#and also quit using the term latinx

[princessefemmelesbian]

Me when an article says that “stud” is for “Black and Latinx(sic) lesbians”: 

[death-limes]

genuine question here: i just read something about “Latinx” being considered a slur (or at least incredibly offensive) by most actual Latino and Hispanic people. is that true? (since the whole point of the post is me not being sure, i’m just gonna use “Latino” as gender-neutral)

the main reason i ask is bc i’ve never heard that before for as long as i’ve known of the word itself, and because ive heard it used so often in formal/academic situations - even by Latino people - with no issue brought up in comments etc

most people talk about it as an attempt to “correct” the gendered nature of Spanish grammar itself, which is not what I thought the term referred to - grammatical “gender” is not the same as gender identity anyway, so that would be pointless and also quite stupid imo

I was always under the impression that the term was an attempt to be inclusive of nonbinary/gnc people of Latin heritage. i know that the masculine form is usually considered to be neutral as well, and for some words like “persona” the feminine form is actually neutral. but even then, there’s also a sort of movement happening to get rid of the “male-as-default” trend in several languages - even English - and establish truly gender-neutral terms that are not associated with any gender whatsoever.

of course since i’m not Latina myself, i’m in no position to really have my own opinion on the topic; i’m mostly just curious, and I don’t wanna offend anyone ofc. though I’m inclined to feel that the voices of nonbinary/gnc Latino people are the most relevant here, since they represent both identities in question.

[nfumbewalk]

So Trite & Contrary

I am one. The Magician, the first card in the tarot. An important card, for me, especially. I lost myself in high & mighty Ifá studies and forgot my core. Magic! And always, always necromancy & necrosophy. I was told to stay away from necromancy by a higher power and it fuckin felt wrong to me. Nobody tells me not to work with my muertos. My muerto was suspicious of the ATR'S.

Rodolfo wasn't very happy when he learned I was cutting down my time with him & the other muertos. Rodolfo is very special to me. My first successful extraction from the graveyard, into my Record Keeping quartz, then into my vessel. It was called a "spirit pot" and I wrote the book on those...years ago. I lost my muerto when I disassembled my pot about 12 years ago. Two years ago, my friend Angel told me how to get Rodolfo back & into a vessel - this time a old, decorated tequila bottle. Got the right herbs, bones, and a certain type of pact - worked like a charm!

Rodolfo died at 35 years old. He was in a motorcycle club known as the Free Souls. They are a 1%'er, outlaw MC that originate here in Eugene, Ore. He is Latino and proud of it, he prefers terms like Hispanic, Latino, or Mexican. I asked him about the new "Latinx" terminology after explaining it to him. He laughed at this, very jovial at first and then a sinister snicker. He said, "What bullshit, man. Don't fuckin say it cos like, what's the X stand for? Experimental? Fuckin dopes." He is old school, a bit biased about other races but not racist.

I have a photo of his grave. He does have a difficult last name to pronounce. He is a Taurus. I usually don't get along with Taurus folks. Hmm!

I'm sure ppl may not believe me & the shit I talk about. That's fine, but I'm not a liar, nor do I write fiction. Not a fan of fiction anyway. I'm also not afraid to stand up for what I do & stand for. Basically, I'm no shit talker. Everything I do is real & it works for me & others I've taught. I've got 32 years of magic experience and I was born a necromancer. It was written in my stars (astrology). I can see it in anyone's astrological chart. It's all placements. Saturn, outer planets, and houses. Yes, you can still be a necromancer if it's not in your astrological chart, but it's quite a bit harder. I recently had a client with a perfect chart. Just couldn't teach her because her personality didn't go with mine. I'm not a fast teacher & I don't hand out participation trophies. Lessons & tests require field trips to graveyards frequently. Necromancy & necrosophy does not require lots of reading books, but it does require WORK.

Teaching is open, but I've already posted the class fee. Not cheap. It's not only documents that you get. I also send many things for the class that I do not sell. Oils, incenses, polvos (powders), special concoctions - like my Wallbreaker brew. That's a very potent mixture that breaks down blockages in your life. I only *give* this stuff away, or if I do sell it, it's at $35 for 1/2 ounce. It's gold, baby. Pure gold. Yes, it does work that well. Many clients still look for it. The only bottle I have is the LAST bottle. I can make it again but it takes about 5 years. A special root is mixed with a Spanish leaf in grain alcohol and must steep for at least five years. The odor is interesting, sort of like leather and booze and it's brown in color.

I also have a checkered reputation. Ppl don't care for me. I'm sure you can tell. I'm a facetious bitch but I'm very patient, giving, and fair. And I'm a good necromancy & necrosophy instructor. The students I've had are satisfied though one had to go fully back to her mom duties. Another student excelled so much, she didn't need the rest of my teachings, but she's welcome back anytime she wants. Other students graduated and moved on to be successful Necro-Workers.

We are few & far between, but those of us who work the Necro Arts are honest, capable people. We're the little folks in the shadows that pray to elevate the souls of muertos, comfort them when they're in anguish, feed them with water & light & food too. Necromancy & necrosophy aren't about asking the muertos random questions and being **spooky** on Halloween. Woooo!

**This field should be respected but I don't expect it.** Those who really work with muertos don't ask for people's regard, opinions OR help. We realize that most ppl *DO NOT* care about the dead (yes, dead) - just bury & forget, right?

I'm done. Hope someone gets something out of this ramble. Don't go round thinking I have this huge ego, cos I don't. It's average.

Memento Mori!

Oluwa (Jen) 💖💀💖

Photo: This is from a reading I did with the Santa Muerte Tarot.

[a-dragons-journal]

Tone: /neutral informative

Words like Folx are significant to some BIPOC communities.

The X in Folx is used in retaliation of colonization, enslavement, and genocide.

The spelling references historical figures such as Malcolm X who changed his surname from"Little" (the name of the white family who enslaved his ancestors) to "X" in 1952, to recognize and protest the history of Anti-Black violence.

The spelling of Folx also references words such as "Latinx" and "Xicanx" which were also made in protest of colonization.

As is common with language that is significant to BIPOC communities, the term was co-opted by non-BIPOC communities and the meaning was lost, misconstruing it in quite a transphobic way, simultaneously refusing any attempts to discuss racial injustices (for the sake of white fragility) and unfortunately this is why many people are only aware of the appropriated meaning of the word Folx.

This happens often with English adapted by BIPOC for political purposes, non-BIPOC find it and erase the culturual significance in order to maintain the status quo of colonization.

