#he/him butch that's just how it is I don't make the rules

[rotisseries]

I will headcanon every fictional woman EVER as a lesbian. every single one. except max mayfield. she is THE most bisexual to ever bisexual. congratulations to the brothers duffer for making me fully, completely, and actively believe in her attraction to men

[sanrielle]

I've been thinking a lot about Katara and her feminism vs. her desire to preserve her dying culture. Like I know that the SWT probably isn't as sexist as the NWT, but there are still a lot of enduring practices that have roots in patriarchy, as demonstrated by Sokka's earlier sexism.

So I think Katara would end up with an odd mix. She's obviously a staunch feminist who thinks girls and women should follow their own paths, regardless of what society in general thinks their roles should be. But at the same time, she can't escape from some of the subtler (and possibly more insidious) traditions of 'propriety' and the role of women as the homemakers.

[Obligatory disclaimer that I don't know that much about Inuit culture when it comes to these things. I'm purely basing this off of what is shown in the cartoon itself.]

Something that kinda goes along with this is Katara's necklace. To her, it's a symbol of her grandmother's struggle for independence, as well as a memento of her mother and the sacrificial love she displayed. In the NWT, it represented (at best) a romantic commitment and (at worst) a transfer of property. I don't think she'd associate hers with either, and she'd probably be insulted if Aang tried to give her a new one when proposing.

(I maintain that the necklace she wears as an old lady is the same one she had in childhood. The fact that it looks wonky in that one screenshot is nothing more than lackluster rendering.)

Anyway, I've gone a little off topic. I just think she's a really interesting study in how someone can rail against the negative parts of their culture that don't appeal to them, while also having an internalized fondness for some of those same traditions, simply because they are familiar and nostalgic.

Take Toph for contrast. I don't think she's the butch anti-feminine person a lot of people make her out to be. She just does what she wants. She's perfectly happy to go to the spa or wear dresses and makeup, but only if it's her choice to do so. She's railing against the repressive and oppressive culture of elite EK society simply because she previously had no agency over her life.

Meanwhile, Katara takes an active role in seeing to the physical and emotional needs of her brother/friends. And even though that 'motherly' role is largely a trauma response and something she deeply resents at times, I think it's also a source of comfort to her. Something about her culture that she desperately clings to.

I think a lot about her and Aang's life post-war. They would be very focused on reconstruction for years, most likely. Katara would have her own projects with the Water Tribes, but also spend a lot of time helping Aang. Some part of her craves the validation of appearing to be 'proper' concerning her relationship with him. Maybe she's a bit hypocritical about it: unwilling to wait until they've settled down to be intimate, but also reluctant to publicly break certain social 'rules'.

She keeps telling herself there's so much to do in the world, and maybe she feels this heavy burden to do as much good as she can before allowing herself to rest and slow down and create the family she's always wanted.

But then ten(ish) years have passed and suddenly! Baby on the way! Oops! Katara knows she's a public figure and cares a lot about how she's seen. She wants the respect of the people from her own culture. And so they stop. They get married. They settle down.

Katara becomes the wife and mother, which she definitely wants while also having some lingering regrets and conflicting feelings. She still wants to be a role model for other girls and women, but she likes not being constantly on the move and fighting people and playing politics. She likes getting up in the middle of the night to sing an old Water Tribe lullaby to her baby. She likes it the most when Aang is there because he's always seen her as an equal partner, not a piece of property.

Anyway, I didn't really have a point. Just rambling about my own headcanons. I've always put a lot more thought into Toph and Sokka's characters, but I guess Kataang has been on my mind lately. And tbh I never gave Katara the attention she deserved when writing fics, which is a travesty.

[spacelazarwolf]

I love how niel basically said "literally every headcanon on Crowley and Aziraphale's gender is pretty much canon because they don't play by human gender rules" and people looked at that and said "okay but UNLESS it's this one." I love the post btw it's really cool and makes so much sense!!! Like the trans metaphor is THERE and it fits PERFECTLY!!! But no we can't have nice things I guess. Like you didn't even say you headcanon Crowley as transmasc but EVEN IF YOU HAD it STILL wouldn't erase anything niel has said. You literally just said he was a good METAPHOR for it. Ayways, great post, rock on.

thank you! that’s honestly something i really love about good omens and the way neil wrote the characters. it’s cool that they’re ambiguous enough in all the right ways that you can interpret their gender or sexuality pretty much however you want. i like interpreting them as a butch femme couple, and i really do love the idea of crowley as a trans man. but i’ve also seen people headcanon him as a trans woman, or aziraphale as a cis femme gay man, and like! it all works! bc neil gave us a great foundation to work with!

[roachleakage]

I really used to enjoy Danny Phantom as a teen, but looking back on the show - especially knowing what we now know about Butch Hartman - I really can't say that it's aged well for me. It certainly has its good points - the villain cast being one of the biggest - but there's a lot about the show that doesn't quite gel, or worse, is so distinctly Hartman that it's hard not to see his smug, manipulative, conservative Christian face all over it.

One of the things that bugs me the most is how the show will exaggerate things to drive a certain ideological point home. Fairly Oddparents does this too, of course, but it's in a setting where the entire tone is zany and comedic, so it's easier to chalk up to Standard Cartoon Logic with a dusting of Hartman's distorted worldview.

Danny Phantom, on the other hand, tries to balance that same level of exaggerated 'comedy' with a genuine amount of drama and Cool Superhero Stuff, and it makes the placement of those exaggerations stick out like a sore thumb. Like the fact that in the first episode Sam's "ultra-recyclo-vegetarianism" means she eats literal dirt, in an episode where we're clearly being led to see vegetarianism as an unbalanced extremist position held by radical hippies who don't understand what a Balanced Diet(TM) is.

I have a lot of feelings about this episode, but they can be summarized with "Sam did nothing wrong." In fact, the only reason the school's decision to try vegetarian food is a "problem" is because they deliberately paints it as disgusting and inedible as possible, using the excuse of Sam's suspiciously vague (but assuredly extreme) dietary label to imply that She Is Really Just That Unhinged. It's a choice that comes off as ignorant as it is mean-spirited, and I'm not even a vegetarian.

Mostly, though, when it comes to delivering morals, the show sticks to a tried-and-true format: A character does something "wrong", the thing has unintended consequences that they end up having to fix, and by the time everything is set back to order they've learned a valuable lesson in why they shouldn't do that.

This is a formula that works well when the consequences of the character's actions make a modicum of sense, or are at least thematically related to the original slip-up. A classic example of this format in action would be The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which has a wizard's apprentice decide to try using magic to do his chores for him, only to learn the hard way that he doesn't have the needed expertise to actually manage the results of his master's spells.

Fairly Oddparents used this formula a lot as well, and to my recollection, it works for the same reason the shenanigans in The Sorcerer's Apprentice do: Timmy isn't just breaking rules, he's messing with reality-altering magic. Of course the consequences are exaggerated and unrealistic. But Danny Phantom tries to use this same format without the benefit of a conveniently generic supernatural plot enabler, and as such, a lot of the "consequences" feel tacked on if not entirely forced.

One of the most glaring examples is in S1E6, when Tucker's idle wish that he shared Danny's ghost powers unwittingly reaches the ears of a genie*, who then grants him exactly what he wants. He then proceeds to use his new powers to do all kinds of petty bullshit, and eventually the wish gets corrupted - not because of what he actually did, mind, but because Desiree's wish-granting just works that way - he turns into a monster and Danny ends up having to turn him back to normal. At the end, Tucker concludes that he messed up by envying Danny's powers, envy is bad, and he's not going to do that anymore.

