#and every woman can do better

[teabiscs]

hey beyblade fandom, have some lesbeans.

[uncanny-tranny]

The absolute biggest thing I've learned as a trans guy: there is nothing more masculine and manly than not caring about looking or acting masculine or manly. Growing your masculinity or manhood takes time and care - you have no obligation to let the world water your garden when you can do that just fine (and you can, even if it doesn't feel like you can!)

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

how some of the traffic series / life series fandom treat the ladies is... hm. and how they treat bigb is even more... hm. (negative)

i would have more complex things to say but honestly i am very tired. im sure ill rant in the tags

[bonefall]

post/734733274896809984/do-you-ever-worry-your-own-writing-might-come-off that makes sense. i was asking because i'm afraid of accidentally writing misogyny myself and i kind of admire what you do

Hmm... I wish I had better advice to give you on this front, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you is to consider the perspective of your female characters.

Women are people. They have thoughts and feelings of their own, so like... just let them have their own arcs. A lot of the worst misogyny in WC comes from the way that the writers just don't care about their girls (or, in the case of tall shadow, actually get undermined and forced to rewrite entire chapters), so they're not curious about their lives, or WHY they feel the way they do or what they want, or any direction for their character arcs.

Turtle Tail as an example. She'll often just end up feeling whatever Gray Wing's plot demands. She's gotta leave when Storm dumps him to make him feel lonely. She shows up again to love him in the next book. Lets her best friend Bumble get dragged back to Tom the Wifebeater, but is sad enough about her death to be "unreasonably angry" with Clear Sky, and then calms down and accept Gray Wing is right all along.

And then she dies, so he can have his very own fridge wife.

In this way, Turtle Tail's just being used to tell Gray Wing's story. They're not interested in why she would turn on Bumble, or god forbid any lingering negative feelings for how she didn't help her, or even resentment towards Clear Sky for killing her or Gray Wing for jumping to his defense. She isn't really going through her own character arc.

She does have personality traits of her own, don't misunderstand my criticism, but as a character she revolves around Gray Wing.

So, zoom out every now and then, and just ask yourself; "Whose story is being told by what I wrote? Do my female characters have goals, wants, and agency, or are they just supporting men? How do their choices impact the narrative?"

But that's already kinda assuming that you already have characters like Turtle Tail who DO have personalities and potential of their own. Here's some super simple and practical advice that helped me;

Tally the genders in your cast. How many are boys, how many are girls, how many are others?

And take stock of how many of those characters are just in the supporting cast, and compare that to the amount you have in the main cast.

If you have a significant imbalance, ESPECIALLY in the main cast, fire the Woman Beam.

It's a really simple trick to just write a male character, and then change its gender while keeping it the same. I promise women are really not fundamentally different from men lmao. You can consider how your in-universe gender roles affect them later, if you'd like, but when you're just starting to wean yourself off a "boy bias" this trick works like a charm.

Also you're not allowed to change the body type of any girl you Woman Beam because I said so. PLEASE allow your girls to have muscles, or be fat, or be old, or have lots of scars. Do NOT do what a cowardly Triple A studio does, where the women all have the same cute or sexy face and curvy body while they're standing next to dwarves, robots, and a gorilla.

Or this shit,

If you do this I will GET you. If you're ever possessed by the dark urge, you will see my face appear in the clouds like Mufasa himself to guide you away from the path of evil.

Anyway, you get better at just making characters girls to begin with as time goes on and you practice it. It's really not as big of a deal as your brain might think it is.

Take a legitimate interest in female characters and try not to disproportionately hit them with parental/romance plots as opposed to the male cast, and you'll be fine. Don't think of them as "SPECIAL WOMEN CHARACTERS" just make a character and then let her be a girl, occasionally checking your tally and doing some critical thinking about their use in the story.

(Also remember I'm not a professional or anything, I'm just trying to give advice)

[yuridovewing]

i understand the frustration with “i made this gay pairing cis x trans so they can still have biological babies” with no thought to other methods and how ppl assume thats the case when it comes to mothpool aus where mothwing is also the mother of the three, but also…. idk i kinda dont give a shit if someone wants to do that and i dont really think its inherently transphobic as long as its handled with care and respect.

what really concerns me about this debate is how some people are adamant that you cannot portray trans people having biological children in media or youre being disrespectful. and im gonna say as a nonbinary person who doesnt want children for themself- thats kinda fucking weird? like i understand that for some people, theyre trans themselves and theyre speaking from a place of dysphoria, and i absolutely get that, which is why i think the topic should be handled with nuance and diversity in trans characters, but like…. guys. pregnant trans men exist irl. trans women get people pregnant irl. trans ppl’s ability and right to parent and have biological children are being debated irl. we get denied the opportunity to adopt as well.

in a climate like this, are we SURE we want the stance on rewrites and headcanons in the silly cat books to be “if you portray trans characters having children, especially with a gay couple, youre a transphobic freak no matter what!” does it really matter? especially if its being done by a trans person handling the topic with nuance who has a lot of trans characters with varying perspectives?

obviously yes, remember that thats not the only way certain gay couples can have kids, remember that not every trans person is fully comfortable with it and keep that in mind, remember that surrogacy and adoption are also perfectly valid ways to give fan babies- but remember that there are OPTIONS. not that you need to condemn the idea of transgender parents in the first place unless they fit the very specific criteria of “proper transgender representation” and anything that dares deviate from that is proof the op is a transphobic monster (bonus points if theyre a trans creator bc i mostly see trans people getting shit for this and it kinda pisses me off. although idm if cis people do it either as long as theyre handling it with respect)

[musubiki]

at first i was thinking about oscars work with madam springs being in a secondary location from her bookstore but i think a cute idea would be putting the springs storefront in the same building as the bookshops...side by side store neighbors or something...

