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#cheap tricks fashion blog
starscatteredsky · 1 year
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You got any tips for a raccoon therian feeling really dysphoric about their reincarnation choice?
Raccoon tips and tricks
hope these can help!! species dysphoria is the worst :(
make/commission a raccoon therian mask!
raccoon tail!! clip on ones are actually pretty cheap sometimes, and come in lots of colours!
little black “magic mitt” type gloves! nice and thin to keep your grabby raccoon hands agile! you can glue black nails to them to make little claws!
play with things like riddles and puzzles!
get lots of fidgets to keep your little raccoon hands busy!
wash food before you eat it!
wear lots of greys and black!
stripy clothes!!
make yourself a little den out of blankets and pillows to huddle up in!
practice climbing rocks and trees (safely!!)
try staying up a bit later to appreciate the night like your nocturnal self!
get a soft, grey, fuzzy sweater or blanket to wrap around yourself!
learn about raccoon vocals, as raccoons can make over 50 unique sounds! try practicing some!
good luck feeling less dysphoric friend, hope some of these can make you feel more like yourself!
-mono
Requests open!!!
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"DNI: radqueers, proshippers, radfems/TERFs, antikin/antitherian, homophobic/ ableist/ anti ACAB/ transphobic/ rasist/ antisemitic/ xenophobic/ antitheist/ anti athiest/ bigoted in any fashion, NSFW/sh/ed/cringe centered blog, fakeclaimer
Before you interact: We are pro mspec gays/lesbians, anti endo/tulpa "systems", enjoy MCYT/DSMP, pro self diagnoses with extensive research, multiple alters are punks/ anarchists"
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businessminds804 · 1 month
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How to setup your own Dropshipping business with 0 investment | Millionaire Secrets
Starting a dropshipping business with no investment seems to be just a dream come true, but it is easier than you might expect. Dropshipping is an innovative business model that makes it easy to do business without keeping any inventory, and it's one of the easiest entry points into e-commerce. Here is how to do it—peppered with a few millionaire secrets for that edge.
For full course click here Millionaire Secrets
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Step 1: Find Your Niche
A profitable niche will be the base of a successful dropshipping business. Do not go for a broad market; find a hot niche where there is more demand and less competition. Using Google Trends, niche research websites, and going deep into trends in social media, find that untapped market. The trick will be to find that niche which will respond with fervor and passion to their pocketbook, such as eco-friendly products, pet accessories, or unique fashion items.
Step 2: Source Products Without Spending a Dime
The next step is to find suppliers who offer quality products and reliable shipping. A good place to start is AliExpress, Oberlo, or Spocket. First, negotiate with a supplier who could dropship on a test basis. Approach them with a fantastic business plan to prove your case and let them know the volume you could hit if the sales start coming in. This way, you can start without any upfront costs.
Step 3: Open a Free Online Store
An online store can be set up with or without spending a lot of money. You can use free platforms such as the trial version of Shopify, Big Cartel, and WooCommerce for WordPress. These are customizable templates that do well to design an online store layout and not need a developer to fix. Another insider tip: launch a one-page store to cut costs and concentrate sales on one or two winning products.
Step 4: Market Your Shop Using Social Media
Marketing is important, yet it need not be costly. Social media sites like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest do well in creating a buzz around your product line. Post engaging content with demos, testimonials, lifestyle shots—all of which will draw in your desired target market. Millionaire dropshippers often start by reaching out to micro-influencers who are willing to promote products in exchange for free samples. This method not only saves money but also builds trust with your audience.
Step 5: Search Engine Optimization
SEO will help drive traffic to your store organically, which means you don't need to pay for ads. Concentrate on long-tail keywords relevant to your niche, and ensure that your product descriptions, meta tags, and image alt texts are optimized. Additionally, set up a blog right within your store—great content relevant to whatever you're selling will get you good SEO ranking. Remember, millionaires invest in content that ranks well and drives traffic over time.
Step 6: Scale Up Gradually
When things are moving along and you start to actually make some money, reinvest it back into your business. It might mean increasing the number of products on offer, investing in paid advertisement to reach more people, or even improving the functionality on the website itself. Millionaire drop shippers know the importance of scaling wisely, so don't rush through it all. Focus on what's working and get rid of what isn't, while always looking to improve your operations.
Final Thoughts
A zero-investment dropshipping venture is all about smart and strategic decision-making. Build up your store in a niche and give it a great online presence, making further refinements once you see a good result. Apply these secrets that millionaires use to create a cash cow business on the cheap. Remember, the way to get wealthy in dropshipping is not just by working hard but also by working smart.
For full course click here Millionaire Secrets
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specula-123 · 4 months
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 Maximising Space: Custom Storage Solutions for Small Interiors
There are benefits and drawbacks to living in a small, confined area. Despite the intimacy and simplicity that small rooms offer, they usually don't have enough storage to make the most of every square inch of space. We can assure you that there are plenty of options if you are continuously struggling to locate additional room for storing your possessions. To help you overcome your small-space storage challenges and live in a clutter-free, organized environment, In this blog, specula – will provide customized interior solutions to examine ten of these compact storage units.
Kitchen Storage Units with Vertical Shelves
Enhancing space can be achieved most effectively by thinking vertically. You can make the most of vertical space by installing modular storage units, wall-mounted shelves, or tall bookshelves. These kitchen storage units enhance your home's aesthetic appeal while offering plenty of storage.
Space-Saving Bedroom Storage Units
Storage Units for Bedrooms in a Metic The bed, which serves as your place of rest, has a wealth of storage space underneath it that is frequently overlooked in the rush to create a tidy, clutter-free bedroom. Drawers and storage bins beneath beds are a cheap and practical solution that can save this important space. These work well as concealed havens for storing extra shoes, bedding, linens, and bulky, out-of-season clothes in bedrooms.
TV Storage Cabinet With Several Uses and Secret Storage
Adding a multipurpose TV storage unit to your living area is like adding a magician's hat—you can conceal all the mess related to home entertainment. With cabinets or shelves for holding media equipment like DVD players, game consoles, and sound systems, they frequently have many uses in addition to serving as storage. This keeps these necessary parts organised and hidden while not in use. Versatile additions to your living area, some units even provide space for books or extra storage.
A Space-Creating Cabinet Storage Unit That Is Stylish
A Classy Storage Cabinet To Wall-mounted or floating cabinets provide the impression that a space is larger. Install a cabinet storage unit to store goods and free up space on the floor from large furniture in the kitchen, bathroom, or living room. Whether you choose a wall storage unit or a cabinet storage unit, it's like a clever trick of design that makes your area appear larger than it actually is.
An Overlooked Spot: A Corner Storage Unit
Create aesthetically beautiful, well-organized storage solutions by turning unutilized corners. With the variety of styles and materials available for corner storage units, you can select designs that complement the overall aesthetic of your house. These can increase kitchen efficiency in compact places or serve as useful bathroom storage containers. Your area will gain depth and character from these items, which can either create a fashionable contrast or blend in with your current design. Your options might range from a modern metal unit to a rustic wooden shelf.
Innovative Space-Saving Cutlery Storage Cabinet for Fragile Items
Because of their delicate beauty and sentimental value, fragile items need a storage solution that maximizes your home's space while simultaneously protecting them. A creative, space-saving crockery storage box is revolutionary when it comes to arranging dinnerware because it blends sophistication and utility. 
Utilize Vertical Space Indoors With A 6-Drawer Balcony Storage Unit
The ideal drawer storage unit combines outdoor storage ease with indoor space efficiency. These drawers make it simple to organize and retrieve your possessions, from gardening equipment and pillows to grilling supplies and outdoor toys. Everything is conveniently stowed away, so there's no need to go through boxes or look for lost items.
Adaptable Shelves as Storage Units in the Living Room
Adjustable shelves are a trademark of clever design, whether you want to use them to create a bookcase, entertainment center, or flexible storage solution for your living room. Depending on your preferences, you may arrange your stuff more neatly and aesthetically in your living room by using a set of floating shelves or a 5-shelf storage unit. These shelves provide a harmonious blend of practicality and style, guaranteeing that your living room will always be a flexible and dynamic area that suits your changing storage requirements. 
Invest in a wooden storage unit to go natural and minimalist.
Because wood is naturally beautiful, there is a timeless elegance to a wooden storage cabinet. Every variance in color, knot, and grain tells a unique story, making every item unique. This organic appearance adds a touch of natural elegance to your living space and works well with a variety of design motifs, including classic, modern, rustic, and minimalist.
Bright Little Storage Units For Your Child's Area
Although children's rooms are full of creativity, play, and imagination, they may also become chaotic with toys, books, and painting supplies. Bright, compact storage units hold the key to the solution. From under-bed drawers to simple wall storage units, these creative yet functional space-saving ideas offer a way to keep your child's room neat and orderly while still adding a pop of color.
It is not necessary to give up storage in order to live in a small place. By employing creative designs, you may maximize the use of your limited area and keep it clutter-free. When you combine vertical shelves, under-bed storage, multipurpose furniture, and other creative small storage items, your little space can become a neat and practical haven. Thus, apply these ten clever compact storage unit ideas to overcome your space-related problems.Our advisors are pleased to offer further suggestions and solutions for your little space. Contact Specula by clicking this link:
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mojodesignca · 1 year
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Edmonton Elegance: Transforming Homes with Interior Design
Edmonton Home Interior Design Hacks on a Budget: Cheap Upgrades for Your Room
Are you hoping to make your Edmonton house a chic and welcoming place without going over budget? Look nowhere else! We'll look at inexpensive interior design tips in this blog post to help you update your space without breaking the bank. From classic interiors to budget-friendly design options, we have you covered. These advice and tricks can motivate you to design a stunning home that showcases your individual style, whether you're getting ready for new construction or organizing a remodel. So let's get started and see how Edmonton Home Renovations may help you get spectacular results on any budget!
Interiors that are timeless: Creating a style that endures.
The secret to successful interior design is to create a timeless look. While fashions may come and go, a well-designed environment that endures will always feel up to date and welcoming. So how do you go about doing this? Start by putting your attention on timeless classics.
Think about choosing color schemes that are neutral. Any design or subject can be set against a backdrop of colors like white, beige, or gray. Additionally, they promote tranquillity and let other design components take center stage.
Invest in high-quality furniture with streamlined silhouettes. Years from now, these classic styles will still appear fashionable. Look for materials that are tough and can resist regular wear and tear without losing their appeal.
Next, pay attention to small things like hardware and lighting fixtures. Select lighting fixtures with timeless designs to accentuate the sophistication and elegance of your room. Remember the impact of strategically positioned mirrors as well; they not only add brightness but also give the appearance of additional space.
Make use of natural features in your design strategy. Wood, stone, or even indoor plants may provide warmth and texture to your house while also bringing the beauty of nature inside.
You'll appreciate a design that endures over time if you use these suggestions to create timeless decor in your Edmonton house.
Budget-friendly design tricks: Simple methods to improve your surroundings
Want to improve your space without going over budget? Look no further than DIY crafts and resale shops! Hidden treasures like old furniture and distinctive furnishings may frequently be found in thrift stores. You may make elegant additions to your home from these items with a little imagination and paint or cloth. DIY projects also enable you to save money while adding your own style to your area. There are innumerable inexpensive ideas online that can improve the appearance of any area, whether it is through the reuse of old materials or the creation of new artwork.
A new coat of paint is one of the most economical ways to freshen any area. A space can be given fresh life and a completely different feel by painting the walls a different hue. Paint has a lot of power; it's almost magical. Try experimenting with various finishes and colors that go well with your current design, or try an accent wall for more visual appeal. You'll be astounded at how this small adjustment can have such a significant effect on the aesthetics of your house as a whole.
As they give a room charm and character, accessories are important in interior design. The good news is that purchasing accessories doesn't have to be expensive! Choose inexpensive alternatives like secondhand findings or even natural components like plants or shells gathered on beach outings rather than splashing out on pricey decorative goods. Strategically combine textures, patterns, and colors to provide visual interest without spending a lot of money.
