#commit and commodify

[mafaldaknows]

Kylie and timothe are allegedly getting married next year. Now tell me how is thios PR and how he's still getting his cherry popped by Armie Haammer. And I want a logical explaination, not some cult guru shit about believing in love and all that nonsense.

Hello, Anon:

Let’s stop for a moment and consider what the word “allegedly” means.

It seems to me that an unfortunate by-product of our social media culture is that people conflate allegations with facts, to the point that all anyone has to do these days to make something true in many people’s minds is simply to say it somewhere on the internet. It doesn’t even have to be “official”.

Allegations are not facts. Speculation is not confirmation. Hypotheses are theoretical. None of these things assumes itself as the truth, but merely introduces a starting point for further discussion or investigation in order to discover the truth about something.

So why bother to come to my inbox to ask me what I think about something that you already seem to think is true? It seems to me that you don’t need my validation. And don’t worry, Anon. I’ll spare you the cult guru shit about love.

Because what’s love got to do with it?

It takes at least two years for people to stop being on their best behavior around their romantic partners, so making a lifelong commitment to love, honor, and cherish someone in less time than that is a serious gamble, and seems highly unlikely in this case, assuming that at least one of them still has functional critical thinking skills, and isn’t in the habit of setting their life on fire without first contemplating the consequences, as most reasonable grown adults do, especially when making such a major, life-altering decision like getting married to someone they barely know.

What’s ironic to me, Anon, is that if you wanted me to agree with you, this would be a good spot to give you some cult guru shit about love. Because I believe that there are some people who know right away that they’ll love someone for the rest of their lives. But they tend not to need a team of managers and publicists, and constant, chronic, random no-one-asked-for-it-but-here-it-is-anyway press attention to prove it to everyone on the internet, in order to seal the deal. Lovers just love, no press required.

They only just allegedly met this spring. One year’s time is most likely not enough time for them to know if they’re suitable life partners for each other, if they intend to stay married, especially if they’re not even “official in private” and only “casual” at this moment in time, depending on how their insider source is feeling that day, depending on which way the wind blows, even when no one asked. It might be helpful for someone on their PR teams to keep track of what their insider source is telling the media on an hourly basis on an excel spreadsheet or something so they’re at least all on the same sheet of bullshit.

If it happens, then mazel tov to the happy couple, and let’s hope there’s a prenup, to keep things simple when if it falls apart.

As for popping a cherry, that’s a one-shot deal. Once in a lifetime. You might want to brush up on your idioms, Anon. 💥🍒💥

However T & A chose to define their connection to each other is no one’s business but their own. I’ve said this time and again. And who T sleeps with is also none of my business.

How T chooses to share his business that’s nobody’s business like nobody’s business is the larger issue, imho. The fact that T&K’s presence together has become ubiquitous in the media has now made it my business, like it or not.

Selling their relationship seems to be the point, and that’s the part I struggle with. It’s difficult to see the truth of their alleged love story when it’s so deeply embedded within such an obvious PR sales pitch. Even if they’re madly in love, that doesn’t change the fact that they’re also using each other as a means to an end. Famous people marry each other all the time without ever having to ask one to commodify themselves for the sake of elevating the other’s image.

Unlike some other relationships, however, T &A do not make it their business to make it our business to know their business, every damn day, for months on end. So I have no idea about the status of their relationship; romantic, platonic, doesn’t matter to me, Anon. But I can still be hopeful and watch for signs, with both my feet firmly rooted in reality.

Only time or Tim will tell.

Thanks for your question. ❤️🧿☺️🍒👀

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

it’s so fucked to me that people will use fucking war crimes as an excuse to spread bigotry like. imagine seeing the suffering of innocents and using that to spread bigoted propaganda. it has nothing to do with a whole group of people being inherently evil or vile solely down to religious and cultural differences- that dehumanisation is what leads to the war crimes against innocent civilians. antisemitism is vile and it’s horrific to me that bigots will use outrage and horror at a very real humanitarian crisis and demonise a whole group of people when not only is that obviously evil but it’s also just breeding the same sort of dehumanising sentiment that allows the war crimes in palestine to continue.