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

How can I bribe you into helping me get a job in the industry, other than promising my undying love, which you already have <3

The industry is horrible and awful, low pay, long hours, no real chance of advancing.

Whenever people touring the station or new interns ask me for advice, I always tell them to change careers lol

[novella-november]

Is this fanfic friendly? I feel like an outlier.

I guess this is my sign it's time to throw together a FAQ post to link to lol.

Yes, every event for this blog is fanfic friendly :D

Though as I mentioned on my Ominous October post, for events that include multiple short stories, I encourage everyone to flex their creativity and take one of their planned short story fanfics, and at least *attempt* to turn one of them into something entirely original; rebuilding a character and story from the ground up to stand on its own two legs is no easy feat, and that is what makes it so fun!

It really gets your creative gears turning, to make an "au of an existing material" to be something entirely original, and you can be pleasantly surprised about the things you come up with!

As a few people say, its not just a matter of "filing the serial numbers off" -- you have to add in just as much *or more* as what you take out when you are turning a fanfiction into something that is original and completely divorced from its original source material / inspiration, and that is a hard, but very rewarding challenge!

Obviously, this is not a requirement (there's no hard requirements for any of the challenges, other than no cheating, including no using AI),

but if you would like an extra challenge for the short story events and you're planning on doing entirely fan-fiction, I highly recommend trying it out at least once, and seeing where it leads you--

you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you find down that rabbit hole!

[musical-chick-13]

Regarding the whole "Fandom Is An Escape, so why should I have to care this much about misogyny/racism/ableism/transphobia/etc." thing. Idk about the rest of you, but it gets kind of hard for me to "escape" when I keep seeing people say the same vile things about characters who share aspects of my identity that I hear all the time in real life.

[cerise-on-top]

I love the way you write for the cod women! specifically, Farah (she's my wife) if you feel comfortable writing for chubby readers. Could you write Farah x Chubby Reader? 💕

Hello! I'm glad to hear that you enjoy my writing! Farah is pretty cool I agree! Here you go!

Farah with a Chubby!Reader

Farah doesn’t particularly care about your body type as long as you’re you. She fell in love with you because of your personality, not your body. But that isn’t to say she wouldn’t adore it all the same. It’s a part of you, and therefore it’s as perfect as it could get. She loves you in your entirety, regardless of what you look like, even on those days where you might feel like she deserves someone better than you. Someone who fits the image of traditionally handsome or pretty more so than you do. It’s during those days where Farah would actually become a bit more cuddly than she usually is. She doesn’t touch people very often aside from the occasional friendly pat on the shoulder or maybe patching someone up after a rough fight. She may be touch starved, but she doesn’t really touch people. Not that she detests it, it’s just not her style. So she’d be a bit more touchy with you, reassuring you that you’re lovely just as you are. You’re gorgeous, no one could ever take that away from you. It’s during those days that she’ll demand you lie down on the couch or the bed so she can rest her head either on your chest or your tummy. Both are the perfect napping spot, she’ll claim, even if she doesn’t really take naps during the day. She’ll snuggle into you, hold you close and tell you just how lovely and beautiful you are, beauty standards be damned because the prettiest, most jaw dropping person on the planet is with her right now anyway. Every other fool knows nothing in comparison.

Farah is also pretty good with her words. When she was younger she used to read quite a lot, quite a few things were above her reading level as well, so she knows a few fancy words here and there. She can compare you to just about anything beautiful on this planet, but she does like to tell you that there were some cultures out there where being chubby was a sign of wealth and beauty. And that’s another thing she likes about you: You’re chubby because you can afford food, because you can afford to eat well. She’ll remind you that there were princesses out there, chubby ones, who would be the pinnacle of wealth and beauty because of it. Farah is far from all knowing, but she knows a few things here and there.

Besides, as mentioned before, she’ll love you regardless of what you look like. If she feels particularly touch starved she’ll walk up to you from behind, wrap her arms around you and squeeze your tummy a bit. It’s warm, it’s soft, she gets to hold you in her arms. What’s not to love about the concept? If you’re someone who’s into cute clothing, then Farah fantasizes about seeing you in a cute dress. Something like a fancy lolita dress because she knows you’d look so cute in it. While she can’t buy an outfit like that for you as it is, she hopes that once the situation has calmed down a lot and she won’t have to fight for her life anymore, that Farah can buy you a cute dress.