*Sort of. She's technically a ghost, but works like a genie.

The thing is... none of this really happened because of envy. Tucker wasn't even acting on his feelings at all - he just happened to idly wish he had ghost powers in front of someone who could grant them to him. There are definitely lessons to be learned here, like how it's healthier to articulate your negative feelings than to stew on them until they bubble up and fester, but the show isn't going for any of that low-hanging fruit. No, only the most banal and straightforward Christian values deserve to get shoehorned into this plot.

But perhaps the most egregious example is the introduction of Dan Phantom, Danny's evil future self who is spawned when Danny... decides to cheat on a test. Yes, you read that right - an ordinary childhood mistake, which Danny was tempted to make due to nigh unbearable pressure to keep good grades despite spending most of his time fighting ghosts, is what causes him to start down the path of becoming the most dangerous villain the setting has faced to date.

To be fair, this wasn't delivered as "cheating on tests will send you down a slippery slope to mayhem and murder". No, the reason any of this happens is even more ridiculous: Cheating on the test causes Danny's family to be in a local restaurant during a catastrophic explosion, and wracked with grief by their death, he convinces fellow ghost halfling Vlad to basically tear out his conscience (which he happens to be able to do) and then he tears out Vlad's ghost half, merges with that, and becomes The Worstest Guy Ever, Just So Bad You Guys.

Danny fights the guy and manages to beat him (as you do), and then, scared straight by this vision of what he's capable of becoming, comes clean about having cheated on the test. If this sounds like a Fairly Oddparents plot... yeah, it is, it was a whole two-parter and everything. But more infuriatingly, this entire plot had nothing to do with the actual incident that supposedly kicked it off.

I mean, there certainly can be negative consequences to cheating on tests. For one thing, you might get caught and get in trouble (although that's arguably less a 'consequence' and more 'another person's choice in how to react'). For another, possibly more compelling reason, taking shortcuts on a test can cause you to rob yourself of valuable information that you could have learned by doing things the hard way, and which you might need for an even more crucial situation down the road. But none of those consequences involve turning into a horrible person, even in a grounded, non-cartoony sense.

And frankly... cheating on a school test is really just not that big of a deal. Standardized tests, especially of the type we started using in the wake of the No Child Left Behind act, are fucking terrible at aiding in providing a good education. Which, may I remind you, is what school is actually supposed to be for - not for rating students on how honest and hardworking they are. But, you know, whatever, Butch.

Anyway, this happens a lot. It would legitimately be faster to list the episodes that don't follow this format, at least early on. Sometimes the formula works better than others, though even when it is relatively tame, the "values" that the show keeps trying to impart often leave a bad taste in my mouth. What kid needs to be taught that if they ever hang out with the "popular" kids, they're betraying their real friends? Or that it doesn't matter what other problems they have in their life, they just need to put down the video games and apply themselves and they'll get amazing grades?

Butch Hartman, fundamentally, is a man who has convinced himself he understands children's problems despite all evidence to the contrary. Danny Phantom reflects that both in the way the show grasps at straws to generate moral crises, and the ways it distorts even real moral challenges into distorted caricatures of themselves. I'm not surprised the fanfic scene seems to be 50% fanon at this point - the version of this show that exists outside my fond teenage memories is just not good.

[fuck-customers]

I talked about my ordeals with who I dubbed Stalker Boy a while back, since I still don't know his last name (it took me about 6 months to find out his first name, since he decided to start stalking me at work after seeing me there once) but this isn't about him lol.

This time, the stalker wasn't here for me, he was after my coworker I'll call C. For context, C is barely 19 and tiny, and generally looks even younger than she is.

Well a couple weeks ago (the week after Mario came out), she was walking around in the back with a manager doing whatever, and this guy, who was about 40, and also roughly 6ft 5, was following them. After a while, the manager stepped away and the guy used the opportunity to corner C. And you'll never guess what he says.

Creep: "Hey, I think you're really attractive. How much would I have to pay you to have sex with me?"

C ended up kinda staring at him and saying "I can't disclose that information" because she didn't know what else to do.

Luckily the manager who'd walked away got a bad feeling and came to get her. C filled in the manager but the guy had disappeared, so they had C shut herself in the break room (where I was on my lunch) until they could find him and remove him from the building.

After I come back from lunch, I go back to working door (taking tickets), and keep my eye out for the creep, which was hard because I never actually saw him.

(Seriously dude, I have a lot of respect for sex workers, but what the fuck makes for think that's an appropriate conversion starter, let alone using it on a teenager half your age and size that you cornered while she's sweeping up popcorn???)

Fast forward a couple days. We had what I was told was a glitch, but I think was actually human error, but we ended up having three shows, in the span of roughly an hour, for Mario where two shows had been created for each time slot in the same room. So it was crazy busy since they sold out and twice as many people showed up as expected. And since there were two tickets per seat, we had to implement system for explaining what was going on to people as they come in and establishing who gets the seat and who gets a refund, and it was just a huge mess. One of the shows, the first one that was double booked, had 250 seats, meaning there were 500 people there for it. And guess who decided to use the confusion to sneak back in.

So I finally managed to get to the end of the line, but the managers were still at the service desk trying to do refunds, and I hear one of the newer girls radio about a creepy guy who was standing inside the doors to the auditoriums and just staring. I'll call her N. N, like me, is butch, and I'm not sure if Creeper realized she's a woman, or if he was just only interested in C. Here's a helpful artistic rendering of what N was seeing.

(Not pictured: being in shadows because he was standing in a dark room)

At this point, we had no way of knowing that it was the same guy, but she kind of walked away, and when she came back a few minutes later, he was still there, though he later started moving to other auditoriums and doing the same thing. C was actually there that day but was on lunch.

So N was radio'ing about needing help dealing with a weird guy who's movie-hopping, and she said he was getting really aggressive when she asked him what he was doing. The managers kind of just waved N off (over the radio), saying that they were busy, and told her to deal with it the best she could. I was getting bad vibes, so I walked over to tell the managers directly that they need to go help N. I'm working the front door so I'm not actually allowed to leave the little area, but luckily, the service desk is right on the edge of my area.

And one of the managers snapped at me as soon as I got two words out and said "We're we're with customers, you know better than to interrupt". Which, they're right. I've worked here longer than both of them combined. I know damn well how things work and I follow the rules, so if I'm suddenly not doing that, it's because I have a fucking reason, m'kay?

N managed to summon enough guys from the cleaning crew to help her herd the guy to the front, at which point the manager who'd kicked Creeper out last time recognized him and realized how serious it was (she's not the one that snapped at me) and she kicked him out again.

Because I don't know why this guy would be hiding in dark rooms and watching and waiting, unless he was waiting for C to walk by so he could do god knows what to her.

And then about 10 minutes later, one of the managers who snapped at me came over and was like "did they tell you about The Guy?" And I just stared at him and said "*I* was trying to tell *you* about The Guy, and you told me to go away." And he didn't say sorry or anything, which is what I expected.

And then apparently Creeper came back two more times later in the week on days I wasn't there and on the fourth time, the manager had finally decided enough was enough and called the cops and he ended up getting arrested. So I hope that's the last we'll see of him but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[raventhedracovis]

tell us about wordgirl bestie!

Will gladly use this as an opportunity to talk about a few headcanons that are canon in mine and @c0de-0f-the-clans reboot!

I'll stick with the characters we've done line ups for for now. Which would be: Becky/Wordgirl, Huggy, Tobey, Dr. Two-Brains, Chuck, The Butcher, Charlie, The Other Henchman, The Whammer, Invisi-Bill, Big Left Hand Guy, Ms. Question, and The Coach.