[whoreiorcats]

Lumon’s aim being to literally objectify and then commodify Gemma into a tool they can sell and exploit and Drummond committing violence against innies and probably a lot of other people who got in the way of that goal only for him to die the most violent death on screen and for his entire life of service (his literal BLOOD, sweat, and tears) to Kier culminating in being a doorstop and a key for Mark to get Gemma out 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[sandsorghum]

wc: 1.1k (more drabble than fic tbh)

tags: Virgin Higuruma | Friends to Lovers (?)

a/n: Really just an excuse for me to spew unhinged thoughts about FirstTimeHiguruma...Suggestive but nothing really explicit. Kinda told in his POV. Dunno if I'll ever develop this into a full story but enjoy...whatever this is??

Maybe...maybe he's in his mid20s, 2nd year of law school. Is a little insecure and defensive because he's got a bit of that internalised misogyny. Just a smidge. What's the big deal anyway, why are people so obsessed with sex - those conversations aren't worth his time. Don't his peers have better things to brag about or bond over?

Keeps his head down and mostly to himself. Ignores the couples snogging under the shade of sycamore trees as he cuts across the quad, averts his eyes from insufficiently surreptitious fingers skimming up thighs in coffee shops - Even the damn library isn't a place of refuge; with people sneaking off to the dimly lit, dusty sections where the obscure maritime law tomes are shelved but no apparently he's the one committing an invasion of privacy when he just wanted to look up the applications filed at the Tribunal for the Hoshinmaru case (2007, Japan V. Russian Federation) and not get an eyeful of folks sticking hands down pants.

So one day the two of you are hanging out in his room and somehow the topic comes up and he goes on an amusingly/impressively feminist rant about virginity just being a sexist myth and concept contrived to make (women's) chastity a commodified fetish as if they were prized chattel and why would he want to acknowledge any part of that antiquated invention and he has better things to do and why are you looking at him like that when you both have a Commercial Law exam to mug for, isn't that why you showed up in the first place?

And umm do you want his jacket, seems like you'd be chilly in that loose hanging top - it's slipped a little off your shoulder by the way - and why are you stalking- walking towards him like that and hangonhangonhangonhey-

Now see what you've done! You made him trip backwards on his bed and you're still leaning in way too close and since when did you start wearing lip gloss - wait you aren't? And that's just the natural shade of your mouth? oh ok cool cool cool fine goodtoknow - huh? why's it good for him to know? No- no reason- no he hasn't been wondering all evening - and wait why are you dropping to your knees now, come on, stop, you're taking this joke way too far like always - can't you tell it's humiliating for the both of you - huh? Did you just say you've always found him cute? The adjective ascribed to marsupials? You're associating it with him??

You like seeing his cheeks this colour? It reminds you of his frostbitten face when the two of you were the last to leave the library last winter semester, trekking across the field with just his nose peeking out from the higgly-piggedly stacked layers of his scarf, still trying to crack jokes to make you laugh and it had worked because you remember the sting of your chapped lips long after he walked you back to your room?

And well that's um...quite a vivid portrait of him, he doesn't really have that type of memory - No, he didn't mean that - of course he remembers the first evening you and him met and quickly became study buddies, pals, friends - definitely friends - and uuuhhhh are you sure this is something friends do?

