you walked down the street, you couldn't help but think about the question. What did you want?

And what was Siobhan offering?

[spaceorphan18]

Ranking the Bridgerton Books

Well. I have finished all eight novels in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series (yes - I know there are a bunch of spin-offs, and that's great -- I have no desire to read those.) And of course, I have thoughts...

Before I jump into the rankings, though, I a few overall thoughts... I liked the series much more than I thought I would. Look, I'm rarely a romance reader, and really have no desire to read most historical fiction. But these books aren't as bad as I feared they would be. They're fun and light and you could probably read them all over the course of a week if you were dedicated to it. I don't know that there's anything (to me) that makes them really stand out, but other than being rather dated, and depicting some historical-ish things, I don't think there is anything too offensive about them, either.

I also... don't love Julia Quinn's writing style. These books -- are literally all the same structure of book. Some of the plot details, and the character tropes are different. But if you read one, you've read all of them, so you either have to get on board with that, or not. I also have to quibbles with the writing -- first of all, the men, omg, are usually pretty terrible. Most of the time they're prone to anger and they're just kind of asshats all the way around. The second thing is a writer-y thing. Quinn lets a scene go on and on and on for way too long without really doing anything, which caused the books to drag a bit. These books could have worked at half length, but ah well.

I think also, one thing that I wrestled with throughout, is that I think my favorite aspect of all the books -- was more about the Bridgertons as a family, and sibling dynamics, etc, than the actual romances. I don't know if any of the actual romances really worked for me, ultimately. None of them moved me emotionally the way I think they were supposed to. And that's fine. (No, I don't have a heart of stone - I just relate to romance stories in a different way than these books are presented, I suppose.) Idk - this thought may get another post.

That all said... The thing about ranking these is this -- all of it is incredibly subjective. Because I think the fact that they all use such different tropes, everyone is going to feel differently towards each book? And some things are going to resonate with certain people, while other people are going to enjoy aspects of other books? So - this is just tuned into my own tastes, and less about looking at how the books were written (because, honestly -- I'd rate them pretty much all at the same level) and more about how I felt when reading them.

8. When He Was Wicked (Francesca and Michael)

I know, I know, I know I'm starting off with a controversial choice. When I was looking into the books, there were so many people who put this near and at the top. And I do get it -- this might be the most solid love story of the bunch; Michael is one of the best leads in that he is the least problematic, this book definitely has the spiciest smutty scenes, and their arc to each other probably makes the most sense.

But my god, did I find this book utterly boring. Here's the thing -- a lot of this book is tied up with death, grieving, hurt, and comfort. There's a lot of tragedy in Francesca's story -- and I these kind of thematic elements resonate with a lot of readers, and I get that! It's just not for me. They aren't the tropes I seek out when reading romance, and I didn't find myself caring all that much.

Add to that the fact that Francesca probably has the least connection to her family, and Michael's yearning just doesn't do it for me as it does other people, and this book just doesn't work (for me). So, it's at the bottom.

7. The Duke and I (Daphne and Simon)

I was actually pleasantly surprised when I read the book that I didn't hate it, because (and I'm so sorry) I don't really love their romance on the screen. With the exception of the incredibly problematic moments (you know which ones...) this book is by no means bad. I just found it, like When He Was Wicked, a bit boring at times. (I don't think it helps that I've seen the show enough times that I know the plot pretty well, and this book is adapted rather well for the show.)

My biggest issue is that Daphne is a rather blank slate -- ready for you to fill her in with your own experiences because she is almost a stand in for the reader more so than an actual character. And Simon is going to kick off a long line of male characters who have daddy and anger issues. But it also is the book that feels the most historical? I felt like we were in Regency England -- as opposed to pretty much all the rest of them feeling like generically historical.

Again, it's decently written for what it is, just feels a bit bland, which is why it's near the bottom.

6. To Sir Phillip, With Love (Eloise and Phillip)

I honestly expected to hate this book based on its reputation for being at the bottom or nearly at the bottom of every rankings list I sought out before I jumped into these. And... I didn't hate it. Is it the worst written one? Probably. Is Phillip Crane just a terrible person? Oh, absolutely. Is it hard to go to this Eloise after loving show Eloise so dearly? You bet!

But I didn't hate it -- and, even if there are definitely elements that are truly terrible, it kept me more engaged than the previous two books. I read somewhere recently that this book is also, kinda, a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I'm like -- huh, that makes a lot of sense. I can totally see it.

This book gets bumped up, also, for having one of my favorite sequences in the entirety of the series -- when Eloise's four brothers end up showing up at Phillip's doorstep to defend their sister. It's kind of hilarious, and as someone who really likes the sibling dynamics of these books, really works for me.

There's actually some fun things going on in this book... if you can overlook some of the more problematic aspects of it (and yes, it definitely has a lot of those, which is why it's near the bottom.)

5. An Offer From A Gentleman (Benedict and Sophie)

Hey, it's the Cinderella story -- and my god, it's literally Cinderella... in the first third of the book. And you know, I actually did like the first half of this book pretty well. I think Sophie is probably one of the sweetest characters in these books. And I think the story, overall, hangs together pretty well.

Which is why I have it here in the middle. The unfortunate thing is that half way through, things take a real turn, and Benedict -- who is mostly a blank slate at best up until this point -- becomes possibly one of the worst male characters in any of these books. He's raging and possessive and is just kind of a jerk, which makes the second half of the book unpleasant to read.

Which is a real shame, because I think I like the overall ideas in the book; the fairy tale angle, My Cottage, the fact that Sophie starts working for the Bridgertons... there are a lot of really good and interesting plot points going on, and the only real thing weighing it down is the fact that Benedict is an asshat...

4. On The Way To The Wedding (Gregory and Lucy)

It is kind of funny that this book ends up as high as it does, because it's almost by default. I struggled with the first half of this book. Really, I did. It suffers from being somewhat bland and boring in the way the bottom two books on this list suffer. But man that second half...

It's just kind of a bonkers wild ride that throws everything at the wall. There's actually some action going on (other than sexual, these books don't see a whole lot of action) and the characters become a bit wacky. Maybe that's due to Quinn being at the end of the line with this series, but man, I appreciate these characters kind of breaking out of their expected molds.

And Gregory and Lucy are likable enough. I don't know if I fully buy their romance, Gregory switches on a dime from one girl to the next, but honestly, they're more enjoyable to spend time with than many of the other couples on this list, so I'll take it.

