#and you can see the existing art in the free primer

[snaccpopstudios]

Hi everyone! We're here with the long awaited post on our newest bachelor, Simoun. We know you've all been abuzz with questions about him so we hope to answer some of that in this deep dive into his creation. This post is in lieu of our usual Wednesday devlogs as we've been writing this over the span of several weeks, and was co-authored, edited, and reviewed by Tobias, Jude, ToyboxToonz, Primarvelous, and Sauce. The above image was drawn by @toyboxtoonz.

You can read the full post for free on Patreon, or click the readmore to see it all!

Personally speaking, some of my concerns since Simoun's debut are thoughts like "Do people think I'm making SnaccPop Studios push an agenda?" and "Do people think I'm going through a checklist while making new characters?" It's made it difficult for us to write this quickly because this is quite personal to myself and the rest of the sensitivity consultation team on the DachaBo team.

Concept to Creation

The story of DachaBo begins way before SnaccPop Studios itself was even a concept (that's Sauce's story to tell though). Early Patreon art of Simoun exists from November 2022, back before I was signed on to manage the Patreon and any other projects besides Sunny Day Jack. Sauce had some ideas laying around for several other characters in the DachaBo universe that didn't make it into the proof-of-concept demo:

I dug up an old draft for the DachaBo cat character we teased and it featured a story concept where the cat character was originally a female DachaBo character, referencing the original female design. And overtime he got tired of how he was being treated and decided to change his own self to reflect who he wanted to be, not the sycophants who collected the toys and whatnot ... It was shelved because I didnt have the means to sensitivity check it The designs are half cooked is all but he was supposed to be Indian ethnicity coded for no other reason than I've never seen a character like that

One thing that's important to note is that there definitely are Indian folks who are gender diverse (see Hijra on Wikipedia for a quick primer on one of the traditionally recognized nonbinary genders in South Asia) so it's not a novel concept by any means, but it's also not very common in media whatsoever.

Why The Long Wait?

One of the other contributing reasons as to why Sauce wasn't able to do much with the concept at the time is because we didn't have a VA for him confirmed yet, as I explained in May:

One thing that's rather unique to SnaccPop Studios in all of my experience as a game developer is the fact that all of our series involve coordinating with Voice Actors from the start, which means we need to take the VAs themselves into account when making characters. Adding another layer of complexity in hiring is the fact that SnaccPop Studios is a strictly Erotic Adult brand focusing on masculine love interests, and even if we focus more on the softcore, there's still the unfortunate stigma that any 18+ work has when attached to your name. All of these contributing factors make the potential talent pool that much smaller. This isn't to make excuses: I know SnaccPop Studios can do better on this front. While we can't make changes to some of the existing series' main cast (we don't want to put people out of a role they've been promised), we will do better moving forward to incorporate more diverse characters into our future titles, and that's a pledge

In the field of voice acting, it's best practice to cast actors with similar backgrounds to the character they're voicing, particularly for characters from marginalized populations (ethnicity, culture, gender, etc.), because it's a recurring issue in all professions where marginalized folks are regularly turned down for employment or career opportunities. You don't have to look far for instances where other voice directors failed to cast the proper talent for a character, even in the AAA sphere where they ought to have the resources to be able to find the proper talent; at SnaccPop, we wanted to avoid that situation at all costs.

Finding Simoun's Voice

So we had to confirm a VA first before we could do anything. Sauce, Reece, and I all tried to put private ads out for a trans masc POC (any ethnicity with dark skin) actor for a R18 game, which was largely met with silence at first, then responded to by folks who didn't fit the role in a full capacity (many only hit one or two of the criteria we laid out, some of them none at all). And it's not hard to imagine why: it's common knowledge that the majority of erotic works often fetishize marginalized people who are otherwise underrepresented in mainstream media. Things such as skin color, body type, hair color, age, etc. are treated as traits to be objectified, and on the off chance that queer folks or people of color might see themselves in porn… it's usually not for the most flattering or empowering of reasons. How could we, an exclusively Adults-only studio, convince someone who isn't familiar with us that we wanted to make something for people like them rather than something that turns them into mere masturbating material?

We were almost about to give up on the Catboy until I decided to take a chance on contacting a VA whom I hadn't had any formal and proper interactions with before. I'd been a fan of his work and knew him from an audition he sent in from a previous game I had worked on, but he knew me solely by name at best since we were following each other on Twitter. Still, it was a lead, and after chewing my nails for half a day, I shot off a message to Soren Viloria.

And what do you know? He said he'd give it a shot as his first NSFW role.

Naming the Lad

Soren is a Filipino VA, and despite the fact that I myself seem to be mistaken as Filipino by other Asians quite regularly, I'm actually not as well-versed in that culture as I ought to be.

There's actually a reason why we were so secretive with Simoun's name for a while: he didn't have one yet, so internally we just kept calling him "the Catboy." We wanted to pick a culture-appropriate name for him, something that was meaningful: Soren initially suggested "Siopao" as it was a common cat name (it's a type of Filipino Steamed Bun, so think of how many pets you've seen who have names like Cupcake or Nacho Supreme), but that didn't seem serious enough for a tsundere catboy like him. A few days later, Soren did a little research on a few well-known characters from Philippine media/culture that fit the bill a bit better:

Elías from the Philippine Revolution novel Noli Me Tángere (a required reading in the Philippines). Cat may like his radical tendencies for revolution and his deep, devoted connections.

Simoun from Noli's sequel, El filibusterismo. Holds revolutionary values similar to Elías, but far less noble and more of a loner. Violent at times, and will do what it takes to get his way.

Panday/Flavio, a very popular hero. Part of his charm is that he doesn't have special powers, but took matters into his own hands and forged a magical blade. Has been portrayed in both 'cool' and comedic ways.

Ricardo "Cardo" from the Philippines' longest-running TV drama Ang Probinsyano. Just a cool action hero dude who cares about family, but is also very ambitious and angy.

Seeing as how we already had an Elias Gallagher, Simoun seemed to be the perfect fit, and the name stuck pretty easily.

Simoun's Boundaries

Now that Simoun had a name, we were able to talk about him more seriously beyond the simple "tsundere cat" tropes. You've all already met Gil Finnegan, who we originally brought into SnaccPop Studios to handle the narrative design for DachaBo but was then onboarded to help with Sunny Day Jack, and those of you in the Patreon Discord server are familiar with our mods Tobias and Jude; along with me and Soren Viloria, that brought the grand total of openly trans masculine members on the team.

We all talked about our personal experiences as trans masc/AFAB people, what things we rarely saw reflected in both mainstream and indie media, things we wanted to see more of. Something we all agreed that was difficult to find was trans masculine folks in sexually dominant roles in erotic media, whether that was live video, audio, writing, art, or a combination thereof; there was only a handful of series we could count on our fingers as far as sexually explicit content that featured trans masculine people in roles that weren't exclusively submissive/bottoms, and the majority of us had already seen those or at least heard of them before (ie. Gummy and the Doctor and Sasha From The Gym were prominent ones). Either discovering this content was difficult due to Search Engine Optimization favoring depictions of trans feminine folks, or it simply didn't exist.

All of this, along with the backstory that Sauce had for Simoun, led us to determine that Simoun would be adverse to submissive roles in intimate situations. Simoun isn't the type to want to be penetrated either due to previous trauma surrounding his gender. Bear in mind that this isn't meant to imply or suggest that there is only one "acceptable" sexual preference for trans masculine folks, nor is Simoun meant to represent all of trans masculinity; he may be our first trans masculine character but certainly isn't the last, as we hope to feature more types of characters at SnaccPop Studios.

As an aside, it should be noted that the trend of erotic trans feminine content being more readily available doesn't necessarily mean that trans women have more positive representation per se; for every kinky piece of art created by trans feminine folks out there, there could be ten more works that fetishize and objectify their bodies. We probably don't need to tell you about the common derogatory slurs that have been used to refer to them; trans feminine and trans masculine people deal with varying levels and types of transphobia as well as situations that oversexualize (or even undersexualize) them, and it's important to focus on content that doesn't strip them of their autonomy.

There actually was a period of time between the release of his concept art after Soren was onboarded where the team observed comments both on Patreon and in the Discord regarding Simoun, and we discussed how we could avoid having people try to ship Bo and Simoun together; because Simoun hasn't had bottom surgery of any kind, we wanted to ensure that tokophobia (fear of pregnancy) or dysphoria wouldn't become a thing for any of us involved in the team or for our trans masculine Patrons. It was a bit of a chicken or the egg situation, trying to keep up with the evolving comments about Simoun to try and anticipate what people might accidentally say.

Debut Day Thoughts, & Moving Forward

We were quite happy with the general reception everyone had with Simoun, and we're excited to see so many people taking a liking to Simoun after his reveal. SnaccPop Studios has always strived to provide inclusive and diverse stories for those who don't often get represented in media, much less NSFW media, and the team was quite elated to see folks who were just as happy to see Simoun.

We hope that the love and care we put into building Simoun has shone through in this post and will continue to shine as we write more of him for DachaBo, because we're just getting started.

[medusamagic]

So you want to know more about Big Barda

As Tumblr's resident expert on all things Barda, and as Kelly Thompson's Birds of Prey run brings far more attention to the character, I figured it was high time someone stepped in and gave the tumblr world a primer on DC's biggest and boldest heroine.

The Basics:

Introduced in Mister Miracle #4 by Jack Kirby, Big Barda was once the leader of Apokolips' premier death squad, the Female Furies. Trained from birth for a life of violence by Granny Goodness, Barda spent the first 250 years of her life as a living weapon. This all changed when she met Scott Free, a gentle Parademon-in-training with a mysterious past and a knack for escapes. Eventually, she and Scott both escaped to Earth, where they fell in love with both the Earth and each other. She's a lover, she's a fighter, she's a Pokémon card expert, but most of all, SHE BIG.

Barda's signature defining attribute is her raw strength. Her raw muscle allows her to keep up with heavy hitters like Wonder Woman. This isn't to suggest that she's a simple-minded brute, however-- Barda has centuries of military experience under her belt as leader of the Female Furies. She's mastered multiple weapons, including spears, swords, and her signature Mega-Rod.

Below are some reading recommendations for anyone interested in Big Barda:

Essential Runs:

Mister Miracle Vol. 1 #4-18 by Jack Kirby (1971-1974)

This was the run that introduced the world to Big Barda, as well as the Female Furies. If you want to know the basics of Barda, there's no better place to start. This run is collected in a trade, as well as a part in The Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1.

(NOTE: Even though Barda doesn't appear until issue #4, I suggest you start with Issue #1. It'll help you get acquainted with the rest of the mythos.)

Justice League International #14-24 by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (1988-1989)

Big Barda was on the JLI! She plays off the other characters as well as ever, and a lot of what's great about her in Jack Kirby's original run is still here! Definitely check this one out if you want to see her in another team setting. This has been collected in this omnibus.

(NOTE: Once again, I recommend you start from issue #1.)

Popular Runs:

Mister Miracle Vol. 4 #1-12 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (2017-2018)

Yeah, I know.

Listen, Tom King is a writer with... idiosyncrasies to put it nicely. The characters in the periphery of his stories tend to act really out of character, and his dialogue can be clunky at times. That being said, The Scott/Barda dynamic in this book is excellent, and this book has some of the best art that the Fourth World has seen since the 80s. The series has been collected in a trade.

(NOTE: Did you know that the CIA has over 2003 files on Tom King? Look up "Tom King CIA 2003" for more info!)

Mister Miracle: The Great Escape by Varian Johnson and Daniel Isles (2022)

If you're at all interested in the idea of a Young Adult reimagining of Mister Miracle and Big Barda's origin story with an all-black cast, this book was made for you. It's a bit heavy on the YA tropes, but the Scott/Barda dynamic is really solid. It was released as a standalone graphic novel.

Birds of Prey Vol. 5 #1-??? by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero (2023-)

Admit it, this is the reason you're here. The Cassandra Cain & Big Barda is so instantly iconic, I'm surprised no writer has paired them up sooner. It also helps that this book has the single best Barda look since Jack Kirby's original run. Plus, she gets to throw down with Wonder Woman! What's not to love? This run is still ongoing, but the first 6 issues should be getting a trade pretty soon.

(NOTE: I started writing this before BOP #8 dropped, I had no idea about that thing that happens in the newest issue.)

Stories to Avoid:

Action Comics #592-593 by John Byrne (1987)

This is not a comic book-- it's an infohazard designed to cause pain and suffering to anyone who knows of its existence. Its premise is vile and disrespectful on the surface, and it becomes more insidious when you learn the context of its creation. This pair of issues is profoundly evil, rivaling even Avengers #200 in terms of loathsomeness.

For those who dare to investigate this, Content Warnings for rape, mind control, and human trafficking.

Anyway, let's end on something a bit lighter, shall we?

Remember that Mister Miracle YA graphic novel I mentioned earlier? Barda is getting a graphic novel of her own this summer! It's not out at the time of writing, but the preview pages look promising!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that introduction to one of my favorite superheroes ever. Please get back to me on this, I have no one else to talk to about Fourth World stuff.

[sufficiently-advanced]

hi! I got a bunch of asks, and I figured I should (after 5 years) finally give an update.

unfortunately, though I enjoyed this for a long time, the hobby of writing faux-academic analyses of wands has long been soured for me bc I am, yknow, trans in the uk. I don't want to help sustain positive and neutral attention on jk rowling and contribute to the money she is using to fund and spearhead uk and us movements against trans people. It is truly wild to have reason to have beef with a famous children's author but here we are. Years later, these movements are still using that harry potter money and social cred to try to make questioning trans people's existence seem like a liberal free-speech common sense position that's unfairly targeted by radical, hysterical trans activists.

(Here is a tracker of the rise in current legislation restricting trans peoples' participation in public life in the us; the current uk prime minister made a jab against trans people this week in parliament, unknowingly in front of the mother of a trans teenager recently murdered in a hate-motivated attack, part of his customary appeal to right-wing culture war rhetoric. This is, as that first link points out, not his first public joke lampooning trans people, and as the stonewall link below mentions hate-motivated crimes against trans people have increased over 150% in the last few years, but only in the aftermath of a girl's murder has labour pushed back against our identities being part of a national debate.)

Interacting with people still into harry potter feels like a real toss-up. It feels depressingly likely, given what I see online and the beliefs of some of my coworkers, relatives and acquaintances, that I'm writing for someone who thinks nonbinary people are fine as long as they aren't too scarily masculine-looking, and trans women are fine as long as they're really nice and never say anything challenging and make themselves as small and cis-acceptable as possible and only react to people's cruelty with self-sacrificing grace, and trans men are fine as long as they are cute and don't look like neckbeards and are suitably disdainful of masculinity but also not too trender-y, and this whole thing about harry potter is kind of overblown but you can't say that because trans people looove to cancel people. I don't want to write stuff for people who hold these beliefs if I can avoid it! Writing non-harry potter related stuff is the best way to avoid it right now.

If some of these statements feel challenging to you - I was there once too, as a confused angry teenager who felt like gay people were trying to make me feel bad about myself. The social media landscape genuinely makes change more painful than it has to be. Personally, working to humanise and listen to people I was unthinkingly taught to disregard, ignore, disdain or pity has been one of the most rewarding projects of my life, even though by definition it will probably never be complete, and also it can be difficult and vulnerable. I hope you can find it rewarding too. If you're mostly like 'wow, I for real didn't hear about any of this', happy for you, there are links below so you know what's up and can identify some messages you might have absorbed without knowing it.

I won't be updating this blog with any more analyses. Thanks for reading, especially if you had to push through discomfort or fear to do so, and for liking my analyses enough to follow! If you have questions, here are some good resources to look at:

the basics of 'what does trans mean, like, practically?';

a great primer on what we actually know about trans people in britain (useful for outside-of-britain questions too);

a video introducing jk rowling's contribution to anti-trans movements and the discussion of whether to separate the art from the artist, and, if you're interested, a dry but short video about some of her direct links to conservative anti-trans and anti-gay groups in the us and uk

if you have more questions after looking at these, the facebook group 'You Might Wanna Learn More About Trans People' is an active group where you can ask them, anonymously if you want to.

