#Specific post

[fishmech]

One post that really annoys me is the one that's like "so many trans women play d&d and its clones why aren't there more tgirls on the big actual play media"

because that's like. such an example of grossly overestimating what should be happening based on who you personally know? Approximately 10% of the US population plays these sorts of games more than once a month and another 5% or so plays monthly or near monthly. That gives us a most generous estimate of 15% of the population who would be suitable to use as an ongoing player in any kind of podcast, video series, whatever.

And If we use about the most generous estimate of how many of us there are, it's like maybe 0.8% of the population is a trans woman and is willing to identify themselves as such to various manners of polling/surveys/etc. And honestly if you ain't willing to answer a survey you're definitely not going to be publicly on a podcast or anything.

If all of the tgirl population was routine d&d/d&d clone players (and of course very untrue lol) that would be a best case scenario that would be a bit over 5% of the size of the total population of people who play regularly. As like an absolute possible cap of participation.

In reality I don't believe there's any evidence that the amount of regular participants in d&d and clones among trans women is particularly different from the general population, not least because the kind of things that get in the way of participating in regular play tend to affect trans women more than the average person. Yknow, being busy, not being able to afford it, not being able to have a consistent availability schedule due to increased precariouaness from societal discrimination, all of that. Things that are also particularly a problem for a large scale entertainment property like a major podcast or video series before you count how much of the potential player base ain't gonna feel safe becoming a publicly known figure like that.

Like yeah yeah a generous estimate would be about 2 million to 2.75 million trans women in the country, sounds like a lot right. But the regular playerbase of d&d and clones is over 51 million. And that's a count of people specifically interested enough in the thing! You start trying to whittle down who would be potential person participating who is also a trans woman, and it's like maybe 300k, 400k.

Here's another factor: the proportion of the American population that makes at least a few dollars a year from online content is about 14%. Let's apply that to get a good estimate for who is likely to be doing any kind of even hobbyist with 9 bucks in tips for content online in a year: OK now we're down to like ~55,000 trans women who are regular d&d and clones players and are also putting stuff out online enough that they're picking up pennies from it - a suitable proxy for "willing and able to potentially participate". And that's kind of a top end for who might possibly participate in the kind of thing the post wanted to see! You could put all of those theoretical trans women in to the existing d&d and clones actual play/edited play media industrial complex evenly and that'd still probably work out to maybe getting one trans woman each on most of them! There's been a lot of attempts to make such things by a lot of people after all! There was even this decent history podcast I used to listen to that started doing actual plays to try to cover participating in the history subjects they were covering and it got so annoying that I stopped listening (they were not good at presenting a compelling actual play or editing it down to be compelling, ugh). And hey two nickels time cuz I had that happen again on another history podcast. Shit is rampant.

That's the nature of hobbies really. There is a lot more people not like you than you generally expect!

[zhoudadudugongjin]

Look I love unconditional devotion love stories as much as the next person, but there's really something so deliciously raw about conditional devotion.

I have served you and I have loved you for decades, but I will not give up my principles for you. You cut out part of my heart and took it with you down that path that you insist on walking, but you walk it alone. Even when the bleeding, gaping hole you left in my chest kills me, I will not follow you.

[gumy-shark]

changing the original. this post is about him now!!!

unauthorized fucking thing. blow him up NOW!!!

[eternalgirlscout]

i adore being confronted with the staggering breadth of what individual people can get obsessed with. there's nothing better than having That One Mutual with an advanced degree in ancient greek tragedy who writes minecraft youtube fanfiction to remind you that anyone can love anything

[goofalicousgooberface]

very big fan of when shows put wigs on actors and say ‘yeah. That’s him when he was younger fuck you’. No anti aging ai, no teen actor hired. Just. The same guy with a fuckass wig

[punkitt-is-here]

transgender women who have an irrational hatred of men you GOTTA get over that. Come on now

[bearloonz]

I think we as a society should bring back brotps. I think we should be weirder about characters being friends the same way people are weird about ships. Make those two characters who interacted once or twice besties. Make it difficult for them to get rid of each other even if they want to. Go nuts

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[frostplays]

CHAT THEY DISCOVERED A NEW COAT TYPE IN CATS

IT'S CALLED "SALMIAK" OR "SALTY LICORICE" AND IT LOOKS LIKE THIS

[wardensantoineandevka]

is that piece of media actually bad, or is it just not following the blueprint you projected onto it? is that work actually not good, or are you just demanding something from it that is absolutely antithetical to its themes, genre, tone, and narrative goal? is that story actually poorly written, or do you just dislike that it is not the specific things you wanted from it that it never set out to be, never was, and never is going to become? is it actually bad, or is it actually well-executed and you just dislike the story it chose to be because it isn't catering to your specific desires and expectations?

[sortingmyideas]

Male character: I'm not attracted to women.

Fandom: Oh, he's gay.

Female character: I'm not attracted to men.

Fandom: Oh, she's a lesbian.

Any character: I'm not attracted to anybody.

Fandom: Well, we don't know that they're ace/aro/aroace. It's open for interpretation. They're not canonically ace/aro/aroace unless they specifically say they are.

Hmmmm. I wonder why we're so frustrated in fandom spaces. I wonder if there's a reason.

[gumy-shark]

i will defend that fictional teenage girl with my life. i literally don’t even care what she did. you would’ve done it too if you were her she’s probably handling things better than you would in her shoes

[hyper-fixates]

THE LAST OF US — 01 x 03, “Long, Long Time”

[etherealspacejelly]

sometimes you just have to let yourself be a bit neurodivergent.

i hate going out, it gives me a lot of anxiety and sensory input that i dont like, and i am often forced to talk to people.

so i do this thing on more difficult days, or sometimes just for fun, where i "bring a fictional character with me". i walk and imagine Fictional Character walking next to me. they talk to me, reassure me, hype me up, whatever i need them to do.

today dean winchester came christmas shopping with me. he went over the list with me of stuff i needed to get, told me i was doing a good job every time i finished in a certain shop, reminded me to take a deep breath when i got a little overwhelmed.

and yea. its kinda silly. and i know its just me talking to myself in a different voice, but it Works! especially since all of my special interests/hyperfixations tend to be tv/movie related.

so do what you gotta do to Get Shit Done. stop holding yourself to neurotypical standards. if you need Fictional Character to tell you you're doing a good job, do it! if you need Favourite Singer to walk you to school, do it! yea it might feel silly but you're literally fighting against your own brain to get stuff done every single day. you can have a little self indulgent daydream, as a treat.

[eydilily]

(look at what i have to offer) — this is the spider's nest.