#not to mention the blatant racism misogyny homophobia???

[emofrog69]

religious trauma is real it quite literally gave me OCD lmfao

[starwikia]

so like are we done with the idea that james is a victim of the internet harassment mob or whatever you guys like to call it when in reality no one like forced him to be part of the public eye again. he had multiple times to disengage but he threw himself head first into the spotlight with some half assed apology where he used his dead mom, illiterate dad, and like 293 mental illnesses that he was in the right to do a widdle plagiarism but it’s not his fault! it’s everyone else’s fault for not being nice to him about it!!! how dare these people bring these issues to the public not thinking how james would feel about it! like ppl are forgetting there was notable period of time james went off air entirely. and every time he’s jumped back it’s always attempts to paint himself as the victim.

like be real for a second if anyone was weaponizing the internet harassment machine it was james somerton. he knew what he was doing when he posted that note. he knew the shit his victims would get for having the crime of (checks notes) voicing out their issues with him. he knew there’s people out there who are foaming at their mouths to use anything they can get their hands on as a “gotcha!” at hbomberguy (right wing people yes, but don’t act like it’s just them i’ve seen plenty of lefties trying to prove they’re superior to harry). they don’t give a shit about james, not really. he’s the dude who hbomb did a “hit piece” (yes that’s a term i’ve seen people use) and that’s what matters.

not to mention the writing that’s also very clearly targeting nick who’s basically cut ties with him at this point. james pushed all the burden on nick by saying it’s their fault, actually. he’s one of the co-writers and everything going to shit was nick’s fault when they had the audacity to move. james is faultless! with james still trying to monetize stolen content on the blatant lie that he’s doing this for nick’s sake as a portfolio. acting as if nick isn’t an sentient human being who could upload their own content, as if nick would even want to be associated with james at this point. this isn’t a teenager being harassed for an honest mistake, this is a 35-year old con artist who’s stolen hundreds of thousands and peddled the most vile shit as actual history but realized he was in deep shit and weaponizes very serious mental health issues as a “i’m just a poor little gay baby!! my alter ego did it!!!”

for the record if you’re among the people who tried to wash down james’ crimes as “he just did plagiarism!! it wasn’t that bad of a crime!” fuck you, man. i’m not kidding.

the fact i’ve witnessed people whitewash his acts of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, antisemitism and misogyny (in fact i’m probably still missing a few things here), and say he’s being harassed by the internet just because he stole articles makes it so clear they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. his shit isn’t fucking erased just bc he realized that he has to handle the consequences. he’s grasping at anything he can at this point to make sure that even if he’s not coming back, he’s sure as hell trying to take anyone he fucking can down with him.

he doesn’t get a second chance to be a content creator at this point. he doesn’t get to show himself to do better. he needs to fucking leave. and if he tries to publicly make himself the victim then he better know that he’s going to get public backlash.

if anything situation proves to me that he can never be trusted with a public platform ever again because he will immediately guilt people into feeling sorry for him.

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

Okay I've made enough posts about it I'm gonna actually write up my overall thoughts/recommendation for Ex Wives of Dracula. Real quick, since I haven't actually mentioned it up to this point, the basic premise of the story is that two former best friends reconnect in small town Texas, before one of them is brutally attacked and becomes a vampire.

Firstly, this is a book that plays with genre very effectively. You know how a lot of horror movies have one scene at the beginning of, like, normal high school bullshit before someone gets murdered? Imagine if a movie instead spent the first hour of it's runtime on a typical coming of age/romcom narrative with all the pacing and direction you'd expect from that genre, and then that scene happened. There's a real sense of genuine shock, a "oh my god this can't be happening. This kind of thing doesn't happen, right?" But it does. That first chapter of horror is very solidly written on its own, but it hits like a truck because of how normal everything has been up to that point. The rest of the book continues with that, ibterspacing its horror generously with normal life, and I found it to be pretty effective.

The book also has some very pointed critiques to make about small town culture, about how ugliness is allowed to fester because no one wants to rock the boat, and about how things like high school sports take on an outsized and overwhelming place in the collective consciousness, because what else do you have to be proud of? It's not unique stuff, but it's a take on it that rings very true in a way I haven't often seen.

The plot as a whole is pretty well executed - there are some very effective twists and surprises that never felt cheap or like they hadn't played fair with me. The core that holds it all together is the developing relationship between our main character Mindy and her long estranged, recently reconnected with best friend Lucia. I think the character writing is excellent - there's a lot of rawness and vulnerability and teenage defensiveness that is captured very well, and the way their relationship develops is messy, vulnerable, intense, and compelling. They are the beating heart of the story, and they sell it. That being said, I do think the climax and denouement are the weakest parts of the book, which really isn't ideal. They have some good stuff, but I feel like they're paced wrong and there are a few elements that aren't, like, at odds with what's come before, but that don't naturally follow from it either.

One last central element to this book is it's commitment to it's setting. This book focuses on the culture specific to 2015 conservative American high school, and if you either never knew or have forgotten how nasty that was, this book is going to punch you in the face with it. Expect an enormous amount of casual cruelty and blatant, thoughtless homophobia, transphobia, racism, fatphobia, xenophobia, and misogyny, along with nastiness towards people with eating disorders and basically every stripe of meanness or prejudice you can imagine. Speaking as someone who did go to a conservative high school in 2015, the recreation is spot on - there are even references to some specific rumors about celebrities that I remember hearing from my peers at the time - but it was jarring to hear so much casual cruelty injected into conversation by people who weren't even trying, that's just how people talked. So fair warning. As someone who grew up in that kind of environment, I found that it added extra depth to the central relationship; it was the exact kind of prejudice, internal and external, that I would've had to grapple with of I had pursued a queer relationship in high school. But I don't know how resonant that will be to people who don't share that lived experience.

On the whole, though, this is a book that I enjoyed, and one I would definitely recommend.

[nevalizona]

Sorry putting this here instead of my sidelong bc I reblog m*sh content over there and I don't want any m*sh fans seeing this sksksksk BUT the second I see a m*sh fan mention BJ's "Tr*pper C*mplex" I know nothing they have to say about the show is valuable or rooted in canon. Anyone who brings that up is so far gone in fandom/shipping. It's embarrassing and often nonsensical. They are watching an entirely different show and are missing the point and premise of the series. They tend to be the same ones that can only view the show in a lens of shipping/fandom which means they often fall for the blatant propaganda of the show, they don't care about plots that serve to question and mock certain policies of the m*litary. I could go on and on about how this ends up resulting in racism, misogyny, and yes, even homophobia. Anyways- this "c*mplex" does not exist and only serves to water down BJ's character and make Tr*pper into someone he's not.

[werepiremalewife]

me @ all vaguely related spn people (actors/crew//third cousins of jared padalecki):

SAY LESS. I AM BEGGING YOU TO JUST SAY LESS. YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING AT ALL. JUST IGNORE IT IF YOU DON’T AGREE. PLEASE. THE INC*ST SHIPPERS ARE FEELING VALIDATED. PEOPLE WHO LITERALLY SHIP INC*ST WITH THEIR WHOLE HEARTS ARE WINNING. PLEASE. STOP. I CAN’T WITH THE HOMOPHOBIA AND GASLIGHTING. JUST SHUT UP. 

[thickness-protection-program]

Wait what are your rules?

In no particular order, the rules for hoe story submissions are

All parties involved in the story had to consent

No cheating stories

If your story is about something you did as a minor then I don't wanna hear about a situationship with an adult

Keep everything respectful, so if you wanna mention a previous hoe story leave your judgement at the door

I don't wanna hear about any story where a child could have easily spotted you or in children's area, even if it's at the time vacated

Be nice to yourself! We can joke about ourselves but self deprecation is not welcomed here

No blatant serious crimes

No body shaming, misgendering, racism, sexual racism, race fetishism, or misogyny or misandry

Edit: no transphobia, acephobia, biphobia, homophobia, or bigotry in general, both explicit and implicit

These are all I could think of atm but if I come up with more rules this list will be updated. Happy hoe stories!

[takemehomefromnarnia]

Rainbow Direction Survey Results Part 4 - Difficulties experienced by LGBTQIA+ fans

Post COVID19 hiatus, we felt Rainbow Direction needed a reboot, so we consulted our LGBTQIA+ followers on their needs and ideas. Today we are sharing the most important part of that survey, on difficulties our followers have experienced as LGBTQIA+ people in this fandom. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH YOUR FOLLOWERS!

