#i say a lot of things that feel like i was raised directly christian but i have no clue where it wouldve come from cos i wasnt

[deadly-operating-system]

i think my uni has stopped doing online classes for normal people and this makes me soso sad (unavoidable 9am class)

[thatbitchery]

Another thing I get in trouble for saying is if someone is doing something to you there's a chance you have some fault to carry on your shoulder. Yes this is victim blaming I know and you are entitled to all your terrible feelings but consider this - you are the only person you can change. Only you. Deal with your part of the blame and leave them to it.

Here's a story; in primary school when I was still living with my parents there was this boy that was awful to me. Awful. Terribly awful. Not outright bullying but pushing the boundaries to it super super close. He never really did cross the line so I couldn't get the adults or responsible authorities involved but did he make my life hell. We are talking make snappy little remarks whenever I'm around, spread terrible rumors, write terrible things that everyone knew were about me and pin them on the notice board , as far as pushing me and- psychological social torture. Terrible.

And I couldn't really do anything, right? My parents are christians so they give me the God will deal with this for you. No actual solutions just- God will deal with him for you as long as you do nothing wrong they will go to hell and BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA nothing no help no solution. Teachers (shout out to the patriarchy) give me the aww he just likes youuuu speech and think I should stop disturbing them because boisssss willlll beeeeeee boooooiiiss ( my rabid radical feminism female separatism original villain story btw) and I just. Cried. Self esteem on the floor. The idea of going to school was torture. At lunch I would go sit by myself outside because the second I walk into the dining hall he'll get loud af and everyone else will just laugh and teachers will conveniently not notice. Torture. Psychological terrorism.

My grandma, bless her heart, talks to me about school. How's everything? Great. Top of my class as always. Class captain .it's okay. Are you sure?) well, there is this one boy- followed by a breaking down and lots of ugly crying. By this point I have accepted it is what it is, I just have to live with it. She goes, well, what are you doing that makes him think its okay to do that.

My flabbers are gasted. Nothing. I did nothing??? I just. Ignore him.

Grams; so basically it's your fault

Me; brother wot. I literally did nothing.

Grams: does he do that to everyone??

Me; just me

Grams; your fault then

Me: 🙂🥲 huh

Grams: if they did it to everyone, it would be a them problem, but it's only you .there's something about you, something that you're doing that is making them feel like it's okay to treat you like that. Changing schools won't help because people that prey on others are everywhere so you have to change what it is about you that gives him this confidence.

She was right. Monday he pushed me and I pushed him back. Heavily too. Raised his voice and I raised mine. Took my book and I took his bag. Outside school, instead of staying indoors I went outside to play. He got rough I got rougher. Refused to cry or to cower and matched him double. At some point there was a kick to the gonads situation and maybe once upon a time I did probably do a little stabby maybe like idk, maybe and anyway it stopped.

Why? He didn't change. I just killed the thing in me that made him think he could get away with it.

When someone does something to you, it's because you have signalled to them that they will get away with it . You're projecting weakness. That's it.

Nice girls this is SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. IM LOOKING DIRECTLY AT YOUR PEOPLE PLEASING WET TOILET PAPER SPINED ASS. YOUUUUU are the problem .

Otherwise, are they bullying everyone? Because if it's everyone, then it's a character deficiency on their part. Do they gossip about everyone? Do they talk crappy to everyone?? Do they mistreat everyone???

And as proof it's a you problem, notice how it never stops?? Even when you changed schools?? Changed towns?? Changed friendship circles?? Why is it always you huh??

Because there is something about you that is signalling*prey*

People are animals, love. And this life is a survival game. Either youre the predator, or the prey . Yes I know how Andrew Tate I'm sounding rn but do you see people bullying him?? Even though he looks like a rejected sperm and sounds like a 7 year old??? Why??

It's something about you. About your banana 🍌 ass shaped back and how you lower your voice when you sense oncoming conflict and how you rush to justify yourself and how you are dependent on others and how you look and dress and how you have no power points (beauty, money, position) and how your talk too much like you're overcompensating ITS SOMETHING about you.

It's your fault.

Think of it this way, a wounded rabbit will tempt even the most disciplined lion, won't it? Instinct is more powerful than choice isn't it? Weakness will bring out the animal in others. It will. You have a part to play in this. Change the thing about you and see if they try again .

Community

shop

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for hinting that someone should leave the church? ⛪

hopefully this doesn't sound complicated. I (18M) have music classes with this girl and we have a small friendship. we sit by each other and crack jokes and help each other with reading sheet music etc, but we don't really see or talk to each other outside of class. early on, she mentioned that she was Mormon, and went into a little more detail about how hard it is to be Mormon and LGBT with devout parents. since I was also raised very religious (albeit not Christian) and I'm LGBT, we bonded over that. I'm also a senior and she's a freshman, so I feel like I have an obligation to let her know that things can get better bc she's always very worried.

here's where I could be TA. i don't agree with Mormonism or religious extremes at all, but she still seems to be very into it. she's planning to go to BYU and everything. I want to drop hints or subtly say that leaving the church is an option, but I also don't want to put that all on her. the reason I'm not saying it outright is because hearing that at face value can make you reject it harder, and for longer. I'm not even going to see her again in a few weeks bc of graduation, so I wouldn't be able to directly support her through any journey she takes, and I also don't want this to be a situation where I'm just making assumptions where there are none based off of my own religious upbringing.

i'm worried about asking her outright if she's ever thought of leaving the church bc, again, hearing that straight up can be harmful sometimes. she's only 15 and that's an extremely hard age to be in general, let alone if I could possibly stress her out by doing this. but i don't want her to spend the rest of her life thinking that she has to comply by these rigid religious standards until the end of time. i want to approach the subject carefully, but there's also not a lot of time to do it so it wouldn't feel genuine if I pushed it, and just aghhh

so yeah. WIBTA?

[benevolentbirdgal]

Is it appropriate for non-jewish authors/designers to take inspiration from jewish mythology and writing? I’ve seen a lot of media that does that especially in fantasy.

That's a loaded question, and while I certainly don't Speak For All Jews Everywhere - I am Not The Jewrax, I basically hold that it'd be fine in theory but in practice, it's almost always problematic because few gentiles bother to engage with Jewish perspectives on what they're using.

I'm not 112% sure on what you mean by mythology and writing, nor am I 112% sure what you mean by inspiration, but I'm going to make some educated guesses and invite both you to DM me or ask again and other Jews to float other possibilities.

I'm imagining you mean something to the impact of the use of Jewish folklore, theology, and stories in non-Jewish media, like art and literature, so I'm answering in that context. Specifically, I feel like you might be asking about angels and demons, Lillith, and golems, although that is very speculative and just because Those Are The Things Gentiles REALLY Want To Use.

The TL;DR is that I think while in theory, it's fine for gentiles to incorporate elements of Jewishness into their story, in practice they usually screw it up pretty badly if not veering into antisemitic trope-age altogether. There are a few factors that make this the case.

On the one hand, I want to see more representation of Jewish stuff, and not just the same three stereotypes ad nauseam. I legitimately do want more Jewish elements in stories, and I recognize the quantity I want would heavily benefit from, if not outright require, some contribution from the 99.8% of people globally who are not Jewish.

