#does NOT help that there are so many men compared to the amount of women in bakugan

[hexados-on-a-string]

I JUST FUCKIN REALIZED ITS FEBRUARY. FEMSLASH FEBRUARY. bakugan sapphics i have failed you... i will make content to feed myself (a lesbian) tomorrow maybe...

[zzprompto]

☆ no homo, right?

denji x male reader [he / him]

sypnosis: denji starts to get feelings for [name] and he thinks of all the little things between them. it's not gay though, right? (meant to be viewed as romantic)

the lowercase is intentional !

denji was always a fan of women and everything about them. he wasn't necessarily quiet about his preferences either. everyone knew about them. power did, aki did, yoshida probably does and asa too.

however, nobody expected denji to fall for a man, let alone one of his close friends. denji, the one who always talked about wanting to feel a woman, was now making goo-goo eyes at a man. it was unusual.

denji always reassured his friends (asa and yoshida) that he didn't actually like [name]. yet, they could see past him and his lies. they knew that denji was completely infatuated by [name] and no amount of 'no homo's was going to clear that off the fiend's name.

denji was walking about town with [name]. they usually spent their time doing such with their friends after school or when nothing was happening. however, fate seemed to be on denji's side. even if denji didn't want to believe that.

[name] and denji were alone. asa and yoshida had bailed on the two earlier, making weak excuses just to not go with them. of course, they did it all on purpose. they weren't going to tell [name] and denji though, it would ruin all of the fun and suspense.

the two men continued walking, their hands occasionally brushing against eachother as they walked past the busy crowds.

denji wanted to hold [name]'s hand. he wanted to hold it in his own hand and squeeze it. he wanted to feel how soft [name]'s hand would feel in his own, or how calloused it felt. denji wanted to swing his hand, in turn swinging [name]'s as they walked.

but, it wasn't gay right? it was normal to want to hold your friends hand, of course it was. denji had done that with power many times before, so it wasn't romantic or anything.

yet why did it feel so different when denji was facing [name]? why was his heart fluttering? why was his mind racing? he wasn't gay, and he didn't like [name].

eventually, the two settled down at a cafe. it was just the two of them, settling down for a meal to discuss.

but why did this feel like something else? denji felt like he was going on a date, like the time he had gotten reze some flowers on a date. it felt like he was on a date, with his friend.

denji wasn't gay though. of course he wasn't - he couldn't be. he loved women, he was quite the enjoyer. he felt nothing towards men compared to how he felt towards women.

but everything still felt different. denji's palms felt sweaty as he sat down across [name]. he felt his throat going dry too, so he immediately ordered an orange juice to soothe his thirst.

it didn't help though. nothing seemed to be helping when denji was around [name] and he couldn't stand it.

[name] then ordered for himself and for denji. being friends for a while meant that [name] knew stuff. [name] knew the food denji liked, the manga that he would read (or at least tried to), and the fact that denji was chainsaw man.

denji's whole body went hot when he realised this. he realised how much [name] knew about him and it honestly felt scary. were friends meant to know so much about eachother? of course they were, but everything felt so different and scary when denji was with [name].

if asa and yoshida were here, denji wouldn't have to be stuck in this situation. stuck being alone with [name].

once the food arrived, denji immediately tucked in. [name] had ordered him a cake, similar to the one denji had recieved when he first went to a cafe with yoshida. it was sweet, moist and overall perfection. denji couldn't help but want to scarf it down immediately.

"could i have a taste?" [name] asked denji, a small, innocent smile on his lips that made denji's whole body stiffen.

lips.. [name]'s lips. denji wanted to kiss them so badly. he wanted to feel [name]'s lips on his own and see how they'd melt into eachother. he wanted to see how their lips fit into eachother. he wanted to see how perfect they were together.

denji wasn't gay though. he shook away his thoughts by thinking a simple "no homo", something asa despised hearing from denji. she knew the truth that denji was constantly hiding from, and so did yoshida.

"oh.. sure.." denji smiled back at [name]. he took a fork, to be somewhat civilised and not to feed [name] with his hand. he put the fork into the cake and took a piece before feeding it to [name], his hand under the fork to make sure it wouldn't drop the cake before [name] could even get a taste.

wait.. feeding [name]? denji's brain was working on autopilot. he couldn't believe he had just done that. he had just fed [name] a piece of his cake. the cake that he was eating. the cake that he was shoveling down his throat with his bare hands. denji thought he was going to faint because of how hot the room suddenly felt..

[name] wasn't opposed to denji feeding him the cake. although he wasn't expecting it, he certainly didn't mind it. it was like a new change of pace for once in his entire friendship with denji. he wouldn't mind more changes in the future wither.

[name] finished the small piece with a hum, smiling at how good the piece tasted. was it better because denji fed it to him? nobody would know, only [name]

denji the looked away, embarrassed by his actions. he had just fed his friend a piece of his cake.. his mind was still on that.

and of course, denji's mind went into autopilot again as he continued to think about [name].

denji started to eat the cake with the fork, not even his own hands now. he was eating with the same fork that was in [name]'s mouth a few seconds ago. the same fork that he had just used to feed [name]. it was like an indirect kissA

the poor blonde yelped and he dropped his fork onto the table, hiding his face in embarrassment.

denji wasn't gay. he was just doing stuff that friends would do with their friends regularly. but why was his heart fluttering? why was his mind racing? why was his throat suddenly closed up and dried? why, why, why?

"i think i'm in love with you, [name].." denji mumbled into his hands, too scared to meet [name]'s eyes.

maybe denji wasn't gay, but he was surely into his best friend [name] and he now accepted it. he wouldn't hide his feelings behind a 'no homo' anymore.

☆ author's note: 1st chainsaw man post! i was planning on posting requests but for some reason i can't edit my old-er drafts so i have to redo them 😪 sorry for those who are waiting!

☆ masterlist ▪︎ request

[acearohippo]

What do you mean by Shen Jiu being female-coded? /genq

Hello! To preface, in a lot of fandom spheres calling any cis gendered character "[gender]-coded" tends to be negative, usually to highlight poor writing or usage of harmful stereotypes, i.e., male-coded women being arrogant and demeaning to other women or female-coded men being sensitive and the butt of jokes among other men. However, there are instances where it is done and, rather than promote negative gender stereotypes it rather... Emphasises a masculine and feminine natures that resonate with people.

I am not always good with words, but there is [gender]-coded that is basically thinly veiled sexism and there is [gender]-coded that is simply nature. Think along the terms of pre Christian colonialism, where many cultures and religions have masculine energy and feminine energy defined outside of biological gender.

I see SJ as female coded because of how the fandom reacts/reacted to him. We don't got a lot of info on him, canon wise, at least not without heavy (and unreliable) bias. But there is a stark difference to how fandom treats him compared to the other men in the story.

And I don't mean in the sense of "he deserved what he got/he deserved so much better" discourse that surrounds him, but how fandom understands him.

Depending on where you fall, the degree of SJ's childhood trauma could range from demeaning slavery with a historically usual amount of abuse and demands to underage sexual abuse and torture. Regardless, the common thread is that men have control over his autonomy. Men (and nobility) dictate what he does, how he dresses, what he will receive, and how others percieve him. This is something SJ does not escape, even when he becomes a Peak Lord, although the degree has lessened by this time. He fails not just because of his actions, but due to the words and judgement of people who only see him on surface level and, thus, scrutinise his every action as "evidence" to their preconceived judgement.