Becky/Wordgirl (or course we're starting with the girl herself):

Bi. She just is. I don't make the rules. Yes I do >:3

Non-binary but uses she/her pronouns. Comes from noticing in the show how casual she is with referring to herself as "mister". Even lampshaded in the Thanksgiving episode when she says "no more mister nice Becky! ... Or miss Becky. Either one :)".

She's got two birthdays, the day her parents adopted her and the approximate date she was actually born. Her birthday is always celebrated September 28th, but her actual birthday is closer to December 16th.

Part of the reason Becky sucks at art so much is because she sees way more colors than humans can perceive. A color combination that looks good to her just looks ugly or like the same shade of brown. Though even without the whole "painting with colors beyond human perception" thing she just generally sucks at art.

Becky is autistic and stims by pulling and messing with her hair. We also decided she has a bee necklace and she fidgets with it too.

Her full name is Rebecca but goes by Becky.

She's currently 4'5" and the shortest in her grade. When she's all grown up she's going to tower over her friends at around six feet (or more).

Bob/Captain Huggy Face:

Captain Huggy Face is not his real name (or title but I'll get to that in a later post). It's just the name Wordgirl came up with on the spot.

Just like Becky, Bob is only his nickname. Robert is his full name in the family.

Pan.

Non-binary as well. Just his vibes.

By Lexicon standards, he's considered colorblind. By Earth standards, he's not fhdh.

In his late 20's, but part of the reason is for a different post.

Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy

Trans man <3

Demi pan.

Chuck's full name is Charles Edward Guy.

Chuck is in his early 20's, a headcanon we pulled thanks to a flashback in the show where Tim and Sally are clearly around the same age they found and adopted Becky but Chuck is oh so small.

Dr. Two-Brains

He stands at 6'5" but slouches a lot and therefore looks more like 6'3".

Technically has three birthdays! One for Steven, one for Squeaky, and one for the day the two fused.

Pan. Can and will flirt with anyone and everything.

In his late 30's.

The Henchmen

The other henchman is Joey Meatball. We both had different ideas of what his name was and thought the combined name was funny.

The two are romantically involved <3

Charlie is 6'7", the other one is 5'2".

Both are in their 40's.

The Butcher

He's 6'9". Big man.

His full name is Jack Edison Shepherd Jr. He went by Butch for a while as a kid, and it kind of stuck.

Bi

The reason he struggles with words so much is because he has an expressive language disorder.

In his early 40's.

Tobey

While he was the tallest kid in 5th grade, he's only gonna be 5'4" all grown up, and it's going to make him so, so mad jhkdg.

We have also hit him with the autism beam.

He had braces at some point, as evidenced by a retainer that can be seen by his bed in most episodes. We have however, just given him braces in our reboot.

Tobey has anxious attachment style. Something I can literally talk about in paragraphs (and have. Twice.) and will probably share another day.

His birthday is reverse pi, 4/13.

The Whammer

The Whammer is half Greek, half Texan, and 100% professional wrestler. His father is a Greek immigrant who got into the professional wrestling career where he met The Whammer's mother, a professional wrestler from Texas.

His real name is Adam Minos.

Was supposed to follow in his parents' footprints and apprenticed under his dad. Unfortunately, his powers where deemed illegal for use in the ring.

In his early 20's.

He's 5'8".

Gay.

Invisi-Bill

He is romantically involved with Big Left Hand Guy. :]

In his early 30's.

He has ADHD.

Stands at about 5'11".

Gay.

Big Left Hand Guy

He is romantically involved with Invisi-Bill. :]

He's related to one of the reoccurring bank security guards.

Has anxiety.

In his late 30's.

He's 5'1".

Gay.

Ms. Question

Trans and non-binary. She's non-binary in the sense that she dodges any questions about her gender. No matter what, she will make you second guess yourself when you try to give her a label.

She's Afro-Latina.

Bicurious, because she's also dodge the question jdfkgh.

Her civilian name is Anne Neasia.

In her early 30's.

Very tall woman. Stands at 6'.

The Coach

The Coach has dwarfism. He stands at 4'8".

He's related to Timmy Tim-Bo. It's why he keeps him around.

In his late 40's.

[bonefall]

I don't understand he/him lesbians, I'm friends with a few lesbians and they all say it's harmful to lesbians for someone who identifies as male to call themselves a lesbian, is this right? If you're not comfortable explaining that's ok! I just saw you answered an ask with it and I wanted someone else's opinion? I'm not too keyed in on sexuality and genders and stuff (I'm a bi cis woman) but I'm trying to learn more to be more considerate to the people around me and stuff

Hey, if you're reaching out and seeking advice on the topic, that is good for me!

I will not do this very often though just because I want this blog to be a place for funny battle cats and general celebrations of queerness, but for you, I will give you a brief rundown and some good links to further reading if you'd like to learn more.

So this sentence is aimed at everyone who is not this anon; my stance is not negotiable and the block button is my best friend. Do not use this post to argue. Thank you.

It is not correct that people who identify with masculinity cannot use the term lesbian.

Queerness isn't about rigid boxes and fitting ourselves into them, that's what we're supposed to be against!

Lesbians are people who identify in some way with femininity and have sapphic affections for other feminine people. I've met agender (no gender) lesbians, genderfluid (gender isn't rigid and shifts like liquid) lesbians, demigender (sort-of feels gender but not much) lesbians, multigender (identifies with multiple genders possibly including masculinity) lesbians, so on.

I have even known a transgender man who found the label better described his relationship to women than the term 'heterosexual.' When asked why, he described it as, "I don't love women the way other men do." Even though he was no longer a woman, he still felt a connection to femininity that he felt was best described as sapphic.

A person's relationship to gender can be a very complex and multifaceted thing. In fact this complexity is why I personally use the term genderqueer.

When a homophobic chucklefuck says, "Uhuhuh im a lesbian like u because i also like women what now" What they're doing is being disrespectful. That is what is harmful about that. They do not care that you say, "Ah, well, a lesbian is only women who like other women!" because now you've given them a foot in the door to shave women down into rigid boxes of femininity to fit stupid binary rules.

TERFs have used this in the past to divide our community. Our enemies do not care that our terms "make sense." They just want us gone.

Pronouns don't always equal gender.

Just like how I mentioned that there are masculine people who can identify in some part with femininity without being women, the same thing can happen with people who are women and feel a connection to masculinity, or something else entirely.

Lesbians using he/him pronouns goes back for decades, even centuries. Some would use these pronouns to pass as men (and may have been what we'd call transgender men with modern terms), while others feel a strange relationship to their assigned gender through their sexuality, and some simply prefer he/him.

He/him lesbians, they/them lesbians, xe/xir lesbians...

Discomfort is not the only reason to change your pronouns. Disconnect is not the only way we explore ourselves. Sometimes it's pleasure!

PLEASE GO READ

(CW: The following literature is intended for adults and discusses sexuality and queer history, including oppression, violence, racism, etc.)

Female Masculinity by Jack Halberstam Talks about the history of masculinity in the lesbian community. Important book. Please read.

Butch, Femme, Dyke, Or Lipstick, Aren't All Lesbians The Same?: An Exploration Of Labels And "Looks" Among Lesbians In The U.S. South, a thesis by Denielle Kerr While this one isn't about history, it's a really good introduction to the discussion in general since you specifically mentioned not knowing much about these issues. It touches on a bunch of popular queer theories in a way applicable to lesbians specifically, like performance theory, bodywork, intersectionality... Just follow the citations when you see something you'd like to know more about.

