#i know that not all queer people carry themselves in the same way. in fact lucy and kate read as queer to me but in v different ways

[hatchetation]

Sorry I just wanted to talk about how beautiful Yasmine looks this season, especially imo ep 3. Her beautiful brown skin and those kissable lips and those lashes ugh. And the way she's panting from sparring with Tori, the way she's talking with her hands and being really intense in character. Looking respectfully of course but thinking about things as well....

And yeah I'm thirsty anon. ✌️

oh yeah thirsty anon we are ALL looking respectfully 👀

i honestly dont have much to add other than that she's gorgeous and i would watch ncis: hawai'i every week just to see her!!! also i think she's an excellent actress because the way she carries herself as lucy tara is truly different from the way she carries herself irl. i mean, obvi i don't know MUCH about how she carries herself irl, but from what i've seen there's a marked difference between her and lucy. anyway i think that's really really cool and impressive.

[ftmtftm]

Thinking about the intersection of personal and the political and slow progress today.

I was recently followed and harassed by a man while walking home from the grocery store. He started walking slightly behind me, asked if my clothes (an ankle length skirt and a purse) were "supposed to be a gay thing" and called me a faggot multiple times with increasing, malicious intensity as I tried to walk faster to get away from him.

The only thing that made him stop and leave me alone was the fact that a group of people gardening outside and a woman walking past at the same time explicitly made themselves known. He gave up because there were witnesses and I thankfully made it safely to my apartment building.

I was open about the experience on Facebook and the response really reminded me of why I put in the work to carry myself kindly when I can, to be an active part of my communities, and to be as open about my identity and experience as I am in spite of harassment like that.

Among the general support and compassion I've received from people, I've also had family friends that I know have been homophobic in the past reach out to make sure I'm recovering well. I've had old school friends who I know are deeply Mormon or Evangelical now and have been transphobic in the past reach out to make sure I am safe, tell me that they're glad I am alright, and that they hope this doesn't stop me from living authentically. The list goes on.

And that all means so much to me - because it means that our passing relationship has positively impacted the way they view queer people. Even if it's just because it's me, it's still an impact that can grow and go somewhere even more positive.

It was absolutely terrifying to be harassed so close to home and I do not want to downplay how shaken I have been by it - but in the same vein the recovery has been so easy because of how comforting it has been to know that the very thing that man was harassing me for has changed the minds of other people for the better.

[writinginaforrest]

Yes, I’m Transgender, but I’m not “Trans”

(31st Aug 2024)

When I think about this too much, I always come to the conclusion that I have got some internalised Transphobia. I identify as Male. I use He/Him pronouns. I dress in a way that conforms to the Gendered Norms of my culture. I’m just a guy. When “Trans” is added as a descriptor, not only does that become a thing about me, but it also sets me aside from other men. I’m not a Man, I’m a Trans Man. I’m a pseudo-masculine thing. When people realise I’m Transgender, I feel Castrated. That sounds pretty dang transphobic, doesn’t it. 

The way people have expected me to be Trans often Superseded what Transness is to me. I had a lecturer in college who insisted that my depression was, In part, a result of my going home every day to a family who did not know I was Trans. She sat there and looked me in the eyes and I watched myself in the reflection of her eyes becoming an anecdote in real time. I’ll always be her “Trans Student” who did remarkably well in her class before dropping off in his second year when he got a different teacher. For reference, my family may not have known that I am Trans, but It’s very rare that my deadname is used in my home. I’m referred to by my Middle name almost exclusively. Jeff (Jeffrey). And in reality. Transness was not something that was always on my mind and even now, I can be sure that it was not fueling my depression. My Undealt with sexual trauma? That’s a different story. But my being Trans wasn’t it. I didn’t even think about it that much. I still don’t. It’s not something that is an integral part of me. I would be no different If I had been born Cisgender. 

And that’s the thing. “Trans” carries a lot of weight to it, doesn’t it? A lot of people really connect to it on a level beyond it being simply a descriptor. It’s a culture, an experience, a mindset, an ideology, and what can I say to those people? Well done? Thank you? I don’t really have much to say, and that’s part of my problem. A lot of Trans artists are, at least partly, inspired by their queer experiences. I’m an artist (I yell into the void) and yet nothing about being Queer inspires art within me. I have nothing to say. My art would be the same if I were Cisgender. If I were Allosexual. I would be the same because I am not these descriptors that have been decided for me based on the way I live my life. 

“Trans” has become a commodity that I can’t escape. It’s something I’m supposed to stick on my laptop. It’s something I’m supposed to pin on my wall. It’s a lifestyle. A trait. A Community. A Culture. An Ideology. A Concept. An Abstraction. It’s everything and it’s nothing. I’m supposed to disclose it with pride when I meet new people. I’m supposed to warn Littluns about the dangers of not expressing themselves and being comfortable in their identity when I can’t even deliver on that. I’m supposed to do all these things. 

But no one is asking me to. 

No one is telling me to be “Trans”. 

I’m looking around at all of my Trans brothers and sisters and wondering if that’s behaviour I should emulate because I  have a) no frame of reference and b) no connection to Transess as a concept. I feel like I’m doing a disservice to those who feel a connection to it as a concept, when I only see it as an adjective. When I try to remove myself from it as much as possible. And again here comes the internalised Transphobia knocking at my window.

I’m an artist, A filmmaker, and a writer. I’ve never felt compelled to tell Trans stories. Is it because I don’t want to be pigeonholed into this idea of Transness that again, supersedes my own, or is it because I’m ashamed of it? Am I acknowledging that I am more than a Trans artist or am I just not taking pride in the fact that I’m going to have to live with being Trans for the rest of my life? It’s not something that goes away. Trans doesn’t stop. I Will always be Transgender and I have to cope with that because I am male and I was not born that way. 

I don’t Identify with Queerness. I don’t identify as Transgender. It is something I am, a thing that I cannot help. I Identify as Male, Transgender was just something that came free in the post. I didn't understand the terms and conditions of it. I'm dyslexic, you expect me to read the fine print?

Where does this end? What’s the accumulation of all of this thinking? I do not know. It doesn’t end. The debate where I am my own interlocutor only ends with more questions that I must ask myself. 

[naneun-no]

From my drafts so it’s late but:

Today’s delulu thought is that Standing Next to You has too many lyrical coincidences to not be about Jimin.

🫣 I SAID IT WAS DELUSIONAL OKAY

You are free to disagree. You probably should 🤣

I mean we know it wasn’t written by Jung Kook but obviously the version he recorded was arranged with and for JK, and “leave your body golden” can’t be a coincidence right? Like it’s the whole ass album name, plus a word that carries connotations of JK himself, which the ppl who worked with him on Seven must have known.

So if that wasn’t a coincidence… then what about:

1. “How we left and right is something we control” — a callback to both Left and Right by CP feat JK, but also a nod to Butter, a massive BTS hit and a song that he performs alongside his boyfie bestie JM.

2. “When it’s deep like DNA, something they can’t take away” — a callback to another massive BTS hit, interesting. And *delulu warning* also reminds me of JM and JK’s extreme similarities that they themselves have referred to before?? They’re wired the same, they have the same sense of humor, they live and breathe for the same shit and even though they have some very key differences, they really do seem like twin flames (even if you just see it as platonic). They are similar in ways that seem braided into the fibers of their being. Like, in their DNA 🧬 some may say. *delulu warning #2* I’m also reminded of Jimin’s Letter lyrics: “After all this time has passed will we still be the same? Just like we were when we first met.”