And boy does fandom run with this!

And it makes sense because, a huge portion of danmei demographics are women... Women who understand all too well the dangers a negative statement can have on their livlihood.

This is why Shen Jiu is female coded, to me. Qui Jianluo, Wu Yanzi, Yue Qingyuan, Luo Binghe, even Shen Yuan, etc etc all, in some way, have taken his autonomy. QJL and WYZ did it with their abuse and power over him, YQY did it by undermining him and placating him (while allowing the bad rumours and his bad behaviours to persist), LBH through his revenge (literally crippled him), Shen Yuan quite literally takes over his body and has no regard for its treatment for most of the story.

In fandom, I think its telling that Qi Qingqi, Mu Qingfan, and Liu Qingge also feature as a prominent antaongist that contribute to Shen Jiu's abysmal reputation. Unfortunately, the three kinds of people women should feel protected by and safe with- other women, doctors, and those who uphold justice- are some of the main contributors to the problems they face. They aren't taken seriously, they're ostracised or put down, they're ignored or labeled as over emotional.

Its also telling that, for most fanfics/discussions/art/etc where Shen Jiu is "redeemed" or given a second chance, the main reason why he suceeds is because others listen to him. They let him have a voice and respect it. He is able to advocate for himself and not be torn down or turned away. And if he is, usually there's a man that stands by his side and acts as the "ally" or "bridge" that gets people taking him seriously.

Or, him being attached to a well-respected man is enough for people to change their opinions. Fandom can't help but reflect real life in their works.

So, with all that being said... I understand that there's going to be people who think this is a "bad take" because I rely so heavily on how the fandom portrays Shen Jiu, and that's fine. There will always be Bible-thumpers in every piece of media we consume, and they're here for good reason. But I consume stories for the feelings they evoke and the influence they have on others. People make connections, that's just what we do, and this is the connection I made.

[bonefall]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or this shit,

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

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

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

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

[prince-liest]

love the way you explore Alastor's friendships but especially with his gal pals, which I feel like might get overlooked by a lot of people! thank you so much for the radiodiva fic. it hit me in all of my aroace feels and of course it's great to read more of Mimzy. you even threw in some Niffty (and a Rosie shoutout) that was sooo cute. truly the Al GalPal fic.

it's also super fun to compare Al's behavior with his female friends (and how much of that is informed by time period and those ideals) and how he behaves when boundaries are crossed with Vox in the 666 series. how much would you say is due to differences in power (overlord vs normal sinner) and gender perceptions? or was that something you were taking into consideration when writing?

Thank you so much! It's a really fun topic for me to explore because, as you said, those are definitely all things that I think about when I write about how Alastor relates to other people, especially people with the potential to become friends! I think it's power and gender.

This turned into a pretty long post, so: the rest is under the cut!

We definitely see in canon that Alastor has a different relationship with his female friends than he does with pretty much any male character, period. I think that his behavior in that sense is very much informed by the time period that he's from. Obviously he hasn't strictly retained '20s sensibilities (except maybe with regards to radio, haha), but I think he clearly puts some effort into presenting himself as a gentleman when women are involved in a way that he simply doesn't bother with when men are. He offers a certain amount of leeway and respect to characters like Niffty, Mimzy, Rosie, and even Charlie, who I personally think that he would claim as a friend but doesn't realize he may or may not be beginning to genuinely see as one. Honestly, the female character to get the least amount of leeway from him is Vaggie, and she's outright hostile to him on many occasions.

But... even with Vaggie, he's much nicer to her outright antagonism than he is to, say, Husk. He's still unkind when he prods her about Charlie's expectations in episode one, and I think he knows he has to maintain a veneer of decency with her that he doesn't with Husk, but I think from the way he expresses himself it's still telling that he seems more amused than irritated with her even when he's being a petty bitch about it.

He does have female friends across different power levels, and I think in each case there's a clear consideration to that aspect of the dynamic as well. He most likely owns Niffty's soul, and he gives Niffty an incredibly amount of leeway with his person and outright says that he admires her in a way. Mimzy is a sinner who runs to him for help, and he enables her behavior and attitude with fondness and, I think we can extrapolate, consistently comes through for her requests - he's also incredibly polite to her when he asks her not to, y'know, destroy the project he's currently investing so much time into. Rosie, on the other hand, is an overlord - and he still shows her a great deal of fondness, but I think it's also telling that their dialogue seems to imply that their relationship is very well-balanced by mutual favors.

And on that note, it's also not a coincidence that I tend to reach for Angel Dust, a very genderqueer character who does not personally perform traditional masculinity (and in fact puts quite a bit of effort into his feminine persona) as a member of the hotel crew that Alastor would be the most able to become friends of sorts with. Angel is, of course, also a sinner of a pretty low power level, and I think that underneath the external wildly different presentations, he and Alastor have a lot in common (namely on the topic of masking), but he's not the only character who masks around Alastor and compared to Vox or Lucifer, who are both powerful people and not particularly feminine, he's a lot higher on the "ease of friend potential" meter for Alastor.

The friendliest we see Alastor being with a male character in canon is with Zestial, whose general persona is very gentlemanly... but even then, I would call their attitude toward each other one of friendly posturing as coworkers who have an eye on each other, rather than genuinely friendly.

When I write Alastor dealing with Vox in 666: Live on Air! it's definitely with consideration to "How the hell would Alastor be more genuine, non-performative friends with an actual guy?" because, like... Vox isn't wrong when he says that he's the first dude that's earned the sheer amount of leeway that Alastor offers him, both physically and emotionally.

(Disclaimer I feel compelled to make: No, it's not because Vox is trans. Alastor straight up does not initially realize that, and even despite knowing it at the current point of the story, nothing about Vox's presentation actually reads as feminine to Alastor in any way. He's a softer touch with Angel Dust than Vox for a reason!)

What ends up happening is that Alastor... wants, even if it's largely subconscious, to behave with Vox as comfortably as he does with Rosie, Mimzy, and Niffty. But unfortunately, he runs into the issue of 1) his paranoid hindbrain is still regularly registering Vox as a power-hungry threat, at least in part due to Vox's actual previous behavior, and 2) he is honestly closer to Vox in some aspects than he is to his other friends because of the sheer amount of weird self-discovery they've gotten up to, which means that opening up the same way would be showing more vulnerability, and to a person that, frankly, Alastor doesn't feel like he has a veneer of gender role-dictated propriety to protect himself with. Especially since Vox is an overlord, and especially since a lot of the actual kinky shit that they get up to is predicated on Vox having abilities that the average sinner doesn't.

So when Mimzy crosses a boundary, Alastor accomodates her in whatever way is genuinely important to her, then gently corrects her and sets her on her way. This is just how Mimzy is, this is how their dynamic has been for a long time, and he does not register her as a threat. When Vox crosses a boundary... it's an attack, and if it's a serious enough one, then Alastor subscribes to the school of responses of nuclear proportions to dissuade any motherfucker from ever even thinking about trying again. See: the trail of dead overlord bodies left in his wake after his original descent into hell.