3. The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony and Kate)

You know, I toyed with this being number one for a while, and I honestly see why it often tops a lot of lists. It really was a fun book to read -- the whole enemies to lovers, Taming of the Shrew stuff really works. Plus, both Kate and Anthony are well drawn, engaging and interesting characters. I think some of the best actual character of the series work is done in this novel, and it might be the romance I think works the best? (Kind of? I think it might be the romance that Quinn manages to portray the best? idk...) Plus, the story just remains engaging all the way through.

I also think this is some of the most fun, broader world stuff going on. The sibling dynamics are great, the pall mall stuff is a lot of fun, they get the best second epilogue when the family gets together again, and there's some great stuff with Penelope!

I guess what's holding me back from actually placing it on top is the fact that I wasn't a huge fan of the last third(-ish) of the novel. The way they're forced into marriage is just kind of dumb (seriously - no one would believe the bee sting?) and it just felt like Anthony took a little too long to settle into his marriage.

But this book is really good -- and if I were to recommend only one book to new fans, it'd probably be this one.

2. Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Colin and Penelope)

I've really had to sit and think about this one, and have been back and fourth about its placement for a long while. And... it kind of comes down to this...

Penelope is one of the best characters in this whole series (even if she really is only in the first four books). She just is; and I really love her and her story and despite the fact that I have issues with this book (and my god, I have issues with this book) I think my love for her as a character kind of transcends that. The Lady Whistledown stuff, too, remains one of the most interesting elements of these books (and it's a damn shame it disappears after this book). And that is why I have this one so high.

Because, my god Colin. Okay. So here's the thing that really hurts, though --- Colin in every other book I absolutely adore. I really do, he's hilarious and charming and fun and a good guy. And the problem in his own book is that Quinn tries to force him from being the easy going, fun one into crazy angry guy like Simon, Anthony, and Benedict before him -- and it makes him come off as a mentally unstable asshat as he swings between those two character types, and I think with better characterization, had Colin not swung so hard in that angry direction, I would have fully loved this book.

I would have even said this is a great book.

So, I don't know, maybe I love the possibility of this book more than the actual book itself, maybe I just have fallen in love with the characters so much in the last four months I'm giving this one a pass, maybe because I like the characters outside this book, too, that I'm giving it some room, but I just feel it goes here. And, i mean, there truly is a lot I do like about the book, too, don't get me wrong. but it's not perfect, it's not the best, and I get that. But it means something to me, and I suppose that's what matters.

1. It's In His Kiss (Hyacinth and Gareth)

Hyacinth is a goddamn delight, and this was the only book of the series that I truly enjoyed the whole way through.

And I think, in a way kind of opposite of Francesca's book, there are a bunch of tropes all working together that are a bunch of my favorite tropes. It's a funny book -- Hyacinth is a true joy in pretty much all the books she is in, and she gets to be fun and banter-y here with Gareth. This book is a comedy, in some ways, and that's great. She and Gareth go on sleuthing and solving mysteries together, which of course I love. And the two of them fall in love as they become friends and grow closer together through the shared interest of the mystery. And I mean, yeah, I am here for all of that.

Like all of these books, it's not perfect -- Gareth suffers (on a milder level) of the angry, daddy issue male lead thing. And there are times when I'm like, good god, Julia Quinn, why....

But after really thinking about it, and thinking about which books I'd really like to have and/or read again, this one just kept bubbling back up the list. Because besides RMB, this is, possibly, the only one I have a desire to read again. Because it was a delight.

And... there we go! All the Bridgerton Books Ranked. :)

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

It's all bad

So there is a post going around right now about how in Plano Texas, there was a sting operation that caught a sex trafficking ring. Some of the people there were first responders and teachers. However if you look at twitter, and of course on this hell site, there are people who are SO EAGER to suck a drag queens no no bits, they had to go out of their way to post some pretty "lovely" things. Now the reason I'm posting this image, rather than just the article is to prove a point.

We have absolutely zero confirmation about what the user William LeGate said here. None. At best he tried to look up some names, and background checks on those listed. However, on the original post by the DFWPD (Dallas Ft. Worth PD) This article is not even cited. And I looked at the article. You know what WAS listed in the "jobs" let's look:

You know what WASN'T listed? Republican Politician or "Church Leader".

Now let me show you the list of disgusting individuals, which wouldn't you know it, includes a woman.

Now let's do some math shall we. Racial, and political activists will look at this image, and do exactly what they do with is judge every single thing on surface level looks. As shown by these next tweets. (Some of them having prior records)

As you can clearly see, this started a trend of #NotADragQueen and a very old and tired trope of "The church is scarier protect them from that instead of drag queens"

My question to all of you Neo Progressives is this. Why exactly are you so hell bent on bringing up an event that happened over a decade ago?

Better question. Why exactly do you care if no drag queens were VISIBLE? Is it because parents don't think it's appropriate for their kids to be in from of a adult male in exaggerated women clothing. Several of whom have been found to have criminal records of sexual assault and some even against kids? Don't believe me? Let's look shall we.

WOW, if you look at this man's mug shot, YOU'D NEVER KNOW he was a drag queen. TURNS OUT not only was he one, but also is a child sex offender.

But rather than actually care about child sex offenders, which, let's be really fair here, you don't. You'd rather have a gatcha against those, "Evil republicans".

Let me be clear. If you look at all those mugshots? You'll notice something. Varying races and ages. You know what we AREN'T shown? Political leanings of every single person there and who they have and have no voted for. My current annoyance with all of you now, is one very LARGE thing. Rather than being happy that these people have been caught, you are FAR MORE EXCITED at the prospect that this group could contain your political enemies.

HOW F*CKED in the head are you? Really? Predators find positions of power. No matter where the position is. Sometimes they actually get complacent with their power and they begin to lose inhibitions. This should have nothing to do with the church, with drag with dems, or with reps. This SHOULD have everything to do with the fact that it's AMAZING that these assholes have been caught.

Thing is? Most conservatives just don't want drag in front of their kids. That should be their choice. AS THE PARENTS. And we don't actually know the ratio of predators to non predators in the drag community. And until they get arrested and charged, much like any other person, we CAN'T know.

Catholics were SEETHING when they found out what their leadership was doing. However, it was NOT all priests. It was not even most. It was however enough that it caused notice. And that makes sense. You can expect at least 10% of any large group to be not good people. However here is the issue. You are equating an entire group, that at the time was a VERY LARGE population size of the US. Per Capita is a fun thing to talk about. And given the LIMITED number of drag queens in the US you'd expect very very few to be guilty of sex offense. However, we see time and time again that's not the case.

