#You nailed these queer losers

[bougiebutchbitch]

canNOT believe how in order to Box That Bitch, kenjaku needed gojo to stand still for one slutty, slutty minute. So he just shows up wearing the cadaver of gojo's evil ex boyfriend (who gojo is in NO WAY over) and gojo is SO helplessly bi that he falls for this shit and freezes, pining for a whole-ass corpse man, for long enough to get taken out of commission for THE REST OF THE SERIES.

Truly a gay man I do not respect. Queer stupidity at its FINEST. I'm obsessed.

[prettynice8]

Kinkmas Day 11: Body marking

Pairing: Yuta Okkotsu x male reader

This guy

Warnings: Kissing, no actual sexy times, in public kind of, very queer reader if yk yk I can say that, you can't but I can, body marking DUH

Word count: 1447

It was a normal day at school, teachers talked about random shit, well teacher, napping in class, training, that one weird emo guy with the chef ass looking outfit staring at you, just girly things.

Yeah, that's weird, you always see that kid staring at you, and it's not like some loser staring at you, it's Yuta Okkotsu, the it girl of this school. Some say he'll surpass Gojo, a special grade in only second year, and you two have only talked a handful of times. So why the fuck would he care about you.

Now some may say that he's looking at something else, but this happens too often to be just that. To be fair, he isn't staring at you with mal intent, or like he's staring into your very soul, just quick little glances, but like a lot.

You think it's a little weird but never give it more thought than that, well that's actually not true at all. You wonder about it quite often actually. Like why is this hot, emo, country crippling guy staring at you so much.

He's also always around when you're training with students, which is rare because you're too delicate to get your hands dirty, but like he's rarely if ever around when other kids are practicing.

Speaking of which, you are sitting down in the grass, watching the first years battle it out with Maki and Panda when, speaking of the devil, Yuta finally makes his move and sits by you.

"Hi," he greeted, a light smile on his lips.

"Hello," You greeted him, smiling back at him as well. It's silent for a while after that, you not really knowing how to talk to someone on such a high pedestal such as him, and he's socially awkward. The silence is finally broken when he gains the courage to speak.

"So, what do you think of the fight?" He asked, clearly uncomfortable.

"I don't really care, I'm only here because Nobara and I were supposed to get coffee after her training." You replied.

"Why aren't you out there?" He asked yet another question, wanting the conversation to keep on going.

"And ruin my hair. I would also have to change my clothes, then change them back, and fight," You droned on, "I mean sure Megumi and Yuji are kinda hot, that might be a good enough reason but not today." You finished flatly.

Yuta was shocked when you said those two were hot, well not that much. He kind of expected you were gay by the way you walked, talked, did everything. Good for him, now he knows for sure.

"And then I could chip a nail which is just super incon-"

"Wait, you're gay?" He cut you off, you look at him like he's the dumbest person on earth, which he kind of is right now.

"DUH!" You shout, all the people training stop, Megumi mid punch from Panda's stomach, at your sudden outburst.

"What was that for?!" Nobara shouted back,

"Well, you see-" you cut him off now, "He asked if I was gay." You said nonchalantly.

Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, Panda, and Maki all give Yuta the same look you did, then they erupt into laughter.

"He might as well have a light up rainbow sign." Yuji said in between bursts of laughter.

"Did you really not know?" Megumi asked, even sneaking in a chuckle or two.

"I-I-I don't know." He stuttered, a little embarrassed having everyone laugh at him. You put your hand on his shoulder, so you don't talk over onto the ground, instantly causing blush to form on his cheeks.

"It's ok Yuta, not all of us can pick up on such clues, unless those clues are ramming into you like a fire truck." Nobara said, causing everyone to laugh more. Yuta starts to get very nervous and almost gets up and walks away, until he sees you genuinely smiling at him.

"Don't worry about it, the important thing is that I'm open for business for you." You stated, the laughter carrying on into your comment, Yuji and Nobara are actually lying on the ground from hilarity. "But be quick, who knows how long it is before I settle with those two." gesturing over to Yuji and Megumi.

Yuji blows a kiss at you, while Megumi looks away, blush creeping onto his face. It's at this point when Yuta starts to laugh too, shocking everyone, but the infectiousness of his laughter bleeds onto everyone else, causing another outburst.

After a while of pointless conversation that doesn't progress the plot, you and Nobara finally go to get coffee. After you two get your drinks and try each other out, you both find a seat and begin to talk.

"That Yuta guy definitely likes you." She stated, like it's some casual thing that everyone knows.

"No, he doesn't, today was like the first day he's actually come to me." You spoke. "Though he does look at me an awful lot."

"You think." She stated bluntly. "Do you like him?"

"I mean I don't know about dating him, but I would totally suck his dick." You answered, you both shared a good laugh from your reply too.

You both make your way to the dorms, saying your goodbyes and exiting into your own respective rooms. It was on your way when you saw Yuta.

"Hiiii!" You hollered, waving your hand at him, much more comfortable now with him. He waves back,

"Hi," he said, walking up to you. You two stop in the middle of the hallway.

"Where have you been?" You asked.

"In my dorm, I came out to see if I could get in a good training session." He answered, "Wanna join?"

"Absolutely not." You stated bluntly.

"Well, it was worth a try." He said, looking a little dejected that you turned him down so quickly, but it wasn't like a date or anything and he half expected you to say no, and then an idea pops into his head.

"Would you like to do something else?" He asked, smiling that sweet innocent smile.

"What were you thinking?" You asked back. He answers by pulling you into a tight broom closet, locking the door behind him, and then pushing you into the wall and kissing you. This isn't exactly what masterminds are made of but not a terrible idea.

You were more surprised about the insane speed in which he did this and not about the kiss itself, which you kindly return when he backs away.

His hands go for your ass, squeezing and groping it. Your hands go to his hair, it feels soft yet also oily.

"Are you sure this is ok?" he asked, not wanting to do something you're not comfortable with, such a bare minimum gentleman. You answer by pulling him back into the kiss, opening your mouth to grant his tongue access, which he gladly accepts.

Your tongues dance together in a sweet embrace, his then seemingly exploring your entire mouth. Your body gets goosebumps from the exchange, your pants also becoming tighter.

He takes parts off from yours, only to place it on your neck. He kisses it, finding your sensitive parts and then gently biting into them, causing you to shriek.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Well, please continue." You replied.

Continue he does, fully biting into your neck and then licking the parts he bit. His teeth attacked every square inch of it, biting, kissing, and licking the whole thing.

Your neck becomes littered with hickeys, almost the entire thing red and indented with bite marks, not that you're complaining. You're surprised with how well he's doing, no way he's had experience with his socially awkward ass, he truly is a prodigy.

He shows his genius more when he lifts up your shirt to suck on your nipples, licking over the right one and biting it, while fondling the left one with his hand. The sensations make you even harder, apparently having the same effect on him, as you can feel his hard on through his pants. Your hands tighten in his hair as he starts to bite more aggressively on your left nipple, pulling at the other one.

He goes from your nipples to the rest of your chest. biting and licking at it, blush covering your face from the act. You're so hard that you feel like you could cum right then and there... until this mother fucker stops.

He whispers in your ear, 'If you want more, follow me into my dorm." He then leaves the closet in all of your disheveled glory.

Now you know why he's been staring at you.

THE END

[sky-the-trans-guy00]

Her PR Guy-Chapter 1

Disclaimer 

I wrote this story with a trans male insert because I, myself, am a trans dude, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of content in this fandom for trans men. Without further ado, this is my debut story. 

Y/N’s POV 

I met Kristie while working in Gotham’s Public Relations Department. I was a recent college graduate with a passion for sports and storytelling, yet I had little to no idea what type of world I was stepping into. My job was to run the social media accounts and help craft stories that would captivate fans and media members alike. What I didn’t realize at the time, is that my story would be worth telling someday, too.  

*** 

It was my first media day working for Gotham, and I was totally freaking out. I mean, this was my dream, one that I had fought tooth and nail for. I had never dared to imagine this possibility, but here I was, and I felt woefully unprepared.  

Get it together (Y/N)! You worked so hard to get here, and we got this. Yael believes in you, and you can conquer anything you set your mind to. You wanted so badly to have a fresh start, so take advantage of it! 

I went over to the players and introduced myself, "Hey everyone, my name's (Y/N), my pronouns are he/him, and I'm your new PR guy." A lot of the players seemed stunned, probably because I'm a guy working for an NWSL team, so I decided to clear some things up. “I’m also a proud trans man who knows that the future is female, especially in sports. I’ll be mainly working with the photographers and videographers to get content for our socials, but I’m here if you need anything.” 

Kristie’s POV

“Did anyone else find him super attractive, or is it just me?” Kristie said.  

“He’s definitely a cutie,” Ali said and Lynn nodded in agreement. 

“He could be just what the doctor ordered, with your recent breakup and everything,” added Midge.   

“He’s easy on the eyes, that’s for sure,” Kristie responded while looking at you as you walked away from the team, ”Let’s just hope he isn’t a fuckboy.” 

*** 

Y/N’s POV 

It’s been over a month since I introduced myself to the players, and I can’t get Kristie Mewis out of my head. She’s been flirting with me since we met, but I can barely function in her presence, not to mention I literally work for the team. Before I can get too in my head about it, I get a call from my buddy Alex.  

 “Hey (Y/N)! How’s the new job going?”  

 “It’s going well,” I replied, “I think I have a crush on one of the players, though…”  

 “I fail to see the problem, bro,” said Alex.   

 “You are a hot, eligible bachelor, and any girl would be lucky to have you. You even told me that two of the players are married, so workplace dating is obviously not a problem.” 

 “Yeah, but I’m not trying to deal with another Karen incident!” I exclaimed.  

 Karen was a close friend of mine in college who really fucked me over. I managed her campaign for Student Body President, and when she found out I had a crush on her, she flipped out and cut me off, but only after I helped her win the election. She ignored me for weeks following her win, and when we finally spoke about what had happened, she told me she thought it was best that we ‘keep it professional.’ To add insult to injury, all of our mutual friends decided I wasn’t worth sticking around for. I tried to take the “high road” and didn’t tell anyone my side of things until it was too late and they had already taken her side.  