[hauntedpotat]

I N T R O P O S T

hi 👋

My name is hauntedpotat, you can call me something related to that or Lyss! Im aroace and agender, and my pronouns are xe/they/he, but I'm pretty much good with anything except she/her 👍I'm in US central time! I'm from the cheese state 🧀🧀

I am a minor, no creepy or nsfw stuff please

Shitty people FUCK OFF (you know EXACTLY who you are, and no I will not debate with you on if I should exist or not. Leave me alone. Thanks!)

Asks are cool!! Talk to Me (if you want)

most likely neurodivergent

This blog is mainly OC and story art, art challenges, and general tumblr interactions. I have a fandom sideblog @themostuselesspotato where I post, you guessed it, fandom stuff (not specifying here, there are far to many). Outside of drawing, I also enjoy reading and most crafts.

Rn I am being soooooooooo normal about marching band and drum corps :]]] soooooo totally normal

I am currently in the process of writing/illustrating a webcomic that I plan to start releasing on webtoon this summer! The characters that I draw here will be part of it :)

I also have a pinterest, instagram (which I no longer use), youtube, and twitch (I haven't done anything with the last two yet, but I plan to in the future). You can find all of this at gpdsocials.carrd.co if you're interested

Adding a cut here, important stuff is above, spewing about my life is below (lol)

I am currently going to school for graphic design, so I know how to and frequently use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Primere Pro both in and out of school. My current profile picture was made on Illustrator for an ongoing branding unit in one of my classes. I also learned how to design, cut, and press T-shirts.

On the topic of school, I also participate in band! I did summer marching band last year, and hopefully will continue to do so until I graduate. I am a percussionist, and my favorite instruments to play are bass drum, vibraphone, and this one specific marimba we have in class (no seriously, I could rant about how nice it sounds for HOURS). During marching band, I played second bass drum, and now snare.

I posted a complete Fishuary art challenge here! If you want to see my silly fish drawings, search the tag #fishuary2024

On the topic of tags, I also use #potats friend interactions (for general convo etc) and #potat rambles (for shitposts basically) #potat's band chronicles is for band camp 👍 All of these are tagged below, for easy access.

Random facts about me! Idk

I can kick someone of adult height in the face if I want to (for some reason I can just kick really high)

When I was in 3rd grade I handwrote a two page informational essay about mosquitoes from memory in an hour

I have a cat! Her name is Stormy, she's 3 years old :) lmk if yall want to see pictures of her, I've got so many pictures

The only video game I've played is minecraft on a kindle fire that I won from selling girl scout cookies at the age of ten. This shitty thing can support like one world at a time and STILL crashes

Once I smashed my knee between a boat and dock at 8am bc I was running off of hot cocoa and 5 hours of sleep and thought my knee was a good cushion for the boat that was coming in at the wrong angle. Don't do that!! Hot cocoa induced decision making is bad! And boats are still very heavy even if they're very slow!!

Idk what else to write here. I'm sure I will continue to update this post, so feel free to ask me questions in my asks or in the replies

Bye! 👋

[iviarellereads]

The Wheel of Time Post Index

For a primer on the purpose of this blog as a whole, give this a read. Just to reiterate one piece of that: this project is spoiler-free past the chapter you click on. In this case, the TV show has more or less covered the first 3 books. I will not be putting TV show spoilers in the commentary, but I may make some reference to it, and maybe a second weekend spoiler-post once in a while to compare and contrast how each medium interprets the story. I will definitely have some additional weekend posts for full-book-series spoilers, but they will be marked as such, with all spoilers under a read more.

For the reasons I chose to cover the Wheel of Time, check this out. I will reiterate a part of that here as well: I highly recommend you start with the TV show's first two seasons to get a feel for the world and the main characters and the magic setup and see if this is a world and a story you want to explore further.

We'll be doing this in publication order, because the prequel placement is very controversial.(1) I won't be including much information from the encyclopedias, except where lore/worldbuilding details are particularly relevant but not forthcoming, but know that there exist two encyclopedias (one written as an in-world document with inaccuracies and art of questionable accuracy, one written as a proper for-readers encyclopedia), as well as a book about the origins of a lot of RJ's references for things like names and cultural elements (which range from real world mythologies to appliance brand names).

Book index

1 The Eye of the World 2 The Great Hunt 3 The Dragon Reborn 4 The Shadow Rising 5 The Fires of Heaven 6 Lord of Chaos 7 A Crown of Swords 8 The Path of Daggers 9 Winter's Heart 10 Crossroads of Twilight (Prequel) New Spring 11 Knife of Dreams 12 The Gathering Storm 13 The Towers of Midnight 14 A Memory of Light

=====

(1) For real, debates still rage. My personal stance is, if you started with the TV show, you can read the prequel at any time, even first, and it was written to be a good onboard point. But, if you haven't seen the TV show, well, I highly recommend it, but if you REALLY don't want to or can't watch it, I think publishing order is a good compromise for prequel placement because it's right where the author put it.

[mel-addams]

[Image Description: the first image is the cover of the TTRPG Wyrd Street. A pale woman wearing a hooded robe is seated in the center of a candlelit room, looking with shock at her bloody hands. She’s sitting on a torn and bloody rug, a broken chair in front of her. Behind her is Ji Wensdottir, one of the Iconic Characters, casting a protective spell while she looks down at the seated woman. Surrounding them are glowing runes from the spell, a few floating, jellyfish-like critters made from possessed junk, and a large, menacing ghostly figure, floating in front of a broken window. At the top is the Wyrd Street text logo, and at the bottom is the text “Core Rulebook.”

The second image is an illustration of Osiron, a man with brown skin, dark brown hair, a sharp goatee, and cat-like ears on the sides of his head. He is holding a deck of tarot cards in his left hand, with a fan of three cards in his right, ready for throwing. He’s wearing a long, tan, striped robe, with a dark red and brown hooded coat overtop it. Around his neck is a decorated pouch for his cards, with a simplified crescent moon sitting between two plateaus against a night sky, and wooden beads hanging from the bottom of the bag. His boots are decorated in a manner similar to the bag, but with a simple vulture in the sky area as well. Handwritten beside him is his name, and his RPG class, Fortune Teller.]

~~~

Osiron the Fortune Teller

Wyrd Street TTRPG IndieGoGo, funding now!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wyrd-street-d20-ttrpg-system/x/9982631#/

Wyrd Street cover illustrated by Dana, whose portfolio you can find here: https://www.danabraga.com/

A Lone Wolf—he chose to focus on fickle fate, rather than his society’s veneration of more solid research and logic.

He has cat ears!

His class has a tarot-based buff ability, BLADED CARDS TO THROW, and can give buffs that allow rerolls to manipulate fate!

(He’s my favorite I wanna draw him SO BAD I did get to call dibs, I’m pretty sure we just need enough funding to not need to cut into the art budget)

With the tarot and some other abilities, you roll a d4 to determine the random effect you get—with the different suits being attributed to each number, if your GM allows, you might draw from a tarot deck(’s minor arcana) or playing cards for flavor!

I don’t mean to play favorites and make Osiron’s post relatively longer, but each class has details on a specific ability! So, for his example: at level 5 you can “mark” a character—each turn they gain another mark, until you set them all off to do [X] shadow damage per mark! STACK NIGHTMARISH DREAD (And it lasts a while, with activation range a bit further than application range—so if the situation allows, you could even play it like a horror movie monster/villain following them around. For funsies.)

The Fortune Teller class is also accidentally perfect for making Yu-Gi-Oh! characters. Yugi/Yami would be mostly buffs with some psychic damage penalty-game-ish abilities; Bakura would be debuffs and DOOM; Seto would focus on passives and luck boost-type things to minimize failure chance (he may not believe in fate but they work anyway). And there wouldn’t even be much ability overlap between them, because each level has two or more abilities to pick from, so they’d still be pretty unique despite being the same class! AND they could each have different weapons, since there are magic-based ones that could fit them, instead of all having cards.

...WAIT IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH PHYSICAL YU-GI-OH! CARDS, YOU COULD ALSO MAKE A DECK OF JUST MONSTERS FROM LEVEL 1-4 IN EQUAL AMOUNTS, AND USE THAT TO DETERMINE D4 RESULTS, TOO

A deep dive post from Tyler, with details on the Fortune Teller’s max-level abilities:

https://superior-realities.com/2021/12/13/wyrd-street-tease-master-of-fate/

Another deep dive post from Tyler, specifically about Osiron, plus a bit more info on Fortune Teller:

https://superior-realities.com/2022/05/27/wyrd-street-tease-osiron-the-fortune-teller/

And that’s all the Iconics revealed! Wyrd Street’s IndieGoGo ends on the 26th, so go give it a gander, and take a peek at the primer to check out the gameplay!

~~~

- Wyrd Street Masterpost - Ji Wensdottir the Street Preacher - Lo Karlsson the Drifter - Blue Rose the Vigilante - Five Snow Blossom the Dreamer - Osiron the Fortune Teller - Burning Grin the Scoundrel - Bing Li the Heretic - Na Wen the Brawler - Dr. Zuberi Mbogo the Quack

[bitchesgetriches]

To get this one out early to all your followers who I'm sure will eventually be asking: NFTs are essentially a scam. They're the digital equivalent of the creator of parks and rec scribbling you an autograph saying "Piggy owns parks and rec now, love, Mike" on the back of a napkin and jotting his phone number down on the bottom of it in case anyone wanted to ring and confirm that he did actually sign this autograph.

It's *technically* not actually a scam because deep in the small print it does usually specify that your NFT grants you zero rights zero ownership and is absolutely meaningless despite the marketing claims, and in theory the NFT in itself *could* have some sort of collectors' value (like an autograph could) but the marketing around them is VERY scammy making all kinds of ownership promises and rights implications that they really can't deliver on. It's also got a whole 'nother level that the whole scam essentially exists to suck real fungible money into the eretheum system, which as a previous poster has already pointed out is also a proof-of-work-based environmental disaster. NFTs are essentially a barely legal cash fleece to prop up the crypto bubble.

So buyer beware people, if you wouldn't pay that for an autograph from whoever it is, don't pay it for their NFT.

I suppose we should also cover "What is an NFT" shouldn't we?

An NFT is a Non-Fungible Token. What does that mean you might ask? Well fungible means it's practically exchangeable for anything else like it in the same class. The best idea of this is money. A ten dollar note is fungible. If I have my ten dollar note, or I swap it for a different ten dollars with you, or I swap two of them for a twenty, I don't fundamentally care. Ten dollars is ten dollars.

Non-Fungible is like an autograph. If I have an autograph from Joe Biden, it's not immediately and self-evidently equivalent to an autograph from Barack Obama. Sure, you might *decide* to make the trade, it might be worth it to you, but they're not inherently interchangeable. If you woke up one morning and someone had swapped out your Joe autograph for a DJT one, or your mom borrowed your Joe and promised she'd replace with a Ford one later, you'd be well within your rights to be pissed in a way that you just wouldn't be with a simple ten bucks.

An NFT takes this idea and makes it ~digital~. It's built on the same idea as crypto currency but they've made each one unique. Like putting different people's autographs on a ten dollar bill, I suppose - now your Joe Biden $10 IS different to your mom's Barack one (very ELI5 don't @me).

What they claim to do is provide digital "ownership" of art, or music, etc. As we all know, digital artwork can be copied and pasted to your heart's content, and no one can really own an original. Copyright law can come into play, but who *owns* the original. NFTs (claim to) attempt to solve that. When an original is created, the artist creates an NFT that says "X person owns this artwork" and sells it. This person now has a cryptographically secure little badge saying "I own this artwork", that they can prove no matter how many people copy and paste it. The idea being that everyone can see the Mona Lisa, or copy and paste a print of it, but only one person gets to OWN the Mona Lisa, right? Even owning the artwork doesn't necessarily give you copyright over it - that's normal, so NFTs just work the same. You get to own it and be the only person in the world who can prove they do. Seductive marketing. Cool, right?

Wrong.

Firstly - you do not "own" this artwork. Like, not even slightly. Hell, the artwork itself isn't actually contained within the NFT. It's usually just a link to another website that is contained within the NFT. Something like "the person who can correctly prove possession of this token owns the artwork at www dot artwork dot com". Well, can you imagine if the Mona Lisa did the same?? You'd never stand for that, would you? Can you imagine if you spent $1bn on buying the Mona Lisa and then looked at the fine print and it actually said that you own the painting that stands at the middle of the Denon Alley in the Louvre? Sure, that's the Mona Lisa NOW, but there's no guarantee it'll be the Mona Lisa next week.

Secondly. You do not actually own the art in any meaningful sense. The terms and conditions confirm this. You do not gain the copyright. You do not get the right to have it taken down. You do not get the right to exclusive use of the photo. You don't get the right to destroy it. You literally only own this digital token that says you own it. To take it back to the Mona Lisa example, it would be like getting a piece of paper saying you own the painting at the middle of the Denon Alley in the Louvre, but we're gonna keep hold of it: you're not allowed to move it, touch it, tamper with it, copy it, take photos of it, sell merchandise of it, stop anyone else from looking at it, or do any of the things that one usually associates with "owning" a painting. In fact, all you get is a piece of paper saying it's yours, and you can ring us up anytime to check we really did give you that paper. That's it.

What's the point? You don't actually own the painting in any meaningful way. It's like those "name a star" gifts. It may well be "official", but in practical terms it's worth diddly fuck all. You'd be pretty annoyed if someone told you you'd bought the Mona Lisa and that's all you got.

Thirdly (and finally)

There is literally NO benefit to 'owning' it for you. To go back again to the Mona Lisa, the example the sellers use to justify the "but anyone can copy it" is that anyone can own a print of the Mona Lisa, but only one person can own the original. You're the original owner of this digital artwork.

Except... The Mona Lisa is unique. Digital artwork isn't. The original and copies of digital artwork are - ironically - completely fungible. If I copy-paste the original file, they're both "originals". Neither has any more claim to be original than the other. And remember, there's no "original" actually stored in the token, just a link to something that shows another copy. The Mona Lisa is unique, different, there's only one copy. He only put his paints on one piece of canvas. Prints aren't the same. But a digital artwork? By the time it's finished being drawn and copied over to the website, it's a completely different set of electrons on a completely different server. It's already not an "original". It's a completely, utterly, identical copy. Which I can then download. And copy a thousand times. And they're all still perfect copies and indistinguishable from the original. If I swapped one of them out for another on the website my link points to, there's literally no technical or practical way to tell.

After all that. NFTs DO have some uses. They are ways to support the artist. They are ways to give money back. They are ways to make people feel special (like autographs). You may ask why would you buy a digital print from the K&P Etsy store if you think all digital art is the same. Why would you pay to download an ebook when you could pirate an identical copy for free. This is what they will come back to me with. And there's many - good - reasons to do so! There's many good reasons to buy digital art. And you should! Support your local artists! But this can be, and is already, all achieved without paying over the odds to falsely claim I actually own some sort of permanent original. It can certainly be done without all the crypto-hyped middle men taking their cuts. And it can be done in a way that doesn't prop up the horrible eco-disaster bubble that is a proof of work Blockchain.

The technology isn't a scam. The technology has real world uses and benefits. But the entire marketing ecosystem around it is a scam.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Now this is the kind of “better know a scam” content for which I come to the internet. Thank you so much for this primer on NFTs!

[metellastella]

Pinned Post Primer

This is my Pinned Post to explain what I post where. 

I often post doodle dumps and lineart that you ARE free to use! Just make sure you look on the post’s commentary to double check. Credit is appreciated.

I also like coloring other peoples’ lineart, if you have some you’re not motivated to finish, but want to see it done. 

TLDNR Version (read first regardless):

This is my main. Eco-friendly stuff mostly, original art, ATLA, and I am entering a new era of fanart within a slew of other fandoms so let me get that sorted.

(mostly animation, but some Steam games and medical dramas will be included hopefully as well)

Currently I am way into Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, hoping Kipo or Dogs in Space somehow get the attention they deserve, which despite the utterly silly sounding names, have hints of much larger societal themes, and are quite solid and awesome.

Dungeon Meshi: I’ve literally never bought a print manga before despite having dabbled in anime a little, but this one has convinced me.

Undertale sideblogs: add ‘ask-anachro-’ to the front of your favorite characters, and at least one should show up. I do half the main cast. 

Instagram: The IG of my same name hosts pet portrait paintings

Instagram (metellastella_fandom) fanart for Pokemon, ATLA, Undertale, etc.