[huebris808]

trying to break out of my shell and post madcom hc shit aka Look At My One Of Many Weirdass Hank Ramblings, Boy

hank you know them. they're six-foot-something and wanted to try volleyball. they dont get sarcasm and refer to stuff as "thingys". they're the autistic power fantasy of throwing bricks at those who view you as subhuman. their bedroom's apparently just a mirror to practice cool poses with and a blanket and their favorite drink is eggs now according to the streams. and they are your new nonbinary president

im constantly fluctuating between Animation & MPN Are Two Different Timelines/Universes or They're The Same, But He’s Testing Which "Hank" Is More Favorable/Useful To Others

wasian hank truther baby. (jp+filipino-american)

this guy would probably use わたし/私 (ive seen a lot of artists use オレ/俺 for him though but i feel like its a bit?? much)

definitely had to pick up sign-language after [Vague Gesturing] All That

has autism in the way that they have No Clue they got it. like "damn i got [Specific Autistic Issues]. sucks that im so so normal and yet i must endure The Problems everyday"

speaking of autism, enjoys confined spaces sensory-wise. vents and boxes and shit like Come On Man. Do You See The Vision.

gonna be honest like half of the shit (Understatement) i got for hank is projection but what's madcom without that in some aspect!! that's the POINT man!!! [ON KNEES WAILING] that's the POINT

working in real estate and as a mercenary since The Incident made their self-worth go to SHIT; in a world that dehumanizes you, you are quick to dehumanize yourself. this is where the power of lesbian friendship comes in

subconsciously puts doc on a pedestal over time, leading to (See Bullet 1); this dissipates after they somehow reach a conversation of Bitch We Are Both Equals And Fighting For Our Fucking Lives Out Here THEY SOLVE SHIT TOGETHER MAN!!! THEY SOLVE IT

sorry. sorry. im trying to delete it

out of nowhere maybe its the Autistic Projection maybe its cause im allergic to Sadstuck Shit i dont dig negative stuff with 2bhank it just feels Wrong :-( i wish i could word this better but like. i need these little chesspiece fucks to learn to communicate

what i will refer to as the Newspaper Era (aka the time before we got doc characterization from arena mode) caused people to make some weirdass depictions of their relationship and im glad its phasing out. The Horrors

main 4 are all butch lesbians btw. not sorry about that one

also POLYCOMBAT TRUTHER this dude would HATE how vulnerable these three would make them feel at first. they're the first to actually treat him like A Guy and that fuck him up a bit initially

i think eventually they all reach a point where they're able to do stupid shit together like fireworks or breaking chairs over each other heads. you've seen how doc is don't exclude him from doing dumbass shit

"erm… actually they wouldnt be friends or have fun or date theyre ruthless criminals and madcom is cruel :/" L + ratio + the rule of The Funniest Thing Is The Answer in madcom prevails + That's The Devil Talking, Boy

shit at technology. if they had a blog their lack of skills would loop back around to make them the most powerful shitposter on earth

there's definitely more that im missing here and takes that Don't Suck (for example people need to put out more hankford content. Cmon Man) but my brain has this shit Queued Up in a way so. Yeah

[insomniac-jay]

Beloved mutual Jay, how would you style the outlaws (and I do mean all of them) /nf

Time to go into my ModernGurlz bag

Jason: Jason is punk, I don't make the rules. Lots of black, lots of leather, the whole nine yards. He gets his clothes from thrift stores, yard sales, and local markets.

Rose: Rose dresses like a goth but in a butch way. She's got a crazy amount of pocket chains, like it's insane. Buys the same pair of combat boots from the same place.

Eddie: Eddie dresses like an old school metalhead with the leather jacket, graphic shirt, jeans. Everything. He has a bunch of patches that Jason got for him shortly after they met back up again.

Artemis: Artemis is very sporty. Lots of stylish tracksuits of different colors, sports bras, tank tops. It's been her chosen style since coming to the man's world.

Summer: Pastel, softcore type of fashion. Very colorful and bright with lots of pink and shoes with big soles.

Imani: Imani dresses like Aaliyah. I said it, it is out there in the universe.

Kyle: Kyle dresses like this. This man stays wearing a Nike shirt with every outfit thanks to Guy.

Matthew: Something like this. I want all the guys to have a distinct style because not many people know how to dress their male characters.

Thaddeus: He dresses like a skater. The only colors he'll ever wear are neons and he only has like two pairs of shoes. He is perfectly fine with this.

Daisy: A lot of Daisy's outfits have flower and overall floral motifs. She needs a lot of skin exposed, but not to the point where she's naked.

Lilith: As I said, she can wear just about anything but her style is emo.

[helsex-moved]

Posted this as a thread on twitter because I got fed up with them so might as well put it here.

Why mspec lesbian hate/discourse is just the same old bigotry and terf-like exclusionary mentality in a new font:

Where the problem starts is making hard and fast 'rules' about any label, sexuality or gender. Like, lesbians can only be non-men attracted to non-men, or lesbians can only be attracted to someone feminine identifying.

That there's a 'point' to any sort of definition like that. Labels are not boxes not for the wider populace to smash you into, they're for you and only you.

We contain multitudes, humans are vastly complex, our feelings and identities cannot be explained by one label with one fixed definition and they shouldn't have to be. Reducing a label to a simple meaning for your own convenient understanding is foolishness. You don't have to understand the intricacies of everyone's identities, you just need to respect it.

But engaging with that argument on the terms that there are set limits of labels, this ignores HUNDREDS of years of queer history. People have been using 'conflicting labels' for centuries. If we say it can only be 'non-men' that asks us to define ourselves what qualifies as a 'non-man' which makes us no better than the republicans trying to ask people to define what a woman is.

Gender and sexuality are different to every single person and everyone will only be able to define their own view and experience with it.

But ignoring that nuance it still disregards people's gender identity.

There ARE transmasc and transmen lesbians, lesbians who fully identify as men but also as lesbians for various reasons that are all personal and valid.

There are genderfluid and sexuality fluid people as well as multigender people who one day are gay men or lesbian women or lesbian men and gay women!! Or all of those at once !! Gender and sexuality are messy and it's so wrong to go around and police it based on your arbitrary standards.

Hell butch lesbians are right there!!!! A lot of them identify in large part with, or even solely with, masculinity NOT femininity. I myself identify at butch and am transmasc with no connection to femininity or womanhood.

Before policing what identities people can have in this way it was policing whether or not trans women are valid lesbians. Or nonbinary people. Or even just cis lesbians who use he/him or other pronouns. These arguments are still used by TERFs. Do you really want to be on the same side of thinking as a terf?

It's all rooted in bigotry and feeling entitled to label someone, not respecting the label someone makes for themself, it's a tale as old as time but now we're labeling it as progressive.

All labels made up in the end. They're just vague social constructions and definitions we use to try and explain how we feel to others but can never fully explain our entirely nor should they be expected to.

Good faith identities do not hurt you. Good faith identities do not hurt the community.

Bigots hurt the community. Infighting hurts the community. By standing against rather than with people who are more similar to you than different you are perpetuating bigotry in new flavors and wasting energy infighting while there is a genocide waiting on our doorstep. By attacking what you don't understand you aren't any better than the bigots

To bi/pan/mspec lesbians who have been subject to seeing so much hate for them from the community that's supposed to be theirs, I love you <3 happy pride.

[dontbotherwiththepronunciation]

You asked about personal experience and background in the poll. I don't know if many responders filled it out, but if so, were there correlations to certain preferences?

I am very sorry for how long this took! You sent this almost a week ago and I've barely had time to log into Tumblr and make the post, but yes, there were! And some of it was clearer than I expected.

I couldn't find strong tendencies in each group, but under the cut are some things I found remarkable.