 “How long are you going to let Karen control your life? You can’t keep giving other people your power, bro.”  

I knew that he wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t ready to let go of the past.  

 “Yeah, but this girl is so out of my league it’s unbelievable. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure she has a girlfriend!” 

 “You sure about that (Y/N)?” 

“Not entirely, but why would she date a loser like me when she has her pick of almost every queer athlete?” 

 Much to my chagrin, I was not athletic by any means, which was definitely an insecurity of mine. Deep down, I still felt like the sad, closeted, insecure kid with no friends that I was in High School, despite all of my work in therapy.  

“You may not be athletic, but you’re super kind and loyal as fuck. Trust me when I say that what you think you may lack in physical attractiveness pales in comparison to the type of person you are. You’re full of green flags— except for your inability to take a good selfie, which most people find endearing. Face it (Y/N), the only thing that’s standing in your way is you. You control your own destiny, and you my friend are a catch; remember that.” Said Alex

“Thanks for hyping me up, my guy. I’m going to talk to my therapist about this.” I said.

“As you should, (Y/N)! I’m here for you if you need anything, and I’m only one call away. You got this homie.”

I ended the call and reflected upon Alex’s advice. 

Everything you want is in reach and ripe for the taking! You got this (Y/N), I thought to myself. 

[sunnwila]

Stan Marsh Headcanons (Highschool AU/Aged Up):

NOT nsfw. Strictly sfw. Just some Headcanons about stanley and his character

- lost his hat in the 9th grade and cried to Kyle about it

-Randy forced him to join the football team when he got to high school, was benched his first year which led to him to care about literally nothing but getting good the entire year and summer leading up to the next season

-Kyle says kys when he’s mad, Stan says “ok”

-has stayed with Wendy through high school, feels like he’s not good enough but Wendy tells him to stop being stupid

-listens to all kinds of music, biggest music snob in the WORLD. Makes sure you know he listens to everything

-quiet and scares people with how quiet he is, but when he finally talks it’s always something funny and has everyone laughing

-likes to party to take his mind off of his family

-whenever his parents start fighting he goes into Shelly’s room, she’ll be doing homework and half heartedly tells him “get out turd” but doesn’t get mad when he stays, at least until the yelling is done

-pale as shit. Can’t tan for anything, literally gets burnt, peels, stays pale. It’s an endless cycle

-will sometimes tag along for dinner at the Broflovskis with Kenny

-drank for the first time his freshman year, had a pact with Kyle in middle school that they wouldn’t drink so they wouldn’t become losers. Kyle didn’t talk to him for a week when he found out Stan broke it

-Kyle “I believe in you, bro” Broflovski 🤝 Stanley “Glad one of us does” Marsh

-dark ass hair, kept it pretty long through middle school and the beginning of high school. LOVED when Kenny cut Kyle’s hair and had to ask Kenny to cut his hair the same way a couple days later when Kyle wasn’t around (Ken smirked and said something like “For sure man”)

-plays electric guitar, REFUSES to use a pick, likes when his fingers get all bloody. Wendy does not. (Kyle does, but he won’t tell)

-Kyle mentioned once he liked blondes and a couple weeks later Stan bought the cheapest box bleach at J-Mart and Kyle helped him dye his hair (Stanley I know what you are)

-bruised knuckles all the time because he kept putting holes in his walls (he is a stereotype) before Kyle showed him his punching bag

-painted his nails when he was deep in his emo phase his sophomore year (Eric ripped on him and told him it was queer) still paints them black for Halloween

-speaking of, Halloween is his favorite holiday, it reminds him of when the gang were kids and they didn’t have as much to worry about. Misses trick or treating and dressing up

-horror movie enthusiast, especially loves 80s slashers

-constantly chews gum

-has an oral fixation, hence the gym chewing

-the only member of the group yet to kick Eric’s ass over something he said

-wanted to be scene for a while, too scared to do it

-had really greasy hair before Wendy told him what dry shampoo was, now he rips on Eric for having greasy hair

-strangely good with Ike, he grew up helping Kyle watch him (he’s still not sure why he trusted him around a child) and taught Ike to play guitar

-likes parties, hates hosting them because of his house and family dynamic, so he and Kenny usually host bon fires in the woods

-strangely a jock stereotype, bad grades (Kyle yells at him) and kinda stupid but in a puppy dog way

-awkward

-like really fucking awkward

-Wendy’s always saying she loves her boyfriend and constantly needs to touch him, he blushes and tries to hide his smile

-wide receiver, got super buff in his junior year “for the aesthetic” but also for football

-will rot in his bed for days watching movies before his friends have to drag him out and force him to go to school

-in middle school Sheila convinced his mom that she could give Stan a haircut herself and save money because that’s what she does with Kyle. Stan ended up with the worst bowl cut anyone in South Park had seen (the guys ALL ripped on him and he NEVER took off his hat)

-rants to sparky when he doesn’t feel like bothering his friends

-has acne, mostly because he’s gross and doesn’t wash his face (“dude, for the love of god please wash it” - kyle) Eric rips on him but Stan spits it back because Eric’s acne is BAD

-hopeless romantic

BONUS: whenever someone makes fun of Stan being emo to Shelly, she tells them to fuck off and calls them a turd

[dykevanny]

TRANS GREG AND NESSA IM GONNA CRY OVER THEM. xe has totally bought every article physically possible in the mens section. AUGH.

and greg in skirts is everything…. ik it can be a lot harder to like. experiment (safely, at least) w ur gender presentation if everyone thinks ur a guy n u were raised a guy. cause ppl are still weird about guys in skirts! but ness wouldnt be weird abt it and xe knows that Look and even tho greg thinks shes being discreet (‘oh yeah i just want to grow my hair out cause i havent been able to before’ ‘oh no cassie just wanted to paint my nails, cant say no to her or else shell pull out her puppy eyes’ ‘cassie wanted to practice applying makeup to other ppl and i was her training dummy cause i didnt care’) ness knows. dudes like ive been there. but also she has no idea how to tell the twelve year old sib she adopted that its okay without freaking gregory out.

IM JUST THINKING OUT LOUD. i love them both sososo much.

I WAS ABOUT TO SEND THIS ASK BUT THEN I HAD A THOUGHT. DOES CASSIE KNOW,,,,,, shed totally let gregory borrow her skirts and accessories and shed do their makeup and nails for them and give all the tips and tricks for stuff they might not have been taught AND SHED BE SUCH A GOOD SUPPORTIVE FRIEND

(also no worries abt taking a while to respond! /gen)

I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. UESSSSS YOU GET IT YESSSS YESSSSS…..it takes greg a while to. Open up abt it but ness being there as a positive role model openly genderfucked def helped him out so very much.. also freddy’s support.<3 he may not be trans but he’s also openly queer and does his best to make sure greg feels like he can be open about everything with him. The Father okay,,

and YES CASSIE KNOWS<3 in theoretical everything okay everything niceys au where cass and rox get out and find 3stars cassie (openly nonbinary for all the time they’ve been friends) is the first one greg asks about things. She is ofc so so supportive. Plus she has a new victim for playing dressup with<33 they are having a sleepover and roxy is there (even though she holds a grudge she’s never gonna pass up dressup.plus cassie said to be nice.plus she’s also trans cause i say so(which is why the foxy mysteriously disappeared ha ha….)) and i think cassie would def show greg how to dress fashionably. They would probably still dress like a bit of a loser though<3 i care them so much did you knowww

And YES🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥GREG SKIRT IS REAL.

[justanotherhh]

ramble: thing is, im actually not sold on huskerdust as a romantic couple atm (in future? who knows) but i do like whatever foundations loser baby set up for their general dynamic as a whole and i can work from that with whatever direction the canon chooses to go in, which is proooobably romantic, considering the cues (but again, who knows)

this as a microcosm of general things that at times have me go "hmmm" about the first season, which most of the time (not always, but mostly) comes down to pacing. husk isn't a character with much focus in s1. his dynamic with angel, while not not set-up could be seen as a "yeah, we'll put those two together," rather than feeling totally organic. most of husk's and angel's dynamics before loser baby have been about husk not wanting angel in his space and then not much (anything?) between ep4 and ep8 that wasn't at least partly group-based

i could pick up on other non-huskerdust related things that came out of the blue and went quite quickly, especially in the latter half of the season, where the jump from "six months" to "one month" to "now" felt kind of jarring

but in the end 8 episodes is indicative of general show culture these days where it seems everyone has to fight tooth and nail to even get that much per season, when really hazbin hotel s1 wanted at least 12 episodes in order to have more time to breathe and set up character dynamics not at breakneck speed, and heck, maybe 8 was the original goal. i doubt it though, hiiighly doubt it

all this to say i have a lot of grace for wherever the show does take things if it's trying to push so much into whatever time it's been offered with the ever-hanging (but perhaps slightly less-so post-strikes?) uncertainty of cancellation after 2 seasons. the conditions to create a story and then get that story out there... suck. and it's harder for 8 episodes (or even 12) to hide flaws than a 22 episode season of yore (with its own issues as construct but still... easier to disguise blemishes and take their time)

on the flipside helluva boss seems content to just keep trucking at whatever speed it's on, doing pretty much what it wants to do, but without any Big backing a la amazon and with everyone involved doing 100 other projects at the same time. so... sometimes it does things well, sometimes less-well, but overall just... vibing. 25ish min episode at a time every 3-5 months. granted i haven't experienced the personal pain of that yet, having started it in january, but on it goes and i'll be suffering soon enough

for very different reasons im pretty forgiving of pacing-related stuff that might (has and probably will again) come up in either show. more than anything they've got very visible constraints, so im happy to fill in the blanks with fandom -- for example if huskerdust is written as romantic by the end without developing properly, ive seen ample cool ideas and fanarts that give it more texture and breadth and/or i'll simply look at other things with the characters that aren't shipping them together -- because mainly they're just very fun shows with a bunch of messy queer characters in them, with some great singing and voice acting. the universe of these stories is so open and welcoming to play in, im just in it for a good time

also, in the end, no they're not that deep (except for when they want to be), but they're also a still-rare example of queer genre tv for adults that isn't that deep, but still incorporates relevant queer narrative themes in fun, moving, often complex ways, especially genre tv where lead characters tend to be queer until proven otherwise and this queerness in and of itself is well-written and nuanced. like yeah, i am in it for plots that hopefully stick the landing in the end, but if they don't they were still a very fun, inviting time that had me as a target audience and this a rare privilege to have with a bit of fun fiction

what am i saying in the end? loser baby is a banger, thank you for the song and all the other songs. i think angel dust and fizzarolli should hang and make out and talk about terrible bosses sometime, but the likelihood of these shows having a crossover with all the weird copyright stuff around these days is probably minimal. it's fine. (argh)