As for the gender aspect irt "folks is already gender neutral" yup, it sure is! And so is Folx, but it's not really about being "more inclusive" or singling out nonbinary people as "other" (that's what the appropriated version does) the original word Folx is really about taking up space in the face of colonization, asking everyone to notice, in order to bring attention to and discuss injustices such as the historical erasure of culture specific genders and the linguistics-based discrimination towards BIPOC which structurally oppresses, ridicules, and penalizes BIPOC for adapting English to hold any cultural significance.

We're uncertain the full context of folken/folkel but we assume it might be for a similar purpose of attempting to bring attention to lesser known subjects/injustices in a way that purposefully takes up space and rustles feathers.

We know you're unlikely to take our word for any of this, erasure has lead to a lack of linkable sources, but we hoped that we might be able to at least shed some insight as a BIPOC alterhuman system.

This is all very informative, and I genuinely do appreciate the information and your time, but you are unfortunately correct that I can find literally zero sources corroborating it (including in searches specifically looking for its use in Black and BIPOC history) - the one source I can find is Cosmopolitan, which is already not exactly a stellar source:

It was popularized in the ’60s and ’70s by Black liberation activists and early feminists. Malcolm X famously adopted the letter in place of Little, the last name of a slave owner that his ancestors had been forced to bear.

(Source)

and the sources they link there... do not actually say anything about it being based on Malcolm X's name change, only about it being aimed toward being "more inclusive" (or at least more demonstrably/visibly inclusive) of marginalized people. It seems like these are two unrelated pieces of history that they're just kind of throwing into the same paragraph to imply connection, even though they don't have any evidence of a connection actually existing.

So, it's entirely possible you're correct, and it's interesting to consider, but considering that every source I can find disagrees with you - I'll keep it in the back of my brain, for sure, but it can't really hold much weight as the words of a single anonymous person on the internet, y'feel?

(...I also confess I don't actually see how "folx" versus "folks" would accomplish any of the goals set forward here either, but that's wholesale just my opinion, so whatever on that one; in the context you're setting forth, my opinion as a white person frankly isn't terribly important.)

[polaris-australis]

WIP Update - Replace Their Bones with Doll Parts

I've decided to try to write a more coherent post on some of the recent progress on the novel. For those who read my intro post, I did change the pronoun in the title (I can't decide on if I should use "he" or "they" solely because, well, Cyril's not really a he by the end of the novel).

I did make some changes to a chapter I talked about in an earlier post (Anatomy Practice), but for this update, I'm going to focus on some overarching stuff + a later chapter that I worked on recently.

I will, though, reiterate this paragraph because I'm obsessed with it:

I'll talk about it another time, because of FUCK does this need a longer separate post (I call it the I guess thematic thesis of the novel in a way?? in how it establishes a LOT of Cyril's mental state throughout the novel and gives us the starting point from which he somehow manages to keep going downhill).

Immaculate Perpetuation

The chapter title comes from two terms relating to the Virgin Mary (or versions of the Virgin): immaculate conception, and Our Lady of Perpetual Health. Except, a big thing in this book is continuing cycles of generational abuse as well as toxic dynamics, so I sort of mashed things together into this.

To make it clear again in this post, Cyril's mixed: his father is a rich white guy, his mother is Latinx (Central American specifically, the country isn't specified for reasons so I won't say it but for reference my parents are Salvadoran). Cyril looks like his mother a LOT. She also had significant issues physically and mentally during and after pregnancy. All of this has led to them having an extremely strained relationship where they hardly interact.

Anyways. Cyril imagines whether or not she wanted to drown him during baptism (TW for imagined infanticide I guess??)

To be very clear, this didn't happen. He's spiraling.

The first sentence references a (still not quite edited) part about her ignoring him when he cried as a baby, as told to him by his older half-brother.

At the end of this chapter, he has a dream about drowning in a womb.

(Fun fact: I started editing this section during @coffeeandcalligraphy's livestream the other day. I asked for permission before tagging. If you read this Rachel, I deeply apologize but figure you may appreciate the disaster main character content lmao.)

Lines that I'd like to also mention:

His skin raisins, his insides burning.

Trying to play with verbs more? This isn't my best, just one I appreciate.

He is a body and he is a wound.

I was going to post that whole paragraph, but I'm not super happy with it yet.

Also, this isn't part of this chapter, but it's got a similar theme.

He's my babygirl.

I'm going to wait since this post is long enough, but other excerpts I definitely want to share include the vampire dream (it's relevant I swear) and possibly some of the more religious imagery, in which I cannot figure out if Cyril is comparing himself to Jesus, Judas, or the snake. Or all three. Genuinely would love to make a uquiz out of this.

[sapybara]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (3/30)

Today's piece of history comes in the form of a film/documentary recommendation of "Paris Is Burning".

"Paris Is Burning" was released in 1990 and it provides a snapshot of New York City in the 1980's through the eyes of the city's African American and Latinx Harlem drag and ball scene. The title itself refers to an annual ball held by the artist Paris Dupree, who is featured in the film, and the film explores the elaborately structured ball competitions, where the contestants are judged on their dance talent, the beauty of their clothes and their ability to adhere to the categories.

The focus is on rival fashion "houses" (a term coined by legend Crystal LaBeija, and her successor of the Head of the House of LaBeija, Pepper LaBeija, is featured prominently in this film), showing us their competitions, the House "Mothers" and the experiences of being both queer and POC during the AIDs crisis.

It features legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women of colour - the main figures and fights for queer rights, and people that we, and especially US Americans, owe a lot to.

I think this film is a great starting point for an introduction to the people who helped build both the ball scene and the drag scene to the absolutely phenomenal standard it is today. It's also just ICONIC.

As for my question, something that is talked about a lot in this film is the ability to/act of "throwing shade" and the skill of "reading", both of which are terms coined by the black queer community and refer to subtle and/or clever ways of insulting or conveying disgust with someone or thing. So, and this is only tangentially related, what was your favourite line from Larray and Issa's "Cancelled Remix"?

(yeah, yeah, not as related as usual, however, I wanted everyone to be able to answer at least one question because my other question is:)

Have you seen this film? And if so, what did you think of it? (if you haven't seen it and end up watching it from this ask, please tell me what you think!! xx)

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

Ohhh I haven't seen the film:(( but it sounds quite interesting so I'm adding it to my list!

