#like esp with relation to constructing identity

[onceuponanaromantic]

yknow what, in hindsight I’m really grateful that when I took a course on the history of colonialism in Southeast Asia, the teacher drilled the exact geography of Indonesia into our collective heads before he even got to like the impacts of Dutch existence in Indonesia and the stages of it.

Like, now that I’m looking at the global focus on colonialism right, and its depictions in art in post-colonial societies and the construction of race and other identity categories within said societies, it’s actually really useful to have that basic understanding that most colonial societies were kind of cobbled together for ease of governance and do not have a monolithic understanding of the impacts of colonialism? Like, esp now that it’s Back with Lizzie’s death right like, it’s really really useful to have that understanding of how exactly colonial administration and military ventures went about grouping wildly disparate communities under the same categories for ease of governance and the economic impacts of colonialism.

And I’m just thinking about it because yes, it makes so much sense when you think about the different islands and the problems with governance today right and the ways the colonial powers continued to exert influence over their ex-colonies (and the way their methods of knowledge production and control remained) but you have to understand, first of all, where all the islands are and that geological basis forms a very good understanding of how people understand language and community and society at all.

[v-arbellanaris]

tbd later but i keep seeing people just try to go on and on abt how ppl are morally reprehensible or whatever for Not Liking f characters and i just wanna say there's definitely. ABSOLUTELY. some people in fandom that need to fuckign check their misogyny. there absolutely is and ive been talking abt it on various different blogs and things like that since '09.

but.... idk is that constructive? or helpful? to attach morality to the gender of the characters that you like? idk! this shit fucked me up bc i would like... deny that i liked m characters. like i used 2 feel soooo guilty for liking m characters???? for YEARS??? and i rly felt it was my moral obligation to Like f characters and it was SO forced... and the truth is that a lot of the time ppl write f characters with v little depth and v little intrigue bc they dont want to make Statements abt women overall bc every f character written is somehow supposed to Represent multiple someones and even when theyre """"problematic"""" or """villainous""" or whatever its in a way thats designed more for them to be unlikeable instead of morally complex or morally compelling. ppl who write m characters usually dont bother to think abt the Optics (esp when theyre white m characters) and so all of the lovely complexities come through and its clear from the story n narrative that its unrelated to their identity, or if it is related to their identity, its because of how they relate to it (rather than the relation between identity and action being that being x means you do y or that BECAUSE you're x you do y). in all honesty there's v few f canon characters that have that kind of complexity (part of the reason im always writing my own - ive been writing ofc x canon character fics for actual decades, long before i joined this fandom) and the v few f characters that do have tht complexity are probably side characters or characters not directly relevant to the plotline. and bc theyre so preoccupied w writing these characters as like... a stand-in for Minorities or whatever, they're so careful to strip any potential conflict or moral ambiguity from them in a way that leaves me feeling not v compelled to care - compared to, lets say, m villains who almost always still have that shred of humanity left to compel me to care so much about them bc i can see myself in them, f villains usually dont get that. there's exceptions to this - i can think of a lot of comics characters for e.g. - and i love those exceptions, but they're exceptions.

and idk i feel like we should also acknowledge that like... ignoring that these f characters are badly written or lack compelling (notice i specify COMPELLING here like its not rly enough for them to have a husband or a kid or whatever that's not compelling???) humanising moments because ppl treat f characters like they're supposed to Represent All Womens and 2. this makes them less compelling than m characters like 80% of the time and 3. that these critiques should be anchored in "FUCKING DO BETTER". what could we change abt how we write and engage with f characters? talk about that as much as the critiques or whatever that we have for f characters in the first place bc people are much more willing to give up on trying to write f characters if theyre told "this was shit" vs "this could use with some improvement - what abt this? or that?"

like idk i think there's a more productive way we could be talking abt this

[will-o-the-witch]

Hello hello boring non-pagan Jew here, my board rn is full of posts about how the whole "ooh women are more connected with nature and divinity" thing is misogynistic & while I agree I was wondering if you could offer a Jewish perspective on how to reconcile that with concepts like the Shekhinah? It's been bothering me for a little bit, especially since women are still regarded as more naturally close to g-d esp in traditional communities. Thank u and shabbat shalom

This is a really good question, thank you for asking it! Shabbat Shalom!

I think for me personally, I see the concept of "divine feminine" less as "oooooh childbirth!" like many people treat it and more like, what a connection and exchange with the divine looks like through the lense of womanhood and what it means to be a woman (based on identity, not sex characteristics. Your body can be a part of it if that's meaningful to you and how you relate to your gender, but it's by no means inherent or required.)

Like gender is a social construct but it can also be very meaningful to people otherwise they wouldn't risk their lives trying to embody their true selves, yk? I think if one chooses to use their gender experience as a filter to explore their place in the Universe, that can be very impactful when done right. I think that's what the weird terfy people are trying to do, but they're starting out with a really warped understanding of gender and so it ends up coming out... like it does.

Anyway that kind of informs how I view and relate to the Shekhinah. There's no "true" gender at the end of the day, but there's insight to be gleaned from seeing how our communal perception of gender, the aspects of the divine figure in question, and what type of gender expression we assign to it all play together.

You might find the Eht/Aht oracle deck from Kohenet really interesting to look at, because it's based all around the Shekhinah and explores these concepts in a really interesting way. (Also worth noting, each of the cards are assigned pronouns and she/her is one of them naturally, but also they/them and ze/hir.)

[honeybyte]

you got questions oc meme! For the whole axe and cleaver gang: 6, 19, 35, 46, 47, 50 :)

YES thank youuu!!!

6. if they were badly injured and couldnt go to a hospital, who would they go to?

OOH okay so for goliath and euan, this is actually super easy bc it would be elle. elle first and foremost. really, none of their group has much of a choice BUT elle, but. but but.

elle is who euan took goliath to whenever he was bleeding. when goliath's eye was taken, it was elle who patched him up. elle may seem a bit strange, but they're who each would turn to in a time of crisis. and when it comes time for elle to call for help, they have 4 people who will come to their aid.

19. how easy is it to become their friend?

for agnes and angus, it's extremely easy; both are friendly, outgoing people. euan takes some practice and like. the emotional equivalent of cats sniffing each other thru a door. elle is friendly w everyone, but being their friend is a completely different thing, and that's a lot harder to do-- gotta earn their and 12 identities' trust to do that. goliath is just shut off from everyone, so you're not going to actually be his friend until you break thru level 14 of his trauma and even then he's not going to be super friendly w you, he just wont. try to beat you within an inch of your life when you close the door too hard.

odelia is very friendly. do not get close to her.

35. do they believe in fate, or do they believe they're in charge of their own destiny?

goliath and elle have no opinion on this matter, for several reasons. agnes is very romantic and believes in fate, angus and euan believe in taking charge of your own destiny (for different reasons, but they came to the same conclusion). odelia believes in fate and it enables and empowers her decisions. this is not a good thing.

46. would they lie to get out of trouble?

yes: goliath, elle

no: angus, euan, agnes

they lie anyway: odelia

47. would they lie to get someone else out of trouble? even if they had to take their place?

yes: goliath, elle

no: angus

they'd try to lie but they're terrible liars: agnes, euan

odelia, who lies 41546312316 times a day, regardless of circumstance, has no place in this particular poll

50. What's your favorite thing about them?

Agnes: i love that she's so romantic, esp abt her studies. she has a certain type of love for theology that makes me giddy to think abt, and her love for her studies seeps into the rest of her personality

Elle: they're very. hm. relatable, in a way. esp when we consider that they have a heavy mask, where they spend a lot of time acting as a jovial and lovely person, and when the sign turns to 'closed' they shrink in on themself and become fairly morose, a little too in their head abt everything that happens to them. but still they persist, which i find admirable

Goliath: goliath gives me an outlet for the chaotic. being a retired gladiator, there's a certain energy he has that i love to dive into every now and again just to feel esxcited abt what im doing again. he makes me absolutely thrilled to work on art

Angus: he's a big teddy bear! i like playing w him and euan when i want smth soft and sweet. he has a very steady and gentle attitude that balances everything out, i love it

Euan: i like the sainthood feel i gave euan. i dont draw it much, but i very much consider him the madonna of the group; he's a sort of weeping saint type personality. if you asked me what he reminds me off, i'd say cotton drying on the line, royal blue velvet, and red tears

Odelia: oh i always knew i'd have a cult leader oc (elle was originally constructed for this purpose, but as you can see: they're not one). i just didnt realize i'd make her so gruesome and sociopathic, but i think it's a good stretch for me to try to write an "evil" character and not try to justify or redeem them. i tend to do that but i've been enjoying having an oc who just does fucked up shit bc that's what makes sense in her brain and bc she Wants to

[ixylle-d-from-the-stars]

unpopular Opinion

Katya and Goncharov both saw protecting their images as the only way of survival, but the way they attempted to keep up the images were both morally wrong (mostly) even though they did it in COMPLETELY different ways. Stick with me here but i need to say it. Is about the entitled idealism and capitalization on the 'perfect' families/couples that society continues to enforce on its members, and how deeply its rooted into the very minds of everyone. The whole movie is about people so trapped and boxed away from their true selves that those people can barely be considered their 'true selves' anymore. In that scene where Katya lures Andrey's 'friends' to their untimely demise for not respecting her husband's and his newly boyfriends decisions as well as hers and Sofias is proof of how far the human will go to preserve the fragile sense of self they are able to develop in a world hellbent on making sure people have so little sense of self that their forced to assume whatever identity society intends to place upon them because humans by nature *require* some form of identity and structure to the inner being. Katya's actions were not justified, and inherently she indirectly attributed to the further or suppression to the world, but tis less a strike of cruelty and more the defense of an animal cornered in its cage, protecting the only thing they have left. Goncharov was not right in reacting the way he did either, and cutting off with Katya and further distancing her from everyone (including himself and Andrey) they knew, even people who may not know the whole story but feel the same way did nothing to not further encourage hostile or aggravated behaviours when Katya may feel threatened, or feel that Sofia may be threatened. Although their relationship was not one society would approve of or even acknowledge, I believe they did have a bond, but rather a wlw/mlm solidarity and support network with each other rather than the romantic relation they lead the ones around them to believe. They needed each other in some of the darkest times in ways Andrey and Sofia may not be able to help due to the limited contact they could have without it being suspicious. There is no inherent 'right' and 'wrong' or black and white as most other movies of this sort, and there is no surface level answer. Katya was in the wrong but in different ways to goncharov, who was also, very much in the wrong (esp near the end) Goncharov and Katya's relationship is a complex, interconnected web built on fragile social constructs and mutual trust, but since most is the movie is spent breaking down those ones they are forced to rebuild in other ways, and unfortunately the 'way out' as Katya described it seemed like heir only way, although it wasn't. Katya are symbolism for the aggravated, desperate, lonely, defensive nature of most of today's population, whereas goncharov is a symbol for the fearful, desperate, lonely, borderline reticent facades each person has to carefully construct in modern day. I have opinions on sofia and andrey as well but I fear tl can't handle that one quite yet

[charcubed]

Hello, "gay Castiel" anon here 👋

Thanks for taking the time to respond ❤️ I appreciate your thoughts.