Also overall warning for this being a mix of opinions, some you might strongly disagree with. If I could keep down the bitterness for more than a month, so can you. Read, but please be mindful of how the people quoted here can't defend their positions. Don't take advantage of that. Bitch about it with your mutuals if you really need to. I encourage that! I highly encourage bitching to your mutuals instead of writing aggressive vague posts about things that can't be debated fairly by the author of the text. If you want to criticise my wording, that's fair, I tried to limit myself but I might have been more lenient than I should.

(mixed-)Indigenous people of (former) colonies (8/105≈7,6%)

This and the demographic below (which intersected four times) were the clearest when it came to interpretative tendencies and preferences. As a mixed-indigenous person of a former colony and a third culture kid, it wasn't very surprising but it felt very validating. I won't deny that often I'd be reading through their forms thinking "I WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH THIS PERSON". *sighs* the woes of not being in an ostrich farm filled with red diaper TCKs and indigenous people of the south hemisphere...

Theonsa & Throbb shippers were in the minority (only one of each) and were picked equally as the ship others liked engaging with the least (three votes each). House Stark tended to rank lower, with 5 voters giving it a 2/10 rating, 1 voter giving it a 5/10 the Theonsa & Throbb shipper giving it a higher ratings (8/10 & 10/10). The concept of Robb Stark being a gift was also somewhat debated with 5/8 being very rejecting of that idea.

The possible endgame of him somewhere in the North was also strongly disapproved, only 2/8 marking those as options they'd be content with.

In regards to whether Theon would have fitted in the Iron Islands, the answers were unanimously positive.

Yes! I think people would have gotten used to him being gay and fabulous, they seem like they can get used to most things, as long as they're an exception and not the rule. Would theon have been happy and fulfilled? Unclear, likely not. Would Balon have been fully satisfied in his son? Unlikely, but I don't think he'd go all Randyll Tarly on his ass. I think he would just be like "woe is me to have an effeminate son and a butch daughter. Oh well."

Barbrey Dustin was the leading MILF among this and the demography below. (WOOHOO)

All these factors were somewhat intertwined in my opinion. Again, linking this in case someone wants to hear about the Theon & children of colonialism experience through slam poetry.

While observing the results from this demographic I also recognised how the the majority of those who preference Dany over Sansa came from this and the TCKs, but among those who identified as "(mixed-)Indigenous people of (former) colonies" the feelings for Sansa were less negative.

Third Culture Kids (8/105≈7,6%)

Very much what I explained above with some small differences.

The "Robb Stark is a gift" concept was almost fully rejected. Only 1 person defended that idea. The House Stark average rating was the same as above and we only had one throbb preferring person among us, with no trace of Theonsa people, but three Theonsa-dislikers and four Throbb-dislikers. The reasoning was not quite that of an anti, but it was HIGHLY critical and often attributed the ships popularity to show made dynamics and scenes.

I'm really not big on Throbb, I know a really large demographic are into it, and it's all very aah 'Robb is a gift' and whatnot but I don't like it! Or, I don't like it how people make it (???). It's not that I particularly dislike Robb, though he is the most nothing out of the stark children to me, but how people always name Robb as a good boy who's done nothing wrong grates on me especially in relation to Theon (does the hunting scene from that Bran chapter in AGOT mean nothing to you?). He's also Mr Feudalism junior. Can we talk about that. Robb does nothing wrong goes hand-in-hand with the freeloader fuckboy Theon which I think is reductive of both. I really just prefer him as a sort of dead Lyanna 'absence defines the narrative where his existence never could' type where his memory is like a shrine everyone flagellates at; snowflakes-melting-in-his-hair couldn't-cut-the-head-off-Karstark-in-one-go fifteen-year-old-boy-we-view-through-his-mother's-perspective. There may have been something, but I think that's just typical best friend homoeroticism that wouldn't have come to fruition proper and would just have existed as a weird tension [...]. I think the show contributed a lot towards its existence and to be real Throbb shippers would be nothing without "I should have been there. Where was I? I should have died with him."

The idea of him being somewhere in the North as his possible endgame, regardless if as a ruler/advisor/peasant passing was fully rejected, no exceptions.

In regards to whether Theon would have fitted in the Iron Islands, one person didn't answer and all the other seven were unanimously positive.

Definitely! I know a lot of people subscribe to the notion that Theon was a soyboy infant and that his father smelled his weakness or some such, but we really have to think about how the environments we're raised in affect us as people.

The Dany standom was more prominent (only one person being somewhat accepting of the Mad Queen theory, but still being very hopeful for a Queen of the 7K/happy somewhere else Dany), while 7/8 of the voters were somewhat accepting of Sansa going down a darker and less happy path. None of them chose anything more pessimistic than that though.

Dany and Theon's struggles with rootlessness and the way they have been made to adapt to different cultures is something I find very touching and many of my irls who are also indigenous people and/or TCKs also shared this feeling among the more (maybe almost anti-)Stark critical views.

It's really hilarious how even his fans won't let him be free of the Starks. Forever chained to fan-made dynamics. Really Robb and him were inseparable? Who told you that? Bran who randomly hates him and also feels jealous? Oh yeah he was seducing Cat, of course...and who was your source? Rodrik Cassel?

was said by one of my irl friends who answered the survey and whose answers were quite similar to those described here but more radical and less apologetic. I hate admitting I've often thought similarly.

Victims of sexual abuse (25/105≈23,8%)

Warning: Rape

Sometimes I've seen people who feel appalled by Thramsay as a ship try to justify to themselves why someone would ship or at least be so invested in a dynamic like that and often they come to the conclusion that the shippers must be coping with their own trauma and sexual abuse, and that might be a possibility but it wasn't one that was reflected on the survey. Only 4/25's preferred ship was Thramsay and the rest were mixed pretty proportionately when it came to ships.

The opposite, on the other hand, was very visible and rather surprising. 18/25 chose Thramsay as the ship they liked engaging with the least and about half of them had a reasoning resembling that of an anti rather than a simple "it's not for me" or actual criticism to the fanon portrayal.

I feel people who like TheonxRamsay are probably mental ill and working through something.

They aren’t real Theon stans they’re just pervs

What really stood out for me though was a strongly polarised view in regards to Kyra, along with some relatively strong criticism of GRRM handling the character and narrative in ADWD.

He sent for Kyra, kicked shut the door, climbed on top of her, and fucked the wench with a fury he'd never known was in him. By the time he finished, she was sobbing, her neck and breasts covered with bruises and bite marks. Theon shoved her from the bed and threw her a blanket. "Get out." - Theon V, ACOK

As I read the answers about Kyra I categorised them between three options;

Apparent indifference: Didn't answer or left a small comment with little to say (8/25)

Comfortable with Theon as a rapist: Self explanatory. Didn't mind or felt guilty about Theon being a sexual abuser. Always saw Theon and Kyra's later encounter as sexual abuse, and was often dubious about the true initial consent because of Theon & Kyra's inherent power difference due to their social positions. (5/25)

Uncomfortable with Theon as a rapist: Also self explanatory. Was critical of GRRM's choice of making Theon rape Kyra and considered it "overkill" or "ooc", tried to justify or twist the narrative into convincing themselves Theon didn't (or at least didn't mean to) rape her, and/or admitted they wilfully ignore that part and don’t read it as canon. (12/25, out of which I am only allowed to quote five in regards to this question)

Ex. Comfortable with Theon as a rapist:

I'm not sure how I feel about the rape though. I lean more towards appreciating that GRRM included that though, because that feels more accurate to how violence is actually perpetrated in life. Having raped before doesn't stop you from falling victim to it, and having been raped doesn't absolve you from the guilt/crimes of what you've done in the past. It's not a moral statement on your character to have been hurt before. [...] I think GRRM very aptly conveys that rape is only ever a false way to seize power over another person, it doesn't prove any inherent superiority in you that you are able to enact this type of violence against another person, especially because this violence is indiscriminate, and happens even to the rapist.