Am I making the argument that drag queens are predators? No. Hell, most conservatives or moderates would not even be prone to making that argument if many of you were not so dead set on having kids see it or be around it. And the level of insistence around it kind of raises red flags if I'm being honest. Also a fun thing missed by that asshole William LeGate from the opening pictures is the mention of "Teachers" in that list of people involved. Another something people have brought up concerns over.

Stop making this about trying to own the cons. It's very possible several of the people on there are LGBT or Dem. And you'd ignore that, JUST to point out anyone not on your side. WHY THE FUCK do you care. Why can't all of it be bad. Conservatives are beat over the head with a 20 year old allegation equating their religious faith AS A WHOLE, to being pedo friendly. Imagine my shock when many got fed up with it and started putting that target on others. Mostly because it was a SMALL SUBSET of said group.

And now, just like them before, you are trying to salvage "your side" and deflect it from criticism. Also one last thing. MOST actual conservatives have not, and are not accusing most or all drag queens of being pervers or pedophiles. However in your fervor to not just demand they be in front of kids, but to also defend them from any and all allegations. I can certainly from the outside looking in see how that would be concerning. What's more, we DON'T know if any of the people shown there were drag queens. Some could have been ministers in the church. Both provide apt access to the people they wish to offend against.

Do you know what the only difference is between the two? You'll defend tooth and nail the drag queen even from the accusation. You know why that's bad? Because if that happened with a minister or pastor etc, that entire church community would be in lock down and every single person in power would be gone over with a fine tooth comb. So basically in one instance, Your side defends the potential predator, and their side demands action. In the other instance, you pat yourself on the back that bad people exist on the opposing side, and that side goes out of their way to figure out wtf is going on and seek out accountability.

Long story short. In both cases they want justice. In only once case you want justice. In the other case you are jerking off about how "good" your side is. Despite a NUMBER of people PUBLICLY that vote dem are on Epstein's flight lists including to his island on a number of occasions. Point it out and demand justice in every instance. Sex crimes especially against kids isn't a joke. And yeah OF COURSE by the laws of numbers it's going to be seen more in MUCH LARGER communities. DUH! Because there are more chances for it to even exist. A child understands that level of thought.

So again I ask you. Why do you care more about having a gatcha, than actual justice. You all saw, "the other side of the isle" and went, "See we aren't the bad guys". Meanwhile if I were to do research into every one of the people listed, I could likely find a few people who I could weaponize against your side. You know why I don't? Because I care more about the fact they got caught.

[danggirlronpa]

Considering the stereotypes packed into the dark-skinned girls, are there any things you'd do - and advise other fans do - to portray them better WITHOUT changing anything about their canon appearances, personalities and backstories? Or are they just not salvageable? Genuine question

The big, generalized advice is just to treat these characters with care and love, just like you would otherwise, and do not give in to the white guilt. Exceedingly often, white fandom will try to address racist stereotypes by separating the character from racial connotations entirely - e.g. getting rid of the terrible implications of Angie's god by ignoring her God/"Atua" entirely when writing her.

THAT IS NOT HELPFUL. You cannot write these stereotypes out of existence. Refusing to address an issue is, by nature, not addressing an issue. You must reckon with and work around these issues. You don't have to write stories about them, and probably shouldn't. But you can't write an Akane story wherein she never mentions her family. You can listen to people who have lived in ghettos, look at their real-world conditions, and look into the slums of Japan. Take the stereotypes and give a real, serious look at why they exist, and how to portray the information that they are sensationalizing with care and respect.

The white instinct is to avoid difficult topics, like racism, because of the fear that they will fuck up. Rest assured: you will. A person who fucks up and does something unintentionally offensive trying to address a racist is trope is always better than a person who politely distances themself from the stereotypes to avoid potential confrontation. One of them is showing a sincere interest in learning about the lives of the people affected and what impacts them.

Research stereotypes. Research writing POC. Find black activists and keep up with them regularly; you'll start internalizing things. Go the extra mile. I am not black. I cannot give you meaningful feedback. You should look to black voices.

(And for the love of god don't make weed jokes about Hagakure. There are black people who look like Hagakure and smoke weed. Those people aren't characters in a piece of media already subject to many other racial stereotypes. And frankly it's funnier if Hagakure is straightedge and just Like That, anyway.)

[ultfreakme]

and on our agenda is JonJay. How many times have I told myself not to go under comments on Tumblr, but this time misfortune took me by surprise. It was about Bernard, I decided to go into the comments, which was my main mistake. The author of the post wrote that Jay is worse than Bernard, since he can control the minds of other people (I don’t remember this at all, I know about his ability to pass through walls and any solid objects) and how Jon can meet with him. God, there was no explanation, but if this person meant that Jay forced Jon to fall in love with him by penetrating his mind, then I'm leaving this planet. How blind do you have to be when you read a comic book so as not to read that Jon agreed to help Jay himself, since people needed help. And he didn’t fall in love with him right away either, rather after Jay met the superfamily, like, yes. I’m still It's still killing me that people think Jay is the worst option for Jon, although if you ask my opinion, they couldn't find each other better. Jay literally exposed himself for the sake of Jon, what else do they need for them to believe in his sincerity. By the way, they don’t have any thoughts about the setup from Nicky to Damian. Sorry, but it still really annoys me, like ,how so. I'm still wondering why people love Bernad and Nika more than Jay. Maybe you have an answer, I don't know. (I love them too, but this injustice is killing me)

Anon, I get you so much. I answered something like this before but I love ranting and the Jon Kent tag is filled with Jay hate so I'll do it again. The reason why people hate Jay is:

Racism and Orientalism

People think Jon should've ended up with Damian

He's associated with Jon's age-up

Potential covert biphobia

None of the Jay haters have actually read SOKE. The 'mind control' rumors started spreading and becaus basically 70% of tumblr DC fans haven't actually touched more than 3 issues of the comic books and out of context panels in their lives, they don't know that Jay's NEVER 'seduced' Jon. Which is, by the way, a classic offensive stereotype assigned to Asian characters; that Asian characters, especially ones who are into men are all seducers. This is primarily applied to women but now its being applied with Jay.

It's funny because Jon WAS affected to be attracted by an actual telepathic character; Imra, aka Saturn Girl.

And this is where the biphobia comes in because Saturn Girl dated Jon, it was a disaster fire relationship in a book that mischaracterized both of them.It's implied that Imra accidentally used her powers to make Jon be into her, but NO ONE talks about it because it's a seemingly heterosexual relationship. Also she's a white blond girl. It's far easier to target the sparse Asian rep we get.