Also, “something they can’t take away” is an interesting turn of phrase… more on that later.

3. Okay the real meaty part:

Screaming I’ll testify that we'll survive the test of time, they can't deny our love. They can't divide us, we'll survive the test of time I promise I'll be right here

[I seriously can’t believe how closeted-couple-coded this song is]

First off, again with the Letter lyrics mirrored here with the “test of time.” Then it’s got all this drama about being ripped apart and how it won’t happen and how they’ll be next to each other no matter what and that they have “something they can’t take away.”

Not only does all that line up with other Letter lyrics, but it is so goddamn dramatic and for what?

Be for real, what straight couple in this day and age would have this much working against them?? The only possible explanations are: 1) within the fantasy world of a song I suppose this could be some sort of Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story motif, and to be fair the music video did have a kind of rival gang/crime family look to it? Sort of? With the men fighting below the stage? Idk. Or it could be 2) the fact that idols do in fact often have to hide even their straight relationships, which is wild to me. But I know it’s a thing, so. I suppose there’s that. JK doesn’t seem the type though honestly. I think he’d be even more open about it than V.

On the other hand, the lyrics seem SO fit for a couple who are a) queer, b) closeted, c) currently in/about to be in a legislatively homophobic military and country (am I saying that right? Lol) and d) internationally famous pop idols in the SAME BAND who are both widely regarded as heterosexual sex symbols and would be shunned by many people in their homeland AND internationally if their queerness were to be revealed, much less if they were truly an item and THAT news broke.

Whew. That was a lot but like… that would be a real example of a relationship that would be VERY threatened by outside forces plotting against them and trying to separate them. Not JK and a hot blonde model, not him and a Korean actress, not basically any other scenario but a queer relationship.

Idk I know he didn’t write it but like ??? What the hell is that theme? I’m dying to get inside the mind of the people who DID write it, because are they or are they jikookers at this point like?!

4. Just for fun I’ll also point out the “leave your body golden like the sun and moon” 😏 like. Okay. At this point the songwriters are watching Jikook compilations, drooling over @slaaverin edits like convince me they’re not. CONVINCE ME.

5. “Deeper than the rain”?! “The pain”?! Alright I’m not even serious at this point but ??? Rainy day fight 🌧️?!?! 🤣🤣

6. “Standing next to you” oh you mean like… for 18 months? In a companion enlistment program? Like that?

Alright alright I’m done but you get my point. What even is this song if not an anthem of jikookery?! It’s more on-the-nose than Letter, more sneaky than Still With You. It wasn’t written by JK but at this point I’m calling that the songwriters are as delulu as me.

Hope y’all are well. If you made it to the end of this thank you for donning your tinfoil hat with me and I hope you at least got a giggle.

✌️

[glass--beach]

hi !!!! :3 so, pd seems, in my reading like its a decent part about the kinda mass surveillance and commodification of personhood shit the world has got going on rn, in a kinda (yes, its cliche, but the radiohead influence makes it a bit more palatable) modern ok computer-esque way. anyways, i wanted to ask u, what motivated u to write about these subjects especially ??

i am transgender and so so scared

near every single person in the world carries a camera on them at all times with the capability of broadcasting its view to all of the internet. we have a culture of emotional armor and swords built to slip between its plates, to be angry or afraid or upset or even the wrong kind of happy is cringe. those who believe in some shadow government in some hidden room somewhere spying on us at all times are delusional - this is wrong - where labor can be outsourced for cheaper it will be. taxis are expensive to run, making people drive their own cars and find customers on an app for measly pay is much more cost effective. giving a music writer a salary is too pricey compared to hiring freelancers on a per article basis. and now surveillance has been, like so many other things, outsourced to civilians and their cameras and smartphone apps. a man sitting oddly on a couch is cheating on his girlfriend, a fold in a woman’s clothing is a hidden penis, we are the panopticon and the prisoner… this is the “society of control” - freedom as tyranny.

the nature of reality is at stake in our culture - “what is a woman?” “a woman” - those who refuse to understand transgender people are helplessly tied to some “deep reality” - “i know what you are!!” - which is ultimately an enforcement of the status quo socially constructed reality. transgender people recognize reality as something socially constructed and seek to bend it to their liking… pronouns and chosen names are after all meant for others to use rather than ourselves, they are third person terms, gender never worms its way into the terms “I” and “We”. our personhood is defined by other people, and can be invalidated or revoked by others… the insecurity created by this tension is ripe for advertising. take this boner pill, it will make you more of a man. take this injection, it will make you a woman. we are defined by our outside, our house, our car, our clothes, our skin, our bodies.

this is where the “family nexus” concept comes in - groups of people create their own pockets of reality. to christians, god is real and to deny this is insanity. to hardcore atheists, believing in god is insanity. to many psychiatrists years ago and some still today, to believe to be a different gender is insanity… and the insane deserve less rights than the sane, they don’t even know what is best for themselves. queer people seek to create a new sane. or rather to go “insane” in our own way the same way anyone who believes in anything does. create our own nexus where our experience of reality is simply true.

hope that helps at all and makes any amount of sense

oh yeah ok computer… maybe i’ll go off about that another time… much of the themes and sound of that record were a jumping off point for us. written in the 1990s, the end of history, time has marched on and yet we are still here stuck in capitalist reality. “did you lie to us tony” as if labour could ever do something about the fact that post 1991 “there is no alternative”… deeply tragic record but love runs through all of it undeniably… maybe i’ll go off about that in another post…

[neonlight2]

Marauders era Headcanons

I’ll be adding to this throughout the storyline

Masterlist

Sirius Black:

- Partially Deaf, because there is no way he came out inbred and totally unscathed.

- Genderfluid because he’s an indecisive bitch

- Loves when his hair is braided no matter how much he says otherwise (also likes his head scratched)

- Paints his nails just to chip them cause he thinks it looks hot (same thing with smudging eyeliner)

- Calls Lily ‘Evans’, until she and James get together then he calls her ‘Mrs. Potter’

- annoyed he has to share James

- Fidgets with his hair and finger/rings constantly, because he definitely had ADD

- Makes this claw thingy with his hand when he’s nervous (if you know where this is from ily)

- Can dance REALLY WELL (ballet), because of that pure blood privilege, and does the stance naturally

-Can play the violin but is embarrassed so learns guitar so if someone asks him if he plays an instrument he can just say that instead

- Sexuality = Hot people aka Remus Lupin ( he’s just a whore idk what else to say)

-Touch starved/attention whore

- Such a fucking G, this man would riot for anything his friends ask

- If you walked into his closet you would think two people put their stuff in there, no, just him

- Speaks French

Remus Lupin:

- Poor boy is depressed

- And actually poor which is why he sells weed or other muggle things (he hustles the shit out of the students at Hogwarts by saying everything is ‘exotic’ and they believe him because everyone thinks he’s smart)

- Touch starved but doesn’t like to be touched (if you know you know)

-Bisexual panic. All. The. Time.

-Oblivious as hell to the fact everyone wants him— I mean everyone

- Loves tea. SO. MUCH. TEA.