With that said, I think that gentiles tend to fuck up Jewish representations, both from a folklore perspective and a Jews Are People That Exist perspective. It's not some fatal flaw to view other cultures through your own lenses - it's only human, but it is challenging to address and something to be aware of. I see Christianity, Islam, and other religions (and atheism, for that matter) through the view of a Jew who was raised in and lives in a Christian-dominated society. Gentile writers see Judaism through the lenses of their own backgrounds and the backgrounds of their society. For reasons that merit their own post, gentiles tend to forget that Jewishness exists independent of and predating many of their own lenses. For many of the same reasons, many gentiles have no interest in actually consulting Jews or Jewish sources on Jew things - we aren't regarded as minority enough or different enough or whatever to merit research, even among many gentile creators who normally research cultures they are not part of. Without getting into it, a lot of people also A) really can't handle the idea that Some Things Are Just For Jews (like Kabbalah) or accept closed and semi-closed say what they mean on the tin and B) have (at the very least) implicitly supersessionist attitudes in their approach to Judaism - applying other religious and cultural contexts backwards even if they're directly at odds with the original Jewish ones. They learned about Jew Stuff in their Christian, Wiccan, Muslim, Unitarian Universalist, Atheist, etc. spaces, and how those spaces approached Jew Stuff (and the attitudes inherited from those spaces) are prioritized over what the Jews think of their own Stuff. This often results in Jewish "representation" being filtered through the eyes of the dominant culture group (i.e. Christian), even if that's not the intent. This happens a lot with depictions or appropriations of Kabbalah, Lillith, and the Golem - specific cultural and theological biases are superimposed to the detriment of original context and meaning.

If you want to represent or take inspiration from a group, you need to understand that group. It doesn't mean you have to know EVERYTHING (no one does) but it means engaging with and researching the community beyond this One Cool Thing You Liked. The degree to which you do this depends on what you're using, but you want to be able to use stuff without stripping it of its original context.

Writing, mythology, and folklore are broad categories. If you want to use the zayde from Something From Nothing or make Sammy Spider real, that's way less loaded than taking traditional folklore and going Mine Mine Mine a la the birds in Finding Nemo. Good questions to ask when determining if you want to use a thing: is it explicitly closed or semi-closed? Has it been used to cause violence against its community of origin? Is it and its uses considered sacred?

Specific topics that you just shouldn't use because they are closed and/or have been used against Jews to cause us great pain: Lillith, Kabbalah, Golems, anything that implies or uses the blood libel, any kind of Jews-and-horns thing, or anything leaning into antisemitic conspiracy theories. I'd also tread very lightly and get sensitive readers on anything to do with angels and demons, circumcision, and kosher. [above list is def non-exhaustive, other Jews please add stuff]

Also stay away from any "this is the SECRET meaning of this Jewish Thing And The Jews Are Wrong And This Proves My Religion/Conspiracy Theory/Worldview." Even if it does not promote a specific worldview, there's some major ick in saying "no this is what your holiday/beliefs actually mean/imply." Don't Da Vinci Code us, basically.

If you are wanting to write or make something with Jewish elements, consult Jews on the specifics! Seriously, most of us are SO happy to help you workshop.

Again, I do not speak for all Jews, but this is my personal take, and the kind of stuff I've heard a lot of other Jews opine as well.

[bugsbenefit]

attraction in ST

or. oh god stop stripping the show of it's themes no please no it needs those, stopppp

actually making this post now bc i'm sick of people claiming anything remotely sexual or even kissing happening to the party (an opinion that often pops up in the context of byler) in s5 would be horrible, sexualising, or out of character for the show

ST has always had a realistic approach to kids growing into their sexualities. the show's never shied away from directly addressing sex and sexual feelings so i'm honestly amazed by the extremely puritan interpretation of the show. i'm assuming, in good faith, that a big part of it is coming from people not having seen the actual show in ages and are just forgetting how explicitly the show handles sexuality. instead of just assuming it's from culturally raised christian people, who feel uncomfortable seeing any portrayal of sexuality, no matter how tasteful or realistic

i'm also saying all this as an ace person myself, i get not being into sex and not wanting to see it. however, refusing to acknowledge entire themes of a fictional show just because i don't experience them is bizarre to me. sexuality is vitally important to a lot of the characters and isn't just there to be fun(gross). essentially, ST is the opposite of porn without plot

so just as a little reminder what's actually IN Stranger Things. canonically.

sorry i had this sc for ages and wanted to include it Somewhere, so here you go. at a little starter... dorry

also this is an old draft seeing the light of day now, if anything's worded weird it's bc i didn't read all of it over again so oops, grammar hard?

TLDR: the show has never shied away from explicitly addressing sexuality. buying into the puritan fanon version of the show is going to make your s5 viewing experience worse because that show doesn't exist

season 1

we're starting the show off with Stancy, which is very sexually charged in general. (even in s4 Nancy still experiences physical attraction to Steve despite them having unchanged compatibility) the plot surrounding them in s1 explicitly focuses on Nancy having sex with Steve and later regretting that choice. the scene that everyone remembers, is of course, the "explicit" (not really, because ST is really tasteful with how it shows these teens explore themselves) sex scene

they're in sophomore and junior year of highschool here. around 15 and 16 years old - yet the show doesn't shy away from letting them figure things out. and it's not like this sexual theme is contained in only that scene. it keeps coming back the whole season as Nancy tries to sort her feelings out and deals with the aftermath of that night

also sidenote here while still at Steve and his party: even Steve's friends are very casual with their sexualities. and yes, they can even explicitly mention sex and specific sexual acts, no holding back here

Nancy's character conflict in s1 very much hinges on her sexuality and sexual themes. and it's not like there is a magic you need to be at least this old rule to know what sex is on the show like so many people seem to believe, because even 12 year old Mike seems to very much know what his sister and Steve are up to. he even goes out of his way to use it against her

iconic line! but i've seen insane takes trying to spin this into something not alluding to something sexual. i'm sorry to say if he doesn't think they're full on having sex he at least thinks they're getting very intimate with each other regardless

so not even the youngest characters on the show are "innocent and pure" the way fandom likes to claim when it comes to sexuality. and of course they aren't. real 12 year olds know what sex is, they're young not oblivious

and the following seasons make that even more obvious

season 2

as of s2 the kids are getting more involved with the sexual jokes, not just making them about other people but even being directly involved with those themes themselves. which is also realistic. with 13 sexuality starts to get thrown your way by every possible form of media. lots of them start developing crushes, have no idea how relationships work, etc. it's messy, typical teens thrown into the dating game. (i say all of this from a developmental media psychology perspective thanks uni and not personal experience sorry lmao, i'm a bit too ace to have my own input here)

s2 features comedic and awkward mentions of sex(ual activity) towards Lucas and Max,

older peers giving their 13 year old friends well meant advice on how relationships work,

and has even younger characters play around with attraction/kissing/love as well, which is incredibly normal for kids to do at that age