Nika and Bernard also don't get as much hate because of this reason. People can talk around it all they want, but they are more loved and accepted because they are white. If either of them were POC, they'd be getting the same treatment.

The DamiJon shippers for some reason got it into their heads that Damian x Jon is going to be a thing and now they're mad that they're headcanons aren't real. Like I can't even be kind about this because these assholes have been nothing but racist, clogging up Jon's tag by not tagging anything right, and have also attacked actual content creators to the point they've had to respond to them to tell them to STOP.

Nothing will get these people to like Jay, because they don't actually care about comics, storytelling, the messages these stories bring, the characters, or anything really. They just care that their headcanon vision of Jon's gone and it isn;t easy to project their "sunshine baby" tropes on Jon anymore since now he's actually got adventures of his own outside of Damian. And those adventures happen to be with his boyfriend Jay.

[mana-jjk]

finally someone who actually understands inuokko and doesn't mischaracterize as an alpha sigma male and Toge as an uwu boy! bestie you don't know how happy I am that you came up on my fyp.

omg hi anon !! 🥺🫶

i love analyzing characters way before any shipping, i could actually read nothing but found family fics because i just feel like they always catch the perfect dynamic. with yuuta and toge specifically, i do feel like you can appreciate aspects of how their dynamic is on an appearance level or how they fit certain popular tropes, but i don’t think it’s the driving force behind what makes them so good together.

i do acknowledge that if we default to the stereotypical gay men tropes without tangible reason, it’s more indicative of getting used to knowing how to write LGBT+ relationships and tending to default to what we might be used to in straight relationships. i say that without any offense intended, it’s just a part of the writing process. especially with toge as a character, who has so much of his characterization sprinkled outside of the manga and anime. a lot of his backstory and characteristics are derived from the fun facts, light novel, and now even the unreleased game has given us so much more content. but i also think that’s why he’s so popular, there’s so much freedom in exploring him, especially if you haven’t discovered the existing content. taking that with yuuta who is honestly a fan favorite of the chad dude straight bros and gets a little too much ‘alpha male’ treatment from them, it can be a little confusing. (it kills me a little to see some one say he’s an alpha male with a bad attitude and smoking guns when manga panels will literally have him looking like this (・・?) 😭)

i do have preferences in how both yuuta and toge are portrayed, but that’s just because i care about them so much as individual characters.

for me, toge is soft and kind, but he was also born as a weapon and has spent his life sacrificing himself over and over. you can still have that softness and kindness, even more so when experiencing certain things, but there’s also a degree of hardening from trauma. i do characterize him to be less overtly an instigator lol, but that’s personal preference in how i see him combined with canon material. i find a lot of his trolling to be slipped in and more of a double take than full on gremlin, but that’s less mischaracterization and more preference. i find his relationship with living and death so, so interesting, especially in how he tries to shield the first-years and yuuta from having any kind of blood on their hands. it implicates him to have done that very thing, and he spends his life silencing himself because of it. i do believe his language barrier is almost a relief, because it acts almost as a self-imposed wall. but despite that wall, he still reaches out because while he himself is okay being alone, the thought of someone like yuuta, someone he sees as exactly like him, suffering by himself is painful to him.

for yuuta, i am a big advocate for the continued acknowledgment of his anxiety, depression, and low key craziness. he had a normal childhood, but that somehow makes the transition to everything with rika so much worse. because he had that normalcy and it was shattered completely. he’s hurt, maimed, and killed people both unintentionally and intentionally. but he sees it as necessary in protecting the people he cares about the most. in a lot of ways, i think his dubious morality and how far he’s willing to go is an expression of his love. for example, killing getou in his eyes is the ultimate act of service to gojo, so he himself would not have to kill him. his character is such a juxtaposition compared to everyone we’ve been introduced to. here you have these child soldiers, ready and willing to sacrifice themselves, where death and suffering is more feasible than ever living their life to entirely. then they give us yuuta, who wants to live so badly in happiness that he’s willing to inflict and do everything for and against their society. it’s almost an unhealthy relationship to a degree, but it’s the only kind of relationship any of them know how to have.

together they work so well, because like i’ve said before, they defy each other’s expectations in what they ever believed they could have or deserve. despite their rough edges, the blood on their hands, the years they’ve lost to fighting battles they never started, they treat each other so gently. as if they are the better half, yet simultaneously knowing exactly how much they have done. yuuta who sees violence almost as a love letter, who absorbs toge’s curse as if it’s something to admire and adore. toge who sees himself as unforgivable in his crimes, who self-enforces isolation and barriers yet took a step out just to comfort yuuta from a mild spell of anxiety, because he couldn’t stand to see him suffer even in a minor degree.

i have so many feelings about them so i’m so glad that they come across the way i want them to !! i love all content, and i’m always willing to share my thoughts, but ty so much for the validation bestie, i’m sure i’m eating up your content as well !! 🥺

[naliya]

If you see a Goblin, a European folklore creature that has existed since the middle ages at least (because that type of creature has existed in folklore for longer even if under another name), and see Jewish people, YOU ARE THE ANTISEMITIC ONE. YOU are the problem. YOU!

As usual, I don't give a shit if you hate JK Rowling, for reasons that are yours and might or might not be valid in your eyes; but I'm sick of people using increasingly ridiculous reasons such as this one to justify their hate when all it's ending up doing is trivialising a legitimate issue that send people to death camps by the milions on my continent not even a century ago - and still kills people to this very day. You need to stop this. It's incredibly offensive (and for once, this word is warranted).

And as usual, I can't help but notice that out of the thousands of fantasy writers that have used Goblins in their works since before most of you people where ever even just sperms in your fathers' testicles, the one writer you chose to go after for this is the female one. How incredibly convenient. She who simply used a common European folklore creature (in the same way she used werewolves, unicorns or centaurs) to anchor a hidden world she imagined existing parallel to ours without any ill-thoughts - and if you believe she had them you either need help or you are a bad faith actor, either way, touch grass.

Where is your outrage at Tolkien you bunch of hypocritical asshats? Nowhere to be seen despite the fact that there would be far more matter to call out prejudice in his work than you will ever find in Harry Potter, a bunch of children novels you all can't move on from.

(Tangentially, if you were trying to write actual academic essays about how Goblins might have been used as an imagery to further anti-Semitic tropes at various points, that would be one thing, and that could be interesting, but you're not. You're just trying to use it to harden your hate boner, you are not being genuine at all, and anybody with a brain can see it from a mile away. Otherwise you would NOT be broaching the subject with that little of a care and you fucking know it.)