UPDATE: IG has locked me out of that account due to some technical difficulty, and in true corrupt corporation fashion they won’t respond to Support emails. So, now that one’s been torpedoed. They’ve essentially made it an ‘archive’ now. Guess for future posting I’m going to have to fallback on metellastella_fantasy

Deviantart: MUCH more content

AO3: ATLA, MMHOPH, TMNT, and small quantities of The Dragon Prince (which has people from ATLA) FFN: Less content, because I haven’t gotten around to it. WHY would you nix the beta reader function, FFN?? WWHHYY? Does anyone want to start a community hive of beta readers somewhere ‘cause that’d be swell. 

Ao3 community, Discord, BlueSky, Mastodon, literally don’t care where. 

If you know of a place that exists, PLZ SHARE.

More-detailed ‘Long I WILL Read’ Version under the cut: 

I have poems about practically any subject you’d care to name. I frequently share these as Google Docs, and may eventually record for Spoken Word for Soundcloud and/or YT. I also have some essays/rants and I’m not sure what blog platform I want to use. Any suggestions? 

I am working on a couple of novels, which I also have samples for in Google Docs.

Will not crosspost within IG accounts or Tumblr sideblogs if I can absolutely help it, so feel free to follow more than one with the expectation you will not see the same thing twice. Will occasionally add something I think of later from a differently focused account, though.

On my main Tumblr, I post a blend of general social justice, mixed with environmental justice and sustainability, and wildlife and cute and/or interesting animals, and also Avatar the Last Airbender. I have a sideblog that is dedicated primarily to ATLA reblogs but also a sprinkling of other fandoms that come up and some discussion on others’ headcanons and my own story. (Next tagging project is probably going to be #Metella Metas) A couple of half-dressed up drawings to go along with my ATLA fic have their own posts. Hashtag: #WMTE

My other main fandom is Undertale, and I have several ask blogs where the characters get into general shenanigans and also speak on topics they’re interested in, and fun facts. Oh and I also do voices and songs for a lot of them on Soundcloud, which I will crosspost links to for your listening pleasure on Tumblr. 

The reason I don’t post Pokemon art to Tumblr on any blogs is because it would take a whole lot of work to transfer the mountains worth of fanart I’ve already done to here. (I’ve already got more to transfer from my first DA account, before they enabled username changes). Also, I am not as deep into the character and worldbuilding aspects of the Pokemon franchise. On Tumblr, I try to focus on fandoms I write for, since it enables text better and people actually evaluate it (unlike my witty Artists’ Comments on DA I spent years submitting, and adding cute emoticons to, which I’m not sure anyone actually reads) so as for my being visually inspired, I decided to keep to platforms that are focused on images. 

The reasons why DA hosts a lot more of my content than IG is (a) I’ve been on there a whole lot longer and (b) I have a heck of a time trying to fit some art and comics to the limited image scale on IG. On Deviantart and the specific Instagram ‘sideblog’ (@metellastella_fandom), Pokemon art ranges from semi-realistic to super cartoony. 

For @metellastella_fantasy, the critters are also posted on DA and it’s much easier to download my lineart than from IG (in fact I’m not sure it’s possible at all there??) 

I have some other sideblogs, but I’d rather not mention them here, because I’m self-conscious about conflict. (when on a more front-facing ‘public’ platform ofc- anybody who knows me knows I can rip into a good debate 1-on-1) If we’re already friends and I’ve talked to you some, and you’re curious about the sideblogs, you can PM me.

If you’re interested in a snapshot of me as a person, go here: https://metellastella.tumblr.com/post/636149436159000576/its-weird-i-know-irl-and-url-people-act

[tabbycasto]

🧊🍬Aurora Nails or Ice Nails using Artistic Nail Design Rock Hard Gel🍬🧊

Aurora nails or Glow nails are trending in the UK inspired by the famous 밤별 nails in Korea, I wanted to recreate this look using cruelty free products & it took a few attempts to get the finish I was after.

A note on this trend :

The reason we are not seeing the exact “glowing” effect of this trend recreated in the UK (yet) is that in the UK we have cosmetic safety regulations which mean if something isn’t fit for the use on skin - it does not pass these regulations. In some countries, these regulations do not exist.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLbTpvGDwgk/?igshid=vuwg8u0zkvuo

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 미아사거리네일 99번가네일/구구네일 (@99st_nail_salon)

The powder used to create this look in Korea is called Glow Powder or "밤별" Powder. At the moment I haven’t found any of the brands I love and trust producing it. Mermaid chrome powders, iridescent shimmer pigments, rainbow & oil slick nail foils all create a brilliant finish, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t get the exact look you are seeing online. The powder pigment seems to be the key to get the effect & personally, if I can’t ensure a product is safe for clients - I won’t be purchasing or using them (much like the thermal colour changing gels & cat eye gels) , however I will continue to experiment with fun/safe alternatives to create a similar look using products that I trust.

Just to mention - No disrespect to any non UK brands at all, I am not here to promote we only purchase from UK shops, but I am keen to raise awareness that any nail tech should have access to accurate ingredient lists 💁🏼‍♀️

The look I was finally happy with was created with Artistic Rock Hard Building Gel, mermaid chrome powder & translucent angel paper foil. It’s still got that slightly chonky vibe as I’m not a fan of the angel paper being crinkled & to avoid this the gel has to stay quite built up, but I’ve tried to keep it as thin as possible:

I’ve also discovered some tips in my research when creating this effect

1. When cutting your Angel Paper Foil try not to crinkle it, use tweezers if needs be & sharp scissors to get the best effect

2. Keep the excess pieces for future icyclic nail art inspired looks

3. When adding your second layer of Builder Gel try to mimic the shape of your Angel Paper Foil so it almost nestles into place

4. Try to use only a couple layers of Mermaid Chrome Powder at most or else the look becomes too cloudy

If you are a nail pro you can use my ambassador code TABBY10 for 10% off Artistic Nail Design products I used at louellabelle.co.uk You can also quote my code Tabbycat when messaging @luxeresin_ on Instagram to get 20% off resin nail/makeup palletes.

Products Used :

Artistic Nail Design pH Nail Prep

Artistic Nail Design Rock Hard Opening Act Non Acid Primer

Artistic Nail Design Rock Hard Pink Groupie Gel

Artistic Nail Design Rock Hard LED Builder Gel

Artistic Nail Design Glossing Gel Topcoat

Artistic Nail Design No7 Square Gel Brush

Artistic Nail Design Led Cure Box

Artistic Nail Design Lint Free Wipes & Nail Surface Cleanser

Mermaid Chrome Powder

Translucent Angel Paper Foil

I thought I’d also share some of my other attempts with you as they also had a nice effect :

Attempt 1

The first attempt I tried ended up looking more Opalescent than Aurora, this was because I used too many layers of mermaid powder below and above the angel paper foil. Still a pretty look, but I wasn’t satisfied :

Attempt 2

The next look was very pretty, but again too cloudy. I used pink & green mermaid chromes & didn’t keep the angel paper as smooth as I should have so the crinkles gave off a different finish

Attempt 3

I was most pleased with my third attempt, where I kept the angel paper smooth, applied less mermaid chrome & build up the Builder Gel enough to allow the angle paper foil to lie really flat

I hope this was helpful to some of my nail techs friends who were keen to try the Aurora look! If you really love these more Opal inspired sets I created you can actually shop my press on nails & nail kits on my Etsy shop here :

https://etsy.me/2ZUEaEz

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic: 13 Mar 2020 (The third Little Brother book, Where I write, stream global news, AT&T's CEO gets millions for his failures, Chelsea Manning freed, Katie Porter vs CDC, Trump's scientific nihilism, Covid-malware co-evolution, Siennese solidarity)

Today's links

Announcing the third Little Brother book, Attack Surface: And a new Little Brother/Homeland reissue, with an intro by Ed Snowden!

Where I Write: A column for the CBC that's really about how I write.

Stream 200+ global news channels: Each hand-picked, no registration required.

AT&T's CEO fired 23,000 workers and gave himself a 10% raise: Life on the easiest setting.

Chelsea Manning is free: But she's been fined $256K for refusing to testify to the Grand Jury.

Rep Katie Porter forces CDC boss to commit to free testing: Literally the most effective questioner in Congress.

Trump's unfitness in a plague: It's not because he's an ignoramus, it's because he's a nihilist.

Malware that hides behind a realtime Covid-19 map: Peter Watts' prophecy comes true.

Locked-down Siennese sing their city's hymn: A cause for hope in the dark.

This day in history: 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Announcing the third Little Brother book, Attack Surface (permalink)

Attack Surface is the third Little Brother book, coming out next October.

It's told from the point of view of Masha, the young woman who is Marcus Yallow's frenemy who works first for the DHS and then for a private spook outfit. It's a book about how good people talk themselves into doing bad things, and how they redeem themselves. It ranges from Iraq to the color revolutions of the former USSR, to Oakland and the Movement for Black Lives.

The story turns on cutting-edge surveillance and counter-surveillance: self-driving cars, over-the-air baseband radio malware, IMSI catchers, CV dazzle and adversarial examples, binary transparency and warrant canaries.

This week, I did a wide-ranging and deep interview with Andrew Liptak for Polygon about the book, the Little Brother series, the techlash, the tech workers' uprising (and #TechWontBuildIt), and the future of technological self-determination.

We also revealed the cover for Attack Surface, which was designed by the incomparable Will Staehle (who is eligible for a Best Artist Hugo – nominations close today!).

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

Not only that, but Staehle has also designed a cover for a new omnibus edition of Little Brother and Homeland that comes out this July, and as you can see from that cover, the book has an all-new introduction by none other than Ed Snowden!

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

(In 2017, Staehle also designed all-new covers for my adult backlist)

https://www.tor.com/2017/10/18/cory-doctorow-will-staehle-covers/

The Little Brother books are neither optimistic nor pessimistic about technology: instead, they are hopeful. Hope is the belief that you can materially improve your life if you take action. A belief in human agency and the power of self-determination.

The message of Little Brother is neither "Things will all be fine" nor "We are all doomed."

It's: "This will be so great…if we don't screw it up."

Where I Write (permalink)

I learned to be a writer while my life was in total chaos. Decades later, I have a beautiful office to work in, but I still do my best writing typing hurriedly on subway trains, in taxi-cabs, and airport lounges.

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/finding-comfort-in-the-chaos-how-cory-doctorow-learned-to-write-from-literally-anywhere-1.5489363

My CBC column on where I write is really a primer on how I write: what it takes to be able to write when you're sad, or anxious, or wracked with self-doubt.

Unquestionably the most important skill I've acquired as a writer.

"Even though there were days when the writing felt unbearably awful, and some when it felt like I was mainlining some kind of powdered genius and sweating it out through my fingertips, there was no relation between the way I felt about the words I was writing and their objective quality, assessed in the cold light of day at a safe distance from the day I wrote them. The biggest predictor of how I felt about my writing was how I felt about me. If I was stressed, underslept, insecure, sad, hungry or hungover, my writing felt terrible. If I was brimming over with joy, the writing felt brilliant."

Stream 200+ global news channels (permalink)

TV News is an Android app that pulls like Youtube streams from 200+ global news channels in 50 languages, each manually selected by the app's creator, Steven Clift, whose work I've previously admired.

http://tvnewsapp.com/

You can filter the feeds by country and language and watch them as floating windows that let you continue to use your device while you watch. No registration required, either.

They're shooting for 1000+ channels soon.

AT&T's CEO fired 23,000 workers and gave himself a 10% raise (permalink)

Randall Stephenson is CEO of AT&T. Ajit Pai killed Net Neutrality so that Stephenson could legally slow down the services we requested to extort bribes from us. Then, Trump gave his company a $20B tax cut.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nepxeg/atandt-preps-for-new-layoffs-despite-billions-in-tax-breaks-and-regulatory-favors

Stephenson used that money to raise exec pay, buy back his company's stock to juice its price and to pay off debts from earlier, disastrous mergers. He cut 23,000 jobs and slashed capital spending (America has the worst broadband of any rich country).

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/att-promised-7000-new-jobs-to-get-tax-break-it-cut-23000-jobs-instead/

After all that, Stephenson congratulated himself on a job well done by giving himself a 10% raise in 2019, bringing his total compensation up to 32 million dollars.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/att-ceo-pay-rose-to-32-million-in-2019-while-he-cut-20000-jobs/

I mean the guy earned it. He blew billions of dollars buying Warner and Directv, and then lost billions more on the failed aftermath. If that doesn't warrant a raise, what does?

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/att-loses-another-1-3-million-tv-customers-as-directv-freefall-continues/

Chelsea Manning is free (permalink)

A judge has ordered that Chelsea Manning be released from jail, a day after her latest suicide attempt. She was jailed last March for refusing to testify before a grand jury, held in solitary for two months, then jailed again a few days later, in May, She's been inside ever since.

The judge ordered her release because the Grand Jury had finished its work.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.412520/gov.uscourts.vaed.412520.41.0.pdf

It's fantastic to that Manning got her freedom back, but she has been fined $256,000 for her noncompliance. I just donated to her fund:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-chelsea-pay-her-court-fines

(Image: Tim Travers Hawkins, CC BY-SA)

Rep Katie Porter forces CDC boss to commit to free testing (permalink)

I am a huge fan of Rep Katie Porter. Her outstanding questioning techniques and unwillingness to countenance bullshit from the people she questions are such a delight to watch.

Here she is demolishing billionaire finance criminal Jamie Dimon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WLuuCM6Ej0

Oh, Ben Carson, you never stood a chance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVWy3q2kmNM

Steve Mnuchin always looks like a colossal asshole, but rarely this comprehensively:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78zpa0hQ1aw

I almost feel sorry for this Trumpkin from the Consumer Finance Protection Board as she faces Porter's withering fire.

Almost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBaCc5VUHS8

Porter – an Elizabeth Warren protege – doesn't do this to grandstand. Like AOC, she uses her spectacular skills to elicit admissions and get them on the record, and to hold Congressional witnesses to account.

Today, Porter attained a new peak in a short, illustrious career. That's because today was the day she questioned CDC assistant secretary for preparedness and response Robert Kadlec, asking him to clarify Trump's televised lie last night that insurers would pay for Covid-19 testing.

https://twitter.com/RepKatiePorter/status/1238147835859779584

Porter doggedly held Kadlec to account, forcing him to acknowledge that the cost of a Covid-19 test – $1,331 – was so high that many would forego it, and then to admit that these Americans could go on to transmit the disease to others, making it a matter of public concern.

Then she forced CDC Director Robert Redfield to admit – as she had informed him in writing the week before – that the CDC had the authority to simply pay those fees, universally, for any American seeking testing, under 42 CFR 71.30:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2019-title42-vol1/xml/CFR-2019-title42-vol1-part71.xml#seqnum71.30

Having laid this factual record, Porter insisted that Redfield commit to using that authority. Not to consider it, study it, or consult on it. To use it to help save the country. Whenever Redfield waffled, she reclaimed her time and forced him back on point.

KP: Dr. Redfield, will you commit to the CDC, right now, using that existing authority to pay for diagnostic testing, free to every American, regardless of insurance?

RR: Well, I can say that we're going to do everything to make sure everybody can get the care they need –"

KP: Nope, not good enough. Yes or no?

RR: What I'm going to say is, I'm going to review it in detail with CDC and the department —

KP: No, reclaiming my time [repeats the question]

RR: What I was trying to say is that CDC is working with HHS now to see how we operationalize that

KP: Dr. Redfield, I hope that that answer weighs heavily on you, because it is going to weigh very heavily on me and on every American family

RR: Our intent is to make sure that every American family gets the care and treatment they need at this time in this major epidemic and I am currently working with HHS to see how to best operationalize it.

KP: Excellent! Everybody in America hear that — you are eligible to go get tested for coronavirus and have that covered, regardless of insurance

[Curtain]

Trump's unfitness in a plague (permalink)

In this editorial, Science editor-in-chief H Holden Thorp makes a compelling case that Trump is not capable of leading the American response to Covid-19.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6483/1169

Trump has spent years denigrating and ignoring science before taking office, and it's only gotten worse, since.

As Thorp writes, "You can't insult science when you don't like it and then suddenly insist on something that science can't give on demand."

His policy track-record is even worse: "deep cuts to science, including cuts to funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NIH…nearly 4 years of harming and ignoring science."

This reminds me of an argument I often have with digital rights activists who attribute bad technology policy to the inability of clueless lawmakers to understand the technical nuance. I think that's wrong. The fact that we're not all dead of cholera, even though there are no microbiologists in Congress proves that you don't need to be a domain expert to make good policy.