Asked about the problems experienced by LGBTQIA+ fans, homophobia/queerphobia was the most often cited problem (21). This included widespread subtle expressions of prejudice based on societal homophobia and ignorance which were witnessed by LGBTQIA+ fans, but also individual instances of blatant homophobic hatespeech directly targeted at them. Ignorance (7), heteronormativity (5) and harmful stereotypes about queer people (2) are related attitudes that are regularly mentioned. Homophobia in fanfiction is also mentioned as an issue

“X called me a sicko and said that I needed to see a shrink. It was horrible”

“I've been harassed on social media for being queer”

“Certain fans loudly sharing that content isn’t for lgbt fans or that they will rip away flags etc is genuinely really scary even to me as an adult “

Harassment and bullying (e.g. being called slurs or names) on social media are an issue (11) and would equally fall under the label of homophobia in our view, even if some of you did not go so far as to call it that. 2 people indicated they were harassed online for organizing rainbow projects. Make no mistake in underestimating this issue as it crosses over into harassment in real life, at concerts, for carrying rainbows. 7 people reported having experienced this (in one case by venue staff!). That’s 5% of respondents… 

Harry Styles puts rainbow flag “back in its rightful place” after venue staff at the Ryman auditorium confiscated it (Photo credit: Linda Stroud)

No surprise that several people also mentioned feeling unsafe at concerts (5). Harry’s Louis’ and Niall’s shows were all mentioned in this regard, but Harry’s the most often (5).

“I've felt afraid of being visible/carrying flags/signs etc when attending  the boys’ solo concerts because very few people are doing it and I think it's because there's many of us who don't feel safe.”

“Bullying by other fans and venue security staff.”

Many of you have encountered invalidation or dismissal of your experiences as an LGBTQIA+ person and/or erasure of bi+, queer and other LGBTQIA+ identities (11). You’re assumed not to be in this fandom, you’re assumed to be a smaller part of this fandom than you are, what you say is your experience is not believed, it’s said you exaggerate, and so on. Regularly you are made to feel or told you have no place in this fandom (6).  

“Invalidating my experience as a queer woman in general, basically just people ignoring existence of lgbtq+ people in the fandom”

“Being told that the one direction boys are embarrassed of us queer fans”

And sometimes what you say about your experiences as an LGBTQIA+ person is dismissed because of who you stan or what you ship. This brings us to: the deep divisions in the fandom between ships and solo fandoms which many suffer from (10). Several complained of being exhausted of having to clear up the misconception that all LGBTQIA+ projects are “Larry” related.

Sign made for OTRA Boston show in 2015.

“... lesbophobia. and transphobia even within lgbt+ positive parts of the fandom (mostly due to ignorance)”

“I guess there's something to be said about racism within the queer community in this fandom”

Finally there are also several issues within the LGBTQIA+ community that need addressing: transphobia and terf ideology, lack of inclusion, ageism, misogyny, but also gatekeeping and lesbophobia came up. Biphobia and -erasure, systemic racism and a drop in awareness about ace and aro spectrum identities were all mentioned more than once in this regard.

In short: there is work to do. In changing hearts and minds: educating the ignorant and challenging heteronormativity and harmful stereotyping. In standing up against bullying, name-calling, harassment and expressions of homophobia: bystanders, let’s not remain silent!!! In really listening to LGBTQIA+ people’s experiences. And in improving our own inclusiveness as a community by standing against racism, gatekeeping and sectarianism in the community, in ace awareness, trans+ inclusivity, and against ageism and misogyny.

We believe TMHFN and Rainbow Direction can continue to play a role in this and we hope that you’ll join us.

You can also help by reblogging our posts as often as you can.

-------

Post COVID19 hiatus, we wanted to give Rainbow Direction a reboot and consulted our LGBTQIA+ followers on their needs and ideas on what our next steps could be.

Over the course of two weeks in September, 142 people participated in our survey.

We asked

1. Who they were and where they were from?

2. how they got to know us and what their previous involvement with RD was

3. what RD’s importance was and what was the best thing about it

4. which difficulties they encounter as LGBTQIA+ people in this fandom - our topic of today

5. which ideas they had of things we could to do address those issues and what our priorities should be moving forward

and 6. anything else they wanted to share with us.

[saznu]

— an appreciation post

okay, first of all, i wanna start this by saying that 2020 was definitely a year that changed my life. i’ve never publicly admitted this before but i didn’t really start 2020 being a “good person”. there are things that i’ve said and done that i’m definitely not proud of and quarantine has helped me realize that those things weren’t right. this past year on tumblr/social media in general and in quarantine has not only helped me educate myself on world issues, what is morally right and has taught me to not be ignorant but it has also helped me discover myself as well and has made me reevaluate my words and actions. which is mainly the reason i’m making this post, because these certain apps/people deserve to be appreciated for helping me better my life.

tiktok — despite the app being how it is, i will forever thank it for being the app to help educate me throughout 2020. it helped me listen to the struggles and oppressions of other minority groups and made me aware of issues in the world that my country never spoke up about. (1) it made me of aware of the normalized racism against the asian community in my country and myself (2) it made me aware of my misogyny and homophobia (which in turn helped me discover myself and now i am a proud bisexual feminist) (3) it made me aware of the blatant colorism in my country and myself (a predominant black country). through tiktok, i am still educating myself on things that have never been taught to me and in turn i’m choosing educate my family and friends even if they aren’t willing listen.

twitter — i’m not active on twitter but i can always thank this app for being the one to make people more aware of issues happening in the world. trending hashtags, sharing links and even when people have stopped talking about it because the “trend” is over, twitter still finds a way to bring up those important topics.

tumblr/my mutuals — thank you for being there for me throughout quarantine. honestly and truly i am so glad i met you guys when i did because i don’t know where i would be without any of you.

my closest mutuals <3 — @yoomilove @miyasangel @luvromis @rilacry @kageyuji @hajiimes @deerixiie @sophiawithstars @sugakuns @suikazura

i want to thank all of you for being apart of my life. we’ve known each other for so long that you all probably still remember my first writing blog omg 😭😭. on a serious note, all of you have helped me changed my life for the better without even realizing it and for that i am forever grateful. i consider all of you apart of my fam (or my harem as to what i put for you guys 😝😝). i hope 2021 is an amazing year for you guys and that it brings nothing but happiness into your life 🥺<3333

and all of my other mutuals who have managed to make my year better!! i wish you all a happy new year and amazing 2021 to come!!

— ending on this, i do not wish to be praised for mentioning my wrong doings or my growth. i simply made this post to show appreciation to those who have made my growth and education possible.

[clairenatural]

Hm. I know this is fandom stuff so whatever it’s not that big of a deal but misha is a grown 40+ year old man who CHOSE to make a post trying to defend one of the most blatant “bury your gays” moments in modern tv AND Jensen has a history* of homophobic behavior (saying brokeback ruined cowboy movies for him, ‘real men don’t use straws,’ writing no on the bi dean thesis, the booing issue). like. they’re not the victims here. and you’re bisexual too so I know you understand that the lgbt fans who were denied good rep but still expected to praise the show regardless are the ones harmed, and I wish everyone talking abt this would stop trying to empathize with grown adult men who made thousands off a homophobic, racist, misogynistic show and instead actually offer genuine criticism for the ways the show screwed everyone over

here’s the thing.

i really debated not answering this, but after the knee-jerk response I ultimately do want to be held accountable for things and if I fuck up I want to know, so let’s talk.

First of all, I *do* want to remind you and everyone that while fandom stuff definitely can be a big deal, I’m also just someone having fun on tumblr dot com and how critical i choose to be/not be isn’t indicative of my real life ability to critically consume media or view the celebrities I follow as flawed humans. Personally, this is my safe space, and I choose to celebrate the show rather than focus on tearing it down.

That being said, we do need to hold this show and the people involved accountable for their homophobia, racism, and misogyny. I honestly believe (or, i guess, believed) I’ve been doing that--I’m incredibly angry with how we’ve been treated, and I feel like I’ve done a good job voicing that. If I haven’t made it clear enough that this show massively fucked over everyone, I’m genuinely sorry. I’m very much of the mindset that the CW should burn. At the beginning when all this was going down I was very clear on that, I’ve participated in the twitter campaigns, i’m boycotting the show, etc. Recently i’ve been shifting this blog back towards being more positive (not about the ending, but just in general) for my own mental health, but please don’t think my stance on any of that has changed (and I am ready to go back into battle the moment I’m called on).

I also don’t believe I’ve ever glossed over Jensen’s problematic past--he absolutely needs to be held accountable for his past behavior. I honestly don’t have the spoons to go track down long thinkpieces on how his behavior has changed drastically recently and as to why fan opinion on him being homophobic has largely shifted but he has markedly changed his tone in the past few years and has shown himself to be an ally. If this is specifically about the post I made on the booing thing, I clarified in the tags that I wasn’t trying to defend Jensen; a lot of antis use that incident as an example of “Jensen thinks bi!dean is gross, nyah nyah” when it’s a bad example of that because he didn’t really know what was going on (as reported by the fan who asked the question). That wasn’t supposed to absolve Jensen of how he reacted in that situation or ways he has handled other similar situations. On Misha--I’ve said repeatedly that I don’t really think the CW forced him to make that video but I do believe it came from a good, if misguided place. I also believe his response to the backlash, where he listened and learned, was the best it could be. Not everyone has to accept that apology and I obviously can’t on behalf of the entire community, but I personally do, and he also is bound by an NDA + probably has guidelines on how to address the bury your gays issue so yes I will cut him some slack because of that. In fact, his statements on bury your gays specifically varied SO wildly over the past few times he’s mentioned it, from “I know this was bad and I’m sorry, it’s a conversation we should continue to have” to “It wasn’t bury your gays” that....yeah, I do believe there was some sort of consensus reached on how to approach it that he had to stick to. Overall I just genuinely think that the actors aren’t the enemy here when all the (most recent) signs point to them trying to give us as much as they can--actors aren’t showrunners or writers or producers and don’t have ultimate power over the narrative.