Because now you have both hands resting on his parted thighs, your head nestled on his knee, how can you look so comfortable like this, with your cheek nuzzling lightly into his lap, moving a little further and further up to the throbbing, pounding pitch in his pants with every passing minute that he doesn't push you away or tell you to stop, he's never ached like this before, not even in his hormone-swamped dreams of the cloying feverish adolescence he thought he'd left behind years ago, and he thought he'd given into those futile impulses often enough not to be controlled by them, but no, the stifling denim swelling rises faster and faster the more desperately he tries to fight it, till the tented fabric is just about sweeping your cheek and hell, you shouldn't look so pleased with yourself, having this effect on him just by looking up at him through dark lashes and a darker gaze, but something's midnight-bright in them, like starlight in the pitch of winter

Like that night you'd both clambered up to the roof, abandoning the cacophony of the house party below, precariously perched with a couple beers and a quarter of the vodka you'd snagged on impulse, and you'd clung so tight to him, scuffling on the shingles, burying your squeaks and breathy giggles into his nape, shushing his chastisements midway as you passed the swig of the bottle directly from your mouth to his, and he remembers this, a careless question he's pondered more often than he'd like to admit, how he'd been unable to distinguish if the lingering scorch was from the distilled juniper or your lips, puffing little white clouds in this cloudless, snow-crisped evening, with you pressed into his body heat, teetering on the ledge and looking up at the spray of diamonds embroidered into the velvet of night, pointing out patterns in the celestial tapestry, both of you feigning expertise in astronomy before bursting into laughter at the blatant fibs when one of you, he can't recall which of you, gestures at a cluster of seven stars and declares it "the Big Slipper" and who knows what other snarky quips and idle half-truths you exchanged that night, he only recollects your confession that you were actually pretty terrified of heights, the admission crystal clear in his memory because he remembers the evidence, remembers the way your pulse was embedded in his bones, the way his blood was thrumming with the wild thudding of your heartbeat until he wrapped his arms securely around you, your ribs rising and falling slowly into sync with his and some other memory splinters its way to the surface now, crackling through his subconscious, how the air froze in his lungs for no reason, no reason at all, when his eyes settled on you looking up, again with your lips looking a little chapped, enraptured by the stars above, murmuring how you wished this night with him could last forever...

And of course it didn't, winter thawed into spring, which crept into summer, which slouched into autumn, after hundreds of highlighted paragraphs on mens rea and thousands of annotations on procedural processes, after so many shots of espresso long past closing time at the on-campus coffee shop where he was a part-time barista, fuel you'd always insisted on paying for, although he'd raided innumerable cans of redbull from your dorm free of charge, and you said you didn't really like their taste anyway so then why did you always happen to have a full six-pack stocked in your fridge?

Just another mystery he's never given much mind, with all the case studies the both of yall have had to cram in your heads instead, and after losing count of the stacks of flashcards blurring in your hand and the smirks you'd flashed him every time you scored a few points higher than him on a pop quiz, and now you're here, in his room, on your knees, having pulled the Milky Way galaxy into your gaze, dragging a comet up through his belly, pillars of fire erupting in his lungs as he witnesses the moonrise of your mouth, soft lips curving crescent sharp around a question, a question just for him, both the sincere desire - the hunger - in your eyes and lilt in your tone makes his pulse leap to his throat, makes his blood plummet south as you ask, just this once, if he trusts you to make him feel good too?

And he's trembling, as is the answer on his tongue, only the familiarity of your audacity grounding him somehow, because you're asking it with that smile, the smile which has been wrapped and squeezing around his head, for longer than you could possibly know...

© sandsorghum. 2025

[kaiderlou]

Taking Back Your Brain: tips from a medical student

I have a confession to make: I am incredibly terrible at looking up from my phone and engaging in real life. Like bad bad. Like I struggle to get through a lecture without getting on tiktok bad. So here are all the things I'm plotting and planning to take back my brain from the greedy fingers of tech billionaires who have commodified my attention span--hopefully some of this will help you too!

1. Recognizing WHY I'm reaching for my phone as much as I am

the hidden truth behind our declining attention spans : This video really helped me reframe the way I think of my reliance on social media. I encourage watching it, but if you don't have the time, here's the breakdown:

We live in a world that is designed to distract us. Media and tech as a whole have gotten continuously better at grabbing our attention. It grows their platform, it makes them money, and they are investing money into research to invent new tactics to distract us.

