#and cultural commentary

[oh-katsuki]

i hold the INCREDIBLY strong opinion that hellfire is the best disney villain theme song. the orchestra, the composition, the animation sequence.... the LYRICS?? all of it is so fucking haunting. the hunchback of notre dame was kind of outside of the scope of things disney makes and it was sort of a gamble on whether or not audiences would react well to it. it paid off with story and animation nerds, but actually fell relatively "flat" for a disney film with general audiences.

hunchback didn't have any of the magic that is characteristic of disney movies. there were no spells or witches or magic solutions to problems, save for the gargoyles. it's a film about natural born evil and human reactions to those problems. it's very heavy handed talking about cultural problems that disney films rarely ever touch on so directly, as well as a critique of catholic hypocrisy present in the church. which is arguably... not disney.

hellfire, as a villain song, is so poignant and so outside of the scope of what disney usually creates. it's definitely one of the darkest disney songs, dealing with the concept of sexual desire in conflict with oppressive and hypocritical religious morals. in the movie, frollo is a judge instead of the archdeacon of the church (like he is in the book), though i think it's pretty clear to the audience that frollo is meant to be a religious authoritative figure regardless of his actual title.

the song builds this horrifying sense of dread and entitlement, particularly surrounding frollo's desire to own esmeralda, as well as the deadly blame he places on her for his own sexual desire. it's a song that shifts the fault for his own feelings onto a woman who is already part of an oppressed demographic and one whose narrative renders her powerless in the face of frollo's desired punishment. he's a "pure" character, but his claims to purity are grounded purely in his superiority over others, specifically the cultural group that esmeralda descends from.

it's a desperate rationalization of his feelings and a miserable display of his relinquishment of responsibility in the situation. a prayer sent from a hypocritical man to his hypocritical god. and in his desperation to absolve himself of his sins, he falls deeper into his own.

the chorus in the background chants the confiteor, which is a gregorian confession of sins, but paired with frollo's message, it's not quite a confession of frollo's sins. rather, the implication is that frollo is confessing what he views to be esmeralda's sins, which in turn are having an affect on his own. he absolves himself of guilt by confessing them, but in turn does nothing to actually seek the root of the problem, which is his own objectification of esmeralda and the dehumanization of the cultural group that she's a part of.

the gregorian chant also condemns frollo, showing the audience that despite his backwards confession, he will continue to sin. he confesses to them, but the chorus and the "eyes of notre dame" will damn him anyway because he fails to take responsibility for his own actions.

truthfully, the whole song is a chilling display of the hypocrisy of the church, as well as one of the hypocrisy of man in regards to their views of women. and it's complimented by the music and the swelling orchestra, which highlight claude frollo's anguish and violent internal struggle.

the animation is dark as well, particularly with the way the chorus or "saints" judge frollo as he tries to justify his own feelings, pleading for his eternal soul from his predestined position of "condemned", all the while condemning esmeralda. then, we have the sequence of her dancing in the flames, in which it's revealed that frollo not only hates esmeralda, but desires her sexually and hates her because of it, and that the root of this problem can be found in frollo's sexual desire and not his religious disagreement. the entire tone of the song shifts when frollo says "or else let her be mine and mine alone" and it becomes a chilling representation of claude frollo's misguided blame for his sexual desire. it becomes a song of subjugation rather than religious conflict because the moral is no longer "what she does is impure and a sin" and transforms into "what she does is a sin only if she does it for anyone but me".

in this, frollo reveals his desire to consume esmeralda and take her, as an object, for his own. finally, the animation of her in the flame moving from dance to burning on a pyre is a direct representation of what frollo intends to do with her should she not choose to be with him. it's a violent threat rooted in sexuality and misogyny. frollo does not love esmeralda, but lusts after her, and is willing to kill her in order to avoid the shame in rejection and taking responsibility for his own sins.

anyway yeah, i feel very strongly about this song and i feel very strongly about the overall message it delivers. as far as villain songs go, it is one of the most desperate and miserable displays of true villainy and the absence of magic only serves to make it more haunting. people like this exist. they have for centuries. even with no magic to corrupt or make them greedy, frollo continues to become greedy and drunk with power. and yeah. it's good. i feel strongly.

[sutekiniichan]

So Jake Wyatt, one of the creators of My Adventures with Superman, seems to have confirmed that Meryl Stryfe was indeed inspiration for their characterization of Lois Lane.