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Interior design full service: Providing all design services
Are you looking for expert advice to make your house a fashionable and useful space? We offer full-service Residential Interior Design, so look no further! We take pride in offering thorough design services that meet all of your needs.
Your vision, preferences, and budget will be thoroughly understood by our team of skilled designers through direct collaboration with you. We can help you whether you want to redesign a single space or give your entire house a unified look. Every stage of the process, from concept development to final installation, will be handled by us.
With our full-service interior design package, you can count on individualized attention and professional guidance throughout the entire process. Our designers are knowledgeable about the most recent design ideas and methods, so your area will not only be aesthetically gorgeous but also very useful.
We take delight in producing designs that capture the distinct personality and lifestyle of each client. Our experts will modify the design to reflect your preferences while maximizing the potential of your space, whether you want contemporary minimalism or eclectic charm. We'll assist in bringing out the best in each area of your house with our knowledge and meticulous attention to detail.
Therefore, why compromise when it comes to remodeling your living spaces? For a stress-free experience and amazing results that go above and beyond your expectations, rely on our full-service interior design solution. Set up a meeting with us right now, and let's start on this thrilling trip!
Design solutions for various projects in both new building and remodeling
Our full-service interior design team is available to assist you whether you're constructing a new home or giving your existing space a much-needed facelift. Since we have a wealth of experience in both new construction and remodel design, we can make sure that every project is customized to your specific requirements and vision.
Our skilled designers will collaborate directly with you to comprehend your objectives, preferences, and financial restrictions. Then, working within your budget, we'll develop a unique design strategy that makes the most of your area.
For brand-new buildings, we can help with anything from choosing the ideal finishes to arranging the space for maximum functionality. We'll build a place that not only complies with current regulations but also endures the test of time using our knowledge of Edmonton house interior design trends and classic aesthetics.
If you're planning to remodel a room in your house, our staff can provide creative ideas to update any space. We have the knowledge and tools required to realize your vision, whether it is upgrading antiquated fixtures or redesigning a complete floor plan.
Along with providing thorough design services, we also have access to a network of reliable suppliers and contractors that can guarantee the highest level of craftsmanship throughout the entire process. Because we handle all the technicalities, you don't have to bother about organizing several vendors and can instead relax while your home is being renovated.
With our specialized approach and cost-effective interior design tips, updating your Edmonton home has never been simpler or more economical. When you can have trendy spaces that represent your personality without going over budget, don't settle for boring décor.
To arrange a session with one of our skilled designers, get in touch with us right away. Together, let's make your area into something genuinely exceptional.
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lemonhemlock · 1 year
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15 questions and 15 mutuals
tagged by @hellshee 💞💞💞 thanks a bundle!!! 🎀
anyone who sees this on my blog and wants to do it is welcome!
were you named after anyone?
i was named after a very specific queen of hungary (no, my family is not hungarian) and my middle name is after my dad
when was the last time you cried?
succession series finale full-on sobbing girlies where u at
do you have kids?
i do not
do you use sarcasm a lot?
i believe so!
what's the first thing you notice about people?
i'm SO bad at this, i freeze and remember neither their looks nor their names 😅 i have to ask for about 3 times before i can remember
i'll only notice if they have a very distinctive fashion piece i guess
what's your eye color?
boring brown:(
scary movies or happy endings?
hmmm i really like horror if done properly, which it rarely is to my standards. i don't like cheap tricks or jump scares so a lot of scary movies i find v disappointing. so i'll pick happy endings i guess since there's a higher possibility of me liking the story
any special talents?
i can braid my own hair in complicated styles that people are often surprised i can do without assistance. i spent a lot of time in uni braiding my friends' hair for fun and as a bonding past-time. i'd say i'm above average at doing my makeup but i can't do anything crazy like graphic eyeliner unfortunately (i think it's because i can't draw). i have the best RP accent out of any non-native i know. my bf says i'm really good at manipulating dough (i think i'm only decent, just not afraid of moving it around). one day i hope to learn to do nail art and maybe sew clothes
i wish i could sing though. if i had a decent voice i'd never shut up. straight-up musical over here all the time. i would be SO annoying
where were you born?
eastern europe baby!!!
what are your hobbies?
well, you know, apart from hobbies that everyone & their mother has, like listening to music / reading / watching shows & movies, i like formula 1 & football. whenever i have the time, i watch the most random videos like tyre rules, racing lines and tactical breakdowns of various games. when it strikes my fancy i'm a VERY amateur aerodynamicist, in that i like to go oooh & ahhh whenever i look at an f1 car and cackle over how beautiful/ugly it is. i like castles a lot & want to visit all of them. i like learning about fashion history & creating lewks & outfits. i have beautiful tarot cards and was fairly good at weaving a narrative when i did readings but i'm out of practice. my bf & i love making & discovering new cocktails. my latest hobby is that i'm obsessed with perfume and have a budding collection
unfortunately i haven't really had time for any of my thousand interests lately bc i've had to focus on my thesis so i'm kinda floating anchorless & disconnected atm
have any pets?
i don't, i like animals but wouldn't have the patience to look after them. also the animals i like are generally not suited to urban life, like goats or donkeys :))
what sports do you play/have you played?
unfortunately i was never good at them
how tall are you?
170 cm
favorite subject in school?
english & history!
dream job?
honestly pit lane reporter sounds like a pretty dope job. perhaps in another life i would have liked to be an archaeologist
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stylexshweta · 2 years
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Ways to Look Expensive Without Splurging Money!
I bet we all secretly admire these designer clothes from well-known fashion houses. When they appear on the red carpet, they seem to have that certain something that makes them stand out. However, in most situations, these designer goodies are too expensive for a regular girl.
Here's how to look expensive with a little creativity without breaking the bank.
Simplicity comes first
    To look expensive and sophisticated, consider wearing simple outfits with delicate pattern that is not boring and has a somewhat elegant vibe. You can get the most inspiration from the French, as they always manage to look expensive and elegant in the simplest of clothes.
Choose a long coat
    One of the experts' favorite tips on how to look expensive is to choose a long coat for winter. Short, baggy coats can make you look cheap, underdressed, or even out of style. Instead, long coats offer a sense of elegance and style, adding that extra value to your overall outfit.
Structured bags look more expensive
    A chic designer outfit is defined by the type of bag you carry. If you want to look expensive, choosing a tougher and more structured bag is a good addition to your wardrobe.
 A little black dress can look VERY Luxurious
    The famous and all-time favorite Little Black Dress is the best piece of clothing you could have in your closet. Also, one of the easiest tricks to look expensive at all times. labor party? are you ok with a Formal meeting? The black dress is great! Church? lunch with friends? Shopping? An appointment? A little black dress can go to any extent.
See also: How to style short dresses in winter: the best fashion of 2023 Read more!
Finish off with a neutral scarf
This simple accessory can make a boring outfit look exquisite. It can add a touch of sophistication to any type of clothing you can imagine! A pretty scarf is simply the easiest trick to looking expensive with little to no effort, and you can usually find a pretty scarf for cheap.
I hope you try to create that perfect expensive look without breaking the bank. You can find most of these tips HERE: - How to Look Expensive and Chic on a Budget - No later than 2023.Scroll down my homepage for more fashion blog content like this!
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jlangenbeck · 2 years
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G. BRUCE BOYER'S TEN MENSWEAR COMMANDMENTS
1) The Chinese proverb says buy the best and you only cry once. Quality clothes are durable and always in style. Buy the best you can afford and maintain it. Don’t let your wife or girlfriend throw your clothes away. Real luxury is the comprehension of quality.
2)You may have noticed that athletic clothes actually have the ironic result of making many people appear less athletic than they would in almost any other sort of dress.
3)There are two kinds of crazy people: those who think they’re Napoleon, and those who think they can buy a good suit cheap. Every purchase should be a long-term commitment.
4)Anyone who has the money can buy fashion any time. Style you have to learn and earn. It develops and refines itself. You won’t find it in the shop window, or simply by knowing the trendy labels.
5)There’s a relatively new phenomenon – you can check this on all of those “stylish” blog sites – of men dressing as though it were a blood sport, a competition rather than a celebration. They wear their clothes as though they were weapons, and thus almost never look comfortable in what they’ve got on.
6)People talk about how clothes should fit, but fit is a nonsensical concept. Good tailors are not after fit, but effect. And effect means proportion. The idea is to help your figure, not to reproduce it.
7)Never look dressed up, always look as though you just threw it on … even if it takes some time and effort. As a keen anthropologist of the posh, I can tell you that the best dressers look like they live in their clothes.
8)There is no such thing as one size fits all.
9)As a brothel keeper once told me, there are no tricks, there are only enthusiasms.
10)Some people think clothes aren’t important, while others think they’re everything. In my writing and in my wardrobe I’ve tried to walk that fine line between those two extremes. A good suit is not a cure for cancer or global warming, but it is important to present yourself with confidence. It may be superficial, but we must leave the deeper aspects of our souls to priests, psychiatrists, and late night reflections.
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The Dos and Don’ts of Writing Smart Characters
Since I started this blog, one of the most common questions I’ve received has to do with the portrayal of intelligent characters.  This is also one of the most difficult to answer -- excluding questions about characters with specialized knowledge sets, which are fairly easy to answer with source compilations.  Most of the questions have to do with:  how do you portray a smart character believably?  How do you make the audience relate to them?  Can I still make them likable?  How do I avoid the pitfalls of popular media?
Well, I’m finally here to answer, utilizing examples from some of my favorite (and occasionally, not-so-favorite) media.  Let’s jump in to the dos and don’ts of smart characters!
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1.  Do let the audience follow the character’s thought process.  
As demonstrated by:  Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders
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Albert Einstein allegedly once said, “If you can’t explain it to a five-year-old, you don’t truly understand it.”  And the sentiment rings true:  true genius doesn’t need to dazzle with big words and technobabble.  Instead, it makes the complex appear simple.
The same rings true for brilliant characters.  BBC’s Sherlock (more on that later) ceased to satisfy in its later seasons because it began to rely too heavily on visual glitz to avoid actually explaining its mysteries and how they were solved.  Similarly, the biggest complaints with block buster franchises -- Star Wars, The Avengers, Game of Thrones -- is that they became obsessed with “subverting expectations” cleverly instead of leading the audiences to their most logical and satisfying conclusions.
Meanwhile, the smartest and most satisfying media dazzles not by staying over the audience’s head, but by illustrating how simplistic the solutions can be.
Let’s start with my boy Tommy Shelby, the charismatic, swaggering protagonist of the charismatic, swaggering crime drama Peaky Blinders.  Using only his intelligence (and complete disregard for his own life/suicidal tendencies, but that’s not the point here), Tommy claws his way up from the near-bottom of the social ladder (an impoverished Romani in early 20th century Birmingham) to being a decorated war hero, to being the leader of a feared razor gang, to dominating the race track business, to becoming a business mogul, to becoming a member of parliament and trying to assassinate the leader of the fascist party. He’s also one of the paramount reasons why I’m bisexual.
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So how can such a drastic social climb be conveyed believably?  Because Tommy -- as the viewpoint character -- is placed in seemingly inescapable situations, and then proceeds to demonstrate that the solutions to those situations have been there the whole time.  I recently watched a brilliant video on how this is done, which can be viewed here.
Early in season one, for example, he responds to aggressive new methods by the police by organizing a mass-burning of paintings of the king, and uses the press this garners to publicly shame the methods of the chief inspector who’s been antagonizing him.  In the next season, he talks his way into a deal by bluffing that he planted a grenade in his rival’s distillery.  My personal favorite is in season four, when he responds to being outgunned by a larger, American gang by contacting their rival -- none other than an Alphonse Capone.
All of Tommy’s victories are satisfying, because they don’t come out of nowhere -- we have access to the same information he does, each victory is carefully foreshadowed, and we are reminded at every turn that failure is a very real possibility (more on that later.)  So when he wins, we’re cheering with him.
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Other examples:  Mark Watney from The Martian, who explains science in its most simplistic terms and with infectious enthusiasm.  He would make every character on The Big Bang Theory cry.  