As for the Canceled line, all the George parts are brutal but "Bitch that's Harry from wish" made me laugh ohhh karl my karl he was serving cunt but the photographer did him dirty

[tailsrevane]

[movie review] the return of godzilla (1984)

“godzilla is the son of the atomic bomb. he is a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. he is the sacred beast of the apocalypse.” -tomoyuki tanaka

(cw: atomic bombings, various imperialist atrocities)

i kind of made it through most of the day we ended up watching this without noticing it was 9/11. it’s just not really something i notice anymore?

my heart genuinely goes out to anyone who was directly affected, but my heart also goes out to all the much, much greater number of people who have been affected by the u.s.’s wars of imperialist aggression for which 9/11 has served as a flimsy excuse despite not standing up to the slightest scrutiny.

it goes out to the people that this government is still allowing to be killed or maimed through criminal negligence by the ongoing pandemic that is ravaging the working class.

and i sit here incredibly angry that a historical footnote is treated like some kind of special tragedy when what followed has been so much worse, when what came before was so much worse.

you know what should be treated like 9/11? the days that the u.s. bombed hiroshima and nagasaki.

germany remembers auschwitz, remembers kristallnacht. americans should not remember the day this empire was given a black eye and some of us were caught in the crossfire. we should remember the acts of genocide that were committed against indigenous people. we should remember the enslavement of africans. we should remember the lynchings. we should remember the concentration camps fdr threw japanese americans into, the concentration camps every recent president has thrown latinx migrants into. we should remember the rates of mass incarceration that are absolutely unparalleled in the world today.

and we should remember the atomic bombings. we should remember that we are living in what is still the only country that has ever engaged in acts of nuclear war.

we should remember, and we should rise up and declare with one voice, NEVER AGAIN.

believe it or not, this is not some polemic occasioned merely by the day on which i happened to watch this film. return of godzilla is the first of the heisei era of godzilla films, and it resets the continuity such that only the 1954 original precedes it. for the purposes of this film, godzilla has been dead for 30 years, and life has sort of gotten back to normal.

that period of absence adds something so raw and real to his re-emergence. it makes him so like the atomic bomb he is so often associated with. there must be a strange sort of tension when that kind of threat is hanging over you. when it’s actually happened once, and all you can do is just pray it never happens again.

having godzilla once again positioned as an avatar of destruction, while not my preference, obviously opens things up quite a bit in terms of what you can say thematically. and i just love that the power fantasy this movie puts forward is the japanese prime minister standing up and saying “absolutely not” to using nuclear weapons on japanese soil, even to defeat godzilla. there are some qualifiers which i’ll get into momentarily, but i don’t want to breeze past the fact that i just love this as an aspiration.

the most clear-cut issue here is that this narrative doesn’t even come close to fitting the facts. in actuality, japan’s government was a more than willing partner in the u.s.’s belligerent foreign policy against the soviet union. still, for a narrative like this to be put forward in what was sure to be a massively popular movie in japan isn’t nothing! and i don’t want to lose sight of that.

a more insidious issue we get into here is the movie’s false equivalence between the u.s.s.r. who had a no-first strike policy and the u.s. who has very publicly refused to have one to this day, and who has engaged in dangerous nuclear sabre rattling basically constantly since--and i must belabor this--literally dropping atomic bombs on two japanese cities. (quick aside: russia dropped their no-first strike policy after the dissolution of the soviet union. yay capitalism and freedom, huh?)

where this gets thorny is that i don’t really think i’m in a position to lecture people who lived through actual nuclear attacks and their descendants on the difference between the u.s.’s nuclear bullying and the u.s.s.r.’s responses to the same, but they are very different. and the actions of the fictional soviet diplomat depicted here just do not ring true to me at all.

but, yeah. the resemblances between this and the first film are actually kind of uncanny. the majority of the runtime is just very straightforwardly about people being terrified of a giant kaiju destroying their city. he basically picks up right where he left off, but with much improved special effects which is no small thing in this kind of movie.

the 1954 film still blows this out of the water for so many reasons, but i don’t want to understate how cool it is seeing a much more modern-looking kaiju movie. this looks like it easily could’ve been made sometime in the last few years. and that rules!

big picture wise, i much prefer a heroic godzilla. i just like the kinds of stories you can tell with him, and just… ok, i’ll be superficial here. he’s really hot, you guys. i’m such a simp for him. i don’t want him to have to get his ass kicked all the time!!!

but, yeah. this recaptures a lot of what made the original movie so good, and it’s a really good jumping off point to continue the series.

a-rank

[analytically]

Literally all your post says is “immigrants have special privileges that native born Americans don’t have.” Oh they have more upward mobility? They do better economically? Cool, I hope all their wealth is seized and given to me.

Then you use the pilgrims and Indians as an example? Okay. This land used to have people who lived in teepees and practiced shamanism as the majority. Then, the pilgrims immigrated over, who lived in houses and practiced Protestantism. Guess what happened next? The immigrants replaced what the natives. No more teepees and shamanism, it was all houses and Protestantism. It didn’t end well for the red Indians, btw. Telling me that I am analogous to a red Indian, and the latinx cartels are like the pilgrims, it does NOT make me want to accept more immigrants.

And the Sweden thing is a matter of public record

(context 1, 2, 3)

if you have a lower income than some immigrant, they will most likely be contributing more to the government in taxes than you. that's not quite seizing their wealth; I think total wealth redistribution is a bad idea, but that's not mutually exclusive with immigration. It’s also not true that doing better economically is always caused by “special privileges”; one theory for why kids of immigrants have more upward mobility is that their families push them to do well in school and study hard so they can have a better life in the US. (also the people I was referring to who do better economically are native-born Americans with citizenship whose parents are immigrants; my thesis is that immigration doesn’t have long-term negative effects.)

I agree with you that cultural destruction and persecution of the Native Americans was wrong, although i doubt it will repeat itself (note that there have been many dozens of millions of immigrants since the pilgrims, and houses and protestantism are still going strong).

But what I was trying to get at are that most Americans are the descendants of immigrants, which is why I have a hard time understanding your point about Americans making America what it is. If immigrants become "Americans" in your eyes after a generation or two, then presumably it's fine to let more people in? If not, can you explain why the current immigration situation is different than the other periods of sustained immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries? (Or do you think the US would've been better off without those?)

you mention "Latinx cartels" as a concern. I support in most cases immigration restrictions for violent criminals and deporting non-citizens who commit violent crimes; the vast majority of immigrants (as well as a vast majority of Latinos) are not cartel members. I also was not trying to make an analogy between current nonindigenous Americans and pre-1607 indigenous Americans; sorry if that was unclear.

[writingwithcolor]

WLW Japanese Buddhist Who Uses Ghosts for Powers, has Ghost GF

@kanehon submitted:

Hello! I’m Latinx, planning a story set in a Urban Fantasy-equivalent of my own city. One of the main characters is Japanese-coded, as my city also has a large immigrant population, I plan to include her family as background characters too. In this setting almost everyone has some kind of magic power, or is a magical creature, so that is seen as normal and common. For this character I planned for her to be able to interact with ghosts and, only if she allows, they can possess her to do things she wouldn’t be able otherwise.