But I do really want to apologize if anyone following my blog feels like they aren’t allowed to be angry or that they need to celebrate the show. I’ve been vocally angry here and while I’ve been shifting more towards positivity for my own wellbeing I would never tell other fans--particularly LGBT+ ones--that we need to praise the show. I am also deeply hurt by this. I’ve expressed how hurt I am by this, and now I’m trying to move on to a more positive place, but that does not mean everyone has to! And on that note, honestly, while I may advocate against people sending hate and attacks to the actors, I’m not here to police anyone’s feelings. If you feel like you need to be angry at Jensen and Misha in order to process and move on.....it’s not my right to tell you that you can’t be. We shouldn’t let them silence us and if I’ve participated at all in the silencing....there’s not much I can say except that I’m sorry and I’ll be better. 

[kitty-bandit]

All the numbers for the salty ask meme XD

Anon, you seem to know I’m a Secret Salt Queen. XD

Also, this is ALL for DGM.

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Honestly? I may hate a few ships, but I can see the appeal of them. Even certain crack ships. Like, just because I don’t find it appealing doesn’t mean I can’t see why others might like it.

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

The only real BRoTP I have in DGM is Allen x Lavi x Krory. I think those three are adorable together in a platonic way.

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

ROFL, YEAH. There have been a couple over the years, and some were (at the time) considered good friends. There is at least one BNF who I no longer associate with because they couldn’t handle my anti-censorship/ship-and-let-ship stance, even though we’d been friends for years. (I’d supported this person emotionally and financially when they were in trouble, and even beta read for them/helped out with fan events/written a fic for them.) When the fandom drama got intense and antis started causing shit, I got more vocal about anti rhetoric not having a place in our fandom. This BNF couldn’t handle it and ‘broke off our friendship’. We haven’t talked in probably 2 years.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

Whoops yeah. It’s Yullen. XD Though, I’m not so disgusted when I see the ship anymore, and I’ll even reblog art from time to time. But I don’t go out of my way to seek out content.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

ROFL, you mean Yullen again? Yeah. XD I’m trying to get over my hatred, but it’s a slow process.

6, Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

YUP! Fandom actually got me into Lucky and Poker Pair. I was not a fan of Tyki’s for the longest time (mostly because of OLD fandom portrayals of his character), but a few friends wrote some amazing fics with him and converted into a Tyki lover. XD

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

Not really. I’ve certainly lost interest in writing certain ships, but I’ve never really grown to hate any of them.

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?

Hahaha, yeah. Mostly antis being assholes because I don’t cower before them.

I’ve also gotten trolled on my fics on ff.net (one of the various reasons I won’t post there anymore). It was nonsensical sexual harassment, but still. It was gross.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Chaoji. Need I say more?

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Speaking strictly in terms of the manga (because the anime went off on some ridiculous tangent arcs during hiatuses that I just can’t get into), the Mater Arc. It wasn’t bad per se, just… it didn’t interest me. It’s the first real arc for the manga. When I first read/watched it, I hated Kanda a LOT. (Love him now, though.)

And Allen was… not interesting to me. In the early chapters, he felt so flat and dull. The typical nice shounen main character, y’know? OBVIOUSLY Hoshino threw a 180 on that, and now he’s interesting as hell. But yeah, Mater bored me. XD

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I don’t think so?? Most of the unpopular characters are ones I don’t like either.

13. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

If there is a universally unpopular arc, I’m not aware of it. XD

13. Unpopular opinion about ______ character?

I’ll just choose a character I have an unpopular opinion about:

Lenalee

Whenever I see people who yell about others hating Lenalee, I’m confused. I never see this hate, or if I do, it’s so few and far between that it’s not even worth mentioning.

I think it’s a hold over from years back (DGM is like, 15 years old now) when older fandom channeled their internalized misogyny and projected it onto female characters. I lived those days, when a female characters only ‘got in the way’ of your gay ship. (Likely a visceral response to the blatant homophobia in fandom at the time as well, but that’s another story for another time.)

People defend Lenalee without batting an eye, but really? She’s done some shitty things and she’s a rather selfish character. I love her to bits, but she’s not the perfect angel people like to make her out to be.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

We’re not the perfect fandom everyone thinks we are. Sure, we’re smaller, so problematic people/things crop up less often, but we still have plenty of issues. We’ve got antis, we’ve got homophonia, we’ve got racism. We’re not perfect.

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

Hallow was good. You’re all just mean. XD

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

MORE LAVI!

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Hooboy… What would I change…

OKAY–After the Ark Arc, I would’ve had Allen and Lavi interact more. I wanted to see the aftermath of that! Because before they had left China, Lavi and Lenalee thought Allen was DEAD. And Lavi was Not Okay™. They thought that all the way up until the fight in Edo, when he returns. They almost immediately get sucked into the Ark, and everyone starts dropping like flies after that.

And Lavi’s the last one to ‘die’ in the Ark. Allen watched him fall into the abyss with Chaoji. And he s c r e a m e d.

Yet we have no “I thought you were dead”/ “I thought YOU were dead” conversations. There’s no “I’m so happy you’re alive” conversation and I feel CHEATED.

18. Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or bised?

I give absolutely zero fucks about what’s popular to ship.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Everyone is a little too Precious™ about Hoshino. I love the woman and all, but some people act like guard dogs if anyone criticizes her on anything whatsoever.

Also, I’m perplexed by this “Don’t share spoilers” mentality lately? What else is fandom for but to share spoilers? People act like sharing the RAWS after the magazine comes out in Japan is somehow tantamount to treason.

Like, bitch. Do you know I’d have to wait 2+ years to see any official translations for the manga? I buy the books when they come out, and since Hoshino writes slow, I depend on our fan-translators to give us something to read before I can get my hands on official merch.

Fan-translations are how small fandoms like us survive when we’re not speaking the official language of the source material. Acting like you’re on a high horse because you buy the Japanese copy, then can’t read it because you have a 3 year old’s grasp of the language, is just dumb.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Laven, IMO. Fite me on it. XD

21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?

LOVE ‘EM!!! I’m so here for crack ships. You have no idea.

22. Popular character you hate?

I don’t think I currently hate any popular characters, but I used to hate Tyki and Kanda quite a bit. I love them now, though.

23. Unpopular character you love?

I don’t really have an unpopular character I love. XD I’m just boring like that.

24. Would you recommend DGM to a friend? Why or why not?

Absolutely. I think it’s an amazing manga.

25. How would you end DGM/Would you change the ending of DGM?

LOL WHAT END???

26. Most shippable character?

ROFL, Lavi. I ship that bitch with everyone. XD

27. Least shippable character?

Tiedoll. I’m sorry, I can only see him as the anime equivalent of Bob Ross, and we all know Bob Ross doesn’t fuck.

✧Salty Ask ✧

[friendship-anarchy-blog]

We Gather (Capital) To Scatter (Our Members): on #lonsileaks and #sociospeaks

The last week has been a mess with a nice scoop of ice cream on top for the University of the Philippines. That scoop of ice cream, of course, is the University’s first chance at the men’s basketball championship in 32 years.

But I’m not here to talk about that. I want the mess, because that’s more interesting than screaming at dudes throwing balls.

On the 14th of November, a frankly pathetic brawl caught on CCTV followed by a shooting incident occurred within campus grounds between Alpha Phi Beta and Upsilon Sigma Phi. After a lull in any kind of reporting about it, clashing accounts from eyewitnesses and the fraternities involved (of course), and basically nothing else done regarding campus security apart from the momentary closing of the school gate near the gun fire, the issue was (barely) tackled briefly in a statement by the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s Chancellor Mike Tan. In it, he lightly acknowledges the fraternity-related violence that occurred, glazing over all other ideas of condemnation by saying that on the same day of the gun incident, the UP men’s basketball team won a game, which “would not have been possible without the widespread support of … an alumni group where Upsilon Sigma Phi, Alpha Phi Beta and all the other fraternities … have been key players”.  

A week later, on the 21st of November, a rogue—well, someone—took to Twitter with the aid of a Google Drive to release the entirety of a Facebook group chat from Batch 2017 of Upsilon that consists of over 40,000 messages. This event is what is now known as #LonsiLeaks—which I guess is made to sound like Watergate but with college boys instead. The messages in this group chat contained comments, “jokes”, and other kinds of uses of words of the most horrid, disgusting, inhumane thoughts and beliefs.