- Has a book club with Lily

- Got a ton of piercings and tattoos over fifth year’s summer, but people rarely see them cause he’s always wearing sweaters or covered up some how

-His whole closet look like it should belong to an old man, yet he still slays

- Bites his lips and inside of cheek a lot, so James carries around lip balm for him

- When he’s high he’s chill

- But he’s hysterical when he’s drunk

-Can read multiple languages, but his pronunciation is god awful (Sirius makes fun of him for it)

-Has Chocolate on hand at all times because once he didn’t and he threw Snape across the classroom

-Man is an uncoordinated tree

James Potter:

- Both the Mom and child of the group somehow

- Takes lots of naps

-Sorry to say but Gryffindor is his personality

- Foot taps

- Holy shit this guy is ADHD

- ‘Bambi’ is his other nickname, and he thinks it’s cute until he watches the movie

- The healthiest mentally of the group

- Golden retriever vibes

- If James hasn’t seen Sirius within 30 minutes and he doesn’t know where he is, he gets panicked

-Has a thing for Youngest siblings apparently (Lily and Regulus)

-Obsessed with Babies

- Definition of himbo sometimes

- He’s good at every sport he tries

- Queer

- Trained Sirius not to say Mudblood throughout first and second year

Peter Pettigrew:

- Trans (I’ll go more in-depth later)

- Ace

- if Social anxiety was a person

- Bakes like an absolute KING

- Chews fingernails, so Sirius got him leather gloves to matches his own to get him to stop

- Knows random shit/facts

-also knows everyone’s business because no one pays him any attention

- Short king

- Hilarious, practically makes the group piss themselves when alone in the common room

- Loves everything fuzzy

- Has been in love with Mary since third or fourth year, but hasn’t said anything because he knew about her and Lily

- Has family trauma too, but he doesn’t thinks it’s enough to complain about because of what he’s seen with Sirius

- Was the first to master turning into an animagus

-As bad as Sirius and James with worrying about his hair, just less loud about it

-He knew about wolfstar before James

Lily Evans:

-Pansexual

- Politics Queen

- As sassy and sarcastic as Sirius

-Stress cleans

- the Left corner of her forehead twitches when she’s mad

- Thick girl (her thighs are HUGE and James practically drools over them 24/7, respectively ofc)

- Short 5’

- the others have to keep her within arms reach because she gets lost easily in crowds, her hair is the only thing that helps

- Human calculator (she gets perfect marks on every subject EXCEPT DADA, which is the class Sirius and James do; it annoys her to no end)

- Most likely to actually throw hands

- Fangirls openly about book characters (with Remus)

- Can’t sing to save her life (poor babe just wants to sing abba, but she just ends up being made fun of)

-Vowed to not cut her hair until she graduated, so around sixth year she had to start braiding it because if she didn’t she’d sit on it

- Can forge a signature/handwriting very well

- Is actually really insecure about her magical abilities because of the rift it caused between her and Petunia

Marlene McKinnon:

-Lesbian

-The only person to actually make her question her sexuality is Remus, and that’s because it’s fucking Remus Lupin

- During fourth year when her and Sirius were ‘dating’, they were just teaching each other how to flirt with girls/guys and they’d kiss just to practice

-Obsessed with Piercings (begged Remus to give her a couple after he told her about how he had the supplies)

- One of the best players on the Gryffindor Quidditch team/ uses it as anger management (Beater position)

-Her and Sirius have an agreement to tell each other the weekly outfit plan so they don’t wear the same thing or color (red or black mostly)

- Roasting people is her platonic love language

-Can play every band instrument

-She looks like a tough, rocker chick but is a softie for Dorcas

- Intimidates everyone because she’s low key buff (can bench more than James and Sirius combined) and super tall (looks like a giant next to Lily)

-Can’t speak in front of Dorcas at first, yet Dorcas understands her

-Big on PDA which leads to Sirius gagging obnoxiously

-Her and Sirius “fighting” is for show so people stop shipping them together/ teasing them

- Dyslexic so Lily and Dorcas read to her if there’s anything important (which leads to them doing it even if she’s not around)

-Simps for James Mum (but who wouldn’t)

Dorcas Meadowes:

- Part of the Slytherin skittles

- Non-binary

-Demisexual

- Dark humor and it’s worse when she’s around Regulus and Barty

- Nyx is her first girl kiss in my oc story (Marlene probably was for every other story)

-Big softy when it comes to Marlene

-Resting bitch face

- Amazing artist/ sketching Marlene constantly

- Makes jewelry (Marlene and her matching rings, and friendship bracelets/ necklaces for the others that they can never take off— she warns them before hand)

- Will go batshit crazy if she stays up after 12 am

-Gets super competitive when playing Quidditch

- Rants about how much she loves pockets every 20 minutes

- Instinctively moves closer to someone she knows when she’s in public

- More introverted than the rest, would rather stay in the common room and chill

-makes a ton of your mom jokes

Mary Macdonald:

- Pansexual or Polysexual

-She loves to embroidery/making clothes, so if anyone needs something made or tailored they go to her

-Hypes everyone up all the time, ‘don’t disrespect yourself’ vibe

- Has the best alcohol tolerance in the group

-James potter triggers her for a multitude of reasons; they have a banter relationship

- She always has what you need in her bag— like Mary Poppins

-Lily was her first love and friend

- SUCH a good listener (like I know canon Remus and Lily would be the best listeners, but I think it’s Mary)

- Both her and Remus had a glow up fourth year and everyone wants to either be them or be with them

- Loves dancing, will do it randomly while doing absolutely anything

-Hates cold weather, she’ll literally wear five jackets DON’T play

-Has had or does have a eating disorder because of societal pressure of internal judgment; not to mention people definitely paint her out to be a ‘slag’ because she happens to be more open about her sexuality (and they don’t do it to Sirius because we live in a fucked patriarchy)

- Will scream “fuck the police” or “fuck the Patriarchy” when running away from an authority figure (or just Lily/Remus)

-vegetarian 

-Extroverted (loves to be around people/hates being alone)

Regulus Black:

- Asthma (again, can’t escape inbreeding completely)

-Has permanent dark circles, yet he still looks beautiful??? Looks like eyeshadow to be real

- Demisexual

-trans

-Scratching his knuckles is a severe nervous tick of his

-Writes poetry and short stories

- Plays the piano

-Started playing quidditch to interact with Sirius more and to impress him (but as he got older he didn’t really give a shit anymore)

-Speaks French and Reads Latin

-Really into Astronomy

- He had a crush on James in fifth year but didn’t pursue it because he still somewhat resented him for having Sirius all to himself (and he knew Sirius would get mad)

-Cusses a lot when around his friends

-Best poker face, could lie to anyone and get away with it

-Photographic memory

-Nice to all the House elves (and all the Marauders except Sirius and James)

Pandora, Evan, and Barty

Evan and Pandora are siblings

Everyone in the Marauders and Slytherin Skittles have agreed that Pandora has to be protected at all cost

What they don’t know is that this girl is lethal (Carries around potions she’s created that could burn through steel)

Barty is hella gay, psychotic, and a bit of a pyro

Barty is also low key obsessed with Regulus

Evan is in love with Barty

Rosekiller is a thing, and it is toxic (don’t we just love it)

I’ll probably add more for Barth, Evan, and Pandora later

[bettyshoweduptotheparty]

Midnights is defined by duality: The story of an unreliable narrator and performance art (Part 1)

One year on, I think I've finally figured out what midnights is about. And it might surprise you.

The midnights album has just celebrated its first anniversary. And having listened to these songs for the last 12 months, staying up late to watch live streams of the Eras tour, and at times being unable to escape news about Taylor on every medium, I finally have an idea that makes all of this make sense: This is Taylor's duality era. And she wants us to notice. Join me on the ride if you want to know more :)

I made a post a few weeks ago about how the Midnights aesthetic has the ‘two Taylors’ duology: Private vs public, which is the lead theme that carries over into the music and most recently also into her public image. Midnights had a mismatched visual to it from the very beginning with the depressed 70s look (announcement photo and vinyl covers) and the glamourous midnight blue (cover image and public appearances).