What cues us to reach for our phones? Leonie shares in her video that she does so whenever she has a negative thought, and I agree. The nature of short form content promises quick distraction without having to commit to a long holiday from whatever task is at hand (though it always ends up happening). I'm working on confronting whatever uncomfortable thing is prompting me to reach for my phone, rather than giving in and creating a cycle of dependence.

2. Utilizing zones

Designate zones for each different "mode" of life. Don't shit where you eat and don't work where you sleep. Have a space for studying, socializing, sleeping/leisure, etc. and don't mix them. This prevents you from mixing cues. When you're in your work zone, it signals to your brain that it's time to go into work mode, making it easier to focus.

This is the idea behind sleep hygiene too! Keeping your room or even just your bed reserved only for sleep means that when you enter that zone, it cues your brain that it's time for sleep.

3. Mindfulness practices

There is very little I resent more than being told as a busy student that the reason I'm burnt out is because I don't practice mindfulness (it's definitely not because the system is rigorous and asks too much of us, right????) but unfortunately, they might be right.

Mindfulness helps pull you out of the muck of what's happening inside your head and into the present moment. It has been so helpful with pulling me out of my anxiety and makes me feel like I'm actually living my life, rather than avoiding it. Instead of diving headfirst into my phone or maladaptive thinking, I'm grounded in the reality of the present moment.

In the same vein, feel your feelings. It can be uncomfortable, but running from them only works for so long. It takes more and more energy to avoid them until something finally gives. Feel the sensation in your body, be aware of it, then let it pass. Getting comfortable with doing this will eventually replace the avoidance tactics you've picked up, like endless scrolling.

4. Fill your free time with productive things

This doesn't mean don't rest. Rest is productive. But you have to actually rest and do things that are regenerative, not doomscroll.

Take the time to grow in ways that interest you. Do things for your body, mind, and soul. For instance, I like lifting weights, reading/watching video essays/seeing movies on topics I'm curious about, topics that make me think (balanced by fluffy books that DON'T make me think), and praying/reading my Bible. Growth is good for you, your brain wasn't made to be stagnant.

5. Be kind to yourself and your brain

Sometimes kindness looks like cutting yourself some slack, but sometimes it's having the discipline to do something now so you aren't kicking yourself down the line. This is the biggest principle that I live by and it helps me reframe doing the hard things. The hard things have to be done regardless, it's just a matter of under what circumstances. Wouldn't you rather do them when they're easier than when you're fueled by panic? Take care of future you

Anyways, these are the things I'm going to be focusing on with my dedicated STEP 1 study period fast approaching <3

[faustandthefurious25]

Talk to strangers by TV Girl, Strangers by Ethel Cain, and The Stranger by Camus: what do they all have in common?

See, I would talk about the male and female perspectives here, while Ethel obviously writes from the perspective of a woman wronged in so many horrific ways, the lamentation is obvious: we mourn an innocent life. But are the protagonists of TV Girl’s song and Camus’ novella innocent? While innocent would not be the first word I would use to describe Camus’ Meursault (who cannot make up his mind about whether his mother dies today or yesterday), his efforts to come to terms with his own ‘strangeness’, having to constantly and consciously try to fit into even the most basic moral standards (which he later gives up on) shows that he does have some sense of perspective— though I hate him as a character anyway. TV Girl’s song talks about the same regret Ethel feels about Isaiah, but its use of perspective is flattering. While I often see Ethel as an unreliable narrator (thus giving us only her point of view on things), TV Girl’s song takes both the perspective of the man and the woman, but not giving us any details at all until the end. It shows how trust is an odd thing, the killer was “normal guy” but somehow outlet the anger inside of him by murdering somebody.