they're all young and the show treats growing up realistically. while the theme of attraction or sexuality gets more relevant for them (in scenes that are often received with awkwardness by the characters themselves) the show offers them safe territory to stand on. none of them are directly confronted with sexuality and are instead offered people to seek advice from for example

meanwhile the sexuality theme for the older kids is still very much explicit. just as Nancy's arc is still heavily tied to her romance and sexuality (which ties into her non conformity themes - she's an ambition driven person trying to escape the culdesac life first and foremost)

not only do we get another sex scene (this time with a cut away), there's also explicit jokes about it after

sexuality on the show is continuously awkward and messy. Jonathan and Nancy are only 16-17 here - no one really knows what they're doing or what the right way to go ahead is and Jonathan rightfully almost does a spittake here. out of pocket Murray

sexuality. is. awkward. (we get is s2 thanks)

season 3

s3 gets even more explicit with it's awkward puberty sexuality themes

from Dustin talking about how much he likes kissing Suzie (and her liking him not having teeth for it?) which weirds Steve out to the repeating, awkwardly received, "happy screams joke" (which gets a callback in later scene)

sexuality is still awkward for them. it's a realistic approach to what 14 year olds act like and know. they're actively dating by now, they're kissing people And have messy relationship situations. all while still acknowledging knowing what sex and attraction is, duh, of course they know that. but i'm explicitly pointing it out because i see obscene amounts of people claiming the characters are completely sheltered and even implying that they know what sex is would be gross. to that i say, do you not remember being 14???

and while i'm at s3, also let it be mentioned that even the adults are suffering at the hands of the sexuality theme here. Hopper's hookups with random women are focused on in s1, but now that he's getting closer with Joyce they get very explicitly told to just have sex. literally

not putting the whole dialogue in here, i already have too many images because there's so many sex mentions in this show and he really just tells them their mating ritual is painful and they should tear their clothes off and fuck right now

thanks Murray, always insightful

season 4

and s4 has stopped just confronting the kids with the existence of sexuality, but is tentatively starting to explore mature themes more directly - which allows them to tentatively start exploring their own sexualities instead of just having to acknowledge the general concept of sexuality

Max gets to ogle shirtless Steve

Lucas has something under his bed that's never confirmed as anything except "100/10 gross" but had 90% of the audience i saw immediately assume something sexual (magazines or the like)

and has a bunch more direct nudges, from the kids "experimenting sexually" as Murray says

to Argyle explicitly telling Jonathan he needs to have sex with Nancy again

to Hopper and Joyce's escalating make out in a church while shirtless

to visual innuendos (i'm looking at you hose scene. this one wouldn't be such a big deal if there wasn't a genuine moral panic about it last year. which was crazy. people literally had to pretend the scene didn't exist to escape the witchhunting mobs, except instead of being killed for magic it'd be for looking at a canon scene and acknowledging it. crazy times - aside from that there's also more visuals you can take as innuendos in s4e1 which there's already posts about out there so i'm not getting into them here, i'm more focused on the overt textual references)

to Yuir extensively talking about pleasing women and making them cum (I'm sparing you from that, the sc in at the top was already enough)

to explicit graffities all over the place, like here as an example "give me head until i'm dead" which is in frame for the whole phone call and Steve talking about his bitchlesness. and is also some of the only easily legible text (i hope this is readable, most of my screenshots kind of died a bit so maybe you need to look at an actual clip to see the text)

that is aside from the "DRUGS" poster which touches on another point s4 makes. the show doesn't just explore sexuality, it also puts the kids into more mature situations in general (not talking about the deaths, this is a horror show), specifically drugs

Jonathan uses weed as a coping mechanism the whole season and Eddie even sells the stuff in full bags (insane weed selling practices btw, even i know that). Chrissy (17-18) wants to do weed and ketamine. and we also see Lucas (14) hungover after drinking at a party for the first time

the show does not shy away from portraying realistic teen experiences

Murray called s4 very well, the kids pound some bears, smoke some ganja, play nintendo, and experiment sexually

literally. you have drinking, weed, and confusing queer sexualities. they took this list step by step

and all of those pretty normal things teens tend to explore. and i say that as someone who was decidedly not into those things. the ace experience is a bit different, but i can still acknowledge how that period was like for my allo friends and people in general

there is an extreme push in this fandom to reject any form of sexual jokes or references in the show, made mostly by people being uncomfortable with portrayals of sexuality. however, the themes not only still exist, they're also very prominent throughout all 4 seasons and are important to a lot of the characters directly

and it's also noteworthy here to see how ST approaches it's sexuality theme. it grows with the characters. starting out as jokes and being received with awkwardness to slowly letting them figure things out on their own time and turns. an extremely realistic progression and very common for coming of age narratives such as ST. it's a far cry from shows exploring sexuality or sexual themes for the sake of the viewers enjoyment like Euph0ria (don't want it to show up in tags)

based on what we currently know s5 could very well be taking place in 1988 or later which would place the party at around 16-17 years old. going into the season with the fanon version of the show that is completely clean and non sexual will 100% set you up for disaster

ST is very realistic and non exploitative with it's exploration of teen sexuality so there is obviously nothing to worry about in the sexualization department, that's just puritan fear mongering. however, it's very likely that we're going to get more than holding hands or pecks on the lips from the characters that are now older than characters we've explicitly seen hook up before. there could be more intimate scenes or making out, yes. but there's also at least one basically guaranteed vulgar joke in there, all seasons have them

there's no real theorizing or speculation about s5 here, anything could happen and i'm not placing bets, i want the characters narratives to be wrapped up well first and foremost and trust the writers to do it well. however, going into s5 with some of the mindsets i've seen circulating on here and expecting the show to be "clean" and cater to a version of it that's never existed outside of purified fandom could genuinely make you feel blindsided by the shows canon themes

not targeted at anyone or anything specifically, just using this as a bit of a reality check of what the show is actually like after recently rewatching all of it in one go

[agendabymooner]

gorgeous ! max v. x ofc (hearth sister!ofc)

"i'm so furious at you for making me feel this way, but what can i say?"

summary: sylvie edson ford officially signed with red bull after making christian horner (her employer) own up to his mistakes at the spanish grand prix. max verstappen continued to prove his worth as a friend (or frenemy) by dropping off his 'office-warming' gifts, needless to say, she was slowly liking him even more. (1)(2)(3)

content warning: use of explicit language, mentions maltreatment in the workplace environment, sylvie disliking max's outfit

note: y'all thought i'm done for the day? wrong. shout out to tim hortons iced coffee, you really make my heart beat fast ✨✨ anyway, enjoy this part xx

masterlist

The worst that could happen would be that you would end up crying your heart out in the middle of the room and everyone would pity you. 

But Sylvie didn’t think that something worse than that could even happen on the same day she signed her contract with Red Bull.

The headquarters of Red Bull in Milton Keynes wasn’t that much different than the Mercedes AMG office in Brackley— she knew that; she frequented the place whenever Toto would work in the office just to pester him and his staff. 

The difference between the two, however, had something to do with the sense of comfort that she lacked as she stood in front of the Wall of Fame, her eyes staring directly at the images of Christian Klien and David Coulthard. Her figure felt so tense, anybody with a sharp object could cut her easily. 

