#explain how harmful it is

[leave-a-whisper]

I posted this on twitter but I want to expand on it here without character limits.

If you need context, see this tweet.

I don't talk much about heartstopper because I find the fandom disgusting (and tonight is a perfect example of that) but I do need to say something about this because I am honestly so horrified and angry right now. An eighteen-year-old kid was just forced to come out after being harassed online for months by people who felt entitled to his sexuality.

This is one of the many reasons I feel so disillusioned with the queer community. This is something that is mostly coming from queer people who believe that you have to be queer in order to play a queer character, 'act' queer in public, or even so much as question your identity. None of this is true. Kit's sexuality has nothing to do with his role as an actor, and neither does anyone else's. This is harassment of queer people and we need to start calling it what it is because this needs to fucking stop.

Don't just call it out when it comes from 'straight' people, because queer people are doing it too and it's sickening.

The worst part about all of this is that the misuse of the word queerbaiting, the constant pressure of closeted people to the point where they have to come out, this is all born out of this new wave of fake online 'activism' coming mostly from other queer people. It's not activism, it's harassment.

The reason this is so disheartening is because this is a form of emotional manipulation against queer people that is more harmful than most forms of homophobia I've come across in my life.

Kit will never get justice for this. Every queer person you guys have forcibly outed will never get justice. You guys love accountability unless it goes the other way and the only apologies these people will get are from those of us who have been speaking out about this since the beginning.

If you are one of those people who have used the term 'queerbaiting' to engage in this kind of harassment, you need to step back from your online bubble and think about what it is that you did. You stole an extremely important moment from someone, a moment he will never ever get back.

Only you should chose how and when you come out. No one else is entitled to that. You wouldn't want someone to take it from you, so don't take it from anyone else.

[elodieunderglass]

[cemeterything]

just spent 2 hours infodumping to my coworker about state violence and how it contributes to the consolidation, enforcement and maintainance of power (through things like capital punishment, torture, systematic corruption, propaganda, divisionary tactics and dehumanization, etc.) and turns out she has similar interests so it was literally like this

[lgbtlunaverse]

Marcille doing necromancy was very sexy of her I agree but it's an experience watching anime-onlys fully go with her "Magic has no inherent morality it's just about how you use it" argument. Because they'll do some genuinely really cool analysis on like... conflating disgust with morality, or the way power structures will dictate what's acceptable purely to maintain their own power, and with every form of magic being so capable of harm why is ONLY black magic forbidden, huh? And I just have to sit here biting my nails like–

But I can't say that because i'd ruin their fun.

[enden-k]

Hi!! You're free to ignore this if it doesn't interest you ofc but I wanted to talk a bit about the "Aventurine racism" thing. It's mostly people not reading things right and misinterpreting things (as always.)

Aventurine is said to be Sigonian, a race known for being untrustworthy. Now, "Sigonian" is not a reference to any real place or community, in any language. It's entirely made up and exists only within the honkai universe. The reason people started speculating that he is Romani is because he calls himself "Avgin", which the game translates as "honey", and "Avgin" is indeed the romani word for "honey". This, of course, doesn't prove he's Romani or based on any Romani culture at all, but people took it and ran with it.

Ratio called him "Sigonian thrall" and, since Romani people have suffered a lot with slavery, people started freaking out. The thing is, Aventurine is a slave, but it has nothing to do with any Romani inspiration or traits he might have. Aventurine is a slave because he works for the IPC, and a good majority of IPC workers are enslaved to the IPC. He's not even the first character to be shown to have a branding mark. Topaz, who I didn't see anyone complaining about, is also enslaved to the IPC and has the same marking on her neck.

It should also be noted that although both Sparkle and Ratio were racist towards Aventurine, the "race" being discriminated against is entirely fictional and not meant to represent any real ethnicity or culture. We should keep in mind that the story is set in a magical universe, and we have nearly no information on Sigonians or Sigonia-IV.

Personally - and this is just my own theory/interpretation - I don't think Ratio was being racist at all. Judging by how the IPC operates, Sigonia-IV has most likely been destroyed or suffered a great disaster, so his claim of Aventurine being a "Sigonian thrall" could've been just a mention to how he has nowhere to run from the IPC, since his home world is gone. Also, Sparkle is just mean, and not really a trustworthy source of information - her comment on Sigonians being notoriously untrustworthy could be her own personal opinion rather than fact (of course, we don't have enough information on this to claim that it's just her opinion, nor that it isn't.).

