#it just reeks of gatekeeping

[spicyicymeloncat]

Saw two posts recently and I disagreed with them for the same reason and that is, y’all better not be falling into the pit of dissing things bc they’re not “sophisticated” enough for you or something.

Like someone complaining about cutesy wutesy terms or like stupid fanfic writing. Some people be saying stuff like ‘no! You have to like real books! Only use real words to describe yourself!’ Who are you? The cringe police?

Actually the colloquialisation of language is kinda a complicated topic. Yeah we shouldn’t dumb down words and stuff when it comes to discussing serious things and we shouldn’t be calling anyone else things that they don’t want to be called. But if someone is using casual language to refer to themselves and they’re someone who can ‘reclaim’ (for lack of a better term) that language, then I don’t think it’s hurting anyone. Sometimes we need to use serious language and sometimes we don’t.

And let’s not make fun of hashtag weird fanfic or fandom (as long as it doesn’t actually promote harmful views or cause harm).

There’s obviously exceptions to both these points but my general rule is, let’s not attack things for the sake of ‘it’s weird’ or ‘different’. Being judgemental and shaming people to conform to arbitrary standards is the talking point of literally every single hate crimer. That mindset is used by ableists, racists, sexists, queerphobes etc etc. Lets not forget that.

[makerofmadness]

I thought it's like. Bad to post hate in the main tags but a legit entire blog dedicated to hating the steel wool fnaf games exists and I saw it when I was just scrolling through tags looking for what little balloon boy content may have been created since I last checked there and like Bruh lemme enjoy all the ruin stuff in peace please. I have my fnaf veteran card too, I'm using it how I please and that is to rotate cassie around in my brain.

[slutdge]

the funniest thing about people who dislike the word "poser" and always whine about """gatekeeping""" is that like.... someone saying certain things are poser shit isnt stopping you from listening to the music or engaging in the subculture lol like if your skin is that thin perhaps punk is not for you? idk it just reeks of insecurity and a need for approval from others but is also kind of hilarious bc they are screaming and crying and throwing up over this gate that we are supposedly trying to keep but this is the gate:

[turiluvr]

perfume?

he just really, really likes your pefume

— tighnari x gn!reader

Tighnari didn't particularly pay much attention to personal scents, or rather, perfume. As a forest ranger, he's constantly surrounded by flora whose scents rub off on him and at the end of the day, he reeks off a mix of a little bit of everything. However, he does have some sort of experience dealing with or making scents – incense and perfume are not exactly the same but it's needless to say that the scent aspect is what made it very similar.

He doesn't usually pay much attention. However, there was a certain scent he quite liked; In fact, it was your perfume that he was fond of. He couldn't help but be drawn to it whenever you came close and wanted it for himself. So, one day, he decided to ask.

"You smell good." It was straightforward. A little embarrassing to hear but it did send the message across and Tighnari wasn't fond of beating around the bushes. His ear twitched slightly as he turned to you, "and I mean really good. What perfume do you use? Can you tell me where you bought it?"

"Huh…?" It was the only thing that you could blurt out. It was embarrassing to hear him tell you that you smelled good but even more so when he thought you were wearing perfume. "My perfume?"

"Yes, your perfume." He nodded. "Oh but if you made it yourself would you mind if you told me which ingredients you used? I'd like to recreate it if possible."

"No, no. That's not the problem."

He raised an eyebrow, "what? Are you gatekeeping it or something?"

"No… not that too." You shook your head.

"Then what is it?"

"I'm not wearing any perfume." Your words made Tighnari stop in his tracks as he slowly connected the dots inside his head. You continued, "so I can't tell you where I got it from or what ingredients I use. This is just how I normally smell. Do I really smell that good?"

"Oh." He didn't know how to reply. "Forget I said anything then."

He was beyond embarrassed.

[blissfullyecho]

more harsh truths about life that will prob hurt your feelings and get me cancelled lol

1. scripting, visualizing, using crystals, affirming, etc. all don’t work in the real world. do the work. we’re not anime characters or superheroes— using your “brain powers” while you sit there doing nothing to get what you want is a delusion. script, visualize, do whatever you wanna do but thinking that’s the secret sauce to what is gonna solve all your problems is insanity

2. no one is responsible for your triggers. getting mad at someone because they forgot to put “tw” in the title next to the LITERAL EXACT TOPIC that they’re going to discuss is your own fault that you read it. you knew what it was gonna be about. if you know you’ll be triggered, move on. getting mad at people for talking about things that they had no idea you’re having a hard time with is no one’s fault either. you’re never captive to stay somewhere. if it’s triggering, you make the decision and the choice to move on and get away.

