it is hard to explain without sounding vain or stupid - but the more attractive others find you, the more you're allowed to do. the easier your life is.
i have been on both sides of this. i am queer and cuban. i grew up poor. for a long time i didn't know "how" to dress - and i still don't. i make my sister pick out any important outfits. i have adhd in spades: i was never "cool and quiet", i was the weird kid who didn't understand how "normal" people behave. i was bullied so hard that the "social outcasts" wouldn't even talk to me.
i got my teeth straightened. i cut my hair and learned how to style it. i got into makeup. it didn't matter, at first, if i actually liked what i was doing - it mattered how people responded to it. like a magic trick; the right dress and winged eyeliner and suddenly i was no longer too weird for all of it. i could wear the ugly pokemon shirt and it was just "ironic" or a "cute interest."
when i am seen as pretty, people listen. they laugh at my jokes. they allow me to be weird and a little spacey. i can trust that if i need something, people will generally help me. privilege suddenly rushes in: pretty does buy things. pretty people get treated more gently.
i am the same ugly little girl, is the thing. still odd. still not-quite-fitting-in. still scrambling. still angry and afraid and full of bad things. of course it became my obsession. of course i stopped eating. i had seen, in real time, the exact way it could change my life - simply always be perfect, and things can be easy. people will "overlook" all the other things. i used to have panic attacks at the idea others would see me without makeup - what would they think? even for a simple friend hangout, i'd spend a few hours getting ready. after all, it seemed so obvious to me: these people liked me because i was pretty.
i worry about how much i'm being a bad activist: i understand that "pretty" is determined by white, het, cis, able-bodied hegemonies. if i was really an ally, wouldn't i rally against all of this? recently there's been a "clean girl" trend which copies latinx aesthetics: dark slicked-back hair, hoop earrings. i almost never wear my hair like that; i can hear the middle school guidance counsellor advising me that i might fare better if i toned it down on the culture.
the problem is that i can take pretty on and off. that i have seen how different my life is on a day where i try and a day where i don't. i told my therapist i want to believe the difference is confidence, but it's not. and when you have seen it, you can't unsee it. it lives inside your brain. it rots there; taunting. i get rewarded for following the rules. i am punished for breaking them. end of story.
pretty people can get what they want. pretty people can feel confident without others asking where they got their nerve from. pretty people can be weird and different. pretty people get to have emotions; it's different when they get aggressive, it's pretty when they cry with frustration.
of course people care about this. of course it has crawled into you. of course you want to be seen as attractive. it's not vanity: it's self-preservation.
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so haunted by eduardo’s relationship with his father and the way it’s presented in the film. like he’s literally only mentioned three times across all 164 pages of the script but what we see of the achievement-oriented nature of their dynamic sets up and narratively justifies the pattern of people-pleasing behaviour that eduardo spends the entire duration of the film attempting to break out of. and when eduardo does manage to finally break that pattern by freezing the account, by asserting a boundary to stop mark from continuing to financially take advantage of him, he’s punished for this perceived transgression so harshly that it destroys not only his relationship with mark but also his relationship with his father, cementing that the behaviours he exhibits in his relationship with Mark in regards to acts of service are founded in and perpetuated by the way that his father treats him. if you’re raised with an angry man in your house there will always be an angry man in your house
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Thinking about my tall f/os hugging me, having to sort of lean over to wrap their arms around me. Their arms are so strong but so gentle, so it's secure but safe.
Also thinking about them standing behind or near me and towering over me, they're so intimidating on the outside but they're so nice to me because they care about me.
Or when I'm tired and they carry me since I'm so short and they're so strong, they can easily just pick me up and we can go on an adventure or just chill.
They'd jokingly tease me about my height but would definitely give someone the look of "don't even try it" if anyone was being mean or making me uncomfortable, and they'd absolutely use the height difference to their advantage (especially considering they're super tall).
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“Loss of limb, (just one if it helps)”
13 years later and I still can’t believe Dreamworks had the balls to just amputate a 15-year old kid and handled it in like the best way possible.
DreamWorks has always had such mature themes now that I think about it, and they introduced them and handled them in a way that seems so natural to children.
Hiccup’s amputation is such a good example.
DreamWorks didn’t gloss over it either, and even they continued, in every show and every movie from then on, to show what it’s like living with a disability like that. There were some things Hiccup had a harder time doing than before, but in no way did it get in the way of his goals and dreams.
I didn’t understand how important that was when I was a child, watching the movie for the first time, but I understand it now.
DreamWorks has guts, and I’m so happy that they do
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Shinjiham is cute when it’s romantic but tbh I think i vastly prefer the idea of them being best friends instead. Like, neither of them really saw it coming and weren’t really looking to get another best friend (Shinji has Akihiko, Kotone has Junpei and Yukari respectively) but it happens anyway. Kotone takes a liking to Shinji much faster than she does anyone else and I’d say a big reason is just the fact that he’s so reserved that it allows Kotone to do most of the talking while he just listens and they love this arrangement cuz Kotone doesn’t get to talk about her own interests very much. Though I think some of her needs to talk to Shinji stems from this insecurity that he isn’t happy in the group and she has this people pleasing problem and wants everyone to be happy so she makes a much bigger effort to talk to Shinji. And it’s very unfortunate because Shinji intentionally acts cold and distant because he doesn’t want to form any attachments because he wants to die soon, but aaaaaaaagh dammit this girl just keeps talking to him and being sweet and encouraging him to engage in his interests and share them with the others and he just can’t seem to say no when she’s got those damn puppy eyes. And Kotone is just able to get him out of his shell by being persistent but not in an overwhelming way, she’s very cheerful and supportive of him. And Shinji is able to offer her support by encouraging her to talk about herself and by making sure she’s taking care of herself. They just click really well and make such a positive dent in each other’s lives and it’s all about basic acts of kindness going a long way you know?
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Well boy howdy, getting back into hyperfixations with lamb game, excited for the upcoming update. Been chatting with my lovely friend about it for a while now, having dragged them back into the game with me lol.
Also, most definitely did not get back into writing again just because of lamb game, no, course not. Something I don't know when it will be posted but the document grows each passing day.
Just some doodles of my lamb that I did while chatting with my friend. You know who you are.
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