Sorry for the long ask! I also have more to say about the possibility of Aventurine being romani if it interests you, based on him being a Su expy.

thanks for explaining this further, i dont really have anything add to it other that i share your interpretation there but i think its interesting for the others to see as well (this entire topic is tiring me out but mostly bc of some ppl taking it to extremes or making stuff up to prove their points. thanks for taking the time to write and explain all this!!)

[squishe]

im baffled about how so many people are suddenly shitting on transmascs for having the audacity to label our discrimination and making fun of terms like transandophobia and mocking us for talking about transmasc-specific issues and discrimination (which is a documented thing! and we have different factors intersect with our oppression than tma folks have intersecting with transmisogyny! and NOONE is saying that transandrophobia existing makes it worse than transmisogyny either!)

like what do you want us to do? are we just supposed to shut up and take it because us being afab means our problems are "lesser"? are we supposed to say that every other trans person has it worse so we can't talk about it anymore? what is the proposed solution here? mocking transmascs and harassing them and sending horrific anons to them isn't exactly a solid answer.

i genuinely truly don't understand why people are so upset about this and why it's such a big deal for us to label our experiences and talk about it when everyone was falling all over themselves to adopt new phrases when the terms transmisogyny and tma/tme started gaining traction. it's gross and weird. we're all siblings in the same fight here, infighting is pointless and a waste of energy. why are we trying to to beat each other down when this energy would be, y'know, actually progressive punching up and fighting the oppressive structures CAUSING these issues instead?

[mxtxfanatic]

Interesting commentary about how most people will identify with victims/victimhood while feeling discomfort when others identify with perpetrators, especially given the fact we live in societies (at least the one I’m in and the one that book was written in) that habitually materially revile victims on every level while championing and supporting perpetrators of certain violence.

[beanghostprincess]

I can't believe I just had to explain my last Zolusan (more Lusan/Sanlu than anything but yeah) fic to somebody because they said it was normalizing unhealthy behavior when it comes to starting poly relationships. As if the monster trio would talk things out like normal people. Seriously.

Please NEVER leave a comment like this on a fanfic. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it. I am not here to educate people!! I am not your parents!! This is a fanfic site!! Don't expect me to write a manual on how to have a poly relationship, especially when it would be out of character for the main couple.

I'm gonna leave the link to the fic here and what I told them about it because now I am extremely anxious other people won't get what I want to express with this fic and I feel the need to share my thoughts:

[deoidesign]

I'm sorry if what I say is wrong in any way, I don't mean to offend you, it's just something I'm not completely sure about. Does Adam use he/they or they/them pronouns? I think I saw a post of yours where you said that Adam uses he/they, but it was a while ago and now I'm not completely sure (and I don't want to use the wrong pronouns)

I know you don't mean anything by it, but I am sad that so many of the asks I get start with people saying "I'm sorry, I don't want to offend you" or some variation thereof, followed by completely normal questions. I think I may have been responding too harshly to too many things and given the impression that I'll jump at people for being wrong...

But asking clarifying questions is always okay. I mean, it's also okay to be wrong and even offensive. What matters is if you learn from it when someone points out that it was wrong or offensive. I won't stop telling people they're saying something hurtful if they are, but I don't want that to lead people to be scared of me or something.

Correcting people is always just about correcting them, not hurting them. It's okay to need to be corrected, were all learning new things every day.

Anyways Adam uses he/they, you remembered correctly

[suitmana]

father hans you are the best worst old man to me (yes more than old jochen). i love how the game tries to give him some depth without shying away from his actions

heavy discussion of the apostasy route ahead

so, yeah, he's very zealous in his religious beliefs.

but despite (or maybe because of) his strong convictions, he cares a lot for kieferberg, even if only out of moral obligation:

i mean, he has the decency to feel a little guilty about the supernatural terrors he puts the town through:

that very religious zeal, unfortunately, also makes him willing to have any of kieferberg's residents burnt at the stake for the sake of the town's "salvation". ironic, then, that in the same letter that he condemns walpurga's followers he starts with this:

his well-meaning, yet extremist religiosity is also apparent in his relationship with elise. even with the clear animosity on both sides, he was genuinely concerned for elise's soul after learning about how holle had her in the first place:

...as that concern later turns into condemnation:

yet he doesn't even word it as something he looks forward to either. just something unfortunate that needs to be done.

the way he tries to keep the peace throughout the game and is actually one of the more vocally skeptical among the townsfolk (even if part of that is to diffuse suspicion towards his own experiments) is also interesting considering how his religious beliefs enable him to do genuinely terrible things. like he believes that his god has no problems with him burning people alive but also he wants to be absolutely sure that there's an actual witch to burn in the first place. he is simultaneously the personification of everything wrong with kieferberg and one of the few (aside from gustav, leb, and freya) who are barely keeping the village together