(im saying this post also isn't that deep)

[nami-lvr]

Correct OP: Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

Ft: Shanks, Law, Ace, Sabo, Marco, Smoker, and princess Vivi

A/N: I love everyone on this list like for real come kiss me Vivi 🙁🙁 SHANKS TOO. HE IS SO FINE. SO IS ACE. LIKE GYYYYYAT!! Next part is Enel, Katakuri, Big Mom, Kidd, Arlong, and Yamato (last part)

Shanks

Loud ass snoring

Does not care

Aaabsolutley pulls bitches

Marines or not marines

Paints his nails the brightest most noticeable colors

Bright yellow

Hot pink

Neon green

Absolutely outstanding father

10/10 dad

The one you call to get drunk or high or cross faded with

Would deal his kids weed to make sure they stay safe

Would also give alcohol recommendations

all when they’re legally allowed ofc

Law

Definitely

A lil fruitcake

Sorry to all Law simps but he is AroAce and atp it’s cannon

Would not be into romance at all

Ever

He would definitely read gay dirty books though

“I WAS JUST CURIOUS-“

Boooo lame excuse

Like

Ok gay ass 🥸

Would dress like a teen boy trying to be cool

Would be an outstanding father if he ever had kids

Would be so into Star Trek not even joking

Speaking Klingon and allat

Stoner

WEED SMOKER

Is a Math/Science kinda smart guy

Ace

I do not give a single shit what this GIF looks like

Ace has a hooked nose

And crooked teeth

And heterochromia

One green eye one brown eye type shit

Is color blind

The green and red kind

Can not drive

Do not let him behind the wheel

Please

Got that greasy hair

That unwashed stench

Overgrown armpit hair

Has a forest under there

A REALLY GOOD LOOKING HAPPY TRAIL ☹️☹️

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GOOD HIS HAPPY TRAIL LOOKS I SWEAR TO YOU

Sabo

This motherfucker is inSANE

Bro needs to go back to the mental health institution

Has a gold tooth

Has cologne on always

And it smells so good

Doesn’t brush his hair

But its fine bc he really pulls off the messy look

Tried to grow a beard and it did not look good

Is very organized

Is insecure about his scars

(Secretly) looks at guys

Not so secretly looks at girls

Is definitely bisexual

TRANSGENDER

Choked on the devil fruit when he ate it

Messy eater

CROOKED NOSE

It’s basically facts that the ASL brothers have crooked noses

Except for Ace with his hooked nose

Can speak Spanish but not Portuguese

Loser can’t speak the language he grew up around 💀💀

Marco

Just GET A DIFFERENT BARBER GYAT DAMN 😭😭

At least get a fade

Has male pattern baldness

Knows his hair is bad (doesn’t care)

Has cavities

Doesn’t floss

Does not wear deodorant

would definitely dress grungy

And or punk

And have a mohawk sometimes ;p

And think he’s the shit

When he needs to fix that GODDAMN HAIR

He would be gay

Oh my god how gay he would be

Has SEX

This guy FUCKS

Idk how but I feel like he pulls some major bitches

Smoker

TBH I would fuck him and I’m literally asexual

So yk this dude is getting it on

Has tried to smoke 20 cigars at once

Succeeded somehow

Type of guy to say “I bet five dollars that___” and always lose

But does it anyways

GOD at rock paper scissors

You may win the first time you play him, but that’s because he’s watching your tactics

Sneaky little bastard

Straight and Cis but fully supports the LGBTQIA+

“They don’t bother me, and even if a queer person did bother me, it would only be that specific one. Not all of them.”

It makes no sense how people get bullied for things they can’t control

Very stand up kinda guy

Beats up bullies type of fella

Princess Vivi

She is so fine istg

She would for sure pull

Would have an unbelievably dark past by age 30

God of never have I ever

Would just own everyone in it

The coolest backstory

Paints her nails to match her hair

Looks really good in modest dresses

Uh

She’s Hispanic

Not sorry

For real she is

I think she would really like cats

Keeps in contact with the strawhats

Buys them things and all that

Gives them supply crates like food and fresh ingredients

Really likes working with kids

Would be an amazing and patient teacher

Would have a really good singing voice

Looks absolutely amazing in white

[ieroween1031]

Pass the happy! When you receive this, list 5 things that make you happy and send this to 10 of the last people in your notifications ✨

Thank you!

Five things that make me happy…

1. Stereotypical emo kid answer, but 100% music. Could not live without it, especially live music. I’ve been to more concerts in the last five years than most people have in their lives and I’ll never get sick of it. Plus, I have the best concert squad ever (my brother and sister because we’re losers that actually enjoy spending time with each other)!

2. Reading and writing. Whether it’s books or fanfiction, I am happiest when I’m curled up with my laptop, balls-deep in a great story, be it mine or someone else’s.

3. Nail polish. It sounds superficial, but one of my few comfort zones is at my desk with 162 bottles of nail polish, a mess of swatch sticks and a mountain of used cotton balls around me. They’re never perfect, but I love every design I make.

4. Enamel pins. I’m a pin collector and the rush I get when I find a new pin from one of my favorite bands or movies, especially if it’s not a popular movie, is a high I love to chase. My collection is tiny compared to others’, but I love every single one of them and seeing the blank space on my pin board get smaller and smaller every week is the most fulfilling feeling.

5. BL series (we all knew this was coming). I’ve only been watching these shows for maybe six or seven months but they’ve completely taken over my life. There’s not enough queer media in the US, and I’m living for the LGBT support from these shows.

+1. In addition to the BL shows I’ve become addicted to, another thing that makes me happy is all the amazing people I’ve met because of them. There are so many fantastic people I’ve met on this website not to mention my new besties in the group chat. I’m not kidding when I say that getting to scream about our favorite shows and actors with these guys and dolls is the highlight of my day. I love each and every one of them so much already and they are literally making every day brighter!

🥰

[obscenity]

⛧ hello

was looking at your blog. realized you like rare americans. i am not the kind of person to listen to entire bands but i would like to bring up brittle bones nicky because i have been obsessed with that song for so long pfff. what are your thoughts on it?

additionally, since i suppose my topic is music now and i could not think of any other questions yet (no thoughts head empty ...) what genres do you like?

and last one, since i realized; how did you figure out your gender? i'm actually bigender w both binary genders as well, pfff. we rlly are just defying gender and saying 'both', good for us :3c (but queer people have the tendency to forget multigender individuals sometimes.... like pls remember we exist)

rare americans is sooo good and my favorite thing about them is that they are actually canadian despite their name. brittle bones nicky is soo good too especially the follow up to it. theyre just one of those bands that i cant nail down a specific fav song for because all of them are so good.

i like every genre i will listen to anything and everything i am not one of those losers thats like "i like everything 🥰 Oh yeah except metal rap and country" Like you dont like everything then -_- ill just link my spotify 4 funsies

bigender was so very simple 4 me because i was like Im bisexual. and you know what else works? Bigender. ihave a lot of bigender bisexual mutuals and we are the coolest people on earth

[merry-melody]

from ‘imagining the worst: stephen king and the representation of women’

It, A Sexual Fantasy by Karen Thoens

Smells of dirt and wet and long-gone vegetables would merge into one unmistakable ineluctable smell, the smell of the monster, the apotheosis of all monsters. It was the smell of something for which he had no name... . A creature which would eat anything but which was especially hungry for boymeat. Stephen King It (7)

It, Stephen King’s epic gender fantasy, commemorates the androcentric world order of the 1950s. Nostalgia, a wistful yearning for past glory, validates the pursuit of male mastery over a menacing female sexuality. Rooted in half forgotten memories of childhood conquests, It exploits male longing for lost hierarchical power structures, a hunger for the authority of master narratives.

Interwoven within the narrative, the myth of female ascendance is symbolically supported by twenty-seven year cycles of bloody violence, cycles that correlate with female menstrual patterns. In 1958, the novel’s heroes, social outcasts united in a ritual male bonding ceremony, unearth the evil that spawns the violence. Their childhood adventures remain unnoticed, forgotten even by themselves, until the cycle of terror recurs.

In the summer of 1958, during the last reign of It, seven children attacked and wounded the monster. Brought together by their status as “Losers” and as victims of the bullying tyranny of Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, and Victor Criss, each of them was marked in a physical, identifiable sense as an outsider in the social hierarchy of the 1950s. Bill Denbrough, unofficial leader of the group and brother of the first victim, was marked by his stutter; Ben Hanscom, by his obesity; Eddie Kaspbrak, by his asthma and his hovering mother; Richie Tozier, by the glasses he wore and his “trashmouth” (318); Mike Hanlon, by his race; Stan Uris, physically marked as a fastidious bird watcher, less obviously marked but clearly recognized in the closed world of Derry as Jewish; and Beverly Marsh, by the marker indicating the greatest difference, being female. Intentionally united by a power beyond their comprehension, they heroically battled the monster and vowed to return if It resurfaced. In 1984, the terror returns.

Hanlon, who had in the interim become the town librarian, compiled a history of Derry’s violent anomalies. It, the Loser’s name for the monster, awakened and stalked Derry every twenty-seven years, give or take a year; its reign marked by gory murders. The victims, usually children, were frequently bloodied and mutilated. In 1958, the first victim was six-year-old George Denbrough, whose arm was ripped from his body. In 1984, it was Adrian Mellon, a gay man, beaten and thrown off a bridge by the current generation of Derry bullies. It was waiting under the bridge to feast on him.