I love an iconic tenacious short girl chasing a humanoid superpower.

[cartoonscientist]

this is about keto but it reads like someone giving advice to an obligate carnivore ghoul who is married to a human

[quinnlarrabee]

Macron's fiery Sorbonne speech targets summering American Millennials

It’s no coincidence that Emmanuel Macron gave a fiery speech about the threats facing Europe the same week that American Millennials in New York, LA, and Miami began talking about booking their one-way flights to the continent. "There is a risk our Europe could die - we are not equipped to face the risks," Macron said, referring to the dietary allergies, alternative milk needs, and tedious conversations of trust-funded, unemployed young adults who will begin their summer in Paris to attend a museum benefit that spills into a large dinner party with several professional photographers before traveling to Puglia, Comporta, or Ibiza where they will subsist on ‘beautiful tomatoes,’ flat whites, and MDMA. 

Europe has struggled with illegal immigration for decades, and there is no more pressing illegal immigration threat than American Millennials who have decided that being unemployed in Europe is less distressing for their parents than being unemployed in Williamsburg. Google searches for ‘how long can I stay in EU without passport’ spiked in late-April among Americans who have not yet bought a Portuguese passport from a guy who used to run a turnkey Burning Man camp who is now running a Golden Visa scheme in Lisbon. “Our Europe today is mortal,” Macron said. “It can die and that depends solely on our choices,” the choices being whether or not to search and detain for ketamine at customs and how to clearly define tipping protocol in restaurants. 

“It used to be enough to spend a couple weeks in Italy in July,” observes Coco, a 34-year-old retired gallery founder who is on the board of several art-related non-profits that she instructed her unpaid interns to start. “But now it gets so hot in Europe in July that everyone is going in June and even like, May.” Coco has several weddings and dinner parties in various coastal destinations in Europe in June, but she has not yet RSVP’d nor has she booked any travel. “I know I’m going to go, but I’ve just been too busy to look at the dates or book anything,” she says, absently picking some kind of beige matter from the left eye of her toy goldendoodle. Macron at one point asserts in his speech that Europe is “too slow and lacks ambition,” referring directly to Coco’s ambivalent European travel plans. 

Uncertainty permeates the vibe in Europe right now, not because of a military threat posed by a giant, angry country with cocked nukes driven by a weak-minded Cold War relic, but because every Millennial in New York, Miami and Los Angeles has expressed their intention to occupy Europe without declaring the targets. 

“Is very stressful,” says Aldo Melpignano, the proprietor of Borgo Egnazia, a trendy boutique hotel in Puglia that for Europeans costs €120 a night and charges 30something Americans visiting from coastal zipcodes $970. “I see the hashtags on the Instagram, like, I’m coming for your @borgoegnazia,” he says. “Va bene, Allison, when you gonna come for us, and are you gonna come with that stupid capello?” says Aldo while making a pinched-fingers emoji with one hand and pointing to his head with the other. Hotel, coffee shop, organic market, and narcotics purveyors all over Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal have echoed this desire for more resolute planning and fewer hats from the demographic that funds the less productive but more desirable EU countries.  

"We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans," Macron said, a rallying cry to European DJs to sample only vocals that were recorded in native European languages.  

“Europe must show that it is never a vassal of the United States and that it also knows how to talk to all the other regions of the world," Macron said, refuting the irrefutable fact that Europe has become a summer camp for unproductive younger Americans and suggesting that they be immediately deported to Bodrum or Izmir upon landing at CDG, MXP, and LIS. 

“This is a betrayal of our values that ultimately leads us to dependency on other counties,” Macron said, making an observation about Europe’s frustration with having to work between May and August in order to show American Millennials how to correctly tap their credit card on puzzling European payment terminals.

“Europe must become capable of defending its interests, with its allies by our side whenever they are willing, and alone if necessary,” said Macron, in defense of French baristas who do not like working with oat milk. Taking a hands-on approach to ensuring the EU’s “ability to ensure our security” Macron and his wife will begin their Summer at a wedding in the Aeolian Islands in early June, float around Sicily or Puglia the following week, head to Bonjuk Bay for an appearance of prominent LA-based DJ, RICHE, and then couch-surf in Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera the rest of the summer.