Misogyny? Check.

Homophobia and LGBT+ harassment? Check.

Belittling of the social sciences? Check.

Marcos apologism? Check.

Racism? Check.

Islamophobia? Check.

Support of massacres and genocide? Check.

Threats of violence and harm? Check.

Flaunting of control of seats of power and authority? Check.

You name it, Upsilon’s got it.

The backlash was, understandably, immense. Nearly every day since the exposé, a new statement from a different university organization, college student council, or department is released. Calls ranged from the unanimous hashtag #EndFRV; to general sentiments on ending impunity; to the more fearless demands for the President of the UP System, Danilo Concepcion, and the Executive Vice President, Ted Herbosa, to resign. The aforementioned men occupying the highest positions of the most notorious University are, unfortunately, members of Upsilon.

The best and most constructive responses have come from the faculties of departments that have been staunchly against the presence of elitism, violence and misogyny especially in the community. My personal favorite—and my obvious bias as a graduate of it—is that of the Department of Sociology, which was directly lambasted in the group chat of Upsilon. The Department has started a series of teach-ins called Fraternities and Society, discussing the social causes and consequences of fraternity violence. The speakers are all members of the faculty, experts on education, Marxism, social organization, gender, feminism, and even, most fittingly, fraternities.

Here was a small community of professors, intellectuals, researchers, and activists making a stand against a group of snotty rich boys protected by snobby powerful men, vicious and arrogant and disrespectful of women, LGBT+, indigenous peoples, non-Catholic religions and anything else that isn’t like them. And they were making a stand the way they knew best—through in-depth, open, informal, non-hierarchic education that uses sharp structural analysis.

The 29th of November saw the first of these sessions. I sat with other students and professors on the floor of our college’s spacious lobby, greeting friends and former teachers while I caught my breath from running straight out of work. With nothing else but a Facebook event page on such short notice, the teach-in attracted more than 40 people sitting or standing on that cold tiled floor, listening to Gerry Lanuza cite Freud, Engels and Deleuze and Guattari off the top of his head to explain misogyny and the capitalist heteropatriarchy.

But I’ll have to gloss over all that to jump to the most interesting concept I learned that night. It came from Andoy Evangelista as he talked about the nuances of the “backwards vs. modern” debate in conversations of progress and development. He mentioned it merely in passing, but he explained that homonationalism is the Empire’s (or the West’s) use of LGBT+ rights and women’s rights as a measure or standard of modernism. In my understanding, it was sort of a liberal-democratic thing, where you include people as tokens of identity politics rather than actually incorporating the necessary and contextually-appropriate changes in fundamental ways of living and organizing life and society to recognize, acknowledge, and respect the diversity of human life.

It was such a good point to discuss in the context of fraternities, the patriarchy, and the Classic Woke Ass Non-Upsilonian U.P. Student, as homonationalism is a slippery slope a truly radical and progressive person would have to be mindful of if they wanted to genuinely change things. It’s a reminder that there are historical, cultural, and colonial nuances that need to be kept in mind when we talk about radical change in a country as steeped in colonial mentality and fake measures of progress like the Philippines. Maybe we can start by checking the words we use when we argue for LGBT+ and women’s rights, by being wary of the comparisons we do and the benchmarks we set for ourselves in achieving culturally- and contextually-appropriate development. The West isn’t the one and only example of progress, unlike what white feminism wants us to believe.

Another thing to watch out for is homonationalism’s unfortunate use as a false sign of alllyship by people who aren’t really allies.  For one, most organizations’ responses to the #LonsiLeaks issue was to disavow the blatant misogyny, LGBT+phobia, Islamophobia, racism, and many other things wrong with that one group chat. And there’s nothing wrong with that, especially if values protecting diversity are what they really stand for. But Upsilon and its members started doing the same thing, crafting and posting statements claiming to simultaneously Wake Up Furious upon seeing the leaked messages. The fraternity and its many mouthpieces all said that everything in the chat was not in line with what they believe in and fight for, claiming to have worked hard to build safe spaces for the abovementioned sectors in the University.

I call bullshit on that.

I call bullshit on Upsilon’s statement because these stupid privileged boys could have only had the courage and platform to say the vilest things in an environment that made them see, feel, think, and believe that saying the vilest things does not have repercussions—and even if it did, there was someone to save you from the consequences anyway.

I call bullshit because Upsilon has existed for 100 years and you can’t tell me that in those 100 years, a group comprised exclusively of well-off men has not and has never produced and reproduced a culture of belittling and disrespect, of misogyny and violence, of secrecy and non-accountability.

I call bullshit because I have been privy to men’s conversations—men who aren’t even in fraternities—and the things they say in the comfort and confidence of people they know they can trust (i.e. Will not judge them, will laugh along with them, will not question them, will not point out that this is wrong, wrong, wrong) is nothing short of hair-raising, stomach-churning, nausea-inducing.

My friend told me that he has a theory about Upsilon, and frats in general. Upsilon’s motto is we gather light to scatter, and he told me that he believes that fraternities serve no other purpose than to keep pooling and collecting capital. For Upsilon, he says that light means the capital that they collect: money, power, connections.

He didn’t at first get to make the necessary connection as to what they were scattering, so I answered for him: “Their members.”

Upsilon, and all fraternities by extension, scatters its members. It plants them like seeds so it can further its control and capital, broaden itself and find an in for any industry and aspect of society that can be influenced.

Frankly, I don’t see them serving any other purpose myself.

Honestly, any way I look at it, fraternities are just unnecessary as a social organization. The only thing they offer people is upwards mobility for middle-upper class men, one foot in the door of wealth and power in the form of this “brotherhood”—a network of people who have become embedded in the various seats of power in the country.

I’m still trying to understand the reasons many have used to justify the existence and utilization of frats.

Belongingness and community? Colleges and universities have orgs that address all sorts of interests and advocacies. Or literally any other kinship ties.

Brotherhood? Literally, friends—and friends won’t make you dehumanize yourself or run to and fro just to prove you’re “loyal” to them. And inb4 “Iba kasi ang brotherhood ng frat (The brotherhood of fraternities is different)!”: if you’re looking for That Kind of Brotherhood™, you’re probably already incubating toxic notions and ideas of masculinity.

To help others? But there are so many other means to do that without needing to join frats. I really don’t get this.

A rite of passage? I actually don’t know what for, and what kind of difference going through the rite of passage of joining a frat would make.

Personal development? Jesus, I’m pretty sure you can get this in any other aspect of your life from any kind of organization or responsibility.

I really cannot think of anything else fraternities can offer aside from wealth, power and opportunities. I’m not an expert on fraternities, so I won’t deny I may be missing some things here, but personally as someone who has more than just dabbled with the topics of institutions and organizations for research, and as someone who has a handful of great, trustworthy, dependable, ambitious men in my circles who have no involvements with fraternities at all, I see fraternities only as a necessity in a country so corrupt and backwards that we still need to rely on the padrino system to get anywhere at all.

So maybe let me rephrase what I said a while ago: any way I look at it, in a society that aspires to be progressive, equal, and truly radical, fraternities are just unnecessary as a social organization.

-Adrienne Onday

[tessetc]

Consent and Virginity in Romance Novels

This is kind of a combination essay and review, but as I will be discussing consent issues, I suggest if this topic is an issue for you, you may want to pass on this post as well as the books I am discussing. 

This is extremely long so I am going to stick it under a cut, but there are reviews at the bottom of it for the books above and a few more as well. 

I was doing a lot of thinking lately about the role that consent and virginity plays and has historically played in the genre of romance, and how our relationship to those concepts has changed over the last forty years.

I have recently read all three of the books highlighted above, and along with a few others I will mention, I want to discuss the place they hold in romance history, and how they hold up as examples.

The first book above is The Wolf and the Dove, (1974) by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Woodiwiss is famous as the mother of the modern romance novel, and the inventor of the “bodice ripper”. Prior to the publication of The Flame and the Flower (1972) (F&F) romances were extremely chaste, perhaps culminating in a sweet kiss at the end, at most. When F&F was published, it featured actual sex. Unfortunately, this occurred when the male lead raped the female lead.

I recently grabbed that book at a used bookstore. I haven’t read it yet, so I can’t comment in any great detail, but I am still aware of the issues with it. I remember reading it once a very long time ago, and being a bit bored by it, but otherwise I can’t say.

However, The Wolf and the Dove (W&D) is either the first or second romance I ever read, the other being The Pirate and the Pagan (1990) (P&P) by Virginia Henley. I really, really liked both books when I was younger, and I recently reread them both.

For the most part, P&P contains consensual sex, apart from one incident in the middle of the book. Unfortunately, this was not handled well, and when I recently reread this book as a more mature reader, it kind of ruined it for me. It’s acknowledged as a rape within the book, but it does not seem to have any real effect on their relationship.