Good policy comes from truth-seeking exercises in which experts with different views present their best evidence to neutral adjudicators who make determinations in public, showing their work in explicit, written, public reasoning. These processes are made legitimate – and hence robust and reliable – by procedural rules. The adjudicators – regulators, staffers, etc – are not allowed to have conflicts of interest. Their conclusions are subject to the rule of law, with mandatory transparency and a process for appeal.

It has to be this way: there's no way that – say – a president could be an expert on all the different issues that might arise during their tenure.

This, then, is the problem with inequality and market concentration: it merges the referees with the players. When an industry only has a handful of players, they all end up with common lobbying positions – a common position on what is truth. That's because the C-suites of these five companies are filled with people who've worked at two, three or four of the competitors, and are married to others who've worked at the remainder. They're godparents to one anothers' kids, executors of each others' wills.

There's no way for there NOT to be collusion in these circumstances.

And when an industry is that concentrated, the only people who understand it well enough are those same execs, so inevitably the regulators are drawn from the industry.

That's why Obama's "good" FCC Chair, Tom Wheeler, was a former Comcast lobbyist, and why Ajit Pai, Trump's "bad" FCC chair, is a former Verizon lawyer. Apart from Susan Crawford, there's not really anyone who's not from the top ranks of Big Telco qualified to regulate them.

So many of us saw the photo of Trump meeting with all the tech leaders and were dismayed that they were throwing their lot in with him.

But we should also be aghast that all the leaders of the industry fit around one modest board-room table.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/14/donald-trump-meets-with-tech-leaders/

The problem with Trump's Covid-19 response is that he does not believe in a legitimate process with neutral referees. The refereeship, in trumpland, is an open-field auction, a transactional process that works best when it enriches Trump and his party.

The problem of Trump taking charge of the epidemiological crisis of Covid-19 isn't that he doesn't understand science: it's that he doesn't believe in evidence-based policy.

He is part of the cult of "Public Choice Theory," the belief that there is no one who can serve as referee without eventually colluding with the players for their mutual enrichment, a cynical, nihilistic philosophy that holds that there's no point in seeking to govern well. These people project their own moral vacuum onto all of humanity, a kind of cartoon Homo Economicus who is incapable of anything except maximizing personal utility.

For these people, the existence of bridges that don't fall down and water that doesn't give you cholera are lucky accidents, not results of sound policy and careful truth-seeking. They reason that since they would take bribes to poison the water of Flint, so would everyone.

Trump isn't just a non-expert, he's an ignoranamus, but that's not the problem. The problem is that he is a nihilist, someone who doesn't believe that truth-seeking is even possible.

Malware that hides behind a realtime Covid-19 map (permalink)

Hackers have developed a malware-as-a-service that packages up realtime Covid-19 maps with malware droppers that infect people who load them.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/03/live-coronavirus-map-used-to-spread-malware/

This reminds me intensely of Peter Watts's 2002 novel Maelstrom, in which Watts uses his background as an evolutionary biologist to posit an eerily plausible and devilishly clever way that a digital and a human virus could co-evolve.

https://rifters.com/real/MAELSTROM.htm

This has stuck with me! In May 2018, I wrote about it in Locus Magazine:

http://locusmag.com/2018/05/cory-doctorow-the-engagement-maximization-presidency/

Maelstrom is concerned with a pandemic that is started by its protago­nist, Lenie Clark, who returns from a deep ocean rift bearing an ancient, devastating pathogen that burns its way through the human race, felling people by the millions.

As Clark walks across the world on a mission of her own, her presence in a message or news story becomes a signal of the utmost urgency. The filters are firewalls that give priority to some packets and suppress others as potentially malicious are programmed to give highest priority to any news that might pertain to Lenie Clark, as the authorities try to stop her from bringing death wherever she goes.

Here's where Watt's evolutionary bi­ology shines: he posits a piece of self-modifying malicious software – something that really exists in the world today – that automatically generates variations on its tactics to find computers to run on and reproduce itself. The more computers it colonizes, the more strategies it can try and the more computational power it can devote to analyzing these experiments and directing its randomwalk through the space of all possible messages to find the strategies that penetrate more firewalls and give it more computational power to devote to its task.

Through the kind of blind evolution that produces predator-fooling false eyes on the tails of tropical fish, the virus begins to pretend that it is Lenie Clark, sending messages of increasing convincingness as it learns to impersonate patient zero. The better it gets at this, the more welcoming it finds the firewalls and the more computers it infects.

At the same time, the actual pathogen that Lenie Clark brought up from the deeps is finding more and more hospitable hosts to reproduce in: thanks to the computer virus, which is directing public health authorities to take countermeasures in all the wrong places. The more effective the computer virus is at neutralizing public health authorities, the more the biological virus spreads. The more the biological virus spreads, the more anxious the public health authorities become for news of its progress, and the more computers there are trying to suck in any intelligence that seems to emanate from Lenie Clark, supercharging the computer virus.

Together, this computer virus and biological virus co-evolve, symbiotes who cooperate without ever intending to, like the predator that kills the prey that feeds the scavenging pathogen that weakens other prey to make it easier for predators to catch them.

Locked-down Siennese sing their city's hymn (permalink)

In times of crisis, we typically pull together, but elite panic's pervasive mythology holds that these moments are when the poors reveal their inner beast and attack their social betters. That libel on humanity is disproved regularly by our everyday experience. As common as these incidents of solidarity are, they still warrant our notice.

The Song of the Verbena is the hymn of the Italian city of Sienna, currently on lockdown.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canto_della_Verbena

This video of Siennese people singing their hymn from the windows of their houses, into their empty street, is one of the most beautiful, hopeful things I've seen this week.

Truly, it is a tonic.

https://twitter.com/valemercurii/status/1238234518508777473

This day in history (permalink)

#5yrsago NYPD caught wikiwashing Wikipedia entries on police brutality https://web.archive.org/web/20150313150951/http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/03/8563947/edits-wikipedia-pages-bell-garner-diallo-traced-1-police-plaza

#1yrago Gimlet staff announce unionization plan following Spotify acquisition https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/13/18263957/gimlet-media-union-spotify-recognition-podcasts

#1yrago With days to go until the #CopyrightDirective vote, #Article13's father admits it requires filters and says he's OK with killing Youtube https://www.golem.de/news/uploadfilter-voss-stellt-existenz-von-youtube-infrage-1903-139992.html

#1yrago Spotify's antitrust complaint against Apple is a neat parable about Big Tech's monopoly https://www.wired.com/story/spotify-apple-complaint-warren-antitrust-issue/

#1yrago A critical flaw in Switzerland's e-voting system is a microcosm of everything wrong with e-voting, security practice, and auditing firms https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmakk3/researchers-find-critical-backdoor-in-swiss-online-voting-system

#1yrago McMansion Hell tours the homes of the "meritocratic" one-percenters who allegedly bought their thickwitted kids' way into top universities in the college admissions scandal https://mcmansionhell.com/post/183417051691/in-honor-of-the-college-admissions-scandal

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Empty Wheel (https://www.emptywheel.net/), CNN (https://cnn.com), Memex 1.1 (https://memex.naughtons.org/), Slashdot (https://slashdot.org).

Hugo nominators! My story "Unauthorized Bread" is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Currently writing: I've just finished rewrites on a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I've also just completed "Baby Twitter," a piece of design fiction also set in The Lost Cause's prehistory, for a British think-tank. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel next.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: A Lever Without a Fulcrum Is Just a Stick https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_330/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_330_-_A_Lever_Without_a_Fulcrum_Is_Just_a_Stick.mp3

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

[deardaisygarden]

Professional tips to renovate a bathroom without spending a fortune and with little work

The January slope, the COVID crisis, little desire to be bogged down for a week with the bathroom work, the need to save for other things ... there may be many reasons why it is not the time to reform the bathroom as such. But there is a way to renew it with hardly any work and with low-cost ideas that will mean that you don't have to make a large investment. To help us in this, the decorator Ana Lorenzana, from Decoryver, gives us the keys (and shows us real examples of projects carried out by her in which she has applied these ideas). Many of these ideas are what you apply in your express change jobs, with more or less investment, but without major works, for bathrooms and kitchens. Expert word.

How to renovate a bathroom without works? No debris and virtually no dust. While it is true that some changes involve more "fuss", they are not to create a tremendous mess. The ones that take the most work are to paint the tiles, cover them with leveling compound in case you want to smooth the wall to place wallpaper or change the floor for one installed over the old one. But because the surfaces in which to work are larger than the rest of the ideas that Ana Lorenzana gives us to reform the bathroom with hardly any work. And still, we want you to know how to do it. This way you will know that it does not imply a work as such (there is nothing to break).

The changes without works that more work can give you to renovate the bathroom

1. Paint the tiles. A ten-way to reform or renovate without work. Although you will have to invest in the product itself (the paint) and the plastics to cover the toilets, it is not a work like pulling and re-installing new tiles. You should clear the walls as much as possible and cover with plastic and painter's tape everything that remains (from the toilet to any faucets or pipes that protrude from the wall). Next, you will have to clean thoroughly with specific cleaners, apply primer depending on the material you use to paint tiles (and the color of these from which you start), and paint with enamel or Versante Authentic Chalk Paint.-which is specific to this-. Depending on the size of the bathroom, on a weekend you will have the job done. Then you will only have to wait for the total drying time to use the room.

2. Change the floor. It is much easier than you think thanks to vinyl flooring. They imitate all kinds of finishes (wood with a very realistic finish; hydraulic tile; cement imitation ...), they are usually cut with a cutter -without the need for specific machinery-. You have them self-adhesive or in click installation and they are placed on the existing floor. You will be practically dustless and you have nothing to break to enjoy a fresh bathroom look. It is an express change that will be ready in one day. With the same type of material, you should know that you can hide the wall tiles. There are even vinyl tiles suitable for shower areas that do not let water enter through the joints.

3. Wallpaper a tile wall. Another option you have to renovate a bathroom with little work and for little money is to wallpaper a wall or part of it (for example, the upper area). If the wall was painted or papered, it will not give you any work but if it has tiles, you must match to achieve a perfect finish in which the joints or relief of the old tile are not marked. There are vinyl or vinyl papers that can be installed on the tile directly (they have a specific adhesive or you have to use a specific glue) but the joints will be noticeable. The trick is to choose a design with a lot of print to hide it. But for the result to be professional, the ideal thing to do before wallpapering is to apply a leveling paste on the wall to cover everything and make the base smooth. Apply, spread, let dry, sand, and you're done. But here, although with hardly spending, you will have dust.

Professional's first idea to reform without work: the mirror Now yes, from Decoryver (www.instagram.com/decoryver) Ana details the changes to which we must resort to renew the image of the bathroom without works and with hardly any expense; like changing the bathroom mirror. "Do you have a frameless mirror in your bathroom? Paint a frame around it or make a nice and original frame with a molding. It will not look the same!", Advises Ana. And is that to renovate the bathroom without works, focus in the sink cabinet it is a success. It usually occupies a privileged or central place so it has a lot to do with our perception of the environment. In addition, opting for a mirror with a different style to the one that predominates provides a lot of personalities.

"If you want to replace it, change one of the mirrors in your house, and incorporate that into the bathroom. You will see what a change," says Ana. Getting a new one is also a controlled investment, but if what it is about is to reuse, apply this idea, recover a mirror that someone is going to throw away, renew only the molding of another ...

The washbasin cabinet There is much to say about this element and everything will be noticed in the bathroom renovation. From not getting rid of the one you have, but transforming it; to dedicate your budget. "If the one you have fits you because of measurements, storage, and the design you like or it is simply not the time to change it, a coat of paint is a great solution," says Lorenzana. If you also replace the handles, you will have a new piece of furniture for very little. And if with paint you can achieve a big change, with a little more budget you can also opt for vinyl (there are plain colors, marble print, imitation wood, terrazzo ...). Adding legs to furniture is also a good option.

And if you want to change it completely, then invest in a new one. An economical option can be to opt for shelves or shelves with a countertop sink and exposed siphon. The storage is completed with low free-standing modules or with boxes and baskets. Which by the way, this option also works in your favor to renovate the bathroom without works and for little money: new boxes coordinated with baskets, everything in sight, but in order. Change the towels and bathroom accessories such as the soap dish and the bathroom will look like another. Take a look at the effect that interior designer Pia Capdevila achieves in this bathroom.

Towel racks Besides being practical, they also have an important visual weight. The ones you have may be run down or look dated. Change them. In addition, there are some coat racks that incorporate shelves and that can help you organize. In this sense, one of Decoryver's ideas is "to replace the towel rack with hangers made with simple hangers".

And there was light Not only because of the type of lighting that a lamp projects (the way it lights up and the color of the bulb itself) but also because of its design, renovating lamps, spotlights and wall lights will give your bathroom a new look. You cannot imagine the power that enlightenment has and how we perceive change. "Replace the light bulb in your bathroom, adapting the type of light and power to your need and use. You can also change the typical ceiling light in your bathroom or the light on the mirror for a lamp with personality", advises the decorator.

New frames Let art, illustration, infographics or photography take over your bathroom. New paintings on the walls will turn heads. Use them to your advantage to renew the decoration. It can be an isolated deco detail or the icing on the cake if you dare to reform with some of the ideas that we have given you previously. Lorenzana, in this sense, indicates that "a painting is just the detail that your bathroom needs to be more personal, warm and special. If your bathroom accumulates a lot of humidity during the shower, you can protect the work with a glass frame or with varnish colorless to make it waterproof ".

flowers and plants The trend to fill the house with plants is booming. It is what is known as creating a garden room. But in the bathroom, the plants have always been present. Perhaps because of its direct relationship with water. "Flowers or plants bring freshness, cleanliness and will give you joy. Surely you have a vase or container at home that you can reuse and change location", encourages the decorator of Decoryver. There are varieties that hardly need natural light if your bathroom does not have a window - such as bamboo - and other artificial plants that are very well achieved. Those, the most realistic ones, are also allowed.

If you need any kind of Bathroom Renovations services visit Echo Bathroom Renovations 

[yourelstanddelosbesos2blog-blog]

[MEGA-HD]™ "El stand de los besos 2" Pelicula Completa (2020) Online Español Latino

Ver El stand de los besos 2 Pelicula Completa (2020) Gratis en línea ➽ https://t.co/bDrtK3Vs2B?the-kissing-booth-2 [Ver-HD]™ - El stand de los besos 2 (2020) Película Completa Online En Español Latino Subtitulado Ver El stand de los besos 2 2020 Película Completa Online En Español Latino Subtitulado , El stand de los besos 2 2020 Película Completa Online , El stand de los besos 2 2020 Película Completa En Español Latino Subtitulado , Ver El stand de los besos 2 2020 Película Completa Streaming En Español Latino Subtitulado , El stand de los besos 2 2020 Película Completa En Español Latino Subtitulado , El stand de los besos 2 2020 Película Completa Streaming En Español Latino Subtitulado El stand de los besos 2 película completa g r a t i s Descargar sub español™ 4K ULTRAHD | FULL HD (1080p)

Lanzamiento: Jul 24, 2020

Duración: 132 minutos

Género: Comedia, Romance

Estrellas: Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney, Molly Ringwald, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Maisie Richardson-Sellers

Crew: Linda Cohen (Music Supervisor), Anastas N. Michos (Director of Photography), Michele Weisler (Producer), Joey King (Executive Producer), Patrick Kirst (Music), Jay Arnold (Screenplay)

El Stand de los Besos 2, Mi primer beso 2, Kyss meg igjen, Delidolu 2. Elle, que debe tomar decisiones sobre la universidad, afronta su relación a distancia con Noah, su cambiada amistad con Lee y lo que siente por un compañero de clase.