In the story she’s a Coroner and her powers would help with that, talking to them, viewing their side of the story, etc. Not only that, but there is the ghost of one woman in particular who is often with her, with them being lovers.

However, when considering the character’s religious beliefs, I could only find that in Shinto, Death is seen as impure so it seemed disrespectful to go with that. On the other hand, when I looked up at Buddhist views, the best I could find was that Buddhism views organ donating positively as a way to help the others.

Can I respectfully keep those powers/profession with her being Buddhist, being that she uses it to help people, or would it be better to not mix the two things and take a different route entirely? Is there something I’m overlooking and should be aware of?

Secondly, the ghost lover is a butch Japanese-coded woman, Are there any stereotypes I should be aware of and avoid? This is not the only queer relationship or character in the story, and I want to make sure those are shown in a positive light. Ideally, I also want to avoid it seeming like “bury your gays” by showing that, she is as much “There” as anyone else for my character thanks to her powers.

I think a key difference between Japanese versus Western views on ghosts/ spirits is that we differentiate between 幽霊 (yuurei) or specters and 精霊 (seirei) which are the spirits/ souls of the dead as a whole. Yuurei are almost always viewed negatively, while seirei are simply dead people who haven’t moved on. While seirei may have general attachments to the real world, yuurei have particularly negative attachments: desire for vengeance, memories of betrayal, histories of pain and oppression. The key point for both, however, is the cultural belief that both should move on. 

As you say, in Shinto traditions, death is unclean, and so ghosts should be purified and go to the underworld (i.e. Yomi/ Yominokuni/ Yomotsukuni). In Buddhism, attachment is viewed as a barrier to achieving enlightenment (Nirvana/ Nehan) and thus, for a ghost, attachments to a previous life delay their re-entry into Samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth necessary for their soul’s spiritual progression. Thus, even if your coroner character is only culturally Japanese-coded (and not religious in any way), I imagine they would feel some level of discomfort doing anything to allow a dead person’s spirit to linger. Thus, I question the utility of having their love interest character be a ghost. I can picture more transactional relationships where her interactions with ghosts and use of their powers are done in the interest of helping the ghosts move on such as: 

Completion of a task left undone

Resolving regrets

Pacifying malevolent specters

However all of the above are poor fits for a long-term love interest, particularly one who is Japanese-coded themselves. A short, intimate fling with a ghost would certainly be an interesting pitch, but the distinct expiration date would make it quite bittersweet.

- Marika

One thing that stood out to me was that you are Latinx writing a story set in your own culture, which I figure has its own beliefs around ghosts. Considering, as Marika said, that you’re employing ghosts in your story in a way that doesn’t jive with Japanese Buddhist-Shinto beliefs, I think it may be better to draw from your local religious lore rather than to push a round peg in a square hole. Is your character’s Buddhism important to the plot, or did you make her Buddhist because she’s Japanese? Is your character’s Japanese-ness important to the plot, or did you make her Japanese because it was one of the more populous minorities in your home city/country? 

Second: with regard to the girlfriend herself, I must stress that a deceased gay character does not inherently a “bury your gays” make. You do appear to have a sense of this as you mention her “there”-ness in the plot, but that’s exactly why you had nothing to worry about in the first place. The trope, and the issue with it, is withholding the happy ending of, AND screentime for, a queer character, because they are seen as disposable. A story can even bury-its-gays without actually killing them (comas, disappearances, abruptly written off the show, etc). Death is not the important component. 

Also, I don’t think we are able to answer to the point of the girlfriends’ butch Japanese-ness because you gave us no other information about her personality, ethnic/immigrant background, or relationship dynamic with the coroner. 

~ Mod Rina

Note: Due to Japanese pop culture, the notion of the yuurei vs. seirei divide has blurred, particularly as Westernized notions of ghosts/ apparitions have made their way into urban legends, manga and anime, however, I advise against going with these interpretations as we have more than enough of them in Japan already.  

- Marika

[spanishskulduggery]

Hi! I'm very curious about something regarding the Spanish language. I'm currently studying A2 Spanish but I had this question and my teacher did not seem too willing to discuss it. Here it goes:

I know that Spanish has, something my Spanish teacher says, linguistic gender. I was wondering how do the people who don't align themselves with the gender binary (masculine and feminine) speak/write in it? I have read this article about Spanish speaking people from US adding "x" Or "@" and people from Argentina using "e" to make the words gender neutral.

Thank you so much for responding, whenever you get to it. Also love your blog. ❤

Short answer, in general speaking terms people are tending towards the -e now because the other two are very hard to actually speak, and because Spanish-speakers feel the -e is more authentic

What you're most likely to see in Spanish is masculine plural as the default, or in written things you might see todos y todas or like un/una alumno/a "a student", or like se busca empleado/a "employees wanted" / "looking for an employee"

If it's something official or academic you typically include both [todas y todas] or you go masculine plural [todos] unless it's specifically feminine plural

-

Related, linguistic gender applies to all things, not just people. Why is la mesa "table" feminine, but el libro "book" masculine? Just linguistic gender. I can tell you that most loanwords (that aren't people) in Spanish are masculine, and that there are certain words that come from Greek are masculine, and that -ista words are unisex most of the time... And I can tell you there are some words like testigo or modelo that are unisex and don't change for gender. Aside from that, speaking about nouns and grammatical gender... those particular things are harder to parse for regular people, but if you go into the field of linguistics you can explore that more deeply. Some of it is source language (i.e. "it came from Latin this way") or things like that. And in general when talking about nouns it's unimportant and not considered sexist, that's just how it is.

There is such a thing where it gets a little too far the other way and people will say "history? what about herstory" which is a nice thought but the etymology has nothing to do with gender there

When it comes to people - and when it comes to gendered attitudes - that's where it gets more confusing and more complicated.

I believe there was an experiment where people had French and Spanish speakers [I believe it was Spanish] try to identify how a "fork" would sound. French people gave it a more feminine voice because "fork" is feminine in French, while Spanish speakers gave it a more masculine voice because it's masculine in Spanish.

Whether we like it or not, certain gendered things do influence our thoughts and feelings and reactions. A similar thing in English exists where the old joke was something like "There was a car accident; a boy is rushed to the ER and the surgeon but the father was killed. When they got to the ER the doctor said 'I can't operate on him, he's my son!'" and it's like "well who could the doctor be?" ...and the doctor is his mother. We associate "doctor" as masculine and "nurse" as feminine.

There's a gender bias in our language thought patterns, even though the language changes. And that does exist in Spanish too, to different extents.

There are certain cultural and gendered stereotypes or connotations attached to certain words, many tend to be more despective or pejorative when it's women.