In W&D, on the other hand, the male lead, Wulfgar, repeatedly “seduces” the heroine, Aislinn, by catching her and basically mauling her until “passion takes over” and she submits. This sounds very blunt. However, the book, set in Medieval England, begins with a sacking of her castle by the villain, who then basically drags her by her hair to be ravished. In contrast, Wulfgar waits several weeks before he gives in to temptation and has his way with her, and by then, her attraction is apparent and they have a relationship and are on their way to developing respect. Her opposition to his advances is not due to not wanting to be with him, but rather due to her objection to their unmarried state.

The scenes are very, very vague and undetailed. The book was published in 1974.

So why was the sex like this in these books? Most likely, the answer lies in purity culture. Women, the primary audience for romance, were meant to be chaste and nonsexual. Which means even having sex in books was revolutionary. Remember, this is roughly the time that birth control and abortion were becoming widely acceptable. Women were working in public and a rating system on movies meant that erotic and adult themes could be shown in theatre, rather than censored completely.

This was a revolutionary time for media and women’s rights, and it’s reflected in this genre as well. But culture doesn’t change overnight, and guilt and shame were still very thick on sexuality.

I’m not the first person to note that in order for a woman to “be allowed to enjoy erotica” it must be that the fictional female is overwhelmed or coerced. It sounds really awful. It IS really awful. But you have to think of the mindset. A sexually confident heroine is not only unrelatable to a repressed female reader, but it would also make her distinctly uncomfortable. There was a lot of socialization to be a certain way, and having a heroine who strolls up to the hero and cheerfully fucks him would have been really offputting and uncomfortable for the reader. They were simply not ready for it in the 70s, and a more progressive book would have gone nowhere.

***

The books from the 70’s and 80’s were available to me as a teen and young adult in the 90s and early 2000’s, but the concept of rape as necessary to the plot was still very prominent in books published at that time. However, it was becoming more of an issue, as more authors were taking note of it. I believe it was in a book called Remembrance, (1997) by Jude Devereaux, where the female lead was a romance author who refused to allow her heroes to rape the heroine, and the protag’s publisher took issue with it as they felt the readers would not believe he was virile enough.

So clearly, authors were conscious of this as a troubling issue by this point. You can see this as well in the works of Johanna Lindsay. She has been writing bestselling romance for decades. Her early books nearly all featured ravishment of the heroine by the hero; her novels are the very definition of bodice ripper, featuring burly vikings and knights and captured brides.

But when you look at her body of work as a whole, you see a gradual change over time. By the time Man of my Dreams came out, in 1992, the blatant rape was gone, and many of her books featured very innocent, virginal heroines.

Very innocent.

In Man of my Dreams, the heroine, Megan, goes to the hero, Devlin, to learn how to kiss. He takes it a bit far and ends up nailing her in the hay.

She is pretty much down with it the whole time. She doesn’t attempt to stop him, so it’s not rape, right? Has the author dodged the bullet?

No. No, I don’t think so. Instead of rape, heroines who know what’s going on but object as in the older books, this is much more subtle, and in a lot of ways, more disturbing. Devlin ABSOLUTELY knows what he’s doing. Megan ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT. She has no idea she’s losing her virginity until it’s too late. Devlin lies to her and says it’s “part of kissing” but he is knowingly taking advantage of her inexperience. So it seems clear to me that the author was already aware of the consent issues in the genre, but attempted to skirt it by framing it as a seduction rather than a ravishment.

As a reader in the 90s and a young woman, I didn’t see this problem. I just thought it was hot. Purity culture was still very much a part of my psychological makeup, as well as that of other readers.

When I say above that a sexually confident heroine made readers uncomfortable, I speak from my own past perspective. A forward or experienced heroine made for uncomfortable reading when it occurred. It’s hard to pinpoint how, exactly, but while I wanted to read about sex, I couldn’t identify with someone who knew what they wanted and went after it, sexually speaking.

Was I repressed? I didn’t think so. After all, I was reading all these smutty books, right?

Wrong. Looking back, I was very much repressed. Not only was there shame in thinking about sex and reading about it, but even having sex before marriage was very shameful to me.

TMI here but the first time I ever even masturbated, I was 25. Despite the smut. 25.

So yes, in order to even be able to wrap my head around the idea of liking sex, it had to be very much noncon or seductive.

***

Times change, technology changes, and people change.

I spent my intervening years on the internet, tried selling sex toys at home parties (thereby learning to talk about it), and have plowed through the majority of my 30s, learning along the way how to give zero fucks what people think of me.

Society - and culture - have matured along with me. A big factor in the change, in my opinion, is the ability we have as humans to share ideas easily around the world. Subtle issues with racism, homophobia, and misogyny that were unnoticed by me and others in the 90s are more clear now as we have the ability to step out of our small, local social groups and gain understanding from people of all walks of life.

This is an ongoing process, of course, and we are not all as enlightened as we think we are or want to be, but it is a process, and I definitely see the effects as filtered through the lens of a romance reader.

Romance is about relationships, and so is culture, and our culture is reflected thusly.

In the past couple of decades, romance has undergone a significant overhaul. Not only within the strictly defined confines of the genre, but also in some influential books that have come out since. Particularly the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, the first of which was published in the 1991 and which is still ongoing.

Outlander is, strictly speaking, not romance. But it is heavily influenced by, and influential on the genre. A lot of romance tropes are taken and flipped. Most particularly the experienced female and virginal male leads, very, very explicit sex, (much more so than the much tamer books I have already discussed), and the rape which doesn’t occur between the leads, but which is inflicted on Jamie rather than Claire, by the villain. Clearly, the author was examining these issues in a fresh way.

As a reader, the enjoyment of the novel no longer hinged on the “taking” of the female. The fact that it was well received indicates that there was quite a cultural shift, as she was very forward. Also, the rape was not titillating or in any way exciting. Rather it was portrayed as a tragedy and a crime, and affects Jamie for decades throughout the following books. He suffers poorly-treated PTSD from the event that he struggles with in the background of several more books.

But the problem isn’t entirely gone from society. Outlander gets away with a lot because it isn’t, strictly speaking, a romance.

What is a romance, however, is the extremely popular and influential Fifty Shades series, the first of which came out in 2011.

Now in full disclosure, I only skimmed these, and it was before the movies came out. But it’s clear that the need we have as women to be overpowered sexually is still there. But it’s undergone yet another shift.

Setting aside the issues with the accuracy of BDSM, at its core, this series once again has a virginal female overtaken by an experienced male. The author has clearly tried to bury the consent thing once and for all by having the characters spell out consent on paper. But the need for the male to overpower the female has shifted to kink rather than rape or coercion.

There are a thousand essays on whether or not this was consensual, stalking, abuse, or whatever. I can’t really weigh in on that. But clearly the fact that it could be interpreted that way indicates there are still issues within the genre.

Most of the books I have read recently, mostly published within the last 2-3 years, feature clear consent and confident females. In a lot of ways, we seem to have gotten over this hump. But none of these books have had as wide an audience as 50 Shades. So it seems the need for a coerced female has clearly not gone away entirely.

Looking at my own relationship with consent in romance, I know I am less comfortable and more aware of non-con in books, and more able to point it out when it’s subtle than I was before. My relationship with virginity has changed as well. I am no longer particularly comfortable with an ignorant female.

I do, however, still like to see a strong, aggressive male overpowering a female. Maybe not to the extent in 50 Shades, but I certainly still like to see roughness, size differences, women being picked up and carried (although while laughing rather than screaming) and men who have an economic advantage over the woman.

So how much of this is kink and how much of it is lingering aftereffects of purity culture?

As much as I wish it was the former, I have to come to the conclusion that it’s probably the latter.

It makes me angry that I feel unfeminist when I want to read and write about submissive females and billionaire bad boys. That I still sometimes like to see less experienced females with playboy males. I WANT it to be kink, but looking at my own personal growth trajectory in conjunction with the romance genre, I can only conclude that it really is aftereffects of socialization and that in ten more years, I will shudder at the things I find appealing now.

We all grow, and change, and the genre does as well. Sometimes we need to step back and objectively analyze ourselves and our environment in order to facilitate this growth.

So where does this leave the final book pictured, Sinner? (2017)

Well, in this, purity culture, particularly in the evangelical subculture, is front and centre, and clearly highlighted as a factor in the heroine’s virginity.

But whereas in the past, her virginity = ignorance, in this case, she is much more aware of what is going on, and is more or less the aggressor, actively deciding that her virginity is a burden that allows men to control her, that is valued more highly than her actual self. So after developing a relationship with the male lead, she actively sets out to remove it.

The male lead, while still the stereotypical manslut, is totally mindful, to his own disgust, of how “caveman” he feels about taking her virginity, and goes to great lengths to confirm her consent, not only on that occasion, but on subsequent occasions as well.

The book becomes much less about virginity as a kink, and more about a woman’s right to make the decision for herself about when, and importantly, with whom to have sex.