I just want to respond and give my own thoughts now that I've read your response. Sorry that's it's so long, and feel free to ignore. I just want to get this out to somebody lol. I won't address EVERYTHING, just the highlights:

Your response did help me understand the gay!Cas interpretation more, esp since you are right about there being so many instances in canon of him being specifically gay coded.

However, and I hope this doesn't sound demeaning in any way, but I think the reason I don't prefer the label "gay" for Cas is cuz it feels too limiting.

Gay (as I understand it) is a person who identifies as male who is sexually/romantically interested in other men. So...

1) I don't necessarily accept that Cas identifies strictly as "male." I agree that he's comfortable in his male body, as you stated, and I know that the story of Dean&Cas wouldn't have played out the way it did if he hadn't taken a male vessel. But all that aside, I think Cas' attitude towards gender is probably very fluid compared to our society's typical binary. Compared to humans, his species and gender is Other™.

I personally prefer this idea cuz I relate to it more. I have a female body that I'm perfectly happy with, and I don't mind ppl seeing me that way; I don't have dysphoria. But at the same time, I don't have a strong feeling of "I AM a woman" if that makes sense. If I woke up as a man tomorrow, I'd be fine with that. I see Cas in a similar way: He likes his body and is attached to it, but he doesn't necessarily feel that it being male is essential to who he is or his identity.

I feel that while Cas is in a male body and is happy with it, his gender identity most likely exists outside of the human binary construct. Automatically, this makes him more umbrella "queer" to me rather than gay.

2) And also, as I said in my earlier ask, I think Cas' sexuality is just: in love with Dean. There are moments in the show that COULD be interpreted as feeling arousal or attraction to women, imo. But I don't see any moments that would suggest he's attracted to men other than Dean.

So to me, this suggests he is demi (for Dean, specifically) rather than blanket gay.

I understand the gay coding (like "sensible shoes," for instance) are about being gay specifically. But I also think those tropes have traditionally been applied to human male characters. Since Cas is not human (does not have our human standards for gender), not a typical "male" (nonbinary, imo), and not seemingly attracted to men in general (just Dean), those moments just reinforce that Cas is queer – "gay" is just too narrow a definition to encompass all that he is (imo!)

Anyway. Those are my thoughts. This is all my personal interpretation, and I am NOT saying ppl have to agree with this!! But I have decided (with your help, thanks) that people can't tell me I'm wrong either 😊 based on what canon supports, it's totally fine to NOT label Cas as "gay."

Thanks again for your thoughts. I love your meta and shit ✌️

(Anon is referencing this post with their previous ask and my long answer)

Hi gay Castiel anon!! Thank you for returning to meeee :') Really happy to know my answer made its way to you!

And thank you for sharing your thoughts!!! I honestly don't disagree with any of this. I do think all your points are fairly valid so I just want to reiterate that. And as I said in my post I certainly think "queer" can be and is applicable to Cas both for the reasons I had laid out and for the fact that there is very much room to see complexities in his queerness because he's an angel–as you've laid out here.

As a non-binary person myself I also totally get the vibe of what you're discussing. I want to add a side note that in the "real life," as it were, there are plenty of non-binary people who do align with the label of "gay" even without identifying as a man or a woman. It's not inherently limited by binary gender. (I say this as a reminder more for the benefit of anyone who may read this public post rather than to you, because I'm sure you know.) But does that mean Cas would align with it as a word/label? Not necessarily, obviously, in the reasons and ways you've described.

Glad you feel more certain in not being "wrong" and I'm really happy my post helped you come to that certainty 💕

Thanks again for sharing!

[disasterdemi]

🔥🥂💚

I just finished reading Fire Becomes Her 👀

Some components to Entice you:

The ones you can see in summaries, like bi demiromantic mc (Ingrid), other aspec rep, sapphic rep, qpr, etc (basically one of those good ol' Everyone Is Queer books 😌)

Explicit rep of a non-partnering romance-favourable aro (side character) within the first couple of chapters

Nonbinary rep

Adorably awkward queerplatonic interactions and confessions

Constructive discussions of boundaries and attraction

Proof that writers don't need to use the labels to clearly get across a character's identity so no one should be using that part of fantasy/history/sci-fi as an excuse

“something else” instead of “something more”

Ingrid still experiencing some degree of repulsion even with the person she's attracted to (#relatable)

Similar themes to Tarnished Are The Stars, like power and privilege and the nuances of born and found families

A political campaign à la RWRB

A drinkable drug that makes you firebend

Aspec characters that are Frustrated by amatonormativity

Story/writing-wise:

I'll admit at first I kept reading just because I'd decided to commit, but then next thing I knew I'd binged the whole middle section??? I think I got a lot more gripped after Alex and the Meyers campaign came in.

Predictable but in that good way where you wanna see how it all plays out (like the plot is definitely mainly there to facilitate Ingrid's character development and the themes of the story but that's not a bad thing)

It's Rosiee Thor, so the plot is about greedy politician fathers lol

I really liked a lot of the side characters actually!!! (esp Alex and Charlotte)

I wasn't sure going in what kind of fantasy it would be but it's Definitely urban fantasy

There were a couple of things I'd have liked to see expanded upon/examined more deeply but they're a bit spoilery so I'll leave them out of this post

Anywayyy aro rep my beloved 💚

~

Also I really wanna smack the people on goodreads giving this bad reviews because of the “bland romance” or because they wanted “more romance” like fuck off ok you literally missed the Whole Point

[m0e-ru]

me (daoko anon) reading your response to my ask: yeah they get it

thanks for responding with so much thought i really appreciate it! it was funny how you mentioned “virtual world” because these songs (titled ‘Girl’ when they were initially released as a single instead of two separate tracks) are actually a semi-related continuation to another one of Daoko’s songs and easily her most popular / recognizable “ME!ME!ME!” and in that song the main character is refusing to face life and instead finds unfortunate solace in virtual reality and the Girl is fictional but enchanting him to give up on life and be immersed in her fantasy so saying “virtual world” reminded me of that! And honestly the concept itself, though much more. Mature for lack of a better word (since it’s about lust and desires and persona isn’t usually) really reminds me of the tv world and like. What if Yu gave in to Izanami’s ploy and ideals? It’s interesting to think about to say the least!

For the Girl video it’s not really necessary viewing but it’s very pretty imagery and the way they move between Yume Miteta and Samishii is very cool to hear and see

Also I’d LOVE some context behind your au esp in how other characters show up since in other unrelated arts you def seem interested in them but they haven’t made an appearance thus far, I’m very into the silly little sand box you’ve constructed and play with these characters like their little dolls so I can’t wait to see more heheh I also just really enjoy you giving izanami a much fuller personality and sense of identity. The first time I went through the story I felt a little underwhelmed by them which was saddening bc they were one the big bad and two had so much potential that it felt very underutilized so basically thanks for being another person who takes minor side characters I love and makes them your own character XD (also very into your marganami they kith and flirt)

hi anon hi desperately trying to get back to you with a cat on my lap not letting me type keeping my hands hostage for making me want to pet him anywho yes yes hi. there’s also Royal and Ultimax spoilers in here somewhat. Do you mind that. Also how I use 1238264 nicknames at once. I’m sorry

Bringing up “virtual world” in the first place is due to the fact, well, Persona deities thus far are trying to create realities they deem fit for the humans that gave birth to their existence in the first place. Izanami and Maruki being awfully similar in ideals and execution; merging the world of the human unconscious with the real world and having complete power over the “new” world. Hand crafting realities for individuals to live in their own defined “blissful reality.” Just in this case, one’s an entity born from collective human will and the other is an idealistic human who’s influenced by a parasitic god, as per my interpretation. I’m a bit rusty on this comparison but there was a separate essay about it. somewhere.

It just !!! tickles my brain as to what iznmi meant when they’d merge realities together and let people turn into their Shadows and live a life in blissful fog unaware and the truth hidden from them entirely to continue “seeing what they want to see” and “believing what they want to believe.” The anime did touch a bit of this with its interpretation being uh, giving Narukami a Groundhog Day because he gave into the fog—his desire for not wanting to leave Inaba, to leave his newfound friends and family behind. It’s apparent I like to handpick concepts from every sort of media possible while keeping it as game-canon compliant as much as I can for the most part—I even have lore over how Mim’s plan would work AU-wise. And I like to analyze each media separately. It’s fun to see how manga canon works differently from anime canon etc etc that’s for another day !!!

Anyway trying to actually answer some questions for once thank you thank you bowing bowing. I go to my sandbox where there’s a pit in the middle and five—six or seven figurines inside. I walk past them and go to the edges of the box and dust away some sand to reveal several other figurines that also have good significance in said sandbox.

I hold up the main cast. I also hold up the highschool social links. Mitsuo is there also. There are also the adult social links. Now there are homemade and handprinted figurines. And there are the spinoff series figurines except Sho and the uniformed Teddie are nearer to the pit somehow. I look at my stage play DVDs and begin to short circuit.

Y’know being in this pit (hyperfixating on a gas station attendant) is me embodying this post almost exactly

I’m a sucker for nitpicking media and I believe I have The firmest grasp on canon Izanami, attendant, god and all. Although considering the character development I put them through this godforsaken AU they’ve grown and changed and everything you can imagine. I came to this gas station and pointed and proclaimed “I can fix them” and I made them worse in a sexy lore-filled well written canon divergence kind of way. Sometimes they’re separate characters in my head. Sometimes they’re one. Sometimes I don’t care and they crawl in the walls of my brain. So yeah even though I’m obsessed with myself and in this AU I’d still love to discuss canon and such.

Anyway here’s two stage play skits that I base almost my entire foundation of iznmi’s attendant facade (1/2 reading the translation notes would be appreciated). Also desperately trying to include several game crumbs such as their 47 lines of dialogue and 15 minutes of voiced lines all organized in a spreadsheet with its designated playlists.