PS: The Goblins weren't slaves and have never been implied to be in HP, you are conflating them with the House Elves.

[xxxbloodskiesdarkwaterxxx]

LOOK. Abe is not a douchebag. He's nice, he cares about people, he's generally not an asshole. The depiction of Abe in S2 of CH is WRONG. He would, in fact, not want to hurt people's feelings and if you told him saying something was 'gay' when he meant 'bad/shitty/weird' and using the r-slur was offensive - he would stop!!! He would be really upset if he hurt someone!!! It could honestly be used to the advantage they were going for in terms of tone and comedy: Abe gets lectured about it, and feels SO GUILTY he literally causes MORE GRIEF by apologizing and trying to punish himself. That could've happened but nooo. Instead we get a shit message about cancel culture because the writers are jack-offs that don't understand what it actually means.

Like Abe genuinely is a kind and naive person. My other issue is that this naivete is completely ignored. He's not purposely missing Joan's passes; he is a giant idiot baby that is like "awww, friendship (:" even if she's throwing herself at him because he's too innocent and self-defeatist to take it as a move to date. The whole attitude of 'Abe gets what's coming to him for ignoring our queen ):<' (which. Joan's treatment during S2 is. not great, it made her very directly unlikeable in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY than she in S1 but I'll get to that) misses the Entire Point.

Joan is unlikeable in S1 because she's kind of a self-centered jerk, but in the same way a teenager would be expected to be. I was waiting for her character to evolve and to see how her relationship with Abe would change but. nope! she's rendered very... bland in S2. A lot of our supporting cast is - it's as if the writers are afraid to give them more personality. We see them really hammer in ONE (1) character as 'unlikeable'... except he's not.

Topher's a little shit but he's SIXTEEN. All of these characters are. It feels like we're supposed to find him getting the short end of the stick funny purely because he's a clone of Columbus, which. DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON HOW ***BOTH*** S1 AND S2 FAIL TO UTILIZE THE FACT THAT THESE ARE -CLONES- TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AUUUUUUUUIUGGHHGGGHHHHHHH. Like. WHERE are my philosophical debates about personhood??? Souls??? Reincarnation? Who are they, really??? What does it mean to be a clone of someone - give me SOMETHING about this!!!

I fully understand this is meant to be a trope-y highschool drama but like. you literally have the concept Right There, they Tread The Line of discussing it, but never do??? Can I just take this from the writers, let me fix it shhh.

Also every night I cry about Gandhi (GandAbe for the WIN).

[bigredsweetiepie]

Thoughts about a certain someone🦷pt.1

Unfortunately for Mr. Glenn Jacobs, I think about Isaac Yankem frequently. Like, he is definitely one of my hyper fixations. 😅

I consider myself a scholar of this character and I honestly enjoy the design of Yankem. Due to the way that 90s wrestling and specifically the WWF was doing in '95, its really no surprise that the character tanked in a year. It's sad that he wasn't around for long, but it just wasn't reasonable for him to stick around too much longer after the Jerry Lawler -Brett Hart rivalry. He was a fun addition during that time, and it was camp!

Poor Glenn himself has said it was camp (not in a good way- and I don't blame him). If I was trying to support my family with my passion, and I had to portray a dentist with horrible teeth in the mid 90s, I would be understandably upset as well. I can't help but feel that the WWF was "playing in his face" because why would they put such a horrible gimmick to such a talented BIG man?

However, since his career took off afterwards eventually with Kane, I don't feel like a complete and total jerk liking IY. ( I think it would be a different story if his career died after portraying Yankem, but thankfully Jacobs is hard-working, resilient, and passionate to the point where he gracefully managed the hand he was dealt and succeeded!)

Now, let's talk character design and what I like about him.

Bc I'm a young adult on a Kane-posting tumblr you could imagine that my tastes are not......standard issue. I like deranged characters! Kane is a great, vanilla (ish) version of that. I also can't help but like the crazed doctor trope, something about it is always chef's kiss.

So years ago when I first found Kane and professional wrestling, I was absolutely giddy when I discovered that the man who portrayed him also played a deranged dentist?! Please lord. It was like a two for one special (but I also enjoyed Doomsday, Unabom , and Diesel II so it was like a coupon book).

His entrance music leaves less to be desired, I do enjoy that Jim Johnston included calming elevator music with the drill, but ya know, it is what it is.

Speaking of his entrance, oh my god ? The Yankem grillz on the screen? I think about those frequently . I really can't imagine that in the year '95 that it was edited on, so I imagine that it was a real pair of grillz that WWF made for Jacobs. I can't find anything on them, but they crack me up every time I see them.

Also when IY walks out to the ring he'll say some phrases that are in character. There are two I can make out with my very poor lip reading skills and close listening.

It's time for an extraction.

(Care for your teeth ) you only get one set.

God that is perfect.

Continuing with the entrance themes, when he takes off his dentist smock? help?! He does it so aggressively.😅

I love his attire anyways, especially how he has those long boots under his baggy pants, which were special because most wrestlers had tights on, so the fact he had baggier pants that hid long ass boots underneath is a great surprise ( see when he was tied up by Bret Hart on the turnbuckle). I somehow always expect smaller shoes, but the boots keep going up.🤣I somehow always see them as patent leather dress shoes.

(I kinda want to make an entire post based on his attire bc I love it, so more on that later)

The way he moves in the ring is fantastic. I personally can't tell what Glenn was talking about when he said his matches were horrible. To a non-professional it looks fine. Maybe he was referring to this in a technical manner? I really have no idea. However, one thing I think he excelled whether on purpose or accident was how he moved in the ring. He moved stiff and rushed and rather chaotic, which I think fit a wrestling dentist (No offense Britt Baker!!). In theory if you were a crazed dentist, you wouldn't be graceful, fluid, or pleasing to look at while you were dissecting your patient opponent.

Anyways, I will probably make a part 2 bc that is a lot of dumping....

[batbeato]

What are your thoughts on genderbending characters, particularly in regards to Umineko?

It's one of my favorite tropes, but I know that a lot of people don't feel comfortable with it, whether they find it disrepectful to the lgbtq+ communities or some other reason. Likewise, though, if not done with care in regards to a character's personality and circumstances, the opposite - making an au where a character (who isn't canonically, or it isn't known) is transgender - can be equally offensive.

Considering the matter of a person's physical sex, the interpretation of gender in Umineko, I'm curious how you would perceive it - especially since both 'tropes' can be used in tandem - and 1) I really really liked the way you portrayed Jessie and Yukari's situation in the story carries on' and 2) the fem Black Battler fic. Poor Battler, but Still. It was good!