Are all issues erased now, then?

Probably not. As I said, change is ongoing, and there are probably a ton of issues that I’m simply not seeing yet. But I find myself in a place where I can openly read smut, write smut, and write about reading smut, and I can find books where women are able to be free and open with their sexuality, where they take agency and control, and importantly, I ENJOY it.

I wouldn’t have enjoyed it in my younger days, and I suspect this rather run of the mill book would have probably not gone over as well with readers as a group twenty, let alone forty years ago.

***

So since I want to review these a bit too, and I was kind of meaning to anyway, here is a quickie review of all the books mentioned after the giant wall of analysis I just forced on you.

Books Mentioned:

The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Haven’t read it yet, but will soon. Not expecting good things, but it was a turning point, so I’m gonna take the bullet for you, dear reader.

The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

I am aware of the noncon, and can look at it objectively, and so it doesn’t bother me. I don’t recommend this book if it’s an issue for you. However, if you can ignore it, this is actually a really engaging story. Sex doesn’t actually play a huge part in it, and it’s got some notable historical inaccuracies. But Wulfgar is a likeable hero. Aislinn is like a prototype for Outlander’s Claire, and I just love, love, love the ending. I still fucking love this book, and the troublesome aspects really don’t detract from it for me.

8/10

The Pirate and the Pagan by Virginia Henley

This book and this author has been hugely influential on my own writing. Much more smutty than Lindsay and Woodiwiss, her main passion is history and storytelling rather than romance. She still falls into the rape trap, though, and in this case it bothered me a bit more than in The Wolf and the Dove.

I do like the overall plot of the book, however. Along with her other book, Seduced, which was an inspiration for my fic Only a Look and a Voice, I have jury rigged it into a fanfic. I won’t tell you which one, though.

I kind of only want to give this a 6/10. Summer, the female lead, is a bit too objectified for me to be comfortable with any longer.

Man of my Dreams by Johanna Lindsay

This had a good start, but the sex was miniscule, and as I said above, squeamishly non-consensual. I don’t recommend this book at all.

However, kudos for the ridiculous Fabio cover, which I couldn’t help but include when I took a picture for this essay.

4/10

Remembrance by Jude Devereaux

This book has both a virginal and a non-virginal female lead, and has almost no sex in it. I’ve read it a few times, and it’s a favourite, but it’s been quite a while since I last picked it up.

The basic concept is that the pair are reincarnated throughout history. A large chunk of the book is set a very long time ago, when their romance did not turn out well, and they cursed each other on death, a curse that reverberates through their future incarnations.

This book is angsty, and tragic. It’s really weird, really unique, and a really good read.

Unfortunately, the ending - although happy - is very flat and rushed, almost as though the author suddenly decided at the last moment to stop writing and wrap it up. This was a similar issue I had with the other book I reviewed by her, A Knight in Shining Armour.

That being said, it’s still really good.

8/10

Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

Smut wise, she hit it out of the park in the first book. Seriously, so, so good. But throughout the series, it sort of becomes rote, like marriage often is, and the sex no longer is noteworthy.

Also, past the third book, romance is much less of a factor, and I feel like she’s gotten into the trap many contemporary authors fall into of endlessly writing a series that no longer tells a story but rather just keeps continuing a world that’s been built.

Luckily, I really enjoy the world she’s built.

If you have the stomach for tough scenes and a two foot high stack of words, have at it. 9/10, recommend. If you’re lazy, there’s a TV series, which was very well done by the same guy who produced the successful reboot of Battlestar Galactica, which I will slip in here as one of my other all time favourite shows.

Fifty Shades Of Grey by EL James

I had a hard time reading this and it was a long time ago, so I can’t really recommend it. If you’re into reading things because you want to see what the fuss is about or to make some kind of contextual analysis, have at it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.  I’m not going to assign a number to this since I don’t remember it well enough.

Sinner by Aubrey Irons

This review was why I started typing all this nonsense in the first place.

The story is about a preacher’s daughter and a bad boy dive bar owner. His dad’s a preacher too, although much more chill than her dad.

They have an immediate attraction, and over the course of the book, they gradually fall for each other.

The plot… is kind of thin. I mean it’s there, but it’s almost an excuse for the slow burn/build-up of smut that is the real heart of this novel. It’s well done smut, I fucking loved it. But this book is light on story.

That being said, 8/10 for a fun, shamelessly smutty book, that pretended to be serious.

***

If you got this far, I really appreciate any feedback or opinions you may want to share on this topic. I’m shutting off anon for the next day or so, however, as it never seems to go well when I express too much of an opinion on this site.

Thanks for reading.

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: December 2018

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of December 2018 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

It’s almost impressive that Theresa May not only managed to be the first Prime Minister to lose three votes in a day since 1978, but also be the first person in British history to be running a government that was found in contempt of parliament.  So how could she top that?  By accusing Jeremy Corbyn of calling her a “stupid woman” and playing the misogyny card...even though she reinstated two MPs to the party to support her in the no confidence vote in spite of their currently being under investigation for groping female staffers, sending inappropriate texts to female constituents, and in one case an allegation of rape and, because that wasn’t enough, once again delaying the promised £20m of funding for women’s shelters

So nice of Priti Patel to crawl out of the woodwork to volunteer the suggestion that, if the Republic of Ireland doesn’t agree with the Britait terms given to them, the UK should threaten them with food shortages.  So not only does she demonstrate herself to be a totalitarian sociopath who is willing to have millions starve so she gets what she wants, but she also demonstrated her ignorance of the fact that 37% of the UK’s food imports are from the Republic of Ireland while I’m sure the rest of the EU won’t respond well to one of their members being threatened with the possibility of being starved into submission.

Wanting a piece of the “let’s bully the irish” pie David Vance took a break from posting Islamophobic bilge to his Gab account by tweeting how, as the Republic of Ireland is “totally dependant” on the UK for its gas supplies, the UK should cut off their supply to force them to give the Leavers the Britait they want - which not only demonstrates what sort of sociopathic morons thought Priti Patel’s threats of food shortages was a good idea, but he failed to spot the graphic he posted to support his putsch clearly showed three gas fields off the coast of Ireland...

You would think nobody would be so brainless as to delay thousands of flights on one of the busiest periods of the year for flight departures, but then those dickheads flying drones over Gatwick decided that was exactly what they wanted to do when they flew a pair of drones over Gatwick airport that grounded flights for 24 hours - which led to Liz Truss stating that the best defence against drone attacks would be those noted ground-dwelling animals that are dogs, while several newspapers (notably the Daily Mail) are currently hoping that Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk don’t take them to the cleaners for splashing their names and faces across their front page claiming they were the ones responsible

With the Tories once again tooting on the immigration dog whistle in order to gain public support for their Britait plans Sajid Javid announced the day before the Home Office was due to release its white paper on immigration that would outline what immigration system the UK would adopt after cutting their nose off to spite their face that, actually, they wouldn’t be releasing them until after the Commons vote, but Commons can go ahead and vote even though yet more information has been withheld

It appears that Jacob Rees-Mogg doesn’t understand how arithmetics work considering his response to losing a vote 63/37 was to give some mealy-mouthed waffle about how the result isn’t genuine, yet he’s spent the past two and a half years stating that winning a vote 52/48 makes the result 100% legally binding, you can't have a second referendum, the people have spoken and if you disagree with the result no matter how many lies were told to get it you are a traitor and have achieved Unperson status

For some reason Kevin Spacey though the best use of the remarkable amount of free time he has on his hands these days was to post a video of him in character as Frank Underwood that came across as him attempting to get his role on House of Cards back (as well as, you know, appearing to be remarkably creepy) - which went so well within hours of the video going up he was charged with sexual assault

It seems that the BBC didn’t learn from the initial attempts to gaslight the public about the Vicargate scandal as they kept on trying to lie their way out of the hole they dug for themselves by stating that “Lynn” wasn’t a paid actress and the only money she received was an unspecified disturbance fee...which not only means that they paid her to appear, but it wasn’t long before several other Newsnight panelists mentioned they had not received a disturbance fee for their appearances

Not only did various Troy MPs such as Dominic Raab, Claire Perry, Ross Thompson, John Lamont, Nigel Evans, Kirstene Hair, Damien Moore, Steve Brine, David Mundell, Steve Double and Luke Graham think it was a good idea to post photos of them all smiles as they visited their local food banks, which mainly served to make them look remarkably similar to the rednecks posing with the endangered species they just gunned down to show what manly men at the height of their manliness they are, the fact that most of these photos were tweeted with the exact same caption (while also plugging Tesco) make it clear that they were posting these on orders from above

Apparently Boris Johnson forgot to declare the £52,000 he was paid by the Daily Telegraph - because that’s such a small amount of money that it obviously wouldn’t occur to him that he might have to declare it...