3. attractive people have the advantage of making anything look cool. for example (and no offense because my brother loves this stuff) but if you like anime, a lot of people think it’s weird. but if you’re an attractive person that likes anime, then it becomes cool because an attractive person likes it. looks = status and anyone with status could make anything look cool and be a trend.

4. girls, it’s better not having hairy legs and armpits. sorry but someone had to say it and i’ll be that person. you’re not creating a movement, you’re not proving anything to anyone. everyone grows hair, we get it. but if your body hair makes a statement and expresses yourself, then maybe you need to develop a personality.

5. speaking of personality; some of you are too nice. the nice guy finishes last. always. they seek validation, temporary satisfaction, and it reeks desperation. being too nice makes you look weak and a target to manipulation and weirdness.

6. models, actors/actresses, singers, anyone in the public eye are MEANT to look good and MEANT to look like a fantasy/dream. these people are not meant to be role models and they didn’t sign up to be role models. they were good at their craft and all of you as regular everyday people forced them to be role models because they had a public image. these people are contracted to always look good, set trends, and stay relevant in the media. then you guys started pressing for “inclusivity” and ruined brands like victoria’s secret, hollister, abercrombie, etc. because it got your feelings hurt. those brands sell stories and fantasies. those models sold those brands. STOP TRYING TO MAKE HIGH STATUS PEOPLE INTO EVERYDAY PEOPLE. work on yourself if it bothers you. it’s show biz, baby.

7. if you want anything in life fast, then you either have to have money, good looks, or great manipulation/bribery/communication/people skills. being skilled is a good thing, but don’t expect results overnight like you would if you had money, looks, or people skills. again, this is if you want something FAST.

8. listening to subliminals is a waste of time. wanna change your subconscious mind? get your mind used to living and acting the way you wanna be. do that for 3-6 months and boom, you’re a new person. *high five*

9. it’s cool to gatekeep. why are we telling everyone our beauty secrets and where we bought our clothes? i’m not trying to have anyoneeeeee have anything i have because when people catch on to something, it becomes a trend, then it becomes basic. so no, i’m not telling you what perfume i’m wearing. “i forgot” or “it was a gift”. let me be me.

10. ladies, men want to do things for you. no, that doesn’t mean you don’t have the capability to do it yourself. stop with the equality mess because a man wanted to hold the door open for you. JUST BECAUSE A MAN OFFERS TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU, DOES NOT MEAN YOU LACK THE MENTAL OR PHYSICAL CAPABILITY TO DO SO.

[chaoskirin]

Don't Use GenSlop on your Book Covers!

I am absolutely baffled by the number of AUTHORS willing to use AI art on their book covers. This seems counter-productive. I will not buy a book that uses AI on the cover because it VERY STRONGLY suggests that the writing content is also genSlop. 

Like, why shoot yourself in the foot like that, when there are literally SO MANY WAYS to make an amazing book cover without compromising your integrity? 

It's not just indie authors I put on the shitlist, either. Paolini is on there for the cover of Fractal Noise. He's arguably the one who opened the door to these creativity leeches, because his book was the first.

And there's so many authors who are proud of "taking down" artists, like we were ever on a pedestal to begin with. Dude. We never made enough to survive. By taking us down, you're taking us from "barely scraping by" to "dead in the gutter." The truth is, extremely successful artists will be fine, because their names carry them through and get them work. People want art in Michael Whelan's style, for example. The people GenSlop will hurt are the artists that didn't even make $15K/year on their artwork. 

The most frustrating thing I've seen going around is the whole "LOL artists will need to get a real job now!" and this just reeks of the gutting of arts programs in schools in the 1990s and 2000s. It means that little boys consider "football" a career to aspire to, but not "book cover artist." To me? FOOTBALL is the hobby, and the people who play it professionally get paid WAY too much to do it. To me, art is ten THOUSAND percent more valuable. 

But I'm not going to go around hoping NHL players get "taken down a peg." Even if wishing for that is INFINITELY less cruel than hoping artists go hungry because you think they're gatekeeping. 

I will not buy your book if the cover is AI. I will not buy your book if you even HINT you're supportive of AI. I will not buy your book if you decide you need to be "devil's advocate" or say something like "the AI debate isn't black and white." It is. AI is bullshit. Use of it is theft. You are a fucking criminal in my eyes if you use gen AI on a book cover, and I will assume your writing is AI-generated, too. Full stop. 