I figured if anyone knew how to handle the matter tactfully, and in respect to the characters personality's and the situation, and the topic of being transgender vs outright genderbending, it would be you.

With genderbending I feel like it depends on context, what you want to do with it, and what you do with it. (Also I'm glad you liked those fics!)

In a lot of WTC works, characters have interesting relationships with gender (and sometimes sexuality) that can make genderbending more complicated. For example, genderbending Jessica to be a guy can be interesting. She feels pressured to get a boyfriend, but also feels like the reason why she doesn't have one is because she's too tomboyish and abrasive. She also has to deal with her mother wanting her to be a proper lady and find a nice (read: wealthy and powerful) husband for her. If Jessica was a man, 'he' may have more similar experiences to George - the looming prospect of an arranged marriage, the expectation to be the family Head rather than to marry man to be the Head, etc. His attitude may be construed as general laziness or lack of interest rather than tomboyish behavior. If someone is just drawing art of what they think a genderbent Jessica would look like, they don't need to delve into these aspects, but if someone wanted to write about Jessica, they'd need to consider these things.

This also becomes more complicated when you want to do ship content with a genderbend, because how the characters may be different would interact with how they see each other and potentially affect their dynamic. For example, Beatrice/Sayo's attraction to Battler may take on new rich connotations if Battler is a woman and not a man, or if Sayo conceptualized Beatrice as a male sorcerer rather than a female witch.

With regards to genderbends, I really like seeing art of them! And it would be nice to see more writing, too. I think people become worried about them because of how they can be used to erase the queerness of mlm or wlw ships, but I've known friends who like genderswapping their wlw ships to wlm from time to time. In the end I think we can't toss the trope out in general, or even when it's a mlm/wlw -> wlm swap, because sometimes people just want to explore things. Something being wlm can mean that they're still queer - bisexual, pan, etc. - but maybe in a different way.

...People also probably remember the "what if the story was all the same except this character was a GIRL" stories that had a lot of self-insert action, stereotypes, and poor writing from the olden days of fandom. But I think that's a quality and writing issue, not a general genderbend issue.

As for a character being transgender, I think it also needs to be done with care and thought put into it, the same way a genderbend might need. If a character is transgender, how will others feel about it? What sort of medical care will they be able to receive in their setting? Will they be closeted, socially transition, etc.? Depending on the setting, it might not be possible for that character to receive gender-affirming care. It might not even be possible for that character to "pass" as the gender they identify as. And that needs to be considered.

For example, if someone has a trans headcanon for an Umineko character, the character may need to leave Japan to receive surgery (I actually found an interesting paper while googling about this). If they're one of the younger characters, like Battler, one needs to consider if their parents will fund or approve, as they would not be able to access gender-affirming care without them. How would other members of the Ushiromiya family - which is shown to hold to strict gender roles and uphold capitalistic, cissexist, patriarchal ideals - react to someone transitioning?

...More specifically with Umineko is if someone wants to genderbend Sayo or one of their personas. I think that can be a difficult task, because of how complex Sayo's gender is, but I don't think it's impossible or should be disallowed, so long as people are willing to delve into the complexities of what it would mean for any particular genderbend. I'm not entirely sure about the idea of CAFAB Sayo transitioning to masculinity, due to how AFAB Sayo was used to make BeaBato and WillLion as cishet as possible in the past, but I think that so long as such a headcanon is coupled with queer exploration it's fine, albeit a bit touchy for me (perhaps a more subjective worry than objective, though).

For an example of a possible Sayo genderbend, bending Beatrice to be a man could be used to delve into more Sayo-Kinzo parallels, or conceptualize a more masc-leaning, or genderfluid, or nonbinary depiction of Sayo.

...In the end it's just about doing what you like, not minimizing the queer aspects as a result, and exploring what would happen if a character was a different gender all along or was transgender. It's about putting the work in to make me believe in you and your respect for the cast.

[whumptober]

Hi there, I’ve sent in a similar ask before on anon and never received an answer, I’m hoping it got eaten by tumblr, but in the future can you try to avoid making prompts that are heavily tied to disabilities (examples from this year include seizures, crutches, allergic reaction, and panic attack among others)?

The nature of this event means that a lot of the time these topics end up not being handled with the care and respect they deserve, as completionists will often spend a day or two per prompt and don’t factor the time in to properly research the topic in order to be able to handle it respectfully.

I would also advise against promoting prompt fills that are ableist or romanticize/trivialize disabilities in the future as well, an example from this year being the gifsets for the prompt seizures. I am asking you this as someone who has epilepsy and has historically seen a lot of offensive and sometimes potentially dangerously misinformed prompt fills come from Whumptober both this year and in years past where seizures has been a prompt, and from input I’ve gotten when discussing this and conversations I’ve seen and been a part of, while I am not as familiar with ableist tropes that apply to some of the other prompts, I know that other disabilities are similarly poorly handled when they’re given as a prompt by this and similar events.

I don’t think that the mods or most of the community are being intentionally ableist, but there’s a lot of unintentional ableism in the prompt fills and the prompts being chosen. I understand that this event is a lot of work to run and is intended to be fun, but by allowing even unintentional ableism to be as rampant as it is in this event, there are a lot of people who are either being alienated from the event or finding it a lot less fun.

Hi there, thank you very much for this ask and for bringing this issue to our attention. Unfortunately it seems as though Tumblr ate your last ask. Firstly, we would like to sincerely apologise for any harm which is has been caused by these prompts. In creating this prompt list we tried to avoid using ones which could cause offence - and avoid a repeat of the "blindness" issue. But what we're learning is that we didn't go far enough in our efforts. And we apologise for that.

We did make an effort to fix the issue with the prompt "seizures" by changing the tag in order to avoid that tag being filled with fills when it could be used by people to have real life discussions. While that worked to an extent, it is clear that the message didn't reach everyone. We made an announcement post, but it seems like it wasn't seen as much as it could have been. We can't blame people for that - we have a tagging system we use and have encouraged people to use, so of course we couldn't expect every participant to see that we had announced an exception. This was a learning experience for us.

In terms of reblogging, we have a team of volunteers who generally run the archive, but for the prompt day including seizures I was in charge of reblogging. I wasn't sure about reblogging gifs, but I realised that I had reblogged some by accident. That was my bad, and apologies for that. One thing we would like to say though is that we can't ask our volunteers to look through every post that they reblog. With how many creations which are made everyday too, we just don't have the resources or capacity to check every piece of work. But we also don't want to get rid of archiving altogether. So in this step at least, there's very little we can do.