The turning point that leads him to make a deal to his slight but very actual disadvantage in Network 0666: No Signal is that Vox shows him some genuine upset and vulnerability. Vox has been vulnerable before this point, but he's generally been loud, obnoxious, pathetic, and over-the-top about it, and honestly often also just absolutely turned it into a sex thing. This is the first time that Vox managed, though entirely unintentionally, to find one of the heartstrings that is so much more accessible to characters like Mimzy, and accidentally tug on it. Alastor finds safety in the vulnerability of his friends, but he also likes being the powerful figure that provides those friends with help and protection, even in ways that might look like they're to his own detriment.

(Until, of course, they end up actually being to his detriment - see: Adam - at which point he loses his shit about it. But, uh, his ego makes it hard for him to see when that might actually happen!)

Anyway, this ended up a long post that could probably have been less rambling, but I hope it answered your question!

[genderkoolaid]

the whole point of that anon was saying that there is not always a study that can "prove" things but that you should listen to the female victims of trans women and the many, many examples of outed trans rapists who are female/afab compared to those who are male/amab. you posting a study saying there's no pattern doesn't prove anything because the whole point is so much of rape can't be documented legally, esp when there's social pressure not to report bc you will be called a bigot or terf

Man there have been multiple anons I've gotten from trans men talking about being sexually assaulted by trans women and how they were afraid to talk about it because they didn't want to give more ammunition to y'all. You make it harder for people to talk about this kind of interpersonal violence because they don't want to be associated with people who lie about the very real oppression trans women face. Because the rest of us would like to be able to discuss this shit without acting like trans women are privileged or especially dangerous when the truth is they are just people who can do evil shit. & the reason there are "so many cases" is because y'all are fucking obsessed with trans women being rapists. That's why there are millions of news articles foaming at the mouth every time a trans woman could have potentially sexually assaulted someone. The idea that society at large is protective over trans women is fucking laughable, especially with the amount of police brutality trans women face.

You can make this exact same shitty argument for Black men too and racists do it all the time. How many cis woman rapists are out there? Do you know how wildly underreported is that?

I don't doubt you seriously are concerned about rape victims but I also am very sure that everything you say and do is motivated far more by your need to demonize trans women than your desire for accuracy and truth. Because the only way we should be having a conversation about trans women who have sexually assaulted others is in a context which fully acknowledges their very real oppression, and does not view them as radically different from the many, many cis women who are also sexual predators. But again, you are more motivated by your bias against trans women than anything, so the vast underreporting of sexual violence done by cis women is ignorable while any single thing a trans woman does wrong is representative of a population-wide trait. Any evidence of trans women's oppression is written off while you pretend like there are people getting rich as hell off of fearmongering about trans women being rapists, because that's what people WANT TO BELIEVE.

Saying "trans women are rapists" isn't transgressive or brave, its the status quo. If you actually want to help rape victims, stop living in your fantasy world where trans women are catered to by the justice system.

[micah-write]

New leasebound update :3

OK so sheesh a lot to unpack here ok ? Bear with me pookies

First meriam clearly favorise women wich in her case trauma n all is comprehensible , if it was right after or some years after . But now we are well 10+ years after the events , it's sad to see that rusty is twisting once again a good story line that could work in so many ways if she wasn't desperate to make meriam seem like the perfect mother that dared to make the mistake of loving a man .

Now onto "you don't need to date a man" Rissa is right , neither does shez . By that logic nobody "need" dating (wich is untrue , humans are a very social kind and being blocked from accessing our social needs is actually traumatizing , hence why homophobia is such a traumatizing thing , as well as transphobia , being denied your identity and made to believe you're someone you're not is also very harmful , I invite everyone to do their own researches on humans social needs it's truly interesting) so here not only does meriam keep her daughter from her validation wich is something very important for her she ask her to not meet her social needs because 1 (2 men if we count the first husband) hurt her ??? It's incredible hypocritical and mean but still it could've been such an interesting plot to explore but rusty keep twisting it as "meriam can do no wrong"

Aaah there it is , rusty believe that pregnancy should no longer exist (she's a very vocal anti natalist( because it feed into women needing men wich is fucking stupid , as a society we need each other we are social being we need diversity at the point where we are in our evolution .

Erm what the flip rusty ??? Do you not know that abortion and contraceptives exist ??? My theory from what we know about rusty is that she might believe contraceptives are women ways to keep sleeping with men without feeling bad about it ? And to feel powerful by giving into patriarchy ? But it's only my opinion take this lightly

Meriam you are exactly saying this , you are praising your lesbian daughter over you straight ones , you keep denying them of the support they need while feeding into shez an overwhelming amount . Plus you ask your daughter to be celibate to avoid any pain , that's not how it works . The more you will deny someone of something they need the more they will grow for it.

Urgh please end me atp it's just fucking reverse homophobia 😭😭 like we get it rusty you hate the straighties that aren't celibate or don't fuck girls .

Ffs not meriam guiltripping Rissa as well "you'll always have a home" a home where only shez has the spotlight ??? A home where rocky can feed into that light because she's celibate ??? A house so toxic and competitive to get their mothers attention they can't even compare to the all mighty shez ? A home where they're treated like dumb girls not listening to their mother??? It's giving rapunzel af

How HOW why is it turned onto meriam ??? Can they understand not everything has to be about HER ?? Her experience isn't an universal one , none is , everyone is so fucking different. No meriam wasn't too stupid , she was scared left alone and needed support and affection , so does Rissa, she need her social needs met .

Ffs , how is dating risking ones life ?? We get it meriam you're traumatized , but if you're so worried warn your daughter and help them notice the red flags if they appear . Your experience shouldn't conditionate your daughters lives

OH MY GOSH YES SLAY RISSA she finally fucking said it 😭😭 They all need therapy asap fr

Urgh more guiltripping , it's honestly very sad to see yet again how meriam , the mother , wasn't ready to die for her daughters but instead parentified her eldest to the point she was on thr verge of making the ultimate sacrifice because of meriam unwillingness to take on her role as a parent and instead acted as the one needing to be saved . It's sickening and yet if it was well written to show meriams flaw God it would be an insane plot line to demonstrate how complex relationships can become under abuse . But no , yet again it's made to romanticize, play in power fantasy and glorify the lesbian daughter and the bi mother she saved (maybe to demonstrate that lesbian need to save bisexuals from their attraction to men ?..)

She keep making shez the only priority. She parentifies shez to the prize of being her most important daughter/person as a whole . It's gross and disgusting because here it's glamorized to further the fantasy of saving someone and then being seen as their most important person as a reward . It's to the point where I'm wondering , did rusty dreamed of saving her mother ? Did she have a similar conversation and wished she was the one being important. I somewhat can relate to the deep desire of finally being seen and loved as equally as their sibling as you've been parentified . Even tho for me it happened under real trauma and not that disgusting excuse of a trauma depiction. Because rusty did admit to incorporate real stuff that happened to her in her life so I'm truly curious about it all .

As a whole this page was a gross excuse of either making meriam the hero into finally recognizing her daughter shez as the hero she is , the growth of the power fantasy rusty wrote for the other radfems/terfs that most likely want to romanticize others trauma as a power fantasy to enhance "women power n strength" , or this panel is a representation of something that happened to rusty at some point and wanted to express but twisted so this time she was the hero .