It seems that Louis CK got a little rusty with his lack of performing due to charges of sexual harassment, which is the only logical reason for his routine saying the Parkland survivors aren’t allowed to demand gun control because they weren’t shot dead.  The amount of logic fails in that sentence is staggering

It didn’t occur to Leave.EU that, if they want to post a video triumphantly declaring that a whole twelve of their members were willing to block Westminster Bridge until they get what Arron Banks and Richard Tice get - the problem is the video they posted showed their rent-a-mob was preventing an ambulance that was on call from crossing Westminster Bridge, which I’m sure the paramedics were really happy about...

Congratulations to Seaborne Freight for the £14m of taxpayer’s money they received after being awarded a contract to run a freight service between Ramsgate and Ostend - in spite of the minor inconvenience that not only does the firm not have a trading history, but they don’t have a single ship - but I’m sure that the fact that Seaborne is run by Mark Bamford whose main claim to fame is being the brother of noted Tory donor Anthony Bamford has nothing to do with it...

Sentient testicle Toby Young used his Spectator column to whine about how this Christmas he hasn’t received a single card nor been invited to any parties, which he says is entirely the fault of the Twitter hate mob for pointing out the blatant racism, homophobia and misogyny in his tweets and columns as well as his free school’s exclusionary policies towards the disabled.  So no, it's definitely not the fault of an obnoxious toad who wrote a book called How to Lose Friends and Alienate People for losing friends and alienating people with his own dickheadishness...

Person who was unaware Britain is an island Dominic Raab thought he was being really clever when he tweeted a graph to claim that British workers’ wages are rising - which only served to demonstrate their wages are lower than they were a decade ago

It’s funny how Ivan Lewis failed to use the words “suspended”, “for”, “sexual” or “misconduct” when announcing his departure from the Labour party - although it’s not funny how Sky News swallowed his version of events hook, line and sinker instead of do some researching, which happens to be what a journalists’ job involves

Glorified gameshow host with one hell of a chip on his tiny, tiny shoulder Alan Sugar responded to people hoping that his promise to leave the country if Jeremy Corbyn became Prime Minister with hope that he was true to his word by tweeting some really bad fridge poetry that culminated with him stating people with less money than him were “losers” who “have not achieved anything in life” - which I’m sure was appreciated by healthcare workers, firemen, teachers, and numerous other people who don’t make as much money as him so are, therefore, worthless

In a bid to remind people what scumbags they are Chelsea fans managed to cram racially abusing Raheem Sterling when they played Manchester City, then a few days later were heard breaking out their usual chants about Auschwitz and gas chambers when playing Hungarian team Vidi

It didn’t occur to Blizzard Entertainment that anyone who played Heroes of the Storm professionally would like to be informed ahead of time that they had cancelled the games’ esports events planned 2019 - although, as there’s talk of Activision cutting back at Blizzard, this may not be on them

Marketing genius Soulja Boy had a great idea: sell one of those emulator consoles that can be bought for around $100 and then jack up the price by 50% because of reasons, and within a few weeks pull them from stores because Nintendo’s lawyers hit him so hard they even got hold of his web domains

Hapless berk Mike Dean once again felt the need to listen to the paranoid gibberish of Arsenal fans claiming he’s a Spurs fan before a North London Derby by proving himself to be impartial...by booking Eric Dier for celebrating a goal yet failing to do anything when the Arsenal bench rushed on the pitch to jostle with him and his Arsenal teammates, nor did he seem to think Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s celebration in front of Spurs fans was a bookable offence

None of which excuses Averof Pantelli for throwing a banana peel on the pitch at Aubameyang, while his excuse of claiming that he isn’t racist because the peel wasn’t his but a kid who dumped it on the floor and, by the way, I’m not racist and anyway Greek Cypriots can’t be racist didn't help his case much

And then Arsenal fans promptly fell off the moral high ground two weeks later when one of their fans threw a bottle at Dele Alli while several of theirs were caught singing anti-semitic songs when Spurs knocked them out of the Carabao Cup in their own backyard

According to Jonathan Agnew no BBC presenter should be allowed to voice any political opinions on their own Twitter, which of course doesn’t look like Agnew saying that because he doesn't agree with Gary Lineker that means Gary Lineker is wrong and should therefore be the subject to droning idiots incorrectly citing the BBC guidelines to him

Good work by Tumblr in deciding that mass-flagging of content was the way forward, which mainly served to piss off the numerous models, photographers and artists - but judging by my follow list did nothing to deter those pages that advertise the various camgirls who are so keen on talking to you that they have a photo of them in no clothing whatsoever to advertise this

And finally, failing to do ten seconds of research when writing a statement upon someone’s death, there’s government shutdown enthusiast and person who thinks that believing in Santa Claus is more credible than acknowledging climate change Donald Trump - but nobody died, right?

[intelligentautisticmedia-blog]

Autistic Community Manifesto Part 1: Us Autistics Chapter 1: Autistic Brotherhood by Charles McIntyre

Prelude: 

Greetings fellow Autistics, I am Charles McIntyre, I am 26 and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Autism) when I was 4. My greatest strengths are Hyper Empathy, being analytical, seeing details and patterns others miss and word-smithing.

My greatest struggles are connecting with people, executive dysfunction, SPD, CAPD. I officially formed the group Call "Intelligent Autistic Media" in April 2017. Our mission statement is to spread 1. Autistic Pride 2.) Encourage and instruct Autistic Self Advocacy 3.) Defeat Anti-Autistic stigma and myths, 4.) Encourage and instruct NT Ally ship 5.) Improve the lives of Autistics and their families as much as possible.

               I run this Facebook Group has at this about 380 members and we have been active for almost a year. We are an okay group, but I have not been as a successful leader as would like to be. I believe this to be because I my struggles with struggles with executive dysfunction and my inability to connect to people in an effective and consistently. In short, I am more a creative, ambitious visionary, than a leader and organizer.

So, I decided to write this sort of "Manifesto of Campaigns" as way to offer up a list of campaigns and initiatives I believe could elevate the status of the Autistic Community and solve some of our problems. It is hope that this manifesto will inspire various members of the community to time, resources, and talents to execute the fore mentioned project and initiatives. I feel like success hinges on ability to organize and mobilize. With our collaboration and unity can we ever hope to overcome NT supremacy. I am not sure if everybody will agree to all my ideas, but I am throwing them out there regardless. If you do find ideas appealing, please contact me. I hope to set up some collaborations.  If you have any constructive criticisms, please elaborate. If you don’t have anything of meaning to add please ignore and scroll pass.

 Part 1: Us Autistic Chapter 1: Autistic Brotherhood 

Now, as were particularly diverse demographic of exceedingly unique individuals, unification is of   course easier said than done.  I would propose constitution or a share list of demands. As often have embracive personalities and none of us like to walk on eggshells we try to be patient with each other as much as we and agree to interact with a shared written code of ethics or social guidelines

Here is an example of such a code: 1.) If you are not of groups demographic stay in your lane. Ie don't talk about something that you don't understand. 2.) If you post something covers anything that may cause someone a panic attack or extreme discomfort; ie Sexual assault, violence, bigotry ect... ad a Trigger warning. 3.) If you post anything that has possible uncomfortable subject matter or contents; ie swearing, sex, sensory issues ect ad a content warning. 4.) Do not use sarcasm or hyperbole or otherwise confusing language.  5.) While in debate or disagreement do not assume hostility unless it is blatant. You maybe projecting or overthinking. Try asking the other person to clarify.  6.) Try to stay on topic with the post while commenting. 7.) If you see a post or comment that upsets you or that you disagree with scroll past it unless you deem it necessary.  8.) When engaging in a debate be polite and avoid using vulgar language or name calling.  9.) Walk away from an argument if it gets to heated. 10.) If someone does not want to argue, don't drag them back into thread by tagging them. This is harassment. 11.) Do not play mind games or gaslight. This is harassment. 12.) Conversing with multiple people use tags to distinguish to whom you speak.

  First and foremost, though, we must spread Autistic Pride and self-love. I did not want to admit to having any connection to my fellow Autistics until I was able to accept my own Autism. Even now sometimes I get discouraged and wish I was different. I think Autistic self-defecation should thought as virus that we must try to remedy as soon as possible lest it spread through toxic interaction. This does not we shove pride down are fellow Autistics’ throats, but we must always strive to encourage and uplifting whenever possible.  This again would require us to mutually patient with each other.

One idea I have for unification is reject any ideas that we can be or should be Neuro-typical. We shall not try to be what are not. In do this we should reject Neuro-typical social customs viewpoints. We should instead develop our own Autistic social customs and viewpoints. Thus, establishing Autistic social culture.

 As we all know functioning labels divide, silence and stigmatize people across the autistic community. The simplest fly, generalize, and stereotype the experiences of all autistic people. We must never let the neuro- typicals force them on us nor any other autistic. At the same time however, we must be sensitive to the two different ways autistic people struggle. We must never imagine that our experience with autism the same as anyone else’s experience with lot. To demonstrate this point, I’m going to exemplify to members of the autistic community with very different forms of autism without relying on functioning labels.