There are so many ways to get a quality book cover without breaking the bank or underpaying artists. Those ways existed BEFORE GenAI, and they exist now. You have no excuse for that shit. Knock it off. 

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Sorry but I have got to vent. Zelda fandom is being infested by new people. Normally, i'd say this is not a bad thing. BUT no. These are the "It's too much to ask me to actually WATCH the show I said I'm a fan of" types. They haven't played ANY of the games. Not even the new ones. And they don't care to.

They've invited themselves because they've apparently all decided that Link is 100% resident gay bike for every other character to plow in their preferred way and have 0 interest in actually learning abt the actual games or stories or anything.

It reeks of all those 'straight woman wants gay vampire romance' stuff that was everywhere in the 90s through the 2010s.

Just. Ugh. /endofrant

Gatekeep your hobbies, people. I can't say that enough. Though this isn't the worst fandom infiltration. Horny shippers will get bored and move on to the new thing eventually. It's the culture squatters that will really fuck your hobby up.

[aleprouswitch]

As per usual, Courtney Love is dead right about something and her detractors are sore over it.

[doctorofmagic]

TW: racism, antiziganism, whitewashing, uses of g slur, fatphobia, misgendering, ageism, toxic fandom, long post.

This post is a bit off topic but, as someone who has been following Marvel’s comic book industry for almost ten years now, I feel like it’s my duty to use my voice and not be quiet about the blatant shit show that is happening to a character that is also a member of the magic community and has been suffering a lot lately in the hands of people who have little to no regard towards her heritage.

It was just a rumor back then (and Donny Cates even denied it in the past) but it does seem that Feige is using the MCU to influence comic books in most recent runs, ESPECIALLY regarding certain characters.

Now, let’s be honest. This is not new. We all remember when the cast of the Fantastic Four reboot died in a explosion in the pages of Punisher #12, eight years ago. A clear retaliation at the movie and FOX’s terrible decisions. We all know that this is probably the reason why the first family book was cancelled as well. The group remained in the shadows and only Reed had a decent spotlight thanks to New Avengers v3 and Secret Wars, disappearing next along with Sue, the kids and the Future Foundation. They only returned fully with a new volume in 2018, and most fans’ dreams and hopes slowly died out with Dan Slott’s bad takes and writing (erasing Franklin’s X gene, putting three women to fight over a man, reversing Infamous Doom to his villain self and throwing away his character development just because he wanted Victor as a villain etc etc etc).

Very well. Still, the FF survived. No one reversed Galactus into a cosmic cloud. No one turned Victor into a metallic guy with electric powers who wanted to marry Sue (thank the Vishanti). And whatever happened in the reboot (which I didn’t watch) certainly wasn’t adapted into comics.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to gatekeep comic books. In fact, I’ve been committed to introducing them to my followers since day 1 on this hellsite. Unlike many fans, I didn’t grow up with them. Movies had a huge influence on me and I had a long journey. Movies and animated TV shows are part of the reason I dove into this universe, in the first place. Which is fine. I can take a bad adaption and move on.

What I can’t take is what they’re trying to do with Wanda, because it reeks of racism.

The whole point of this new Wanda volume is to give her the proper representation and atone for the years of colorism, a systematic problem that keeps happening in the industry. Just because she was portrayed as white in the past, it doesn’t mean she’s not a woc, especially when it’s said in canon that she has dark skin. There are plenty of roma people talking on this matter and how it’s meaningful to acknowledge that Wanda is brown, even when white roma people exist (1, 2, 3, 4).

The crew is in fact very committed to it, as stated by Steve Orlando here:

Now, what is happening to the new Scarlet Witch volume? Two things. The blatant whitewashing in variant covers and their need to push the MCU into 616!Wanda, first by introducing Darcy and now deaging Agatha.

Let’s be clear. There was a MASSIVE effort from the team to portray Wanda's heritage, which has been constantly dismissed by the lack of effort from the artists.

Here’s one example, from Jeehyung Lee, tracing what I think is a k-pop singer (but I don't really remember her name so correct me if I’m wrong). In any case, she was traced over a korean woman. This is not the first problem with this artist since he also made the same with Storm’s model in MFF by tracing Charlize Theron over Ororo.