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Watch Free Movies and TV Shows Online You’re in the right place if you’re into love with watching movies. Movies and TV serials are a fun area where people love to spend their leisure time. Making a visit to the cinema or movie theatre sometimes seems like a waste f time and money. In such a scenario, streaming movies online is left as an option as it helps you not only save time and money but also make things convenient. Imagine life when you get to watch movies at your fingertips and for free. Watch a movie, drama or a serial. All of it at your comfort. Along with that, complete information about TV shows is present on the site. That information is based on IMDB rating, director, release date, duration, synopsis of the episode, and cast. In short, it is regarded as one of the best websites to watch TV shows as well as movies from different origins. Film is a work of art in the form of a series of live images that are rotated to produce an illusion of moving images that are presented as a form of entertainment. The illusion of a series of images produces continuous motion in the form of video. The film is often referred to as a movie or moving picture. Film is a modern and popular art form created for business and entertainment purposes. Film making has now become a popular industry throughout the world, where feature films are always awaited by cinemas. Films are made in two main ways. The first is through shooting and recording techniques through film cameras. This method is done by photographing images or objects. The second uses traditional animation techniques. This method is done through computer graphic animation or CGI techniques. Both can also be combined with other techniques and visual effects. Filming usually takes a relatively long time. It also requires a job desk each, starting from the director, producer, editor, wardrobe, visual effects and others.

Definition and Definition of Film / Movie While the players who play a role in the film are referred to as actors (men) or actresses (women). There is also the term extras that are used as supporting characters with few roles in the film. This is different from the main actors who have bigger and more roles. Being an actor and an actress must be demanded to have good acting talent, which is in accordance with the theme of the film he is starring in. In certain scenes, the actor’s role can be replaced by a stuntman or a stuntman. The existence of a stuntman is important to replace the actors doing scenes that are difficult and extreme, which are usually found in action action films. Films can also be used to convey certain messages from the filmmaker. Some industries also use film to convey and represent their symbols and culture. Filmmaking is also a form of expression, thoughts, ideas, concepts, feelings and moods of a human being visualized in film. The film itself is mostly a fiction, although some are based on fact true stories or based on a true story. There are also documentaries with original and real pictures, or biographical films that tell the story of a character. There are many other popular genre films, ranging from action films, horror films, comedy films, romantic films, fantasy films, thriller films, drama films, science fiction films, crime films, documentaries and others. That’s a little information about the definition of film or movie. The information was quoted from various sources and references. Hope it can be useful.

❍❍❍ TV FILM ❍❍❍ The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 19340 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 2020 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 19440 World MOVIE inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “”Mr Television”” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 1951 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 1, 1954. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1965, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 19402, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.

❍❍❍ formats and genres ❍❍❍ See also: List of genres § Film and television formats and genres Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional MOVIE). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed] A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 1980s, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 1980s, many MOVIE feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television MOVIE to have this kind of dramatic structure,[4][better source needed] while the later MOVIE Babylon 5 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intendevd five-season run.[citvatio””&n needed] In 2007, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[5] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 2007, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “”I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television.

❍❍❍ Thanks for everything and have fun watching❍❍❍ Find all the movies that you can stream online, including those that were screened this week. If you are wondering what you can watch on this website, then you should know that it covers genres that include crime, Science, Fi-Fi, action, romance, thriller, Comedy, drama and Anime Movie. Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s film schedule and how you watch your favorite films. Hopefully we can become the best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite movies. That’s all from us, greetings! Thanks for watching The Video Today. I hope you enjoy the videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited. Sprinkle cheerful smile so that the world back in a variety of colors.

[horrormonitor]

i was tagged by @phyllorhiza i finally remembered to do this lmao

Rules: Answer 21 questions and tag 21 people you would like to get to know better!

Nickname: mox

Real name: nope

Zodiac: gemini

Favorite musicians or groups: hhhhh i can’t decide here’s my music taste primer playlist

Favorite sports team: LMAO I COPIED THIS OVER FROM FIFI’S POST AND FORGOT TO CHANGE IT i don’t care!!! the red wings i guess? i own a dodgers hoodie but only because i got it for free

Other blogs: my iz blog is @minimeese, my rarely-used aesthetic blog is @crownprinceofpavement, everything else is either not done yet (i have an rp musings blog i kinda wanna make and i MAY make a writing blog) or a hoarded url lol

Do I get asks: not that often

How many blogs do I follow: 209? i thought i was following more than that

Tumblr crushes: i had no idea that was still a feature. it’s just a bunch of iz sideblogs and then some art blogs lmao

Lucky numbers: 13 because i’m Edgy

What am I wearing: i’m wearing a black dress w/ red and white flowers on it! b/c i’m jus Chillin at home rn

Dream vacation: idk if i really have a dream vacation? if you asked me like 4 years ago i would have said la, but i’ve been three times since then lol...i guess i have a list of countries i’d like to visit? but i’m not rly dying to see them right away

Dream car: my ultimate “never going to be able to afford it” dream car is a bmw 840i convertible in sonic speed blue. yes i want a bmw, yes i use my turn signal and don’t cut people off. we exist.

Favorite food: beef bulgogi w/ rice and kimchi!

Drink of choice: diet pepsi. my organs are playdoh at this point.

Instruments: NOPE LOL

Languages: just english 😔 i’ve tried and failed to learn german, french, spanish, and japanese

Celebrity crushes: bold of you to assume i look at people

Random facts: i’m currently in school for an associate’s in digital video production (but i maaaay eventually transfer somewhere w/ a screenwriting major if i can), i have a half-sister who i see all the time and three half-brothers who i haven’t seen since i was a kid, aaaaaaand i used to be in choir in 6th grade!

I tag: nobody, but feel free to steal this if you want!

[theonyxpath]

According to Eddy Izzard, that’s the literal translation of JFK’s famous quote as he entered Berlin during the cold war. I don’t know if Mighty Matt McElroy or Matthew “The Gentleman Gamer” Dawkins issued a similar proclamation as they entered the city for last weekend’s PAX convention, but there they were anyway.

Now, it’s a Paradox Entertainment convention so it was really focused mostly on their electronic games – but Onyx Path was there representing the happy land of Tabletop Role-Playing Games. And from what the dynamic duo reported back, it was a fantastic chance to talk with all sorts of gamers – many of whom were unfamiliar with Onyx Path and/or TTRPGs.

What was really gratifying for our team was just how positive and friendly the attendees were. You never know, going to a new city or country for a con, just how the reception will be. Well, from what they said, it was fantastic! They were able to talk about our upcoming games, both V5 and upcoming White Wolf projects, and also there was a lot of interest in our other, non-WW game lines!

For those folks who did know about us, we had some sneak previews of upcoming V5 projects – some from the V5 Chicago By Night KS, and also the text from V5 Cults of the Blood Gods. So, a lot of excitement there! There was also a lot of interest from the Paradox/White Wolf team for us to run a Kickstarter for V5 Cults of the Blood Gods. Which is always nice to hear from the folks who are licensing you their properties!

In case it sounds like our crew were just there to hang out in our booth and chat, they also had the responsibility of representing Onyx Path in many meetings where the future of V5 and all the WW IPs was discussed. Again, this was an extremely positive experience for our duo, with just tons of ideas and possible projects coming out of those discussions!

Of course, being business meetings, there wasn’t anything I can share with you here, but I can say that the refocusing of White Wolf last year has seemed to have really altered how they are proceeding, and has borne fruit in a lot of new licensed projects folks are going to enjoy.

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition art by Brian LeBlanc

To switch gears slightly, but not totally as I did mention Kickstarters up above, we finished up the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter last week! Again, huge kudos to Eric Zawadzki for his nigh-constant efforts to answer everybody’s questions in the comments as the KS ran. He was indefatigable!

We’re pretty happy with how it turned out, and big thanks to all of your who backed and spread the word about this one! We hoped that running the Creature Collection at the same time wouldn’t collide our audiences too much, and it looks like both KSs ran just fine and without overwhelming potential backers.

We’re going to try to avoid running two KSs of similar size and that might have too large of an overlap of audiences, but we have so many cool projects and settings that folks want to see Kickstarted that they’ve been backing up until now. Now, we’re going to try and use our two KS accounts to give both us and all of you the flexibility to put a project on Kickstarter as we need to and when it makes sense to.

We have, as many folks have pointed our previously, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to our projects, which really starts with the large number of game lines we are always working on.

VtR 2e Spilled Blood art by Andrea Payne

Of course, that goes all the way back to when Onyx Path first started with the WW licenses. We didn’t just get the licenses to one of the WoD lines or CofD lines, we took on the responsibility of shepherding all the existing lines and on bringing forth new ones if that what was needed.

Plus, we brought over other WW game lines, and one of those (cough, Trinity Continuum, cough) had multiple lines within it as well. We took, and still take, those responsibilities seriously as we know that every line has dedicated, long-term, fans that truly love it.

It is a real juggling act, and we’ve tried to provide every game line, every setting, with a new project and the spotlight at least once, regardless of the number of fans, over these past 7-8 years. And the flip side is that we are actually a business, we need projects that sell more than what it cost to make them – if only so everybody we work with keeps being able to afford to keep on making TTRPGs.

So those projects that sell well get follow-up projects, and those are usually within a single line, and so that line gets more focus. Which is one of reasons I’ve pushed for cross-line projects like the Night Horrors books, the Dark Eras books, or even the Contagion Chronicle, for Chronicles of Darkness (our biggest umbrella line).

Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties art by Michele Giorgi

Which is why our brochure this year, which is days away from going to press, is set up to talk about each setting, each game line, rather than trying to push for particular projects within the lines. We’ll do that with con-specific flyers at the conventions we’re attending, and news on all our social media sites, but we’re going to have the brochure there as a primer on just which game lines we’re doing right now.

We think that we’re at the point where we need that info out there where folks can reference it and compare and contrast our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Coming soon!: Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features a deep dive into our new game Legendlore with developer Steffie de Vaan, Dixie, and Matthew! Come find out about this very different fantasy RPG!

As Matthew has only just got back from a rather hazard-strewn trip from Berlin, our media update for this week is brief but punchy! So there’s only the events Matthew’s poor addled brain could pull together this week – but we’ll be back with our usual full run-down next week!

Character Creation Month continues this weekend as Meghan Fitzgerald takes us through character creation for Scion, over on the Onyx Path Twitch channel!

Plus, we again have a full week’s worth of fantastic gaming, so if you’re unsure about how any of our games run, please check out footage on the channel and interact with the people playing!

I’m going to link both here in case you’re not following / subscribed to them. www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath & www/youtube.com/user/theonyxpath

It really helps us to have subscribers on our Twitch channel, and you can do so for free and catch premieres as they go up if you have an Amazon Prime account. Just type Twitch Amazon Prime into Google and you’ll be shown how to subscribe for free.

Remember, if you miss any content on our Twitch channel, some of it finds its way to our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/theonyxpath Don’t forget though, that some of that content is Twitch exclusive or belongs to the Storytellers running their games, so don’t miss out and remember to follow us!

Meanwhile, our fans keep creating excellent content for us, not limited to:

Occultists Anonymous continues with their fantastic Mage: The Awakening game:

Episode 53: Everyone Dies With safe passage into Tucume promised by the local Qero Shaman, the cabal prepares with spells and Songbird makes a deal with Supernal Being. https://youtu.be/52hYTlw8RpE

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

The big Halloween Sale on DriveThruRPG and Storytellers Vault continues until Halloween.

Most of our Chronicles of Darkness PDFs will be on sale on both sites, plus there will be some Halloween Treats (i.e. free PDFs) hidden around the sites.

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, you can get a jump on the end of the world with the Dystopia Rising: Evolution Jumpstart: Trouble On The Steel Pier PDF and physical book PoD on DriveThruRPG.com! Everything you need to start playing DR:E – a setting, adventure, and characters – with a basic Storypath rules-set!

Conventions!

GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Redlines

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Editing

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Post-Editing Development

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Indexing

Dystopia Rising: Evolution core (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Sent out contracts.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e – Sam on the fulls.

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Notes out to artists.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Trinity RMCs – Sketches in. Got interactive sheets from Gone in.

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Mark is almost done, Denmark is done, and Amy is done.

Chicago Folio – Got stuff from Denmark and Mirko in… so far so good.

Mummy 2 (KS) – First half of Sam’s fulls are in and at WW for approval. Working on graphics in the morning.

City of the Towered Tombs – Contracted.

Let the Streets Run Red – Right after Chi Folio art is in.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Sent breakdown for artnotes to Meghan.

Scion Mythical Denizens – Andrea is gonna do the portraits… waiting to hear back from Marco.

Deviant – Need art notes for the rest of the book.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart – Going through it to see what we need.

In Layout

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Template created… system chapter done.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood – In progress.

Geist 2e Screen – Need notes from developer, still.

Pirates of Pugmire

Proofing

C20 Cup of Dreams – At WW approval.

M20 Book of the Fallen – Josh finishing cover.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – PDF going out to backers.

Memento Mori – Layout proofing as art comes in.

Dark Eras 2 – In proofing

At Press

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

Trinity Aeon – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

V5: Chicago – Printing.

Aeon Aexpansion – Waiting to order PoD proofs.

DR:E Jumpstart – PDF and PoD versions on Sale this Wednesday.

W20 Art Book – PoD proof ordered.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Getting print files ready.

DRE Screen – Getting print files prepped.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today is another five year anniversary! This time for Merely Marvelous Meredith’s time working with DriveThruRPG and helping us keep our PDFing and PoDing straight ovuh dere! DTRPG’s Customer Service are the unheralded saviors of many a small game company, and Mere’s ability to find solutions for non-tech people who just want to get their project online with the least amount of hassle – all with a smile in her emails – is a huge part of their success story. Congrats, Mere!

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 48 - Following the Craft

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Avendesora leaf icon) In which sometimes your special interest is your ta'veren power.

PERSPECTIVE: Egg and Nyn have been seasick the whole trip. Egg wears the snake ring and the stone ring on a cord around her neck, wanting both to be close. She's had more dreams, some vague like just the Seanchan existing, but others include:(1)

A Whitecloak putting Master Luhhan in the middle of a huge, toothed trap for bait

Perrin with a falcon on his shoulder

Perrin choosing between his axe and a blacksmith's hammer

Mat dicing with the Dark One and shouting, "I am coming!"—and she thinks he's shouting that to her

Rand sneaking through darkness toward Callandor, followed by six men and five women, including a man with eyes of flame who wanted Rand desperately

Rand in a dry, dusty chamber with small creatures settling on to his skin

Rand confronting a horde of Seanchan

Rand confronting her and she has a Seanchan woman with her

The ship docks, and she could almost kiss the sturdy dock. The Stone of Tear, the great fortress, is visible even from here. Elayne comes up behind her and says it was woven with the Power, long ago, a lost art.

Egg isn't eager to ride, fearing the motion of a horse might be too close to the corkscrew motion of the ship that made her so sick, but they have little choice. Egg wonders aloud how they're going to find the people they seek, and Elayne suggests a thief-taker, like Hurin.(2) Egg says alright then, they find a room at an inn and ask the innkeeper to find them a thief-taker. Nyn says no, not an inn, Liandrin will be watching them all after leaving all those clues,(3) but she'll know what she's looking for when she sees it.

As they search, Egg sees that many of the people are wearing wooden platform shoes, to keep their feet out of the ever-present mud. She's wondering what kind of shop would sell those, when Nyn finds what she sought: a local Wisdom, or equivalent.

They knock, and the woman, Mother Guenna, asks which of them needs her. Nyn says she needs something for her stomach, and MG invites them in. Nyn takes the tea she makes, and they start testing each other's knowledge of herblore. Eventually, there's a camaraderie among the whole group, and MG says she's enjoying their company, most people ask for something to soothe troubled dreams lately. Her given name is Ailhuin, and they must come visit her again if they're staying in Tear. Nyn asks if instead they could rent a room from her.

Ailhuin says if she lets them stay, there'll be no talk of paying, but first they have to tell her why they're in Tear. Nyn says some people stole something from them, all those who could otherwise have come were killed, and they seek justice. After a little more discussion, Ailhuin says they'll stay, and she knows a thief-taker, the most dangerous man she knows in fact, and he's happy to work for those of any social class, for what they can afford.

After Ailhuin goes to fetch this Juilin Sandar, Egg tells Nyn she's learning to manipulate as well as Moiraine.(4) El slaps her, saying she goes too far. None of them likes what they're doing, but it has to be done. Egg rubs her cheek and thinks it does have to be done, but she still doesn't have to like it.

=====

(1) A lot of them are phrased as questions, and it's worth reviewing that paragraph and asking yourself the questions Egg's asking. I won't say that all the dreams in the series are clear setup/reminders of ongoing arcs and things we haven't seen lately or anything, some never come up again, or are so vaguely described that the fandom can't agree on a solid interpretation. But, RJ doesn't repeat these motifs for no reason, and he doesn't have characters ask themselves questions for nothing. (2) So we said goodbye to Hurin… but we're bringing back another character in damn near the same slot in the party. Sure. This feels more and more like a D&D campaign where someone got busy and had to leave. (3) Ah, but did she and the others leave those clues, or was it Lanfear? I suppose either way, someone will be watching for them. (4) I wouldn't go so far as Elayne does here and slap her, but Egg's chafing at Nynaeve no longer being her superior but still acting like it IS going a bit far.