Her sister, Tilly, had been an owner of this team for two years now, yet she felt like this place didn’t even belong to her family. Sylvie couldn’t even claim that she was proud of being a part of the Red Bull group— she didn’t even know jack shit inside this office. She knew how much she disliked Christian Horner, but that’s the only Red Bull headquarters related thing that remained in her brain. 

Then came her contract. She sat down next to Stevie and Tilly as she continued to skim through the terms and conditions of her contract. It was dead silent, and she disliked every single bit of it. Should she have an office in this place, she’d definitely blast some songs to get away from bullshit. 

Sylvie barely finished reading the last section when she heard Christian speak and clear his throat. She stared at him, hand still holding onto the papers as he stated, “I know that we’ve come across one another in a rather negative manner so I would like to personally apologize to you.” She raised a brow at him, telling herself that it was time for him to own up to what he did or rather what he didn’t do. 

The youngest in the room bit back quietly, “For what?” Stevie coughed next to her, obviously trying not to laugh at her sister’s sassiness as she knew what would happen after Sylvie slipped those two words out. The Hearth sisters knew a lot and one of them was that Sylvie would always make sure that the others would have hell to pay. She was self-aware of the things that she deserved - and she knew that equal respect and dignity were two of those things. 

Christian stared at her for a moment, confusion written all over his face. Sylvie leaned against the chair she sat in and crossed her arms, papers still on her hand as she said, “I don’t know what you are specifically apologizing for, so for what?” 

The Red Bull team principal sighed exasperatedly. Tilly looked over and gave Stevie a wag of her brows, liking the situation that was happening in front of them. 

“You sound like you don’t mean it, Horner,” Sylvie pointed out with a mutter. 

“I apologize for not finding a way to make you feel comfortable in your own working environment,” he spoke like he was a robot who was only coded to speak those words. “I could have done so much better and tried to help you adapt to that situation. But it was a busy weekend—“

“And so will the rest of the race weekends ahead of us,” Sylvie snarked. To say that she wasn’t scared of her future employer was an understatement; Christian just had his own ass handed back to him by making him admit to what he’s done wrong. Now she continued to test him as she said, “I am not saying that I won’t be working hard to continually improve the image of the team, but some support will be sufficient. I like the thought of fending for myself, but that would just mess up my performance as a team player.” 

She was still hurt about what happened a month ago, of course. Being left out like a lost puppy in her workplace environment gave her the anxiety that she never thought would ever come back. The boys from her past definitely made it worse. Being yelled at by Christian about her performance that weekend only put the cherry on top. She couldn’t really cooperate with the team if they left her out to figure shit out on her own. 

So it was only rightful of her to blast him with endless words that could hopefully make them realize that they needed to correct their mistakes as the seniors and veterans of the team. She didn’t care if it could tick him off; she didn’t deserve to be treated poorly on her first weekend. If that was how rookies were treated then she sure as hell would address that matter— nobody deserves to be treated like such.

“I acknowledge your frustration over what had happened in the span of a weekend. As I said, I could have done so much more than berate you in front of other people,” Christian told her calmly, “and as your superior, I’ll gladly work with you to figure out what could possibly work best as you delegate with your peers.” 

“You should have thought of that before,” Sylvie rolled her eyes, grabbing a pen laid out on his desk and signed the contract, not even looking at him in the eyes while she did it. 

She found herself looking around once more, now disappointed that her sisters had left after the meeting. She toured the headquarters with Daniel Haas— some communications officer who happened to be a year or two older than her— leading the way. She had seen the place before she even attended her meeting, so listening to him had no point as she continued to look at him and nod. 

Daniel stopped in front of a door that sat at the very end of the media and communications hall, waiting for her to turn at the door. 

“This is your office,” he told her with a grin before opening it with a key, handing it to her after he swung the door open and turned on the light. 

The office was quite decent, sure. The L-shaped desk took up a quarter of the space, then at the back were empty shelves. A couch sat right in front of the big desk and beside it was a small table with F1 related magazines. 

She could definitely do so much with this office. She wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to decorate her office— one that she would occupy should she have time away from the runway. 

Her phone was the best friend she had that day. She’d been scrolling through Twitter, thinking about her first task to follow. She wasn’t told what to do just yet. 

A knock interrupted her thoughts and a murmur of ‘come in’ slipped out of her mouth, her bright eyes peering up to see Max Verstappen enter her office with questions written all over his face. 

She hated to admit it, but Max looked handsome that day— no matter how much she hated seeing him in his white shirt and skinny jeans— and those running shoes. So fucking atrocious, his outfit was.

“You’d think that being a professional racer would help you afford nicer clothes,” Sylvie’s voice echoed in the office, making him scowl in confusion as she continued, “even Adam Sandler can get away with his basketball shorts.” The silence in the room went away as she chuckled humourlessly. Max only laughed quietly with a shake of his head. 

“My favourite fashion critique,” he huffed, “oh have I missed you.” 

“You need better habits,” she replied, “like dressing nicely. Otherwise I wouldn’t be handing your own ass back to you for looking so horrendous.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He teased as he walked towards her desk. “I wouldn’t see the Wild Blue Mustang in her prime, otherwise. I got to make some sacrifices, you know?”

She watched him as he placed something on her desk, making her lean over. He stood there patiently, watching as she examined the stuff on her table. 

A box of a mini orange Cadillac figure sat on her desk and a framed picture of them as five year olds. Alongside that would be plaques to place in her door and on her desk. 

“Sylvie Edson Ford Hearth

Community Outreach and Public Relations Coordinator”

The Red Bull Racing logo was engraved on the gold plaque next to her name. Talk about official.

“Thanks,” she said quietly before looking up at him, “did Christian make you act like his personal messenger instead of having someone else pass these to me?”

“Nope,” he shook his head, beaming in happiness as he said, “I wanted to give the plaques myself.”

“And why do I have a toy Cadillac? I don’t recall Red Bull making a Cadillac.”

“This is your first office move-in day ever,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “I’d hate to not be a part of it. You’ve got an adult job now. I missed a couple of your achievements. So… yeah, I got you a Cadillac. Me.”

“You need to stop weaseling your way into the little stuff, Verstappen,” she sassed. “It’s unbecoming.”

“Never,” he cheekily smiled, “besides, it’s easier for me to barge into your life now. Your office is right here! And we work together, too. Talk about advantages.”

Sylvie sighed heavily, rubbing her temples before looking up at Max. “Don’t you have other people to annoy?”

“You’re my top one,” Max laughed heartily, “but I’ll go. I wanted to welcome you to Red Bull. Officially. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to go to my meeting with Christian. So— bye!” 

Hearing the door slam shut, she leaned back against her chair. She thought that the worst case scenario of today was that she could have cried in the middle of Horner’s office. Then she pondered what just happened, and decided that her nightmare had something to do with liking Max, one way or another. 

She really didn’t like it when her demons won and continued to gravitate towards him. She wanted to continue to despise his own being, but loathing could only do so much.

[lunarwritesthings]

Thou Shall Not Touch What is Mine

Paring: Jeff Hardy x Gn!Reader

Fandom: Wwe

Request: Yes, by anon

Summary: Jeff gets jealous about someone talking and touching HIS baby.