[djsherriff-responses]

I’m attempting an actual set up/timeline of sorts for Captain Laserhen and wanted to share what I’ve written down so far

I appreciate opinions and criticism if you’re comfortable reading about an au involving themes of Eugenics, unethical practices that go against people’s bodily autonomy and consent , male pregnancy, abuse and general fears regarding pregnancy, parenthood and how that can change someone

You see Eden, the big fans of eugenics that they are , don’t feel it’s enough to simply scan through their civilian population and hunt down those with “worthy” genetics for their various military programs: They want a way to manufacture super soldiers personally

Cloning seems like an obvious choice and cloning technology is something they have access to. But it takes so many resources just to create and maintain one clone through its development , never mind all the mutations and amount of failures that could happen during the cloning process, and then there’s the issue of this information getting out to the press and the controversy it’d cause

But most importantly, clones are essentially dolls with a conscious, and dolls don’t have any loyalty to their owners. Sure Eden is a master at brain washing and almost perfected the art of manipulating people. But Eden already has defectors and traitors despite their best efforts to maintain control of their own civilians , who’s to say what chaos would happen if mass produced clones became part of the equation?

No , it best to keep cloning to a strict minimum of a select few. A few rogue clones is much easier to deal with then an entire trained army of rogue clones

Eden realised it’s not enough to raise children to wield guns , their soldiers need a reason to remain loyal to Eden despite the horrors and abuse, a connection to keep them tied to the system even when doubt eats at them in the dead of night

And what greater ties is there than that of blood: A family

So Eden gave their male super soldiers a sort of “retirement protocol” where they essentially have an artificial womb (don’t ask me the specifics of this it’s sci fi horror nonsense) so that when those super soldiers (ideally) aged out of the military, they’d get pregnant and pop out a replacement to take their place

Or if a super soldier chose to become a traitorous terrorist, Eden will have leverage to bring them back into their arms

(Dolph in this au is cis and while the Eden army is dominantly cis, there’s likely issues a trans or genderqueer character would face from this situation that simply has not crossed my cis brain, just wanted to add this tidbit here since the set up is primarily focused on cis men going through this unethical treatment)

The specific reasons why this was done to male soldiers:

Women already have wombs and the capability to produce children, so it’d be pointless all things considered

There’s a larger amount of men in the army compared to women, so obviously Eden has gotta put their resources on getting *the men pregnant* replacements for those men ready

Men who are amab aren’t expected to ever fall pregnant and thus aren’t prepared for the turmoil and stress that comes with pregnancy the ways which women are. The men would be in a vulnerable position and would seek out help by any means necessary , plus be much easier to manipulate (either through use of their new found motherly instincts or their desire to be rid of this unexpected baby)

Most importantly,men do not have the means to have a natural birth. This is the most crucial part as the way Eden has done it, the men will have no choice but to seek medical attention to have a c section when the baby is due and thus even if that man does not want to return to Eden, Eden will still have the means to find him anyways

“But what about the press/public learning about this?!” Oh Eden already has an answer to that: Male pregnancies are a result of a strange effect of dimension X leaking into our universe and biologically impacting Eden’s male population(which is all the more reason it’s important to keep alien scum out!)

Basically, Eden blames the aliens. Because a vulnerable pregnant man is going to be far more willing to crawl back into the system that abused him if he believes aliens are the ones making him go through the horrific process of an unnatural pregnancy, instead of the truth that Eden has purposely done unethical practices on his body to keep him on a leash 

And Dolph is one of those men that Eden unethically gave with the ability to have babies, all without his knowledge or consent, yay!

Side note, normal children are 50:50 when it comes to inheriting their parents’ genetics. But super soldier babies actually take about 75 to 85% after their “mother” (again, Eden being huge fans of eugenics and not wanting to lose such valuable genes) so any children Dolph has, regardless of the other parent, will always take more after him

The timeline of this au diverges from the canon plot as of episode two , before Dolph walks in on Alex sleeping with Pagan (so anything that happened after that doesn’t happen, most notably Jade does not die). Instead of seeing the cigarette and finding his cheating boyfriend, the smell of the smoke makes Dolph vomit and team ghost are forced to abort mission. Though technically it’s been divergent from canon before episode one even happens

[em-nikolaev]

The Duality of "Strong Female Character No. 2"

So, I'm re-reading the Conqueror's Saga by Kiersten White for what must be the thousandth time, and I keep comparing it (irrationally) to another series I'm re-reading, that being the shades of magic. The main line of connection I've been able to draw between them are the female characters featured within, both SOM and TCS have 'strong female characters' in a historical setting, but they are so very different in how they are written.

I'll confess, I don't like Lila Bard, she gets on my nerves, for the longest time I didn't really relise why, but now I have a thesis, so buckle in.

Lila is NOT a strong female character, she's manipulative, cruel, a bit misogynist, and selfish, which, on it's own would be fine, we love flawed characters in this household, but the problem is, it's never acknowledged in any real way during the series how her actions harm others, and even herself. Her views are validated and rewarded without consequence, I mean, there are moments when she feels some semblance of guilt, but it's never more than a fleeting thought, I'd like to make it clear, I understand why people like her, and that's completely fine, she's a strong woman with a knife and an absurd amount of confidence and that's awesome, but I can't help but feel that her presence in the SOM is bringing the series down, feel free to disagree, I'd love to be proven otherwise, but as it stands, I don't think the character of Lila Bard is a good one, especially in comparison to Lada, who is a similar character in a lot of ways, they are both forced to act more like men for safety and power, they are both strong willed and dangerous women, but the thing that I think raises And I Darken and subsequent books above and beyond in their writing is the way Lada interacts with other women, as well as how she reacts to the world and her own actions.

At first Lada and Lila are quite similar, Lada thinks of women as weak and powerless, likely due to how her mother abandoned her to a situation that ultimately resulted in both her and her brother's captivity (not a spoiler, it happens pretty early on, if you haven't read And I Darken I can't recommend it more, It's great) but as the story progresses her view is challenged, she meets many different women in a similar situation to her and she ends up seeing how femininity and their womanhood can be just as powerful as the control which she has found with blunt force and cruelty, but she finds that, for the very same reason those women were able to leverage their femininity, she was not able to, Lada is not beautiful, she is not "court smart", and she is not patient, these are faults which she understands, much in the way that the women around her understand that they too have faults in that they do not have the physical strength or strategy to fight numerous battles, all this to say, Lada is different than (some not even all) the women around her, that does not make her better or worse, just different, whereas with Lila, she's "not like other girls" because she's perceived as better, breaking even the very laws of the established universe to express that she is special.

I'm really interested in hearing anyone's thoughts if you've read either of these books, I would also like to say that I really enjoyed the Shades of Magic series aside from the grievances I stated above, and am not saying that I think V. E. Schwab is a bad writer,

With that I conclude my long winded essay, don't forget to drink water, eat food, and sleep!

[eternal-echoes]

“Besides, if you're seeking a soulmate, birth control isn't likely to be much help. Not much reflection is needed to notice that many men are likely to postpone marriage if they can enjoy the pleasure of sex without the responsibilities of fatherhood. Imagine how much more serious men—and women-would take the sexual act if making love meant making life! There's a reason why life and love are naturally united within the womb. What God has joined, we ought not separate.