We'd like to improve. We're aware of the stretch of Whumptober and the number of participants. We can't tell everyone they must do their research- there's just no way to enforce that. However we can encourage people to be mindful and thoughtful in regards to what they're writing if they're publicising it, and this is something we'll try to do moving forwards. We can't control what people make, but we can encourage thoughtfulness and mindfulness.

I saw in a mention after reading this ask that someone had pulled us up for being more considerate of AI art and the artists participating in Whumptober than we were of this issue. It made me really uncomfortable reading that because I realised it was right. So thank you for pulling us up on this.

We obviously can't stop the unintentional ableism or tell people they cannot participate if they don't have time to research. But we can limit it by being responsible ourselves and working on what we can control.

I hope you can see that we're going to work on this. We'll be more mindful of prompts, we'll encourage our participants to be thoughtful and mindful and we'll try to avoid using tags like seizures in the future. We're also actively discussing what else we can do.

Whumptober is for everyone, and the last thing we want to do is exclude people with our own lack of understanding.

- mod claire

[kavehvision]

hello! i hope this isn't weird uhhh... i like your analysis and i had some thoughts... so im a huge fan of kaveh but i don't ship kvhtm (but i respect it); but im really curious what people find in this ship. like i totally get it why ppl ship it: the parallels, the shared past, the roommate trope, etc etc. ofc you don't have to need a reason to ship smth but i like to think about how certain characters end up together and i think it's safe to say that canon-wise kvhtm is in a vague state now. they obvs care for each other, we saw it, but they have an unresolved conflict from the past. reading character stories i realized alhaitham doesn't really hold anything against kaveh, in fact kaveh is the one who can't move on from their akademiya project situation. it's like... one-sided conflict ahaha, alhaitham isn't mad at kaveh but kaveh is mad at alhaitham (or himself; or both). and kaveh is really sensitive to criticism that's why everytime alhaitham says something that's not meant to be even a tease kaveh believes it's an insult or disagreement. (i have LOTS of thoughts about their bickering but i don't want to make this too long). so, (in my opinion) in order for these two to have a honest dialog kaveh needs (therapy, yes, but also) to somehow accept the fact that despite their differences alhaitham doesn't try to change kaveh and they can be at least friends. (i feel like kaveh to alhaitham is like a puzzle that helps his brain to be more open to the things he never thinks of). the question is... how do you think they resolve this situation? what kaveh and alhaitham need to do in canon to become more close like in the akademiya days (or do they even need that). maybe that's just my perspective but i think kaveh needs a lot of work to truly start accepting alhaitham who he is;;; i would be really happy to read your thoughts on this! have a nice day <3

Not weird at all!

I guess first I'll say that I'm not too concerned with whether a relationship could be canon, I'm more interested in how the dynamic is while in the relationship. Which I mean, I do care about canon to an extent of course, but I just more enjoy character relationships (general, not romantic necessarily) and exploring them without getting too bogged down in the details.

But I do love to talk about Kaveh of course, and his dynamic with Alhaitham, in a shippy way or not.

It's interesting, because looking through Alhaitham's character stories again, when it comes to rebutting somebody or making comments, he won't really bother unless it aligns with a personal interest of his or is offensively foolish. But he and Kaveh have gone back and forth in essays (of which Kaveh literally saved clips of them in his sketchbook, showing that Kaveh values them on some level, whether positive or negative), and Alhaitham will consistently challenge Kaveh. It sort of seems like Kaveh is often the escalator of their arguments, but Alhaitham is repeatedly stated to be someone who just won't bother with these things if he's not interested in it. He doesn't even care about negative rumors about himself, unless it'll cause more trouble for him than if he simply corrected them.

Alhaitham also considers Kaveh to be his mirror (huge shippy point, if someone was inclined, we love our parallels and mirrors). So you can really learn a lot about one through the other.

Kaveh notes that Alhaitham can be friendly and likeable towards others if he wants to--but he just doesn't, and I think the ability-but-refusal-to is something that irks Kaveh much more than if Alhaitham just had like no social ability. As someone who cares a lot about other people, the fact that Alhaitham knows that his comments can be painful but specifically just doesn't bother with trying to soften them, is naturally something that will upset Kaveh. That's not even to mention his own experiences.

But the arguing isn't all negative. At the end of the event, in the scene between Alhaitham and Kaveh, Kaveh states that there's nothing that could be more sacred than two scholars of differing philosophies exploring that between each other. When they clash, there's probably satisfaction of butting heads with someone who is incredibly intelligent and insightful, even if you hate their views. I've gotten into some pretty passionate arguments with my friend before, honestly, mostly when our media takes are pretty much opposites. It's pretty fun, though obviously mine and my friend's relationship is a lot more positive and less complicated than Kaveh's and Alhaitham's.

A lot of the issue between them is that Kaveh isn't really ready to face reality, in that he's using his empathy towards others as a bludgeon on himself. During the second round of the championships, he gave all his food to the desert foxes and spent so much time trying to help them that he ended up passing out (which is VERY dangerous!!! He could've died! Heat stroke is no joke, and fainting is one of those immediate signs of "you need to get out of the heat and cool down IMMEDIATELY"). But it was just a temporary issue that they were facing, and would have been solved if he focused instead on his task, but it was his guilt that drove him to try and help them instead at risk of himself. His empathy towards the foxes wasn't so much the issue as the unnecessary amount of risk he put himself through because of his emotional anguish.

But Alhaitham also doesn't help all that much, because he really doesn't bother with softening his commentary, knowing that it'll cause Kaveh to dig in his heels and butt heads with him. Yet the fact that Alhaitham won't coddle him in any way makes him the only person that Kaveh will accept help from.

Also with their project they had a falling out over, Kaveh ripped his copy up out of anger, but later pieced it back together and saved it. This and then saving clips of their essay-fights I think does show how much Kaveh does value Alhaitham's input. It's probably really simple for Alhaitham, but like Kaveh says, for him it's just complicated.

All of this isn't really a response to what you asked for, I was mostly getting some off-the-top-of-the-head thoughts down for what I think of their relationship. But as to what will need to happen for their relationship to improve in canon, I don't think it's necessarily as bad as Kaveh claims it to be. Not all the arguing is fun or productive, but I think if their relationship improves they will still argue about things. Many things. Often. But they won't be fights. They have opposing views on the world, after all, and Kaveh finds egoism to be disgusting, and that won't change, but that on its own isn't friendship-breaking. Kaveh needs to deal with how he copes with his own trauma. It affects every part of his life. He'll work himself to the bone, staying up late nights to please a client, when Alhaitham (I think) notes that Kaveh is renowned and talented enough as an architect to be able to assert his own vision more. Even after reading his mother's journal, where she wants him to rely on companions when he's feeling down, he probably wouldn't have taken Tighnari's dinner invitation if not for the Traveler, because he's still so self-conscious of never wanting to bring others down with his own feeling down, even if it would be beneficial to him (just like during his childhood, he never wanted to be an emotional burden on his mother, and that hurt him).