[maranull]

actually fuck gender perception

i'm not "presenting fem/masc", i'm me. why the shit does it matter —to others— what i wear, how i walk or how i move? am i my perceived gender or am i a person?

i'm not on hrt cause i want to fit in whatever "fem" mold people have constructed in their heads, i'm on hrt cause it (sometimes) silences that voice in my head screaming that my entire being is constructed wrong and twisted

how do i explain that it's not the physical and visual changes that make hrt life saving for me (they do play a role, but a small one, comparatively), but rather the occasional peace inside my head.

[seluneclerics]

i hate when people act like you can’t make a cute gith with the base CC because it’s objectively untrue

let go of the need to make (particularly women in fantasy) physically desirable by our own society’s stupid rigid beauty standards and just have fun! i love my little swamp elf very much thank you

[sunshinebarbie]

okay so no more stray kids mv’s for me. as i was waiting for my sister i decided to watch mv’s and i watched topline // stray kids ft tiger jk. and seeing all of them i couldn’t contain myself and bit my lip too hard and now it’s bleeding uncontrollably 😳😳😳

[bottombaron]

psst hey baby gays

attributing power dynamics to top/bottom positions when advocating the validity and equality of queer ships to hetero people who have no understanding of it and probably already view queer sexuality as something k-inky and imbalanced compared to hetero sexuality…

you’re being a part of the problem

[sparklywatercolors]

thinking about how 🐱 wrote geniunuely harmful stereotypes about my cultures and then when I called her out she told me she knows better than me. Sorry making a drunk Russian man beating on his Ukrainian wife who takes it and is subservient is uh.... yeah uh what the fuck are you doing. She made them because she was inspired by me and my culture too which is WHAT???? 😭 My bf was literally like wait no way that's actually rly horrible. She's also written other harmful things about them that I'm like gIRL.

Like yes I know I'm a third gen slav with an American upbringing and some other cultures in my blood now but fuck 🐱.

Like my best friend has Slavic ocs and they're rly cute and have magic powers which is cool as hell!!!! and she asked me if she's leaning on harmful shit, like we wrote our characters and then their cultures not what fucking 🐱 did with them.

🐱 talks about stealing people's ocs bc of whatever bullshit.... Time to fuck with her and rework her characters tenfold /j (I'm not actually like that lmao)

[soldier-poet-king]

This is extremely mean but I'm just. So tired of my family. Tbh

Oh AND my aunt was talking up the j*m c*veziel child trafficking movie yesterday at new year's lunch to my mother. And like I get. That my mother and my aunt are each other's best friends. And my aunt has been Going Thru it wrt her health and is suddenly extremely like. Into not thinking critically and being superstitious wrt faith and touchy feely and talking about the shack and randomly making broad acclamations of faith in the middle of conversations all that. But also like. God. God have mercy I do not have the self restraint to deal with this anymore, it's one thing from my elderly Nonna who never went to school and who's only engagement w religion and faith has been that kind of folk religion. It is another thing entirely to see my cool fun UNIVERSITY EDUCATED AND YOUNG aunt be like. Ah yes. I've forgotten how to think about anything beyond vague warm feelings about religion. Also the most fuckin incorrect discussion of theodicy in my life I was sitting there sipping mimosas so I didnt start screaming. Theology?? Reason? Logos? What??? HER HUSBAND HAS A DEGREE IN CHURCH HISTORY AND RELIGUOUS EDUCATION like I don't always agree w him and I think he's very much lacking knowledge in the hellenistic + philosophical side of things which makes it hard to really grasp early church theology tbh. But like. He has a head on his shoulders at least.

Just gonna fuckin start. Throwing intro to Greek philosophy + Augustine at everyone who insists on making these assertions without knowing literally anything I don't even LIKE Augustine. I love him and hate him. We're worsties ❤️. I am kissing him on the mouth. I would fistfight him in a heartbeat. I wrote my masters thesis on him. But like. YALL. CMON. CMON YALL. WHAT IS THIS KUMBAYA PROSPERITY SHIT I would rather a rigid interpretation of Augustine founded in his philosophical roots than this. Or literally. ANY school of thought. The key here is THOUGHT. THINKING. THE THING WE ARE MISSING. My funny but often irritating Trad leaning analytic philosophy cousin is better bc yeah analytic philosophy sucks and is often soulless imo but STILL