Prompt: #15 "I don't fucking care. You're supposed to be mine."

Note: This takes place in the late 90s/early 2000s it fits best with people's characters. The reader is also Christian's younger sibling. There's a twist towards the end

Jeff was not one to be anything but nice to people. It's how he was raised to be. However, those feelings flew out the window when it happened. What is it? Well, "it" is when he sees someone touching and talking to HIS baby in a way he knows is meant to be flirty or so he thinks.

Now, who's Jeff's baby? Well, that's simple baby Cage aka you. You were called baby Cage due to being the younger sibling of one Christian Cage. Anyways you are the most important person to Jeff. You are his best achievement. He never thought he'd get you to date him when you are more attractive and way out of his range, at least those were his words. Of course, that was something you and Jeff would argue about when brought up since neither of you could agree.

You have never seen Jeff get jealous so you believed he wasn't the kind of person that got jealous but that changed. To you, the conversation you were having with Edge was normal and common for your friendship but Jeff didn't know this. Jeff thought Edge was flirting with you. How? by the sly smirk on Edge's face and the way, his hand was resting on your arm.

This made Jeff feel something he hasn't felt in a long time. Jealousy. Let's just say jealous Jeff is actually likely to fight someone. Now Jeff tried to stay calm. He watched you and Edge, well more Edge than you. The glare on his face was obvious to anyone who could see.

Now Jeff could walk over to you and Edge and make it clear that you two are together but there's one small problem with that. You and Jeff hadn't gone public so he couldn't. Except Jeff had a plan. Once better than just going over to you. Let's just say Jeff's plan was definitely going to get him yelled at by you.

Jeff walked to the gorilla and told the people there to play his music. They knew something was going to happen so they did. Jeff went out and straight to the ring and gestured for a mic. Once he got one he looked around for a minute before starting a rant about certain things. One of those was people flirting with you but he didn't directly mention you. Regardless of his feelings, he was going to try his hardest and keep the relationship private.

Matt and Christian ran to where you and Edge were once they saw what Jeff was doing. Matt was the first one to say anything. He didn't say much just "Jeff is in the ring, go stop him before he says too much." Christian grabbed Edge and pulled him out of earshot so they could talk, but that was not important.

Just like Jeff, you quickly went to the gorilla and told them to play your music but you didn't even wait. Once you walked out from backstage you immediately ran to the ring. The announcers and the fans were confused about what was going on. The first thing you say since coming out was "Jeff what is this all about?" Jeff wanted to say the truth but knew if he did then he was going to be in a lot of trouble. Jeff thought about what to say and decided to just say fuck it and deal with getting yelled at back stage.

Jeff was about to answer a lot of questions just by saying what he has been thinking. Jeff looks you directly in the eyes, the anger and jealousy being clear in his, and said "I don't fucking care. You're supposed to be mine." It all made sense now. Jeff was ranting about Edge being flirty with you and his anger about the situation with saying any names, the fans also figured this out. Looks like the cat is out of the bag.

Before you could say anything Edge and Christian came out with smiles that looked like they belong to Chester the cat. Jeff was confused but you knew what was about to happen. Edge was the first to say anything but it was directed to Christian "Well, would you look at that? Our plan worked." Christian nodded and turned his attention to you and Jeff.

"Little sib, did you really think you and him were doing a good job at hiding your relationship? Well, dear sib it was very obvious to anyone with a brain and two eyes. Maybe next time don't stare and drool over each other every time you're in a room filled with people." It was clear by his smile it was meant in a teasing way.

The two waved then turned and went backstage leaving you and a very embarrassed Jeff in the ring. You quickly got Jeff's attention and then rushed up the ramp and backstage. Jeff refused to look anywhere but at the floor. Of course, waiting behind the curtain were Christian and Edge looking at you and Jeff.

This time Christian spoke "I don't care that you two are together, I just would appreciate being told that my little sib is in a relationship with someone I trust. Just don't make me regret it Hardy." Jeff finally looked up and at Christian "I won't. I don't plan on doing anything to hurt them." That made Christian and told him what he needed to know.

Edge and Christian shared a look, silently communicating about something. At times like this, you believed they could communicate telepathically, but less than a minute later Edge looked at Jeff and shocked him "Oh by the way you don't have to worry about me taking little Cage from you. I've had my eye on a different cage for a while now and that isn't going to change."

With that Christian and Edge turned and headed for their locker room. Jeff looked at you and summed up his and your feelings "Don't get me wrong your brother and Edge are cool but I think they did go a little crazy". You had to agree with him. You and Jeff just decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing after explaining a little about the situation that happened in the ring, but at the end of the day everyone was happy and that's what mattered.

[majorshippingtrash]

Now maybe I’m on a kick of “shows based on Christian mythology + the act of forgiveness” because of what Good Omens has done to me, but I feel like there’s a lot to say about forgiveness in Hazbin Hotel, despite it rarely being directly talked about.

(Also it’s been years since I’ve been in a church and the Bible has been interpreted a thousand different ways by a thousand different people over the course of a thousand different years in a thousand different languages… sorry if my interpretation/terminology doesn’t match yours 🤷)

Forgiveness is a big thing in Christianity. Now while 🔥FIRE AND BRIMSTONE AND WOE BE UPON YEE REPENT REPENT REPENT🔥 is a method some preachers will go, there is still that act of “repent.” My boy Jesus on the cross forgave that thief, the thief asked him to remember him when Jesus got to heaven and Jesus said, “my guy you’re coming too.” (Luke 23: 40-42) Most preachers/preists/weird youth group leaders will admit that if you ask God/Jesus for genuine forgiveness, you will be let unto the kingdom of Heaven™️

But the big thing with Hazbin is that “Hell is Forever.” In ep6 during the song “You Didn’t Know” Lute/Adam say “What are we even talking about, some crack-whore who fucked up already? He blew his shot, like the cocks in his mouth, this discussion is senseless and petty. There’s no question to be posed, he’s unholy, case closed, did you forget that hell is forever?”

I keep getting stuck at the line “he blew his shot already.” Charlie is asking that sinners who genuinely want to try and be a little better are given a chance to. Now obviously the big thing is that Adam, Sera, no one knows what gets a soul into heaven, let alone do any of them have the ability to do so.

And I hear you now, “okay but lowkey like Adam said, they had the chance all of their LIFE to ask forgiveness. This is the after.” OK BUT I RAISE YOU TO READ “The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” (had to bust out my own bible to remember this fucking story) Matthew 20: 1-16 is The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard which basically says, “it doesn’t matter at what point you ask for forgiveness, you will get it. Whether you were a good Christian born and raised or literally only started on your death bed, we’re gucci 👌”

TLDR; Adam is being an asshole for killing the sinners who might actually give redemption a shot if they knew it worked, and my proof is the Bible says so (as if god, Jesus, or the Bible have even been mentioned 💀✌️)

[psychological-musings]

On the topic of Thought Crimes, Plurality, and Purity

[TLDR/summary at bottom]

I am a system of two people, divided into five alters, and uncountably many personalities. I consider myself plural, but am not sure if I would medically qualify as having DID— nor do I really care for a formal diagnosis.