For example - and I know this has changed in many places or it isn't as prevalent - el jinete "horseman/rider", while the female form is la amazona "horsewoman/rider". Because la jinete or la jineta was sometimes "promiscuous woman".

There were also debates about things like la presidente vs. la presidenta or what the female version of juez should be, whether it should be la juez or la jueza

Most languages with gendered language have varying degrees of this, and all languages I'm aware of have gendered stereotypes related to professions or cultural attitudes in some way, and not just for women, and not all in the same way with some of them being very culturally based

-

The longer answer involves a bit of history, and I'll be honest, some of it is contested or considered a little controversial in Spanish-speaking countries particularly in the conservative parts (which honestly should come as no surprise)

The first symbol that I know of that came about was the X

First piece of contested history: As far as I know, it was the trans/queer and drag communities in Latin America who started the trend of X. When there were signs or bulletins that had the gendered endings - specifically masculine plural as the default plural - people would write a big X through the O. This was a way of being inclusive and also a very smash the patriarchy move.

Some people attribute this to women's rights activists which may also be true, but a good portion of the things I read from people say it was the trans/queer/drag communities in Latin America doing this.

I've also read it originated in Brazil with Portuguese; still Latin America, but not a Spanish-speaking country.

Where it's most contested is that some people will say that this trend started in the Hispanic communities of the United States. And - not without reason - people are upset that this is perceived as a very gringo movement.

That's why Latinx is considered a very American-Hispanic experience

-

The arroba (@) is relatively new. I remember seeing it in the 2000s. I don't know if it existed earlier for gender inclusivity.

People used it because it looks like a combination of O and A, so it was meant to be cut down on saying things like todos y todas or niños y niñas in informal written speech

I remember quite a few (informal) emails starting like hola tod@s or muy buenas a tod@s or things like that

I think of it more as convenience especially in the information age where you never knew who you were talking to and it's easier than including both words, especially when masculine plural might be clumsy or insensitive

Still, it's practically impossible to use the @ in spoken Spanish, so it's better for writing casually. You also likely won't be allowed to use the @ in anything academic, but in chatrooms, blogs, or forums it's an option

-

I love the E ending. And the gender neutral form in singular is elle... so it's él "he", ella "she", and elle "they (singular)"

The -e ending is I think became more common within the past 10 years though it might have existed longer than that. These sorts of changes tend to come from the queer or trans communities and tend to be more insular before becoming more of an outside thing that then the general population finds out about

It came about because there are some adjectives in Spanish that end in -e that are unisex. It's not an A, it's not an O, but it's something grammatically neutral for Spanish

It's not as awkward as X, and E exists very firmly in Spanish so it's not perceived as some outside (typically gringo) influence

The good news is, it's pretty widespread on the internet. Not so much in person (yet), but especially in Spain and Argentina at least from what I've seen, particularly in the queer communities and online culture.

The only issues with it are that for non-native speakers, you have to get used to any spelling changes. Like amigo and amiga, but to use the E ending you have to add a U... so it's amigue.

That's because there are certain words where you have to do spelling changes to preserve the sound; gue has a hard G sound like -go does [like guerra]... but ge has the equivalent of an English H sound [gelatina for example]. Another one is cómico/a "funny" which would go to cómique. Again, because co has a hard C/K sound, while ce is a soft sound more like an S or in some contexts TH/Z sound; like centro is a soft sound, while cola is a hard sound

Unless you make it to the preterite forms where you come across like pagué, alcancé, practiqué with those types of endings... or subjunctive forms, pague, alcance, practique ... Basically you'd have to be exposed to those spelling rules or you'd be really confused if you were a total beginner.

It all makes sense when you speak it, but spelling might be harder before you learn those rules

The other drawback is that the E endings are sometimes not applicable. Like in damas y caballeros "ladies and gentlemen" there's not really a gender neutral variation on that, it's all binary there. And while la caballero "female knight" does exist, you'd never see a male variation on dama; the closest I've ever seen is calling a guy a damisela en apuros "damsel in distress" in some contexts where the man needs rescuing, and it's feminine una/la damisela, and it's very tongue-in-cheek

There are also some contexts like jefe vs jefa where I guess you would say jefe for "boss" if you were going the neutral route, but it's a bit weird because it's also the masculine option.

I can't speak for how people might feel about those if they're non-binary or agender because every so often you kind of get forced into the binary whether you like it or not

I totally support the E, I just recognize there are some limitations there and it's quirks of the Spanish language itself

Important Note: Just to reiterate, E endings are the ones most Spanish-speakers prefer because it's easiest to speak and doesn't have the American connotation that X does in some circles

-

Where it gets very "Facebook comment section" is that you'll see many Latin Americans traditionalists and conservatives claim that "this is just the gringos colonizing our language" and "grammatical gender doesn't matter in Spanish". They'll say that the "gender movement" is an American feminist movement and that it's a gringo thing and doesn't reflect actual Latin Americans or Spanish-speakers

Which on the one hand, yes, English does have a lot of undue influence on other languages because of colonization, and American influence and meddling in Latin American politics is a big important issue

But as far as I'm aware of the X (and especially the E) were created by Latin Americans

The other issue I personally have is that any time this conversation comes up, someone will say something like somos latinOs and claim that masculine plural is gender neutral

To that I say, first of all, "masculine plural" is inherently gendered. Additionally, there is a gender neutral in Spanish but it's lo or ello and it's only used with "it" so it sounds very unfriendly to use on an actual person... and in plural it looks like masculine plural and everything applies like masculine plural

Second, the reason masculine plural is default is because of machismo. It's more important that we don't possibly misgender a man, so it has to be masculine plural. It's changed in some places, but growing up when I was learning Spanish, if it was 99 women and 1 man you still had to put masculine plural

I'm not opposed to there being a default, and I understand why it's easier to use masculine plural, but some people get very upset at the idea of inclusive language

...

In general, my biggest issues with these comments come when people act like non-binary/queer/trans people don't exist in Spanish-speaking countries, like English invented them somehow. So it's nice to see linguistic self-determination and seeing native speakers using the E endings.

[choicesenthusiast]

Representation at Pixelberry: The Follow-Up

One year ago, on June 15, 2020, Pixelberry released a statement regarding representation at the company. Here is the LINK to the original blog post, and here was MY RESPONSE. Oh, how naïve and optimistic I was. It contained a list of goals and promises they hoped to accomplish within a year. Well, a year has passed, and here is my attempt to hold PB accountable. I'll be going over the five main points of their representation plan and if they achieved what they promised. All criticisms are about content released after June 15th. Long post beware, but I'm not putting it under a read more because I feel like it's important for all to see.