[tepehkwi]

culturally-specific orientations and gender identities are real and they exist whether you want to validate them or not. terfs and truscum refuse to accept these facts because their ideologies can only be defended by racist and colonialist arguments, such as insisting that gender is biologically-dictated or that your gender is not real unless you experience gender dysphoria and pursue medical transition with hormones, surgeries, and legal document changes.

biological essentialism, cis-normativity, and the pathological idea of ‘transgenderism’ are racist, they’re concepts made up by colonizers that are violently enforced by christianity and white supremacy. when we say “gender is a social construct” we mean “the gender binary and the idea of transness, as it is defined by western standards, are ideas constructed by a white christian society.” i am ‘trans’ and ‘queer’ only because i am considered trans and queer by white christian standards. in my own culture, i would not have to ‘transition’ because my gender would simply be accepted.

colonizers force upon us their concepts of gender, biological sex, and sexuality while they continue to erase ours. you cannot separate the extermination of our culturally-specific sexual orientations or genders from the violent genocidal destruction of our cultures. the words that once existed for our concepts of gender and attraction were erased when our languages were banned and we were punished, beaten, and tortured for teaching them.

my own two-spirit identity can only be labeled using the language of my oppressors because the words for what i am are no longer spoken.

[noperopesaredope]

"It's not about the CANONICAL chemistry. Canon can go fuck itself. It's about the POTENTIAL for chemistry. It's about the fact that, had things gone just a little differently, had they gotten just a little more screentime together, they would be in a serious relationship."

-- Me explaining rarepairs and crackships and stuff to my sib

[squarebracket-trickster]

By the way, lurkers are welcome on my blog<33

Yeah, yeah, Writeblr is a community and all that. But I get it.

Some of us have anxiety disorders. Some of us are (or were once) minors on the internet who had it drilled into us to never make our presence known in online spaces lest we get stalked or groomed.

It's okay if interacting is outside of your comfort zone.

Some of us aren't actually on tumblr enough to make making a Writeblr intro worth it.

Some of us prefer to take a few months, maybe years, observing the community to learn the rules. And let's face it, there is a huge learning curve to Tumblr culture. I came here from Pinterest in like 2018 and hooo boy was it intimidating!

Like, I was that 17 year old pinterest lurker with an anxiety disorder who was taught that internet safety meant "never comment on anything" who took a few years before I felt comfortable enough with tumblr culture to reblog things with tags, let alone make public posts.

So I guess what I am saying is, I can't judge. Because I've been there.

Writeblr is a community. And the community (for me) is the best part. And remember that if you don't contribute to the community you don't get to complain about it either. But this is also a public space. Silent observers are to be expected. And on my blog you are welcome.

[canisalbus]

Which is your favorite platform? (of the ones you have accounts to post things I mean. I can't imagine it being Instagram since you don't really post there which honestly fair)

Tumblr, Twitter (X?) bluesky? Something else?

I think I'm going to have to go with tumblr, and it's not just because we're here. Twitter and Bluesky are nice and my experiences on both are overwhelmingly positive. But tumblr has an atmosphere that encourages originality, sharing your creations and talking about things in depth.

[writingwithcolor]

Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction?

Dear readers: 

Today we are trying something new. To give you some insight into our process in the Japanese moderator section, we are presenting our response in the form of running commentary to show you how we dissect and answer long asks. We hope this makes clear what points are useful and not useful when sending us a query. As always, this is for learning purposes, not callouts. Be prepared: this is a long one. 

To summarize: the asker is looking to create a comic drawn in Japanese manga style, and has provided a long summary of the story and worldbuilding which involves a mix of “reimagined” Japanese yokai mythos and cultural symbols from many other sources. They have questions with respect to cultural appropriation, coding etiquette, and “what is and isn’t ok.” 

Opening Comments

I know a common advice when it comes to the thing I am about to ask is to talk to people involved in __, but I struggle with opening up to strangers for reasons I'm uncomfortable explaining. 

Marika (M): This is already a red flag. If you want to engage with another culture without talking to people from that culture, then research is going to be very challenging. You won’t have members of that culture to guide you towards sources and perspectives they feel most accurately represents public opinion. If I were in your shoes, I might start with tackling my discomfort when engaging with other people, if only to improve my work. If you aren’t ready to engage with a culture and its people directly, then I think you should wait until you are. 

I should note, reaching out to the Japanese mod team at WWC does count as engagement, but WWC should not and cannot be the only point of contact because there is no single, legitimate cultural perspective. 