This change in victims, from a young, innocent child to a gay man, is a signifier of social change, indicating deterioration in a place already inhabited by evil. Mellon, like his boyfriend Hagarty, is marked and judged by voices carefully distanced from the author. Presented in opposition to violent homophobic voices, reasonable statements of male heterosexist privilege attain a central position. The graffiti in Bassey Park, “STICK NAILS IN EYES OF ALL FAGOTS (FOR GOD)!” and the violence of the queer bashers toward Mellon locate the statements of the investigating officers centrally, marginalizing the victim’s voice (29). To Officer Gardener, a fair, decent man, Hagarty is a subspecies: “This man—if you want to call him a man—was wearing lipstick and satin pants so tight you could almost read the wrinkles in his cock” (17). Pronouncing social judgment on Hagarty and his dead companion, Adrian Mellon, Gardner’ concludes that, “he was, after all, just a queer” (17).

The positioning in the narrative of the 1985 murder of Adrian Mellon immediately after that of little Georgie Denbrough serves to graphically illustrate social change read as deterioration. References to AIDS’ and to Mellon as a “little queer,” “fruit,” “a fucking faggot,” a “bum puncher,” position sexuality as defined in contemporary terms in opposition to nostalgic versions of clearly defined sex roles. Linking male homosexuality with being female, and by oppositional definition less than male, Hagarty and Mellon are belittled for their resemblance to females: “Garton saw the two of them, Mellon and Hagarty, mincing along with their arms about each other’s waists and giggling like a couple of girls. At first he actually thought they were a couple of girls” (21). The subtext of It links male homosexuality to female sexuality in a hierarchical structure privileging the heterosexual male.

In 1958, there was no recognizable gay community in Derry; the Falcon, a gay bar, opened in 1973. In 1977, the clientele shifted to gay men, a fact that the owner, Elmer Cutrie, failed to notice until 1981. As did the Black Spot, the Negro nightclub that burned down during the reign of It in 1930, the existence of the Falcon marked a change in the social order in Derry, a reflection of a change in America, a change that was also, perhaps, not noticed at first. In the world of It, change is frightening. Resistance to a confusing, demanding present is evidenced by a glorification of a simpler past.

In It, the past is not irretrievable. As Eddie Kaspbrak travels north toward Derry in 1985, he remembers the summer of 1958: “Not going north. Because it’s not a train; it’s a time machine. Not north; back. Back in time” (102). According to Stephen King, It represents an attempt to “reenter the world of childhood” (Magistrale, 5). He describes the return to childhood by the adult as the completion of a wheel. Intended as journey backward in time, according to King, this quest has the power to heal: “The idea is to go back and confront your childhood, in a sense relive it if you can, so that you can be whole” (Winter, 185). King proposes recapturing a “mythic power” that connects childhood to adult imagination (Magistrale, 5). This mythic power derives from the strategies used by Stephen King as a nostalgic writer.

In Nostalgia and Sexual Difference, Janice Doane and Devon Hodges examine nostalgia as a “rhetorical practice” (3), which they define as “a retreat to the past in the face of what a number of writers—most of them male— perceive to be the degeneracy of American culture brought about by the rise of feminist authority” (xiii). Nostalgic writers describe reality as a “system of oppositions that is at the same time a system of dominance and subordination” (8). These oppositions are hierarchical by nature: “[O]ne term is degraded, the other is exalted” (9). Past and present become oppositions in which past is privileged. In the male/female opposition, male is the privileged term.’

“Nostalgic writers are entrapped by the illusion that their strategy of opposition creates: their mythic pasts become real” (9).

Analyzing modern male texts, Ellen Friedman notes a yearning for the influence of the master narratives evidenced in “the profoundly nostalgic conviction that the past has explanatory or redemptive powers” (241). She proposes that this notion is revealed in “the futile desire to stop time or to understand, recoup or recreate the past, summoning it into the present” (241).

Nostalgia forms the subtext of It, in which the past wields power over the present, merging inseparably with it at some points. The overwhelming celebration of the past—its music, lost youth and innocence—combines with the fear of a monster that lurks in the past, a monster that has not been vanquished, a female monster. It resists the forces that have propelled society into the present, seeking out the glory days of the past, hoping to reestablish the lost paternal order. King uses Bruce Springstein’s lyrics to suggest a connection between lost youth and women, a significant theme of It. “Glory days . . . gone in the wink of a young girl’s eye” (63). For Stephen King, change is unpredictable, uncomfortable, undesirable. “Our lesson for today, boys and girls, is the more things change, the more things change. Whoever said the more things change the more things stay the same was obviously suffering severe mental retardation” (1003). The Losers travel back in time to their own childhoods, but, as adults,

they all remain childless, symbolically castrated. It is not about childhood, it is about longing for the past, going back and finding that it is still inhabited by the same demons. In It, Stephen King’s focus is clearly “frozen in the oedipal backward glance” (Friedman, 241). Stephen King’s glance is revisionary; however, his authorial power allows him mastery over the bullies of his youth and over the ravages of time.

In “Creative Writers and Daydreaming,” Freud describes fantasies as wish-fulfilling day dreams that are ambitious, erotic, or a combination of both. “A strong experience in the present awakens in the creative writer a memory of an earlier experience (usually belonging to his childhood) from which there now proceeds a wish which finds its fulfillment in the creative work” (Freud, 655).

For King, It satisfies both ambitious and erotic fantasies. Bill, the horror fiction writer, goes back in time to champion King’s childhood memories, rescuing “the Losers” from identification as intimidated victims and outcasts to those who dared to challenge evil incarnate. King re-creates the past and summons it into the present.’ Significantly, Bill, an obvious substitute for the author, relives his youthful triumph only to surpass it, potent wish fulfillment for a middle aged author who must himself be experiencing the effects of time and age.

Within the nostalgic framework of It, mothers play a significant role. In “Women, Danger, and Death: The Perversion of the Female Principle in Stephen King’s Fiction,” Gail Burns and Melinda Kanner note that “Female reproductive potential, sexuality and death are forged by King in a manner that invariably locks his female characters into particular sexually defined roles’ (160). Observing that King links female sexuality with death rather than life, Burns and Kanner conclude, “Women who do manage to give birth generally fail their children in the most fundamental ways” (161). This maternal failure is evident in It; the members of the Losers’ Club are losers in many cases because of their mothers. Even the relatively benign mothers in It function as limiting and controlling agents in relation to their male children.

Mothers and Monsters

When six-year-old Georgie Denbrough went out to play in the rain with the newspaper boat his brother Bill had helped him make, the terror began again. Something lurking in the sewer lured Georgie over, grabbed him and ripped off his arm. While little Georgie was being murdered, his mother was inside, playing Fiir Elise on the piano. The piano playing, significant due to the frequency of references to it, is linked forever in Bill’s memory to his brother’s death. Their mother, a former Juilliard piano student, detested rock and roll: “She didn’t merely dislike it; she abominated it” (9). Rock and roll signifies the 1950s era to King in a deeply nostalgic way; it is significant that Bill’s mother along with several other of the Losers’ mothers opposes it. Restrictions placed upon rock and roll music exemplify the limits imposed upon the boys by their mothers. Bill’s mother is symbolically linked with rigid, formal classical music. Her piano playing implies a negligent participation in her son’s murder.

Before Georgie’s death, Bill and George are careful not to disturb their mother. Even so, she stops long enough to scold George from her seat at the piano for slamming a door. Then, when the piano stops again, the brothers are “listening for the piano bench to scrape back, listening for their mother’s impatient footsteps,” but she resumes playing (10). As they work on the boat, Bill warns George that if he gets any paraffin on the blanket “Mom’II kill you,” and if he doesn’t put everything away, “Mom’ll have a bird” (11). Never portrayed as nurturing, their mother is at best distant and restrictive, possibly negligent and perhaps worse.

At the age of three, Bill was “knocked into the side of a building” by a car (10). According to Bill’s mother, the accident, which left him unconscious for seven hours, caused his stutter. “George sometimes got the feeling that his dad—and Bill himself—was not so sure” (10). What did they think caused the stutter? An ambiguous link exists between Bill’s mother and the stutter that marked him as a Loser. Both Bill and George Denbrough were involved in life-threatening situations as young children, one of which was fatal. King’s strategy of insistent repetition emphasizes their mother’s piano playing on the day George was killed. This repetition shifts the interpretation from “he was killed while she played the piano,” to “he was killed because she played the piano.”

Locating the stutter/car accident story in the middle of this chapter tends to substantiate charges of careless mothering that King is careful never to utter. Their mother bears the burden of guilt for pursuing her own interests and, by implication, neglecting her children without ever being explicitly accused.

Eddie Kaspbrak’s weakness is his asthma; this physical infirmity marks Eddie for membership in the Losers’ club. Mr. Keene, the druggist, tells Eddie that his aspirator contains a placebo. The druggist insists that Eddie does not have asthma and that Sonia, Eddie’s mother, is the real problem: “Your mother is determined you are ill” (776). Eddie’s throat tightens. He knows it isn’t in his head; he isn’t crazy: “Your asthma is the result of a nervous tightening of the diaphragm that is ordered by your mind . . . or your mother” (777).

The dynamics of their relationship becomes evident later, in the clash over Eddie’s friends. Eddie, aware of his mother’s manipulation of him, explains to his friends: “She had a way, a way of working on a guy” (766). Sonia feels uncertain, almost fearful when Eddie confronts her about sending his friends away. Picturing herself as a self-sacrificing, devoted mother, she refuses to acknowledge other motives. Eddie sees through her: “You’re not going to steal my friends just because you’re scared of being alone” (797). Sonia, adept in the use of emotional weapons, rationalizes her control of Eddie by calling it protection: “She felt safer in her tears. Usually when she cried Eddie cried, too. A low weapon, some might say but were there really any low weapons when it came to protecting her son?” (797). The emotional turmoil concerning the Losers continues until Eddie proposes a compromise; he will not question his asthma if she doesn’t interfere with his friends. As Sonia carefully hugs Eddie sealing their agreement, she thinks, “What mother would kill her son with love?” (802). Emotionally devouring Eddie, Sonia’s mothering creates an invalid.