1. Commitment to diversity of Love Interests - FAIL

We’ve already been moving towards having Love Interests have customizable skin tones. We will continue to do this with some stories, while also having some characters with clear ethnic identities. At the same time when we have multiple love interests of different ethnicities, we are aiming for those Love Interests to have equal game time.

"LIs with customizable skin tones" mean they come in three flavours: white, black, and ambiguously Asian/Latinx interchangeably. So far I have rarely seen an LI as connected to their culture/ethnicity as Rafael Aveiro, and he just talked about his Vovo's food if he ever were on screen. They had many chances with the other OH LIs as well. Even Ayna Seth and Tatum Mendoza were confirmed to be Indian and Filipino, respectively, though FA gets a little leeway, as it was set in a fictional west-European continent.

As for equal game time? I'm sure the biggest example we can all think of was the mess that was Open Heart 3, which was written during the hiatus (which only existed because they were going to straight up kill Rafael in Book 2). Game time was not equal among LIs, and the white male LI was heavily favoured. PB also continues to pay female LIs dirt by giving them no screen time. In addition to that, LGBT+ players, who are consistently underrepresented, receive one (1) unprepared pride month survey, prpbably only because someone asked them about it on Twitter.

This is the meat and potatoes of everything because it's what they're outputting to their audience. It's what the people see. Given that things haven't been going so well lately in this department, consider this promise a big fat fail.

2. More authentic and diverse hairstyles for people of color - QUESTIONABLE

Our team will focus on providing more authentic and representative hairstyles. We are prioritizing these hairstyles outside of our normal book processes and will introduce them in new books as they are ready.

While, yes, they have added two new hairstyles in WEH, they also just took Jade Bonet's hair and recycled it for LoA F!MC. PB recycles all their hair more often than not.

3. More diverse book covers - QUESTIONABLE

This is an initiative we started in January of this year. As a result the number of Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, mixed, and other characters on new book covers increased from 35% of characters in 2019 to 60% characters in the first half of 2020. However, the number of black characters is still not high enough this year. More are already scheduled for books later this year. We will make sure that Black characters are well represented on our covers in the future.

"Diverse" does not just mean by race, but also gender, sexual orientation, etc. FA has the only recent MLM cover. And don't tell me that the FA and LoA covers are any different from each other. The only black characters on covers are Zoey Wade (QB), and Black!Gabe Ricci (LoA) and Bastien (WB), which aren't even their canon races unless you choose them to be. This is the case for many single-LI books, such as Cassian Keane (W:ABR, which technically premiered on Mar. 16, but the sentiment is the same), Sam Dalton (TNA), and Dakota Winchester (WEH). Not to mention the customizable/multi LI books like DS, RT, BaBu2, MTFL, etc. Majority of these covers are just cishet couples delicately cradling each other's bodies or whatever. And we're not even gonna get into how PB literally put the Open Heart LIs in order of their favouritism on Book 3's cover.

4. Writers/Staff - QUESTIONABLE

We will be engaging in professional training on historical and current racism for our writers to ensure more of them have a better understanding and more context for views of diverse characters in Choices. We will also create a program that gives more authority to people of color in the studio to advise writers and artists on more authentic portrayals in both writing and art of black, brown, and minority characters.

A story with a Black-led cast is something I have asked for in the past, but failed to follow-up on. We will very likely start this with a Black-led cast story led by Chelsa, one of Pixelberry's Black writers.

We will increase the number of diverse writers we source for new stories, starting with hiring more Black and Latinx writers to lead the charge.

For all teams at Pixelberry we will actively work to bring in more Black and Latinx candidates with the goal to increase the number of Black and Latinx employees at Pixelberry. Although Pixelberry is over 50% female, on teams where females are not at 50% we will actively work to source more female candidates.

This promise seemed like a copout from the start because we have no way of knowing who works on what at PB unless we very meticulously stalk their LinkedIn or Twitter or whatever. We have no solid statistics except for what they feed us. I do know, however, that they recently let the Ms. Match writers go and were hiring for external writers, but there really is no way of knowing what's going on behind-the-scenes with their 112+ employees, and of course there would be NDAs involved. We are yet to see a book with an all-Black cast, and receive rare development updates with new books. Actually, I think a really good way to promote diversity is to do staff showcases on their social media. Just a way to show the public who's responsible for what. Writers, game devs, the art team, etc. Don't think it'll happen, but it's always a good idea.

5. Donations - QUESTIONABLE

Pixelberry will also be making $100,000 in donations to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective at Techqueria. Rather than as a lump sum, we will be making these donations over the course of a year to remind us that we are not making short term changes, but are committed to long term sustainable actions. We’ll also be donating up to an additional $100k from profits for this week, 6/15-6/21.