While she won’t outright ask for it, sometimes she does like being held, so she definitely wouldn’t mind it if you pulled her down on top of you, held her down with your arms and then rambled on about your day. However, be warned, as she mindlessly listens to you, she might play around a bit and poke your tummy, or whichever it is that is closest to her. Hope you’re not ticklish because the chances are high she’ll do that. You’re soft, it’s fun and if you are ticklish then she has even more of an incentive to actually do it. Not at all sneaky about it either, will poke you and then look up at you with a smile. Farah, too, can be a bit of a meanie, but she loves you so it’s okay.

[local-limebug]

it physically hurts me to try and write a friendship like the one i have with my best friend and realizing that it sadly reads like the characters are romantically in love

like bro wdym they can't be half of each other's heart and soul without being in love. i literally do it everyday with her. wdym they can't love each other with a love so strong it defies labels yet not want to sleep with each other or get married. I LITERALLY DO IT EVERYDAY WITH HER.

[cogcltrcorn]

imagine being this wrong. not only would being women not save louis and lestat, it would, in fact, make them so, so much worse. regular louis already wants to kill himself and everyone else all of the time. imagine what he would be like if he also had to experience misogynoir.

[name-doggo]

One thing I really wish the FF Community would Stop doing is Removing All Nuance from the Parents in Those Stories in order to Make Them Abusive Supervillains who Never Loved their Kid.

Like... In the Four Years I've been here, and for how Small the Community really is, you'd be surprised how many Times I've seen it-

[tragedy-peanut-gallery]

if you could erase one popular fanon interpretation from the asoiaf fandom forever, what would it be?

That Jaehaerys was “basically a feminist” because he sometimes listened to his wife 💀

[tinystepsforward]

algerian trans women arent able to compete in women sports at all, but yeah its makes no sense to call khelif tme. youre so fucking smart.

i see you don't believe that i'm quoting one of the trans women in my life about that, which is your prerogative. it's also your right to miss my point entirely both about the ways this alienates intersex people and about the rigidity of a binary that comes down to the same shrinking circles terfs draw when they try to quantify what a woman is (speak up for women, the most organised nz group, have now submitted on the human rights act suggesting that all babies be karyotyped at birth and the results be public, bc they can't establish any other definition they agree on. absolutely fucking nobody, not even their christian or conspiracist allies, agrees with them on this one.)

but you don't have to take my word for it! when i was at that consultation with the nz law commission, i was in a room with many other intersex and trans people, including trans athletes and trans women like lexie matheson who consult on trans inclusion in sports at a high national level. i don't think there's a single person in that room who did not name what was happening to khelif as we spoke as transmisogyny, who did not speak of her as part of a group with whom we all shared something.

at the end of the day, prison abolition informs all of my politics. i believe that we must look clearly and carefully at harm and distinguish it from discomfort or disagreement, and identify its structural sources and true perpetrators. i believe that to build a better future we must be capable of imagining one. i believe that we can build a world where suffering is not the metric by which we determine value or punishment or righteousness. i believe that we can build a world where we centre and uplift those who are most hurt, in every arena — black and brown trans women, here; in some of my other work, it's incarcerated intellectually disabled people, or asian migrant sex workers affected by section 19, the list goes on — without then pitting them against other people who share some of the same story and will benefit from the same deconstruction of the systems that hold them down. i believe we can build a world in which asab doesn't affect so much of your life by beginning that work now.

there's a politics of scarcity — you have it better than me, so we have nothing in common. i saw it all the time in brothels, the idea that the new girl is taking money out of your kids' mouths. the viciousness with which people who are struggling are so ready to abandon solidarity. is it so hard to demand better for everyone? to think less about the ways we're alone and more about the ways we're together?

maybe it is. i know that well enough as a prison abolitionist. people get scared. they swing at shadows, they swing at anyone who seems to be suffering less, they — we, i should say, i am certainly not immune — get blindingly jealous of people who seem to have it easier. that's grief! that's grief for the easier life that we deserve. and we get to mourn, and take that time to feel it, and then we can choose if we want to keep working hand in hand with each other toward a world where that grief is dwarfed by the promise of the future.

[pergaminaa]

Modern au:

So Dorian has this chair, which he has grown to hate.

It's a very comfortable spacious chair. It reclines with a press of a button and has many uses: for work, reading, sex, relaxation, and a lot more.

At nights when he's busy with dinner and Manon is finishing up work, she sometimes uses the chair. (un)fortunately, because she's oh-so exhausted and still tries to squeeze in work, she ends up falling asleep.

This is where Dorian is torn. On one hand, he wants her to rest and if she's sleeping then that's good. On the other hand, he doesn't want her to go to sleep without food. Also, he doesn't want her to sleep there, no matter how big and comfy the chair is. But also, Manon is a light sleeper and she will wake up if he carries her to bed which might disrupt her sleep later at night.

Decisions decisions, he eventually settles on waking her, because it is still early and if she goes to sleep now she will be awake by two or three in the morning which is not good. He can push their bedtime an hour or two later than usual which is a better solution.