Sonia’s carnivorous love synthesizes the mother/monster, monster/mother opposition. During his stay at the hospital as he was slipping out of consciousness, Eddie confuses Sonia Kaspbrak and the monster. He thinks he has told the nurse, “She’s not the leper, please don’t think that, she’s only eating me because she loves me” (790). The leper, the form of It that appears to Eddie, represents his maternally induced asthma. In a dream, when Sonia chases his friends away, Eddie sees the monster in many of its forms; the last form is his own mother: “But just before the clown washed out completely, he saw the most terrible thing of all: his ma’s face” (792). In It, mothers are often monsters.

Sonia Kaspbrak consumes Eddie as It devours children. Sonia Kaspbrak is a widow. Arlene Hanscom is a single mother: “[R]aising a boy by herself had put a mark on her” (183). Like the Kaspbraks, the Hanscoms are portrayed by feeding imagery. Whereas Sonia feeds on Eddie emotionally, Arlene overfeeds Ben physically: “[W]hen there were leftovers from supper she would often bring them to him while he was watching TV and he would eat them, although some dim part of him hated himself for doing so�� (185). Ben could not bring himself to acknowledge his mother’s ulterior motives. “Ben’s deeper thoughts—suspected her motives in this constant feeding. Was it just love? Could it be anything else? Surely not” (186).

Embarrassed by his size, Ben wore baggy sweatshirts to hide his body when he was in fifth grade in Derry. His mother spoke of his size euphemistically. “She never called him ‘fat,’ she called him ‘big’” (185).’ Later, he recalls, when he was in high school, he was changing after gym when the other guys “fat paddled” him, chasing him and slapping his naked body. This incident led to his determination to diet. His greatest obstacle was his mother: “And nights when I went home and would only eat half of the stuff on my plate my mother would burst into tears and say that I was starving myself, killing myself, and that I didn’t love her anymore, that I didn’t care how hard she worked for me” (496).

Being fat made Ben a Loser; like Eddie Kaspbrak, Ben’s physical problem originates with his mother. Like Sonia Kaspbrak, Arlene Hanscom engulfs her son within a dangerous devouring motherhood.

In response to the murders in Derry, Ben’s mother gives him a new Timex watch and tells him to be home by six o’clock every night during the summer. She warns him that if he is late she’ll call the police and report him missing immediately. Emphasizing the need for caution, Arlene explains that she understands how boys like to spend their time. During their conversation, Ben realizes that his mother doesn’t know that he has no friends: “If she didn’t know he had no friends, she probably didn’t know anywhere near as much about his boyhood as she thought she did” (184). Ben is touched by the concern that the Timex signifies because “She could be hard, his mama. She could be a boss” (185). Ben’s mother is unaware of the essential facts of his life, assuming friendships where there are none.

Setting limits on Ben with the watch and the curfew, Ben’s mother assumes that she has protected him. Did she really imagine that being home by six was sufficient protection from a murderer? Was warning Ben to come home early and go places accompanied by his friends a serious defense? Arlene Hanscom, like the other Losers’ mothers, acts to set limits for her son but remains essentially uninvolved with him. Ben, astute enough to question her motives, struggles with ambivalent feelings for his mother. “Ben Hanscom would not have dared to hate his mama” (185). The chasm in their communication causes Ben’s silence regarding the murders in Derry: “‘the thing which he hadn’t quite been able to tell his mother’’ (208). The protection that the watch signifies is undermined by her disinterest in his life.

Richie Tozier’s flaw, the mark of the Loser, is wearing glasses. Richie’s mother’s association with his glasses is established when a bully pushes Richie into the gutter breaking his glasses: “[H]is mother was furious with him about it, lending very little credence to Richie’s explanations” (662). His mother’s anger over the broken glasses compounded by her lack of sympathy over Richie’s pounding by a bigger boy wounds Richie less than the knowledge that she didn’t believe his story. “This failure to make his mother understand hurt much worse than being slammed into the gutter” (662). Conjuring up pictures of Richie’s father working late, she suggests Richie’s guilt in incurring the cost to replace the glasses. “You think about it... . Her voice was curt and final—worse, it was near tears” (663). Her lack of compassion and manipulation of Rich with guilt mark her as a mediocre mother, but even more deadly, at least in Stephen King’s hierarchy, she didn’t approve of rock and roll: “Like Bill Denbrough’s mother, she was death on rock and roll” (582). Still, to the other Losers, Richie’s parents seemed the most normal. When the Losers werelooking for an adult to confide in, they asked Richie about his parents. Although Richie rated them as okay, he knew “‘they’d never believe something like this” (663). His mother’s inability to believe Richie about the glasses isolates him and the other losers in dealing with It.

Stan Uris, who encountered It as the corpses of drowned children in the Standpipe, believed in an orderly universe, a universe of natural laws. “God had given the earth a final tilt on its axis... . He had done that and He then had said, in effect: ‘Okay, if you can figure out the tilt you can figure out any damn thing you choose’” (429). Stan signifies nostalgia for those reliable master  narratives, a past you could trust, the Great Chain of Being, a hierarchy in which God was on top and God was male. Before going out that night, the night he almost died, the night that preordained his suicidal death twenty-seven years later, “His mother made him promise to keep the hood of his slicker up,” certainly a valid precaution when there are murderers about (418). Stan is an outcast in Derry because he is Jewish. Marginalized even in the novel, he commits suicide, rather than return to Derry with the others to face It again.

Like Ben Hanscom’s mother, Mike’s mother rationalizes that Derry is safe until dinner time, so when Mike was late for dinner one day, she was angry, “she had been nearly hysterical. She took after him with a dishrag, whopping him with it. Don’t you ever scare me like that!” (274). Mike was surprised that his father didn’t intervene and control her “wildcat anger” (274). But, now Mike knew his limits, his mother had made them clear: “Home before dark. Yes ma’am, right-o” (274). Mike’s father, Will Hanlon is the benign patriarch in It, suggesting places for Mike to visit, telling him about the past. When Mike Hanlon eventually recovers and writes Derry’s history, he is searching for a master narrative, the events that led into his father’s story. Mike is an outcast in Derry because he is black, and Beverly Marsh is even on the margin within the Losers Club: She is the only girl.

When Al Marsh beat Beverly, he justified it as his duty as a parent to correct her behavior. “Daughters, Al Marsh said, need more correction than sons. He had no sons, and she felt vaguely as if that might be partly her fault as well” (398). Elfrida Marsh routinely dismissed her husband’s physical abuse of Beverly. “Did you get your dad angry at you last night, Bevvie?” Then, voicing her true concern, she asked “Bevvie, does he ever touch you?” (403). Aware of an incestuous undercurrent to Al’s violence, Elfrida Marsh neither confronted him nor protected Beverly. Warning Beverly to be home before dark, her mother implies concern about Beverly’s safety, masking her crucial failure to protect Beverly at home.Beverly’s mother’s failure was the inability to control her father. In It, mothers limit and control their sons. Limits were justified by male behaviors that were labeled risky. Richie’s mother forbade him to ride double on Bill’s bike, but even safety conscious Eddie recognized that life cannot be lived risk free. “Some stuff has to be done even if there is a risk. That’s the first important thing I ever found out I didn’t find out from my mother” (723). Some mothers in It are monstrous; others are negligent, distracted, incapable. Burns and Kanner conclude that in King’s fiction “Mothers fail their children, witness their abuse, and stand helpless to prevent their deaths” (Burns and Kanner, 171). The failure of the mothers in It is so basic, they mirror the monsters their children combat.

Gender Myths

Victimized by her father’s battering, Beverly Marsh substantiates myths about violence against women. Her father’s rage is fueled by incestuous desire for her as Beverly’s visit with It in the guise of the witch from Hansel and Gretel confirms. “I beat you because I wanted to FUCK you, Bevvie, that’s all I wanted to do” (572). Surviving her father, Beverly intentionally chooses men like him for lovers, men who hit women. Tom Rogan recognizes this in Beverly from the start, he knows that she wants to be hurt, “And it might even be possible that some antelopes—and some women—want to be brought down” (105). Testing his theory, Tom smashes Bey across the face noting her reaction with interest. “Then the pain. Then the (nostalgia) look of a memory . . . of some memory” (108). He tells her he hit her for smoking in front of him. As a stunned Bev struggles to absorb the blow, her reaction—tearful and hurt, confirms his initial evaluation of her. “She was trying to find a tone, an adult rhythm of speech, and failing. He had regressed her. He was in this car with a child” (108). Before it was over, he intended to humiliate her, to make her apologize to him. Her eyes seemed to plead with him to stop, but he knew to persist “because that was not the bottom of her wanting, and both of them knew it” (109). Tom Rogan had established himself in Beverly Marsh’s life. 

This episode plays to myths about abused women, confirming that they intentionally choose violent men and stay with them, implying that the battering is really the victim’s fault. She wants it. This unfortunate stereotype degrades the only female character who could have been noble. Significantly, though Beverly has the same kind of financial success as the other adult Losers, she is the only one who remains emotionally battered as an adult.King does not present Tom Rogan as a model of male behavior. Tom’s drinking and Beverly’s ultimate violent resistance to the beatings do not serve to excuse his behavior, only to amplify it. Even his childhood is no excuse. Tom came from a violent family where he was the victim of an abusive mother: “Tom, you been bad! his mother had sometimes said—well, ‘sometimes’ wasmaybe not such a good word; maybe ‘often’ would have been a better one. You come here, Tommy! I got to give you a whuppin” (112). When his father, Ralph Rogan killed himself with a lye and gin cocktail, Tom was burdened with the care of the other three children and frequently beaten. “His life as a child had been punctuated by whuppins” (112). He decided that it was “Better to be the whupper than the whupped” (112). Describing Bev’s feelings toward Tom, King corroborates myths that support violence: “But that did not preclude her fear of him. . . her hate of him . . and her contempt of herself for choosing him for dim reasons buried in the times that should be over” (118, 119). When Tom used the belt on Beverly, she knew that she wanted it: “[W]hat hurt worse was knowing that part of her craved the hurt. Craved the humiliation” (120). As Beverly searches her motives for marrying Tom, she wonders: “Why would a person go back into the nightmare of her own accord?” (930). She acknowledges her guilt to Bill admitting: “He hits and he hurts. I married him because . . . because my father always worried about me, I guess. .. . And as long as someone was worrying about me I’d be safe. More than safe. Real’ (929). She wanted to be beaten, it made her feel loved. In this statement, Beverly accepts the blame for her own victimization, supporting an unfortunate stereotype of battered women. 