… When a woman is sexually active while hoping not to become pregnant, her life is a contradiction. If she sets her will against life, where does this leave her when a pregnancy "accidentally" occurs? Often, the woman is told that she can simply choose to terminate the pregnancy and move on with her life.

Is it so simple? If abortion solves the "problem," why do studies show that women who elect to have abortions are seven times more likely to commit suicide within a year of the abortion as compared to mothers who gave birth?1 One researcher noticed a significant trend to many of these deaths: A disproportionate amount of them occurred seven to ten months after the abortion. The researcher noted, "This may correspond to a negative anniversary reaction related to the expected due date of the aborted child."2 Postabortive women are also more likely to require psychiatric hospitalization than the mothers who gave birth to their children.3”

-Jason and Crystalina Evert, How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul

Mika Gissler et al., "Suicides after Pregnancy in Finland: 1987-94: Register Linkage Study," British Medical Journal 313 (1996): 1431-34; cf. B. Garfinkle et al., "Stress, Depression and Suicide: A Study of Adolescents in Minnesota" (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Extension Service, 1986), quoted in David C. Reardon, "The Abortion/Suicide Connection," The Post-Abortion Review 1, no. 2 (Summer 1993).

David C. Reardon, "Abortion Is Four Times Deadlier Than Child-birth," The Post-Abortion Review 8, no. 2 (April-June 2000).

David Reardon et al., "Psychiatric Admissions of Low-Income Women Following Abortion and Childbirth," Canadian Medical Association Journal 168 (2003): 1253-56.

[rollinggirlrunahika]

Rolling down from Here: [x]

@hyaciiintho:

It wasn't as though he hadn't noticed her stare. On the contrary, it was rather DIFFICULT to ignore the way her gaze bore into him. It was just hard to focus on the smaller details when you found yourself in yet another distant world that you knew NOTHING about, streets just a window away being packed with others moving to and fro-- a sea of bodies that never stopped moving. It was... a little overwhelming, if he were to be honest. For all the places they had seen during their adventures, nothing compared to... Shibuya, was it? It was truly the most unique and POPULATED world he's seen yet. "Well, you're right about that: It wasn't easy." Riku confirmed her statement, gaze being slow to pull away from the window, even as he made an effort to shift his head to better face her. "There were a few... let's just say keys, to gather, first. Once we did, there was a clear path through the power of waking. Although, Shibuya wasn't exactly my original destination... Even if it does look exactly like my dream... Maybe we just got the name wrong..." He trailed off then, eyes lowering to settle on the table's surface. It was hard to deny the uncanny similarities between where he found himself now, and the place from his dreams-- Even down to that distant tower.

"... Well, one thing's for sure..." His attention was now successfully won over by her, taking his turn now to STARE openly and take in her appearance. It was a strange feeling, looking into the face of someone you once knew, feeling both FAMILIAR and entirely foreign all at the same time. Still, deep in his heart, familiarity won over the battle, and a smile tugged at his lips. "... It's good to see you again, Runa. Of all the people I could have run into, this was the nicest surprise."

Runa followed Riku's gaze towards the streets just outside as he spoke. As always, the streets were practically filled to the brim. Yet, there was an odd order to the chaotic rush of foot traffic. There was the various business men and women speed-walking their way through the waves of people, while you could also see students from junior high and high school chatting up with their friends. Some way, some how, no one has managed to shove anyone over.

It was definitely something to see if you haven't seen so many people in one place before.

She briefly glanced over at the other, trying to get a read of his expressions. At first, Runa couldn't help but feel a corner of her mouth turn upward, a bit amused at his general reaction to the amount of people outside the cafe going about their day.

But, at the mention of how he didn't intend to end up here in the first place, she noticed that Riku seemed... [Disappointed] wasn't the right word... Neither was [Sad].

... [Concerned]..? [Confused]?

Either way, the girl couldn't help but feel sorry.

Then Riku had to turn at stare right back at her, catching her by surprise as he practically scanned over her features. Runa could only imagine what must be going through his head, cause it certainly felt like he was staring for a while before continuing his sentence.

Of all the people I could have run into, this was the nicest surprise.

Runa could feel her cheeks start to heat up, and she almost wanted to slap herself silly. NO! NOT AGAIN! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS GUY IN LITERAL YEARS YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUSLY--

She faked a cough, quickly looking to the side and took another swig from her coffee. She made a mental note that she was almost down to just ice, so her options were even more limited of trying to distract herself.

"A-Ah.. Well, I'm glad that at least something good came out of all this," Runa managed to say, looking back at the silver-head before her. Seeing that smile, well, Runa couldn't help but smile back. "I really am glad to see you again too, Riku. I'm sorry that this isn't uh.. Quadra..tum..num. But, you're welcome to come stay with me and Dad if you need to rest up before heading out again. And.."

She paused, raising a hand to hold over the heart shaped locket that dangled from her neck. Her bright blue eyes shined with determination as her brows furrowed.

"If you need anything, anything at all to help find Sora. Let me know. I'll try to help you in anyway I can."

[caitie-likes-talking]

Speedwagon: JJBA’s First ‘Woman’

aka a commentary on the treatment of Speedwagon by the fandom, and how it’s managed to fully feminize him in a unique way.

Speedwagon is a main ally in JJBA Part 1. He’s Jonathan’s best friend and yknow does a bunch of shit for him, including creating the Speedwagon Foundation.

Now, what I really want to talk about is how fans treat Speedwagon. The main ‘joke’ of the fandom—which is for some reason both long running and ongoing—is that Speedwagon is the ‘#1 Waifu’ of both JJBA and anime in general. Now, in case u somehow don’t know, a ‘waifu’ is a female anime character that people simp for/consider ‘wife material’ I guess. It’s a term generally used by greasy guys who live in their moms basement. A good example of a ‘waifu’ would be Hinata from Naruto.

So already, this idea of Speedwagon being a waifu feminizes him an intense amount. I mean, it’s literally grouping him together w a bunch of otherwise female anime girls. However, this ‘joke’ also branches into simply using female terms for Speedwagon. Wife, mommy, best girl, and terms along those lines are commonly used to describe him (who I would like to remind everyone is a MAN…)

“Caitie, it’s just a joke. Why is this a problem?”

Well, first of all, it’s just unfunny. It’s the same level of unfunny as when ppl include tequila Joseph or Bruno in a pic of “hot anime girls.” Secondly, part of why I find this so harmful is another factor. Most people agree that Speedwagon is into Jonathan.

It’s not like it was much of a secret. However, people use Speedwagon as a way to joke about gay men. They call him a woman, wife, and overall feminize him the same way homophobes treat actual gay men.

People also use him as a way to joke about other people being gay. This joke isn’t really harmful but it sure is annoying

But the thing that really takes the feminization of Speedwagon to the next level is the way the fandom boils him down to what he’s done for Jonathan—the main (and male) protagonist. Many fandom spaces do this. They only treat female characters “well” if they think she’s been helpful enough or has done enough for the male mc.

I’ve also seen people compare Erina and Speedwagon in a way that’s very reminiscent of arguments like Sakura vs Hinata.