I go back to the sandbox and hold up a few figurines. Before getting distracted and showing you a handheld console with an exposed interior with several dangling wires haphazardly connected to it hanging above the sandbox.

There are. several POVs to this AU I like to think in. But whenever it comes to thinking of Souji (bancho I use for my au. based off of the manga, as Narukami from the anime and subsequent canon is different) having interactions, I think of whole game scenarios as if the Gas Station Attendant Social Link was completely implemented—hell, I wrote up flowcharts and imagined Persona 4 Golden: Extra to no end. It was fun. I don’t know where it went.

After imagining game scenarios, I go “adapt” these into my AU, as uh, Adachi’s actually more prominent in all this (derogatory). bancho and marie izanagi and izanami Whatever WHATEVER whatever crossing arms averting eyes gritting teeth fuming about to explode

I throw these well played with figurines aggressively back into the pit and pick up and dust off the other ones on the surface I dropped for the 2039427th time. Screaming now. It’s the main cast but they have silly smiles and yellow eyes and silly costumes. Where did the actual main cast go

This is like. getting way longer than I thought it’d be do these analogies even make sense (me? Not realizing how talkative I am about the. hell in my brain.?) Anyway for the sake of the MTS subplot and developing Mim’s character outside their facade, I utilize the Shadow selves to go interact with them and see how they influence a self-proclaimed inhuman individual. Then first timeskip to where things have settled and gods live amongst men and Marie’s busy being close friends with the same children Mim took care of to some extent while they themself observe how much they’ve changed and admire the beauty of change and growth. But yeah Shadow selves are sillies and have a lot to say I wish I could finish the individual manga I have of them or just. talk about them more.

Picking up figurines. Did you know I think of 2 high school best friend groups on a regular basis. Anyway all of Souji's HS social link are friends <3 plus Hanako and Mitsuo because I said so. Morooka died from some other. reason. While Mitsuo just took the chance to frame himself. But he’s just some messed up kid chronically online who needs friends. And the fact he lives by the central shopping district and is in contact with much more Yasogami High kids than his own school is. well he’s been adopted into a friend group.

Unlike the anime, Souji does his part-time jobs throughout the year-ish. So it’s not too sudden like uh. two 20 minute episodes about NK’s summer time hell. Unfortunately I haven’t thought too hard about his older social links.

What else what else. Did you know I make the fox and the shrine ghost lady the. same person. She and Izy (Izanami-no-Mikoto before Mim and Marie split in Golden canon) were friends <3 Marie doesn’t remember jack shit and Mim doesn’t want to do anything with their past before they split, which includes an old friend. Nimono lady is also an old friend.

Did you know that I hc Sho with naturally black hair (his eyebrows) and he bleached his hair after cutting it up just so he could color it red by dunking his head into kool-aid (that joke went too far it’s real now) (Minazuki did everything mostly actually). He manages to observe the IT more closely by dressing up as a Yaso student with the uniform he stole. He doesn’t have a year emblem unfortunately but his whole graphic tee, flashy shoes and dust mask, unevenly bleached hair already has everyone thinking he’s a delinquent.

I think I’ve only mentioned this once or twice but yeah, Izy took Sho and Minazuki under her care which should explain the motives I have for him in the AU’s Arena Ultimax plot.

I don’t change much of the main cast since they don’t really impact much AU-wise, besides altering a few bits here and there in accordance to personal headcanons. The only ones important in the IT I suppose is Teddie, who I’ve technically made Mim’s kid at this point. I do have a bunch of stray thoughts for the IT if you’re wondering even if I don’t ever. talk about them. whoops. I guess I have more thoughts of them in the AU in the timeskip when things settle and they get to finally interact with Mim.

mgnmi is the silliest crackship I’ve ever thought of and they’re a silly concept in their own pocket of bullshit. Though in my AU canon, I don’t think Mim would accept any of her advances. Though they are still close with her as they consider her a “fascinating individual (velvet room attendant).”

breathless. i have no idea how long i've been typing for nor how long it took to reference things. i love to talk as you can see. thank you for opening up my head again. there's a bunch I don't get to say because i'm so stubborn i have to draw something to accompany an idea that i could just. say out loud. anywho hi anon i love you i am currently trying to write as i've gotten less time and motivation to draw as of late .everyone else please ask more i can elaborate on literally anything i've said here (to the best of my ability !!) and now I will. figure out how to tag this.

[army-of-mai-lovers]

Re: misogyny in atla fandom post. I’m a butch/gnc woman and there’s so few representation for women like me. I really relate to toph and admire her for being androgynous and masculine but still being a woman. She shows that there’s no “wrong” way to be a woman and that you can reject gendered expectations and still be female. She’s the only character I’ve ever been able to relate to for this. I feel like it’s kind of misogynistic when people HC her as a trans guy or non binary with they/them pronouns. I’m all for HCing characters as trans, but with toph it feels weird.

She’s constrained by the expectations put upon her for being a girl in a patriarchal society and also being disabled, and how those two intersect. But her acceptance of being disabled & and a girl and breaking the stereotypes pushed upon her for those facets of her identity is the whole point! And as a disabled gnc woman, I feel like stripping her of her womanhood bc she’s masculine/androgynous is the same as stripping her of her disability because she’s strong. Idk

This is a really interesting perspective, anon! Outside of tumblr, I’m a prospective gender studies minor, and in my gender studies classes we have this practice called situating. Basically, I explain who I am, so you know where I’m coming from. Esp wrt things like race, gender, and sexuality, you can read and learn and listen to other people, but you’ll only ever truly know your own experience, and it’s important for people to know that’s where your perspective on a certain debate is coming from. So, hi, I’m Arthur, I’m an afab nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns, my gender expression is very much in a period of flux because I don’t have the ability to socially or medically transition as much as I’d like, so, at least for right now, most people interpret me as a sometimes gnc cis woman. Because I’m most often interpreted as a cis girl, even though that is not who I am at all, I experience misogyny, and that is unfortunately part of my trans experience. That doesn’t give me the authority to speak over women at all, but I do think it was a large part of me noticing the misogyny in this fandom and deciding to write what I did (and I’m so glad it resonated with you!) All of that colors the way I view gnc characters, as well as trans/nonbinary characters, and misogyny, within fandom and without. 

So, now that you understand where my thoughts are coming from, here they are. I definitely think it’s transphobic to hc Toph as a trans guy if you are not transmasc yourself. I’ve never seen trans guy hcs for Toph, but the idea of cis ppl equating this canonically cis girl character to someone who is unequivocally, indisputably, a guy, makes me super uncomfy. If there’s a trans guy out there who really relates to Toph and wants to create and develop that hc in a way that works for you, be my guest, but I do not have the authority or the desire to make trans guy Toph hcs. 

As for the nonbinary thing... I will admit, they/them Toph hcs make me feel seen, probably the same way you feel seen by Toph as an unapologetically androgynous/masculine cis girl. I answered some asks a couple weeks ago about lesbian hcs, and in that I talked about how since both lesbians and bi girls are underrepresented in media, hcs that might make one group feel seen and valued are gonna make another group feel erased, and I’m not really sure how to resolve that. The same goes for hcs around androgynous afab characters: butch women and afab* nby folks have so little representation that hcs that make one group feel seen are going to make another group feel erased. As a afab nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns, who has never connected with any concept of womanhood despite sometimes having a pretty femme gender expression, I do relate to Toph a whole lot. I’ve also had to navigate (and am still navigating!) a minefield of gendered expectations in a patriarchal society, and talking and listening to and reading about other trans people, it seems to be a pretty integral part of the trans experience (not that there is one sole trans experience, we’re all very different, but that’s a topic for another time). The gender binary is, after all, a central feature of Western white supremacist patriarchal constructions of gender, and if you deviate in any way, whether it’s through being gender nonconforming, or through being trans/nonbinary, you’re probably going to have to fight really hard to exist and survive and feel confident in your body and your expression, because society is constantly sending you the message that you are deviant and thus not worthy. And it’s nice to think of your favorite character as having some of the same experiences you do. 

I will say, I see they/them Toph headcanons more often than I see they/them Katara or they/them Yue, and I’d encourage people to really dig deep and think about why they’re more comfortable hcing an androgynous character as being nonbinary than they would be a more obviously feminine character (especially since nonbinary folk come in all gender expressions). I also would just love to see more transfem hcs! People for whatever reason seem way more comfortable hcing male characters as trans guys than they do hcing female characters as trans girls (and the reason is transmisogyny--Mae @transtenzin made a post about this a couple months ago about how most transfem atla hcs are characters like Smellerbee, while transmasc hcs can center around more major characters like Zuko or Sokka--a wonderful post that I would link to if tumblr’s search function weren’t absolute shit.) 

But at the end of the day, I am going to have to disagree with you on thinking of nonbinary Toph hcs as misogynistic, because I know as a disabled afab nonbinary person myself, I’ve dealt with a lot of the same struggles that Toph deals with in the show, and I’m sure there are a lot of other afab nonbinary folks who feel the same way. However, I understand feeling frustrated by people hcing a canonically androgynous female character as nonbinary. I hope what I’ve said here can offer you a little insight into the other side of this, and I so appreciate you offering me insight into your side. 

Another thing to note: while I haven’t seen trans guy Toph hcs, I have seen people hc Toph as a he/him lesbian. He/him lesbians are of course a valued part of our community, and I applaud any and all he/him lesbian Toph hcs. Pronouns =/= gender. 

Tl;dr don’t hc Toph as a trans guy unless you are a trans guy and even then I would tread lightly, gender and transness and representation is complicated and I’m not entirely sure how to resolve conflicts between different groups of marginalized people who are trying to find rep in opposing hcs of the same character, and imo hcing Toph as nonbinary is not misogynistic (but my opinion is not the final word on any subject!) Also, we stan he/him lesbians. 

*amab nby folks of course also receive very little rep, probably even less than afab nby folks, and that is a very important conversation to have, but seeing as 1) this ask was about hcs for an afab character, and 2) I am not amab and therefore very unqualified to lead a conversation about hcing certain characters as amab or the larger field of amab nby rep, I thought it best to focus on afab nonbinary people in this post. 