I was raised in Christian and Christianity-influenced circles which placed a strong value on being morally upstanding and, in other words, "pure". The definition for how to be "pure", of course, varied by group, and sometimes was impossible to meet (possibly by design).

For example, one group (radical feminists, though they only identified as feminist) defined purity by gender, or proximity to those gender's conventional roles— femininity and female identity was "pure", while masculinity and male identity was "sinful", and something that could never be washed away. Internalizing this culture caused us a lot of long term psychological damage that we are still working on repairing today.

As a result, I find a lot of "proship" rhetoric, which dismantles this kind of purity culture, reassuring— the idea that metrics of "purity" which are not based on actual, real people's comfort and safety are essentially meaningless.

But one thing that I was never able to be comfortable with was the assurance that "thought crimes are not real/cannot be bad". I understood and appreciated the sentiment, but it never really felt right to me. After a recent altercation between my alters, I was finally able to pin down why— the idea that "thought crimes" are morally acceptable relies on the assumption that thoughts alone are not able to affect any other person. And, in my case, as a system, this assumption is false, because my thoughts can be heard by another, real, independent person.

So, functionally, "thought crimes aren't wrong because they can't affect anyone" is about the same as saying "things you say out loud in your own house can't hurt anyone, because no one can ever visit people at their own homes". It would be true if the assumptions were, but there is a small disconnect because it fails to account for a particular variety of the human experience.

I don't mean to nitpick— this is just my autistic need for precision speaking. And, specifically, I think a lot of people who identify as "antiship" are upset about this lack of precision, too. It seems like a conversation in which one side says "this is okay, because it cannot hurt anyone" and the other replies resentfully, "you have failed to account for the ways in which it could hurt someone".

So, for those who feel similar to myself, and need a way to distance themselves from purity culture without feeling like you are accidentally condoning things that genuinely hurt people, I propose the following ideal instead:

"A person's existence, emotional responses, identities, experiences, inclinations, desires, fears, distastes and dislikes, bodily functions (or lack thereof), neurotype, attractions, repulsions— in general, anything that they cannot remove or control, only mask or express differently— none of these things can ever be a source of moral error, because they cannot inherently, directly, cause harm to another person."

To be precise about my revised opinion on thought crimes— it is possible, if a bit of a special case, to hurt someone with your thoughts. Just as it is possible to hurt an external party by voicing an opinion aloud (typically after they have expressed a boundary about not wanting to hear it), it is possible to hurt an internal party with thoughts alone. In my opinion, thoughts are something that is often very difficult to control (one of my alters often struggles with intrusive thoughts, even)— so it would feel somewhat cruel to me to make an alter repent or feel guilty for their thoughts, but it may be healing or comforting to at least ask them to acknowledge that it may be uncomfortable or hurtful to others.

TLDR: The concept of "thought crimes" can be easily complicated by facets of the human experience, such as plurality or trauma. I personally think the best way to conceptualize the moral charge of it would be somewhat like stepping on a friend's foot— simply walking is not something you should constantly have to monitor and feel ashamed of, but perhaps if an instance arises where someone genuinely is hurt by your thoughts, it would be courteous to consider acknowledging that pain, even if it isn't somewhere that anyone else can see. Furthermore, the more precise definition of "thought crimes aren't real" could be something more like "actions which do not impact others cannot possibly cause harm to others, and it can be healthy to take joy in your existence and self expression whenever and wherever it does not harm others", perhaps along with the corollary "if your self expression (including thoughts) does harm someone, a compromise will need to be reached, with the same neutral moral charge of agreeing on what music to play in a living room." In true privacy —something that is very difficult to achieve with plurality, unfortunately— no form of self expression could possibly hurt anyone besides yourself, and therefore any and all self expression which does not create lasting effects (destruction of others' property, for instance) or break established boundaries or agreements (cheating on a partner, for instance) is simply an exertion of your own right to autonomy and agency, and therefore cannot be morally wrong."

[niobiumao3]

Man there is a lot of attachment/commitment disk horse running around wrt the Jedi Order.

Lucas straight up said:

- People not raised from birth to be selfless and detached cannot possibly learn it later (x) from (x)

- Spouses and children must have all of your devotion so you cannot possibly devote yourself to something else like the Order (x) from (x)

He did! He said those things, and Anakin's entire plot is meant to reflect that. I get it, the movies and animated shows don't explicitly spell the part about families and kids out, but Lucas himself stated these things, and Anakin and Obi-wan's romantic arcs with Padme and Satine directly reflect that in the text. (I have SO FUCKING MANY issues with Lucas characterizing a marriage as inherently greedy and possessive, just, what the fucking hell. But anyways.)

The detachment/selflessness thing has problems as presented and narrated in the text. It really does, and it's not Jedi hating to say so. It comes from a good place, but it fails to take into account a lot of factors like people being able to make good decisions despite conflicting needs, people being able to be compassionate and selfless in the face of their own loss, people being able to change and grow and learn. (This begs the question, why *didn't* Anakin learn the detachment? Did he really need to be indoctrinated into that? That says a lot of not-great things.) It makes a lot of assumptions that are quite frankly based in the white Christian American thinking of its writer and I do feel presenting it as only in-canon and therefor separated from that isn't actually useful.

People aren't hating on Jedi when they point this out in metas or have characters take issue with it in their fanworks. They're really, actually not. There's nuance to examine and ways to look at it without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, in both directions.

[13eyond13]

Hello, do you mind if I ask that "bookish ask"? For no. 15, 34, and 50. Thanks if you want to answer.....

Hello! Sure, thank you for asking :)

15. What book changed your life?

This was a hard question!

I know I've mentioned this book already several times but in complete honesty I think Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice did geniunely change my life a bit whenever I first read it at 15 or 16. I was raised in a strict Christian home and sent to a tiny Christian school in a small town, and had all my media and activities and the people I was allowed to interact with and the stuff I did very closely monitored so that it was basically always Christian and rarely ever adult in content or themes or anything for most of my childhood and my early teens. So originally when I bought this book at the bookstore at age 15 and my mom found out about it I had to return it to the bookstore immediately, because she saw that it was about vampires and she thought it sounded bad. Normally I was pretty obedient and I hated to do anything against my parents' wishes, but by then I had already started reading it and was already pretty hooked on knowing what was going to happen next. So I sneaked around behind my mom's back to secretly buy it again, and then pulled a Light Yagami by gutting one of the wholesome children's books on my shelf to hide this forbidden book inside (this was before I ever watched Death Note, but whenever I saw Light using the same bookshelf trick to hide his magazines I was like HAHAHA omg no way). So reading this book and then several more of them in the series after that kinda marked the first time I ever really explicitly disobeyed the authority figures around me in order to read something considered off-limits or more "adult," and kinda made me realize that I felt like I was missing out on a whole gigantic part of life by only ever being restricted to that tiny little bubble of stuff I'd been exposed to thus far. Everything that the book touched on just resonated extremely strongly with me at the time, in large part probably due to my religious guilt and my questioning of these things (because oooh boy is it obvious that Anne Rice is a lapsed Catholic in her writing a lot of the time). But also I think the melodrama of the story matched with my teenage angst so well, and I definitely was vibing strongly with just how queer so much of the series feels as well (I didn't realize yet that I was gay, but I was starting to question things like that about myself a bit by then I think. It was very rare that I was ever exposed to anything not completely heteronormative back then due to it being the 2000s and due to being in a homophobic religious bubble my whole life, so this really was one of the very first times I was). I feel like reading this book really marked the beginning of me opening my mind up from the stuff that I'd just been raised to believe and acted like a nice gateway for me between that and exploring lots of other interesting things that had previously been off-limits to me before that as well.