Tom Rogan, the batterer, meanwhile, performs the same function that the homophobic bullies serve in the Adrian Mellon incident. Tom’s extreme cruelty, his manipulation of Beverly, becomes a border marker, centering and elevating the other men in the novel.

The battering serves another nostalgic function. It warns women that other women cannot, or will not, protect them from male aggression. After the fight that precedes her trip to Derry, Beverly goes to her friend Kay McCall for help. King, again distancing himself from applying the label, carefully marks Kay as feminist when Tom refers to her as “that titsy women’s-lib bitch” (111).

Later, Kay withstands a battering by Tom until he threatens to cut up her face. Terrified by the threat of mutilation, Kay tells Tom where Beverly has gone. Not only does the “women’s-lib bitch” fail Beverly as a protector, she betrays her when threatened with loss of her own beauty. Kay’s failure, significant in terms of the nostalgic world view of male/female, dominance/submission, serves to warn women that other women are not to be trusted.

Blood and Sex

Beverly Marsh first experienced It as blood gurgling out of the drain in the bathroom, splashing up around the room, blood that her father did not see. Beverly’s impending puberty, the blood, the bathroom, and Al’s anger masking his barely controlled incestuous desire are conveyed in sexually laden imagery.

The evening ends with Beverly listening as her parents “did their sex-act thing” (399). When Al questioned Bev about her scream, she lied: “There was a spider. A big fat black spider. It . . . it crawled out of the drain” (397). Ironically, instinctively, Beverly knew what It really was, the form beneath the disguises; because Beverly is female, she knows what the boys must risk their lives to uncover and confront. It is about sexuality, bloody female sexuality, female sexuality as imagined by a male.

Woman as Object

In It, Beverly is Stephen King’s ideal woman; as a child her courage facing the monster and surviving her father’s abuse suggests that she will mature into a self-reliant, assured woman. Disappointingly, her marriage to Tom Rogan—his battering, her masochism—describe a different Beverly. When Beverly comes home to Derry, she is a woman who needs to be rescued. In Stephen King’s nostalgic gender scenario, a strong male must save the beautiful but frightened female from the dangers of the world and threats posed by aggressive, perverted men.* Bill, the successful horror novel writer (read as Stephen King), chivalrously emerges from his male quest/adventure plot to rescue the damsel in distress. In King’s outrageous erotic fantasy, he modestly describes Beverly’s sexual response to Bill: “She became aware that this wasn’t going to be just a come; it was going to be a tactical nuke. She became a little afraid” (931).

In an interview with Tony Magistrale, Stephen King describes Beverly as “the symbolic conduit between adulthood and childhood for the boys in the Losers’ Club. It’s a role that women have played again and again in the lives of boys: the symbolic advent of manhood through the act of sex” (6). In his objectification of woman, female sexuality functions as a male rite of passage.

The subtext of It is sexual. The pronoun it—genderless, vague— vacillates as a significator but remains sex-linked throughout the novel. It can be read as sexual intercourse. Stephen King describes it: “[S]ex must be some unrealized undefined monster; they refer to the act as It. Would you do It, do your sister and her boyfriend do It, do your mom and dad still do IT, and how they never intend to do It’ (1085). It can also be read as repulsive female sexuality, the genesis of all depravity, the wickedness that turns innocent boys into men, forcing them to abandon bicycles named Silver with baseball cards flipping innocently across the spokes, to become bound to mundane, compromising jobs, to grow old and fat and bald and die. Sexual maturity is the evil these misfit boys fear, flee, and surmount for the first time in their secret sexual initiation by Beverly. This initial sexual experience for each of them coincides with end of the groups’ first encounter with It and is followed by protracted amnesia.

Monsters and Heroes

It could be sexual intercourse. It could be repulsive female sexuality. But, mostly, It is actually She. It, the monster, is not really androgynous, a point raised at the beginning of the novel when George looked into the sewer and saw Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the principal manifestation of It. George was reminded of “Clarabell, who talked by honking his (or was it her?—-George was never really sure of the gender) horn” (13). The question of the clown’s gender was restated by Richie when Mike described Its appearance at the parade on Main Street “‘But then he turned around and waved to me again and I knew it was him. It was the same man.’ ‘He’s not a man,’ Richie said” (712). As a clown using greasepaint to disguise its identity, and in Its other shapes, It exploits a female characteristic, the ability to alter appearance, to change outfits, to use makeup; It has an aptitude for becoming unclear and ambiguous rather than concrete and definable. 

Sexual mutilations with a phallic focus are clearly the work of IT/HER.

When they found the crew of lumberjacks who were snowed in during the winter of 1979: “All nine hacked to pieces. Heads rolled . . . not to mention arms ...a foot or two... and a man’s penis had been nailed to one wall of the cabin” (157). And in 1931, the corpse of the flood victim had a sexual flavor. “The fish had eaten this unfortunate gentleman’s eyes, three of his fingers, his penis and most of his left foot” (4).

It. Evil. Unfathomable evil. Mutating, hiding anywhere, everywhere. It could be anyone. It could be your mother. And, the really frightening suggestion in this novel, It is your mother. It, nameless terror. It is bloody, filthy, horrible. It lurks in dark, wet underground caverns. In hidden, secret places. The boy-men heroes have returned to Derry to face IT again, HER, the bitch, the force that is really responsible for their lost youth.

Female sexual imagery intensifies as Its essence is stalked in the sewers under Derry. “The tunnel progressed steadily downward, and that smell—that low, wild stench—grew steadily stronger” (1028). In Stephen King’s creation myth, the ultimate evil is repulsive, spiderlike; significantly, It is a pregnant female. “It’s always been here, since the beginning of time . . . since before there were men anywhere” (763). As the origin of evil on earth, the egg-bearing female spider must be conquered, her evil spawn destroyed to prevent unthinkable consequences. To destroy the ultimate female evil, Bill must symbolically rape and dominate her:

It lunged clumsily forward, trying to bite him, and instead of retreating, Bill drove forward, using not just his fists now but his whole body, making himself into a torpedo. He ran into Its gut like a sprinting fullback who lowers his shoulders and simply drives straight ahead. For a moment he felt Its stinking flesh simply give, as if it would rebound and send him flying. With an inarticulate scream he drove harder, pushing forward and upward with his legs, digging at it with his hands. And he broke through; was inundated with Its hot fluids. They ran across his face, in his ears. he snuffed them up his nose in thin squirming streams. He was in the black again, up to his shoulders in Its convulsing body. And in his clogged ears he could hear a sound like the steady whack—WHACK—whack— WHACK of a big bass drum, the one that leads the parade when the circus comes to town with its compliment of freaks and strutting capering clowns. . . He plunged his hands into It, ripping tearing, parting, seeking the source of the sound; rupturing organs, his slimed fingers opening and closing. . .Whack—W HACK—whack—W HACK— . . .Yes! Try this you bitch! TRY THIS ONE OUT! DO YOU LIKE IT? DO YOU LOVE IT? Bill felt Its body clench around him suddenly, like a fist in a slick glove. Then everything loosened .. . At the same time he began pulling back, his consciousness leaving him. (1093-94)

It, the noble quest to rid the world of evil, is the playing out of oedipal male fantasies, sexual intercourse with the monster/mother. Significantly, the final battle with It/Her, is clearly a sexual attack. In “The Laugh of the Medusa,” Héléne Cixous locates patriarchal definitions of sexuality: “Men still have everything to say about their sexuality, and everything to write. For what they have said so far stems, for the most part, from the opposition activity/passivity, from the power relation between a fantasized obligatory virility meant to invade, to colonize, and the consequential phantasm of woman as a ‘dark continent’ to penetrate and to ‘pacify’” (1091). In the final battle with It/Her, she is indeed a “dark continent” to be “penetrated” and “pacified.” For Stephen King, female sexuality remains terrifying, an evil to be subdued, kept in its rightful place.

Burns and Kanner locate female sexuality in the King canon: “Menstruation, mothering, and female sexual desire function as bad omens, prescient clues that something will soon be badly awry” (160).

The Denouement—Back to the Past

Bill survived the odyssey into the depths of sinister, powerful female sexuality and emerged victorious, reborn. Unfortunately, Audra, his wife, is now catatonic. Bill, of course, rescues her too. He knows exactly what to do. Bill pulls a relic of his youth out of a convenient garage, his old bike, and proves that pure male courage can fix anything, even “a corpse-like wife.” She recovers fully due entirely to Bill’s courageous, dangerous bike ride; she is happily terrified. All is well. We know this because of Bill’s “huge and cheerful erection” (1137).

It is a feast of unfettered male fantasy. The hero subdues the greatest evil in the universe, which is, of course, a potent, fecund, sexual female. Cixous identifies repressive trends in this nostalgic form of male writing as precluding the possibility of change:

I mean it when I speak of male writing. I maintain unequivocally that there is such a thing as marked writing; that, until now, far more extensively and repressively than is ever suspected or admitted, writing that has been run by a libidinal and cultural—hence political, typically masculine—economy; that this is a locus where the repression of women has been perpetuated, over and over, more or less consciously, and in a manner that’s frightening since its often hidden or adorned with the mystifying charms of fiction; that this locus has grossly exaggerated all the signs of sexual opposition (and not sexual difference), where woman has never Her turn to speak—this being all the more serious and unpardonable in that writing is precisely the very possibility of change, the space that can serve as a springboard for subversive thought, the precursory movement of a transformation of social and cultural structures. (1092—93)

The world order at the culmination of King’s epic gender myth is nostalgic. The patriarchal hierarchy is restored; pliant, submissive females dedicate themselves to their men, who alone possess the secrets of the universe.