Rina (R): Also, you don’t need to “open up” to strangers or talk to them in person to get perspectives. Asking specific research questions anonymously to a forum or on social media requires very little vulnerability. You managed to do it here on WWC. So give it a try! 

Anyway, my question basically amounts to the what is and isn't ok [sic] in terms of depicting fantasy creatures and concepts outside of their respective culture.

R: So, the reason why we turn away rubber stamp questions by that ask “is XYZ okay?” is because “okay” & “not okay” 1) is vague and 2) creates a dichotomy where there isn’t one. 

When we say something is “not okay,” do we mean:

It’s offensive to the general majority of XYZ group? 

It’s contentious among people who ID in the group? 

It has a potential to be interpreted in a certain negative way, but may not be a red flag to everyone?

Insetad try asking:

What are the reasons this subject is offensive? 

What makes cultural appropriation bad? 

When might it be “okay” to intentionally discuss a difficult or controversial topic?

What is your reason for including something that may be interpreted as offensive and can it be sufficiently justified? 

What stereotypes or tropes might it be consistently identified as or associated with, and why? 

When might it be justified to bring up these tropes?

With That In Mind...

Let’s get into the rest of the ask below. 

…a story I've been working on in recent times is largely inspired off the Japanese yokai, and the setting is basically Earth in the far future, as far as when the next supercontinent may form. These yokai, although portrayed differently here, do retain their main characteristics [...] Included in this world are two goddesses of my own creation, primarily representing the sun and the moon. [...] There will be thirteen nations, named and based after the Chinese Zodiac, and the life force found in the living things in this world, called qi, comes in two forms that are always opposing each other but can never fully overpower the other, this being based off yin and yang. They're even directly named this; yin qi and yang qi.

M: This reads more like using Japanese and Chinese culture for the “aesthetics”, not the cultures themselves, which I personally feel falls under cultural appropriation. From a world-building/ coding standpoint, the actual use of concepts is workable, and, dare I say, typical, given how Chinese cosmology influences Japanese culture. However, naming a concept “yin qi” or “yang qi” is the equivalent of naming something “- charge” or “+ charge”, respectively. That you don’t seem aware of this tells me you are pretty early in your research phase. In that vein, we’ve covered translating terms and names from foreign languages in fantasy before. See the following article linked here for our recommendation against using RL terms outright but instead encouraging people to create their own conlangs. 

R: Worldbuilding-wise, I think you would have to figure out the chicken-or-egg of the zodiac nations. Did the nations come first, and the zodiac later as an origin folk story (which you would have to rewrite to serve the nation-building narrative)? Did the zodiac come first, and the nations named (most likely re-named) by a political entity? What is the justification? Otherwise, again, it’s a shoehorning of aesthetics. 

There is also a third, lesser known god based off of fox spirits and trickery and I imagined he's the patron deity of a family that honors and worships him, but his influence on them has transformed them into Kitsune-tsuki, which I depict as fox-like anthros. 

M: Not related to this ask directly, but I have jokingly ranted about how often non-Japanese people prefer using imagery related to kitsune-tsuki in Japanese coded world-building (link). This makes me feel the same level of petty irritation. See my troll answer below for a similar experience.

R: Same. It’s boring tbh. 

M: Troll Answer: I get that kitsune-tsuki are very sexy furries, but Japanese folklore has other sexy furries too! These underrepresented demographics also deserve recognition and appreciation!!

The plot of the story is this; modernization has left the goddesses neglected of their worship and forgotten, something that is necessary in this world to stop them from fighting each other. The Moon Goddess awakens first, punishing the humans by unleashing the yokai. Then the Sun Goddess wakes up to fight in humanity's defense…

M: This could feel rather like Shinto-like coding (Ex. the myth of Amaterasu and the Cave, or Tsukuyomi slaying Ukemochi), but something about this scenario feels a bit too binary in terms of themes of good v. evil, light v. dark to be Shinto. The plot also feels more Gaelic/ Nordic in influence for me as a person raised in a Japanese Buddhist and Hindu household. I imagine this dissonance could have been fixed with better guided research. 

…but their fighting has caused a perma-eclipse and this world is in danger of ending. The yokai have run rampant; some are loyal to the Moon Goddess, and some aren't, and it lies to the main characters to bring balance back to Midgard. Yeah... the name of this future Earth is Midgard. I debate changing it since it and some other things I will mention sorta feel out of place.