Ex. Uncomfortable with Theon as a rapist:

It's just GRRM using rape as a trope again and it's way too much imo. Idk I don't see why Theon out of all characters in this story is made to rape his girlfriend when they never had a violent relationship before that. It's almost character assassination and lousy writing so I don't read it as canon. I also hate how some readers try to tell others the relationship was always dubious. She was glad to go to his bed when he took over Winterfell so it irks me the wrong way when they try to show her as his victim before the incident went down. It's unnecessary and Theon is always blamed for his actions more than any other character in this series

The majority of all the answers submitted in the poll would have fitted into the "apparent indifference" category. At the end of the day Kyra has little page time, doesn't have a strong characterisation, the only time I saw someone trying to hype her up as a character and obsessing over her it was just so they could juxtapose her as a good example of victimhood compared to Jeyne Poole, whom they hated, and she also happens to be the canon love interest of one half of ASOIAF's most popular M/M ship. She never stood a chance. In truth both of them share a lot in common in how they are narrative props for Theon's arc and have been mistreated and replaced by D&D and the major fandom. It didn't surprised me to see people not reacting to her. The 12 responses I got here did surprise me tremendously.

The following is a quote I categorised as "Uncomfortable with Theon as a rapist" when going over this due to the last sentence, but I also find my own categorising reductive when it came to it. I can't say I feel the same since I very deeply long for a fanfic in which Theon acts as the secondary/less threatening villain to Kyra's failed final girl and is rightfully seen as someone to be frightened of and I sometimes enjoy reading metas in which Theon is called out as a rapist, but I did found this response very honest and felt somehow touched by it. It didn't try to justify itself.

I would hope that when Theon sent for her after his conquest of winterfell it was at first welcome and joyful for her, but I think it was complicated. Being Theon's concubine was a bad and dangerous position for her from the start and I don't think Theon cared. I'm personally uncomfortable with Theon/Kyra as 'normal' pairing that went vaguely wrong, as well as with AUs where everything is fine somehow. I also struggle when they heroically escape or Theon acts as hero towards her in any way. I'm also uncomfortable with AGOT/ACOK prequels where it's a cute teen romance. However I also don't want to read people's fics that are about how much Kyra was hurt by Theon in ways that cannot be redressed nor anyone's Theon rapist metas or fics, even though I agree. In other words I cannot suffer any artistic attempts to make Theon 'look good' or but I also don't like reading about it generally. I guess I wished GRRM didn't do that to me...

I wonder if the overall situation regarding this demographic, this hesitance at accepting one of their favourite character as a rapist and rooting for one, comes from how real the abuse feels in comparison to other much more extreme characters in the story. A man kidnapping you, hunting you with dogs, raping and then flaying you sounds like something out of a gothic novel or a horror movie. A man taking his frustration out by having violent sex with his kind-of-girlfriend, even if she is crying and visibly hurt, and then throwing her from the bed is something a friend could tell you about her abusive ex during a moment of emotional intimacy. The abuse is less exaggerated, so it feels more real and is thus maybe more upsetting, something you want to ignore. However, this is all just my speculation and it might be as wrong as the myth about Thramsay shippers being overwhelmingly victims of sexual abuse.

Victims of domestic violence (20/105≈19%)

There weren't many strong tendencies between them that I could recognise, but maybe some minor things to remark on. Most and least liked ships were spread proportionately, there wasn't any strong criticism against GRRM and the overall Sansa over Dany preference was present here too, but not in a specially drastic manner.

A few things I found remarkable

The highest House Stark scores came from here (with an average of ~8/10 in this subset of answers)

There was a huge love for Theon III, ACOK and Theon IV ACOK. Both of these chapters were on the lower ends of popularity compared to the rest of the survey and I found it really curious to see so many in this subset choose them as part of their favourites (Theon III: 13 votes, Theon IV: 12 votes)

I wonder if at least when it came to Theon III, this might have had something to do with Dagmer Cleftjaw as (up to this point in the story) the only (not-biologically) familiar figure in his life that has treated him with warmth and affection. He warms my heart a lot, but maybe he plays a significantly more emotional role to people who can relate to the domestic abuse and overall lack of positive familial bonds.

11/20 of the voters strongly argued for Theon not having been able to adapt to the Islands had he stayed there or returned sooner. Many of them quoted Asha's description of him as a sweet and timid child and also Theon's own thoughts about Rodrik and Maron, but even more of those based this on Balon and overall Ironborn culture being perceived by them as more brutal, toxically masculine and restrictive.

I think it was his mother who said he had a too kind heart, except for Yara(Asha) the islanders are not known for their loyalty, and living as Balon Greyjoy’s heir wouldn’t have been it for Theon, he deserved his Stark side of that makes sense

no, he already didn't fit into the masculine, blue collar, "you're not a man until you've ripped someone's heart out" culture when he was a young boy, as evidenced by how he was picked on frequently by his brothers and preferred to play with his sisters. he either would've had to repress it and had it eat him alive or he'd just fuck off on a ship until his dad died

Again, I am very sorry for taking so long to answer. I finished writing this a few days ago and then I had to go over it many times. Thank you for your patience and have a nice time. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!

[box-dwelling]

I've been a fan of Marvellous Mrs Maisel since season 1 but like, the Susie gay stuff is feeling like a real fucking tease. Even with the most recent episode where it finally seems confirmed I feel baited. I'm guessing this is going somewhere with it being the cliff hanger but I just, I don't feel it. And honestly all the cast interviews feel so weird too and always have. Like "oh her sexuality isn't important and we don't have to show it" ok so why are you fucking teasing us with it so much. Why are you getting so close to showing but then not? Like I'd honestly respect it more if Susie was just butch and they never touched it instead of edging us like this. Like haha she went to a gay bar but she still looked super uncomfortable. Ooo she has an ex girlfriend but they never actually say they were dating and they could just be like ex clients. I just feel fucking teased. Commit you god damn cowards. If Susie's sexuality doesn't matter when every single second of midge's personal life is the be all and end all of the show, then why are you just cowardly hinting? Have some god damn balls.

It really doesn't help that I just am losing my patience with the plot. A lot of people were saying how last season it started just feeling like rich white woman temper tanturm hour but this last episode really solidified it. Midge's unprofessionalism is feeling less enderingnand edgy and more like she's just sulking because has to actually work to get to the top. Oooooo I'm a professional writer on one of the most famous comedy shows in the country, but I'm not allowed to guest star because of very reasonable professionalism rules. I'm sure my position as a writer on one of most watched shows in the country definitely won't open other doors to get on other shows. So I'm literally going to completely ruin a completely unrelated gig. Remember when her unprofessionalism was that her jokes were too edgy for the time? That her quick wit and desire to tell the world the way she sees it was what was getting her in trouble. The was what she bonded with Lenny over which was by far one of the most interesting relationships in the show. But tbh they ruined that by having them sleep together. Lenny worked well as this almost mythical concept of what she could become, both good and bad. The relationship was complex and interesting and worked way way way more as friends/peers. But no midge now suddenly has to be romantic with every guy in the show, including her boss now? Which they just don't comment on the blatant workplace harassment there? It's just tee hee Midge is pretty so her boss wants to sleep with her.