Also, Miss Fisher from the AMAZING Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.  The dazzling, 1920s, female Sherlock Holmes of your dreams.  I cannot recommend it enough.
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To apply this to your own writing:  Remember you won’t dazzle anyone if you smack them in the face with a “brilliant” plot twist.  They want to take a journey with your character, not be left in the dust.  
Also, for everyone in my askbox concerned that they’re not smart enough to write intelligent characters, just remember how simple the problems confronting smart characters can be.  Put them in a difficult situation, and provide them with a means of getting out.  Then, just let them find it. 
2.  Don’t assume the audience is too stupid to keep up (or try to make them feel too stupid to keep up.)
As demonstrated by:  Sherlock Holmes from BBC’s Sherlock.
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Say what you will:  there were reasons why everyone was so captivated by this show during its first two seasons.  It felt fresh.  People had yet to become frustrated with the inescapable thirst for Benedict Cumberbatch.  The writing was sharp, and the editing clever.  And it wove a tantalizing web of mysteries that demanded solution.  The problem was, there weren’t any.
The most frustrating for many was how Sherlock faked his death at the end of season two, after which devoted fans spent two years creating intricate theories on how he might have pulled this off.  The creators responded by mocking this dedication in the opening episode of season three, by showing a fan club spinning outlandish theories (one of which included Sherlock and Moriarty kissing.)  This might have been laughed off -- at the time, many seemed to consider it quite funny -- if the creators had bothered to offer their own explanation of how Sherlock survived.  They didn’t.  And so began a seemingly endless loop of huge cliffhangers that promised -- and consistently failed to deliver -- satisfying answers.
The most egregious examples occur in season four, which provided answers to questions no one asked, and withheld answers for things everyone wanted to know.  For example, did you know that the real reason Moriarty engaged Sherlock is because he was hypnotized by Sherlock’s secret evil sister?  The same one who killed Sherlock’s best friend, whom Sherlock convinced himself was a dog?  Yes, that was a real plot point, in the climax of the series.  It’s an effort to befuddle the audience with brilliant and unexpected writing, but instead pulled them out of a story they were already invested in and made them far more critical of its pre-existing faults. 
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It’s pointed out in the brilliant (if bluntly named) Sherlock Is Garbage, And Here’s Why that Moffat can be a great writer, but is a consistently terrible show runner, because he’s more interested in dazzling the audience with cleverness than actually telling a satisfying story.  The video also points out that the show often implied Sherlock’s brilliance, without ever letting the audience follow along with his actions or thought-process in a way that DEMONSTRATED his brilliance.  
I highly recommend giving the aforementioned video a watch, because it is not only a great explanation of how Sherlock Holmes can be best utilized, but about how writing itself can be best utilized.
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Other examples:  The Big Bang Theory.  As Wisecrack points out in their wonderful video on the subject, the punchline of every joke is “oh look, these characters are smart nerds!” which is repetitious at best and downright insulting at worst.
How to avoid this in your writing:  Treat the audience as your equal.  You’re not trying to bedazzle them, you’re trying to take them on a journey with you.  Let them be delighted when you are.  Don’t constantly try to mislead them or hold intelligence over their head, and they will love you for it.  Also, cheap tricks do not yield a satisfying story:  readers will know when you went into a narrative without a plan, and they won’t appreciate it.
3.  Do remember that smart people can be kind and optimistic!
As demonstrated by:  Shuri from Black Panther.
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Yes, brilliant people can be unhappy and isolated by their intelligence, or rejected by society.  But remember that intelligence isn’t synonymous with a cantankerous attitude, or an excuse to be a pugnacious ass to those around you!  
Part of the reason why Shuri of 2018′s Black Panther was such a breath of fresh air was the fact that she subverted almost all preconceptions about how a genius looks, acts, and regards the world.  And it’s not just the fact that she isn’t a sullen, middle-aged white man that makes her stand out:  Shuri has an effervescent attitude, and genuinely loves contributing to her country and family.  She referred to sound-proof boots as “sneakers” (and then explained the pun when her brother didn’t get it.)  She’s fashionable.  She teases her older brother, and cries when he is apparently killed.  She’s up on meme culture.  This makes her unlike pretty much every other genius portrayed in the MCU.
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Except maybe the Hulk.  He can dab now.
Shuri is also allowed to take pride in her genius, and can be a bit insufferable about it, which makes her more enjoyable and rounded.  But she is an excellent example of how genius can be explored and portrayed in fiction, and I will forever be embittered that she was underutilized in Infinity War and Endgame.
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Why, for example, are all geniuses portrayed as arrogant misanthropes?  Albert Einstein battled depression, but he is also said to have enjoyed blowing bubbles and watching puppet shows.  He was kind to those who knew him.  Similarly, Alan Turing behaved little like his fictional counterpart, described as “shy but outgoing,” with a love of being outdoors.  Nikola Tesla fell in love with a pigeon.  Why do we have to portray these people so damn gravely?
Other examples:  Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds.  Also an excellent portrayal of an intelligent person on the autism spectrum, as he struggles to interface socially but cares profusely for his fellow human beings.  He is brilliant, and completely precious.
Also, Sherlock Holmes -- the original version, and all faithful adaptations thereof.  Anyone who thinks Sherlock is an austere, antisocial jerk isn’t familiar with the original canon.  He blushed when Watson complimented his intelligence, for God’s sake. 
Then there’s Elle Woods from Legally Blonde and Marge from Fargo.  Brilliant, upbeat, optimistic geniuses.
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To apply this to your own writing:  If you have a smart character who hates everyone around them for no identifiable reason, ask yourself why this is necessary and what this adds to the plot.  Are they angry about injustice, towards themselves or others?  Are they frustrated with an inability to relate to people?  Do they want to protect themselves or their family at all costs, including politeness?  If not, question why your brilliant character can’t also be kind to those around them.
4.  Don’t make your character perfect at everything they do.
As demonstrated by:  Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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Ah, Wesley.  Some call him the original Mary Sue, and it’s one of the only times I’ve seen the term applied with some accuracy.  He is somehow the most gifted and least qualified person on The Enterprise.  He’s Hermione Granger without the charm, jumping in to answer questions before any of the trained officers in the room have the chance to, always in the right.  His only obstacle?  Why, the boorish adults he’s surrounded with simply don’t understand his brilliance!
As early as the series’ very second episode, Wesley -- inebriated by an alien illness -- forcibly takes over the ship from Captain Picard, only to later save it from a threat with a reverse tractor beam of his own design.  
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Wesley was obviously inserted as a means of attracting younger viewers, but failed egregiously, because he was too annoyingly perfect for kids to relate too, and not cool enough for them to be invested in.  I binge-watched the various Star Trek series in my youth for Spock, Data, and my wife Seven of Nine, not to watch seasoned military and scientific officers get lectured by an adolescent.  Even Wil Wheaton, who had the misfortune of portraying this character, expressed a dislike for him.  
Precocious children are great, if you get them right.  But get them wrong, and they can easily become your most annoying character, marring the face of otherwise great media.  The most important thing you can do for a brilliant character is endow them with weaknesses and flaws -- even something as small as Shuri’s fondness for teasing her older brother made her enjoyable, as anyone with siblings could relate to their dynamic.  
But, what if you want a supernaturally talented character who not only fails to be a ray of sunshine, but is something of an arrogant, antisocial jerk?  Can they still work, especially if they also happen to be a child? 
Yes, under one extremely important condition:
5.  Do keep your characters out of their depth!
As demonstrated by:  Number Five from Umbrella Academy.
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Okay, he’s not exactly a child.  He’s a fifty-eight-year-old trapped in a child’s body, who’s traveled back in time from a post-apocalyptic future to warn his siblings of an incoming Armageddon.  In other news, Umbrella Academy is a weird show.  Unlike the comics, however, the apes don’t engage in prostitution. 
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 The effect, however, remains the same:  a preternaturally talented child who talks down to everyone around him, including his (apparently) older siblings.  So why does he work while Wesley fails so egregiously?
For one thing, it’s demonstrated early on that Five has the skills to back up his sanctimonious attitude, with the delightfully ultraviolent Istanbul (Not Constantinople) sequence.  It also helps that he lacks Wesley’s squeaky-clean moral code, to the point at which he can get drunk in public or kill without remorse.  
But:  the element most vital to his success as a character is the fact that he’s kept completely, and consistently, out of his depth.  He knows the world will end in eight days, but he doesn’t know how this will transpire or how to stop it.  Ultimately, he fails again to stop the apocalypse, and must travel back in time with his siblings for another chance.  
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Most authors have the impulse to demonstrate a character’s brilliance by allowing them to succeed against insurmountable odds, but the Umbrella Academy writers show tremendous wisdom in allowing Five to fail.  This allows the audience to empathize with him, and countermands the effects of his arrogant attitude.
This advice isn’t just true for pint-sized prodigies.  Look back over this list, and take notes of how often the most successful characters are allowed to fail, to have flaws, and to ascend past their comfort zone.  
Other examples:  Virtually every successful example on this list.
Tommy Shelby, a character of limitless ambition, conducts a new, perilous climb outside of his social rank each season, which almost always puts him in positions of mortal danger.  He faces threats both external (rival gangs, evil priests, and rising fascists) and internal (hello PTSD, suicidal tendencies, and crippling addiction) but either way, we understand that his fast-paced climb is not for the weak-willed or faint-hearted.  
Mark Watney is a brilliant scientist who has been stranded in an utterly impossible situation for which absolutely no one could be adequately prepared (spoilers:  it’s on Mars.)  We are drawn in by his plight, and how he could possibly escape from it, and there we come to admire him for his courage, optimism, and humor.
Shuri, though not the main character of Black Panther, is allowed to show off both tremendous gifts and vulnerability, as she is powerless to stop the apparent death of her beloved older brother.  She watches Wakanda’s takeover both as an innovator and a young woman, and a large reason for her success is that she is allowed to be both.  
How to apply this to your writing:  When portraying intelligent characters, take stock of how often they fail, their level of control over their surroundings, their vulnerability, and their flaws.  We don’t want to read about flawless deities.  We want to read about characters who embody and personify our humanity.  So remember they need to fall down in order to pull themselves up.
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Happy writing, everybody! 