R: Marika, looks like you were right on the Gaelic/Nordic influence /j 

Also, worldbuilding question: if the Earth is in the far geologic future, how long has it been since modernization (19th-20th century)? Centuries? Millennia? How long has this fighting gone on for? What triggered the perma-eclipse, and why now? Why is this time depth necessary? 

One of the main characters in question is a humanoid woman with wolf features named Ling, and she is a descendant of the dynasty that had first ruled the one of the nations, particularly the one based off the dragon zodiac. She accidentally summons the other main character to this world as she's praying at a shrine, a humanoid with dragon features--I call them drakon--named Angelynn.

[on the names of characters] is it appropriating by not having the world entirely based on [Chinese, Japanese, and Indian] influence? it's a little weird to me how worldwide the creatures are referred to as yokai, implying a strong Japanese influence not unlike how it is today with Western culture being so dominant, yet there are still names like Keith and Kiara.

M: I will give you credit for recognizing you have unconsciously veered towards white-washing/ race-bending: either presenting European cultural influences (drakons, Angelynn, Keith, Kiara, Midgard) as default or utilizing general E. Asian cultural influences and aesthetics for a Western-style story (Ling, qi, Chinese zodiac, yokai). I agree with you that this creates a sense of cultural dissonance. At this point, I’d say you have a clear choice: write a Western-style high fantasy using a background with which you have more familiarity, or get some better guidance on research with East Asian cultures so you can code the story more effectively. 

The focus of this story is centered around meeting all these yokai and showing that there's more nuance to them than Ling believes, all while saving the world. But I worry if I'm appropriating these concepts and creatures by 1, drawing from more than one culture--I initially imagined that there would be a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Indian influence because according to a website I am getting the info on yokai from, the yokai in question already draw inspiration from or have been based on something in Chinese mythology or Hinduism [...]

R: Sure, some yokai have Chinese or Hindu parallels as that tends to happen with folk tales. But not all–some are unique to Japan, and some are more modern. Sometimes it’s very political–some people consider the Ainu Korpokkur as being a “Yokai of Japan” despite it belonging to the indigenous culture. It’s up to you to research, untangle, and understand these influences. 

The fact that you bring up that the Asian continent has seen a lot of cultural exchange is not a sufficient reason to randomly combine influences for the sake of visual appeal or “coolness.” That is appropriation. These influences must be understood in their historical context so that you know how/why certain things combined or morphed into another, and what makes sense to combine/morph. 

M: This also indicates that the character views the yokai as evil/inherently bad, which I would argue is not a typical stance for much Japanese folklore. Again, this shows a deficit in research. 

2, reimagining these yokai in a new context even though I have done the research on them, because one thing I kept seeing in regards to cultural appropriation is that it's bad to do that […]

R: Refer above to my note on “okay” and “not okay.” The thing with folklore and fairy tales is that every–and I mean every–folk tale is reinterpreted with every new iteration of it. Reimagining in a new context is what people do every time they pass on a story or tell a story with the same plot or characters. Do not think of folklore as an “original” that is altered and rebooted, but rather a living document that gets added to. Reimagining is not the inherent issue. HOW you reimagine something matters. 

So I suppose my question is...if someone were to do research upon the creature they want to use, given they are allowed to use it, and gained an understanding of what the creature or concept stood for, are they allowed to pick it apart and reimagine it? Alternatively, is it ok if it's explicitly pointed out that it is derivative of the original?

It has actually become my biggest fear that I may have internalized something that could both continue to do harm long after the fact and attract the wrong people to me work. I don't wanna let people down!

M: As Rina has noted several times, I think the problem is in trying to ID a set of specific variables and circumstances that make a thing “okay” or “not okay.” I want to recommend that you read my joking response about writing in secret rooms while wearing a disguise (Linked here). Who can you hurt if no one knows what you are doing? There’s a difference between creating for oneself and creating to share. 

You have internalized a message incorrectly, but not the one you cite. The goal of many recommendations against cultural appropriation is to avoid causing direct harm to people who have seen their cultures demeaned, discredited and devalued, especially in shared spaces. Assessing cultural engagement, whether we are talking about appropriation, appreciation or exchange is not a measure of personal virtue or a collection of commandment style do’s and don’t’s. Rather, I believe engaging with other cultures is the state of mind of acknowledging that when using these cultures’ in one’s own work, there is value in consulting members of that culture and giving credit where credit is due. This will be challenging if you are only comfortable engaging with all of these cultures in a distanced, minimal capacity. 