To get the core of this, I think the unreliable narrator is a key aspect that links all these texts. Ethel is seen to be constantly unreliable, leaving out information (why Willoughby left) and romanticizing the crimes Isaiah committed as something that would free her from the conformist ways of her small-town, traditionalist, southern upbringing. A moment we really see this, is in Thoroughfare, where she mimics Isiah asking her: “do you wanna see the west with me?”. I often think that it sounds scarily similar to “do you want to see the worst of me?; he is foreshadowing what he will do to her and how far he is willing to hurt her. The song is then followed by Gibson girl and Ptolemaea, where we obviously see how the hopefulness of Ethel turns into despair and anguish. The hope for the west she had is ruined, and instead she is commodified even more than she was in the southern small town. Her optimism and vulnerability is taken advantage of, by a stranger whom she decided to trust. Similarly, the character of Marie within Camus’ work shows a similar sense of blind trust. She is vulnerable, looking to be loved and cared for, but all Meursault gives (or can give) her is lust and temporary satisfaction, even when she is going as far as to wanting to marry him even when he has murdered someone. She trusts herself and her body with a stranger whom she later finds out watched a comic movie the day after his mother’s death on a date with her. In both these situations, we see that female protagonists often trust blindly, romanticizing and prioritizing a future of being loved rather than considering the nature of the person (man) they are trusting. Talk to Strangers recalls this phenomenon in real life, where the typical setting of the bar, the casual flirting which leads to intercourse, and then the murder of the poor girl. Why exactly? The only explanation we get is that the sexual act reinforces the man’s anger: “the energy’s preserved, just turned into anger”. Anger seems to be the fueling cause of the sadistic acts of men towards women, particularly in these texts.

Anger stored within these figures is the key characteristic which defines them as a stranger. Their actions, stemming from this anger are outrageous, all depraved off of a sense of humanity, one that is somehow still tried to be justified in each of the texts. Camus does this particularly well through the first person narration system, we all know at least one man that thought that being able to relate to Meursault was a common, even a good thing. Ethel, as we know, constantly romanticizes the abuse of Isiah (reference: all of Gibson girl). While TV girl takes the common excuse by society, often expressing surprise when coming to realise that a familiar person is a criminal (oh it’s just that he seemed so “normal”). The question that I have though is how these strangers manage to repress their wrath and are able to evoke love, comfort, and (temporary) satisfaction from the people they each manage to entangle in their trap. That is something I still need to figure out? Or perhaps they didn’t? It’s just that when the victims came close to this deeper sense of anger, they decided to brush it off and preferred to focus on that which brought back that satisfaction, a sense of joy which got them away from their monotony.

Wrath, anger, and rage are seen as common emotions, often natural — but when inflicted upon someone else, that is when it gets complicated. Confusion or repression of this anger what keeps these stories going, what makes one apparently watch a comedy after finding out about death, what forces a physical reaction out of mental tension. It makes one act normal, until you get to know a person enough that they release all of it upon them. Not just the positive surface level emotion but also that inside you, the ones you repressed and never intended/wanted/were supposed to come out?

Anyway, stranger danger still seems to be the final note of this, though I have sympathy for the strangers, I do think they need therapy (desperately). It is an interesting concept: what might come from strangers? Can it be comfort? Lust? Or you might fall in love.

[nordstarr]

imagine complaining that a real life lesbian's album about her real life committed relationship with another woman, encompassing all the forms of love she feels for her partner, from initial crush to physical attraction to tender love and the hope of growing old together, doesn't encompass the full spectrum of queerness and lesbian relationships that exist in the world and isn't explicit enough about the gay sex they are having. THE CUTESY UNTHREATENINGLY DESEXUALIZED WAY LESBIAN CULTURE HAS BEEN COMMODIFIED IN THE MAINSTREAM???? she's a REAL LESBIAN writing about her OWN LIFE??? just say you hate women and gay people and hold them to impossible standards and expect them to be some Perfect Flawless #representation for every single person in the queer community

[trans-axolotl]

"Disability justice is a requisite for abolition because carceral systems medicalize, pathologize, criminalize, and commodify survival, divergence, and resistance. The past and present connections between disability and all forms of carceral violence are overt and overwhelming. Disabled/neurodivergent people comprise just 26% of the united states population — but represent up to half of the people killed by police, over 50% of the incarcerated adult prison population, up to 85% of the incarcerated youth population, and a significant number of those incarcerated in medicalized carceral spaces like nursing facilities, group facilities, and civil commitment, “treatment” facilities, and “hospitals.” Whether under the pretense of “care” or “corrections,” disabled people are highly represented in all carceral populations. History explains this phenomenon.