[bluewatsons]

Imogen Tyler, Against Abjection: violent disgust and the maternal, 10 Feminist Theory 77 (2009)

He locked me in a dog‘s cage when I was pregnant .... He jumped me in the kitchen window and pulled a knife to my throat. ... Um you know he would do so many things – like its sort of hard. He punched me. –You know like just – just normal things that um you know like made me have an abortion.... [The violence was] more or less every day (`Toni‘ in Kaye, Stubbs and Tolmie 2003: 41)

Why not develop a certain degree of rage against the history that has written such an abject script for you? (Spivak 1990: 62).

This article is about the theoretical life of `the abject‘. It focuses on the ways in which Anglo-American and Australian1 feminist theoretical accounts of maternal bodies and identities have utilised Julia Kristeva‘s theory of abjection. Whilst the abject has proved a compelling and productive concept for feminist theory, this article cautions against the reiteration of the maternal (as) abject within theoretical writing and questions the effects of what Rosalind Krauss terms  ̳the insistent spread of ―abjection‖ as an expressive mode‘ (1999:235). It contends that employing Kristeva‘s abject paradigm risks reproducing histories of violent disgust towards maternal bodies. In place of the Kristevan model of the abject, it argues for a more thoroughly social and political account of abjection. This would entail a critical shift from the current feminist preoccupation with the `transgressive potentiality` of  ̳encounters with the abject‘, to a consideration of consequences of being abject within specific social locations. By asking what it might mean to be `against abjection‘, the central aim of this article is to make an intervention into feminist debates about abjection and thus clear the way for alternative understandings and applications of this important concept to emerge..

The article begins with a critical account of Kristeva‘s theory of abjection, interrogating the matricidal premise on which it is grounded. The second part of the article details the characteristic features of the genre of feminist writing that I term  ̳abject criticism‘, focusing on how the abject has been taken up and developed as a way of addressing the disparagement of the maternal within particular theoretical traditions. It argues that the emphasis within this criticism on the subversive potential of `abject parody` fails to address either the troubling premises of Kristeva‘s theory or the social consequences of living as a body that is identified as maternal and abject. Drawing on reports, interview data and testimonies of battered pregnant women from an Internet chat room, the final section considers how disgust for the maternal body materialises in acts of daily violence against pregnant women. In the conclusion, this article calls on feminist theory to resist the compulsion to abject, in Kristeva‘s words ̳to vomit the mother‘ (1982: 47) and instead suggests that feminism might imagine ways of theorising maternal subjectivity that vigorously contest the dehumanising effects of abjection. Toril Moi and Iris Marion-Young have called for a re-centering of `lived bodily experience` within feminist theory (Moi 2001, Marion-Young 2005). Following Moi and Young this article deploys accounts of lived maternal abjection in order to expose the limitations of the Kristevan model.

The Kristevan Abject

In Disgust: Theory and History of a Strong Sensation, Winfred Menninghaus notes that:

In the 1980s, a new buzzword entered political and ... critical discourse... The word is `abjection,` and it represents the newest mutation in the theory of disgust. Oscillating, in its usage, between serving as a theoretical concept and precisely defying the order of concentual language altogether, the term `abjection` also commonly appears as both adjective (`abject women,` `abject art`) and adjective turned into a substantive (`the abject`) (2003: 365).

The emergence of the concept and theories of abjection within theoretical writing in the 1980s was driven by the publication of an English translation of Pouvoirs de l'horreur (1980) in 1982. Whilst Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection is a theoretically demanding book that assumes familiarity with psychoanalysis and philosophy, it has had an extraordinarily wide impact. Indeed, rarely has the publication of a single book been so influential across both an immense range of academic disciplines and within wider spheres of cultural production, such art curatorship and practice. One cannot underestimate the sheer amount of Anglophone academic scholarship which uses and cites Kristeva‘s theory of abjection. As Menninghaus notes, `an adequate account of the academic career of the abjection paradigm could easily fill a whole book in itself‘ (2003: 393). Whilst Kristeva‘s influence on Western thought is by no means limited to feminist theory and whilst the term `abject criticism` could be used to describe a diverse body of theoretical writing, my analysis focuses on a specific body of feminist theoretical writing (which I shall introduce shortly). The influence of Powers of Horror was largely a consequence of the way in which feminist theorists in the 1980s and 1990s appropriated the Kristevan abject, hailing it as an enabling concept for feminist research. Whilst many readers will be familiar with Kristeva‘s theory of abjection, its mass citation and oscillating usage requires that we return to her original account. This return to Kristeva is essential because it is Kristeva‘s premise of matricide (the structural requirement that the maternal functions as the primary abject) that is at the heart of my critique. For whilst Kristeva‘s theory of abjection is adapted and transformed within feminist applications, this fundamental premise is accepted and reproduced almost without question.

Powers of Horror is a theoretical account of the psychic origins and mechanisms of revulsion and disgust. Kristeva develops the concept of the abject to describe and account for temporal and spatial disruptions within the life of the subject and in particular those moments when the subject experiences a frightening loss of distinction between themselves and objects/others. The abject describes those forces, practices and things which are opposed to and unsettle the conscious ego, the  ̳I‘. It is the zone between being and non-being, `the border of my condition as a living being` (1982: 3). Kristeva also suggests that abjection can explain the structural and political acts of inclusion/exclusion which establish the foundations of social existence. She asserts that the abject has a double presence, it is both within `us` and within  ̳culture‘ and it is through both individual and group rituals of exclusion that abjection is `acted out‘. Abjection thus generates the borders of the individual and the social body. Kristeva writes of encounters with the abject: `On the edge of non-existence and hallucination of a reality that, if I acknowledge it, annihilates me. There, abject and abjection are my safe-guards. The primers of my culture`(1982: 2). As this passage suggests, for Kristeva the abject is a force which both disrupts social order and (in doing) operates as a necessary psychological  ̳safe-guard, abjection...settles the subject within a socially justified illusion—[it] is a security blanket‘ (1982: 136- 7).

Through a series of evocative accounts of abject encounters, Kristeva demonstrates that abject experiences are common within our everyday lives: you might experience an abject response when the skin that forms on top of warm milk unexpectedly touches your lips, or when you see blood, vomit or a corpse. As these examples suggest, Kristeva theorises abjection in distinctly phenomenological terms, associating the abject with all that is repulsive and fascinating about bodies and, in particular, those aspects of bodily experience which unsettle singular bodily integrity: death, decay, fluids, orifices, sex, defecation, vomiting, illness, menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth. Indeed, Kristeva primarily understands experiences of abjection in terms of bodily affect, moments of physical revulsion and disgust that result in `a discharge, a convulsion, a crying out‘ (1982: 1). What fascinates Kristeva is the jouissance of abject encounters, the exhilarating fall inwards into the monstrous depths of the narcissistic self:  ̳The sublime point at which the abject collapses in a burst of beauty that overwhelms us—and ―that cancels our existence‖‘ (1982: 210). For Kristeva, it is the act of writing and in particular the poetic texts of the avant-garde, which are most productive of abject encounters.2 The suggestive possibilities that arise from the ways in which Kristeva employs abjection as a methodological approach—an interpretive lens—for analysing cultural texts is central to the subsequent development of abject criticism.

In terms of the psychoanalytic cannon, Powers of Horror can be read as an attempt to challenge the increasing predominance of Jacques Lacan‘s work in the post-war period. Indeed, Kristeva‘s extensive work on the semiotic and the pre-symbolic stages of psycho-sexual development sets out to  ̳correct‘ Lacanian accounts by forcing attention onto the role of the maternal in the development of subjectivity. Indeed, Kristeva‘s introduction of the abject can be read as an attempt to problematize Lacan‘s famous mirror-stage theory—a startlingly  ̳mother free‘ account of the subject‘s birth into the symbolic domain. For Kristeva, the abjection of the maternal is the precondition of the narcissism of the mirror- stage. Moreover, like the mirror-stage, abjection is not a stage  ̳passed through‘ but a perpetual process that plays a central role within the project of subjectivity. Just as within Lacanian ontology all subjects are fundamentally narcissistic, so in Kristeva‘s account all subjects are fundamentally `abjecting subjects`.3 Kristeva draws heavily upon her earlier account of the semiotic when she links abjection to the earliest affective relations with the maternal body (in utero and post utero). Within the model of subjectivity she proposes, the infant‘s bodily and psychic attachment to his/her maternal origins must be successfully and violently abjected in order for an independent and cogent speaking human subject to  ̳be born‘. Any subsequent `abjections` must therefore be understood as repetitions that contain within an echo of this earlier cathartic event—the first and primary abject(ion)—birth and the human infant‘s separation from the maternal body/home. For Kristeva, abjection is thus always a reminder (and the irreducible remainder) of this primary repudiation of the maternal. As she notes, `abjection preserves what existed in the archaism of pre-objectal relationship, in the immemorial violence with which a body becomes separated from another body in order to be` (1982:10). This memory of maternal dependency is deeply etched within the bodily and psychic lives of each of us: This primary abjection is the ultimate secret violence at the heart of all human existence. As she writes, `[f]or man and for woman the loss of the mother is a biological and psychic necessity, the first step on the way to autonomy. Matricide is our vital necessity, the sine qua non condition of our individuation` (1989: 38). So whilst the abject becomes attached to different objects, bodies and things at different times and in different locations, Kristeva nevertheless makes clear that all abjections are re-enactments of this primary matricide, an act that haunts the subject `unflaggingly, like an inescapable boomerang‘ (1982: 1).

On a meta-theoretical level, Kristeva mobilizes the abject to enact the return of the maternal upon psychoanalysis. Indeed this focus on the role of maternal in the formation of subjectivity is one of the reasons why the abject has such a strong conceptual draw for feminist theory. However, it is crucial to note that whilst Kristeva grants the maternal a central and formative role within her theory of subjectivity—a role that not only rivals but sequentially pre-empts the Lacanian Paternal/Phallic function—she uncouples `the maternal` from any specific `maternal subjects` or from motherhood. Whilst I have employed Kristeva‘s term, `the maternal`, in my account of her theory of abjection, within her work this term has an oblique and deeply ambiguous status. Indeed, her account of the development of subjectivity is in many ways as `mother free` as Lacan‘s.

The concept of the maternal evoked in Kristeva's writing is akin to a `subtext`, the fleshy underside of the phallic symbolic, as the Australian philosopher Michelle Boulous Walker states it/she barely surfaces `to the level of critical thought‘ (1998: 113). It remains patently unclear what, if any, relationship there is between this abstract maternal and actual maternal subjects. As Boulous Walker argues `even though much of her work focuses on the maternal `it is not clear that Kristeva‘s maternal is a category that has much to do with women‘ (1998: 125). Indeed the fundamental premise of the Kristevan abject is that there is and can be no maternal subject. She argues for example, that although women undoubtedly experience pregnancy, there is no pregnant subject:  ̳no one is present [...] to signify what is going on. ―It happens, but I‘m not there.‖ ―I cannot realise it, but it goes on.‖ Motherhood‘s impossible syllogism‘ (1993: 237). This claim begs the question of which (and whose) interests are served through loyal adherence to the argument that matricide and the accompanying taboo on maternal subjectivity is the  ̳primary mytheme‘ of culture (Jacqueline Rose, 1993: 52). Might we question this foundational matricide, at least in this universalistic formulation?4 For, as Judith Butler states: `what Kristeva claims to discover in the prediscursive maternal body is itself a production of a given historical discourse, an effect of culture rather than its secret and primary cause‘ (1999: 103). Feminist theory needs to ascertain what the structural and conceptual limits of the Kristevan abject are and the extent to which the abject is an enabling concept for theorising maternal subjectivity.

Abject Criticism

Kristeva‘s theory of abjection has had an extraordinary influence on feminist theory. However, it is important to note that whilst Kristeva is frequently introduced in Anglo-feminist theoretical writing as a `French Feminist` she is neither French in origin nor a feminist. Not only has Kristeva never identified herself as a feminist, she has never aligned her work with any larger feminist theoretical or philosophical project, on the contrary, she has repeatedly distanced herself from feminism. As Christine Delphy argues, it is Anglo-feminist theorists who invented ―French feminism‖ (1995). The fact that Kristeva is still frequently celebrated as one of the leading feminist theorists of our time is perplexing. Whilst many philosophical and psychoanalytic concepts have been developed by feminist theorists in ways that are distinct from and even work against their original context and/or intention, rarely has a concept as influential as abjection been consistently misrecognised as feminist in origin. This raises questions about how we should interpret Kristeva‘s theory of abjection. If ―French feminism‖ is an Anglo-feminist invention then in what senses is  ̳the abject‘, as it circulates within feminist theory, similarly an Anglo-feminist concept/invention? Certainly the idea that the abject is something that can be represented (or even deliberately created, as in  ̳abject art‘) would be nonsensical in Kristeva‘s account, where the abject is resolutely prior to and in excess of language and meaning. However, whilst there is significant deviation from Kristeva in feminist revisions of abjection, with a few notable exceptions5, Anglo-feminists not only consistently promotes Kristeva‘s theory of abjection as `a feminist theory` but have remained peculiarly obedient to the matricidal logic of her account.

The Anglo-feminist theory that advances the abject maternal falls into two main genres: theoretical and philosophical exegesis of Kristeva‘s theory of abjection and a body of literature that applies her theory of abjection to specific areas of cultural production. I shall focus on the latter and, in particular, on the development of the abject as an interpretive approach to the analysis of popular culture, art and cinema. As abject criticism developed in the 1990s, theories of the `maternal abject` began to appear in a series of conceptual guises: `the abject mother‘ (Oliver 1993, Bousfield 2000),  ̳the monstrous feminine‘ (Creed 1993, Braidotti 1994, Constable 1999, Gear 2001, Betterton 1996 and 2006, Shildrich 2002) `the monstrous womb` (Creed 1993), `the archaic mother` (Creed 1993) and  ̳the female grotesque‘ (Tamblyn 1990, Yaegar 1992, Russo 1994). What characterizes these feminist mobilisations of Kristeva‘s abject maternal is a concern with theorising and identifying the maternal (and feminine) body as primary site/sight of cultural disgust. Whilst Kristeva analysed the social and cathartic function of art and literature in order to ascertain what it reveals about human psychic development per se, this criticism is motivated by more immediate socio-political questions. In particular, it seeks out instances of the abject maternal within culture in order to explore, challenge, and in some instances,  ̳reclaim‘ misogynistic depictions of women as abject. What makes the `abject paradigm` particularly compelling for feminist theorists is the promise that `reading for the abject` within specific cultural domains can challenge and/or displace the disciplinary norms that frame dominant representations of gender. Indeed, what this theory shares is a political hope that  ̳cultural representations of abjection‘ (Covino, 2004:4) can be read against the grain in ways that will destabilise and/or subvert misogynistic representations of women. In contradistinction to Kristeva, for whom the abject is formless, pre-symbolic and un-representable, feminist theorists thus imagine the practice of abject criticism as variously exposing, disrupting and/or transcoding the historical and cultural associations between women‘s bodies, reproduction and the abject.