In addition to anti-blackness, this is also an issue of interchangeable ethnicity, the same that happened to America Chavez, when she’s established as Puerto Rican, not Mexican, as the pin on her jacket suggests (and yes, her cast is also filled with anti-blackness. Nothing against Xochitl, but I touched this matter before when I wrote about DSIMOM. And yes, TAO’s MCU is also bad, very bad, very very very bad).

I just keep seeing this over and over again. You shouldn't be defending her whiteness. You *SHOULDN'T*. Unless you have a problem that Wanda is a brown romani woman. It’s imperative that people understand that representation matters and poc have been time and time whitewashed in this very same industry (Sunspot/Roberto da Costa is just one example and was also whitewashed in that terrible New Mutants adaptation).

The issue here is to push a problematic and harmful portrayal of Wanda on her comic book version. And it’s only happening to her due to the popularity of said character and artist.

More thant that, her stans ARE using Olsen’s Wanda to shield racism. Some of you are actually not even hiding it. The following is a list of racist comments and accounts. I’ll leave them under the cut in case people don’t want to see it.

Regarding the WV variant cover for Wanda #3 by David Nakamura:

And plain racism overall:

On a side note...

Just today I was harassed by this troll here. And no, I’m not hiding your @ because you went to MY post and felt compelled to misgender me, be fatphobic and also god knows why felt entitled to call Wanda ableist (????)

As I said, I didn’t grow up with comics. When I first met Wanda, I didn’t know she was neither Roma, Jewish or brown. And this itself is a problem because it should be clear, it should have been portrayed in the comics, it should have been common knowledge. All it takes is just to listen to people and understand the systematic racism and whitewashing in the comic book and cinema industries.

They ALWAYS double down on Wanda’s whiteness. No, darling, it’s not okay to stan two versions of the same character when time and time the marginalized one is a target of racism. When they weaponize every single attempt at calling out the harm that MCU has caused on her character to the point of even using reverse racism, ableism and many other blatant lies to slander 616!Wanda, when her MCU can do pretty much whatever she wishes because she’s white so that’s okay. And don’t even dare bring feminism here because you don’t care about woc. You only care about white women.

In any case, I just want to shed light on this matter because this effort of pushing MCU into comics isn’t happening to any other Marvel character, ESPECIALLY when the change is for the better. Wong is powerful, body-positive and having more than one-dimensional relationship in the MCU. Where’s the effort to do that in comics? Layla is literally the best part of Moon Knight. Where is she?

Why they want so bad to push a white woman on a book that is supposed to praise Wanda’s romani heritage? It’s obvious that they want to sell and some execs are siding with the portion of this toxic and racist fandom.

Comics are not perfect, we know that. But there has been a huge effort to support the marginalized voices in this industry. Marvel’s Voices, pride and heritage are all examples. Besides, they’ve always been political. Always.

What they’re doing to Wanda is evil and lazy. As an artist and colorist, it’s YOUR DUTY to search and at least be aware of what characters you’re trying to conceive. There’s no way variant artists didn’t see the main cover for issue #1 by Dauterman.

This is not just ignorance. It’s a statement. A statement that it’s okay to ignore a marginalized group and its attempt to give visibility to said group. And Orlando knew that when he said he didn’t have control over the rest of the creative team.

It’s fine if the MCU wants to push some elements like they did in the past. But this is not just any element. It’s harmful and I’ll not be quiet about it. 616!Wanda is getting more and more marginalized, whereas her whitewashed version is praised and loved. And now there’s an attempt at reconciling both as if it was okay. It’s not. MCU!Wanda doesn’t know racism. MCU!Wanda joined Hydra. MCU!Wanda has the privilege 616!Wanda could never afford for being a brown roma woman. And now the racist fandom wants to claim both in order to erase 616!Wanda’s heritage and history of fighting racism.

All I can ask is, if you’re buying this comic book, DO NOT SUPPORT the variant covers. Let them rot. We know the racists are not supporting the book anyways. They’ll just buy the variant cover and that’s it.

PS: I’m not Roma so feel free to correct me in any aspect. Just using my voice to boost awareness.

PS²: Olsen stans DNI or else will be blocked at sight. I’m done with every single of you.

[wishesofeternity]

what do you think of show!alicent vs book!alicent?

book!Alicent, like all the Greens, existed to be a caricature to oppose Team Black more than an actual character in her own right. She was written as the evil scheming stepmother trope, and she was hated accordingly

But I also found her so much fun? She is unapologetically ambitious - she wants her son on the throne, she wants her family in power, and she hides it from no one. good for her.

she's also so spectacularly competent, probably one of the most competent people in the Dance. her image politics was off the charts, her handling of the situation at King's Landing before Aegon II arrived was clearly well done, and her having pre-plans should Viserys die to immediately crown her son and keep Rhaenyra in the dark? I love it. gaslight gatekeep girlboss your way to power, it makes one hell of a story. and she's also beloved by the smallfolk, which is a small but nice detail.