[normal-thoughts-official]

Actually, anti parabatai plot as a criticism of the oppressive regime would have been super interesting. Like they literally perform some magical ritual on minors. Moreover, it’s seen as prestigious and is highly encouraged. Moreover, if children have doubts they can’t even properly discuss them. Notice how in 2x03 Alec is left so alone he only has his baby sister to share his misgivings about the ritual. Moreover, he isn’t even happy about the upcoming ceremony. It really feels like he only ->

-> out of obligation (reminds me of ‘are you happy’, ‘yes, I’m following my duty’). Idk maybe it was indoctrinated that cancelling the ceremony once you gave your word is unthinkable, dishonourable, shameful or some other shit. Anyway, Alec didn’t look enthusiastic AT ALL. We don’t see what role Maryse and Robert played in this but they were probably their toxic selves. Besides, it’s strange to make a team out of two people so different both personality and career wise. And speaking of indoctrination, you can see children getting ingrained with this shit from the very young age. Like little Izzy may not have wanted a parabatai herself but you can see she was still affected. Jace legit said that they were gonna be REAL brothers as if something stopped him seeing Alec as such without a magical tattoo which is major yikes

EXACTLY!!! you get it!!!!!! not only that but the whole "the biggest pain a shadowhunter could ever know is losing a parabatai", "parabatai are the most important people to each other", "parabatai are in perfect tune" etc like so much shit that was straight up NOT SHOWN TO BE TRUE throughout the plot. valentine and luke were parabatai and he betrayed him, jace basically never gave a fuck about alec's wellbeing, he couldn't even tell when alec was literally dying lol also the bond isn't even that strong, like if ur away for a while or try to TRACK THEM it breaks??? and in the books robert and michael were parabatai as well and then they never talked again and robert legit straight up couldnt tell when michael DIED AND WAS REPLACED BY VALENTINE WITH A GLAMOUR like My God

my hc for this whole thing is that the parabatai thing was invented to increase sh loyalty to each other as well as their teamwork, and they made up this bunch of bullshit about it being like family and super important and their pain is your pain and blah blah blah to seem more desirable. kinda like how spartans encouraged relationships between soldiers to make them stronger? or how compulsory monogamy teaches you that the way to achieve happiness is through One Single Person who will be perfect for you always oops

actually o shit there are plenty of parallels between parabataiship and compulsory monogamy and i think i'm gonna go into that now. so mandatory disclaimer that compulsory monogamy =/= your monogamous relationship, just like heteronormativity =/= your heterosexual relationship. okay? okay. if yall come for me screaming that Monogamous People Aren't All Toxic i will ignore you because that's not what i'm saying and i just explicitly stated that. okay? okay

so i’m gonna skip the historical part because compulsory monogamy is very intimately related with the invention of capitalism, private property and etc., and that doesn’t work quite as well in the context of sh since it’s more of a military society than anything, and again, i do believe that it’s more of a “making them more likely to be loyal”/less likely to question missions and stuff thing. but the effects of parabataiship as it is constructed in sh lore are very similar to those of compulsory monogamy in real life:

the whole loyalty thing that can be very easily turned into toxicity/co-dependency/straight up abusive and unequal dynamics. again, i’m talking about monogamy as a system, not saying that all monogamous relationships are toxic, okay? if i sound insistent here, it’s because you wouldn’t believe the amount of times i put 4981749318 disclaimers like that and ppl still got offended on behalf of their monogamous relationships i wasn’t talking about

i’ll go further into that. monogamy ideology, like parabatai ideology, tells us that there’s a kind of relationship that is superior to all others and should be prioritized above all others (romantic relationships for monogamy ideology, parabataiship for parabatai ideology. compulsory monogamy and amatonormativity are more than just intimately related, they are a part of the other). this means that not putting the person you have this kind of relationship with above all others is seen as a crime and betrayal. and i’m not talking about cheating here, i’m talking about stuff such as “would you let your partner go to parties without you?”, seeing you at a place without your partner and asking where they are and why they didn’t come with you/assuming that you must have fought or broken up, considering that a relationship is doomed or not very close if its parts are not literally inseparable, turning the two parts of a relationship into some kind of almost symbiotic creature, where you stop being “A and B” and become “A-and-B” (this exact wording is even a trope in romantic fiction, esp fanfic), “would your missus let you come with us?”, having huge fights because one party wants to go somewhere and the other doesn’t and they can’t come to an agreement on that, etc., i think you get it by now

this mindset that the person you have this particular kind of relationship with should be prioritized above all others, that a part of your sense of self should be merged with theirs, that you essentially have to become a unit, and that it’s hard, but you have to fight to make it work (”love hurts”, “love is tough, it’s like that”, “if you love someone you have to make sacrifices for them”, etc) makes people feel guilty whenever they don’t put that person and their wishes above all else, or even when they want to do something without them, because that is seen as not loving them enough. not only that, but monogamy ideology promises you that once you find The One™ you will achieve a kind of happiness and perfection in your life that you couldn’t get any other way. this means that people are effectively scared of breaking up or of not having/wanting a relationship like that, because it means that they are broken and will never be truly happy (see what i meant when i said that amatonormativity and monogamy ideology are a part of each other?). that’s why you see people saying shit like “my greatest fear is to waste many years on a relationship and break up in the end”, “if you aren’t dating to get married you’re dating to get your heart broken”, etc. 

so you see people trying their damn hardest to stay loyal to the relationship even when it obviously doesn’t make them happy, feeling guilty for not being happy, and accepting toxic mindsets and abuse because they feel like they owe it to them. especially the weakest link in the relationship - notably women in monogamy ideology, as monogamy is also inherently linked with the patriarchy and in monogamy ideology specifically a woman in a het relationship is seen as more than just a part of the man she is in a relationship with, she’s seen as his property, but that dynamic can also be inverted or ruled by other factors such as race, sexuality, gender identity, class, etc. - are way more likely to be seen as owing their partners loyalty. not just that, but in particular with people who are otherwise oppressed, being loved is seen as almost a favor, because again, being in a romantic relationship is supposed to be your exclusive golden ticket to heavenly happiness and whatnot, and oppressed people (esp queer ppl and poc) as seen as undeserving of that, and effectively denied that in many ways, so they are more likely to want to stay in a toxic relationship out of fear that they won’t ever find anything better (it’s not a coincidence that “no one will ever love you like i do” is such a common phrase to hear from abusers). also, let’s not forget that even the right to break up in itself is something that had to be fought for. the feminist movement spent years trying to make divorce legal (in the places where it is) and still fights to make it be seen as acceptable. if it weren’t for other pressures trying to change the rules of monogamy, a “breakup” would quite literally not even be allowed, and this always benefits the strongest link

so now that that’s been explained, back to parabataiship. i think the parallels here are very clear - i mean, for one, you can’t really break it up, unless you purposefully use soul tracking or stay away for a long time, so it’s like, old fashioned monogamy. but more than that, breaking your parabatai bond is seen as terrifying. there is a lot of purposeful rethoric that directly says that the pain of the parabatai bond being severed (whether by will or by one of the parts dying) is unmatchable, and that plants a horrible fear into people, to the point where villains use that against parabatai shadowhunters (for example, the owl possessing jace and telling him that it’ll kill alec so he knows what the pain of losing a parabatai is like). this means that loyalty is owed, because even if you just want to be away from your parabatai, this might break the bond and put you through unspeakable pain (in theory. as i’ve been saying, it’s basically been proved that that’s not true, because when jace died that was far from being the worst pain that alec’s ever felt) 

moreover: the whole thing about how this kind of relationship is sacred, above all else, and will bring you a kind of happiness that is impossible to achieve otherwise. this is said many times - like you said, parabataiship is seen as something desirable and that brings honor. the vows are very similar to marriage (the highest pillar of monogamy) vows (“your family will be my family, your people will be my people”, “entreat me not to leave thee”), clary is constantly told that she could never understand the relationship jace and alec have because they’re parabatai and being parabatai is special and basically uncomparable to anything else, even by izzy, who never wanted to have a parabatai (and in the end she ends up wanting to, which reminds me of the whole “oh, you’ll want it once you grow up” trope with heterosexual romantic relationships. like, basically, you’ll want it once you find the right person. that is something aro, gay, and non-monog ppl hear all the damn time). the whole thing about how obviously jace is supposed to be the one alec loves the most, they’re parabatai, the whole thing about how “alec would die for me, we’re parabatai” like that is unquestionable; the souls becoming one, the being able to feel each other’s feelings and blah blah blah. in short: sacred, above all else, and, unless you do something very wrong, able to bring you a kind of connection and happiness you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise no matter how strong your feelings or your compatibility is; and once you get it, you can’t get out

and then there’s the imbalance it brings. like i said, notably in monogamy as a pillar of heteronormativity the imbalance lays on women, altho other factors can change that balance or be more prominent. with parabataiship, there’s an obvious trope of queer people getting heterosexual parabatai and being very obviously the weakest link (alec with jace, michael with robert, there are others but i don’t remember. the exception to this is luke, who is written as equally heterosexual and, in the books, equally white, to valentine, but who’s still the weakest link anyway because valentine gains power and prestige luke doesn’t have). again, the whole “alec would die for me” thing tells a lot. he didn’t say “we would die for each other”. he said “alec would die for me”. despite the rethoric being that both parts should be endlessly devoted, the expectation that one should fulfill that obviously falls harder on one than on the other. with monogamy, there’s even a kind of rethoric that you have to work for the reciprocation to be there (for example, victims of domestic abuse being told that if they dedicate themselves to their partners enough, the abuse would stop, like they owe their partners dedication and love and comprehension, and then their partners will give it back only once they get enough of it) that we haven’t really seen with parabatai (at least i don’t remember it) but that i wouldn’t be surprised to see present there. after all, alec can feel it when jace gets a papercut and jace can’t tell when alec is literally dying, and none of that is ever questioned in canon

and then the imbalance is kept because, again, breaking up parabataiship is unthinkable and shameful, not to mention kind of impossible/not allowed to do officially. so the weakest link is basically stuck in this situation of imbalance and, in many cases, toxicity and abuse, but can’t break out of it and effectively feel guilty because according to everything they’ve ever been told, they should be elated that they’ve found their one and they should be happy. if they aren’t happy, then they’re broken, or not trying hard enough, and it’s taboo to even talk about that

again, i’m not saying that all monogamous relationships or all parabataiships are toxic, okay? i’m saying that, as a structurer of our society (and sh’s fictional society) they favor this kind of dynamic, allow it, and justify it through their ideologies. in the same way that heteronormativity allied with misoginy makes it more likely for women to be abuse or r-word victims than men. is every het relationship toxic? no. is heteronormativity toxic? yes. monogamy works the same way

in short, parabataiship is not a relationship model. or rather, it is, but way before and more than that, parabataiship is an ideology that is specifically structured to subjugate shadowhunters, notably queer shadowhunters, and keep their loyalty to each other and to the clave, and most of its rethoric (nothing can ever be stronger than the love for a parabatai, nothing can match the pain of losing a parabatai, parabatai are one and the same and they share a soul) is absolute bullshit built to make it more desirable and make sure that structure is left unquestioned. a plotline that questions the buildings of parabataiship and shows how the whole myth that’s around parabataiship is that, a myth, built to subjugate and control people, would have been amazing, but of course we couldn’t get that so crumbles of meta it is

me: i’m tired of discourse in my blog i’m going to chill for now. me the very same day: what if i went on my first more detailed anti-monogamy rant when that is 100% guaranteed to attract aggressive people who can’t read and also criticized sh fandom’s beloved parabataiship all in one post?