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culturegoatwearable · 3 years
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Streetwear Outfits: 11 Best Ideas for Men
One of the most daunting classes of men's trend has to be streetwear fashion. Streetwear is such a broad, diverse class of garb that it can every so often be difficult to recognize what qualifies as road style. The trend enterprise strikes so fast, it can be difficult to hold up. But don’t worry, we acquired you. Some manufacturers and apparel objects have emerge as a streetwear staple that you can not go incorrect with. We're giving you the great streetwear seem thoughts to stand out. 11 Streetwear Outfit Ideas for Men 1. Loose Fit Hoodie with Fitted Pants Loose-fitting garments are timeless classics of any streetwear wardrobe. However, it is vital to notice that there’s a massive difference between “loose” and “baggy.” Loose-fitting garb sags, however is nevertheless properly geared up to your silhouette usual (like the instance below). A awesome outfit thinking is a loose-fitting pinnacle (think hoodies) with some well-fitted pants (think skinny jeans). Matching unfastened with geared up indicates that you have put idea into the standard seem to be of your fit. It appears deliberate but laid-back. It does not have to be a hoodie either. “Loose with fitted” works for simply about any shirt/trousers combo. Try a loose-fitting white or photograph tee, or a loose-fitting jacket. And, remember, satisfied and casual—not baggy. You do not favor to be swimming in your outfit. 2. Bright Colors (Neon or Pascal) Streetwear garb permits you to have a lot of enjoyable with colors. You'll revel in a lot of coloration creativity as soon as you get into streetwear, from vivid and brilliant to retro and neon. More muted pastels are additionally seeing a full-size resurgence lately. Have enjoyable with it, and roll with the colours that work for you. The major thought is to healthy your hues correctly. Even inside the daring class of streetwear, you have to suit your attire. A common rule is to pair a daring colour with some thing a little greater laid-back. So, if you are rocking a flashy top, you may want to in shape it with informal blue ripped denims or chinos, and vice versa. 3. Cargo Pants Cargo pants are seeing a fantastic resurgence in present day streetwear. These British Armed Forces loose-fitting pants with distinguished pockets have been viewed noticeably off-brand till recently, however they’re coming back. Today's avenue trend cargo pants are now not as unfastened as the originals. Remember: you desire loose, now not baggy. Many cargo pants now come with tapered legs for that delivered fit. And it is simply a bonus that these pants have so many handy pockets. 4. Throwback Athletic Wear Classic sports clothing is some other contemporary avenue trend vogue you need to be paying interest to. Brands like Nike, Adidas, and Champion proceed getting greater famous in the road menswear scene (and we don't seem to be simply speakme about their shoes). These manufacturers make cool and cheap shirts, pants, and jackets that you can rock on nearly any occasion. 5. Joggers Joggers are returned in a huge way. A basic pair of equipped joggers works for an every day appear and is no longer simply for working out. Pick up a tapered pair of joggers from any traditional athletic brand, and you've got received a versatile pair that you can put on for working out or for going out. Athleisure is a thing, and it is right here to stay. It's vital to be aware that joggers and sweatpants are no longer continually the equal thing. Joggers are normally greater tailor-made and they’re made from a light-weight material. Sweatpants are regularly shapeless and made of thicker and hotter fabrics. 6. Timeless Shoes Sneakers have constantly determined a domestic in avenue trend styles, and this isn't always going to alternate each time soon. The juggernauts like Nike and Adidas are as famous as ever, and each have tailored to present day streetwear trends. Popular sneakers are wearing a bit of a antique seem these days, drawing closely from the ‘90s and early 2000s. And you can not go incorrect with the classics. There will continually be a spot in streetwear for some Chuck Taylors or Old Skool Vans. Streetwear way of life has usually drawn closely from skateboarding and hip hop, which explains the lasting attraction of these sneaks. 7. Military Watch There is usually room to add some flash to your wrist. A cool watch attracts the eye and is a terrific way to accessorize. Streetwear fashion is about making a daring statement, which has led to the upward jostle of aggressive accessories, together with the watch. Having a army watch is a outstanding way to make this statement. These watches are bold, rugged, and very stylish. And, like the cargo pants, military-style watches are insanely useful. Many of them activity a vary of features, consisting of directional aids and GPS. Style is king in streetwear, however it is constantly properly when that fashion is additionally functional. 8. Camo Pants Camo fell out of choose for a little whilst in the trend community. But the trend world is cyclical, and camo is back. Pick up some geared up camo pants for your subsequent outfit. But consider that the rule with patterns is that you desire to healthy the camo with stable colors, like in the match below. Camo is a daring pattern, and you prefer to make this boldness pop through pairing it with some thing laid-back. A easy white or black pinnacle works superb with camo pants. Aim for a pair of tapered pants that in shape loosely thru the rear and thighs. Camo works quality when it is relaxed. Consider pulling from different choices on this listing and choose up a pair of camo joggers or cargo pants. 9. Denim on Denim Denim is a classic, and we are now not simply speakme about denims here. Denim can complement most outfits. A cropped denim jacket over a loose-fitting shirt is a streetwear favourite these days and a basic complement for daring colors. It's additionally an convenient way to layer up your fit, and layers are an effortless way to make a worn-out outfit seem to be new again. But we cannot quit a part about denim except speaking about jeans. Jeans will constantly be in style. The factor that adjustments is how denims fit. Loose-fitting denims are pretty famous proper now, however a basic straight match or skinny jean nevertheless does the trick. Tapered denims are additionally hot. Or why no longer do both? “Denim on denim” is a famous fit. Denim jacket, white tee, and denim denims for that informal minimalist look. Grab some washed-out mild blue jeans to provide your self that ‘90s to early 2000s appear that continues to dominate streetwear. Denim is extraordinarily versatile, and it is no longer going to go out of trend whenever soon. 10. Hats Your match does not end at your shoulders. Hats are a versatile way to add that last contact of individuality. You can by no means go incorrect with a basic baseball cap. Nowadays, muted, basic baseball caps are popular, and the dad hat continues its run of popularity. Hats are additionally drawing from hip-hop lifestyle from the ‘90s and 2000s. The bucket hat has made a sturdy resurgence. Even visors are making their way lower back if you desire to be even bolder. It's commonly best to choose a easy hat with solid, muted shades that you can fit with any fit. A fundamental dad hat enhances highly a lot any informal outfit. 11. White Tee + Bold Patterns A basic white tee is constantly in style. With streetwear, it is about accentuating the easy with the bold. A outstanding outfit thought is to mix a white tee with daring hues or patterns. The white tee offers the delicate heritage for your daring color/pattern choices, and honestly makes the whole lot pop. Combine your white tee with daring patterned pants or layers to increase your easy look. This is an convenient way to rock daring patterns besides stressful about “clash”. Bold patterns are supposed to stand out on their own, and this capability they need to be matched with some thing extra laid-back. Streetwear is flexible, however it is nonetheless about having garments that match you nicely and colors/patterns that match. It lets in you extra freedom and creativity than most areas of fashion, and these golden guidelines will usually be true. In Conclusion – Be an Individual Streetwear is exceptionally about making a statement, which capacity that it leaves a ton of room for you to specific your individuality. In many ways, expressing this individuality is the solely aspect that matters. In this article, we took you thru the warm tendencies of modern streetwear. But consider that this would not constantly do streetwear the appropriate justice. Streetwear has so a good deal room for creativity and individuality. Keep an eye out on some famous streetwear manufacturers and designers like Vetements, Raf Simons, Supreme, or Stussy, simply to title a few. Menswear blogs may want to additionally be an inspirational resource. While we should hold giving you traits and policies to follow, we favor to go away it up to you as well. Find what works for you, and locate how to categorical your individuality. Then, pay interest to the modern trends, however do not enable them to figure out how you will dress. Build your style—that's what streetwear is all about.
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wishlist41155 · 4 years
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segenassefa · 4 years
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5: How to Thrift Without Looking Like Macklemore: Sustainability and Shopping
This blog post is in collaboration with Envly, a black-owned, online platform promoting awareness, community, and sustainability. Thank you so much for the opportunity to collaborate on this post, and please make sure to follow and check out their page for updates on their amazing work!
I dare you to find me one person that doesn’t enjoy spending money on clothes, or who doesn’t feel even the smallest rush after buying a new pair of pants or shoes. However, in the progression towards adulthood, one should always strive to be ethical and live sustainably.
In high school, I began actively shopping in thrift stores, forgoing fast fashion and online retailers. I was able to find more clothing more aligned with my personal style, without breaking the bank, and participate in a more ethical source of consumerism. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there are some brands that are notoriously hard to find second-hand (looking at you, Los Angeles Apparel), but I still find unexplainable joy in the thrift store experience.  
The average Canadian throws out 81 pounds (37 kilograms) of textiles annually – about the weight of a newborn calf1. Additionally, clothing sent to landfills is made using synthetic materials – think polyester, rayon, nylon, and acrylic - and when broken down, releases toxic gasses, such as carbon dioxide and methane gasses2. Additionally, modern capitalism is built off of exploitation and the use of sweatshop labour in countries such as Bangladesh and Honduras results in minimal wages, disregard for human wellbeing, and some sketchy business practices. If that isn’t enough (and you feel like looking closer to home), the California Bureau of Labour Statistics notes that the second largest work force in Los Angeles is the cut-and-sew labour force (read: textile and garment labourers). Of the 46,000 individuals who comprise this labour force, 71% of these individuals are immigrants3 – making textile production inherently anti-black and anti-POC.
But fret not! There are ways to get your shopping fix that are ethical and reduce the amount of textile waste greenhouse gas emission we put back into the planet. So, for some tips on how to be a sustainable shopper, keep reading4.
To the left, to the left (everything you own in a box to the left)
Between social media, fashion magazines, and subversive advertising, it can be hard to distinguish what in our closet we need, versus what we want (or what we’re told are “closet essentials”). Empty your closet and be objective about what you need and what you don’t. The baby t-shirt you kept that your grandmother gave you? Those warm sweats from high school with holes all through the bum? Leggings that are about 2 inches too short and are threadbare in the inner thigh? Toss, babes.
Create four piles – donate, toss, alterations, and keep. One way to simplify this process is to create a mood board (Pinterest is good for this) for a clothing style you like and would actually wear.
Another trick to help this process is to establish something of a personal uniform. Do you find yourself always gravitating towards denim and flannel combinations? Do you enjoy bright colours and unconventional silhouettes? Whatever it is, take the time that you need – I would recommend anywhere between 3 hours or three days – and get to it.
Keep a list and check it twice.
Now that you have a better idea of the state of your closet, create a list of pieces that you don’t currently own, but would wear quite regularly if you did. A plain black hoodie? A simple, going-out dress? A nice blazer for work? Add it all to a list and organize it whatever way you’d like – whether it’s whatever comes to mind first or in order of personal importance.
Preparation is key
 If shopping is a sport, then thrifting would be akin to a marathon. Before you head out, make sure you give yourself ample time to shop around and make informed, well-thought out decisions. New, COVID-era regulations have required many thrift stores to restrict the usage of their dressing rooms. To get around this, my favourite thrifting outfit has been things that mould to the body and are easy to try clothes on over; things like body suits, tank tops, biker shorts and leggings. Bring some headphones to really put yourself in the zone and make sure you have a fully charged phone battery – helpful for directions, checking sizing, and for the impromptu FaceTime call to friends to ask, “How do I look?”. Also make sure you understand a store’s return and exchange policy to avoid any unwanted purchases.
Go virtual
Kijiji is not just for sneaker resellers and creeps looking to prey on young women for affordable housing. When looking for more niche wardrobe essentials (think winter jackets, bags, and sneakers), apps like Envly, Poshmark, Kijiji, and Depop can be your best friend. My motto is someone, somewhere is always selling something that you want5. Don’t be shy to arrange meetups to save on shipping and price negotiations.
Do your research
Not all clothing is made the same, and while it may be nice to be oblivious to things such as material or authenticity of an item, it pays off in the long run. My favourite material is cotton, and while 100% cotton may not be cheap, it is more accessible than people would want you to believe – as well as better for the environment and easier to maintain. If you notice that a majority of clothing in your closet is a certain material, then try to stay within your comfort zone and be vigilant. Also make sure you read the care labels on your thrifted items! There’s nothing worse than throwing a cute item of clothing in the wash, only to have it shrink 3 sizes when you pull it out.
Sew what
Maybe you don’t need any new clothing, but you’ve held on to some ill-fitting items for too long. Don’t worry! Toronto is full of tailors with reputations that precede them, and for a decent price. Feel free to DM me for my favourites from Mississauga to Scarborough.
Patience
Before you head out to the thrift stores, understand that one of the sacrifices for sustainability is convenience. Thankfully, we have brands like Envly changing that, but with thrifting and second-hand shopping, it is important to remember you won’t find everything you want all at once. Unlike your favourite fast fashion brands, you won’t find everything you want on your list all at once, but feel free to look at your thrifting adventure like a treasure hunt – it’ll be more than worth the wait.
Sources
1 https://rco.on.ca/the-average-person-throws-away-37-kilograms-of-textiles-annually/
2 https://www.upworthy.com/9-reasons-you-shouldnt-throw-away-clothes-and-4-things-you-can-do-instead
3 https://www.forbes.com/sites/syamameagher/2020/02/05/the-not-so-hidden-ethical-cost-of-fast-fashion-sneaky-sweatshops-in-our-own-backyard/#644c8b5525d1
4 While these tips are focused around clothing, they can also be applied to home goods and entertainment, including furniture, appliances, electronics, and entertainment media.
5 My best Depop purchases include my black Telfar, and my North Face Nupste 700 – both which were preloved, and over half off the retail price.
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20dollarlolita · 5 years
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New Headbow Pattern
And how to recover fabric from a waist bow to make your own headbow.
There’s advantages and disadvantages to owning matching headbows in your wardrobe. While not necessary, I find it to be a lot of fun, and open up some interesting coordinating possibilities.