I also find her so tragic? I don't pity her - she knew what she was getting into - but to outlive the war, outlive your children, outlive your generation? developing an aversion to the colour green and repenting your sins before your death? that's self-awareness and genre-awareness, too little and too late. it's absolutely fascinating.

I don't like how she does low-key fall into the "woman goes mad after the loss of her children and has to be locked up" trope, though. especially since it applies to her daughter Helaena as well.

in the show ... oh boy

I was so, so excited when they were recentering the Dance around her, and her and rhaenyra's relationship. I know they were changing her character, but I loved it. they were taking a wicked stepmother caricature and humanizing her, making her sympathetic, probably making her queer. It was fantastic.

But they've also completely removed her agency in favor of victimizing her again and again. I also hate their decision to make her, a child bride and rape survivor - the most disempowered woman we've seen from the main ones - the Enforcer of the Patriarchy, because that reeks of victim blaming (Rhaenys's speech to her in the last episode), overlooks the fact that Alicent's rapist and abuser is Rhaenyra's primary supporter and enabler (they seem to think that Viserys didn't rape her, so what can I even say?) and is just ... a shitty writing choice that honestly doesn't come across in the way they intended it to? They keep TELLING us that alicent has internalized misogyny, but what they SHOW us does not prove it. And again - they've removed her autonomy completely. Like Rhaenyra, she's declawed and defanged and turned completely into a victim, only it's worse with her because they STILL seem to want to portray her as some kind of conversative powerful oppressor who sides with men against women, only ... it doesn't hold up lmao? And they're doing this while blatantly absolving Rhaenyra of any of her wrongdoings and holding her up as this enlightened badass feminist to root for (in contest to poor brainwashed Alicent, who they clearly think they've done a very good job with) (except Rhaenyra and Rhaenys are also subservient to the men around them lmao, all of Rhaenyra's self-made problems are resolved by her doting father and groomer husband, and don't get me started on Rhaenys, so who the hell are they to talk? Most women aren't Targaryens, don't have dragons, and aren't the privileged crown princesses of nations who can do what they want, so they have to make do with the limited options that they have) These writers really don't understand how feudal societies work and aren't interested in actually exploring the lives and trauma and power of women - they're just interested in holding one up as a generic but passive badass to root for, while victimizing and deriding the other. It's a joke.

[wolfsoulchild]

not one to be involved in a lot of Community Drama (trademarked)

but if you refuse to accept parts of community history and decide to spout nonsensical ideas about alterhumanity AND decide to be a gatekeeper...others have every right to correct you and you're incorrect. spouting elitist bullshit and then being corrected with sources that you disregard because "tRaNsSpEcIs iS tRaNsPhObIc" makes you look like an idiot lmao.

anyways. we're transspecies and transspecies alterhumans are very welcome here. we're also trans, and our gender is intertwined with all that. say no to people who use "your mom" unironically to rebuttle others like...educating you LOL.

go ahead and block me if you want, but I will forever stick up for alterhumans who get this shit thrown at them! this whole thing reeks of "species dysphoria is transphobia" shit. just because you don't ID with a label doesn't make it inherently wrong and incorrect. who knew lol

anywayssss transspecies folks you guys are safe here with these wolves! <3

sorry this sounds so mean but like...im so tired of this BS what the fuck dude. leave transspecies beings alone, we don't deserve it.

[imsosocold]

My favorite Blaise, Sebastian, and Gant beta designs with a bonus Ema

I kind of like this design for Blaise.

DR.EGGMAN?!!

This design reminds me of Ryan from Infinity Train. It could’ve worked in canon but the final Sebastian design is much better. This would make an interesting young Blaise design though.

There was a consideration of Sebastian leaning more into the biker theme of his father. The one in skull and crossbones reeks of estrogen :D

What even is this?!! She kind of looks like a Gavin...

Sebastian here is so. pretty, lips especially

We could’ve had Sebastian playing with a rubix cube with glasses (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

These three designs for Gant invoke very different feelings. The only interesting part of the top design is the Pentagram on one of the medals. The design on the left a guy that works at a gas station and gatekeeps the cooler. Way too young and suspiciously looks like one of my uncles. The one on the bottom right is literally just a grandpa, I love his wrinkled face and flat hair.