The two Taylors in the Anti Hero mv really drove home the message for me that this album is about two versions of the same story, and Taylor is the writer and narrator. And while I'm sure that these two versions have existed for a lot longer than the midnights era, they have not previously been so prominently next to each other. In fact, the very point of having the public narrative, is to keep Taylor's private life out of the public eye. She has never shied away from providing the 'stories' that her fans want to see in order to relate to her music, and as the girl that made her fame with songs about heartbreak and fairytale princes, that usually meant being seen with a man that these songs could be attributed to. And she made sure people would make the connection, be it with scarves that change ownership, or foxes on shirts:

(Btw you can't deny how effective this was, with just a few photos she managed to hang an entire album on each of these men!)

So, acting is not new to Taylor. In addition to appearing in a few feature films and TV shows since 2010, she's done this public performance for well over a decade now. And she has been vocal in recent years about her intention to go into filmmaking, so we know she's able to tell stories in multiple ways. She's a storyteller first and foremost, maybe the best of our generation. But is she a reliable narrator?

What does 'unreliable narrator' mean?

A story told by a so-called unreliable narrator, is usually a first person narration, where it turns out that the person telling the story was either lying or in some other way unable to give a truthful account of events (e.g. hallucinating or dreaming). That usually means that the audience is left with having to interpret for themselves what really happened and what was real or not real. Famous examples of this kind of storytelling are the 2010 psycho thriller 'Black Swan' with Natalie Portman, or the YA novel 'We were liars' by E. Lockhart. If you like stories that leave you guessing, check those out ;)

So, why is Taylor an unreliable narrator? For those fans that have paid attention to her lyrics, it has long been evident that her songwriting and public narrative don't match up. The most obvious theme being her 17-year run of writing songs about secret relationships and hiding, while she was parading men around in public to be photographed with. But, as we know, most people ignore it because it's just easier than digging deeper into lyrics. But now with Midnights, I'm starting to think she wants people to notice the duality and start to question her narrative. The sheer number of songs on that album that have strong double meaning or draw attention to lying or distorting the truth is astonishing: Right out the gate with track 1 we have Lavender Haze, a pretty loud song about bearding using the very well established queer reference of lavender. (And maybe she leaned out of the window a little too far with that title, because we all know the gaylor uproar was so loud when the title was revealed, that she had to backpedal and hetsplain it.) Immediately followed by Maroon, the song that has probably singlehandedly turned the most swifties into gaylors since Bettygate of 2020... Then on to Anti Hero, the ultimate duality song that also makes mention of lying and scheming, same as Mastermind. High Infidelity and You're Losing Me join the ranks of songs that look like they are about romantic relationships on the surface, but could also be interpreted to be about Taylor's relationship with fame and her fans. High Infidelity is a play on words of the term High Fidelity or HIFI, which is a 90s sound technology that refers to truthful reproduction of sound. High INfidelity is therefore a genius way of referring to both cheating and unfaithful reproduction of sound, almost like someone who makes music that isn't quite truthful... We also know from Aaron Dessner that this song was written following the 2021 Grammys and in the light of the whole William Bowery grammygate situation... I think there is point to be made about this song drawing attention to lying in a big way.

The timing of the release of You're losing me right around the time that her breakup with Joe made the news also feeds the narrative of a breakup song. But in this very 'breakup song' she says You say, "I don't understand," and I say, "I know you don't" and talks about sending signals that fall on deaf ears. Doesn't that sound an awful lot like 'I gave so many signs'? What does she know the addressee won't understand? Is it that when she finally reveals all her lies 90% of her fans will be shocked to their very core? On the exclusive CD version that has this track on it, it also immediately follows Dear Reader which on the track list looks like this:

Dear Reader You're Losing me (Does that look like a message? I think it does...)

By the time we make it to Dear Reader, she's basically told us 'I'm a liar who hides behind fake lavender relationships who charms everyone like a sleezy congressman, I'm the narcissistic Anti Hero you can't trust who schemes like a criminal and plans out everything like the puppet master I am, just so you like me and therefore you shouldn't look up to me, but I know you still will.' If that doesn't scream 'I want you to question everything I say or do' I don't know what does. Which brings us to performance art.

What is performance art?

Performance art is any kind of visual art that involves a dramatic performance aspect. To explain how this relates to Taylor and who she may have taken inspiration from, I refer to the brilliant Kristina Parro on TikTok:

Ok, groundwork is laid, but this is getting too long. Part 2 will be relating this to upcoming music releases and media coverage but that will have to wait til tomorrow.

As always, thanks for humouring me guys!

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

https://www.tumblr.com/sizzlingpatrolfox/758487328999243776/so-was-jimin-supposed-to-go-after-him-always?source=share

Have you ever had that type of friend where you feel like you're the one carrying the friendship and the moment you stop trying you and this friend wouldn't see each other anymore? Jimin saying that if he didn't go to the US when he did the show wouldn't have happened doesn't surprise me. Remember the whole dance video thing last year and how Jungkook acted like the other members wouldn't want to do it with him when we all know they would've if he just asked?

I think he's that type of person that never initiates anything, he's just always waiting for other people to start things for him. I mean, he's even like that with his carrer. The fact that as early as beginning of 2022 Jimin was already working on his album, but a whole year after that by the beginning of 2023 and Jungkook still didn't seem to have any plans. If it wasn't for SB he wouldn't even have released an album.

I was thinking that I don't know how Jimin has the patience for him then I remembered my younger sibling is the same way where I always have to be the one to seek them out. So I get it Jimin, is that older sibling life. Which is fine when it's your sibling, but if this was my boyfriend there's no way I would let that shit slide. And that really sums up their relationship to me: Mostly fine for a friendship but shitty for a romantic relationship.

You've made several points.. especially the one about the dance challenges which I hadn't thought about now these days, but I remember that when he said that I wrote about how he was obviously lying and he didn't even ask the members to make a video with him. He just didn't ask them, the way I'm 10000% sure he never texted Jimin personally, or "formally" invited him over. I mean, not while he was on live.

The night JK went live and fell asleep with the camera on he said he didn't have anything to do the next day. If I recall correctly it was the same night he went to the theatre with wooga, then went back home and passed out drunk.

That same night Jimin was posting Instagram stories from his home, watching Hoseok and Yoongi videos. If I recall correctly, the next day he went to visit Jin with Hoseok. Later, he said they'd gone to see him because both him and Hoseok had that day off.

If you're in touch with someone you'd know if not only one but two of people who are supposedly close to you are going to meet another friend. He could've gone visit Jin as well.

People think all that started in March 2023 when it had been happening since long before. August 2022, Jimin spent like three weeks in the USA? Then he flew back to Korea and that same night, Jungkook was out eating with some people. So for the people who think they're dating, Jimin's away for like a month and his boyfriend doesn't get dinner with him when he arrives? Before world cup openings ceremony too, Jungkook went bowling with Taehyung. Around those same days they were together at the paradise hotel.

So Jungkook has time to hook up with women at his home, but not to grab dinner with Jimin?

I really can't fathom the level of self deception those who believe they're boyfriends must be putting themselves through. It's not 2+2 at this point, it's 2+2+2+2+2+2 like. There are so many factors.

I also found these posts, I took screenshots because I have to click everywhere on my phone to add the link and this is easier. But these are from March 3rd 2023.