The united states government and corporations have always used constructed ideas around disability and criminality alongside constructed ideas about class and race to classify, criminalize, cage, and disappear its “undesirables.” In this way, those in positions of power maintain the white supremacist status quo and create an exploitable labor pool while sowing discord within and across marginalized communities."

By Talila "TL" Lewis, in "Disability Justice Is an Essential Part of Abolishing Police and Prisons"

[absurdlakefront]

For Han, the more we lay ourselves out for public consumption, the more we turn into a makeshift art exhibit—an object meant purely for the enjoyment of others rather than a full agent capable of forming genuine bonds with other full agents in the world. Han states that the interplay between revealing aspects of ourselves to others while still keeping certain parts hidden—only to be possibly disclosed later—is an essential component of what he calls the eroticism of interpersonal connections. It is what maintains our agency, as we consciously decide who we will open up to, to what extent, and why. The demand for transparency—the total, naked display of our entire selves to the whole world—robs us of this freedom. It leaves us both incredibly vulnerable and transformed into a kind of obscene object, with no part of us left unobserved or reserved for a chosen few. Ultimately, Han worries that if we continue down this path of forced public intimacy, we risk commodifying our deepest and most fragile parts, serving them up for others to consume like a buffet of our deconstructed soul—all while we become ever lonelier for lack of real, committed connections with others

[cringearenachamp]

Golland makes good points here-- Journey was a symptom of a problem but it was such a visible symptom (they heightened the contradiction inherent in commodifying music) that i think they were often treated as a *cause*.

like a lot of critics talk about things like the lyrics being banal or thematically unchallenging and yes that's true! but that's MOST pop music and even a lot of rock music lol (like most of it is about being horny lmao its not some philosophical deep dive). this is something steve would get super defensive about of course but again i think he would've been better served by shrugging and going "yeah we're not trying to write an essay we're trying to write fun music", or "yeah the lyrics aren't as important for us as the feeling of the music".

now that i think about it tho-- the fact that there was just as dumb music out there if not dumber, but that didn't seem to get picked on as much is partially because that music was VERY masculine-coded. it was caveman shit lol. macho-stupid is a lot more acceptable than girly-stupid, especially to rock critics, and journey committed the 'sin' of being girly-stupid. (i think on departure they tried to go more macho-stupid with the lyrics but steve doesn't really sell macho-stupid for obvious reasons)

[jesncin]

Have you read/heard of the two DC Graphic novels, Galaxy: The Prettiest Star and Bad Dream: a Dreamer Story? (PS: If DC ever let you 2 do a graphic novel I would probably buy a million copies and never shut up about it adhksks)

I have heard of both Galaxy: The Prettiest Star (because Lunar Boy's been compared to it!) and Bad Dream: a Dreamer's Story (because Lunar Boy was on a Queer Books To Read in 2024 list with it!) and I'd love to read both!

Oh man!! Their MG/YA graphic novel imprint is so interesting to me, and probably the best fit for my writing and art style. I'm still probably not an exact match for DC overall but if I were to pitch something to that line (if you'll entertain me being a pitch salesman for a moment!):

I know people probably want me to do a Superman & Lois graphic novel, but with Smashes the Klan and Girl Taking Over, I'm sure Lois Liando would be a hard sell as it is! Not a bad thing, since both graphic novels are already excellent with great creatives attached!