Love literally all these hair styles. Most of them remind me of Benjamin Franklin except the spiky haired one, it looks like a bird is on his head.

I actually really like these ones, though it's odd to see Gant so serious...

Gant with ear piercings ♡ I love the little doodle that looks like Gant is getting shocked by lightening, I wish that sprite was used.

Sorry I just really really like this design and think you should see it.

[softquietsteadylove]

what do you think about an angelina jolie cinematic universe or more like a multiverse

what do you think it would look like or how would it work

Now that's a fascinating idea!

I would say that, for the projects of hers I have seen (because there are so, so many), I could see some of her characters getting along and some...not.

Maleficent, with every right, simply is not a people person. Even moreso than Thena, she has no desire to socialise. I could see her respecting some of the other characters but I don't imagine her as someone who makes friends. Although maybe with Salt.

I really did like Salt, and I think the persona of how her cover became more of her than her past life is very interesting. And by the end of the film as it's presented, she's totally revenge driven, and gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss, I'm in! But Evelyn is a 'my husband' girlie, so I could see her getting along with Thena in that regard.

Hannah from Those Who Want Me Dead is so cool, and so badass, and honestly I don't think she would fuck with any of the other Angies. She looks at Maleficent and Thena like they're aliens (well, I mean...), she can relate to Evelyn a little bit, but Hannah is all hard shell and pure PTSD underneath. Although maybe they could bond over drinks, how Hannah took in that kid and Evelyn had that little dog, Burt.

I didn't actually watch Girl Interrupted or Wanted, but I would say those two might be...exceptions.

Now, in terms of animated works, there are the two big ones, Shark Tale and Kung Fu Panda. And I did actually see a post including Tigress and Po in the structure of Angelina's badass character getting a male-wife, set alongside Gil/Thena and Maleficent/Diaval. And I never shipped Tigress and Po, but it does adhere to the structure, I concede.

I love that Angie still likes action movies even in voice over, and I love the idea that she liked the character of Tigress and the theme of found family in the movies.

And Mr. and Mrs. Smith goes all the way down here because I didn't like that movie. It reeks of the early 2000s and doesn't use Angie well and it's written poorly and doesn't make sense and that's before I even get to her co-star.

Jane is so underutilised it's criminal. I would love to have seen more of her as a character--the fact that she reads while walking around the house, or in bed, or while 'cooking'. The fact that she's hypercompetitive and that she maybe has some anger issues around her own feelings and how to express them. She's a jealous type who childishly started kicking her husband after finding out he got drunk married in vegas once!

Angie gave Jane a character, we just didn't get to see more of it.

[ingek73]

Why are women so marginalised by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

Courtney Love

Barely 8% of its inductees are female. The canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility

Fri 17 Mar 2023 08.00 GMT

Fourth time lucky? Kate Bush on stage in 1986.

I got into this business to write great songs and have fun. I was a quick learner. I read every music magazine I could get my hands on and at 12, after digesting many issues of Creem, I decided to base my personality on Lester Bangs, the rock critic raconteur; his abiding belief in the transformative power of a great rock song matched mine. (I also obsessed over his running arguments with Lou Reed – they confounded me, but I loved it.) Artists and their songs shaped my life, my beliefs, my self-conception as a musician – Patti Smith’s growling Pissing in the River, Heart’s Barracuda, the Runaways’ Dead End Justice, which I still know every word of. But what no magazine or album could teach me or prepare me for was how exceptional you have to be, as a woman and an artist, to keep your head above water in the music business.

The magnificent Chuck D rapped: “Elvis is a hero to most, but he doesn’t mean shit to me.” I concur. Big Mama Thornton first sang Hound Dog, written for her (and possibly with her) in 1952, which later put the King on the radio. Sister Rosetta Tharpe covered it, too, hers being the fiercest version. Her song Strange Things Happen Every Day was recorded in 1944. It was these songs, and her evangelical guitar playing, that changed music for ever and created what we now call rock’n’roll.

When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame started in 1983, you would have thought they might want to begin with Sister Rosetta, with those first chords that chimed the songbook we were now all singing from. The initial inductees were Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley; not a woman in sight. Sister Rosetta didn’t get in until the Rock Hall was publicly shamed into adding her in 2018. (She was on a US postal stamp two decades before the Rock Hall embraced her.) Big Mama Thornton, whose recording of Ball’n’Chain also shaped this new form of music? Still not in. Today, just 8.48% of the inductees are women.