There has been no proof, no receipts, no evidence from PB that they have donated anything to anyone, and as far as we're concerned, their word doesn't mean anything. No news or updates news about it. I would love to believe that they did something, but as you can see, I've become quite the pessimist. BWC still uses PB's old logo (like, pre-Choices) on their sponsors page, and the last interaction they've had with BGC was in 2013. They don't even follow each other on Instagram. In fact, BGC received a huge donation from MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos last July. Yes, that billionaire Bezos, and that got coverage from them. Obviously donations don't need to be for publicity, but in this case I think it's important there should be proof. Again, it's really hard to tell with these behind-the-scenes things, but given how PB loves to gloat and hates to keep promises, we can assume that none of this happened.

~~~

So, what's the takeaway? That PB's fallen down the drainhole of shitty content and empty promises and has no intention of climbing out as long as they still make that bank? Seems counterproductive, because good representation gets good feedback and income. They pump out bad books with barebones "representation" if you can call it that, then drop their precious merch and pretend all is fine and dandy. But just as I suspected one year ago, none of this matters, because people forget things, and people move on, and shit gets swept under rugs. Yet, here I am, yelling at a company in a post I for sure doubt they'll see. Because if not me, then who?

@playchoices Your move. It's been your move for a year now. When will you actually make it?

[100hearteyes]

I hate to say this as I’m sure it makes people uncomfortable but ppl pull pro Kate (yes a lot on Twitter but there’s some on tumblr too) because she’s white. Even if ppl don’t mean it from that internal bias is stronger than we think it is. If you’ve been around in other wlw fandoms where it’s an interracial ship almost always the fandom chooses the side of the white woman or in the cases like thundergrace or kadena the non black woc. Especially for the aforementioned people latched onto grace & adena (and their actresses) very often at the expense of anissa & kat who were the main characters. Idk if this ever gets talked about but it’s something I’ve noticed in fandom quite often. The same thing happens with straight ships as well. Obviously most people aren’t doing it intentionally but once you notice it it’s hard not to see it continuously happen

It does happen, definitely. Idk if that's the case in this specific situation, also because a few of the big Twitter names playing into the Kate/Lucy imbalance are black or Latinx (hope I'm using the right terms, please correct me if I'm not). So idk. I'm not in people's heads 😅

But it IS a thing that happens, definitely. I've also seen a lot of hate against Alicia (Asian) from TSLOCG, much more than against Leighton (ideal scenario would be no wlw character getting any hate ever 🤷🏻‍♀️).

I'm sorry for the wishy-washy response, but me, a white person (Not Mexican, Las Vegas 🙄), pointing fingers at people of color and calling them racist would be bewildering at best.

[workinacc]

Okay, this is a very different post to what y’all are used to but I feel like speaking up about something personal to me.

A huge discourse that I’ve been stumbling upon everywhere lateley is the use of latino, latina and latinx. It’s very interesting and most people who go around talking about it have some good points while others have their hearts on the right place but aren’t saying the right things. So, as a latino person I want to talk about my own thoughts on the matter. 

When it comes to language, it is very easy to put words and sounds that, to the english language, might sound better or worse depending on their pronunciation. But I want to be real with you, how do you even pronounce the word latinx?

Back in the day, specifically in my country, there was a discourse about it. People weren’t able to pronounce the word latinx and found it ridiculous, which is quite the reception... You see, I am aware it isn’t the case for every latin american or hispanic person but one of the biggest issues in our countries, specifically mine, is the accpetance of new words (and gender discuourses, but that’s for another day) and their ussage in the right way. When the use of x behind a word started to be spread, the missunderstanding and ignorance led to more issues than solutions.

And then, the introduction to adding an e came by. And it was easier to pronunce, you know? You could say: Salí con mi amigue ayer or maybe yo sabia que eras une experte en esto. It felt natural, easier to use. I myself found it smoother and easier to use while speaking my mother language. 

So, with this out of the way, let’s talk about the term latinx vs latine. Which one can you pronounce? If you said both, congrats! You have a very flexible language. But most latino people can’t pronounce it like that, and isn’t the point of this title to be for latinos and not for americans or europeans to say?

There is also the thing about “latino” being used for speaking about a general public. And that’s true. Most people in latin america and other countries with similar languages use the “O” at the end of a word to signify a general term. For example: Guada y Alejo vinieron a comer hoy, NOSOTROS vamos al cine después. Of course, some people will use the “E” instead, but the point is that latino people manage to use a title MADE FOR THEM with ease and comfort. After all, you don’t buy an outfit for your friend with the idea of your own joy and prefferense in mind, do you?

And finally, if you are saying “Oh, but I can’t pronounce the word latinx either and I’m an american/european!” then... I’m pretty sure you can see the problem as well.

Love, a latino person.

[slowlivingalmanac]

this is the beginning

I received notice that my repurchase of the domain “slowlivingalmanac.com” went through just fine the other day. I had these dreams of starting a blog and being part of a larger online community full of other folks who were desperately trying to take back hold of the reins of their lives.

Slow living started as a movement for sustainable, local, organic, whole foods (a movement I sure know a ton about), but is now an umbrella term for anyone who is trying to live with the seasons, reintegrate with the natural world, and chill the fuck out. For me, slow living must also be anti-capitalist and anti-oppressive. It’s ambitious to be either in the United States of America, but we shall persist.

Now, when I first purchased this domain, I expected to fill this blog with exercises of resistance and also learn how to better connect with my real-life community as an anxious introvert. I needed guidance as much as I craved guiding others who felt the same way as me.

Craving connection is part of the human condition and yet finding connection is getting increasingly harder. How can a human compete with a smart phone these days?

On top of all these ideals and aspirations to live slowly, I was burning out fast in my job. A job that, on paper, was my dream job. I was working at a local non-profit that was dedicated to supporting local farmers and helping them find ways their feed their community. My role was to run food access programs for folks who historically have lacked sustainable, local, organic, and whole foods.

The food system in the USA began as a venture capitalist program that only “succeeded” (using this term very loosely) because European colonists came to this continent to steal land from Indigenous peoples and then kidnap and enslave African peoples to build this food system for them. They nearly wiped out the native food system on top of committing genocide to do so. Today, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities face rates of hunger 2x or more than white communities.

Now, I burnt out in my role for many reasons. But the main reason I burnt out was because non-profits are designed to exploit workers just like any other industry in this country. We are overworked, underpaid, and asked to solve the country’s failures with unsustainable funding.

After 4 years of working in the food access field, at an organization that shared the original values of slow living, I quit without notice because my burnout was devastating my health. I was in mental health crisis and my body was sending out every warning sign it could for at least 6 months before I finally listened.

I had to leave abruptly to save myself.

If that sounds dramatic, trust me it was. I had watched dozens of colleagues cycle through my last organization over the course of my tenure (some lasted only 90 days before fizzling out completely). My weeks were full of meetings with folks from all over the city strategizing on how to uplift sustainable food systems for all, but nobody was talking about sustainability for ourselves. And then hardly anyone wanted to talk about how racism and capitalism played the largest role in creating the failing food system we have today. And shit, if you did talk about it, you had a target on your back. Something I knew all too well.

Slow living, for me, is an exercise in resistance, boundaries, and justice. Much to the chagrin of those early European capitalists, I was not born to work and make others money. None of us were. We, like our animal and plant companions, have unalienable rights. Yet, capitalists would try to convince us that our sole purpose is to burn through natural resources, tend to grass lawns, and if you’re the owner of a uterus, create the next generation of workers.