[jackhkeynes]

Glossary of Terms: from A to Z in the Boralverse

aphlox | carbon dioxide billrod | cochineal connit | disguise dackin | indigo ersteigung | apex, crest, sforzando fecundation | fertilisation guild | corporation heredian acid | DNA indreck | nonprofit, charity jalick | tuxedo kenonaut | spaceship lencorve | line of credit, tab mitigor | ethene, ethylene narjill | coconut ostracon | lottery, sortition parachthon tales | speculative fiction quanga | butler, secretary rath | bike shadome | tomato threshold mill | nuclear power plant ubiquity | cultural supremacy, totalist ideology viker | steward well-mint | well-off xanthal | neon yacht | cult, secret society zetter | note, memo

The full list of Boralverse jargon may be found under the cut.

adamant | titanium

aeronaut | airship

air-steeple | telegraphy post on a balloon

alchemick | chemical, relating to chemistry

alchemist | chemist

alchemy | chemistry

aldreman | mayor, municipal leader

alluning | moon landing

aphlox | carbon dioxide, also carbonic acid as a liquid

aquifex | hydrogen

arithmat | computing

astrapic | electric, electromagnetic

aumond | almond

autonome | autonomous, unauthorised

autune | sparkling wine, esp. from the Autun region

bdella | virus

billrod | cochineal, a crimson dye produced from the shell of an insect and imported from Lower Mendeva

bit-sheet | tabloid, cheap newspaper

blacklair | horror, media intent to scare

blankpine | white pine, Weymouth pine

bookhouse | library

brimstone | sulfur

caddar | to distil, purify, extract

calamine | zinc oxide

case | cell

casting | publishing

chain substance | polymer

chimer | chimera, hybrid

christmas pie | savoury pie eating on Revillon across Northern Europe but especially in Borland

circular function | trigonometric function

clavier | keyboard, piano

cmm disk | vinyl record

cmm | "chain muriac mitigor", polyvinyl chloride, PVC

codnere | kidney

collocker | interviewer, investigator

collock | chat, dialogue, interview, conversation

collusion | collaboration, confederation

concord | treaty, agreement

concrescence | instantiation, model, prototype

concurrence history | history of a particular time period

conjure | to conspire, to collude

connit | disguise, inconspicuousness, secretiveness; hiding place

connock | ice skating

console | leader of merchant republic, esp. Genoa

convoker | representive, PR person

convoy | troop, division, band of soldier

copperplate | right-wing

coppers | cheap seats, nose-bleeds, lowest-quality product

copysheet | study notes

coronal | helium

corporal quillsam | periodic table, set of chemical elements

coshow | rubber, esp. natural rubber, latex

costumery | clothing catalogue

coswer | cousin

counter-zoic | antimicrobial

covring | (maths) surjection, surjective map

dackin | indigo

daily gyre | circadian rhythm, body clock

daplight | LED

davarn | grand hotel, resort

deficient | positively charged

deixism | approach to research focused on collecting primary sources and references

deixist | researcher, archivist

detaxion | synthesis, combining, esp. in chemistry

dominium | region of control, domain, demesne

druckdue | the silver screen, cinema

drypepper | peppercorns, black peppercorns

edition | publishing, publication

ersteigung | apex, crest, sforzando, peak, climax

excourse | competition, tournament, quiz, game

extent | field (physics)

fecundation | fertilisation

fendle | fennel

filmic | cinematic

geoscopic | exploratory, cartographic, intending to see the world

giftale | media set in or taking aesthetic inspiration from Italy

grade | separate, sort in categories

green snowfall | first snowfall of the new year (after the first of March)

guild | corporation, company

gum | rubber, esp. synthetic rubber

gyre | orbit, cycle; to orbit, to ring around-

herdtale | agricultural stories and songs of mid-19C Gulf Mendeva

heredian acid | DNA (also shortened to heredian)

hereditarian | genetic

hereditature | genome, DNA

heredity | genetics

heverrath | bicycle, velocipede

hever | lever, pedal, also the verb

hourchain | rosary, armilla

hydromotor light | microwave radiation

iamb 5' | iambic pentameter

icon | photo, photgraph

igniac | oxide

ignifex | oxygen

indreck | nonprofit, charity

in peripatetico | abroad, on an exchange, on a sabbatical

in tesquo | in the wild, in practice, in real life

Iscovalian variation | evolution by natural selection

jalick | tuxedo, high formalwear

jast | zinc

kenonaut | spaceship

kernel | cell nucleus

kester | beggar, panhandle

lacker | veneer, false surface

laic | secular, irreligious, oecumenical

lampfire | naked flame used as a light source

leavingstore | gift shop, shop for trinkets

lencorve | line of credit, tab

limmon | lemon

lineball | team ballgame, resembling (soccer) football or rugby

lithing | account, list, enumeration

lodginghouse | waystop, inn, traveller's rest

longform light | radio waves

lorrer leaf | bay leaf

lovetale | romance writing

luetic pox | syphilis

lux | radiation, elementary particle

machinal | automatic, by rote

machovine | strontium

manner | property, nature

mapbook | atlas

masquira | genre of stories typically featuring vigilante characters and plots driven by hidden identities, high society and complicated schemes. It has some overlap with the later spycraft genre, especially in modern works.

matching | (maths) bijection, bijective map

mechanics | dynamics, physics of motion and collision

mecon | metre (length of pendulum with halfperiod 1 second

melee | high society, the gentry (old-fashioned), the ton, the activities of the gentry

meshforum | online community

mesh | network

methodics | computer science, programming

ministry | department, ministry, bureau

mitigor | ethene, ethylene, C2H4

modest | socially conservative, with respect to family, children and gender relations

moneypurse | wallet, purse

mozardisto | member of a populist faction involved in the Second German War primarily made up of Andalusian Christians but expanding in scope, especially towards the end of the war.

mozard | populist, antiestablishment

muriac | chloride

muria | chlorine

myton | type of merchant ship in wide use during the late fifteenth century

namecard | ID, nametag

narjill | coconut

natron | sodium

normal nawat | Classical Nahuatl

normal speed | lightspeed, œ

nucalic acid | DNA (see heredian acid)

odyssey | cinema, movie theatre

oeculux | electromagnetic radiation

oecumen | landscape, outlook, overview, universe

one-case | single-celled

one-zeffre | binary, one-bit, digital

onyx lace | shell pasta, conchiglie

ostracon | lottery, sortition

parachthon | speculative, science fiction and fantasy (of stories)

penetrating light | X-ray radiation

petersly | parsley

plenty | electric charge

poise | currency of Britain as of 1950 N

prase | administrative head of ancient and modern Borlish government

propagant | wave-like

prosequent | descendant, progeny, something proceeding from a source, accompaniment

pseudogum | synthetic rubber

quanga | butler, esp in East Asian context; secretary, PA

quasipolitic guild | multinational megacorporation

quasipolitic | resembling a nation or polity

quaterno | textbook, handbook, primer

quill | source, spring, basis, foundation, (maths) domain

quire | reference book, textbook

quister | phone, telephone

quist | to call, to phone

raincatcher | gazebo, free-standing roofed structure without walls

rath | bike

reckoning | arithmetic, counting

redirection bank | switchboard

refettorio | refectory, cafeteria, mess hall

replacement code | substitution cipher

revillon | christmas eve

romance | story, tale, fiction

sam | set, group of things, (maths) set

sandrine | vitamin C, ascorbic acid

scattering light | ionising radiation

scattering | ionising

scitation | examination, test, exam

scole | school, college

scratcher | (colloq.) journalist, reporter, writer

sevring | (maths) injection, injective map

shadome | tomato

shortform light | gamma radiation

signum | macron, long diacritic

sithing | (in mathematics) function, assignment

slate | display, screen

sodality | group, club, association

sodal | member, element

solarium | sunroom, seaside resort

songcraft | music, composition, music theory

sorty | party, get-together, do

spycraft | espionage, spywork; also a genre of fiction

staddomain | trade colony, colony for the purposes of resource production, esp. those colonies of the Stadbund in Cappatia and Africa

starce | coin used in mediæval Borland

stauron retainer | intra-uterine device

steeplecard | telegram

steeplemesh | telegraph network

steeplepost | telegraphy

steeplescript | analogous to Morse Code, with four symbols

steward | deputy, second-in-command

sticket | label, tag

subcase construct | organelle

subrussic light | infrared light

sufficient | negatively charged

surblavic light | UV light

switcher | one working at a redirection bank

tachslate | touchscreen device

tachygraph | typewriter

tallath | province, region (esp. of Britain)

tapestry | big screen, billboard, film screen

tapper | telegraph operator

tartoffer | potato

technic | technical, scientific

Tellard book | atlas (archaic)

tender | barman, bartender

tenyear | decade

the hex hours | the small hours, the middle of the night

threepoint method | triangulation

threshold force | nuclear fission power

threshold mill | nuclear power plant

timehold | marine chronometer

tinplate | left-wing

Tiong loom | Jacquard loom

toriot | large wind instrument with roughly the range of the bassoon

totalism | absolute monarchy

totalist | absolute, authoritarian

tovarick | homosexual

tovarism | homosexuality

trevold | novel, story

trone | currency of Provence as of 1950 N

ubiquity | cultural supremacy, totalist ideology

veck | bus

vectory | bus, omnibus

veldsvindung | global economic recession, depression

viker | steward, affairs manager, right-hand man

vittles | diet, food intake

voidtale | story set in space

void | outer spaceship

walkway | pedestrian footpath, esp in urban context

wares | ingredients, apparatus

wayport | supply point along the coast for long naval voyages

weekly | a weekly newspaper

well-mint | well-off, prosperous, wealthy

whitefish | white fish

workshop manufacture | industrial production

xanthal | neon

xenic | alien, extraterrestrial

xenozone | alien, extraterrestrial being

yacht | cult, secret society

yatherpot | casserole, one-pot dish

yearturning | the New Year

zest | vibe, morsel, speculation, suspicion

zetter | note, memo

zoia | microorganism

[janz3289]

The most effective method to Start An Email List As a New Blogger (In 5 Easy Peasy Steps)

Is it true that you are thinking about building an email list, yet have a few questions regarding why it is required? Numerous bloggers and entrepreneurs don't understand the significance of building an email list when they're first beginning. 