Also like can I just say the stuff with Abe was so fucking gross this episode. For a guy who's been pretty heavily autistic coded throughout the show the way they framed him trying to make up with Rose after their fight, which yes he was an asshole in and needed to apologize for, it felt like they made what seemed to me like an honest loving gesture of apology communicated non verbally, which yes he's been heavily autistic coded this whole fucking show so that's likely the best way he has to communicate, as child like and pathetic was just disgusting. Like I can see myself in his head so much. He messed up and he knows he did but he doesn't know how to apologize for it so he gets up in the middle of the night and picks her roses to scatter on her bed and then comes to be non sexually intimate with her, deliberately trying not to get too close into her personal space so she doesn't feel overpowered or attacked. A pose that could literally be interpreted as him begging her forgiveness. And that describing it's sounds so sweet but in the show he's blocked like he's being a pathetic child. It's so so gross.

And that's not even talking about the conversation that triggered it which spends half the time treating every woman in the scene like they're shallow and unable to understand media, before seemingly taking a minute to mock anyone who wants to read more into stories, highlighting queer analysis especially, as people who refuse to just let stories be and being too forceful for asking people to actually think about what they're watching. Real the curtains are blue shit.

I honestly love Abe so much he reminds me of my dad in a lot of ways so I am pretty biased but even still I just feel so gross after bits of this episode. Especially when they do stuff like "haha men don't want to know about lady problems" while actively undermining sexual harassment and making all the female characters besides queen of all midge and Susie, who despises all thing femmine, (in a way that used to feel like butch rep but with the other stuff seems now like a way to say she's competent because she's not acting like a silly girl) be portrayed as dumb.

Idk man I miss mai.

[maybeamiles]

Characters that made me realize I was trans

You ever just wanna make a comprehensive list of everyone that gave you gender envy from a young age? Yeah me too.

So here it is! A list of every character that made me realize I was trans, starting from when I was a little kid!

No. 1 - Aravis from The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

Okay, weird racism in this book aside, the amount I loved Aravis was probably the first indicator that I was not cisgender. I thought she was so cool for dressing up as a boy and rejecting traditional femininity and being so "not-like-other-girls" (i also had a big not-like-other-girls phase around the time I read this, go figure). Of course, she is cisgender, and seems to fall into a *slightly* more traditional role by the end of the book, but this isn't about C.S. Lewis' gender stuff and more on the fact that I related very heavily to Aravis and the fact that she didn't fit in with other girls, because I also felt the same way.

Her male co-star Shasta also gave me gender envy so between them both it's no wonder 9-year-old me loved this book.

No. 2 - Deryn/Dylan Sharp from Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Once again it's the girl-dressing-up-as-a-boy-to-fuck-with-gender-rules trope! Only this time, Deryn Sharp is actually treated like a man by her male co-star, Alek (up until he figures out that Dylan is actually Deryn, but then he's quite supportive of her gender fuckery). Deryn, like Aravis, doesn't actually feel any gender dysphoria. Her gender fuckery is a means to pursue her passion for air travel via joining the army. This does get fucked up by the last book and she ends up needing to leave the army, but we don't actually see how she presents herself when in non-millitary society so I will headcannon that she remains quite butch.

I thought Deryn was the coolest when I was 13, and even wound up copying her way of saying "barking spiders" for a bit. And her and Alek's romantic relationship was peak goals for me, probably because it begins while Deryn still presents masc.

No. 3/4 - Link, from TLOZ: Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild

So, the Links! Let's talk about the Links!

Twilight was the first male character I remember projecting myself onto. So much so that I did not ship him and midna OR him and Illia (and didn't really like illia's quest), not because they didn't have chemistry but because I am very homosexual and did not like the idea of my self-insert being with a girl. Now, do cis girls project themselves onto male character? Idk but I'm not cis and this is something I did so *shrug*

I've lumped these two together because Zelda was a sort of twofer for me. I played Twilight Princess and then a couple years later played BOTW and began discovering what transgender people were. At the time I ID'd as nonbinary, and my Zelda obsession grew with my understanding of "shit I'm not cis." (I even named myself after a Zelda character for a bit). The links were my first *conscious* experience of gender envy, and hold a special place in my heart for it.

No. 5 - Aether from Genshin Impact

Last, but CERTAINLY not least, is the man, the myth, the legend, Aether Genshin Impact. And there is a STORY behind this guy's inclusion.

See, by the time I started playing genshin, I had long since accepted that I was not a girl. I called myself nonbinary, and thought I was okay with simply "not being a girl" and was fine doing what I saw all the other nonbinary people doing (binders, no testosterone, vaugely masc clothes, etc).

Then I booted up genshin impact, and had to pick between Aether and Lumine. And I still remember the "oh shit" moment I had when I realized that the default I expected to fall into would not make me happy. I had expected myself to pick Lumine, because I had previously thought that I was more comfortable with femininity than masculinity. I realized that I didn't just want "genderless." I wanted masculine. And I had this guy to thank for helping me come to that realization.

Anyways that's not all the characters that gave me gender envy or really even my entire "here's how I knew I was trans" but they are the most influential ones to me.

[veilchenjaeger]

please please please please make a case for the specific kind of dyke xue yang is pleaaaaase <3

!

I am very, very tired, so I don't know how coherent I'm capable of being, but I'll try my best!

One interesting thing about Xue Yang is the way his non-conformity with societal rules works, because he imo utterly does not give a fuck about the society around him and the way he relates to it, outside of the fact that he doesn't fit in. (With some exceptions, of course.) I read him as kind of having an attitude that can be somewhat summarised in three points, which are:

Society expects certain things, and other people play the game of society by either conforming or not conforming to these things. Xue Yang is highly aware of societal expectations and moral ideals how they're in conflict with what people actually do. He sees through the elaborate dance of social norms and interactions, he knows all the steps, he just thinks it's a stupid dance.

He does whatever he wants. He's not bound by societal conventions in any way; he makes his decisions according to what does and doesn't feel good to him personally. (That isn't entirely true because he's still influenced by society, but I'd say it's mostly true.)

He is important; society and other people are not. He knows how he and his actions are seen and judged, but it doesn't matter, so he'll just go ahead doing what he does! (It does matter to him. Deep down, it does. But that's imo restricted to his anger and hurt at being considered worthless or monstrous, and not as related to any specific actions others judge him for.)

So, Xue Yang's style of non-conformity is drastically different from e.g. Song Lan's. Song Lan cares about society. He deliberately places himself in opposition to its norms, because he sees them as harmful and hopes to change that. Thus, he takes part in that dance, even though the steps he chooses are different. Like, even deliberate subversion of and non-conformity with societal norms in some way reproduce these norms. (Which in itself is a completely neutral thing; subversion and non-conformity are reactions to something and kind of depend on that thing existing in the first place.) Every action is a dialogue with society. And I don't necessarily think that Xue Yang isn't in a dialogue with society, but he goes about it in a different way. He doesn't choose his steps, he just moves, no matter whether he ends up going with the flow or not. He's currently on his way to the buffet table.

(Xiao Xingchen doesn't know the dance. He's stepped on Song Lan's feet thrice already.)

Introductory meta done. Now onto dyke Xue Yang.

To preface that, of course everyone who reclaims the term "dyke" is a dyke, no matter how they present. I'm going with this term partially because it is so vague, partially because it's connected to rebellion and has the same "You think I'm worthless and insult me? Fuck you, I'm going to own everything you despise me for so hard that you'll have no power at all over me" vibe Xue Yang has, and partially because, when used to describe an aesthetic rather than an individual person or a group, it evokes certain images for me that imo fit Xue Yang pretty well. If there's a more precise word for that aesthetic, I don't know it. I'm going to argue in favour of dyke aesthetic Xue Yang, and there are two main points I want to address.