What isn’t frilling fun is tumblr’s “do you want to leave this page” dialog box being so useless that you can’t see it until you’ve already deleted your entire post. Why even hAVE THE BOX, THEN, TUMBLR? Why even have the fucking box.
So, this is post version round 2. Let’s see if this one makes it. Sorry for being disorganized, but I’m doing it from memory.
So, a little headbow history, for people new to the fashion. We’re going to go back to 2010 and 2011, to the land of Over The Top Sweet.
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Tall hair. Big hair bows.
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Tall hair. Big hair bows.
Zuko, listen, lolita is about balance, but our view of balance is impacted by trends. When your hair rises many inches off the top of your head, you need a bow that can stand out against that.
After that, the large hair bow trend bled back into non-OTT sweet. It was normal for more casual sweet coords to still have large hair bows.
OTT has largely toned down. It used to be *cue Great Aunt Pink “back in my day” voice* that even non-OTT sweet was striving to be OTT, and it bled into everything. It used to be Over The Top Sweet, Kind Of On The Top Sweet, I’m New And I Saw People Wear Over The Top Sweet And I Think That’s All Lolita Is, and Old School Sweet. Now, you scroll down Closet of Frills, and the OTT and the standard sweet are two distinctly different things.
And they have two distinctly different headbows.
See, in the past, as recently as 4 years ago, even more casual lolita could get away with the 5″ tall bow.
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Life hack: take good pics of your coords now so that when you run a blog five years from now, you’ll have actual non-starbucks-selfies of how you used to wear your headbows instead of these two incoherent blobs of aggressive pink.
Which is why I developed a bad habit.
See, Bodyline loves to put on these pin-on waist bows. Lots of brands do it, but Bodyline’s are...
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...incorporated into their garments with a unique focus on construction. And by incorporated, I mean tacked on like an emergency propeller to zoom your way out of bad situations.
I hate Bodyline’s waist bows. Best case, you leave them on, they flap around like weird belly button wings, they get caught on everything. Worst case, they actually rip the waist of your dress when they get caught on something.
I don’t like most pin-on bows, but I really can’t stand the ones from Bodyline.
So, in the past, when it was still normal to have big head bows, I’d slide my bodyline waist bows onto a headband and call it a hair bow.
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However, these days, I feel like maybe I can’t pull off the look as well. Some of us aren’t ready to take the helicopter propeller off your pelvis and slap it on your noggin’. (Having bangs definitely helped pull off the big head bow look, btw)
So, accepting that my favorite low-class cheater trick is officially out of style, what’s a person to do? Take the bows off the headbands, stick them in a pile, and forget about them for four years?
I mean, yeah, but after that?
First, we’ve got to recover the fabric in the bows. Grab your seam ripper, grab your bow, and take it apart. Be nice and careful around where your lace is, because you’re going to want to keep that and use it again.
If you’re not recovering a bow and you just want to make a new one from scratch, congratulations on making it this far!! The post is already long and it’s going to get longer. Scroll down till you see
**The rest of the bow!**
and then pick back up with us.
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Now, you have a little pile of heavily wrinkled fabric and lace.
WARNING: Know if your fabric is colorfast. If it’s not, you’re going to have a couple of hours of stretching and ironing your fabric until it looks like fabric again.
If you’re disassembling cheap Bodyline bows (Bodyline isn’t known for many great things, but being able to throw their clothes in the washing machine at the sketchy all-night laundromat is nice), they’re colorfast, and you can take the fast route. Start by throwing all the pieces and the lace in a bucket/sink of hot water with some oxiclean or other stain-remover. In my case, the hot water made the interfacing peel off the fabrics, and I didn’t re-interface them.
After that soak, and washing the oxiclean out with a little soap and another rinse, it’s time to throw them back in the bucket with some white vinegar. I didn’t really measure it volumterically, but it was probably about half a cup in half a gallon of water. You want white, distilled vinegar for this, because you’re going to have to iron it out. Any other vinegar is going to leave stains and burn your fabric/iron/ironing board, but since distilled vinegar has already evaporated once, it can steam cleanly out of your cloth.
Little soak, dry them off on a towel (don’t rinse!), and then take the vinegary, kind of wet pieces and iron them as hot as the fabric can handle. Iron the lace, too, but watch out that you don’t melt the lace if it’s on a synthetic ground like most embroidered laces.
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And now you have some nice fabric and lace bits. 
**The rest of the bow!**
Quick bow terminology:
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Bow Part A: This is the smaller, top part of the bow, and it’s the little bow “loops”. Bow Part B: These are the longer, bottom, “tails” part of the bow. Bow Part C: The fabric band that wraps around the middle.
Some bows will try to maintain the illusion of one-ness, meaning that if a trim is applied to the A part, it should carry on to the B part, so that we can pretend it’s one piece of ribbon. If you want to do that, go ahead. I will not be doing that in this tutorial.
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Bow part A is cut at 4+3/4″ tall and 13+1/4″ wide. You only need to cut one piece.
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Fold it in half with the long sides touching, and sew down the long side with 1/4″ seam allowance. Now, using your iron, press that seam open and flat, and then turn the piece inside-out and press it again.
More details of this process if you want.
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Two steps pictures here because my computer is more of a mess than my sewing room. First, take your (now right-side-out) Bow Piece A, fold it long ways, and mark the center line. I marked by pressing it with my iron.
Second, take some of your lace, and trim the edges. If your lace is beading lace or another kind of lace meant to be put somewhere other than on a hem, you might not need to do this.
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Sew two pieces of lace down the center line.
You might be looking at mine and going, uh, Pink, uh, that’s not remotely even. And you’d be right. However,
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next, you’re going to fold the two short edges into the middle, and then you can’t see where mine was uneven.
Is it better to have it be even to start with? Yeah, probably, but if I waited until I did things perfectly, I’d never do anything.
BOW PART B.
My pattern that I made yesterday says to cut two pieces at 2+1/2″ by 9+7/8″, but these pieces of fabric that I had weren’t long enough for that. In the end, I just had to adjust proportions as I went. However, the green bow that I’ll show a high quality picture of later was 9.875″ long.
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So here’s 2.5″ by whatever this piece of fabric was.
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Pick one of your sides and sew your lace all the way around the edge.
A couple of tips that I didn’t photograph well enough: Line the raw edge of the lace up with the raw edge of the fabric, so that the lace is pointing inside. If you leave it pointing outside, it’ll be stuck inside the bow when you turn the piece to front. If you clip into the back edge of the lace once at each of the corners, you can go around corners a lot easier When you’re at the corner, take a few seconds to move the lace around so that you don’t sew the pretty edge of the lace into the seam and hide it away.
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Once your lace is basted on, put your other piece of fabric onto it, sew around the edges (leaving a hole), and turn it to the front.
It’s easiest to leave the hole in the middle of one long side, because it’ll be hidden by the bow part c
Speaking of which:
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Fold Bow Part A into a loop with the tails tucked in the back, and sew it down onto the center of Bow Part B
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I found it really helpful to fold the bow into a W shape and tie it together with some thread, just to keep it in the right place.
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Bow Part C is a piece of fabric about 3″x4″. Size is not super crucial.
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Fold the two long edges in to overlap (almost folding it in 3rds).
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Wrap it around the middle of your bow, and fold one edge so you can get a neat little finished edge.
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Sew that little loop on.
Now, for the headband.
Start by taking your last piece of fabric and making a long continuous bias strip with it. Doing it on the bias will make sure it stretches and doesn’t fray.
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Cut a triangle off one edge of your rectangle, and then make marks every 3/4 of an inch. Make sure that you’re marking along the bias, not on the straight of grain.
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When you get to the other end, cut off the rest so you have your bias parallelogram.
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Fold it and match lines so that you’ve got a spiral going down the whole piece (this is much better explained in the continuous bias tutorial, but if it feels like you’re pinning it completely wrong, you might be doing it properly. This is fiddly)
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When you’re done, you’ll have a tube with a seam that spirals down one side (which is why the pinning feels strange when you’re doing it right). Cut along your line to unwind your continuous bias strip.
You can also do traditional bias strips, or just use a ribbon.
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Stretching as you go, wrap the bias strip around the headband, and glue it at the end. I use this specific super glue, but Aleenes’ Fabric Fusion works too, if you don’t like super glues.
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I cut two little strips and hand sewed them onto the bottoms to cover up the stiffness from the glue and hopefully hold everything together better.
(Yes, I swapped out another project while the piano one was drying).
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Now, take a while, sit in front of a mirror, get the loops where they look good, and tack them into place. Take it off and put it on several times during this process, and get it to a place where, every time you put it on, it looks good.
This is why I think it’s important to have an individual headband for every bow you make. It lets you affix things in a place where they look nice, and you don’t have to worry about pinning them every time you put them on, or them going rogue throughout the day.
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For this one, I set it off at an angle, and sewed little cascade folds into the B part of the bow. I messed around with several angles and ideas before deciding that this one was the best for this specific bow.
Don’t I look so thrilled to be wearing it?
I was going to take a full coord shot with it and the matching dress, but it’s raining, so instead of having a picture that’s cute and relevant, I’ll just tell the story of the time that I was trying to get an outfit picture in the dress this bow matches, but I fell, stepped in my fish’s hospital tank (it was on the ground), and had to rush off and get him clean water that wasn’t contaminated by my shoe, which is how I was rushing around, holding a fish in a plastic cup, trying to find the water conditioner, with my petticoat dripping everywhere and getting shoe prints of water all over my bedroom carpeting.
The fish was fine. His name was Fierce Mango. Everyone remember to lolita responsibly.
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grimoiresgirlsrp · 4 years
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CHAPTER TWO - the need for secrecy 
Sunday, April 19th. 6:15pm.
In typical Genevieve Ceoi fashion, the historian was, yet again, late for the meeting she had called at her little home on the outskirts of Salem. For a couple of the witches, this was already a familiar place, but others yet had never come onto the woman’s property. Slowly, they each arrived, suspicious of each other more than ever, and hearts pounding as they waited to see what the elusive woman would have to say. 
They all knew this was about the viral news article that had been circulating online for the past few days. They all knew that at least one of them were guilty of prompting it - and it was hard to mistake the fact that some of the witches did not attend the meeting. Mara, Harley, Lilith, and most surprisingly - Aida. These 4 faces never made an appearance, even long after Genevieve threw open the doors to her home and ushered each girl into the small living room. 
Once inside, plants (mostly half dead and neglected) lined the window sills, and stacks of books, loose papers, and writing utensils littered the floor. Genevieve Ceoi clearly lacked majorly in the organization department, and most of the of the 11 witches in attendance had to scramble to make room for them to sit. Maybe only Clementine noticed, but the plants definitely perked up when she got near.
“So, clearly, we’re all here because someone decided opening their mouths would be an amusing idea,” Genevieve began, and almost immediately, the defensive chatter began. Each girl eager to clear her name of any possible accusation - but one remained silent. Maia listened, lips decidedly shut, until Genevieve hissed for the girls to shut up and listen to her. “I’m well aware that not all of you - that most of you do not trust me, and that’s all well and good. But please pay attention to me when I tell you this...”
Something about her tone commanded respect, and silence fell over the room. “When I found the shadow books, your grimoires, I knew I’d done something unimaginable to the world as we knew it. But we don’t know what all has been done, outside of you girls. We don’t know what else exists out there... and what else has been called forth. Back in the 1600s, there was a notorious band of witch hunters, led by the infamous Joseph Bishop, who killed more women and magical entities than the fires did. Here -” Genevieve handed out a dusty book, the binding barely still in tact, that looked like a documentation of the Bishop family, complete with a family tree. Several names and hand-drawn faces were scratched out, and on one page, a blood smeared remained. 
“As you can imagine, secrecy is key for us. I do not know who wrote the blog, or contacted the reporters-”
“Clearly it was someone who finds this all a joke,” Ariadne interjected. Her eyes shot to Cole, eyebrows raised. “If not you, then Aida, with all her well-researched knowledge. Notice how she conveniently did not show up?”