FWIW, I’ve written stories that probably will offend people from other cultures and backgrounds, but I don’t show them off. I don’t think writing these makes me a bad person, but I also don’t see the need to give unnecessary offense, so those stories are just for me, to be written and read in my own secret room. However, I’m not ashamed of having written them, and I’m also comfortable to “let people down” provided that my own shared work reflects my personal principles of what I consider to be sufficient research and engagement with other cultures,  As a creator, my work wouldn’t be mine if I didn’t first please myself. I think the trick to the creator role is deciding what to keep private, what to share and what constitutes sufficient engagement. 

P.S. 

We’ve referenced the need for research multiple times in this ask, and in some of the other asks that have gone up this week, so we thought this would be a good place to plug a beginner’s guide to academic research created by the mod team.. Look for it soon under WWC’s pinned posts!

[tozettastone]

I think there comes a point at which a fandom is large enough that you get fans in it who aren't actually even slightly interested in the canon, let alone fans of it. And one of the bizarre symptoms of this size of fandom is that they become loyal fans of characters who aren't really characters in canon.

For example, there are so many characters in Naruto who have almost no page time, very little evident personality, and weirdly intense fans. Usually, in fandoms of all sizes, fans love characters and ships that feature relatively defined characteristics. We've all met the But Sasuke Did Nothing Wrong people, listened to the the Kisame girls, or nodded along to that one friend who has fallen down a Minato/Kushina rabbit hole and can't get up. These are all characters with characteristics (although we could argue for days about their quality—that's a post for another time). You would get that kind of fan activity anywhere there was fandom.

But then, when the fandom is big enough that there's a mass of content that actually concerns extremely minor characters with few characteristics, you get something else. In Naruto fandom... you get the person who is dedicated to any given Izuna ship. You know, Madara's brother who looks like Sasuke and whose primary role in the manga is being dead? You get the person who insists Shisui is "a joyful flirt." There's more than one person who appears out of nowhere to ask: I am sick with my longing for romance fics about Rasa, can you write more about Rasa?

Ra... Who? Gaara's dad? Yes, Gaara's dad!

We have all encountered these people. And I say "people," because I've encountered more than one of each of the above examples.

I think this is the same phenomenon as people who get really into, like, Regulus Black. You have to like, wrap your head around the idea that they're not actually fans of the canon material. They're fans of the fandom.

The fandom is so large, and so many layers deep, that it gives characters who are really just answering a little question in the canon storyline ("Where did Gaara get that demon?" "Who put the locket in the Black townhouse?" "Why is Madara like this?") much more significance and, well, character. So now ...they get fans too!

[hulk-]

Read an article by a high school senior today that went, just when my friends and I should be trying out many perspectives and figuring out where we stand, we're self-censoring, following familiar scripts. I had to wonder: if we spend our teenage years afraid that we might share our thoughts in the wrong way or at the wrong moment, how is this affecting a crucial ingredient in becoming an adult: the ability to think critically?

They went on to say, they see teenagers unintentionally becoming more unforgiving and judgmental, as opposed to open-minded and compassionate. And when we can't (or don't) talk freely, we lose the chance to find common ground, acknowledge complexity, or grasp that our own opinions can be malleable. If we listen only to people who already agree with us, we won’t make wider connections. We won't grow.

"In other words, we’re growing older, but we’re not growing up."

I think that explains a lot about what we're seeing online and in other spaces now.

The article is by Zach Gottlieb.

[matchalovertrait]

Happy birthday, Dulce ₊˚⊹♡

[craycraybluejay]

apparently it is morally wrong to have a crush/sexual feelings for anyone in general. Like. the whole 'dont sexualize literal people ewwww.' i really really wish less teens were on the internet because of this kind of stuff. we are mass-producing mental illness and i am not kidding.

like imagine being 15, having a crush on someone in your class, going on the internet, and being bombarded with all sorts of people saying its wrong to experience sexual thoughts towards people in your peer group. its wrong for adults to have sexual thoughts about other adults. its even more wrong for you, a teen, to have sexual thoughts about your classmates.