NOTES

1. Describing Adrian Mellon’s sobbing boyfriend, Gardener could not feel empathy, a strategy that distances, centers, and privileges “normal” male sexuality in comparison to marginalized “queer” sexuality. “Harold Gardener recognized the reality of Don Hagarty’s grief and pain, and at the same time found it impossible to take seriously” (17).

2. Thomaston, angry over the murder, hopes for the conviction of Garton, Dubay, and Unwin. “I’m going to put them in the slam my friend, and if I hear they got their puckery little assholes cored down there at Thomaston, I’m gonna send them cards saying I hope whoever did it had AIDS” (38). Later, Richie Tozier, in an irreverent spoof, tells a joke as the character Kinky Briefcase, Sexual Accountant: “I had a fellow come in the other day who wanted to know what the worst thing was about getting AIDS . . . I told him right away—trying to explain to your mother how you picked it up from a Haitian girl” (61). King, again careful to distance himself from a judgmental position, uses references to AIDS and homosexuality as a physical marker of difference. In the implied opposition of heterosexual/homosexual, homosexual is clearly the degraded term. The first victim of the 1985 spree is a marker for social deterioration that has occurred since 958.

3. Boutillier, police officer investigating the murder accuses Chris Unwin: “You threw the little queer into the Canal” (18). Webby  Garton describes Adrian Mellon as a “fucking faggot” when interrogated by the police. (21). Officer Machen tells the bullies “about the bumpunchers I’m neutral” (23). Boutillier arguing for suppression of evidence about the clown figure, offers his inferred opinion of gay men: “The guy was a fruit, but he wasn’t hurting anyone” (38).

4. According to Doane and Hodges: “‘Oppositions tend to operate on a hierarchical rather than an equal basis: one term is degraded, the other exalted. Opposition is a power game. The opposition male/female, to give another example crucial to our analysis, is also typically hierarchical. The disparaged term ‘female’ helps preserve the value and integrity of the privileged term, ‘male’” (9).

5. As noted in Ellen Friedman’s article.

6. Fiir Elise is specifically mentioned four times, George’s mother’s piano playing, three more—a total of seven references in thirteen pages.

7. “(sometimes amplified to ‘big for his age’)” (185).

8. These men include A! Marsh, the battering father whose violence masks incestuous desire and Tom Rogan whose sadistic control ranges from emotional manipulation to premeditated violence that ends in hot sex.

WORKS CITED

Burns, Gail E., and Melinda Kanner. “Women, Danger and Death: The Perversion of The Female Principle in Stephen King’s Fiction.” Sexual Politics and Popular Culture. Edited by Diane Raymond. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1990, 158-171.

Cixous, Héléne. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” The Critical Tradition. Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Edited by David H. Richter. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989, 1090-1102.

Doane, Janice, and Devon Hodges. Nostalgia and Sexual Difference: The Resistance to Contemporary Feminism. New York: Methuen, 1987.

Freud, Sigmund. “Creative Writers and Daydreaming.” The Critical Tradition. Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Edited by David H. Richter. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989, 651-55.

Friedman, Ellen G. “Where Are the Missing Contents? (Post)Modernism, Gender, and the Canon.” PMLA 108 (1993): 240-52.

King, Stephen. It. New York: Viking, 1986.

Magistrale, Tony. Stephen King The Second Decade, “Danse Macabre” to “The Dark Half.” New York: Twayne, 1992.

Winter, Douglas E. Stephen King: The Art of Darkness. New York: Signet, 1986.

[athailandsquid]

a thailand squid - a teens worst nightmares ft. paranoid genesis

lights, camera, action,

thunder storming,

I'm walking that hallway, everyone watching me,

wet smeared blue glitter lipstick, virgin boy, exposed

hallways are the worst type of judgement,

black and blue, beating my sensitive spot, ego

his lips full frame, high top heels, blue nail polished,

examine me observer,

they are watching you, virgin loser faggot,

they are dissembling you, head to toe,

even boys need to breathe, let me breathe,

even boys need to love, let me obbess,

even a boy needs to dress to impress,

even boys need to be loved, this one does,

they will just judge you, pushing you to a ultimatum,

walking this hallway isn't easy, hallways full

walking a hallway meant to destroy him,

high school lockers and hallways,

a teen worst nightmares,

girlie boy, wife material, queer goddess,

so sensitive, can't help it, walking ice cream,

tell me, observer

when you see me walking down your sector,

do you get hard?, really, do you? stiffy,

control your temperature, and your hard, member

put a leash on it, check my sections, teasing,

I'm walking down that hallway, middle to the finger,

eye stretched, tongue sticking out,

the hallway smells like me, confusion,

you could cut the sexual tension with a knife,

taboo virgin,

let this movie run it's natural course,

film running, like my horny temper, constant,

get the right angles camera man, horror cinnama,

my camera man, watching me through a camcorder,

my navel exposed like sexuality, open, exposed,

even boys need to fuck, let me breathe,

even boys need to orgasm, let us breathe,

even boys need to feel, let us breathe,

even boys need to, need to need,

I won't judge you like they do, bringing you closer,

walking this hallway is fun, maybe just a little,

a hallway meant to destroy us,

genesis walks out the cafeteria, sassy and proud,

"your a cage boy in a cage world" - genesis

[ssavinggrace]

the first five pjo ocs i wrote are probably the only ones im gonna keep theyre all very dear to me even if i think they might need a slight rewrite

theres arlo cannon, gay transmasc son of apollo who may or may not be a sorta self insert, refuses to think about his daddy issues but he loves his mom and siblings (both the other apollo kids and his mortal half siblings), very southern but in a queer neurodivergent teen living in texas way

maximillian "max" maxwell, enby child of ares, short and stocky, anger issues galore, wears alot of beanies and flannels, weilds an axe, basically if a lumberjack was a short bi disaster teen

sullivan "sulli" o'malley, the fan favorite of my ocs and for good reason, weird even by half blood standards autistic little transfem daughter of athena, does Not like being at camp half blood. she loves her dad and is overwhelmed by all the other kids and simply doesn't like thinking of athena as her mom. her hair is a tangled mess and she sleeps at the weirdest times and has a little hideout in the woods around camp even though its dangerous. the other athena kids are mildly intimidated by her even though shes only 11. she has a signature wide eyed and unblinking stare. she has alot of knowledge about niche plants and insects.

quinn evangeline, genderfluid aromantic child of aphrodite, they seem cool but also they're just a loser like literally every other 15 year old out there, they have a bone to pick with their mom and they feel isolated feom the other aphrodite kids at times because of their aromanticism but otherwise she feels at home at camp half blood, being aromantic doesnt stop them from giving love advice to everyone around them (it almost always ends up crashing and burning), her dad is pan and happily married to a dude so like. yipee two loving dads

and finally cameron (i forgot what his last name was fuck), he/him enby child of hermes, besties with quinn (they gossip and paint their nails in the back of hermes cabin), his whole thing is that he Would be an absolute menace to society–a prankster if you will–but hes too lazy, rare case of a half blood having issues with their mortal parent and not their godly one, gay disaster

there were some other ocs i had that while i do wanna keep i think they need more rewriting than these five, like the twin sons of hephaestus i had and arlos bf

I LOVE THEM!?!?!? WHAT!!!!

[the-firebird69]

We're forced to act Tommy F was telling me to invade here invade here practically told me where stuff was to keep his lasers intact and really it was almost forced to happen and Trump was just sitting there in the way doing nothing it almost got us all killed and it's done it before and we're so sick of him he's so stupid we have to stop him and he's going to be out of that house today is there illegally

Mac

It's very true the guy is insane loser it is sitting on it almost got us in trouble so our son started working and it happened and our daughter had him do it to a degree and Trump is an idiot we didn't hit him for what he's saying. And you're going to get killed with Trump that's what it means cuz you're stupid and you don't get it. There are 19 holes left no out of the 20 holes 15 caverns have been discovered and mostly rated and fought over and 90% of the stuff's going to be destroyed shortly and fighting with clones and other five of them have not been accessed and if I get difficult and they're sending in tons of troops. And really this guy is so dumb look at me bending it like Beckman and your son makes fun of him all the time and he can't figure it out till later it gets really mad screw stuff up just beat up. You don't have time for that to happen we're going to start nailing. And there are 20 ground base lasers and 20 space and yes all this ground stuff is in the way of taking out the lasers he started threatening with it and then he started moving it and it is in precarious positions some of it and they're going after it hard and it's working finally and it's a good day this is finally happening it's such a nightmare in this guy tell me after such a spaz and little kid in front of trump is worse Trump is worse and the two big fellows are huge huge assholes to our son they don't mean anything to us now we got to get rid of him and he pee his pants because our son is acquiring the whole world they said he goes on the way out it's just Trump stuff so Preston started laughing and he said this is going to be great and he said it on the radio and people laid off and heard you saying you're offering franchises and all the sort of stuff and he said laughing so what's the matter Chris can't get cald or going. So he smiled that smoke smile start laughing like a hyena until Joe m and Joseph I don't think we have anything to worry about and put it on the radio and then he goes what about the obelisk that's not good stupid companies as much as we think you said we were wrong ed and it's about positioning his company sucks but it is positioning he's right and everyone's face and he sucked so I have to live with that shadow even though we're going to outshine them with ease. You're going to well okay just sit back and let it roll in then right off the back of Tommy f so he got disgusted he said this sucks it was a freaking huge a****** this plan sucks you suck for some reason you're retarded you got really mad and start throwing things around in the house instead of sick of this place he was right the whole time where piles and garbage nothing about anything in these two jackasses are running it and the biggest queer ass f** weeklings I've ever seen since they're beating on them all day cuz he has to I don't care if I've gotten to him or not isn't there tell me the f*** off cuz I won't shut up these idiots won't shut up no matter what he says and what he says is very very pertinent it would shut anybody up except these idiots let me see why they can kill like five times a day they don't care about it well he does and I do and we want them out and Terry came over no but the other guys did they said what are you going to do about it get hit by a flying object go back to your room so give it to me and don't worry about it every penalized and it didn't write another one but they plan to tell on them and he plans to go to town on them and take all their stuff cuz this boob and his henchmen and the other boob and his henchman and that's who's in the house surrounding Joe Preston and Ken and they're threatening them so tell me you have to say something to him I couldn't help it and so now he sees why