Anyway the vast majority typically adjust their perspective when they see the effect email records can have on another person's traffic and income. 

In this article, we will share the top reasons why assembling an email list is significant (with genuine contextual investigations). We will likewise tell you the best way to begin constructing your email list – bit by bit. 

Presently would you say you are prepared to figure out how to begin an email list? 

No?

You have a blog and you're focusing on the most proficient method to begin adapting your blog. 

I get you. I did that identical thing, yet I did it a smidgen in an unexpected way. Rather than rapidly adding a partner connected to my blog entries, I began an email list. 

Pause! How does beginning an email list equivalent bring in cash with your blog? 

At the point when you take apart what every one of the large bloggers say about making a pay with their blog, the main technique they use is email showcasing. 

Not web-based media promoting. 

Not substance showcasing. 

Or on the other hand influencer promoting.

Simply fundamental email. 

Why is email so compelling in driving deals? 

Why Starting An Email List is For You 

Alright. 

You might be thinking, admirably I'm an independent blogger. I just began writing for a blog three months prior and I just have 3 posts. For what reason would it be a good idea for me to begin an email list? 

Here are a few reasons why it's significant you start today. 

You Connect With Your People 

Your kin are your devotees. These are your pursuers, analysts, pinners and that's just the beginning. They need to become more acquainted with you as the blogger and having an email list does that.

Bloggers can share more close to home things to their email list. It's select and just those that need to become acquainted with a blogger joins their rundown. At any rate it is for me. I'm on some of numerous  blogger's rundowns and I love understanding them and becoming more acquainted with the in the background life they have 

So an email rundown can begin constructing that association between you, your blog and your perusers. This is the means by which you can make raving fans and steadfast adherents. 

Your Email List is Yours 

Did you realize that any day Facebook could close its entryways? Or then again Pinterest? It can occur as past online media profiles have closed down.

You invest this energy attempting to become your Pinterest devotees just to see that they will not assist you make a pay. 

Your email list is your property and you are building your pay on your foundation. This implies you can invest energy developing your email list and being guaranteed that all that time you spent will bring about some type of pay. 

You Figure Out Who Your Reader Is 

An email rundown can assist you with understanding your pursuers. What their identity is, the thing that their difficulties are and how you can help them. By knowing which gift they pick into or the answers and stories you get from your messages you will draw you much nearer to your crowd than if you just published content to a blog.

But how can you get to know your subscribers on a deeper level?

Ask them a question at the end of your email to open up a discussion.

Create a survey and ask them their biggest challenges in your niche topic

Tailor your content by listening to your subscribers

Your email list is here to help you…help them. You want to serve your audience with the best content to help them with their problems. Because remember, the people coming to your blog, typically have some problem.

For example, readers that come to being a freelancers or blogger struggle with:

How to bring traffic to their new blog

How to start a blog successfully

How to turn their blog into a business

How to grow their email list

and more

These core topics are the most challenges my readers have. If my blog and courses can help them achieve more, then they will become subscribers and loyal fans.

Okay, so we know the why behind starting an email list, so how do we start an email list?

1. Have a Clear Purpose

This goes beyond the why behind starting an email list; you need to know the true intent of your email list. Some questions to ask:

How many emails do you want to send per week?

Do you eventually want to sell a product or service?

What’s the end goal of starting an email list?

With your emails, you want to get an idea of how often you’ll be sending emails to your subscribers. Too little and people might report you as spam; too much and people will unsubscribe.

For my email list, I usually email once a week. There are times I forget to email and there are times when I email more than once a week, but usually, it’s just once a week.

When starting your email list you need to know if you eventually want to monetize your list. Do you want to promote products that you’re an affiliate for? Or, do you want to tell your list about your projects?

Finally, you need to know the end goal of starting a list. Building a subscriber base takes commitment on your part. These people signed up to your list wanting exclusive content from you. If you can’t deliver that on a long-term basis, you may tarnish your blog and brand.

So, knowing your end goal – to make a living as a blogger, to sell my products, to attract leads to my service etc… – is important in realizing the time commitment needed.

2. Become Familiar With An Email Service Provider (ESP)

There are a lot of email service providers that are free and are paid. Which one is the best for you? I suggest using GetResponse for new bloggers. Let me tell you why.

If you started a blog with the intention of monetizing it, GetResponse can help you achieve that. Yes, it sounds cliché, but it’s the truth. Shortly after starting, I knew I wanted to find an email service provider that was simple enough for me – the non techie person.

You can try out GetResponse for free (up to 1 month).  Yes, before you commit to using Getresponse, you can try it out for an entire month for free by using my special link.

Click here to have access for the best autoresponder.

GetResponse has automations to help you grow your blog. What this means is that you can create a free email course or deliver multiple freebies or have a welcome series or an automated sales funnel – to help you grow your blog. Professional templates, easy design tools, and first class deliverability. Pages that convert your traffic and leads into more business. Bring your customer journey to life with automation flows that grow with you.

3. Create an Opt in Freebie

How do you start and email and get people to sign up? Sure, you can ask your mom and your mom can ask her friends and so and so on. But, don’t you want readers from your blog to sign up instead? Those that WANT to learn from you?

To do that, you need to offer them an incentive.

This is called a lead magnet or opt in freebie. Incentives usually solve a problem from your audience. It’s also usually a quick win – something that they can start applying and using that day.

And the best freebies are ones that you would pay for. For me, I’d gladly pay for a book of preschool printable or e-book for business and finance that are theme related. If I can find a blogger offering that for free, I’d gladly sign up to her email list 🙂

But, how do you come up with that amazing freebie idea?

Look at your posts with the most comments or shares. This can tell you that people want to know more about that topic.

Look at other blogs in your niche and see what their opt in freebies are. This can inspire you to create your own.

Look in Facebook groups and see what your audience is asking questions for.

Once you figured out your freebie idea, you need to think about how it’s delivered. Do you want a:

Checklist

Cheat sheet

Video course

Email course

PDF guide

eBook

There are many options to choose from. My suggestions, if this is your first lead magnet I would go with something simple and a quick win. 

4. Start Growing Your List

Now that you created a freebie to offer your subscribers, you need to know where to place it on your blog to make sure you get some subscribers. How do you collect subscribers on your blog? With an opt in form.

But, where do you place those forms?

The best place is within a blog post. By doing this, you need to ensure that your opt in freebie relates to what you are talking about.

So, if your post is about 51 Free Date Night Ideas, an opt in freebie might be 5 Date Outfits to Make Your Husband Swoon. A person reading this is interested in some free date options. Since going out requires a nice outfit, you can offer some date outfits as your freebie in the post.

But, you can also promote your freebie at the end of your blog posts. I also do this and sort of treat them as a content upgrade, meaning the freebie I put at the end of a blog post relates to the content you are reading.

When you have some forms on your blog, the next thing you need to do is start promoting it on social media. Facebook and Pinterest are two great platforms to share your opt in freebie.

To share your freebie you need to make a landing page on GetResponse you can make landing pages easily. 

Once you have that you can share it on Facebook and Pinterest easily. Some strategies to share your freebie:

Join Facebook groups and Pinterest groups

The best way to grow your traffic is to join groups on Facebook and Pinterest.

Make sure that you share your freebie on the days you can 🙂

Use Personal Headlines on Pinterest

Pinterest users like to see them in pins so if you can relate to them by saying, “I” or “Me” or “My,” it will make a pinner more likely to click on your pin.

Tell a Story in Your Facebook Post

For Facebook, you want to entice a scroller to stop and read your post to click on your freebie. To do that you need to relate to that reader by featuring their problems and telling a story.

When you hook a reader, they are more likely to click over and see what you are talking about. You can start by asking a “yes-type” question. It can relate to a struggle they are having.

Some examples:

Have no time to plan meals?

Up all night with your little one?

Want an easy 1-2-3 method for creating Pin images?

From there you can tell a story about that “yes-type” question. For example, It’s 4:00 pm and you have no idea what to cook for dinner. So what do you do? You go out or you end up eating leftovers (that no one wants!).

From there, you offer the solution (your freebie). 

5. Figure Out What You Want to Email Your Subscribers

It’s time to send a newsletter! But, what should it be?

You can tell them about your latest blog post, but that can be a bit boring week after week. Instead, you want to share some exclusive tips to your subscribers.

To help you out, I’ve created a little info graphic of 8 emails you send to your subscribers.

What Experts are Saying About Building an Email List?

Don’t take just our word for it, listen to what all top marketing experts are saying about email marketing:

Out of all the channels I tested as a marketer, email continually outperforms most of them.

– Neil Patel – Crazy Egg and Quick Sprout

Getting an email address is the first critical step to figuring out who my reader is, and hopefully in the future, my customer of some sort.

– Joe Pulizzi – Founder Content Marketing Institute

If you’re not building an email list, you’re making a HUGE mistake.

– Derek Halpern – Founder Social Triggers

Email is the most predictable driver of growth and sales in our business. I prefer email marketing over all other traffic channels.

– Syed Balkhi – Founder WPBeginner

Many expert marketers say their biggest mistake was not building an email list when they first started out.

With all the reasons above, we hope that you’re convinced that building an email list is important for all businesses.

Click here to have access for the best autoresponder.

[queenofthefaces]

kyle for the character thing!!!!