Genevieve was quick to dismiss the notion that Aida may be part of this - but her gaze did linger suspiciously on Cole, who was quick to defend herself. An accusation was hurled directly back to Ari, but she offered no response. Tension was high, and that’s when Maia cracked - “I wrote it. The Tumblr blog, about being freaked out... but I didn’t send it in to the reporter, I swear.” 
Marina jumped to Maia’s defense, stating how she, too, had made some ambiguous statuses on social media in her own distress - and that no real blame should be on either of them for dealing with their powers in the way they chose. Genevieve reluctantly agreed, but warned both Marina and Maia to avoid any more clues being left for the public
Monday, April 20th. Midnight.
The girls still argued, desperate to find a person to blame for submitting Maia’s blog, and the rest of the intimate details, to the scandalous news source - but no one fessed up. It seemed that suspicion sat most with Cole, Aida, Ariadne, and Luce - the latter only due to her insistent that it was obviously Mara who had outed them all in a grab for power and control. Without being present to deny it, suspicion also landed on the absent woman, but with no way to truly prove anything.... the girls finally gave up. It was a common agreement that one of these 5 were the culprit.
“There is one more thing,” Genevieve said quietly as everyone gathered to leave, late in the night, eyes tired and hearts heavy. She went to a box, locked and chained like some ridiculous movie about vampires, and pulled out a book as equally old as the family history of the Bishop’s. As she flipped through the pages, many old spells in foreign languages were carefully written on the page - some in red ink looking too similar to blood for comfort. One by one, Genevieve ripped out a page, folded it, and handed it a girl until all 11 had received a page. “Use these spells only in case of emergency. They are old, old magic, with dark roots. Black magic. They are not toys or cheap tricks, but something to defend yourself with if the stupidity of whoever spoke up comes back to bite you in the ass. For those who have chosen to work with me rather than against me... there is much more to explore, when you’re ready.”
The book of dark magic was returned to the box, and the key kept on Genevieve’s person. She looked at each of the girls seriously. “I once again urge you to think closely about your choices. Working together is the only way to survive. And no more talking to the press, or it’s your funeral next.” 
and this concludes our second plot drop! please close all older threads.
new threads can begin anytime after the close of the meeting - so Monday the 20th would be the earliest starting point for new threads!
if your character has changed their mind about their affiliation with Genevieve and/or Mara - please send an ask to the main detailing their change of heart!
feel free to have your characters discuss their suspicions and/or personal actions honestly or deceitfully - but keep your OOC answers secret for now still! the suspense and suspicion is key for this part of the plot! 
it is entirely up to you, as the writer, to decide what spell Genevieve gave your character - and how they choose to use it. there is no rush on this, but please send an ask to the main when you can explaining the spell you were given, and any other details you’d like to include, such as plot ideas for when your character will use it! (or if they got rid of it, gave it to someone else, etc.)
as always, come to us with any questions or comments! thanks guys!
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unlockthelore · 5 years
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Intermission
While Kuwabara recovers from another stint of his training, Hiei discusses his progress with Kurama and tries to understand why Kurama keeps staring at him.
Part 8 of the Honor Among Thieves series. For more updates, follow the honor among thieves tag on this blog. 
+ Additional Note
bold italics represent Hiei's telepathic thoughts.
regular italics represent Kurama's telepathic thoughts.
Ordinarily, training in the dense mountain forests was calming for Hiei. Away from the hustle and bustle of Sarayashiki, where the air was polluted with the stench of humans, oil and machinery compacted into one sprawling area. Whereas the mountains were clean if not untouched by the hands of man, nature free to grow as it pleased, animals roaming, deterred and otherwise unbothered by the clash of steel and the crackling of energy. Where humans would have balked and perhaps intervened, animals knew better than to intrude on the business of those in the heat of battle.
And once those sounds died, quiet and nature reigned supreme.
Ordinarily, a good training session would’ve brought him comfort with just the hint of familiarity of home but this was less of training and more of a breakdown. A gentle breeze rustles the leaves overhead as Hiei stands guard over the sprawled out form of Kuwabara Kazuma.
The youth’s deep rattling breaths evening out as he slips into unconsciousness, practically mummified in the bandages wound about his limbs and taped to his reddened cheek. Soft, muffled crackling of dry leaves captures Hiei’s attention and his gaze drifts to the redhead lingering beneath a tree nearby.
The scene is almost picturesque.
Dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt and slacks with a book laid out in his lap, his hair tied up in a ponytail barely brushing his shoulders. Pieces of dried fruit set upon the tips of his fingers, offered to a wary rabbit peering from beneath a bush.
Hiei snorts. It’s almost funny enough to make him laugh.
The rabbit’s slow movements, nose twitching ever so often as beady eyes observe Kurama with the same hesitance as prey before predator. When nothing comes, the rabbit snatches the fruit and darts back into the bush with only the rustle of leaves and crisp snapping branches to tell of its presence. Without a word, Kurama withdrew his hand, cleaning off his fingers with a handkerchief before returning to flipping the pages of his book.
He almost seemed out of place and yet not. Nature would always be Kurama’s domain and despite the wariness Hiei knew he should have felt with being in the fox’s element, there was no threat here. Anyone else who might have stumbled upon the scene could’ve drawn the conclusion that Kuwabara and Hiei were delinquents having a bout in the woods while Kurama was an innocent bystander. No one would think Minamino Shuuichi brandished a whip, strong enough to cut through steel, fashioned from a rose of his own creation.
That he was so merciless a teacher his student was rendered unconscious from succumbing to exhaustion and his wounds.
Or that after driving such student to his limits and then past them, he turned his sights to Hiei with a smirk so dazzling it nearly allowed him to catch the fire demon off guard with a well-placed swipe to his legs.
Hiei huffed, averting his gaze. He still had to find a way to pay Kurama back for such a cheap trick but achieving such revenge was debatable. The restlessness beneath his skin wasn’t easily quelled. And his impromptu spar with Kurama had helped with steadying his energy. Perhaps a thank you was in order when they weren’t in the middle of breaking down Kuwabara’s terrible habits.
Perhaps.
Another breeze swept through the clearing, tousling Hiei’s hair and he tipped his head back to feel the brisk wind pricking against his cheeks and the tips of his ears, cooling heated skin. Kuwabara shuddered in his sleep and Hiei glanced down at him, staring silently as he shivered. This high up in the mountains, the air was cooler and clouds rolled over the sun blocking light that would otherwise warm make the clearing an ideal place to nap.
As it was, without proper covering or an ability to withstand, sickness would set in.
Hiei’s brows furrowed. His fingers swift in undoing the clasps of his cloak and snatching it off. The dark fabric fluttered in the breeze, billowing as he laid it over Kuwabara, tucking his hand in his pocket afterward with a sidelong glance at the thicket of trees nearby where a trickling stream caught his attention.
“Offering him comfort?”
Kurama’s voice was soft and even, echoing in Hiei’s mind as if the fox were speaking directly into his ear. Suppressing a shiver, Hiei lifted his chin in a slight show of defiance against Kurama’s questioning tone. Glancing from the corner of his eye at the fox peering up at him with a gentle smile.
Once he was certain that Kuwabara wouldn’t awaken, Hiei stepped away. “He’ll complain if he wakes up cold,” he explained, feeling wholly justified that he was saving himself the headache.
It wasn’t as if he couldn’t snatch his cloak away from Kuwabara when he stirred. For now, he earned this bit of comfort with the progress he’d made. Making a fool or himself or not. It was a brave soul who stood toe to toe with Youko Kurama and lived to tell the tale.
“Of course,” Kurama answers, and Hiei could hear the smile in his voice even through their mental link. “He has been doing quite well, considering the extent of his training.”
Hiei wanted to roll his eyes — although he did agree. Kuwabara’s display in Maze Castle, whilst somewhat horrendous in technique, displayed at least some understanding of energy and manipulation. It still mystified Hiei how he could have thought he’d stand a chance against Byakko, but he was a far more practical fighter than Hiei first gave him credit for.
Something that Kurama wasn’t hesitant to point out after their return to the Ningenkai. Needless to say, the topic was disregarded immediately.
And yet now it reared its head once again.
Noticing the lack of a continuation from Kurama, Hiei glimpsed him from the corner of his eye and sighed. Without his cloak, he couldn’t hide the twitching in his fingers and folded his arms instead.
That must have been enough because Kurama hummed gently in their minds, the sound soothing and curling warmth deep in Hiei’s chest.
“Molding steel is hardest when it’s already cooled…”
Kurama’s answering hum is warmer now as is the solid pressure of his youki brushing against Hiei’s back, coaxing him with soft yet pointed nudges to his shoulder and back, prompting him to turn and look at the redhead from over his shoulder.
“That’s true,” Kurama agrees, seeming pleased as he meets Hiei’s eye. “With how quickly Yuusuke’s been progressing, I’m sure that Kuwabara is attempting to catch up to him.”
Of course he was. Yuusuke and Kuwabara seemed to be in a never-ending battle to one-up one another. What should have been a rivalry was at times little more than childish squabbling. They were friends. Daresay, partners. Yuusuke’s sheer concern for Kuwabara and Kuwabara’s near-sightedness when it pertained to the detective was closeness defined.
If Yuusuke were to leap off a cliff, Hiei had little doubt Kuwabara would follow suit just to say he did. He huffed, turning to face Kurama completely.
“If he doesn’t progress, he’ll die,” Hiei thought, casting a side-long glance at Kuwabara’s sleeping form. “Toguro must have a sense of humor demanding both the detective and the oaf participate.”
The Dark Tournament itself was twisted. Sponsored by humans who wanted nothing more than to see bloodshed and carnage. Disgusting but a “necessary” evil. Giving demons in the Ningenkai a place to vent their frustrations. Even at the price of their lives.
Though to some, there was no greater honor than dying in combat.
“He has an abnormal amount of energy for a human, almost rivaling the detective’s own,” Hiei thought with a careful visual on Kuwabara’s repleting youki. It was odd how quickly he seemed to draw energy from the world around them. Rest was an efficient way to gather energy but Kuwabara had a reservoir of untapped strength beneath all of his thickheadedness. “The basics won’t be enough.”
Kurama hummed his acknowledgement, his gaze trained on Hiei and piercing, sweeping over him as if looking for something. Hiei sighed, rolling his eyes to the heavens. Of course, giving Kurama his analysis wouldn’t end until the fox was satisfied.
And he was clearly looking for something.
For a moment, they stared at one another with nothing said between them. The air charged yet the world seemed to fall away. Kurama with his fingers interlaced in his lap, seeming comfortable despite the scathing look Hiei knew he was given him.
What was his game?
With the faintest tilt of the head, Kurama arched a fine red brow as if to tell him to go on. And after a moment of trying to understand the motive of his search, Hiei conceded.
“Control and manipulation will be the difference between whether he lives or dies,” Hiei explained and Kurama closed his eyes. Whether he liked it or not, the fox seemed to accept Hiei’s words as a possibility. And possibilities were dangerous to them now. “Relying solely on that pitiful excuse for a sword or sucking his energy out of the atmosphere will get him killed.”
The tournament would be dangerous enough for them but they were experienced fighters. Ones who were able to take life to preserve their own if need be. Kuwabara and Yuusuke, for lack of a better word, were children. Innocent in their own way. Fighting for their life and their place in the Ningenkai was different than growing up in the Makai.
Hardly comparable if Hiei’s opinion meant anything.
“You’ve been quite patient with him.”
Hiei’s eyes widened a bit and his gaze flicked to Kurama. The fox’s head was turned away from him, his eyes lingering on Kuwabara, studying him quietly then casting a side-long glance. It was purposeful. Meaningful. Kurama was fishing for something.
With a half-hearted shrug, Hiei trained his gaze on Kuwabara to keep himself from inadvertently exposing anything. If Kurama wanted to play this game then so be it. “You said it yourself, they’re human,” he pointed out, unafraid to revisit their earlier conversation when Kuwabara’s dominant hand was nearly fractured when he went toe to toe with Hiei the first time. “They don’t learn as quickly as demons.”