Like I guess I want to stress that his empathy for others isn't the problem but more like, he takes it and uses it to punish himself more because he thinks he deserves that. Finding better balance in that will probably lessen the more sensitive things that Alhaitham brings up that especially anger Kaveh.

Though I think generally he does actually accept Alhaitham as he is. Alhaitham was always blunt and didn't care about how other people thought of him even in Akademiya days, but the breaking point of their friendship had been working closely together and Alhaitham's blunt comments that just cut straight through to Kaveh's soul were the breaking point (though they argued frequently during the project itself), and Kaveh wasn't ready to accept such things, that his altruism stemmed from his inescapable guilt rather than pure idealistic views. The project probably would have still broken down because of their squabbling, but idk if their friendship would have ended over it. Because Kaveh considered Alhaitham his best friend (as he is called in Kaveh's character story) and those comments did seriously hurt him.

But Kaveh doesn't say that Alhaitham should change completely, but that he should "rein in some of the worst excesses of his personality". That's why I think Kaveh does accept Alhaitham as he is, but even if butting heads with others is inevitable, living in a society and being the social creatures that humans are, having more consideration for others is sort of an important aspect of such interactions. Except Alhaitham actively rejects such rules and norms, unfortunately.

[teacup-tai]

Tai, I'm supposed to be taking a lil break from socials right now, but I peeked at Tumblr just in time to see your weirdly rude pansmione ask and like...can I say I love that you're writing fpreg? Not enough of it out there imo! I'm a big mpreg lover so fpreg is just as nice to me.

Mpreg gets lots of hate, too, so I wouldn't be surprised if your anon took umbrage with that, too. But it's magic! MAGIC! Also: fiction. Idk how anyone's made it this far into fandom not understanding the concepts of magic or fiction but here we are...🤷‍♀️

Not to get graphic, but I can imagine all sorts of creative ways to make fpreg happen. Magical orgasms! Magical sex toys. Magical RITUALS. Lady peen. Lady parts saying hello and magic taking care of the rest. Etc. etc.

Also yeah hecka offensive to be like "why would you write...?" Cuz I feel like it. Cuz this fandom is for us and what brings us joy. And if it doesn't bring you joy it's not for you. Which is fine. But maybe mind your business and not rain on other people's parades? And "pointless"? There is nothing pointless about anyone's stories. There is so much to be gained from people sharing their creativity and perspectives, even if it doesn't speak to you personally.

Clearly I got heated on your behalf, Tai, oops. Mostly I came here to tell you how I'm personally stoked about your marriage law Pansmione. Like mega stoked. That sounds like exactly what my life needs. And I'm gonna need SOMEONE to please inform me once it's up so I can go devour it, please and thank you.

WLW 100% deserves to have all the fun, interesting, unique stories. Out there stories. Complicated stories. Difficult stories. Weird stories. Trope-filled stories. Subversive stories. Every story. Because WLW deserve that representation and variety and more wonderful stories to choose from. And we could all do more with supporting one another. Support creators. Support there being more stories of all sorts, so that everyone out there has a chance to find the right story for them. Spreading negativity does no good for anyone at all.

Love you, Tai! I, at least, am over here cheering for you!

Danni, your message felt like a big big hug. I believe that we would all benefit from some intense DON'T LIKE DON'T READ approach. Mainly, bc this is our hobby and we are entitled to write whatever we want. It's fiction. It's magic. We can curate our experience in fandom.

And we all deserve a positive, encouraging and warm place to rest our hearts and creativity.

Thanks so much, darling! Sharing your messa here in main bc everyone deserves to read your lovely reminder! Sending u loads of love!

[onewomancitadel]

That whole fucking thing of fucking with settings where the consent is clear because it's baked into the concept (fuck-or-die only happens because we know the characters really want it; it's the set-up and payoff) introducing more offensive concepts like 'dubcon' (if there is any space between 'yes' and 'no', you have now just muddied our ability to talk about rape and sexual assault clearly; either it's bad or it isn't, or you have now given ammunition to the rapist's defense) is so fucking annoyingly shortsighted. If you're too cowardly to commit and tag your fic 'rape' because your only conception of rape is physically violent and a stranger on the streets, then just be honest and think about what you're writing and why and how consent during sex actually works.

I also just hate this deconstructionist approach to narrative tropes. I get that critiquing the gender dynamics of established storytelling tropes is necessary, I do, and I get that there are some darker gender underpinnings, but when it comes to smushing characters together under a magical spell or scenarios where they just have to have sex, I think it's pretty clear like... what the intention of that trope is, and I think playing with it is fun (I definitely have a few in my head I want to eventually work on), but the inability to recognise what they service narratively, undercutting the entire point of them to even making them unromantic (ugh, I've read plenty of those) and then going even further and introducing bad, shortsighted sexual politics? I find this rather offensive. (This even applies to things like gameified soulmate tropes where I'm not even sure I'm reading a romantic story anymore lol).

I understand that the whole culture of 'dubcon' is well and truly accepted, and challenging it is worthless, but my criticism from it comes from the fact that I find it a) craven, b) offensive, c) further evidence of hypermoralising in fandom which ends up achieving nothing. If anybody wants to come at me for feminist reasons, know that I think this is moreso indicative of the way we talk about rape as opposed to being its own critical moral crisis (and fandom running around in circles to police itself) - I think difference of opinion can exist here if you've got good intentions - and if you separately feel there is a grey area between rape and sex, know that I don't really care. The case for this is frequently made by rapists. If it's an approach which says, well, better to overtag than undertag, I've been caught off-guard enough times with a fic where I'm like, what exactly is wrong here? And I otherwise have a sensible approach to consent, and it's made me pretty uncomfortable. In the opposite sense, I've read fics tagged 'dubcon' worth a much darker rating than that, which betrays... quite a lot.

Getting a bit much there, sorry. I just find this type of fandom politicking and overpolicing so tiresome, particularly because there are bigger issues and it's such demonstrable evidence of people not fundamentally giving a fuck and further to that, fucking with basic fucking narrative logic.