Supersons MG graphic novel that focuses on both boys struggling with school life as a background supervillain plot looms. There's already a Supersons (behated) graphic novel so I'm sure I wouldn't be given this but I'd love a Supersons story that focuses on slice of life more, especially exploring both Damian and Jon's backgrounds as kids of the diaspora.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER MG/YA graphic novel give me either MG or YA I'm flexible!! If I'm not trusted with big-name characters, give me the obscure blorbo. Smashes the Klan committed to the portrayal of Superman as an immigrant, I want a graphic novel that portrays J'onn and Ma'al as first gen immigrants too! But unlike Superman, they don't pass as human and have far more othering alien customs. I can either give the twins space adventures or culture shock adventures on Earth. All while they're hunted by some martian bounty hunter! Would love to team up with a Black deaf creative for this. Martian deserves a good book,,,

Conner Superboy YA graphic novel ! Re-contextualize the 90s run's themes of superhero child celebrity shenanigans into a contemporary context that teens can relate to. Influencer culture, the way identities are sectioned off and commodified in the capitalism machine, Livewire as the reactionary villain with her own youtube channel/podcast, Conner going to school and NOT getting yanked out of it constantly! So much potential to refresh his cast for the modern age. Would also love to team up with a Black creative for this!!

Stay with me. John Constantine MG graphic novel. I know there's already a YA graphic novel (that isn't particularly beloved) but listen. Send young 12 year old Constantine to a haunted boarding school with an occult conspiracy mystery at the center of it. Imagine the vibes of Gotham Academy with the energy of Goosebumps meets the tone of Series of Unfortunate Events. Who is the golden child who haunts Constantine?? What is this mysterious backstory he has?? How will he upset his newfound school friends this time?? It's tragic you should look away,,,look away,,,

SO IF ANY OF THOSE SOUND INTERESTING, DC, HIT ME UP lmao. I'm often told "DC should pick you guys up" and that's always flattering! I have complicated feelings about what it would mean as a fanartist to get picked up, and the possible red tape that means for me interacting with fandom (that I've grown to love), but hey. We can have fun and imagine an Elseworld where I got picked up!

[hakkidotcom]

And ppl saying that it's bad bc it is obviously not her choice. That makes it 10000 times worse yes and I want that man dead but it's not bad just bc it's not her choice this isn't a single isolated event. Woman's bodies get commodified to the point where their exposure and degradation isn't shocking until it is literal abuse, meanwhile men get the privilege of having their bodies for themselves. Even when men wear women's fashion on runways it is still not the shit women are expected to wear in order to be 'avant garde' and riske and experimental and committed. Not just in music but everywhere. I mean look at the nosferatu red carpet this year

[mimikyufriend]

"The feminists hired by prominent media outlets often advocate for measures that would result in higher levels of incarceration. They write op-eds in favor of further criminalization around sex work, and call for longer prison sentences for men convicted of assault—which we’ve known for decades is not necessarily synonymous with “men who’ve committed the crime.” They also, disturbingly, relish the theater of sentencing like that enacted by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who told serial sexual abuser Larry Nassar that if she could, she would “allow some or many people to do to him what he did to others.” (So, sexual violation is an atrocity . . . unless it happens to the right person?) They capitalize on women’s justified fear and anger around mistreatment by men to shore up the status quo, to suggest that our current problems are not the result of fundamentally unjust institutions, but rather institutions that are only incidentally sexist. That means those same institutions could become less so with the right adjustments, like more draconian sentencing for crimes against women, or more female judges."

"'Feminist' has become synonymous with hollow phrases like “female empowerment” and “strong women” and “girl power.” If a woman’s ambition were automatically feminist by virtue of her gender alone, that would hold true whether she’s directing her energies into exploiting workers in other countries, trying to overturn affirmative action, or working to keep her neighborhood free from immigrants."

"When feminism is treated as if it can respond solely to oppressions that move neatly from men to women—with no complicating factors or contextual ambiguity—it becomes the agent of our enemies, lending itself to the adoption of a victim mindset in which all women are threatened by all men and where other vectors of power, like race or able-bodiedness or wealth, are immaterial. It conveniently obfuscates just how easily women can participate in oppression of other women, and of men, too—and always have."