This is what I think makes Speedwagon’s feminization so different from other characters that are also feminized. For example, Noriaki Kakyoin from JJBA Part 3. (Or Bruno, or Doppio, ect, ect) Kakyoin is feminized in a way that fetishizes gay men, as it’s always in ship art/fan fictions with him and Jotaro. Kakyoin is depicted as weak, small, girly, and just overall the female love interest. However, he is still a man. Why? Because this is fetish art drawn by women who are into gay men that fit heteronormative dynamics.

Meanwhile, Speedwagon isn’t generally depicted as small or feminine. Yet, people genuinly act like he’s a woman. They compare him to Erina, they use feminine terms for him, and use him to be their little gay joke.

Anyways I’m done. This is a silly rant but I’m passionate abt it. Leave Speedwagon (and Erina tbh) ALONE!! He is not ur waifu. He is not ur wife. He is just a guy!!

[detectivemaker]

The return of the compilation of ideas I have

1. Batman does allow metahumans into Gotham but only a limited amount of each type (ie, only two kryptonians, or only three speedsters), the rogue's help inForce these limits, here is a scene I thought of

Clark drives in his car, to the Border of Gotham that separates it from the rest of America, he parks at the Crossing booth and turns his head to begin speaking to the officer but he can only stay in shock at the man that stands before him

jervis tech trust in a gcpd officers uniform stands in the booth, staring down the man in the car as if analyzing him to compare him to someone in his memory." sir, I'm going to need to ask you to turn around" jervis  says finally after what seems like an eternity of staring, in response to the confused look he gets from Clark he gives an exasperated sigh and presses a button which closes the garage like entrance to the border crossing hut

" okay Mr Kent, you probably don't know the rules of our fine City, but there's a limit of the amount of metahumans of your type allowed in the city" the short man says punctuating his statement by pulling out a booklet from the pockets of his police uniform pants," it says here in the book" he turns around to show Clark the page on how many kryptonians are allowed in Gotham, " then only two of your kind all loud in the city, and seeing as both your youngest son and cousin are in this city, you're not allowed in", Clark is about to attort but the blonde continues

" unless you have invitation from the Batman or any of his gaggle of sidekicks, but I would have gotten a call about that and I haven't so you don't"  his hand moves to the garage button but Clark blurts out," I'm actually going to pick up my kid" holding the blonde in his tracks

" oh, if that's your reason for wanting entry, you can go through" he presses the garage button and and Clark drives into the city

2. The many reasons that Gotham is a crappy place, be it the greed that seep through the veins of just about every person of wealth in the city, or the corruption interlocks itself into the brickwork of the police office, or the seemingly endless tidal wave of mad men and women that seem hell bent on blowing up any building they see, but another reason many people seem to overlook are the many curses etched into the very brickwork of the city, all these curses seem to coalesce into one goal

drive anyone who had a chance at a bright future into the dark pits of Madness,

and now I pose you a question dear readers: what would happen if the villains learned about this curse that damn them to the Halls of Arkham

some may say they wouldn't care, and for many interpretations of the characters that would be true, and that's true for many of my au's villains, but not for The dork Squad and the many mad men and women the call of the members of this squad friends

you see from the support they gained from the other members of the group and their friends in the halls of the asylum, these three men have gained some control of their lives back, but deep inside themselves they know that something dark looking in the very bones of this city wants to drag them down to the deepest levels of Madness, so deep that no amount of medication or professional techniques could ever bring them back, jervis feels it the most potently, sometimes he swears he can see the dark tendrils of the madness curse trying to get under his skin into his very DNA

and now I posed you another question, what would the Batman do if his villains decided to leave town, in an attempt to escape the curse trying to drag them into the depths of insanity?, what do you attempt to talk them not until leaving?, or he join their pilgrimage and leave his home to rot in the miasma of its curses?

For you see though he can fight the aristocrats, eventually they'll find a way to turn the curse, from a slow acting rot of the Mind, into a potent Blast Of Madness that destroys all mines it comes in contact with, and they will use this madness gun to neutralize anyone they believe to be in cohorts with the bat, until there's no one he can turn to and they turn the curse on him

3. Someone made a post that compared the Jurassic costume changes that drove his head in the Arkham series to the costume changes in Alice madness Returns, and it makes me think of a story, be told through video fanfiction or comic book, of an alternative playing out of the events of Arkham City from the Hatter's perspective

the story is played out as moments in his life where he decides to change his costume

his original costume is a colorful affair, his hair was it's natural red and he had sideburns

the First costume changes is prompted by the Scarecrow who gives him the idea to embrace his villainous side and lose the sideburns, oh and dye his hair a different color

the second costume change  is prompted by Hugo ripping apart his very identity and leaving him to piece himself back together

the third costume change  is finally decided entirely by himself again, it takes aspects from his other outfits and coalesces them and do something that's entirely him again, he turn to hair to its original red but doesn't bring back the sideburns, this is the outfit he kills Hugo in

I'd like for the moment he decides to change his outfit to be describe or visualized as him mentally drawing out the new costume, except for the one that's prompted by Hugo, it should be shown as Hugo ripping apart his old drawing of his outfit and leaving him to tape it back together

[nonbinaryproblems]

Sexism Meets Racism: Native American Women Live a Different Truth Than White Women

Introduction

While there is a general assumption that all women experience in the same way - or at least very similarly - that completely dismisses the fact that race plays a huge factor in the way women are treated. Sexism and racism tend to go hand in hand and it’s irresponsible as activists to ignore that. Women of color are constantly dealing with both issues and that comes with endless harmful stereotypes. Just to name a few: “black women are angry”, “hispanic women are housekeepers”, “muslim women who wear hijabs are oppressed”, and “indigenous women are inherently promiscuous.” If we continue to assume that all women walk through life experiencing the same set of problems, we’ll miss out on so many ways we can help them fight for the rights they deserve. Indigenous women in particular are constantly being belittled and erased from the conversation so the goal of this paper is to not only educate on the problems they face in their daily lives but to also call for social change.

General Context

The Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women wrote an article about “MMIWG2S - Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit” in which they detail the horrible odds native women face. The article explains that murder is the 3rd leading cause of death for native women between the ages of 10 and 24 years old and the 5th leading cause of death for women ages 25 to 34 years old (CSVANW, 2022). In comparison to white women of the same age, for whom homicide is the 6th leading cause of death. Native women begin life at a disadvantage because they are so much more likely to be killed. In addition to that, a research article called “Violence Against Native Women” written by Roe Bubar and Pamela Jumper Thurman (2004) provides even more important context. Bubar and Thurman explain that “an intimate partner raped Native women at a 15.9% victimization rate” and “nearly 75% of Native American and Alaska Native female homicide victims are killed by someone they know” (p.72). These numbers show that not only is the violence coming from outside their communities, it’s also coming from within. It’s almost impossible to escape violence as a Native woman - especially in this day and age - because it has become such a large part of their lives and deaths.

A good amount of the issues that women face are because of their gender, but there’s a terrible disparity between races. It’s so unfortunate that this is the world we live in but it’s also so important that we bring awareness to this issue. White people - women specifically - have to take a step back and acknowledge the privilege they have because of their race. They have to take part in the fight to get Native women the rights they already have. This problem will never be solved if no one even knows it’s happening.