I also remember briefly bringing up Tom Holland and Zendaya, you know, a real couple. And how they were seen together more times than jikook were seen together in two years, and Tom and Zendaya don't even live in the same continent lol. I think I got some anons trying to lecture ME on queer people and how to live like a queer person in a gay relationship, compared to disgusting heteros like tomdaya.

Anyways. I really don't think I'll reply to more asks about this because it's so repetitive. There really isn't much to say. They aren't dating each other, they're just very dear friends, obviously.

Finally.. Does anyone have the screenshot of Hoseok's ig story on his birthday last year? I'm almost scared I might've dreamed it because I can't find it anywhere but I'm sure he posted a picture of a cake or flowers? and tagged Jimin, as if Jimin had brought those to him the night of his birthday, after the live in the company.

[sageistri]

This is slightly controversial and honestly you can skip this completely if you think this might bring hate to Jimin in any form because that's not my intention at all. I trust your judgement.

I was just thinking about what your anon said about taking kpop shipping too far in the case of Karina who I don't know so I don't know if that's accurate for her. But I was thinking, though I blame the majority of the strange perception around Jimin and jikook on shippers, because they overblow certain things for no reason even though Jimin does the same thing with other members, sometimes I wonder if he isn't slightly to blame for the shipping mess he's gotten himself in? Not most things but just a few incidents like the whole biting JK on the neck thing, or the whole JK carrying Jimin out of the concert.

Both of them know they have shippers and I understand they grew up in a culture where it's normal for kpop group members to act like that but when I see pjms blame taekook for feeding their shippers which they definitely do, I feel Jimin is also very slightly guilty of the same and we sweep it away because we love Jimin and also he seems like a very touchy guy but I just find it a tiny bit hypocritical to blame everything on everyone but absolve Jimin. He's definitely the least problematic person in this situation but... I give Jimin the benefit of the doubt always because he's a touchy guy who's grown up in kpop but I also give the other two the same grace. Does that make sense?

He's not being absolved of anything. Jm has gotten hate all his career because he's touchy, he's been called an attention seeker, queerbaiter, homewrecker and a slut. He knows about the hate and the fact that he never limited his physical interaction with members because of it should tell you all you need to know.

Jimin's connection to jikook as a ship has done nothing for him, in fact it's done more harm than good so wouldn't it be counterproductive if he was like that because he wanted the stans to think he was gay and in a relationship with jk and in turn make them like him and his music?

Also Jimin is like that with all the members at all times, as opposed to certain members who initiate forced interactions when they need to promote their music. Jimin is touchiest with Hobi and Hobi is just as touchy and they barely have shippers, it's not his fault if jikookers think he's dating jk when he acts the exact same with other members. Like I'm sure Jimin isn't doing all that with Hobi because he wants armys to think they're dating.

Jimin already addressed this and he has explicitly stated that he doesn't do fan service or bromance, he's just being himself if you were a Jimin Stan you would know that.

No one thinks Jimin is gay or bi because he clings to his members, they think he is because of how he's perceived and because of things that have been insinuated.

Jk carried Jimin out, not the other way around so I'm confused and that's like the tamest thing BTS members have done with each other. And they said Jimin bit him because he wouldn't stop swirling him around they never insinuated anything romantic with it, jikookers did that all by themselves. BTS members have playfully kissed each other on camera, if Taekook did that no one would think they were doing it because they wanted to feed taekookers, like we literally have a picture of Jin hugging a shirtless jk, was that posted because Jin thought it would make armys think he was gay and was dating jk?

Don't act clueless like you don't remember the moments that made people say Taekook were feeding their shippers, like it wasn't because there are multiple instances of Taekook being touchy feely so what are you talking about?

Pjms said that when Tae was name dropping jk throughout his debut, the awkward lives and how they became besties around the time they were both debuting and were embroiled in dating rumors, it's not like we go around saying they are queer baiters, Jimin is the one who gets those accusations. And unlike whatever they had going on at that time, Jimin wasn't being touchy with jk on camera for fan service, prior to 2022 they were always spotted out together because they were close, we also have people who have said Jimin is like that with the members behind the scenes so... 🤷🏾‍♀️

[radiomogai]

sometimes I think about all the queer people of the past who found ways to keep themselves and their communities alive- not just the ones who wrote big articles or were relatively more 'famous'. I mean each and every queer person who has in any way recorded their identity, refused to let time erase them, even if it was in the smallest way, to keep themselves and their queer community alive. all the small, different little ways that we'll never even know about all of them, those are the archivists who kept queer history alive and know we remember their contributions even if we don't know them personally? we remember it through the impact. the same is even more true for every indigenous person who has contributed to language conservation programs, to archival work of the culture colonizers never erased, only thought they did...

does it ever hit you that you are part of that legacy, that y'all are keeping the work of past 'archivists' alive? queer communities, indigenous communities, they adapt and they survive and you are a wonderful part of that legacy. y'all should be so proud of yourselves for being part of that, even if it sometimes feels pointless or small. because i'm sure there have been countless times that queer and indigenous people have felt that way too about their resistance. and I know internet blogging is of course not the same as resistance. but I think y'all should know that you are wonderful and everything you do is worth it- and not just worth it, it is part of such a beautiful legacy of you and your intersectional history. y'all continually amaze me with your dedication and I think you truly deserve to know how important y'all are and that there are queer and indigenous people who are no longer here anymore, who are proud of you for being so invested in your communities and in persevering. so I hope y'all feel that truly, you are not just blogging pointless terms, you are part of such a beautiful legacy of queer and indigenous resistance, even if it seems small. I truly love y'all, you're amazing.

This makes me want to cry, in a really, really good way.

We do think about it. We think about it a lot. We think a lot about how everything around is the result of knowledge being passed from person to person, built on each other. We think a lot about the fact that everything around us comes from people, people with loved ones, people with a favourite food, people who got songs stuck in their head and people who had moments of self-discovery and people who had to be taught everything they know by somebody else. We think about how we’re far from the first Métis person to use our sash to carry berries, we think about how a friend of ours showed us how to do it and how someone showed them and how someone spent hours on our sash and someone had to teach them how to do it and someone had to gather the materials for it. We think about labels built off of other labels and how many people have contributed to the conversations that led to words like queer and gay and xenogender being used the way they are now, how someone had to teach each of them what those words mean, how everyone has thought something different about them even if they never wrote it down. We think about how someone had to teach us how to use a computer when we were a child and how in some way that led to us learning about queerness and surrounding ourselfves in it, about how our self-discovery has led to our archival work and about how that work has led others to their own self-discovery, how they in that way are impacted by the fact that someone taught us how to use a computer. We like to follow things back as far as they will go, knowing that there’s always another step just behind the one we look at now.

The fact that we can sit here reblogging terms is thanks to coiners, is thanks to the artists who first made pride flags, is thanks to activists, is thanks to parents, is thanks to everyday people living openly as queer, is thanks to everyone who’s looked at queerphobia and said that isn’t acceptable and did something about it. The fact that we can sit here as a Métis person is thanks to our ancestors who lived and died and passed on history, is thanks to translators and mothers and grandmothers and family, is thanks to other Native bloggers, is thanks to Indigenous teenagers sharing with each other what little they know, is thanks to every Native who’s refused to cut their hair. We think about it a lot, the people who have impacted the world we’re in, who have impacted us without ever knowing it. We think about the people we’ve impacted without ever knowing it, knowing that the messages and asks we’ve received are only a small portion of those we’ve helped.

Sometimes we see tagging systems inspired by ours. People casually using words that we helped to dig up, or that we coined, or that we helped make common. It’s one of the greatest feelings we’ve ever had the privilege to experience.