Long overlooked … Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Photograph: Chris Ware/Getty Images

The nominations for this year’s class, announced last month, offered the annual reminder of just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boys club. (Artists become eligible 25 years after releasing their first record.) More women were nominated in one year than at any time in its 40-year history. There were the iconoclasts: Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Missy Elliott; two women in era-defining bands: Meg White of the White Stripes and Gillian Gilbert of New Order; and a woman who subverted the boys club: Sheryl Crow.

Yet this year’s list featured several legendary women who have had to cool their jets waiting to be noticed. This was the fourth nomination for Bush, a visionary, the first female artist to hit No 1 in the UK chart with a song she wrote (1979’s Wuthering Heights), at 19. She became eligible in 2004. That year, Prince was inducted – deservedly, in his first year of eligibility – along with Jackson Browne, ZZ Top, Traffic, Bob Seger, the Dells and George Harrison. The Rock Hall’s co-founder and then-chairman Jann Wenner (also the co-founder of Rolling Stone) was inducted himself. But Bush didn’t make it on the ballot until 2018 – and still she is not in.

Never mind that she was the first woman in pop history to have written every track on a million-selling debut. A pioneer of synthesisers and music videos, she was discovered last year by a new generation of fans when Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) featured in the Netflix hit Stranger Things. She is still making albums. And yet there is no guarantee of her being a shoo-in this year. It took the Rock Hall 30-plus years to induct Nina Simone and Carole King. Linda Ronstadt released her debut in 1969 and became the first woman to headline stadiums, yet she was inducted alongside Nirvana in 2014. Most egregiously, Tina Turner was inducted as a solo artist three decades after making the grade alongside her abuser, Ike.

Why are women so marginalised by the Rock Hall? Of the 31 people on the nominating board, just nine are women. According to the music historian Evelyn McDonnell, the Rock Hall voters, among them musicians and industry elites, are 90% male.

The Rock Hall’s canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility

You can write the Rock Hall off as a “boomer tomb” and argue that it is building a totem to its own irrelevance. Why should we care who is in and who is not? But as scornful as its inductions have been, the Rock Hall is a bulwark against erasure, which every female artist faces whether they long for the honour or want to spit on it. It is still game recognising game, history made and marked.

The Rock Hall is a king-making force in the global music industry. (In the US, it is broadcast on HBO.) Induction affects artists’ ticket prices, their performance guarantees, the quality of their reissue campaigns (if they get reissued at all). These opportunities are life-changing – the difference between touring secondary-market casinos opening for a second-rate comedian, or headlining respected festivals. The Rock Hall has covered itself in a sheen of gravitas and longevity that the Grammys do not have. Particularly for veteran female artists, induction confers a status that directly affects the living they are able to make. It is one of the only ways, and certainly the most visible, for these women to have their legacy and impact honoured with immediate material effect. “These ain’t songs, these is hymns,” to quote Jay-Z.

The bar is demonstrably lower for men to hop over (or slither under). The Rock Hall recognised Pearl Jam about four seconds after they became eligible – and yet Chaka Khan, eligible since 2003, languishes with seven nominations. All is not lost, though – the Rock Hall is doing a special programme for Women’s History Month on her stagewear ...

What makes Khan’s always-a-bridesmaid status especially tragic is that she was, is and always will be a primogenitor. A singular figure, she has been the Queen of Funk since she was barely out of her teens. As Rickie Lee Jones said: “There was Aretha and then there was Chaka. You heard them sing and knew no one has ever done that before.”

Unworthy … Chaka Khan on stage in Toronto in 2018. Photograph: Rich Fury/Getty Images for Netflix

Yet Khan changed music; when she was on stage in her feathered kit, taking Tell Me Something Good to all the places it goes, she opened up a libidinal new world. Sensuality, Blackness: she was so very free. It was godlike. And nothing was ever the same.

But for all her exceptional talent and accomplishments – and if there is one thing women in music must be, it is endlessly exceptional – Khan has not convinced the Rock Hall. Her credits, her Grammys, her longevity, her craft, her tenacity to survive being a young Black woman with a mind of her own in the 70s music business, the bridge to Close the Door – none of it merits canonisation. Or so sayeth the Rock Hall.