One, Xue Yang's non-conformity is so volatile that I don't think it would fit into a certain category. There's something deliberate about things like being butch or femme, both in terms of these labels having a certain history in a community (I don't think Xue Yang would see herself as part of a queer community, at all) and in terms of the societal dance. It's a specific way of choosing your steps. For Song Lan, that sort of deliberate non-conformity works super well imo because canon Song Lan is so deliberate about the way he doesn't conform! For Xue Yang, I doubt she'd think about things like the way she performs her gender. It doesn't matter. She does what feels good, no matter whether that's inconsistent or fits into any categories. Again, I don't think Xue Yang has the drive to seek out other people who share her experiences or identify with anyone else, which is after all a part of giving the way you do queerness a specific label and arguably a part of openly performing that kind of queerness in the first place.

This isn't particularly uncommon or anything; most lesbians are neither butch nor femme. But on top of that, Xue Yang also doesn't give a shit about conforming or belonging to anything else, so I imagine that the way she looks is... maybe not blatantly, visibly queer? Because that would require her to want to look queer, but also not not visibly queer, because she'd entirely ignore cisheteronormative ideals of How To Dress.

Which brings us to the second point, which is the question of how removed from the dance of society Xue Yang actually is. Bc I think there are some things she would care about. Considering his CQL aesthetics especially, but also in the novel, Xue Yang is edgy! He named his sword Jiangzai! All the not giving a shit about society aside, there is one thing Xue Yang does imo care about performing, and that is the very fact that he doesn't give a shit about society. Which of course stems from the way he was harmed by the prevalent social structure and the hurt he compensates for with his blatant disregard for any kind of morals or propriety. So, like, dyke Xue Yang would still care about looking different, maybe in some way that seems somewhat dangerous and certainly in a way that gives a middle finger to everyone who'd disapprove.

And I genuinely think that might be anything! I can truly see Xue Yang dress in anything from a full biker suit to a 2014 Babymetal stage outfit - the crucial point imo is that she'd always look different, slightly to the left from anything you could give a name to or put your finger on. It would probably be something at least vaguely practical - she needs to be prepared to stab people and wouldn't want to be held back by her clothes of all things - but that's about it. I think that general vibe - neither truly GNC nor truly conforming to anything, neither masculine nor fully feminine nor deliberately androgynous, but always visibly different from the cishet norm - fits the term "dyke" pretty well.

Also, I just think she'd wear knockoff Doc Martens.

[snowangeldotmp3]

wip ask game!

tagged by the lovelies @fastcardotmp3 and @figthefruitfaeth ! wip ask game 2: electric boogaloo here we go!!

Rules:

Post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post.

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in or just post.

Wips:

kas! max

spider-nance au

werewolf nancy

mermaid au 2

6ft tall soft butch robin

Snippet:

(from a conversation in kas! max)

“If he’s making you do this—”

Max turns. “Don’t you get it? He isn’t making me do this. I have to do this—”

“No, you don't. We can help! There has to be something we can do, something that can stop him and—”

“No, Lucas! This is the only way I can keep you safe. All of you.”

Oh.

“This isn’t a comic book, or a fairy tale. There is no happy ending here. If you defeat him, you kill me. That’s how this ends.”

no pressure tags <3 : @gothbat99 @cheatghost @judasofsuburbia @flashyysins @kkpwnall @el-fandom-birb @netflixnormalthings @griddlenavs @mistyquigleys @eskawrites & anyone else who wants to <3

[darling--angst-archived]

! 100+ Follower Event !

Status: Open

Thank you guys so much for the 100 followers! I know I suck at writing but you guys still liked it so thank you so much!

Rules

Please follow the guidelines before requesting

Please be patient.

When the event is over, it's over; please check my pinned post for clarifications.

Please chose only from the options (you can request if you want but I'm going to have to do it last because of the event)

You can specify a scenario that you want

Please specify the characters

Minors are only written platonically

I only write for the characters listed below

Mix and match

Specify if you want it to be platonic/romantic

Theme: Songs

- Each options is going to have a song lyric, the whole Oneshot is dedicated to that song lyrics with a character of your choice.

- You can also choose a scenario but it's optional(I'll not be providing the scenarios)

Genre: Available

- Fluff

- Angst

- Comfort

Type: Available

- Oneshots

Characters:

- Atsushi Nakajima

- Dazai Osamu

- Chūya Nakahara

- Kunikida Doppo

- Akiko Yosano

- Ranpo Edogawa

- Kyouka Izumi

- Kenji Miyazawa

- Jouno Saigiku

- Mori Ogai

- Edgar Allan Poe

- Akutagawa Ryūnosuke

- Gin Akutagawa

- Higuchi Ichiyo

- Nikolai Gogol

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

- Tecchuo Suihiro

- Sigma

Format: name, (no.), Character, Type: [scenario optional]

Ex. Paper Rings (2) Nikolai, romantic: [scenario]

Angst:

"I had all and then most of you. Some and now none of you, take me back to the night we met. I don't know what I'm supposed to do haunted by the ghost of you"

- The Night We Met, Lord Huron

"I brought you daffodils on a pretty string but they won't flower like they did last Spring"

- Another Love, Tom Odell

"I wouldn't hesitate to smile while you suffocate and die. And I would be just fine oh what a lovely sign"

- Choke, I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

"Cold sheets, oh where's my love? I am searching high, I'm searching low, in the night"

- Where's My love, SYML

"You have to understand that, the one I killed was me. Changing who I was for who you wanted me to be."

- If I killed Someone for You, Alec Benjamin

"You'll change your name and change your mind and leave this fucked up place behind. But I'll know"

- Christmas Kids, Roar

"And the worst part is that I love you I loved you I loved you it's true, and sometimes I feel like I still fucking do"

- Rät, Penelope Scott

"The music we make is unnatural, but it sound just like falling in love"

- Butch 4 Butch, Rio Romeo

"They call him hermit the frog, he's looking for a dog. Did you find your bitch in me?"

- Hermit the Frog, MARINA

"I used to like smoking to stop all the thinking but I got a different buzz"

- High enough, K.Flay

"In the back of my mind you died. I killed you, and I didn't even cry. Not a single tear, I can't I believe I said it"

- Romantic Homicide, d4vd

Fluff:

"I'm alright if you're alright, and I'm okay if you're okay."

- This December

"People say she's crazy and her life's a mystery, oh but love grows where my rosemary grows"

- Love grows, Edison Lighthouse

"But when he loves me I feel like I'm floating, when he calls me pretty I feel like somebody"

- Cloud 9, Beach Bunny

"and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this uh-huh that's right, you're the one I want"

"kiss me once cuz you know I had a long night kiss me twice cuz it's gonna be alright, three times cuz you've waited your whole life"

- Paper Rings, Taylor Swift

"Close friends, besties, roommates, colleagues, anything but lovers. History hates lovers"

- History hates Lovers, Oublaire

Comfort:

"I don't care about the government, and I really need a hug. I feel stupid and ugly, pretend it doesn't bother me"

- Boys will be bugs, Cavetown

"I think I'll miss you forever. Like the sun miss the stars on the morning sky. Later's better than never."

- Summertime Sadness, Lana del Rey

"It will take a while to make you smile, somewhere in these eyes I'm on your side"

- Space Song, Beach House

"You took my broken melody, and now I hear a symphony"

- I Hear a Symphony, Cody Fry

"If you feel lonely I could be lonely with you, tell me baby why do you seem so blue? Why are we so complicated?"

- Sports, Beach Bunny