34. List 5 OTPs: I don't think I actually have five OTPs! The only one I really truly have ever been long-term passionate about enough to call it something like an otp is Lawlight. I could name you a few other ships that I definitely find pretty compelling and angsty for me to think about as well right now though, like Nana and Hachi from the Nana manga series and Griffguts from Berserk

50. Why do you love to read?

Hmm! At this point I might say just that I'm kind of obsessed with stories and the art of storytelling in general. And I think what I love so much about books in particular is just how intimate they can feel and how deep into a character's head or specific point of view or a different world or time period or whatever you can get with them. It's a bit different than something like watching a show or a movie to really get to know a character or experience a story directly just through the words on the page. I like how much you can just make it all up for yourself (which is to me why it often feels really odd to see a book I loved turned into a movie or show that doesn't match what I pictured in my imagination). I was lucky enough to grow up reading and being read to by my parents quite a bit, so it feels homey and nostalgic to me to sit down with a good book too. And I feel like as an adult it's just one of the better hobbies I've ever had in terms of expanding my mind and challenging me and teaching me a lot about all the things that interest me the most.

[bookish asks]

[dreamingquinn]

Thinkin about gender and spirituality

Preface: I don't have a real point to this. I just remembered you can basically post anything to tumblr.

My ex-mother in law said something to me the first time we met. "I've never understood queer relationships. You need the masculine and the feminine to balance eachother out... But I suppose that's why gays tend to have one masculine partner and one feminine partner."

This woman was a huge name in the druidic community of the UK. She is polyamorous. She told me that she remembered past lives and regularly saw the dead, animal and human. But she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of something outside of heteronormativity.

And she wasn't the only one in my life like that. I was basically raised a little heathen but I still grew up white in the US. Christian overtones policed my thinking and the thinking of those who influenced me. Most of my non-male partners have been feminine in their gender expression, and in turn I acted more and more masculine. I tried to fit a role based on expectations rather then what I (or even my partners) wanted.

Now I'm with someone I expect will be for life. They are 'masc' in that they are Butch. Not divorced from their womanhood even if they do not embrace that part of themselves the way someone who really enjoyed more 'typical' femininity would. Meanwhile I just bought two skirts for the first time since middleschool and I'm becoming even more comfortable with the term 'agender'.

I'm still a spiritual person, more now then when I knew and had access to people with connections in the 'neo pagan' movements. And yet every fucking time I see people talking about spirituality I still see people stumble over the ideas of the 'masculine' and the 'feminine' in nature.

My ex-MIL also said once that I should be careful not to anthropomorphize things. That my experience with a specific tree feeling safe when I was a child in need was probably just me projecting.

On this one thing, I actually agree with her. We project a lot of bullshit onto the natural world. And onto ourselves. Especially in the spiritual community. What is masculine about the sun? What is feminine about the moon? Nothing. They are objects in space with mass and gravity. Why would that make them any less magical? They still have a huge impact on our lives. The sun's impact is generally more overt. The moon's is more subtle. We can talk about these things in how they relate to us, I don't think that's unreasonable. You can't experience the world except from your own perceptions. The sun is hot and brings life but also can cause damage and death. The moon and night is cold but gives us the tides which effects us just as much but usually in ways we either live far from or don't directly think about/see.

The problem really comes in, I think, from how we don't just say 'the sun is masculine and the moon is feminine' it's how that inevitably leads us to imposing that duality onto people. People pose anthropomorphized ideas onto things that are not human and in turn try to use it as a mirror or a measuring stick to hold up against themselves or other humans. And not all cultures even believed these things or have lines drawn this strongly, I know. But I can only talk from the experience I've lived. The presence of strict ideals that specifically Christian-fascism (current and historic) have given us are so pervasive in people like me that they go completely unquestioned. Every book I read, including my ex-MIL's did nothing to question it, and in many cases actively reinforced it.

It's really no wonder that there is a fast and ugly pipeline of 'witch' to 'right-wing' if the people who position themselves as outside the mainstream culture are still just recreating it in the spaces they make.

[queerprayers]

the deeper i get into my studies on my own theology as a theistic luciferian, the deeper i get into my studies of christianity and the beauty contained within the teachings and the stories, and its so funny how i find myself gaining a new respect for the faith through the lens of someone who practices by putting their soul into it, and not in the weird, passive and psuedo-capitalistic way of worship that i was raised with. the genuine adoration that radiates from your blog and your writings is breathtaking in its beauty to me, i cannot describe how much i admire you and your dedication to helping others. ironically i find it kind of endearing how our faiths cannot be separated as i owe so much to yours. it's with the deepest love and respect in my heart that i wish you the best, and that our separate journeys guide us to peace, happiness, enlightenment, or whatever we wish. i don't really have much of importance to say, just that i hope you're having an absolutely lovely day. hope this wasn't too cheesy, thank you for helping me learn.

Thank you and you're welcome, beloved.

This is so interesting to me and makes so much sense! It's something that I've noticed with a lot of spiritual/religious beliefs related to Lucifer/similar figures & practices--they're kind of Christian in nature? Or at least, as you said, inseparable. The word "lucifer" comes from a translation of the Bible, which to me always implied a valuing of the Bible in some way, even if only to hate it. Like even people who consider themselves directly opposed to Christianity (like atheistic Satanists) are describing their beliefs in relation to Christianity. Thanks for putting into words and being open about this! I have a lot to learn, but it's always nice to know there are people who know more that agree with me. :)

It brings me so much joy that you've found value in my words & the Christian faith, and I think it's great (as well as funny) that I've somehow created a Christian space that a Luciferian feels comfortable in. Truly there are so many chairs at our spiritual table, and so many rooms in my Father's house.

I wish you the best also, that you find what you're looking for in your faith, that it guides you and gives you meaning, that it enables you to love the universe and others. Love is all I ever ask of anyone, and I see and love how much you have.

<3 Johanna

p.s. Can I say may God be with you? By that I mean, may the universe and love be with you, because those are the same things to me. Whatever that means to you, I trust you get the point. (Good vibes.)