One of the most influential texts of abject criticism is Creed‘s The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis (1993). Indeed, The Monstrous-Feminine is frequently cited as evidence of the purchase of Kristeva‘s theory of abjection. This book analyses a genre which repeatedly produces maternal bodies as abject—horror film—and employs close analysis to expose the violent gendered codes of abjection. In a chapter entitled,  ̳Woman as Monstrous Womb‘ Creed cites Kristeva to argue that `the womb represents the utmost in abjection‘ (1993:49). To support this claim, she offers examples from a cycle of Hollywood horror films, such as The Brood (dir., David Cronenberg 1979) in which the sight/site of horror is a massive womb on the outside of the woman‘s body, The Manitou (dir., William Girdler 1978), in which a womb `appears as a displaced tumour growing on a woman‘s neck‘ and Aliens (dir., James Cameron 1986) in which the spectator is confronted with the site of an Alien womb, externalised in the form of a deathly birth chamber of awe-inspiring proportions. Echoing Kristeva‘s claim that every encounter with the abject is a re-enactment of a primary maternal abjection, Creed‘s central thesis is that  ̳every encounter with horror, in the cinema, is an encounter with the maternal body‘ (1993: 166). The narrative structure of these films, in which the maternal other is variously expelled/destroyed/punished, thus enables the audience to pleasurably and safely  ̳act-out‘ abjection. Indeed, Creed suggests that horror films offer their audiences psychic relief/resolution in the form of an intense  ̳abject fix‘ which temporarily sates the raging primal need to endlessly destroy the maternal other to whom we are in bondage. She writes:

The central ideological project of the popular horror film [is] purification of the abject through a  ̳descent into the foundations of the symbolic construct‘. The horror film attempts to bring about a confrontation with the abject ... in order finally to eject the abject and redraw the boundaries between the human and non-human. As a modern form of defilement rite, the horror film attempts to separate out the symbolic order from all that threatens its stability, particularly the mother and all that her universe signifies. In this sense signifying horror involves a representation of, and reconciliation with, the maternal body (15).

Creed understands horror film as akin to the purification rituals described by anthropologists such Mary Douglas (1966), whose study of the social role of defilement rituals is central to Kristeva‘s account of the cathartic function of art and religion. Creed thus not only employs Kristeva‘s account but furnishes her theory of maternal abjection with new cultural evidence. Creed proposes that the primary value of this application of abject theory is that it enables  ̳a more accurate picture of the fears and fantasies that dominate our cultural imaginary‘ (166). Indeed, she argues that the exposure of the monstrous-feminine at the dark heart of film,  ̳art, poetry, pornography and other popular fictions‘ unveils  ̳the origins of patriarchy‘ (1993: 164). Creed also suggests that the abject representations of the maternal as alien and monstrous can be redeployed to communicate  ̳real‘ maternal desire.

Kristeva argues that the abject is a force which disrupts the social world in order to secure social norms, including those of gender. Any  ̳transgression‘ functions to reinstate those norms: for example, by providing opportunities for punishment and the enforcement of psychic and social laws. Creed similarly acknowledges that  ̳images which seek to define woman as monstrous in relation to her reproductive functions‘ ultimately work `to reinforce the phallocratic notion that female sexuality is abject‘ (151). Indeed, Creed‘s analysis reveals that the exhilarating encounters with the abject maternal proffered by horror cinema function to secure and authorise the (male) spectator through the violent punishment of the maternal other—therein lies the central pleasures of this genre. However, in a reversal of Kristeva‘s argument, Creed further suggests that mapping the pejorative associations between the maternal and the abject can offer feminism resources with which to challenge the misogyny which underlies these cultural inscriptions Menninghaus argues that this genre of abject criticism is underpinned by an affirmative logic in which what is  ̳officially considered abject‘ is provocatively embraced as a  ̳positive alterity‘ in order to challenge the legitimacy of discrimination (2003: 366) He quotes art theorist and curator Simon Taylor who states that:  ̳I do not claim that the abject gives us access to radical exteriority, merely that its invocation, under certain historical circumstances, can be used to renegotiate social relations in a contestary fashion‘ (Taylor in Menninghaus, 200: 389). This affirmative logic, and specifically the idea that the maternal abject can be positively embraced as a means of challenging  ̳the inadequacy‘ of psychoanalysis is central to Creed‘s project. However, throughout The Monstrous-Feminine it is assumed that Kristeva‘s theory of abjection poses a useful feminist challenge to psychoanalytic orthodoxy. Creed fails to critically engage with Kristeva or question her account of maternal abjection. Indeed, Creed‘s repetition and application of Kristeva‘s claims risks affirming the universalism of this deeply problematic psychoanalytic account by furnishing the theory with empirical evidence—the maternal is monstrous.

In The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess and Modernity (1994), literary theorist Mary Russo warns that the risk of this affirmative abjection is precisely that it might reproduce rather than challenge the cultural production of women as abject. However, Russo, like Creed, Taylor and many others, is also hopeful about the political potential of abject criticism. As she notes, ` [the] extreme difficulty of producing social change does not diminish the usefulness of these symbolic models of transgression‘ (1994: 58). This argument depends upon a belief in the transformative potential of parody and Russo draws on the work of Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin to support her claim that parody can effect social change. In  ̳Abject Criticism‘ (2000) Deborah Caslav Covino summarises this belief in the transgressive potential of `abject parody`. She argues that within abject criticism:

the abject woman becomes a subversive trope of female liberation: she speaks an alternative, disruptive language, immersing herself in the significances of the flesh, becoming wilfully monstrous as she defies the symbolic order (2000)

Covino defines abject criticism as `a movement that marks a departure from  ̳traditional aesthetics‘ which has informed `significant feminist typologies` and has proved `a triumph for women`. This representation of the work of mapping abjection as feminist work is a recurrent theme within this genre of criticism to the extent that being for the abject is imagined as a form of political practice. As Covino writes:

A focus on shared abjection [...] allows us to continue to historicize and confront constructions of woman as objectified, mortified flesh, as well as to qualify our inspired hopes of throwing off such flesh; it allows us to read the burden of women's greater share of abjection [and] the subversive woman's desire to inhabit alternative bodies and spaces (2000).

I want to question the transformative potential of abject criticism, namely, the idea that affirming representations of abjection `can be used to renegotiate social relations in a contestary fashion‘ (Taylor in Menninghaus, 2006: 389). Not all theorists of abjection are as effusive as Covino in embracing the logic of `affirmative abjection`, nevertheless many have been persuaded by the feminist possibilities of abject criticism. The following quotation from art theorist and performance artist Joanna Frueh details the ways in which a typology of the abject maternal has taken root within feminist theory in the way Covino suggests:

Julia Kristeva‘s Powers of Horror ... has greatly influenced feminist theorizing of the body. Here the mother (-to-be) epitomizes abjectness: she enlarges, looks swollen, produces afterbirth, lactates, and shrinks; she is beyond the bounds of even normal female flesh and bleeding; she is breakdown, dissolution, ooze, and magnificent grossness. The mother is perfectly grotesque, a psychic monument to the queasy slipperiness that is the liminal reality of human embodiment (2001: 133).

Freuh‘s description highlights how abject criticism plunders and exaggerates the abject characteristics associated with maternal bodies in order to challenge the negativity of being aligned with the abject. The mother is now  ̳magnificent‘ in her  ̳grossness‘. However, whilst this strategic repetition and mimicry focuses on the  ̳disruptive authority‘ of the `monstrous maternal‘, the feminist theorists engaged in this critical work reproduce some of the most repulsive, pornographic, obscene and violent representations of the maternal. These accounts rarely question the underlying premises of Kristeva‘s theory: Namely that this  ̳mother‘ cannot exist as a subject in her own right but only as the subjects perpetual other, that  ̳liminal reality of human embodiment‘. We need to consider what the risks of this strategic repetition are in terms of cementing phantasies of the maternal as necessarily abject and think about what impact this figuration of the maternal has on those subsequently interpellated as that abject. As Frueh argues,  ̳the abject mother is an imaginary figure, but as such she assumes an iconic presence that women may use against themselves‘ in forms of ―intergenerational corporeal warfare‖‘ (2001: 133).

Interestingly it is not individual maternal bodies and beings per se that are most often identified as abject within feminist analysis of literature, art and film. For example, in the films cited by Creed, it is not the maternal body per se but rather the representation of dismembered reproductive body parts (and in particular the disembodied womb), which are imagined as `the scene of horror‘ (1993: 49). As queer theorist Judith Halberstam argues, it is the deconstruction of women into her messiest and most slippery parts, images of the reproductive body grotesquely unravelled, which constitute the maternal (as) monstrous (1995: 52). As Halberstam notes:  ̳The female monster is a pile of remains, the leftover material ... she does not signify in her own body the power of horror‘(52). In other words, it is only `once a woman has ... been stripped of all signs of identity` that she is reduced to a shapeless, bloody abject mass (47). It is when the maternal is no longer recognisable as a body and thus as a subject that it/she becomes abject. It is a subject-less maternal that is the sight/site of collective psycho-social disgust. What is crucial about this insight is that it reveals how maternal bodies are made disgusting through violent disassembling. The maternal can only be produced as a site of horror through representational practices which figure `her` as in excess of a singular body/identity. Indeed, Creed‘s analysis of the abject maternal in horror cinema reveals that it is precisely the uncoupling of the maternal from maternal subjects that enables the production of  ̳her‘ as a thing of horror— a bloody mess of signs. This analysis echoes the story of (masculine) identity acquisition narrated by Kristeva in which the maternal is the  ̳constitutive outside‘ or as Butler puts it  ̳the unspeakable, the unviable, the nonnarrativizable that secures ...the very borders of materiality‘ (1993: 188). What these theoretical and cultural fantasies of `fleshy maternal horror` depend on is a radical dismembering and/or disavowal of maternal subjectivity.

As Butler argues, the limits set by theory are problematic  ̳not only because there is always a question of what constitutes the authority of the one who writes the limits but because the setting of those limits is linked to the contingent regulation of what will and will not qualify as a discursively intelligible way of being‘ (1993: 190). Since the premise of the Kristevan abject is that the maternal cannot qualify as ̳intelligible being‘, it is a strikingly affirmative translation of this concept that is cited, circulated and reproduced within these feminist theoretical accounts. Kristeva‘s theory of abjection is founded on the premise that the maternal cannot be, cannot speak and cannot take up a subject position which raises a series of unresolved questions for Anglo-feminist adoption of an abject paradigm to theorise maternal subjectivity. Moreover, as I shall argue, the myopic focus within feminist abject criticism on the transformative potential of excavating `the cultural abject`, particularly those accounts which celebrate the abject maternal as marking a feminist challenge, risk marginalising lived experiences of being the thing deemed abject. Furthermore, representations of maternal abjection are not simply a ritual playing out of the violent unconscious phantasies that underpin Patriarchal society, but are constitutive of the desire for maternal abjection. There is a failure to understand theory and criticism as productive fields within which the abject maternal is not simply described but more fundamentally reconstituted as a foundational norm of psychic and social life. As Butler notes,  ̳the production of the unsymbolisable, the unspeakable, the illegible is ...always a strategy of social abjection‘ (1993: 190). Abject criticism risks becoming another site in which a narrative of acceptable violence is endlessly rehearsed until we find ourselves not only colluding with, but more fundamentally believing in, our own abjection.

Donna Haraway notes that,  ̳Overwhelmingly theory is bodily, and theory is literal. Theory is not about matters distant from the lived body; quite the opposite. Theory is anything but disembodied‘ (1992: 299). Perhaps this is why Kristeva‘s sentence `Matricide is our vital necessity, the sine-qua-non condition of our individuation‘ takes my breath away each time I read it. Does this theory describe a murderous hatred for the mother that we are compelled to live? In repeatedly insisting that the maternal is pre-symbolic, Kristeva‘s theory of abjection not only reiterates the taboo on maternal subjectivity but also legitimates the abjection of maternal subjects. Kristeva does not enable a new ethics of the maternal to emerge as some feminist philosopher have argued (see, for example, Harrington 1998: 139). On the contrary, her speechless maternal disavows the very possibility of vocalising lived accounts of maternity. The abjection of the maternal is not just a theoretical fiction, but speaks to living histories of violence towards maternal bodies.

Abjection, as any dictionary definition states, not only describes the action of casting down, but the condition of one cast down, that is the condition of being abject. Abjection is not just a psychic process but a social experience. Disgust reactions, hate speech, acts of physical violence and the dehumanising effects of law are integral to processes of abjection. Indeed, abjection should be understood as a concept that describes the violent exclusionary forces operating within modern states: forces that strip people of their human dignity and reproduce them as dehumanised waste, the dregs and refuse of social life (Krauss 1999: 236). The problem, as Butler states, is to imagine how `such socially saturated domains of exclusion be recast from their status as ―constitutive‖ to beings who might be said to matter (1993: 189). The final section of this article thus shifts its focus from the theoretical violence of abject criticism to a consideration of lived accounts of maternal abjection.

Lived Abjection

Pregnancy has traditionally been understood as a reified and protected time in women‘s lives but new research that reveals the scale of intimate partner male violence against pregnant women has exposed this to be an idealised myth. There have been over one hundred studies focused on intimate partner violence in pregnancy in the last decade (see for Jana Jasinski Jana 2004 and`Rebecca O‘Reilly 2007 for overview of literature). These vary considerably in terms of the size of the sample and methodology employed, but there is consistency in terms of the percentage of pregnant women reporting violence in a range of different national studies. Whilst interpretations of statistical data, methodologies and the implications of this research are inevitably contested and debated, the fact that battery during pregnancy is widespread is uncontested. Researchers in the United States have estimated that 332,000 pregnant women are battered each year by their male partners (in the context of 4 million life births each year) (de Bruyn 2003). A questionnaire survey involving 500 women in the North of England found that the prevalence of violence against pregnant women was 17% (with 10% of this group experiencing forced sexual activity as part of their battery) (Johnson, Haider, Ellis, Hay, Lindow 2003). Recent statistical research has revealed that pregnant women are more likely to be murdered than to die of any other

cause (Decker, Martin and Moracco 2004: 500 and Chang, Berg, Saltzman and Herndon 2005) and analysis of mortality figures in the United States and the United Kingdom has exposed that up to 25% of deaths among pregnant women are a result of partner homicide (Campell, Garćia- Moreno, Sharps 2004: 776). Since the first research findings were published in the 1990s, attitudes have shifted to the extent that is now widely acknowledged that is more common than conditions for which women are routinely screened (such as pregnancy induced hypertension and diabetes). As violence against pregnant women has emerged as serious public health issue it has begun to impact on governmental health policies. The World Health Organization now includes guidelines on tackling intimate partner violence within its `Making Pregnancy Safer` initiative. Many European and North American medical organizations now advocate routinely asking pregnant women about abuse, although debate continues about the most useful strategies for implementing screening.

Whilst pre-existing violence within an intimate relationship is a strong predictor of battery during pregnancy, Michele Decker, Sandra Martin, and Kathryn Moracco argue that pregnancy is a trigger for new instances of violence (2004: 498). Indeed, their research suggests that 30% of women experience their first physical assault by a male partner when they become pregnant for the first time and that when intimate partner violence already exists in a relationship the ferocity of the violence intensifies. As they state, `partner violence that occurs during pregnancy may be a marker of increased risk of severe and potentially lethal danger for some women‘ (2004: 500). Physical assaults that begin or escalate during pregnancy often have a different pattern of violence, with pregnant women more likely to suffer multiple sites of bodily injury. Maria de Bruyn supports this analysis arguing that `instead of receiving strikes against the head [pregnant women] suffer beatings directed towards the abdomen and chest‘ and in one North American study she cites, `pregnant women were hit in the abdomen twice as often as non-pregnant women‘ (2003: 26). De Bruyn (2003) quotes an Australian woman, who states:

I was subjected to constant physical abuse throughout the marriage. But pregnancy was the worst time for me. I had five miscarriages. Every time I fell pregnant he would target the belly whenever he gets violent (2003: 25).

A British report quotes `Mary` a 36 year old women `whose partner would sit on her belly saying he was trying to squeeze the baby out after he had hit and punched her`( Moorhead, 2004).

This suggests that the sight and meaning of the pregnant body invokes a specific and targeted physically violent response. This claim is supported by many midwives and healthcare workers. As Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, a British charitable organisation which provides support for women who have endured violence, notes:

I've seen some appalling cases, including a woman six-and-a-half- months' pregnant who had been kicked so repeatedly in the abdomen that her baby was stillborn. Another woman had a baby who was born with three fractured limbs. It's often the breasts and abdominal area that the men go for when women are pregnant - they're the focus of their anger.