The Rock Hall’s canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility. This year, one voter told Vulture magazine that they barely knew who Bush was – in a year she had a worldwide No 1 single 38 years after she first released it. Meg White’s potential induction as one half of the White Stripes (in their first year of eligibility) has sparked openly contemptuous discourse online; you sense that if voters could get Jack White in without her, they would do it today. And still: she would be only the third female drummer in there, following the Go-Go’s Gina Shock and Mo Tucker of the Velvet Underground. Where is Sheila E – eligible since 2001?

It doesn’t look good for Black artists, either – the Beastie Boys were inducted in 2012 ahead of most of the Black hip-hop artists they learned to rhyme from. A Tribe Called Quest, eligible since 2010 and whose music forged a new frontier for hip-hop, were nominated last year and again this year, a roll of the dice against the white rockers they are forced to compete with on the ballots.

If so few women are being inducted into the Rock Hall, then the nominating committee is broken. If so few Black artists, so few women of colour, are being inducted, then the voting process needs to be overhauled. Music is a lifeforce that is constantly evolving – and they can’t keep up. Shame on HBO for propping up this farce.

If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag.

• Courtney Love is a singer, musician and actor

[tarot-junkie]

Ive been perusing off and on. Making observations as I dabble in/do a pulse check on other fandoms. I’m curious. I’m working on energy to get back into reading. It’s been hard, because my mental energy is not in the right headspace for readings. I draw cards and go completely blank. And it’s super frustrating, because it’s not clicking right now. So I’m trying to occupy my brain in the meantime. And I’m sorry I’ve been awful about responding. Soon.

I was reading around the internet on this topic before, and said I would have some feedback. Consider this part 1.

When I look at other fandoms I see the same examples of:

Proof of location via some surrounding item in a social media post (a countertop, a bed frame) and not always posts by the main character, either.

Checking into relationship validity via follows on social media. Sometimes follows of follows….and watching their updates to keep tabs.

Confirmation of location via time that the social media posts are made.

People looking at/for reflections and what they contain.

People emailing/contacting normal folks to verify data when a “sighting” happens. Pretending to be someone or something they’re not bc…well that’s just too much.

Hate accounts that cross-pollinate from one social media platform to another, and are well-known.

The assumption that the females are “bad” for their dudes (ok some might be… but STILL).

Some people who gatekeep data BUT I will say, some fandoms explain (pretty rationally maybe?) WHY they gatekeep and they discuss how they validate their sources. This is interesting.

The threat of doxxing is high on the lists for almost all, in some respect or another.

The assumption that either the actual celebrity OR some of the significant others are on tumblr, and loose association that “proves” it. It’s usually some rando Carol Burnett ear-tug scenario.

In most cases, wild conspiracy theories abound about the love lives, usually in the form of some succubus ingenue…who needs press and persuasion to MAKE IT BIG in the business.

Or this person is dating a racist (hear me out) based on 10 yr old tweets or affiliations dug out of the abyss. Can cite Jakey G, Henry C , Chris E and Ben B as examples where this was brought up. Which is not to say things don’t REEK from the disgusting posts made, but it is absolutely something people look for. Is it more gross that it’s not that hard to find, sometimes? Sad. Gross. Check check.

Or sexuality is ambiguous, which encompasses some part of the discussion. (This happens a LOOOOOOT too). Saw this for years in the Jakey g fandom, and dozens of others.

They always date some random midwesterner 😂😂 apparently the Evan Peters fandom is experiencing this knee-high-by-July uni-CORN bread gf now? Idk.

People automatically assuming a new couple is “endgame” regardless of the rumor starting yesterday or 2 years ago. lol. I’ve seen this seeeeveral times.

Some, not all, have either particular tarot readers- or are asked about frequently.(I find the ones asking about Leo D…I think that guy is who he is. And that’s that. Snooze).

This is barely scratching the surface, considering I’ve not ventured into the Styles and BTS dumpster fires. ✌️

If I’ve forgotten any items, feel free to let me know in the comments.

[every-dayiwakeup]

The Duffers intentions to have Steve appear popular and Eddie an outcast backfired spectacularly.

It honestly looks like Eddie has more friends than Steve's ever had. I know "mean girls" travel in a pack or whatever, but usually they do socialize with other people.

I personally think most students just saw Steve as his parents' money, and it's not like they'd turn down a chance to party in an unsupervised house.

Plus the whole cringy lunch scene in season 4... in what world would a metalhead misfit do that.

It reeks of wanting attention. If he's a nonconformist, why would he want attention? It's not like he's at a rally or anything. He talks about being anti conformist while also conforming by gatekeeping dnd.