After almost 7 years of wanting to start a blog, here I am. Ready and desperate to start this new journey towards a life full of meaning and slow living.  

[space-malex]

They don't like that Tyler didn't react the way they wanted him to (quit the show) when he found out he's not actually native. Meanwhile, Heather can call people triggered by sexual assault "noise" but it's ok because she's not white. Neither situation is great but can't villainize one person and ignore another.

I don’t think Heather should be hated on either. I don’t really like the term that she used, but I also know that she had to have been getting tons of personal hate after the scene aired, because a lot of people get mad at the actor instead of the character. It’s stupid but it’s what happens. And vice versa. Sometimes people who don’t like an actor hate the character even though the character is totally different. So I think that she was probably just sensitive at that time because I know that she was being hated on personally.

As for Tyler, I am not going to judge people who were personally affected and offended by him playing a NA character when he’s not NA. What bothers me is that it’s totally out there that Tyler never deceived anybody on purpose (and don’t get me started on the performative white activism). Tyler was misinformed by a close family member and took a couple of roles based on that. Although I don’t think Caleb was ever identified as non-white, they wanted someone who was “ethnic” or non-white looking. Alex they were looking for someone with NA heritage, but again at that time Tyler was working with incorrect information. When he did find out, they were already filming and he was not recast. He never lied and was up front during the podcast. Now if you’re going to get mad at Tyler, you cannot ignore the bigger issue in Hollywood when it comes to casting people for marginalized roles when the person itself is not in that particular position. This goes for queer and trans people, people playing a certain race or ethnicity when they aren’t part of that group, etc.

While I understand people wanting some kind of apology, what Tyler did wasn’t a deliberate lie or deceit. He didn’t purposefully take a NA role knowing he wasn’t NA. So you can’t really say he took it away from anybody else because at the time he took it, he thought he was. Hindsight is 20/20. You can’t retroactively blame somebody for something they didn’t know. And anyway, for some, an apology wouldn’t be enough anyway. They want Tyler to rake himself over the coals and they want him to leave the role, which makes zero sense at this point.

It’s especially frustrating to me because Alex is the only gay character on the show, and he is played by an actual queer man. So Tyler still is part of a marginalized group playing a marginalized character. 

Why don’t people constantly talk about straight cis white man Nathan who is a conservative and follows a bunch of extreme right wingers on Insta and Twitter? That’s cool just because he hasn’t said he’s conservative out loud? But no let’s pick on the only queer actor on the show (at least as far as we know).

Furthermore, when people act like it has nothing to do with shipping, I call bullshit. And again I will use Nathan as an example. I mean not to make him a scapegoat, but when Max is a cop being a cop or when he kisses a Latinx woman, no one finds a reason to remind everyone that he supports a racist/homophobic/xenophobic political party. Yet malex going canon brings alllll the Tyler/Alex hate out of the woodwork. Funny, that.

But Tyler is the devil I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[algumaideia]

I read more chapters of Loveless and more stuff that I think is worthy mention:

SPOILERS

Pip, a latina character says latinx. And as a latina I dislike it. It is just that this term doesn't work for Portuguese and Spanish speakers, but maybe it is different for latinos that were born/raised in English speaking countries. (Just use latino or latine please)

In the book there is a short talk about how being poc intersects with being queer. And since I'm a white closed ace, I'm not going to say if the author did it right. I just think it is nice this topic is talked about in the book.

Other interisting thing is a gay character being aphobic. Unfortunetely this is a thing, the lgbt community is, a lot of times, not accepting of aspec folks. And I think it is nice Alice talked about it. So, again if you don't feel like reading characters being aphobic, don't read this book. The aphobic character is framed as bad, as a "villain". But if this is not you're thing, that is not your thing.

Two thing that I forgot to put in my last post about the book:

1. How Georgia is always thinking: I know this person is attractive but I don't feel attracted to them. I never thought that. Maybe that is because I only discovered I was ace two weeks ago and I thought that just looking at someone and thinking they are good looking was feeling attracted to them. But I don't have those thoughts. It is just, wow this person is beautiful and that is it.

2. And she also says she doesn't have a type. And I kinda do?? Not in the way that with this type of person I have sexual thoughts, but I just tend to think that people who look in that certain way are more aesthetically attractive. Again, I just look and them and think: beautiful.

And now, this books it getting kinda good.

Seriously I'm so happy Georgia finally decided to talk with Sunil about his asexual flag pin. I was so tired of her trying to force herself to be in relationships, especially because she put Jason in the middle of that mess and I kinda like him. I get this is a thing aspec folks do, and this was a part of her journey. But I am mean and I didn't like her so I was just annoyed with her drama. And just asking all the time why she didn't speak with Sunil.

Btw Sunil is the only character I like. He is my fav character. Now let's talk about Sunil explaining asexuality to Georgia:

I'm gonna put quotes of the book here.

[ID: Dialogue from Loveless:

'So...' I thought about this 'That means... you don't want to have sex with anyone?'

He chuckled. 'Not necessarily. Some asexual people feel that way. But some don't'

Now I was just confused. Sunil could tell /.end ID]

And this is relatable. I also was confused about this. The difference between looking at someone and thinking about doing sex and just wanting to do sex. So yeah, nice.

[ID: Dialogue from Loveless:

'Some asexuals still enjoy having sex, for a whole variety of reason,' he continued. 'I think that's why a lot of people find it confusing. But some asexuals don't like sex at all, and some are just neutral about it. Some asexuals still feel romantic attracton to people - wanting to be in relationships, or even kiss people, for example. But others don't want romantic relationships at all. It's a big, big spectrum with a whole range of different feelings and experiences. And there's really no way to tell how one specific person feels, even it they openly describe themselfes as asexual.' /.end ID]

I liked this part, I think it explained the ace spectrum quite well. I mean is the first time Georgia has a real contact with what asexuality means.

[ID: Dialogue from Loveless:

...didn't understand. 'Asexuality means I'm not sexually attracted to any gender. So I don't look at men, or women, or anyone, and think, wow, I want to do sexy stuff with them'

This made me snort. 'Does anyone actually think stuff like that?'

Sunil smiled, but it was a sad smile. 'Maybe not in those exact words, but yes, most people think stuff like that'

This shook me. 'Oh' /.end. ID]

I also didn't believe when I discover that happened and books, movies, series do not exaggerate when they portray sexual attraction. Like, it is just so weird to think that people just feel sexual attracion for strangers. Really, how? How can you look at someone and have sexual thoughts/desires about them???

Sunil is homoromantic. That is all I needed to know. Now I'm oficially shipping him with Jason. Is this because they are the only characters I like in this book? Yes, but I don't care.

[ID: Dialogue from Loveless:

'So romantic attraction is different from sexual attraction?'

'For some people they feel like different things, yes.' said Sunil. 'So some people find it useful to define those two aspects of their attraction differently.'

'Oh.' I didn't know how I felt about that. What I felt was so whole - it didn't feel like two different things.

'Jess- she's aromantic, meaingn she doesn't feel romantic attraction for anyone. She's also bisexual. She won't mind me telling you that. She finds a lot of people physically attractive, but she just doesn't fall in love with them.'/.end ID]

I also think it is nice Alice made sure to say asexuality and aromantism are two different things and people can be one without being another. They are not the same thing. They come from the lack of two different types of attractions. And it is nice we have our mc, who is obviously aroace, a gay ace character and a bi aro character. Different aspec people. And just a warning, Georgia has a aphobic(?) reaction to it. She thinks it is sad Jess is aromantic and cannot love the people she feels physically attracted to.

This is not like a deep analysis, but overall I liked it. It is a good first contact with asexuality and aromantism. But Idk maybe people feel other way??

Best regards,

Me.

Ps. I hope I did the image description is right.