               Many of us know of John Elder Robinson. He is the author of such books as “look me in the eye”, “be different” and others. In both books, he talks about his struggles and talents. Some of his struggles include sensory processing disorder, social ineptness, aversion to eye contact and possibly executive dysfunction. There is natural engineering talents and creativity, he was able to leave home, find employment, incomplete independence, at age 16. (He also grew up in a different time).

 This contrasts with the experiences of Carly Fleishman. Carly, who is a brilliant young woman, is a brilliant writer, and has developed quite the charming TV personality has struggles and talents very different to Mr. Robinson. In the memoir she wrote with her father Arthur Fleischman; “Finding Carly’s Voice” Carly is described as being nonverbal, having episodes of intense sensory overload, as well as experiencing more extreme meltdowns and coping with more prominent stemming. Throughout her early in adolescent years Carly has been sent to live in a variety of institutions designed for people with her type of autism. Before she learned to effectively type, or diagnosis also included intellectual impairment. She has recently been nominated for a reward called a “Shorty”, but I am uncertain if she has managed to live independent yet.

Essentially what I’m saying is, we must give recognition to struggles and talents of the Carly Fleishman’s, the John Elder Robinson’s, the Naoki  Higashida’s, Stephen Wiltshire’s and everyone else in between in the autistic spectrum. It might be most convenient, we mapped out different types of autistic. This way be as crude was insensitive as functioning labels but would be more like 16 personality types. It would provide some symbolic shorthand to understand the person struggle and strength, without knowing everything about that person.

                 If we do not commit ourselves to encouraging self-advocacy and union ship in cooperation with people throughout different autism types, if we say, “oh yes, I am autistic, but I don’t want to be associated with these autistics, because I’m not freak like them,” then we are not really better than those neuro- typical bigots alienate, and discriminate against us. We autistics are also all we have. We must be inclusive as possible to maximize our numbers. If we cannot be inclusive to towards our own people how can we expect neuro- typicals to be inclusive towards us?

                 Once we have figured out way to bring empowerment, self-love and pride to people across the spectrum must also remember to be intersectional. Intersectional means that while we focus on autistic issues, make ourselves aware that people with identities other than autistic marginalized in different ways and therefore may have different struggles. To illustrate example, I once got accosted with a police officer because he suspected me of smoking cannabis at a town dance. The truth is my eyes were red because I was crying. I couldn’t look him in the eye, because I am in fact autistic and my ability to look people in the eye diminishes as I get more nervous. He thought I was lying in my have arrested me of his partner had pulled him away as he pulled away he shouted, “if you’re lying to me 10 times worse!” Now this was not my only encounter with police. Not my only misunderstanding. It is very common for autistic people to have some dealings police either as a victim or as a suspect. As we are autistic, it can be difficult to be out how to figure these situations and police sir severely under trained to understand or accommodate autistic people. While this incident was fortunate, I will tell you, that would ruin been worse if I were Black. Police tend to unjustly patrol black neighborhoods more and act more hostile towards people of color. If I had been black is much more possible that I would have been arrested and/or beaten by the police. Being intersectional means that we are sensitive to such issues of extra vulnerability to autistics who have extra vulnerability due to belonging to another marginalized demographic.

                 Being intersectional means that as leaders we do not let the members of our community indulge in any form of bigotry. Mustn’t allow any; racism, six them/misogyny, homophobia, trans-phobia, ablism, Islam phobia, anti-Semitism, classism or any other form of bigotry. (If we criticize any creed or religion we must be careful not to act discriminatory against all the members of that said creed or religion. For example: is perfectly fine to criticize Christianity and other religions for things that homophobia, trans-phobia, misogyny, racism and ablism Etc. but we cannot take this out on a random Christian. We should be accepting of people of differing creed identities under the condition that they are accepting of people different identities as well. Again, if we are not willing to be accepting of people from demographics that are different from us, if we indulge ourselves in bigotry, we are no different than those neuro- typical bigots that alienate discriminate against us.

                 Once we formed an all-inclusive and all accepting that all intersectional, autistic community we must strengthen it. We need people to feel pride. To do this we must remind people that autism is a pervasive condition meeting affects every aspect of a person. This means that while your struggles are because autism strengths and talents and expertise is also thanks to autism. We must also remind those autistics who have not found self-acceptance, of those autistics across the spectrum are found major success. Again, self-pride is necessary to push one’s self forward on a tough road ahead.

It will also be important for autistics to be experts in autism. We must do this to best understand ourselves and spread awareness to others. Also, I want us all to be old to really drive it home to those neuro- typicals who believe they understand autism better in anyone else that we are the ultimate experts. And we understand autism in ways that no one else can possibly can.

 One of the most important things for everyone in the autistic community to know how to do is self-allocate. I will go over this in more detail in a future chapter. It should go without saying that is a tool that carves our path to self-empowerment and control of our own destiny. Self-efficacy is something that autistic children should learn from an early age. We must never allow members of her community to be apologetic for being autistic.

One interesting person has memorized the basics of self-advocacy, they are ready to graduate to social political activism for the entire autistic community. I will also go into more detail on such ideas in a later chapter. Basically, we must make sure people the autistic community are aware of the political and activism tools out their disposal. We must help make sure members over community are aware of how they are being marginalized and how their community the daily subject of social political discussion whether they like to acknowledge it or not. A shocking number of autistics seem to be oblivious facts. Thing to consider is while autism can make it difficult to stand up for oneself against an oppressor, we all must learn to do so.

 This has been chapter 1 of my autism community manifesto. And I discussed basic folkways autistics should apply to themselves to get along with the community, how to make sure the community stays all-inclusive and intersectional, how people in the community should be proud aware of their own autism now they should learn how to self-advocate and eventually politically activate for the community. I hope you found it useful so far or at least provocative. Next chapter will discuss stuff out is the and social political activism in greater detail. Until then, this has been Charles McIntyre, power and peace to the community!

[copularpulture-blog]

Don’t Be A Bad Sport

The documentary “Not Just A Game” has created an impact on my already existing views on the NFL, NBA, ESPN, and other male dominated, sports oriented organizations. Since as long as I can remember, I always raised an eyebrow due to the over exaggerated, blatant nationalist propaganda at every NFL football game. I now realize it has something to do with keeping Americans under the guise that the United States is made up of pride, holiness, justice, and freedom. Due to the frequent tributes to our nation’s military, the reiteration of performance tactics of masculinity, and the degrading of women with sexualized imagery, I’m arguing that the sports world is one that’s deeply focused upon the “American Dream” and still remains rooted in a hegemonic, heteronormative, misogynistic gender binary.

Thankfully, this hegemonic masculinity entwined within the roots of athleticism has been slowly making room for women athletes since 1972. Despite a significant lack of coverage on women’s sports now and throughout history, Title IX has helped women in sports make gigantic strides towards achieving (and surpassing) the expectations of their male counterparts. Historically, women’s interest have been swayed away from sports and athleticism. From articles about the alleged physical and mental damage associated with women who engage in physical activities, to male figures on TV speaking out against women participating in sports, male domination in athletics has restricted the physical capabilities of women’s bodies. So much so, society wasn’t even aware of what women’s bodies are capable of, leaving them no choice to be deemed as weak, frail, and submissive.

Restriction in athletics wasn’t only a woman’s issue, but also an issue upon the LGBTQ community. To this day, the strict hegemonic gender binary leaves little to no room for queer competitors. Often shunned by their teammates and removed from the team, it’s not uncommon to see a famous athlete’s career deplete shortly after coming out of the closet. In many examples, it has always plays out the same: homophobic messages from homophobic team members who spew their jargon about what could potentially occur in the shower of a locker room, yada yada yada. None of whom are ever removed from the team for homophobic remarks, solely for homosexuality. In this video by YouTubers Greg & Mitch, we’re able to get a closer look at homophobia and it’s deep connections to athleticism. 

Whether it’s coming out of the closet, or speaking on the behalf of those who face oppression, the reactions by the public are often the same: excommunication. Whether it’s Muhammad Ali speaking up about racism and religious oppression in the United States, or Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem. Black Americans are only valued by a large white audience when they don’t speak on the problems them and their families face daily.

Sports are supposed to create an environment that’s free of politics. An environment that’s capable of bringing communities, cities, even countries together. However, sports and politics seemingly go hand in hand. From promoting nationalism, endorsing the U.S. military, and turning a blind eye to the corruption that lies within them, to making room for misogyny, homophobia, and racism, sports have been harboring political messages since day one. Not to mention how we reward the fast, strong men who throw or kick balls, and concuss themselves on live TV with millions of dollars. According to payscale.com, the annual salaries of doctors in America are only 2% of what an NFL player makes for one season. While I do believe that sports can provide opportunities for families, communities, and cities to bond, I believe that it’s still deeply rooted in the same homophobic, misogynistic, and racist ideas that existed at the beginning of the history of American sports.