In addition to constantly dealing with violence, Native women also face financial problems even when they’re full time employees. Lean In wrote an article titled “Native American women face a pay gap—and that’s part of a much bigger problem” in which they explain just how much the wage gap affects Native women. The article explains that Native American women earn 40% less than white men which is also 20% less than white women (Lean In, 2022). Some of the long term effects of this gap are obvious - such as the fact that they’re missing out on about 1 million dollars in income compared to white men. But some are less obvious. For example, almost 3 in 5 Native mothers are the breadwinners (online the western stereotype of men holding that role) which means that they’re unable to provide for their family because the system literally does not let them (Lean In, 2022). Native women are at a disadvantage no matter what job they hold and their families are suffering for it. While all women experience an awful wage gap, women of color feel the consequences much more than white women.

Personal Experiences

It would be hypocritical to talk about solving the problems that Native women are facing without sharing their own personal stories. Esther G. Belin (1999) is a famous Diné artist and writer and she’s most well known for her work From the Belly of my Beauty which is a collection of her poems. One in particular stood out, “Euro American Womanhood Ceremony”, and in it Belin tells the story of how Native Americans were forcefully removed from their reservations and forced into American boarding schools. She says, “[the girls] were trained to specialize in domestic household work to mimic the rituals of Euro-American women” (Belin, 1999). Women are “expected” to be housekeepers in western society but that’s not exactly the case for Native women, at least not in their cultures. That makes it even more devastating that these young women were forced into these roles. They were taken off the reservations and made to conform to societal standards that weren’t their own. So even though it’s unfortunate that white women have to deal with this stereotype, at least they weren’t stolen from their homes and then forced into it. Later on in the poem, Belin (1999) talks about the “womanhood ceremony” they were supposed to have on the reservation. They had their own way of doing things and the girls were robbed of this beautiful experience to celebrate growing older with their family and their community. This isn’t to say that white women don’t experience problems because of this stereotype, but it’s twice as unfair that native women have to deal with both the stereotype and the trauma of being forcibly removed from their homes.

Another common misconception about native people is that due to their lack of written history, their experiences aren’t as valid. A great example of this is shown in a poem written by Ophelia Zepeda (2008) called “Birth Witness” from her book Where Clouds are Formed. In this poem, Zepeda (2008) talks about how her birth is not seen as “real” in the Western world simply because she doesn’t have a birth certificate or documentation of it. She explains that her language is “too civil for writing. It is too civil for writing minor things like my birth” (Zepeda, 2008). She is forced to conform to the standards set by people who don’t know her culture in order to have even a chance of success. If there was more education about their language and their way of doing things, maybe there would be systems in place to prevent this from happening to more people. But instead, Native people are constantly having to explain themselves or just accept that no one will ever take the time to truly understand. The documentary A Thousand Voices (2014) shares many different stories from Native women of different backgrounds and how they are adapting to living in a Western society. One in particular stood out, a story told by a man about his grandmother. He talks about how she always put on a brave front in the face of bullying in discrimination because she wanted to teach him “a lesson of compassion. And a lesson of strength” (A Thousand Voices, 2014). However, as inspiring as that story is, it’s also a bit sad. Outside of their community, there is an assumption that women are weaker and quieter and in order to protect their family, they have to fit that as best as they can. His grandma could have stood up for herself and her grandson but it was just easier to walk away. She was limited by the way society expects her to act. So yes, this man was taught a lesson of strength and compassion but he was also shown how damaging stereotypes can be. He describes his grandmother as a strong leader and beautiful woman and she is all of those things, but she’s forced to live in a white centric world which means that she can’t be that all of the time which is sad.

Racism on Film

One of the best places to see examples of the different ways women are mistreated due to their race would be film. It’s common for a woman to be background characters on film and play nothing but a love interest, but it’s a little bit different for Native women due to the many stereotypes at the disposal of the writers. The time period a movie is made can also play a big part in the treatment of the female characters in it. For example, Stagecoach, a film directed by John Ford in 1939, has a shameful portrayal of women of color. Despite the main “villain” of the film being the Apaches, there is only one Native woman who’s given a speaking role. And for the most part, all she does is break up the plot of the movie with a song (Stagecoach, 1939). This scene serves little to no purpose and it seemed like all the writers were trying to do was make her look and sound beautiful. Native women are often sexualized both on film and in real life and this movie is no exception. Even in a movie that’s supposedly about Native Americans, their roles are lackluster, stereotypical, and demeaning.

In comparison to Stagecoach, Drunktown’s Finest has a more modern yet just as depressing depiction of the treatment Native women experience. One of the characters, Felixia, is transgender and the audience gets to see how she navigates the world as a trans woman of color. Felixia is a sex worker and she uses her gender identity and her race to her advantage and seeks out men who fetishize women like her (Drunktown’s Finest, 2014). Given the fact that his film was made in the 21st century, it’s message is slightly better than Stagecoach because at least in this one, the Native woman isn’t just a sexual being. Felixia is actually given a personality and we see how the horrible treatment affects her. In one scene, she’s auditioning for a Native American women calendar and the other contestants make a transphobic joke at her expense and she runs off crying (Drunktown’s Finest, 2014). Even though she doesn’t fight back at this moment, Felixia is not written as a weak woman. By the end of the film, she embraces all that she is, including her culture, and doesn’t let her mistreatment rule her life.

Systems of Oppression

As previously stated about the wage gap, there are systems of oppression in place in our world that don’t allow Native women to succeed. One that affects almost every aspect of their lives is healthcare. It’s already well known that women are often not believed by doctors or their problems are brushed off with commands to “lose a few pounds.” However, when a woman of color goes to the doctor she has to deal with that on top of the fact that many doctors are either not trained to treat or diagnose patients that aren’t white or they’re just racist. A research article called In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-Specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care written by Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond explains the ways in which indigenous women are discriminated against at doctors’ offices. Dr. Turpel-Lafond (2020) lists the many stereotypes that are inflicted upon these women and they include but are not limited to: “‘Less Worthy’ of Care”, “Drinkers/Alcoholics”, and “Irresponsible/Non-compliers” (p. 21). These women have to walk into the office knowing that without even having the chance to introduce themselves, people will assume they know everything there is to know about them. That can make it incredibly difficult to argue on your behalf and fight for the treatment you deserve. In fact, Dr. Turpel-Lafond (2020) mentions that these stereotypes lead to “inappropriate/no pain management”, “rough treatment”, and “medical mistakes” (p. 22). Imagine trying to get help for a chronic illness or even something as simple as the common cold and being shamed, not believed, and even harmed by your doctor. That’s the truth that these women have to live each time they try to get help. That can lead to a mistrust of doctors, and the healthcare system in general, and they might begin to put off going to the doctor all together and not receive possibly life saving medical help.

Another place that indigenous women have to deal with racist systems is college. College is supposed to be a place of new opportunities and learning, yet so many people are shunned, discriminated against, and not given a fair chance to have those experiences. A research article written by Brenna L. Greenfield titled Understanding measures of racial discrimination and microaggressions among American Indian and Alaska Native college students in the Southwest United States explains the long term effects of such treatment. She writes, “greater exposure to discrimination on each measure had small but significant associations with more substance use, lower income, and poorer self-rated physical health” (Greenfield, 2021). This kind of discrimination has become so normalized it’s almost expected that these women experience it, yet no one is talking about what it’s really doing to them. They are at higher risk for drug problems and being poor just because they choose to go to college as indigenous women. This isn’t something that’s going to change overnight, because clearly this is a structural problem. There needs to be a larger discussion and colleges have to step up and start shutting down students who think it’s ok to treat others like this.