[julieverne]

genuine question, how much of The Actual Show rizzoli and isles like, open to the idea of rizzles? Like I adore all of your fics, and I would watch *that* show, but how much of it is fanon vs queerbait vs subtext vs actual canon?

Season 1-4 it genuinely looks like they're headed for a Rizzles endgame. Season 5 is ok but they're taking a step back. Season 6 and 7 they're strangers that are sometimes in the same room. The showrunner changed then and only watched the first and last episodes of the preceding seasons - which were heavy on how much these two women loved and relied on each other, so I don't know why so much went wrong there.

Some of it's scripted, some of it's not. But it's not in the good-natured Xena way of 'oh they're together but the studio won't let us show that so we get around the censors' way. It's 'suburban housewives were our target audience but Sasha and Angie can't keep their hands off each other and now most of our audience is lesbians'.

There was a really great recap on AfterEllen but all the pictures have been taken down. But the genuine chemistry the actresses had in those first few seasons is worth watching. This is the ship that launched a hundred fics for me. In the first run people must have been watching and waiting for something to happen and it never did.

They didn't need to be endgame. They just needed to be something other than strangers in the last two seasons.

So it's a weird show; there's no series bible, no two seasons carry the same vibe, one season is straight-up slapstick. There's plot holes in the backstories and the pets get fridged. Watching Bones really highlights how seat-of-the-pants Rizzoli and Isles was.

But despite all that:

Totally Gratuitous, Totally Gay Touching

Righteous Ponytail of Justice

Sasha Alexander in every outfit

Angie Harmon not knowing what a tomboy is and just standing and sitting in the most homosexual of ways

Senior Criminalist Susie Chang is gold in every scene

Hurt/Comfort

All of the above are good reasons to watch the show, but the hurt/comfort is paramount. Terrible things happen to these women, and season 1-4 they generally end up alone at home together curled up on the couch comforting each other.

Quick warning: season 1 is darker and probably better in terms of plot and cohesion. I rank the show seasons 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6, 7.

And now, more evidence of the TGTGT:

I'm not going to try to convince someone to watch a 2010 show with no payoff in 2023 when we have better shows. But it has its place in the queer hall of fame for a reason.

And the show for its time did okay. They did have murdering lesbians, but they also had lesbians mums, and lesbian colleagues. They had a transgender judge that was treated with respect when they figured it out as part of their investigation. It hasn't aged poorly in that sense. The show had a lot of potential, and it flopped when they veered away from the subtext. But as a studio that was a risk they had to take - I doubt they had many male audiences and even now most shows still cater to that demographic. So for a show that really was about women - two women that were very close - to do so well, it had to do certain things. But the show had so much potential that never came to fruition.

One last thing - the books themselves are completely different. The characters share the same names and live in Boston, but that's about the end of the similarities. Tess Gerritsen herself seems very tickled and amused by the fact that this bizarre show exists and that she has a cult lesbian following because of it, and I love her for that and I love that for her. If you ever do watch season 7, she has a cameo in an episode which is precious.

[hatchetation]

Hello I would very much like to see you expand more on the different ways Kate and Lucy give off being queer 👀

Okayyy I'm so glad you asked!! So here were the tags:

#but i do know that lucy tara comes across as suuuuuper gay to me in the way she interacts with the world#even outside of being with kate she reads as queer to me#and i will say i also think tori is a great actress and i also get a super queer vibe from kate outside of lucy#and just as a further caveat#i know that not all queer people carry themselves in the same way. in fact lucy and kate read as queer to me but in v different ways

I may have gone overboard in this response so TL;DR: It's all about the vibes and their vibes are GAY!

I'm gonna start with Lucy. Lucy Tara is too gay to function. I'm kind of joking but also to me Lucy is the sort of queer person who cannot help but be herself. I think that she's always kind of liked girls and whenever she fully had her sexual awakening, there was no hiding it from herself or anyone else. I'm not saying that she didn't /try/ to hide it or that she hasn't gone through some shit related to being queer--it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we learn that her family took time to come around to her being gay. But I think it was hard for her to be anyone but herself. Relatedly, there's the way that Lucy refused to be Kate's dirty little secret back in season 1. Hidden away, wrapped up in shame in the shadows is just not who Lucy is. It very much felt like she was going against her nature for the few eps where she agreed for them to keep their relationship on the DL.

Imo, Lucy is also the type of friend who could listen to all of your problems and you could feel so close to her but then later you'd realize that she hadn't said anything about herself. Maybe that seems contradictory but to me it all kind of hangs together for her as a queer character: she's open about who she is but perhaps a bit wary about who she really trusts and brings into her inner circle (on the show we really only see her interact with characters she trusts so...could be cool to see her with someone she doesn't trust!).

Last thing about Lucy--it's literally just the way she walks and talks and dresses like she does not give a shit what any man thinks about her. What I mean by this is less about binary gender and more about how the life she's trying to live is outside the patriarchy…It's the way she punched Jesse on the arm back in season 1 and the way she also punched ASAC Curtis on the arm a couple eps ago. Her queerness is all up in her confident stride and her competitive nature. And look, I know very well that there are straight women who probably carry themselves like that and that nothing I'm saying is, on its own, specific to a sexual orientation. But all together, and in the context of NCIS: Hawai'i, it reads as queer.

Now for Whistler! I have to call her Whistler when I'm discussing how gay she is all on her own lmaoooo. She's gay in suchhhh a different way from Lucy. Her walls are allll the way up. I honestly identify with Whistler the most because the key to Whistler's queerness is that she's amazing at compartmentalizing. I, too, am amazing at compartmentalizing and let me tell you when you're young and closeted that coping skill is life-saving...until about ten years later when you have to go to therapy to unpack how traumatizing it was lol. But basically, I think Whistler's whole HBIC, stiff, loner tendencies show up outside of her relationship with Lucy and are coping mechanisms that identify her as queer. I know some of that stuff is related to her brother's death, but it really reads to me as queer.

Whistler presents herself as put together, not a hair out of place, focused to a fault, etc. In season 2 we're seeing her open up, but she still identifies with being a loner and I think she still knows exactly what a gut punch it is to feel existentially lonely. Like, that loneliness that happens when you're gay and you feel like you'll never be brave enough to be your authentic self. That loneliness that you think you'll never escape because YOU put the walls up and how are you supposed to take them down now?? The way her character reads to me is someone who is just beginning to live the kind of life that she probably dreamed of as a kid. Again, that vibe feels incredibly queer to me.

And of course, on a more superficial note, Whistler also reads as someone who does not give a FUCK what a man thinks. She has a more feminine style at work than Lucy. I think that's the style that makes her most comfortable, and I also think it's her armor, a way for her to assert that yes she's a woman and also yes she will kick your ass. Again, I'm sure that there are many women in male-dominated work spaces who operate similarly and not all of them are gay. But within the context of the show...it reads as gay!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Douglas Murray

Published: Jun 24, 2023

If anyone reading this ever bought shares in the diversity racket, then I would suggest you start dumping them now. Not that I would blame you for having bought them in the first place. ‘Diversity’ has been the great mantra of our age. Like ‘equality’, it is one of those words set up to be impossible to oppose. What even is the opposite of diversity? Enforced sameness? Monotony? It is hard to say.

Nevertheless, everyone was encouraged to go along with the diversity racket. It didn’t matter who was in charge – Labour or the Conservatives. Diversity was said to be one of the defining virtues of Britain. Almost the aim of the place, in fact.