Kurama chuckled softly, the deep melodic rumble, almost velvety and soft to Hiei’s ears. “Yes, and I also recall mentioning they are far more stubborn than ordinary humans…”
Hiei sighed. He wasn’t sure what Kurama was trying to achieve but he tired of this wordplay. Dropping his arms to his side and ambling over to the fox, his bandaged hand resting upon his shoulder as he lowered himself to the ground at Kurama’s side. The fox said nothing, easing his book to his lap and shifting slightly, allowing Hiei to rest with his head against Kurama’s shoulder.
“How do you think they’ve been managing thus far?” Kurama asked, running nimble fingers through Hiei’s hair, his blunt nails scratching along his scalp sending tendrils of warmth ricocheting up and down the fire demon’s spine.
It took a great deal of concentration to remember that he was being prompted to speak. Hiei’s brows furrowing and his arms crossing tightly, claws pressing to the skin of his bicep to keep himself grounded.
“The psychic is training Yuusuke to the best of her ability. He has ingrained habits and is likely to fall back on them when he feels he isn’t winning. That’ll be his downfall.”
Kurama hummed knowingly. He likely observed this in Yuusuke’s fight against him. A fight that Hiei wanted to have a re-match for sooner than later. Even knowing the detective’s faults wouldn’t give him much of an edge. Yuusuke’s power was growing exponentially, and who knew where he would be once they were ready to enter the tournament.
“Kuwabara competes with him. As long as Yuusuke progresses, he’ll follow. Sensible in a fight but he’s never fought for his life. I doubt he’d want to kill his opponent. Vulnerable and susceptible to emotion.”
Despite all of Kuwabara’s ranting and raving, he did have a head for combat. He was versatile. Playing to his strengths despite being at a disadvantage. Kurama mentioned that it was the tenacity of humanity. A will to survive. Something that demons possessed but often confused with pandering to strength.
Hiei still didn’t understand it but Kurama said many things that he had trouble grasping at face value.
“And us?”
The question was spoken so softly that Hiei’s thoughts nearly drowned it out. Slowly, he opened his eyes, somewhat confused as to when they closed. Kurama’s gentle touches to his hair stilled but the fox’s fingers never left his hair. Hiei glanced up at his face, gauging the unreadable expression and Kurama’s vacant smile, his eyes emptied of genuine cheer and replaced with something other.
He was seeking comfort.
“We will survive this,” Hiei said aloud, unable to take pleasure in the flicker of surprise in Kurama’s eyes at the open admission. “I’m not carrying deadweight.”
Kurama’s eyes crinkled at the corner and the faint glimmer of mirth was something but not enough. “I know,” he said in a familiar placating tone, nearly soothing Hiei’s frayed nerves.
Unwilling to allow him to delve deeper into himself on this, Hiei shifted slightly, tucking his arm around Kurama and squeezing his side. Tension stiffening the fox’s frame, uncertainty in the inquisitive glance he gave Hiei, quietly asking the meaning of the tight hold.
“We will survive this,” Hiei insisted, lifting his head with a slight shake to rid himself of Kurama’s distracting touch.
Kurama’s gaze swept over him once then twice before the fox seemed to decide upon something. Warmth sparking in green eyes as his arms wrapped around Hiei, catching him in a cozy if not loose embrace. Hiei grumbled low in his throat, as Kurama’s face was buried in his hair, not allowing him to see the fruits of his labor in attempting to make the fox happy.
But the gentle press of Kurama’s lips to the top of his head stuttered his heartbeat and his tightening hold stole his breath away.
“We will.”
The admittance did more for Hiei than he could have put into words. He had no doubt in Kurama’s capabilities. If anything, he thought of him as the most capable person on their team. But if they were lacking in any way, they would be dead before the tournament even began. And Kurama — Kurama was the one person in this that he wasn’t willing to risk.
Hiei wasn’t sure how long they sat there together, wrapped up in one another’s embrace. But one of them had the hindsight to release the other once Kuwabara’s energy began to stir around him. The comfortable silence coming to a close as he began to wake.
With a light squeeze of Kurama’s side, Hiei eased his arms from around him and darted over to snatch his cloak from Kuwabara’s body as the psychic’s face contorted while he wrested with the last vestiges of unconsciousness. Darting back to Kurama’s side, Hiei pointedly ignored the faint smile on the fox’s lips as he opened his book and resumed looking at the words. The teasing surge of youki wrinkling Hiei’s nose and he answered back with annoyed energy of his own.
Slowly, Kuwabara sat up and rubbed at his shoulders, chanting beneath his breath with a low groan. “Ow.. Ow…” Blearily, he rubbed at his eyes, scanning the clearing and looking to Kurama with a slight nod before narrowing his eyes at Hiei. “You could’ve taken it easy, y’know!”
Hiei rolled his eyes. It was Kurama who knocked him unconscious. Though, if Kuwabara wanted to blame him then he’d happily oblige.
“If you can complain, you can train.”
Kuwabara’s eyes widened and he held up a hand in the empty air, wincing at the sudden movement. “Gimmie a break!” He cried indignantly in an unholy screech that almost sounded like a whine.
“You slept. That’s enough of a break.”
“Tch.. Kurama! Talk some sense into him!”
Throughout their bickering, Kurama didn’t lift a finger nor seem to acknowledge but the amusement showed in the soft flares in his energy and the ghost of a smile on his lips. Hiei glanced up at the sky, marking the position of the sun and mapping out in his head how long it’d been since their last meal time.
He has to eat and so do you. Take him if you want.
I’m not particularly hungry, Hiei.
When was the last time you’ve eaten?
So demanding.
Hiei didn’t need to point out his bad habits and Kurama pressed his youki against his, proving he understood.
“He just woke up, Hiei,” the fox said in a soft chiding tone, snapping his book shut. “Let him have something to eat first.”
“Have it your way,” said Hiei, rolling his eyes and turning his gaze the other way, ignoring the amused youki Kurama coiled around his shoulders as if prompting him to glance his way.
Kuwabara’s shuffling against the dirt was evident of his difficulty getting to his feet but with a sideways glance, a sliver of pride swelled in Hiei’s chest as the psychic stood on his own two legs. Kurama rose with his book tucked beneath his arm and offered Kuwabara a hand, allowing him to lean against him to keep himself upright.
The pair slowly making their way through the trees on the dirt trail leading back to Genkai’s where Yuusuke’s energy was flickering in and out, evident of the detective’s training coming to a close for the day.
The pressure itself was building but Hiei was unsatisfied. He still had more in him. Much more.
“You are quite kind to them.”
Hiei stiffened up at the amused and playful tone. Rolling his eyes with a soft grunt at the words, his back turned despite Kurama no longer being in his presence.
“You’re seeing things.”
Drawing his sword from where it was buried in the dirt nearby, he brushed off the vines coiled around its blade and prepared to go through the motions of his own training.
“Of course.”
Hiei cursed under his breath. Kurama was never going to let this go.
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secretgamergirl · 5 years
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A Little Fact Checking Primer on Trans People
As a trans woman, I literally can’t go a day without encountering at least a dozen horrible bigots shouting disgusting things directly at me, which I’ve come to accept, but I notice every time it happens there’s this whole crowd of confused people who don’t have that sort of burning hatred for trans people, but do think they raise a couple good points. And people think this because nobody has ever taught them enough basic facts about trans people to recognize the most obvious lies. So let’s work on that a bit.
Trans women are men who wear dresses. - FALSE
This is THE most common lie that gets floated around. Before I even begin to address it, let me just hit you with a few photos of actual trans women to hopefully show just how far off the mark this is.
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It should be pretty clear from looking at these photos that these are all plainly women, and as a bonus. I also wouldn’t describe any of these outfits as “a dress.”
So, how is this lie as popular as it is? Well, for a number of reasons I’m going to get into in more detail, it is very rare for the average person to see a trans person and realize that person they are looking at is trans (would you have guessed any of the women above were if I hadn’t said so?) and nearly every time you see a trans person depicted in the media, rather than hire or accurately draw/describe a real trans person, they just take some man and put him in a dress, or take some woman and put her in a suit. Since such portrayals are basically all you ever see when being told you’re looking at a trans person, that’s what you grow up thinking. But, no. Trans women are women, who just look like any other woman, and trans men are men who look like any other man.
Trans women are men who got a bunch of plastic surgery to look like women - FALSE
The photo set used above came from me doing a quick search for trans models, because it’s a lot easier to disprove the “costume” lie if I can show you women wearing clothes skimpy enough to show they aren’t stuffing their bras or concealing big burly hairy arms or anything like that, and I didn’t do any background checks beyond verifying that every woman pictured is in fact trans, so it’s possible some of these women may have had nose jobs or other minor cosmetic surgeries to achieve more idealized faces, but the “bunch of plastic surgery” referred to in this lie refers to some sort of comic book fantasy where you can somehow take someone who looks like Sylvester Stallone or something, bust out a scalpel, and somehow carve away flesh and bone to leave behind some sort of idealized specimen of womanhood like these. That just isn’t how it works. Such surgeries do not exist, and bodies like these women have are all quite attainable without any kind of surgery at all. Just be a woman, eat the right diet get the right sort of exercise and be lucky enough to have a pleasantly symmetrical face, and tada.
I’ve totally seen “before and after” photos of trans women which pretty damn well look like a man and a woman side by side - TRUE
Here’s a truly mind-blowing example from a friend of mine, in fact.
So what’s going on here? Well, the short version is, trans people are people who are actually of one gender, but for some reason, usually a hormone production imbalance or insensitivity, look like another gender until getting that treated.
The effects of this can be pretty damn impressive and dramatic, and some tend to be observable immediately from birth, so what typically happens is our parents attempt to just go off appearances, give us names based on how we look, and do their best to just raise us as that gender, stubbornly ignoring every sign, no matter how obvious the signs that they’re forcing the wrong identity on their child at best, and trying to force us to be what they want in some really messed up ways.
This screws with our heads badly enough that a lot of us go along with it for decades, just being utterly miserable and feeling like fake people for reasons we can’t necessarily articulate. It certainly doesn’t help that society’s overall ignorance about this keeps us from learning all we have to do is take some combination of cheap supplements/blockers for a couple years and everything will just fix itself. Even after hearing that this sort of hormone replacement is possible, and just from off-label usage of extremely well tested and common drugs, normally used for birth control, menopause, and acne treatment, most of us refuse to believe how effective this can be. Which is why I once again have to thank my friend Kiva for permitting me to link that amazing pair of photos showing just how dramatic the effects of fixing this sort of imbalance can be.
Trans people basically walk around in disguise and can make themselves look like men or women at will. - FALSE
I think I already covered this in the first of these, but just to reiterate the point, let me pull another photo off the stack.
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Put a woman like this in a man’s suit and you just have what’s clearly a woman in a man’s suit. There’s no weird Cinderella/werewolf thing going on. Trans women look like women (because that’s what we are) all the time. Actually let me do one better. I have a trans woman in a suit right here.
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Trans women have penises - SOMETIMES SORT OF TRUE
This is a tricky one to talk about because I try to keep this blog safe for work, and it’s hard to get this across without some sort of visual aid.
Here is a NSFW image in the form of a black and white sketch of human gonadal structure, as far removed and abstracted from looking at someone naked as I can find, but again, hedging my bets, click at your own peril.
You’ll notice, if you click, that this is the same exact structure. So, one of those things that the above-mentioned hormone imbalances tend to do is inflate this structure in women, and shrink it in men, making it appear that most trans women have penises and trans men clitorides (a few other things in that region are affected in similar fashion). This is the main thing that leads to us being miscategorized as babies. And the functionality can even match the size while the hormone issues responsible are untreated.