Conclusion

bell hooks is a famous feminist activist, most known for her piece written in 2000, Feminism Is for Everybody, a work in which she encourages her readers to step closer to feminism and reevaluate their take on it and what it truly means to them. She wants people to acknowledge that white feminism is not the end all be all of feminism and that in order to cause real change we must work together and bring more people into the movement. hooks (2000) wrote “sisterhood could not be powerful as long as women were competitively at war with one another” (p. 3). White women aren’t technically wrong to fight for rights for themselves because as women they are mistreated by a lot of society. They had to fight for voting rights, they are still fighting for equal pay, and they deal sexual harrassment on the daily. But they’re wrong when they choose to ignore women of color who deal with similar and oftentimes worse issues. Suffragettes shouldn’t have just “started” with white women, they should have pushed for voting rights for all women regardless of race. The wage gap is 20% worse for Native women yet that fact is often left out of the equal pay conversation. Women on film are hypersexualized but Native American women are automatically expected to be sexual beings both on film and in real life. There is no room for improvement if people are refusing to look at the entire picture. While the assumption might be that we need to take a step back to see it, let’s follow what bell hooks asks of us. Let’s step closer to feminism, step closer to Native women, step closer to the problems they deal with on a day to day basis and listen. Hear their stories and their struggles and ask how you can help. The world will never progress if we refuse to listen and Native American women have been screaming for years.

[gemsofthegalaxy]

I have in fact talked about this on tumblr before (and got some nice conversation and assurances over it!) but I want to talk about it again just because I'm watching a video and I always end up reacting to videos on this damn webbed site

so i've been watching Evie Lupine's kink/BDSM education all morning for funsies now that i'm stepping into actually trying some stuff out myself and I clicked on the video about addressing Guilt and Shame because i'm a recovering catholic

i find it interesting that she said in her experience mostly all of the women that she knows had a relatively easy time letting go of guilt and shame, those that were raised religiously found it a bit harder, but they still often had done a lot of work before they got to bdsm and kink whereas a lot of men cling to that shame whether they're Doms and feel horrible over wanting to "hurt" people or subs who are perceived as being emasculated like, instantly, because of the fact they're subs. and she emphasized several times that this is just her personal experience, of course, which i respect

I personally can't really relate to that super well. first off, i haven't had many deep conversations with men in kink so far lol. i will say the women i know at least Seem empowered sexually buuuuuuut the one i talk to the most is very submissive and loves to please and do what she's told, and be free use, show herself off, etc.. I know she does have limits, but she also is down for a lot of things, and there's nothing wrong with that and I shouldn't compare myself to her, but I just worry having the limits I have is, like.... BadTM or something.

anyway, I DO think kink and BDSM are actually helping me with the sexual liberation i've been seeking and working towards for like, actual years now, but, since I'm not a perfect sub and have no desire to be a perfect sub I still end up feeling "shame" or perceived guilt or whatever. I do think my relationship to conventional beauty standards plays a mediating role here, because, like- where do I as a fat woman have the audacity to think that I should get the attention and fawning over that I desire? Why would it be okay for me to be a pillow princess and to take pleasure without feeling the purehearted sole desire to return that pleasure twofold? mind you- I even like reciprocating! i have no particular need to be w a stone top, although my ideal match would be a service top and even that I feel like, oh, that's too much, I don't 'deserve' that, I have to have done something or be a certain way to deserve it first.... but i don't want to have to earn it, at least, not through anything more than mutual conversation and asking for it lol.

i might be stressing over where i fall on the sub-domme spectrum for an indefinite amount of time and that's fine, it really goes beyond that, but I do want to continue to work towards owning the fact that i'm a princess and not feeling ashamed for wanting pleasure first and foremost and everything else that follows along. shit is hard, but. we stay silly.

[steege-jpt3391]

Blog Post #15: Tampopo by Itami Juzo

I’m really upset that we had to watch this film because of the sheer torture it was to watch people eat ramen, because at the end of this film, I was left craving ramen. Sadly, Gainesville isn’t really known for its ramen so now I am writing this post sad and hungry. I am also upset for other reasons which I will dive into later in this post but to continue our 80s film, I watched Tampopo by Itami Juzo. The story follows the main character Tampopo (no way just like the title of the movie), a widow who runs a measly ramen shop that gets barely any customers. While minimal amounts of people visited her shop, two of those who did were Goro and Gun, partners-in-crime truck drivers who stopped their drive one day for some food. The two stop at Tampopo’s ramen shop and are quite disappointed in the standards of ramen as part of the bleak and cramped shop, Goro immediately notices how the water used to make the ramen is not even boiling. Goro then gets into it with a drunkard who’s an alleged local of Tampopo’s shop, gets his ass kicked, then decides he wants to help Tampopo and help her become the best ramen chef in all of Japan. This kickstarts a whole training arc of Tampopo’s journey to learn how to properly cook ramen and be the best chef she can be. And if that’s not exciting enough, viewers also get to enjoy some light porn involving numerous food kinks AND a three-minute-long shot of a baby sucking a woman’s breast! I think you know where this review is going.

Personally, I really did not like this movie. If I compare it to the films I loved that we watched for this class, it does not even come close. Comparing this and Morita’s “The Family Game,” I cannot understand how Tampopo gets more fame than that movie since I think it’s miles better. I’ll try to keep it concise as there were many things I disliked about this film, but two of the main things that stuck out to me were the side plot with the gangster and just the overall story. The story of Tampopo was, to put it simply, boring. I did not find myself resonating with any of the characters, the plot was confusing at times, and the story just did not make me want to keep watching. I thought it was a bad decision to depict Tampopo as this desperate widow who cannot do anything in her life because to me, it was really setting women back several years. The film’s plot only spurs from these two men with a savior complex to come in and help this woman sheerly out of pity. Because of how ingenuine and immature the characters' motives were, I did not find myself interested in any of them. To add on, I still have no idea why one moment I’m watching a truck driver in a cowboy hat yell at a helpless widow that the broth is boiling, I close my eyes for five seconds, and then I’m witnessing two people make out with a raw egg in their mouthes and have this gangster straight-up season a woman’s booby with salt and lemon and then proceed to suck it like it was a red, white, and blue popsicle you get from an ice cream truck. Then they killed a live turtle. And here I am thinking I’m supposed to be watching a movie about ramen…

I did think that the film had some interesting takeaways on the power of food and how it brings people together. Through helping Tampopo open up her shop, many characters of the film whom we saw earlier would come together with Goro and Gun to help Tampopo out. For example, it’s revealed that Pis-Ken is the drunkard from the beginning of the movie, he sees Goro’s efforts to help Tampopo, is inspired, and decides to join in and help using his interior design skills to redecorate the shop. Unfortunately, that was not nearly enough to make the film enjoyable for me. Sorry for this angry blog post, but I’d be lying if my opinions on this movie were positive.