Buckle up bc I’m extra af and love talking abt characters. Be aware this is like, entirely personal opinion and personal interpretation and also it’s almost 2am so LETS GO

1) sexuality hc: I’ve always really liked bi Kyle ahsjdkfk and tbh I’ve always found the idea of his attraction to other ppl really interesting

The way I characterize him is that he’s someone who’s like, typically very passive with his attraction. He’ll kind of glance at someone and think they’re attractive but he doesn’t necessarily have any strong feelings towards them or desire/drive to want to pursue anything with them. If he does want to pursue them it’s usually out of a sense of obligation or expectation—like a “well I might as well” or “this is what I’m supposed to do” kinda thing

Except Kyle DOES have exceptions—when he finds someone he feels passionately about, someone he’s emotionally and mentally invested in, it’s like 0-100 in terms of difference, bc suddenly he can’t stop thinking abt that person, how much he wants to be with them, etc. and a lot of that characterization, for me, falls in line w the specific ship I have for Kyle (which is obvious if you’ve followed me for a few but I’ll get Into That in the next section)

2) OTP: KYMAN by far my fave Kyle ship and one of my all time fave sp ships overall. I’ve always LOVED rivals/enemies to lovers ships that specifically have 1) characters who are equals 2) characters who are incredibly intimate and close w one another even if (or because of) it’s in the context of the rivalry 3) the characters have either some level of co-dependence or a need for the dynamic or one another in some way bc the relationship is fulfilling to them and bonus if 4) they’re the only ones that really understand each other

And I jus. Love that. Esp w kyman it’s so much fun taking that dynamic, the codependency and obsession, and just. Playing with it, on a storytelling/character analysis level. And then making it healthy, having them work through issues, bc the idea that “we’re both in way too deep with each other, we can either destroy each other or learn to get along” is jus 👌👌👌

And w kyman I love having Eric be Kyle’s exception. Kyle feels basically nothing towards his other s/o’s in contrast to how deeply he feels about Eric, and for Eric to have just as much depth of emotion in return. It’s fascinating and really fun esp when written from a kind of duo-redemptive story—they both start out toxic towards each other, and their relationship is toxic to other people, but they can’t bring themselves to put an end to it so they finally make it to that middle ground and come out as better peoole, together

This applies to a lot of my rivals/enemies to lovers ships but w kyman in particular there’s the added Funkiness of the childhood friends dynamic which is TASTEY like some nice sprinkles to jus add that extra Flavour. I love the concept of Kyle and Eric forming parts of their entire identities around each other from the time they were in diapers and everyone accepts that they’re always gonna he crazy for each other bc no one has the bond they do it’s so much fun

4) brotp: I should think more abt Kyle friendships tbh I don’t give those as much attention ahsjdkfkfk—tho I definitely have a soft spot for the super best friends kyle + Stan, I just have to work some development into it.

I love exploring their friendship as smth that deteriorates bc they grow apart as people, but then they realize they don’t WANT to grow apart and have to work to stay friends bc being friends isn’t as easy as it was when you were 8. It brings this really cool development that confronts Stan’s passivity towards his friends/his nihilism and Kyle’s entitlement and lack of emotional sensitivity and how they both need to make some compromises (but esp Kyle, bc I can see Stan as someone who tries very hard to not get much feedback).

In terms of Kyle being friends w other people I’m thinking it would be pretty situational. I can see Kyle getting some really eye opening perspectives from other ppl if he opens himself up to their views but that requires knocking Kyle down a few pegs lol, it’s fun to have him learn to recognize his own assumptions abt ppl and learning to value them as individuals yanno?

3) notp: honestly? Any other kyle ship. I can personally only see Kyle w Eric ahsjdkfk kyman endgame all the way. For me, a lot of other Kyle ships like, don’t make any sense, a lot in part bc I see Kyle as someone who has a lot of issues w socialization, entitlement, and selfishness along with his UNENDING OBSESSION w Eric Cartman (which also somewhat stems from those issues bc of Kyle’s sense of self identity vis a vis the rivalry)

Like, I can’t see Kyle sitting down and forming a meaningful romantic relationship w anyone else bc like, no one can provide the fulfillment, engagement, drive, and push/pull of Kyle’s relationship w Eric. Kyle would leave at the drop of a hat to confront smth Eric was doing and I don’t think he’d ever compromise with that. And someone who does compromise on that probably isn’t someone Kyle would want to be with in the long run.

I think the only ship I can see would be like, poly m4 bc that draws on pre-existing dynamics and doesn’t break or try to divy up Kyle’s attention. (Even tho like I said I don’t like Kyle w anyone else romantically)

5) 1st hc that pops in my head: my Kyle is autistic as fuck. Characterizing him as autistic gives a lot of insight into how his mind works and why he acts the way he does—a lot of his thought processes are just. What makes the most logical sense to him. It’s just that those trains of thought are on KYLES logic and that’s when he struggles to realize when he’s crossed a line or overstepped a boundary. Or how his brain is usually always “self-centered”—not in a morally negative way, just in that it’s not a natural reflect for him to remember other people.

And a ton of other things as well( including a fun hc of Kyle trying to use his autism as an excuse for being a dick, until Also Autistic Craig steps up like, no dude you’re just an asshole bc you’re not trying to do better). And bc as an autistic person, I really relate hard to Kyle to the point where if he were real I’d probably hate him bc we’d be too similar lmao; I think esp when I was a kid I acted a lot like Kyle—the self righteousness, the bossiness, the belief that my way was the only way that made sense and everyone else was just Wrong, the anger issues, etc.

It’s why I’m tough on Kyle a lot of the time, but it’s also why I love thinking abt his development, bc I know firsthand that he can mellow out, change, become a better, more wellrounded and emotionally aware person, and how he can make an effort into doing so

6) oh shit I didn’t even mean for this but obviously one way I relate to Kyle is the Above autistic hc and how I characterize him. Like I said, I acted a LOT like Kyle when I was a kid, so I know he’s an irritating little shit, but also brilliant and too thoughtful for his own good sometimes.

But another thing: I characterize Kyle as someone who is a natural leader, but hates being in official leadership positions. And this is also smth I’ve kinda written due to personal experience. But also from the way kyles often portrayed in canon—in the games, he’s always a support role, always a healer, ranged fighter, or someone who boosts and buffs allies

I see Kyle as the type of person who can easily take control in, for example, a group project situation, or when he’s hanging out with Stan and they’re only doing what Kyle wants to do bc Kyle comes up with all the ideas and Stan just goes along with them

But I can’t see Kyle as someone who’d want to be, like, student counsel president. (That’s more Wendy’s wheelhouse) Mostly bc there’s too much responsibility that it’s just exhausting, and more than that, those official positions are STIFLING. They run on someone else’s schedule and they’re creatively constructive. You can’t fully do your own thing bc you have to be constantly aware of how the group works and what the group wants. I can’t see Kyle as being happy in that position bc he’d get sick of having to conform his ideas to what other ppl want—he just wants to do his own thing.

So instead, Kyle would be more comfortable in a supporting role. Bc in a position like, for example, secretary or VP, he can still have a lot of influence, power, and knowledge, but he’s free from those restrictions that come from being the face of a group. And he’s also free from the social obligations of being a leader, esp in having to deal w other groups in like a business sort of way. AND if the group falls, Kyle won’t take as much of the blame, bc it’s probably not his fault anyways so why should everyone point fingers at him. It’s much less pressure.

(And it’s also kinda inspired by his role in the CBAA??—Cartman’s perfect in the CEO/face of the company position bc Cartman is comfortable with and relishes in the attention and social aspect of being the face/leader of a company, and Kyle can reap all the benefits of being a part of that company, including being an integral pillar of the company, w/o the deficits. If Eric and Kyle ran a company they’d work together, sure, but Eric would crumble without Kyle’s support, and Kyle would hate the stifling pressure of the head position, which makes them a perfect pair.)

(And again this is based on personal experience—I’m a natural leader. People listen to me, I can organize groups, and I’m a good mediator, but I hate when it becomes Official bc I can’t just. Do my own thing as I want to and it’s far too much to keep track of and most of it doesn’t interest me. It always irritated me when my parents tried to push me into like running for student president bc I just kept thinking abt all the work I’d have to do that I wouldn’t care abt)

7) what gives me secondhand embarrassment about Kyle? Well. Just......how much he reminds me of when I was a stupid kid. He’s such a little shit oh my god Kyle shut the fuck up YOURE NOT GHANDI. When Kyle’s being entitled and stuck up, when he thinks he’s better than other ppl, and when his own big mouth and pride are what fucks him over I’m just oh my god. Oh my GODDDDDD SHUT UPPPPP.

Mostly it’s secondhand embarrassment bc I’m jus oh my god ur an idiot—but again bc I know he has the ability to grow out of that and look back on himself with a grimace at how dumb he was ahsjdkfkfk

8) cinnamon roll or problematic fave? Definitely the latter, I love Kyle and I love when he’s happy and contented but him as a cinnamon roll kinda character feels so flat to me. I love him as a problematic fave he’s so much fun as a disaster. He’s complex—he’s tough and caring and angry and compassionate and an absolute fireball of EMOTIONS but he tries to act like he’s a logical rational person and I jus? He’s so much more fun and dynamic when he’s allowed to be messy

(Of course this is long why wouldn’t it be AHSJDKDKKFKGLGLH)

[kae-karo]

hi! me again! i understand that bi/pan people with a preference would never be considered lesbians but i had it presented to me as being like bisexual homoromantic which would be as valid as being ace and homoromantic right? and i don't understand how A's id could affect or imply anything about B's id? like the acknowledgment of demigirls doesn't affects girls being fully girls? as far as pronouns isn't the whole point that they ARE gendered, otherwise we would all just be they/them? (1/2)

non queer people very much understand pronouns to indicate gender. so why is language malleable when it comes to redefining gender and pronouns but not when it comes to using orientation labels differently? also i read that carrd and want to clarify i would never make the argument that trans people aren't "really" the gender they id as. also, i'm sorry for asking so much but i'm just trying to understand.