This too is treatable though. The same hormone replacement leading to Kiva’s shocking before and after photos have a pretty major impact, to the extent that having been on such for years now, if I were to attempt to indulge in self-pleasuring techniques in the fashion a man would, it just plain would not work Structurally, mechanically, texturally, it’s just not on the table. Grabbing a woman’s sex toy and using that accordingly though would work just fine. Now, if I posted a very intimate photo, things would look a bit weird (not manly really, it’s sort of a unique oddity down there), but there’s a surgery that can restructure everything and get it back to the standard factory settings most women have going on, with the exact proper appearance and functionality. It’s expensive, and there’s only like a dozen or two surgeons in the world who perform it (I actually have a full list on my desk somewhere). So some of us can’t do that because we don’t have the money or insurance that will cover it, or surgery is too dangerous, or we can’t reach those couple dozen surgeons, or we can and we’re stuck on waiting lists for years, and some of us don’t care about about standardizing our anatomy enough to want to bother with all that.
The idea that we’re effectively men from the waist down though is a sensationalist exaggeration though, and the notion that those of us who have things corrected have anything “chopped off” is a grotesque lie.
Trans women are fetishists and likely sex offenders - FALSE
I mean, t’s way more common than average for us to be lesbians or bisexual (I think the straight/bi/lesbian ratio is something like 30/40/30), which might qualify as some sort of “sexual deviance” if you’re some weird homophobe from the 1950s or something, but the idea that we get some kind of thrill out of the way we look or the clothes we wear is a total myth. I have a closet full of women’s clothes because I’m a woman. Those are the clothes that fit me best and look good on me. If I tried to put on a pair of men’s jeans or something it’d be really uncomfortable because like most women I carry most of my extra weight on my thighs and butt, and personally I have a good bit of that. If I put a bra on it’s because I need the support and/or don’t want creepy dudes trying to make out the outline of my nipples through my shirt. Nothing particularly sexy about any of that.
And on the predatory front, any stories about trans women being sexually aggressive pretty much just come from hatemongers. This is something they’ve even publicly admitted to. Statistically, trans people are way less likely than anyone else to commit any sort of sex-related criminal offenses, and even in consensual relationships we tend to be real real timid about approaching anyone. A lot of that is because in addition to being orders of magnitude more likely than others to be the VICTIMS of sexual assault, there’s this really horrifying state of affairs where if you aren’t in one of the yellow states, it’s a valid legal defense to murder a trans woman after having sex with her if you decide you aren’t comfortable with that. Or even if you just feel like one of us might be hitting on you.
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An overwhelming majority of us just avoid the risk entirely by dating other trans people exclusively.
Trans women have to trick people into dating them - FALSE
This is a basic supply and demand issue really. We are super rare. Depending who you ask, the trans population is somewhere between 1 in 300 people and 1 in 50 people. We tend to look damn good, because years of being mistaken for the wrong gender tends to encourage putting a major effort into presentation to keep it from happening, and again, most of us just hook up with each other because people who decide we’re really exotic and want to hook up have a scary habit of fipping out after the fact (or during, or just before), or have their egos bruised when people bring in the baggage of all the lies covered above an picture them hooking up with men in dresses) and murder us to be sure we don’t tell anyone. And again, like the map above says, the court system buys into us being scary predators enough to give them a pass for that.
So the brave few trans women who put themselves on the market in non-trans dating circles never lack for willing partners.
Men can just self-identify as trans women and barge into women’s restrooms and changing rooms and exploit programs to hire more women - FALSE
Self-identification is a term thrown around in British law regarding trans people in the specific context that trans people are seeking the basic right they have in more enlightened countries to just tell therapists and doctors that they’re trans, and start down the long red-tape filled road towards proper medical treatment and legal recognition, as opposed to going to one specific singular clinic, the only one in the country, and prove that they are trans to the staff thereof. Which in addition to being a decidedly arbitrary barrier. People who aren’t trans don’t have an interest in altering their hormone balance to radically alter their bodies, and even if they did, the effect on their brain chemistry would mess them up severely (meanwhile, one of the most immediate benefits of HRT for trans people is fixing brain chemistry issues that allow us to think more clearly, feel emotions properly, and otherwise end years of feeling like some kind of broken fraudulent zombies, because our brains aren’t getting enough/getting too much of certain chemicals).
It also can’t be stressed enough how this is just the first step of a very long process, with tons of red tape. Here’s the 110 page international manual doctors and lawmakers all over the world follow.for this stuff, when they aren’t adding even more arbitrary hoops on top of this. Before getting that little F on my ID, I had to spend two years “living as a woman” at least a year on HRT, and have multiple medical professionals sign off, who all had their own months or years long requirements to deal with. And that’s in a country where self-identification is the law of the land.
A lot of people also use the term to make disgusting jokes like “I identify as an attack helicopter” or “I identify as black,” in an effort to compare trans people to con artists like Rachel Dolezai or generally paint us as absurd. So, that’s fun.
Trans women completely dominate in sports - FALSE
OK, just pick a sport. Look at the top level competitors and champions in it. None of them are trans. “OK but didn’t I hear about some trans woman running track and just crushing everyone?” No, you didn’t. You’re thinking of Caster Semenya. She isn’t trans. Bigots spread rumors that she is because there’s a long disgusting tradition of racists claiming black women “look like men,” especially black lesbians, and in particular, this one whiny little white supremacist started whining like crazy about how unfair it was that she finished every race behind a bunch of black women, and has been campaigning to have them all kicked out of the sport so she can finish 3rd instead of 6th.
It’s also worth noting that the BS ruling proposed to force Semenya out of her favored event wouldn’t actually affect any trans athletes, as legally qualifying as women already requires us to address hormone balance issues in a way that, if the effects of high testosterone levels weren’t decidedly exaggerated, would put all of us at a severe disadvantage to everyone else in a given sport.
There are actually a good number of trans people involved in various professional sports, none of whom really excel as an additional data point here. The closest thing to an exception is the story of a trans boy on a high school wrestling team who, thanks to poorly thought out rules put in place to preemptively keep trans girls from playing on girls’ teams by ignoring everything but birth certificates, was forced against his will to join the girl’s wrestling team. Something absolutely no one involved, least of all him is happy about.
There are a whole ton of new laws trans women are pushing for that would suddenly mean they were treated as women for purposes of walking into bathrooms and locker rooms and all sorts of other things - FALSE
The existing status quo already has us in such places, as it should, because, again, trans women are women and don’t actually appear to be anything else, and this standard has existed for decades. You’ve been in public restrooms and locker rooms at some point in your life with at least one trans person being present unless you actively avoid ever entering such. You didn’t notice, and there was no reason you should have cared. Because, again, what is there to be upset about exactly?
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There’s a scary new trend of diagnosing young children as trans and giving them irreversible surgeries and hormone treatments - FALSE
If you haven’t picked up on it, nobody is proposing any sort of new legislation anywhere to expand the rights of trans people, outside of the aforementoned self-ID thing in England, which is just getting up to speed to where the rest of the world has been for decades.
And again, as previously covered, nobody gets “diagnosed as trans.” Bigots constantly talk up these hypothetical situation where parents who, for some baffling reason, want their children to be trans, take them to specialists for some sort of examination potentially giving them a label as such. Parents like that don’t exist. Specialists like that don’t exist. There’s no trans test. It’s just something you innately know about yourself and have to start twisting arms to get medical help with. And if there were such a test, I’m still not sure how running it on people would be a bad thing. It only makes sense if we’re acknowledging these children really are trans, but want to avoid any sort of official labeling or treatment in the hopes it can somehow be tortured out of them through conversion therapy (which for the record is proven not t work for anything but making those subjected to it suicidal);
Furthermore, we’ve already addressed that radical full body reconstructive surgery is not an actual thing, but even if it were, outside of immediate emergency treatments for failing organs, we generally don’t perform any sort of surgeries on minors. The WPATH standards I linked earlier are pretty clear on all of this as well.
Hormone replacement is also completely off the table for minors. Personally I don’t agree with that, and feel that if a child has worked out that they’re trans before starting puberty, the thing to do would be to start fixing their hormone balance at that age, so they properly develop alongside all their peers, but I’m not out there making a push for it, nor is anyone else I’m aware of.
Instead, the standard we have for such children is to put them on puberty blockers, otherwise typically prescribed for cases of precocious puberty, where children start puberty when they’re like 6 years old and there are potential health risks. These drugs don’t cause any sort of permanent changes. In fact, the entire point is to delay any changes that would otherwise be made by increased hormone levels during puberty, either putting it off until the appropriate age, in the case of the more traditional use, or in the case of trans children, preventing the hormone imbalance rendering them trans in the first place to flood their bodies with the wrong mix, which again, causes really horrible problems with brain chemistry and really undesirable effects like breast/hair growth etc. I lived through it. It was hell. And of course in the hypothetical event that a child was put on puberty blockers until they were 18 who wasn’t trans, the only effect it would have would be them not starting puberty until 18. Really not the end of the world, particularly since no child gets put on such unless they personally request it.
Otherwise the only thing done for trans children is encouraging those around them to use the correct pronouns and not be weird about policing what they wear, so they don’t have to deal with years of abuse, torment, and confusion when they age up to a point to get medical treatment, and get to live a totally normal life, without all their childhood friends having the wrong idea about what gender they were growing up.
Trans people are getting way more common all of the sudden, or only just came into existence recently - FALSE
Trans people have been around literally forever (and this is documented in historical sources should you be curious enough to look), and while, again, different studies disagree on exactly how rare we are, it’s because we’re rare enough that it’s hard to get an accurate count. We make up the same small percentage of the population world wide, with even distribution. We’re not contagious. There’s no “trans gene.” People don’t decide to become trans.
AWARENESS that trans people exist has been on the rise, but that’s just because horrific bigotry towards trans people has been on the rise. And that’s simply because all the people who spent the last couple of decades flipping the hell out over gay marriage have generally conceded defeat on that front, and on the front of keeping gay characters out of the media, preventing gay couples from adopting children, and otherwise keeping gay people out of public life. They felt they needed a new wedge issue to drive down support for LGBT+ people, and figured the total dearth of public awareness about trans people meant they could spread all kinds of scaremongering crap without anyone calling it out as hateful BS, and... yeah they’ve been pretty successful in doing that. Otherwise I’d have had no reason to write up this primer. It also helps that they’ve been so successful in painting a bunch of far-right religious extremists as scholarly left-leaning feminists, so it isn’t as obvious that it’s the same hateful crap coming from the same hateful sources.
But again, BS is what it all is. Hopefully I’ve linked enough reputable sources to make that clear here, and answered at least the bulk of questions you may have had about trans people. There’s one more though.
There are only two genders and the singular they is grammatically incorrect - FALSE
I’ve kept the vast majority of this focused on trans women, because the vast majority of hate and disinformation is focused on women specifically, but not all trans people are women. Trans men also exist. As I did above, I can easily show you a bunch of attractive models who are undeniably men.
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I can give you another of those amazing before and after photos too.
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And in addition to there being trans men and women, there are people out there who realize that being labeled as boy or a girl when they were wrong was clearly a mistake, but switching to the other label also doesn’t feel right, so they find another option to go with. The English language doesn’t really have any sort of terminology to cover that concept, and for whatever reason, Christian missionaries really did their darnedest to stamp out every culture that has the appropriate language and concepts. Again though, historical records on this go back forever.
Because English sucks for discussing such people, we generally throw them under the catch-all label of “non-binary” (since they don’t fit in with the binary choice of being either a man or a woman, see) and either need to work out new pronouns, or just refer to them as, well, them.
A lot of people who get prickly about this since, well, they’re big ol’ bigots, attempt to rationalize their discomfort with claims that this isn’t grammatically correct, but, it is. The English language has used “they” as a singular pronoun for longer than it’s used “you” as a singular pronoun.
In fact, even the people who raise such objections pretty constantly make use of the very thing they’re complaining about. It is hilariously commonplace for some bigot to get into this big huge speech about how they refuse to use the singular they, get into disparaging a hypothetical person using it, and start rambling about how they were taught to always say ‘he or she’ in such situations, and that they couldn’t possibly adapt, using the word, in that context, about as many times as I just did in this paragraph. It’s so natural nobody ever even realizes they’re doing it unless they’re actively trying to be a jerk about it.
I might edit this if there’s anything big I forgot, but tada. You are now less woefully ignorant about trans people.
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