you are 16 now and very lucky to be in therapy with a well off enough family. you confess to your therapist how evil you are for wanting to touch or look at that one girl in your class. she looks at you with confusion, like how your mother looks at you when you ask her why you have a computer and your friend doesn't. why is it fair. everyone's confused about you and you are confused too. you're evil, you must be, because you have dirty disgusting feelings. you deserve to be mocked online, says dogluvr15089. you're an evil monster, says @Official Priest of West California. you're a pervert and sexual predator, says fandom_m0m321. they have stupid names and no faces-- but if all of them are saying it then it must have some truth to it, right? your therapist is saying something but you don't hear her, you're in your head wondering if you should punish yourself, how you should punish yourself. when you're back in the room with her you ask her what's wrong with you. she writes you a diagnosis for ocd and anxiety. you take the drugs, like the good, righteous, pure teenager you want to be. they make you feel weirdly empty, and not very hungry, and kinda sleepy. they might give you dementia in your 50s but who cares. you deserve it for being gross. you look through the comments even on other people's stuff, the comments telling them the same thing you were told. you're still punishing yourself for natural feelings-- seeking out the same degrading bullying when you don't get enough of it. you don't tell your therapist you are doing this; because you know she would tell you to stop and you don't want to stop. it's a compulsion. you talked about those last Tuesday.

you're 17. you haven't asked anyone out. by some miracle, a girl who likes you takes the initiative. you stumble through the date awkwardly and anxiously, trying not to touch her, flinching away when your fingers brush over a cheap burger. she asks if you're okay, and then asks, "don't you like me?" She asks, "why do you look like you're scared of me or something?" You stay silent. But then when it happens again, she gets up to leave and the rejection causes the dam to break. You try not to cry, because that's Emotional Manipulation. You choose your words carefully, because you don't want to accidentally Gaslight her like the evil thing you are. You stumble through it but you tell her you're sorry, you tell her you've never had the chance to date. You tell her, shaking like a leaf, like a dumb idiot, that you really really like her and she's very pretty and you're scared to say Hot or Sexy so you don't. And you tell her you're scared. You're really scared she'll see you're a bad person and leave you for someone more pure and good. You try really hard to phrase it like a PR team would. She tells you that's ridiculous, laughing like sunshine and kisses and god, sex. But most of all you've never heard someone so flippantly tell you how ridiculous of a notion that is. She makes you feel brave. You tell her what people have been telling you, scared that you're Trauma Bonding her but pushing through. She, with more surprise, again tells you it's ridiculous. She's not laughing anymore, but you want to make her laugh. You ask with a voice too small for your age if its okay you think her laugh is really sexy. She smiles so brightly its blinding, and says she thinks you're sexy too. You hold hands when you leave together. You go on more dates later, and the two of you talk about your problems and your dreams. And she shows you how to yell at "internet dumbasses." And you still go to therapy except this time you think it's working, because this time you Get It. You get it's ridiculous, and you're happy enough to try to heal.

And you know what? You're one of the lucky few that got that chance. Many teens struggle with mental health problems due to the internet. Not all of them are caused by this purity bullshit. Some of it is body image-- accounts that encourage eating disorders and low self-esteem. Some of it is trends and feeling lonely and unlikeable. Social media doesn't just excaberate mental illness. Sometimes it really and truly produces it and this fact needs more awareness.

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

MSPA Reader: Say the line, John!

John, exasperated: *sigh* i am not a homosexual.

MSPA Reader: YAAAAAAAAY!

[deanpinterester]

i know this is A Reach and possibly nitpicky but i think the prettification of the hunger games movies can be seen even in the small matter of katniss's hairstyle. what's described as a simple and practical braid in the books is now a fancy diagonal over-the-shoulder dutch braid in the movies (a braid that is neither functional when the purpose is to get your long hair out of the way, nor very quick/easy to do on yourself), and added to that is the fact that katniss has bangs, once again something that is very impractical when you consider that katniss hunts for a living and those loose hairs would not only be visually obstructive but would also get caught in the bowstring and yanked like hell every time she shoots. in the training sequence of catching fire you can literally see that the bangs are in her eyes. there's a reason olympic archers always have their hair tied up and tucked out of the way. if she were to have a dutch/french braid, the point of that would literally BE to get those shorter hairs out of the way. but since this is a hollywood movie of course they have to make their star have pretty hair that frames her face just so