Thor Freya

You're such weaklings and your math is so wrong and you run around doing all the stupid s*** and get hit and you're stupid already and your plan is not a plan and you are so arrogant you should just stop what you're doing but you won't cuz you can't so you're going to leave Dead forever so at least he's going to burn in a funeral pile in front of everybody disgusting huh and you're going to be this dead lizard that sort of see something too use black people have control of the money

Zues Hera

I said the top part but really it's true that you go around digging around with them Trump and they managed to kill you permanently and use the hand of whitey

Thor Freya

There's a lot more people that want him gone than just Garth and Company but for real they're used for it and they want them dead and a lot of people want them dead

Mac

[non-binharry]

But is it not telling that he didnt know pronuons in 2018?How does a person who has been questioning their gender not know pronuons?Also Ive seen receipts where harry assumed fans' genders and sexualities while louis has been more educated on that matter then why dont you assume that louis is nonbinary?Im just confused...

you know this message wouldn't have pissed me off so bad if you didn't clearly write it in such bad faith

that's not telling anything at all. gender is personal

it is a personal journey that is brought upon by inward reflection on how you feel you experience your life. you don't have to know all the vocabulary or different types of identities there are to look at yourself and go "hmm i feel different from people around me" or "i enjoy certain things or ideas more than people of the same sex typically would"

you wanna see what the first time i verbalized how i was feeling about my own gender identity looks like?

i chalked up the way that i was feeling to my bisexuality, which was the only definitive queerness i knew about myself at the time. i knew vaguely about various gender identities because i am a child of tumblr after all, but there were no specifics when i first began realizing how i really felt. i just knew it's what i was feeling and that's all i needed to know because it's something i was coming to accept about myself.

i get messages all the time saying "i didn't know i could feel non-binary while still feeling xyz" and it's because we tend to put so much emphasis on trying to fit ourselves into this universal experience instead of realizing that the only person we're trying to learn about is ourselves

[steveyockey]

Regarding how Supernatural sees and literally portrays its own fans: there are the cringy loser man (who also turn out to be gay which is of course even worse), the straight fetishizing women and the delusional queer fangirls. What I don't understand: where are the fans that Supernatural actually wants? The 'real' fans, the actual target group, so I suppose cool straight dude bros? They're never shown as fans of the show! Because how Supernatural portrays is, it's actually cringe to like Supernatural at all which is funnily just the show shitting on itself (and also true). Or what do you think?

I mean I think you hit the nail on the head, it’s cringe to like supernatural! specifically it’s cringe to like supernatural with a passion, which is funny because like, kripke’s original pitch mentions buffy, the x-files, star wars, properties with active fan communities who rooted for pairings and continue to write fic. it feels like those fans come with the territory! it’s genre fiction! but of course supernatural also came up at the perfect time for its writers to have a better awareness of their fan communities than most of the stuff that came before them, and, what’s more is they chose to do that. becky, demian, and barnes are all names of forum mods from back in the day. they’re mean-spirited caricatures, but they are also currency! in-text acknowledgment! that’s a powerful drug. how mad can you be that you’re getting made fun of for having no life outside a silly tv show that thinks you’re a loser when you’re now a character in that tv show!

it’s difficult to source who supernatural was technically supposed to be for, there’s no actual quote of kripke naming teenage white boys as his target audience, but I did dig up this bad boy from 2009 that suggests dawn ostroff (the cw’s president at the time) was not happy the property pitched as being for males ages 13-25 was instead attracting women 14-45. I mean, we know the first two seasons of supernatural were “the DVDs most requested by armed forces personnel in iraq and afghanistan,” so clearly on some level the “intended audience” was being reached, but it seems at least the perception on the inside was those poor boys were getting massively outflanked by women. there’s a couple levels to this. first of all, the show premiered on the wb. it’s not to say the network couldn’t attempt to attract new viewers (and this was probably part of the intent of the show), but teen soaps were in its dna. they had no way to STOP the women already tuning in for gilmore girls from keeping the tv on another hour. second, though the show is purportedly “about” topics that read as exclusive to men (cars, rock, violence), there’s an obvious appeal to people attracted to men in its casting choices and the way its shot. like jensen didn’t do that fucking titantic necklace ad because he’s the epitome of masculinity, he did it because he was an androgynous dicaprio-type cutie! sure, his look may have been aspirational to teenage boys wanting that same type of attention, but again, there’s no way to prevent women from getting it directly from the source! and for all the show claims to tell us about the single man tear stoicism of it all, dean cries like a little bitch. because he’s not the action hero, not at first! he’s a scared kid who was forced to grow up. and sam’s fucking dean from gilmore girls! he’s got the bangs and the goofy smile! these aren’t the guys the women watching wanted protecting them, they were guys they wanted to provide comfort. and the camera plays into it! as our good friend sheila o’malley puts it, jensen and jared “are objectified in a way usually reserved for female stars.” you can discuss this in terms of a male objectification fantasy, there’s a wonderful post out there equating the compromising positions sam and dean find themselves in on hunts to a sort of bodice-ripper erotic thrill in being taken control of, but that only provides more space for the comfort fantasy. and this is nothing to say of just being interested in the genre! that the attention of female fans is devalued and assumed to have less complexity than the relationship men have to their beloved works. which is CRAZY because lgbt fans and women in fandom are the entire reason supernatural even made it this far! yes, there are swaths of “regular” people at home who watched supernatural in a non-obsessive way, but they weren’t the reason the show saw a 27 percent increase in its audience over the ninth season. that’s passionate fans, and fan communities encouraging passionate fans of other things to join them. supernatural might not have explicitly wanted these fans, but they are the reason for its success at almost any stage of the show’s airing and, while they may have been creating fanwork outside the bounds of the text, their reasons for coming to the show were not invented. what gets me riled up about “fan fiction” is I enjoy 99% of it, the one thing I can’t stand being the suggestion that what the fans are doing is based on a reading of the show the text itself doesn’t support. the text supports it because YOU put it there! just like you put everything else there that already made the show appeal to people outside the “target” audience! all of which is to say. I don’t know who the fuck supernatural was meant for. I don’t really care except in the moments it illuminates something within the text for me or when this idea is wielded effectively in the “ring ring! eric!” type jabs on here. because the show had the audience it had! it didn’t have any other! it took all that fucking con money and continues to do so, I don’t think there’s any better metric than cold hard cash.

[mapofthesoul20]

The Queerness of TXT

‘TXT gay’ might be a a common joke, but genuinely, TXT as a band has really unique concepts that do present queerness. And because that resonates with me, a member of the alphabet mafia, I wanted to summarize some of their production choices that, while probably not intentionally, do present queerness.

(Disclaimer: This was supposed to be like a five-paragraph essay, and I just got lazy. I’m not claiming this is done intentionally, I’m not claiming by any means that the boys themselves are queer just that the band’s concepts show this, and I’m discussing queerness through a western lens) 

Non-gender Conforming Styling

We all remember the pastels, crop tops, and whatever gender Yeonjun had in Minisode: Blue Hour, yes?

But even Dream Chapter: Eternity, their edgiest, most “bad boy” concept, still had them in painted nails and skirts and just schoolboy looks that reconstructed the “bad boy” concept

But The Chaos Chapter takes it a step further. Loser=Lover, their most heteronormative song, has them notably in skirts or completely genderless styling, refreshing the pop-rock genre looks which sometimes leans a lot on heteronormativity 

Non-conformity and Deconstructing Heteronormativity

TXT debuted with a youthful, cutesy boy concept, breaking with the more traditional “sexy bad boy” concepts that were really popular at that point, thereby establishing themselves as a non-conforming band. And by doing so, it’s intentionally choosing not to engage in the heteronormativity and sexualization that often comes with the “sexy bad boy” concept

The Chaos Chapter is about a heteronormative love story, but it still deconstructs heteronormativity from the love story, i.e.:

The love story is with “You” and You is MOA 

The female love interests are not seen in 0x1=Lovesong or Loser=Lover, and both music videos focus on how their friendship with each other saves them

The one mention of “girl” in 0x1=Lovesong (their other really heteronormative song), comes during Yeonjun/Soobin’s bridge, which the choreography again focuses on the tension between the two of them, not on connecting with the “girl” 

 There’s a really significant and powerful homage to gay icon Leslie Cheung’s famous mambo dance in 0x1=Lovesong. Also, someone on twitter pointed out that the bedroom scene framing also references another Leslie Cheung’s movie. MVs are expernsive and hard to make, these are not accidental choices but were very intentionally done so for whatever reason 

Lyrics, Particularly Focusing on Friendship 

Crown is a boy being ostracized for his inherent differences and finding community and love and pride in his differences with people who are also outcasted and different like him. Sounds familiar? 

Most of their discography centers friendship as the most significant relationship, which is unheard of in Western society, but even in Eastern society, particularly in the Kpop scene, that’s still pretty unique. 

Run Away and Loser=Lover idealizes life as a journey to take with your friends 

Even songs like Cat&Dog and Poppin’ Star which appear more romantic are also still about friendships 

And their discography develops friendship as a fully realized relationship.  We see them fall in love with friends (Cat&Dog, Our Summer), deal with heartbreak because friendships fail (Can’t You See Me), separation and longing for friends (Puma, Blue Hour, Way Home, We Lost the Summer) and growing up and its effect on friendships (Eternally, Minisode: Blue Hour, Chaos Chapter: Freeze)

Even in The Chaos Chapter which is about love saving them, there is only one mention of “girl” amongst 11 songs. In a way, the love that saves them is romantic, platonic, familial, whatever you want it to be

And even in 0x1=Lovesong, the way that it describes the love for this person as “holy”...is a very queer concept