--

hi dear! for context (x) and please don’t apologize for asking questions! there are so many people who would rather shut down and not try to understand, i will always greatly appreciate people who are actively trying to learn

also sorry this got wAY too long lmao i have a lot of thoughts, apparently...

as for the way the term bi/pan lesbian was presented to you, that’s totally understandable! and again, per my lil caveat, the idea of expressing a difference in romantic and sexual attraction with a single term (like being bi/pansexual but lesbian in terms of romantic attraction) is totally chill but i think the part that starts to come into question is the large movement of people who were using bi/pan lesbian in the way i described in my other post (ie as a way to express that they are “lesbian but with some attraction to men, still”)

in terms of how person A identifies and how that affects person B, the point is less about an individual interaction - no, how a stranger chooses to identify themself does not directly affect my identity. to your notion of demigirls and the fact that they don’t negate the identity of women, that’s totally true! it’s not so much that a person’s identity negates another’s, more that the words a person uses to identify themself can affect others, because we tie certain terms with certain experiences. by a group of people commandeering terminology that already has an experience tied to it, the people who already use that terminology (because they have that experience) can start to feel as though their experience and identity are being called into question

okay, so if bi/pan lesbians become a standard terminology to describe ppl who would id as lesbians if not for some attraction to men, that could start to bring into question whether all or any lesbians could be attracted to men (as the person in the tweet mentioned). now (certain) men may start to believe that any person who ids as a lesbian might still be attracted to men, so these certain men may think that they have a chance with that lesbian even though the man ids as a man! this could lead to harassment, or the lesbian in question may already be prone to some internalized homophobia. now they’re starting to wonder if their attraction should include men because they id as a lesbian (and apparently, lesbian could include attraction to men), or if they’ve just been ‘confused’, as people may have told them before, and they start to doubt their own identity and whether ‘lesbian’ is the right reflection of their experiences (which it is, except that the term has been hijacked and presented as including experiences that actually belong in the bi/pan community)

and, once again, the way the terminology is structured (a ‘bi/pan lesbian’) seems to imply that the person in question doesn’t want to be attracted to men. if they did, why not use an umbrella term like bi or pan as their identity? the only distinguishing feature here is that one is inclusive while the other says ‘i’m attracted to women primarily and would like to identify as a lesbian, except for that pesky bit of me that’s attracted to men too...’ again, this is a harmful ideology to let grow, not only for those already identifying as bi/pan but for baby queers who may not fully understand their own identities yet! or for people outside the community who are trying to understand to the best of their abilities as allies!

to that end, it also propagates that harmful rhetoric of ‘oof, doesn’t it suck to be attracted to men lmao’ like MAN that’s really hurtful to guys??? and that rhetoric already exists. notions like this (where a wonderful umbrella term is turned into something that seeks to minimize attraction to men/male-aligned genders) can be so harmful not only to cis men and transmasc/trans men who are a part of the community but men outside the community as well

okay with regards to pronouns: i think this is where we start to get into the deconstruction of gender as a social construct. i feel like the most apt analogy here is the one i provided in the other post: names. names have, throughout history, been gendered (for the most part). sally was a girl, timmy was a boy. but we’ve started to deconstruct that as we’ve started to recognize that there are more than 2 genders (as a societal whole, i’m aware that this hasn’t been news in a while for people in the queer community). you have names like alex, sam, riley, names that you can’t look at and go ‘ah, they are [certain] gender!’ which is awesome for everyone! esp for people who are sensitive about their gender identity and for whom it is bothersome, upsetting, or even triggering to be misgendered!

pronouns are grammatically just a substitute for a noun, they take the place of the noun for the sake of ease of speech/writing. so the first question here is why, if we’ve extrapolated and separated the idea of someone’s name from their gender and acknowledged that the thing that we refer to them by is just...a noise they like, then why is it necessary for pronouns (another thing that is just a noise the person likes) to be inherently tied to a gender? a gender is a representation of an experience, but people who use the same pronouns may have nothing in common in terms of their gender experience!

now, you could argue that people who use they/them pronouns may be able to rally around a shared experience/frustration with getting others to use and accept those pronouns, but they likely aren’t all going to share a gender - maybe some are fem-aligned, or masc-aligned, or genderfluid or agender or any other gender on the massive spectrum of possible gender identities. but the way that they ask others to refer to themselves purely as an individual does not help give any insight into their experiences or community! 

you stated that ‘as far as pronouns isn't the whole point that they ARE gendered?’, so my question here is what purpose do pronouns actually serve? they allow you to refer to a person without using their name, right? so if we’re talking outside the world of grammar, i would argue that a person’s pronouns are an extension of their name: the purpose of a name and/or pronouns is to ensure that they make the user of said name/pronouns comfortable in their identity when being referred to. they are whatever gender they are (if any at all) - they may choose a name and pronouns to help them feel more comfortable in who they are. in fact, they may choose a name and pronouns that they didn’t use from birth simply because they do not feel comfortable with them for non-gender-related reasons, too!

and i can hear you thinking ‘okay, so why can’t we do that with labels like sexuality and just let people use whatever feels okay?’ and this is sort of the way i think about it: there are certain words we have defined with clarity in order to help us as a community understand ourselves and each other. we all agree that cis = you are the gender you were assigned at birth, trans = you are not the gender you were assigned at birth. lesbian means attraction to women/fem-aligned genders, ace means feeling no sexual attraction, bi and pan are siblings of each other that define attraction to all genders (which may or may not include preferences). male and female as genders have clear enough meanings that we use them in our other definitions, and nonbinary is a lovely catch-all umbrella that can encompass anything outside ‘male’ and ‘female’, even though there are also more specific identities that fall under that umbrella

(quick aside - fwiw i don’t think gender definitions are necessarily malleable in the same way pronoun ‘definitions’ are, i think there are gender experiences that we have not yet given formal terms to and that people may switch around between existing gender identifying terms as they look for ones that get close to their own and i think there’s still a question of what it even means to be a certain gender without reference to other genders, but as it stands, people who identify with certain gender terms do so because of a set of shared experiences that fall underneath that gender term)

what we have not done is defined an individual’s right to their experiences. if someone feels attraction to all genders with a preference for men, there’s a word to express that! if a person feels like they might shift between a variety of genders on a regular basis, there’s a word for that! if a person does not feel romantic attraction, there’s a word for that! and the reason we use these words with pre-defined definitions is so that we can identify people who share our experiences - if someone identifies as a lesbian, they can seek out other lesbians and know that they are among a group that understands what they have been through or are going through. if someone experiences attraction to all genders with a female/fem-aligned preference, they are likely not going to find a community that understands their experiences if they look for people who identify as lesbian

but if a person decides that hey, i feel most myself when people call me ‘emma’ even though that wasn’t my assigned birth name, that is when we step back and say ‘yes, that’s awesome! you do you!’ because there is no pre-defined definition of that name - yes, there’s a societal gender often associated with it, but it doesn’t provide anyone any benefit to assign a definition of an experience to that name. nobody is out there going ‘where are all the ‘emmas’, the ‘emmas’ understand my experience and i want to find them so that i can feel as though i’m part of the ‘emma’ community’

now, idk about you, but if i hear that someone uses she/her pronouns, that means....almost nothing to me, except that i know that they prefer those pronouns! in the same way that someone saying ‘oh, my name is emma’ means nothing to me except that their name is emma! whereas if someone says to me, ‘i’m asexual’, i know from their choice of identifier that they fall under the ace umbrella and awesome, this person might understand how i feel about certain subjects! (obviously ace is a huge spectrum in itself, but you get the idea)

in summary:

an orientation or a gender relates to an individual’s experiences, and the general definitions we have assigned to certain orientations and genders should remain somewhat clearly-defined in order to provide a sense of community for those that fall under the orientation/gender in question. that is not to say that new orientations/gender terms can’t arise to describe new experiences that do not already have a definition. the irritation with the ‘bi/pan lesbian’ discourse is that the experience described (attraction to all genders with fem-aligned preference) already has a defined term (bi or pan) that is contradictory to the term ‘lesbian’

the reason pronouns don’t need to fall under a clear definition is that they are not a signal to indicate a uniting experience - their purpose and function is equivalent to that of a name: it’s a way to refer to a person that makes that person feel comfortable, and it’s perfectly fine not to have a rigid definition for pronouns in the same way that you wouldn’t assign a name to have a rigid experience or definition associated with it

i know it’s a long read, but i hope that helps clarify my thoughts on the matter!

[aretherenonames]

I feel like Thomas Astruc reads MLB-related posts on the internet, which is a good thing because then not only will he notice the tiny details about the story that we have overanalyzed (like plotholes or specific details that might have been meaningless before but have been explained by fans) but he can also find the reasons to explain those plotholes and maybe even improve the story.

Example: why can't they figure out each others' secret indentities

Possible explanation a fan came up with online: Because Tikki cares less about physical appearances/disguises than plag does. When Mari becomes Ladybug, only her outfit changes appearance-wise. Meanwhile, her hair and eyes look the same (and in animation, the main distinguishable characteristics that usually set the characters apart are the hair, eyes (esp. Eye color), outfit, and body shape bc artists usually draw characters who look mostly the same except for the stuff i mentioned previously). Meanwhile, when Adrien turns into Chat, his hair style, outfit, and eyes change (the whites turn green.) So Marinette, having only ever witnessed Tikki's power, might think that Chat's secret identity has the same hair etc. And Adrien, having only experienced Plagg's power, vice versa.

Now Thomas Astruc might have seeen this theory online, went 'oh yeah!' And then proceeded to "confirm" this theory using the episode Reflekdoll.

In which case, good job Thomas (or any other author, for that matter). Taking feedback and considering the opinion of the fans is one of the best ways to improve your storytelling. As the saying goes, '2 heads are better than 1'. And with the internet, you have thousands of heads working together to support MLB.

P.S this isn't to say that content creators who do this "steal" ideas or have no originality. I'm just saying that taking into account the constructive criticism others is one of the best ways to improve your work.

[b3naqua]

This has been on my mind a lot lately. Idk if I’m coming out again (??) but I’m really sick of being constantly projected into the gender binary, esp the “male” or “man” category. I’ve never been able to relate to seemingly scripted hyper “masculine” roles. I’m beginning to own a more non-binary identity and finally face the many years of anger and frustration at this system humans have simultaneously enlightened & imprisoned themselves within. Our culture is obsessed with gendering nearly everything, human or nonhuman. Even as a little kid, I struggled with this, and never felt particularly “male” or “female.” Throughout my life, I’ve repeated to my brain “I JUST WANT TO BE ME” without having to define my gender as a mechanism to ease the sanity & understanding of the outside world. Yes, I have a penis, and I may look like a “man” or do “manly” things. But I don’t do anything to be “masculine” or “feminine” — I simply AM and DO, and work hard to release & soak up as much love, positivity, and creativity into the atmosphere as possible. Genitals are merely lovely flaps of skin — not a set of rules to constantly administer onto ourselves and others. Gender is a construct, a powerful illusion. And I don’t believe the gender binary or cisgender identities are inherently evil. So many brilliant cis & heteronormative beings constantly inspire love and joy, and I’m grateful for this. But we can’t deny the dark side of any constructed duality, which festers in corrupt hands. It manipulates the “less fortunate” into creating an unnecessary, divisive, and harmful system of oppression, targeting those who exist outside of “comfortable” frequencies — people of color, women, LGBTQ+, Muslims, etc — who are simply trying to LIVE. I’m learning to fully love & embrace my body, face, genitals, skin tone, personality, and sexual attraction for what they are, NOT what they should be. I’m unpacking years of shame & guilt of leading a “subversive” lifestyle. I’m making it my armor. It’s simultaneously liberating and frightening, but I’d appreciate if everyone plz use the pronouns they/them/their for me. Or even better, just Ben Aqua/Ben. Or Beans. I like that too. 👽🏳️‍🌈💖