But as some of us pointed out way back, ‘diversity’ is not an unalloyed good. Not the least problem being the fact that diversity doesn’t even get along with itself. For years it has been the argument of the pro-diversity left that the more diversity you had, the more tolerance you would have – because diversity would somehow by its nature create more tolerance. But in fact not everybody in the diversity tent adores everyone else shoved in with them. The contradictions and tensions thrown up are legion.

Take just one of the tensions thrown up during this ancient and most holy month of ‘Pride’. The mayor of Keighley, Mohammed Nazam, resigned this week after being criticised for attending a Pride event. Photographs show the then mayor grinning with a bunch of other numpties holding the hideous new ‘progress’ Pride flag, with added triangles to encompass trans people.

This year’s flag is said by campaigners to be ‘the most inclusive ever’. Not for Mr Nazam it wasn’t. You might be able to guess why from Mr Nazam’s first name. Wiser readers may also know that the man after whom Mr Nazam is named was not wildly pro-gay.

There are no Hadith (the sayings of Mohammed) explaining what the original Mohammed thought of ‘non-binary’ people, but one can guess. Mohammed was in many ways a fan of binaries. He would likely not have been a fan of the Pride flag in any of its forms. And while there are interesting scholarly arguments about the exact designs of the flags that Mohammed and his armies carried into battle, scholars are in agreement that Mohammed did not smite his enemies while flying a rainbow flag of any kind.

So the mayor of Keighley came under a certain amount of pressure from the Mohammed-fanbase community, and in a Facebook post said that he should not have taken part in the ceremony. In fact he said he should have ‘respectfully declined’ the invitation to the Pride flag-raising because it ‘contradicts my religious beliefs’. He went on to describe his attendance as a ‘lapse in judgment’.

This in turn led to him being suspended by the Conservative group on Bradford Council. For Mr Nazam is in several senses a conservative. He subsequently quit as mayor, but not before issuing a second apology, this time saying that he ‘did not mean any harm to the LGBTQ community’.

Interestingly enough, similar cases on the other side of the Atlantic aren’t all leading to the same outcome. In Alberta, Muslim and Christian parents have come together to oppose the teaching of LGBTQ ideology in Canadian schools. Last week hundreds of parents gathered outside the city hall in Calgary to chant ‘Leave our kids alone’. So-called Liberal counter-protestors also gathered. One wonders if there was any cognitive dissonance as these ‘diversity’ protestors found themselves standing in a Canadian street screaming at a bunch of Muslims? Reportedly there was in fact a split in the local activist ‘queer’ community on this question. Some believed that opposing the protestors would be a defence of ‘queer’ rights, others felt it would be ‘racist’.

In Los Angeles things got a bit more heated, with parents protesting outside the largely Armenian school. Here parents were also saying that they did not want their children ‘groomed’ by the LGBTQ ideology being pushed in their school. And on this occasion some of the pro-diversity counter-protestors ended up getting into fist-fights with the diverse parents. Once again you have to wonder if the LGBTQ activists who were pummelling immigrant parents to the ground are absolutely sure that their ideas have brought them to the optimal place in life.

In one of the most Muslim-populated area of the US, in Michigan, parents are continuing a fight to withdraw their children from lessons on anything to do with sexuality or family life, while in Maryland hundreds of campaigners came out again this week demanding to remove their children from such lessons. As one Muslim commentator put it, supporting these parents: ‘As Muslims, we refuse to be coerced into believing something our faith categorically condemns. This is not a political stance. It is a moral principle.’

All of which adds up to a very fine old mess, about which there are a number of things to say. The first is that it should by now be abundantly clear that every letter after B in the LGBTQIA+ alphabet has made the argument for gay rights infinitely harder. In the hands of a new generation of activists the ‘live and let live’ argument has turned into ‘believe what I believe’ and ‘say what I say’. Meanwhile, the old argument that gays were just like anyone else has been replaced by the suggestion that LGBTQIA+ people are in fact practically a different species – people who must have their own flag and be celebrated or else.

Second, it should now be abundantly clear where part of this began going really wrong – which is the moment that gender-nonsense activists chose to target the children. To tell children that there was no such thing as biological sex. To pretend that we are made of Lego and can take parts off and put them on again at will. To replace biological reality with gender woo-woo.

One poll in the US this week showed that support for gay relationships is declining. I’m not surprised. When the shoe was put on the LGBTQIA+ foot certain people decided to indulge in a bit of good old kicking, in the name of diversity. Well, they should expect to be kicked back.

==

Intersectional math involves imaginary numbers. √-1

[haunteddollgender]

I did not attend Pride this year. But last year, I went and I carried this sign for hours.

Last year, I watched state after state try to suppress and threaten trans people, using legislative power to try and scare them away from living as their true selves. Some people wanted them to stop living, period. And of course, as usual, the biggest targets were trans women. Transphobic legislation is more often than not built on the suffering of vulnerable trans women, with the goal to try and cease their existence. The goal to pose them as inherently sexual, and inherently dangerous. And the legal fights for trans rights, and the liberation of trans women from these predatory myths, still go on.

And here, on Tumblr, there is a similar move to try and strip trans women of their voices and their place in the so-called “queerest place on the internet.” There is a similar goal to spread misinformation about (and by extension, hatred of) the sexuality of trans women, to try and justify staff’s obvious transmisogyny. The CEO of this website is on a mission to harass trans women off of his platform, going as far to chase them to other platforms to continue the harassment. Every week, my dashboard gets smaller and smaller. Trans women I looked up to are gone. Trans women who made me laugh are gone. Trans women who taught me about radical politics are gone. Trans women who showed me how to cherish my own relationship to womanhood, as tenuous as that may be, are gone. And, shamefully, I hardly see anyone BUT trans women say anything about this.

No community with any approximation to queerness, whether you use that term to describe yourself or not, is complete without the inclusion of trans women. Trans women have been at the forefront since the beginning, fighting for a world where we all can safely be ourselves, and we owe it to them to offer them that same effort. But our effort should not stop at policy, whether online or in politics. Those efforts should extend to social interactions. Personal interactions. Friendly interactions. Intimate interactions.

One of the most important things you can do, as a member of the LGBT community, is befriending trans women. Engaging with them, listening to them, and finding love and solace among them is necessary for survival. The resilience of my transfem friends and acquaintances has been an incredibly positive influence on my life and my state of mind, and they have brought me so much joy and so much laughter and so much comfort and so much safety and so much sense of control over my own life. Even though I’m not transfem, I see a reflection of my experiences in them. And when I am with trans women I feel less alone. We should all strive to make trans women feel less alone as well. And when we see clear patterns against them, we should kick up a fuss! We should make sure they know that someone is willing to stand up for them, the way they have stood up for so many for so long.

If your support for trans women in based in the hatred of transphobes and politicians, then you are misguided. And your efforts are for no one but yourself. Your support for trans women should be based in the love of trans women, for no other reason than the simple fact that they are people. People with dreams and ambitions and fears and heartaches, just like you. And people deserve to live a life where they can freely exist and find happiness and agency as themselves, and for themselves.

Let love and empathy guide you, because humanity should always be your priority.

[certifiedlurker]

This is gonna be long...like really long lol

The thing is idk how much I would be able to enjoy vegaspete by remaining true to myself. So many of those who are in the fandom, whose works I have enjoyed and still enjoy are so blindly dedicated to Build Jakapan, it's absurd. I see these people shifting every blame on Poi for every wrong that Build commits. Like yeah she is shit but she doesn't have to carry the extra load of Build's shit you know? They talk of abuse victims and how incapable Build's critics are of understanding the politics of abuse ( as if none of us, who are from all over the world, dispersed through multiple walks of life, do not have even one victim of abuse amongst us).