Under what social and cultural conditions does the pregnant body become a trigger for disgust, aggression, hatred and violence? Can violence that is targeted against the visibly pregnant body, be understood as a materialisation of the cultural disgust for the maternal body explored within abject criticism? Reviewing current research, US based medical anthropologist de Bruyn offers a number of speculative reasons why physical and sexual abuse might intensify or be triggered during pregnancy. She suggests, for example, that the battery of pregnant women by a male partner may be a way of forcing miscarriage for economic reasons, i.e. not wanting to bear the cost and responsibility of a child. Certainly, as Gillian Mezley and Susan Bewley (1997) document, violence against pregnant women is associated with increased rates of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight, fetal injury (including broken bones and stab wounds) and fetal death. However, research on domestic violence has demonstrated that contrary to popular belief, intimate partner violence is not bound by economic class: educated, successful and wealthy men batter too. De Bruyn further suggests that male partners may feel jealous `when the pregnant woman is perceived to devote less attention to his needs and wishes` (2003: 22). In other words, the intensified nature of male violence against their pregnant partners may be a consequence of a desire to destroy the presence of the other, the child or imagined child who is occupying the space and body of the woman that `belongs to him‘. This hypothesis suggests that the pregnancy inspires rage because men feel left out, are jealous or suffer from  ̳frustrated sexual desire‘ when their partners are pregnant. What these speculative explanations for male violence against pregnant women ignore are the violent histories of disgust which frame the meaning of the maternal body. If abject criticism fails to consider the implications of lived experiences of abjection, medical and health research doesn‘t engage with psycho-social literature on the maternal, and the ways in which the reiteration of maternal as abject structures ways of seeing, feeling and acting towards maternal bodies. As one reports notes,  ̳although cultural attitudes about pregnancy would seem to be relevant to abuse during pregnancy, they have not been measured‘ (Campbell, Garćia-Moreno, Sharps, 2004: 776).The accumulation of sociological data and testimonial accounts of violence targeted towards pregnant women is of crucial significance for feminist theoretical research in the area of maternal subjectivity. Indeed, this previously hidden aspect of pregnant experience compels feminist theory to think about how histories of violent disgust for the maternal body, the disgust that abject criticism has been re- describing since the publication of Powers of Horror in the 1980s, materialises in women‘s lived experiences. Abjection has effects on real bodies; abjection hurts.

The violent male partner attempts to exert his control over the pregnant subject through acts of repeated verbal and physical abuse, which dehumanise his victim. Australian researchers, Miranda Kaye, Julie Stubbs and Julia Tolmie (2003) detail some of the ways in which the psychological violence, which always accompanies brute physical violence, manifests itself. They argue that psychological violence is always geared towards control mechanisms which aim to limit women‘s autonomy such as `isolating women within their homes and removing other forms of support‘ (2003:43). Being called derogatory names, being told over and again that you are worthless, being subjected to racist or sexist abuse along with death threats and the ever present threat of physical violence, erodes a subject‘s fundamental sense of who they are. In their Australian ethnography, Kaye, Stubbs, Tolmie explore the material forms of control which diminished women‘s agency. These included having to hand over wages: not being given any or enough money; being told what to wear; not being allowed to have an own opinion or finish a sentence; being locked in the bedroom at night; having to ask permission to watch a television show; all the windows in the house being bolted shut and sleep deprivation‘ (2003: 42-44). All of these acts constitute attempts to disable women of their ability to act as independent subjects. One interviewee noted that as time passes, identity is effaced through these control mechanisms so that: `you don‘t know who you are. You just follow ... the order so you just follow what he say because ... you don‘t think you are a person or human being‘ (2003: 44). Battered women‘s idea of themselves as individuals is gradually obliterated, they are literally pushed `toward the place where meaning collapses‘ (Kristeva 1982: 2). One battered woman in Kaye, Stubbs and Tolmie‘s ethnography notes, `you reach to the point [at] which you lose completely your identity. You don‘t know who you are.[...] you don‘t think you are a person or human being‘ (2003: 41). For these women, repeatedly dehumanised and objectified, violence is experienced as banal. Indeed, what is truly horrific about these testimonies is that violence is  ̳every day‘. This is being on the edge of non-existence. This is maternal abjection lived.

Kristeva argues that the abject emerges into sight when  ̳man strays on the territories of the animal‘ (1982: 12). This phrase is telling, for Kristeva thinks and writes abjection from the perspective of `the man who strays‘ rather than the perspective of the subject who finds themselves interpellated as abject animal (less than human). Nevertheless, it is clear that if a person and their bodily appearance is designated the abject thing, that `magnet of fascination and repulsion‘ they are subject to dehumanising violence (Kristeva 1995:118). The figuring of abject beings as animalistic (less than human) is part of the process of dehumanisation that routinely takes place in experiences of being abjected. The theme of being (made) animal repeatedly surfaces in women‘s accounts of intimate partner violence in pregnancy. In the quotation from Kaye, Stubbs, Tolmie‘s ethnography, with which I began this article, ̳Toni‘ recalls,:

He locked me in a dog‘s cage when I was pregnant .... He jumped me in the kitchen window and pulled a knife to my throat. ... Um you know he would do so many things—like its sort of hard. He punched me.—You know like just—just normal things that um you know like made me have an abortion.... [The violence was] more or less every day (2003: 41).

These `normal things`, the vicious punch of the real, the brutal and sadistic slap, slap, thump, shuts ̳Toni‘ up, turns her into an animal, a dog, a maternal aborting Thing.

What is at stake in acts of violence against pregnant women is control over the maternal body and control of sex and reproduction. The powerful story of abjection that Kristeva (and feminist theorists of abjection) narrates is one in which we are  ̳born‘ through a violent struggle over identity, a struggle which takes place over and through the bloodied and bruised maternal body. Kristeva‘s account of abjection can be usefully drawn upon in theorising the psycho-social mechanisms at play in lived accounts of maternal abjection. Her work is potentially useful, for example, in developing better understandings of why the visibly pregnant body is a trigger for violence. However, the deeply engrained psycho-social association between the maternal and the abject is an historical condition and not an unchangeable fact. Maternal abjection, in theory and practice, is that which feminism needs to articulate itself against

Whilst feminist theorists have demonstrated that war is waged over the reproductive body, the violence committed against pregnant women has remained largely unspoken within feminist accounts of reproductive politics. The social taboos surrounding intimate partner violence make it extremely difficult for pregnant women to speak about being battered, tortured and controlled. Given that pregnant bodies are so routinely monitored by the medical gaze, it is perhaps surprising that widespread violence has remained so invisible. However, as Brewer and Mezey note:

Changes in midwifery and obstetric practice designed to `empower` women and demedicalise childbirth may have reduced the possibility of [speaking about violence]. The traditional refuge of woman-only space in antenatal wards and labour wards is disappearing. The milieu of the antenatal clinic is not particularly conducive to facilitating disclosure of domestic violence, which women find difficult, shameful, and risky. Men often accompany their partners to clinics and in labour, and hand held notes mean that confidential documentation is no longer in the safe keeping of the hospital (1997: 1295).

Ironically the opening up of ante-natal spaces, such as clinics and hospitals, to men has potentially limited women‘s ability to speak out, whilst the marks of physical and psychological violence can be hard to detect: women disguise bruised skin and men often deliberately batter women on parts of their body that others will not see. If maternal subjectivity is impossible to conceive, intimate partner violence against maternal bodies was, until recently, unheeded and unheard.

Communities of the abject

One of the few places in which women are able to share their experiences of violence without fear of retaliation is in Internet chat rooms. The Internet (and the imaginary promise of anonymity if offers) has the potential to be a safe(r) space for battered women to speak out. On the Internet site, BabyCenter.com, I found a discussion thread in which pregnant women discussed the violence they where enduring at the hands of their partners. BabyCenter.com is a website which offers  ̳expert‘ information and advice to pregnant women. It is a magazine style site that hosts reviews of consumer goods and is sponsored by links to on-line shops. However, behind this bright shopping façade, BabyCenter offers another perspective that penetrates the happy familial myths about maternity. Whilst the abused women who speak out in chat rooms must learn to  ̳cover their tracks‘ so their partners cannot trace their web histories, they have created on-line communities, founded in their shared abjection.6 These women in chat rooms form `communities of the abject` who, through the act of sharing and speaking their abjection, refuse their constitution as `abject object`.

In a BabyCenter chat room pregnant women post accounts of the daily violence they are enduring at the hands of their partners. One woman calling herself  ̳worried mom‘ writes in a breezy chatty tone, which belies the content of her post:

Hi. I have a question. Since I found out I was pregnant, my husband and I haven't been getting along well. We used to call each other names, but I stopped. He still calls me stupid and a bad parent and he pushes me sometimes. The other day he slapped me across the face. I yelled at him before he did it. He sometimes pushes me so hard that I fall. Is that harmful to my baby? I'm a little over 7 months pregnant. What should I do? Please email me.7 (Anonymous post 2004)

Women on this discussion site respond to each others with messages of recognition, solidarity and support:  ̳Amanda‘ writes,  ̳I'm almost eight months pregnant, and I left my husband two months ago. He was abusive emotionally before pregnancy, and became sexually and physically abusive after I became pregnant ... life is much better without the constant fear of your husband‘. Some of the women write about approaching the police, telling friends, family or neighbours, but others warn of their experiences of failure when they sought outside intervention. As one woman notes, `[t]he police where no help, they told me that since I hit him first I would be the one to go to jail`. However, very little of the discussion on this site focuses on the practical means by which women can leave their violent partners. Perhaps because, as Angela Moe and Myrtle Bell argue, in their article `Abject Economics‘(2004) battered women are often caught in a vicious cycle of economic dependence on their abusers. Repeated physical and psychological violence undermines women‘s ability to work and maintain steady employment and this cycle of dependency is even more acute when the women is pregnant or a mother. One woman in the Babycenter chat room supports this in her description of the poverty she endured when she left her abusive husband. Moreover, research has consistently shown that women often endanger their lives when they attempt to leave the men battering them. Many simply cannot imagine leaving and express a deep ambivalence about their partners, writing about them with love and tenderness in the same sentences as they depict gut-wrenching scenes of psychological torture and physical violence. Reading through these posts, I felt that there central purpose was witness and visibility, a desire to reclaim a semblance of agency through sharing their abjection.

The Babycenter chat room operates as a means for women to acknowledge (to themselves and others) their shame at what is happening to them. More complexly, it is a means through which women attempt to re-humanise themselves, to identify with themselves as the subjects of violence, rather than the abject Thing that violence produces them as. In the following post, we can see how the writer begins, hesitantly, to acknowledge, through imagining the previous poster reading her words, `that something has to be done‘.

I just want to share my thoughts w you because reading what you said made me feel not so alone. I love my husband very much too and he started to become more physical ever since I became pregnant. ...He has pulled my hair, kicked, and pushed me. He has grabbed my arm so tightly that his thumb print was left on my arm. ...I know what others might think reading this. I am embarrassed to even talk about it. It makes me so sad and disappointed that I dont have the relationship that I thought I did. I dont think what he does is okay but I havent done anything to make my situation better. I was thinking getting a therapist but I dont even know myself (Anonymous post 2004).

The words,  ̳I don‘t even know myself‘ speak so much of being abject. In order for injury to be recognised, these women need to be recognised as subjects by another- as an  ̳I‘ that has experienced this violence. However, whilst these posts do enable these women‘s to narrate lived accounts of their experience, this is a tiny fragment of `anonymous visibility` hidden in the margins of an website and produced by subjects whose very sense of being is fragile in the extreme. These posts are weighted down with guilt, shame and blame, and express dazed and battered identities.  ̳He is battering my soul, my self-esteem, my identity‘ writes one woman. In the most disturbing post in the chat room, one woman signs her message with the words  ̳crying for help‘:

While I was pregnant he would hit me and throw me around. I don‘t know what to do, he does it even worse now. ...He kicked me with steel toe boots on and now I have a bruise the size of a softball, not to mention the rug burns on my elbows and the jaw pain and my sprained ankle. I don‘t know what to do. It just gets worse. The night before I had my daughter he threw an apple at me and it hit my belly. It left a bruise that you couldn‘t see but I could feel. The next morning I woke up with broken water. I don‘t know what to do anymore. When he gets mad he tells me he wants to kill me. He covers my mouth and nose so I can‘t breath. I am afraid I won‘t be around much longer. I am afraid one day he will go that far. And then say it was an accident. But I know it‘s not an accident. I just want someone to know before it does happen and no one knows who did it (Anonymous post 2004).

This post and its repetition of despair is heart breaking to read: `I don‘t know what to do‘, `I don‘t know what to do anymore‘, `I am afraid I won‘t be around much longer‘. What sort of recognition can a reader of these posts possibly grant to this anonymous woman and her plea,  ̳I just want someone to know before it does happen and no one knows who did it‘? These women express what it feels like to be cast down, humiliated, debased, pushed to the point where you are no longer know yourself`. What these posts communicate is experiences of being made abject— experiences which, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, they manage to communicate.

Social Abjection

For Kristeva, abjection does not signify living an unbearable life on the margins of social visibility, but something more akin to the writer‘s quest, the holy grail of the avant-garde. In the after-word to Powers of Horror she muses:

Does one write under any other condition than being possessed by abjection, in an indefinite catharsis? Leaving aside adherents of a feminism that is jealous of conserving its power — the last of the power-seeking ideologies — none will accuse of being a usurper the artist who, even if he does not know it is an undoer of narcissism and of all imaginary identity as well, sexual included (1982: 208).

These oblique comments are revealing of Kristeva‘s politics. Only the male artist `possessed by abjection` can communicate the abject maternal at the limits of identity. The experience of abjection enjoyed in the work of these writers is unavailable to women writers and artists due to the different structure of their subjectivity, in particular their incomplete separation from their mothers, an unwillingness perhaps to participate in matricide (see Kristeva, 1989). Whilst the implications of this argument, and the contradictions it exposes, are beyond the reach of this article, it is important to note that here, in the afterword to Powers of Horror, Kristeva makes clear she has nothing but contempt for a feminism which would question maternal abjection.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak asks: `What are the cultural politics of application of the diagnostic taxonomy of the abject?`(1992: 55). Following Spivak‘s cue, this article has focused on the sexual politics of Kristeva‘s theory of abjection — it has questioned the constitutive matricide in which theories and accounts of abjection are grounded, explored what it means to diagnose something or someone as abject and considered what the effects of such a diagnosis might be. It has examined the feminist strategy of invoking a powerful tradition of disgust for the maternal body and questioned whether this `affirmative abjection` can transform abject representational codes. It has argued that whilst feminist abject criticism has proved useful in mapping the ways in which abjection is communicated and transmitted, it has largely failed to consider the effects of abjection on embodied subjects and in this respect has been complicit with psychoanalytic and philosophical accounts which repeatedly disavow lived accounts of maternal subjectivity. For whilst Kristeva‘s account of abjection is compelling (at an explanatory level) what is completely absent from her account is any discussion of what it might mean to be that maternal abject, to be the one who repeatedly finds themselves the object of the others violent objectifying disgust. As I have suggested, Kristeva‘s account is dependent upon her ambiguous use of the term maternal. This article has troubled the distinction between the maternal as abstract concept and the maternal as lived and embodied by insisting that we take theory at its word. The maternal abject (and the matricide it assumes) is not a pre-historic, unchangeable fact but is a disciplinary norm which has been established through processes of reiteration and has taken on the appearance of a universal truth. However, the repeated framing of the maternal as abject shapes the appearance and experience of maternal bodies in the social world. Feminist theory needs to shift its focus away from `observational reiteration` of maternal abjection as it manifests within cultural realms. This doesn‘t mean abandoning the concept of abjection, which is perhaps unique in its ability to articulate the psycho-social dimensions of violence. However, we need new theories of social abjection to wrench this concept from a purely Kristevan paradigm. Specifically, we need to document the role the maternal abject plays within intimate, inter-subjective, generational and social relations and challenge the forms and processes of abjection that are central to the social exclusion and marginalisation of women. As Spivak suggests: `Why not develop a certain degree of rage against the history that has written such an abject script for you?‘

Footnotes

From this point onwards I will use the term `Anglo-Feminism` for brevity.

Kristeva repeatedly returns to the work of male avant-garde writers such as Céline, Joyce, Aragon, Sartre, Baudelaire, Lautreamont, who, in her estimation, immerse themselves in abjection through their writing practice.

Whilst Kristeva‘s formulation of the abject challenges Lacan‘s distinction between the imaginary and symbolic realms it resembles his concept of `the Real` and the related concept of `jouissance`.

This is precisely Amber Jacob's project in On Matricide 2007, which is a brilliant attempt to re- theorize matricide through feminist revision of Greek Myth.

Judith Butler's account in Bodies That Matter is the most thorough feminist challenge to the universalism of Kristeva's account.

See http://thesafetyzone.org/security.html for advice given to battered women on how to reduce the chances that net travels will be traced.

I have refrained from giving specific dates or url links due to concerns about the participants safety and also a concern that the site administrators may desire to censure this use of chat spaces.

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