[stillness138]

vincent van gogh has become the male marilyn monroe the way people just en masse misuse his image (that pop culture and capitalism have utterly commodified) and completely dismiss the hardships he went through while alive. we all gawk at the starry night and attach it to messages of how all it takes is will and work and conveniently ignore how the man lived in poverty and severe mental health struggles until he committed suicide at the age of 37

[quincywillows]

as i reflect more, i have to say one of the biggest aspects that turned me away completely from traditional publishing is the social media prevalence. there was such a clear expectation, literally from the moment you submit your manuscript for consideration, that you either already had a following on insta/the-platform-formally-known-as-twitter or would be committed full throttle to creating one. there was no question about it. the idea that you would sell not just your book, but yourself, online was baked into the very potential of your manuscript seeing the light of day. and i remember lurking in those spaces and seeing every single aspiring author regurgitating the same plucky, quirky posts, and sharing the same "friends" on the platform, and justifying x y z aspect about themselves as an author rather than telling me anything substantive about their novel (no true synopses in sight here -- just a quippy, 240-character logline usually filled with tropes). it literally felt like being surrounded by clones, or generic-writer-bots, and i was supposed to be inclined to show interest in their writing because of their PRESENTATION on the-platform-formally-known-as-twitter, rather than the actual writing itself. it's even worse now with tik tok and "booktok."

every single book i have ever loved, have ever called a favorite, always grew from the book itself. not the author. most of the time, i didn't know who the author even was, and i rarely take the time to go investigate further. the value and heart of a book lies in the words on the page, the content inside the manuscript -- not the name printed onto the spine.

i just really hate this trend in publishing where the author has become more of a draw or more important than the story itself. we are writers, we're sharing our writing. the story is what it's supposed to be all about; if that isn't connecting with the readers, what else matters? certainly not that -- and it's simply not worth commodifying your literal personhood just to get another click.

[trolledu]

By Anusha Rathi

 Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko sign a deal in Washington on April 30.Yulia Svyrydenko via Facebook/via Reuters

The United States and Ukraine signed a much-anticipated critical minerals deal on Wednesday, paving the way for American firms to gain preferential access to Kyiv’s natural resources. The deal comes after months of fraught negotiations, including the explosive Oval Office confrontation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The two countries came close to reaching a deal back in February, but negotiations broke down after Trump demanded $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s minerals to compensate the United States for its support of Kyiv during the Russia-Ukraine war and refused to provide explicit security guarantees in return. “I am defending Ukraine, I cannot sell our country,” Zelensky said at the time, explaining his rejection of the U.S. draft proposal.

Since then, though, Ukrainian negotiators have successfully convinced Washington to drop some key demands. This includes keeping the door for a European Union membership open and not treating past U.S. aid to Ukraine as debt. However, the agreement does not include U.S. security guarantees.

The renewed deal, which needs to be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament, will establish a joint reconstruction investment fund and give the United States preferential rights to mineral extraction in the country, while reaffirming Kyiv’s sovereignty over its resources. “All resources on our territory and in our territorial waters belong to Ukraine,” Yulia Svyrydenko, the Ukrainian economy minister, told CNN. “It is the Ukrainian state that determines where and what to extract.”

Ukraine holds more than 100 major deposits of critical minerals that are used in everything from advanced weapons systems to clean energy technologies, including titanium, uranium, lithium, as well as some oil and natural gas. But it remains to be seen whether the war-torn country can develop—and commodify—the natural resources anytime soon.

“Many of its [Ukraine’s] critical minerals deposits remain in contested environments that will take years to bring to market, assuming that a negotiated peace keeps those minerals in Ukraine,” wrote Reed Blakemore, the director of research and programs at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center.

Still, the deal communicates that Washington is interested in supporting Ukraine’s long-term interests. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed the deal as a “historic economic partnership” and said that it “signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.”