Someone literally referenced KP and complained about how no one took a lesson on how victims of abuse can lash out and sjfjmbkl boy was I speechless. Pretty sure confusing reel with real right now is getting into a dangerous territory and even then, every person matters. So in that, if one is so "abused" that he would continue to make extremely mean spirited comments with an undercurrent of homophobia in some texts, then no matter how much of a trauma there is, that person deserves to be called out on abuse they themselves are perpetrating. Another person cannot be a punching bag and if so, there will be a hit back. And this uproar against him is the hit back!

( also the reference to the show was probably to Vegas and if it truly is so, then god save me but I feel faint and I say this as someone who likes the character. Vegas in fiction is one thing, in reality it is another...as we can see. is it something to even spell out?! )

Private texts, private conversations are an exercise in trust. To violate it, is a crime both in literal and in figurative moral sense. And yes these are systematic leaks aimed at not bringing a truth of moral character to light but is linked to a selfish agenda. But I just don't know can these people try to divert the attention on this fact but say nothing on the texts themselves. They say they ae still here? On what basis? On what basis are you all supporting this man? Where is the baseline?

I know they keep on bringing up abuse but let me tell you something. Let me tell you something as someone who at one instance felt bad that Build Jakapan wasn't a part of the very last KP worldtour...before the phone call leaks, or before the proofs surfaced that the claims of rape charges were false, that the pictures Poi posted ( some not all) were manipulated, these people still went on hard about their support for Build. Their only defense? Poi is shitty, a predator so she cannot be abused ( imagine that). Idk what happened between them (poi and build). No one would know what happened between them because they chose to settle...but whatever narrative half of the vegaspete fandom has made up, is somehow a one way street.

Homophobia and victim blaming? Excused as being follies of young and growing up in a conservative country. I am a south Asian. I was 20 once and I know how conservative ideals can affect worldviews. I had been taught very very racist, transphobic and homophobic dictums by my environment and the larger media and even now majority of it is geared to heteronormativity and colourism. But I broke free the moment I had unsupervised internet access and I learnt and I continue to learn (because prejudice instilled so deep would still have roots somewhere in you). I was as old as him, so no, it is not impossible to make a choice to be better even at that age.

True not everyone reacts the same way in similar situations but Build was given a chance. Multiple chances and the fact that he chose to be a part of queer media, and after the first scandal, didn't even care to educate himself in what he did wrong but somehow still had so many people on his side is what I call one way street. Poi cannot be believed because she is a predator but rape victim blaming, homophobic chats are excused, dismissed or straight up ignored. The current leaks get ignored. Why? Because supposedly he is trying to get his act together since January ( previously it was said that comments made at 20 shouldn't be taken to be the stance when one is 27; and I would have agreed perhaps or taken a nuanced approach if not even at 26/27 one showed no inkling of a change)

I won't lie that there is no hypocrisy in this fandom. An unbalanced reaction. When disgusting false rape charges were brought against Build, the larger fandom didn't deign it important enough to be cause of an uproar. And it should have been since false charges such as these do nothing but cause shock, bring clout and ultimately cheapens the matter when the lie is discovered. I know MA fans didn't make a peep back then but now are somehow making edits and compiling receipts when they previously said they just didn't have the time or wish to keep up with every other shit relating to Build ( if you know you know). But all these cannot be a cause of permanent blindness. Hell I myself have been guilty of not being able to keep one particular stance but even I can see the filth.

Lookism is fucking real. I think this is what has happened with Build Jakapan and the fandom. The brand, the way he behaves, the boyish looks have become a reality than that which is somewhat real. And it has bled into the shipping fandom. All in all BL industry should consider not making an actor the brand of a story, and let the story standalone. I know there will always be an emotional context between an actor and character but damn to this extent?

Kinnporsche was my first official BL. And till now it has been my only one and you know when I felt myself growing fascinated with VP, and felt disturbed because of the moralizing that went on in the fandom, I felt like something was wrong with me as a person. And I told this to someone, a VP shipper who said that if I am trying to mix my ethics with my choice of media, and trying to prune myself of everything my brain likes, which do not neatly fit in with the subjective good, then I will be miserable. When i then ran back and said that I cannot possibly like Vegaspete because of Build Jakapan and the very first scandal brought to light, they called me pretentious and advised me to let the story standalone. They told me that in BL, the actors themselves are mostly in for the money and some of them have such horrific views on the lgbtq that I would run the other way if I ever met them in my life. They advised me against this pedestal of worship. This was such a genuine advise and my god am I glad for it. But how do I apply it in fandom? Do I still read the delicious fic knowing the stance the author has on Build? Do I reblog beautiful vp content knowing that op continues to overlook anything and everything? fandom space somehow brings the whole of it closer to home in a way. Closer to heart.

(Edit: i wrote every other vp shipper is a build apologist and i shouldn't have and it actually is generalizing and helps no one. )

[cecelianonymous22]

(TADC Spoilers!!)

A weird realization i made watching TADC ep 2 (cried my fucking eyes out) is that like

Hazbin and Digital Circus are both extremely Tumblr pieces of indie animation, but in such completely different ways

Hazbin kind of tries to appeal to every "Tumblr demographic" lets just say

The musical nerds, the queers, the people who need a Sexyman for every media they watch, people who like engaging in serious/controversial topics, etc etc

Which in itself isnt bad but as with a lot of things in Hazbin, it really wasnt carried out well

But with Digital Circus, the intended audience feels a lot more specialized yk?

Sure, it has bright colors with toy-inspired characters and silly hijinks, but the intended audience isnt for children or (staying on the whole Tumblr audience thing) isnt for the lucky younger teens who dont know what Amino is

But it doesnt try to welcome every corner of this platform, which is why there are negative reviews: because Digital Circus just isnt made for the majority of people

It's made for the "underdogs" so to speak, the kind of minorities that feel like their voices aren't heard

Sure the standard "Oh this is just a Tumblr cartoon" genre implies queerness, for one thing, which is in the TADC with Zooble (my beloved) and i love their constantly alternating pronouns

But more importantly, what kind of got to me the most, but it's made for the lonely

It's made for those who feel alienated because of themselves and/or their circumstances

Which i think is what is so great about the main character being an autistic woman, not just for the rep, but because Pomni's experience is so intrinsically neurodivergent. All despite the fact that paradoxically (to someone who isnt ND), she is the voice of reasonable confusion. She doesn't understand why everyone else is going along with Caine's shit when they all know they are just people trapped in a digital hellscape who don't remember their past lives.

Its a deeply existential thought, and I'm so glad that in the most recent episode, she has an outlet for all of this existential dread and panic. I cannot understate how moving it is to see Pomni not only pushing past her own problems, but actively utilizing them to help someone else struggling with the same sort of (essentially) nihilism

Not to mention the end of the episode (still trying to keep it vague because the ep just came out), where Pomni realizes that hey, she might not be alone

Idk man

It just speaks to me so much, especially because i have my own sense of deep-rooted existential dread that has gotten so much worse over the past few months

And also because it reminds me of 2-S from Ultrakill, special interest go brr

But yeah

Late night rambling

The hazbin comparison was mostly just because ive been really interested in watching Hazbin reviews lately, and just seeing how these two "Tumbler medias" compare in their themes and audience

Im gonna post this before i delete in the morning because i need to get over my fear of posting random shit on tumblr!! Thats whats its for!!

Anyway i want the gator keychain now