[hologramblue]

a lot of the parts of endwalker that i liked because they resonated with me were like. how do i put this. this is going to come out clumsy bc i have to go to work soon and i don't want to spend all my time on impulseposting about ffxiv

so, being a nonreligious atheist in the US, right. a lot of them are ex-christians. US christians are batshit nuts and culturally dominant. take these two things together and what you get is that a lot of the Story About Atheism is "still" a revolutionary, subversive, underdog thing; it's about attacking and overcoming the flaws of mainstream thought

i'm not ex-christian; i was raised nonreligious atheist, blissfully unaware for a shockingly long time that most christians actually took the stories more seriously than my books of greek mythology (which i was far more familiar with than even the big-name bible stories). that didn't erase the entire fucking...bush years experience, or like, going through my teen years arguing with fundies online about evolution, but atheism has never been as, like, revolutionary or liberatory for me as it was for my parents or for many of the loudest voices about it

which creates a ?cultural context? that's in a weird spot because like, there's things about being a white-mutt nonreligious atheist in the US that you can't really talk about for as long as atheism is still in a defensive, underdog position, because if you're like "you know i think about the meaning of life sometimes and it's kind of upsetting how most of my at-hand secular options for holidays/traditions/values are just rooted in settler colonial mythology instead" then fundies will start frothing about how it's evidence of the brokenness and degeneracy and soul-rot of atheism or whatever.

so like, games about killing god are very important and i will never argue that they aren't relevant in this day and age, because uh holy shit, but they don't resonate with me personally because there was never a god-by-that-name in my head to kill. endwalker (the parts i'm thinking of anyways) is one of the few pieces of media that does feel like it's talking directly to me on that axis, starting from the premise i was raised with and skipping over the defensiveness to talk directly about civic religion and nationalism and, like, the invention of god or god-like concepts from scratch by people who don't need to explain where the rain comes from but do crave reassurance that there's something bigger than their own flawed selves that can tell them they're doing alright, when they look down and realize how much power and how little control they really have over the world, and can't find anything to justify it. hermes hit hard and i don't think i've ever been able to fully explain to anyone why. dungeon meshi levels of going "oh shit other people know this feeling."

among other things i don't have the time or focus to ramble about. the whole venat and ancients thing.

i've seen people say endwalker is a pro-religious story and i heartily disagree, i think it's easy to hear it that way if you're used to people swinging around "you just need to believe in jesus/astrology/??? and that'll fix ya" as a weapon and that's the only time you hear people use the word faith, i definitely have that kneejerk reaction too, but endwalker doesn't feel like that to me. like, it's not coming from that place and trying to win me over, it knows where i'm standing way too well for that

if that makes sense.

[ablednt]

I am about to start gatekeeping who can call things purity culture for fucking real y’all this is just embarrassing.

The notion that one is responsible for their actions INCLUDING if they are being complicit to someone or something that is causing harm, that no one’s choices exist in a vacuum, and similar criticisms of potentially toxic behaviors done even in good faith are NOT purity culture. I’m not even saying all of those arguments are correct but that’s explicitly not what purity culture is or why it’s harmful.

I know a lot of y’all never had first hand experience one way or another with puritanical christianity so you’ve been led to believe that puritans simply hate fun and enjoyment and thus anyone who makes you feel guilty for something you enjoy (which, again, I’m not here to tell you that’s right or wrong) is being like a puritan but that’s not at all the issue and representing it as such is dangerous.

Puritanical christianity very specifically says, that people and things are fundamentally wrong. The idea is that human nature is immorality, that no matter what you do you are a Bad Person if you don’t fit into a very specific standard of what “God wants”

This IS sometimes present in leftist spaces and is a huge issue but not in any of the ways I see y’all talking about.

Puritanical values are utilized in leftist spaces when there is an either directly stated or explicitly implied idea of everything fitting squarely into right and wrong. A lot of the time the way (mainly white, culturally christian) people talk about privilege is very puritanical. The idea that being privileged means there is inherently something wrong with you as a person that you must compensate/repent for and feel ashamed about, rather than just meaning you are incentivized to be complicit in oppression and must be aware of that to make conscious decisions not to be, that is purity culture and very harmful. 

IMO all the focus on what labels people use for their Own Experiences and “that doesn’t make sense to me so it’s wrong and you’re a bad person” has roots in purity culture as well.

But being critical of things based on their actual effects and consequences or any kind of critique that acknowledges someone’s autonomy in relation to their actions rather than assigning people good or bad based on ultimately arbitrary standards is not purity culture.

The reason I said that it’s dangerous to misuse this term so much and to paint puritanical christians as just hating fun is that they are Very Aware that is their public image and often do a lot to combat that. When I was raised mormon everyone made it very clear that they weren’t prudes that they could have just as much fun as anyone else and that they’ll still love you even if you’re a “bad” person but don’t you want to have fun with all of us who are good? They’d bend their doctrine just enough to get people in the door, and you’ll see mormons proudly sporting tattoos and proudly queer and other stuff that puritanical culture actually does oppose because these are cults and they care only about their bottom lines and about furthering colonialism. You need to be aware of these issues as they actually present or it’s entirely possible you will not be able to identify these things when they actually pose any risk to you.

TLDR: purity culture is the idea that people are fundamentally good or bad and that bad people must repress themselves to become worthy, it is not any time someone criticizes you for something that makes you happy or won’t lighten up about something. This is a very important distinction. 

[sofiasfanartcollection]

Sofia - she/her - queer christian (aroace) (was raised protestant, I don’t really belong to a specific denomination, but I love and trust in Jesus as my Lord and Savior)

artist - nature lover - introvert - night owl

original blog is @sofiaspeaksart where I post/reblog all sorts of animals and creatures

Hello! Thank you for stopping by <3 My name is Sofia and this is my fandom/personal blog where I post all sorts of things. I post/reblog a lot of fan art etc (especially for Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!) and also various things to spread awareness, posts I relate to, stuff that makes me happy, stuff I want to think about etc. There are some heavy topics on here so be mindful of that. (I do try to tag everything—please let me know if there’s a tag you’d like me to add to something especially if you need to avoid triggers.)

I’m an artist and here’s my art tag! #sofia’s art

Here’s the tags for other people’s art! #other’s art #other’s writing

And if you’re here for Rise of the TMNT, check out these tags :] #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt

A few fandoms I enjoy: Rise of the TMNT (this is the most current one/one I’m most excited for right now), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Super Mario, Bionicle, Treasure Planet, Good Omens, parts of Star Wars (mainly the Clone Wars animated series, the Mandalorian, and various creatures), Carmen Sandiego (2019), Wander over Yonder, Steven Universe

I’m very shy irl but feel free to message me on here, especially if you’re a follower or mutual <3<3<3 You could send me pictures of animals or chat about your ocs or ask about my ocs or just say hi. And I love being tagged in ask games etc. (If you are asking for donations, I’m not likely to reply directly, but if your campaign is vetted/verified, I am very likely to reblog or add your link to a post.)

Note: I struggle with low energy and do sometimes go a bit inactive, but I’ve been pretty consistent with coming back. Tumblr’s been a lovely place and I have some friends on here that I love dearly.

Commissions are not open yet, but I’ve been really wanting to open them some day. I’ll keep you all posted.

Please be kind and respectful to everyone on here. Bigotry is not welcome.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

This is my sona, River! I designed this mutant version of her to go with the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe, though she is basically my fursona now :] She can show up as a little blog mascot/representation of me too.

Here’s a bunch of art of her and also some art of other ocs of mine:

And I also made a masterpost of my art of rottmnt Hypno-potamus and Warren Stone, because I love them, and Hypno is probably my most drawn character at the moment :]

Links to some people who could use help right now 🍉