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bi-galacticgargleblaster · 1 year

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okay I just got back from a trip to the US and I have thoughts:

why is the water level in the toilet bowl so high?? I accidentally dipped my hand in twice during my two weeks there and believe me it was twice too many!!

christ your groceries are expensive compared to here?? maybe it's because I exclusively go to aldi/lidl (which are cheap here) and I hadn't worked out what the equivalent in the states is but like, hannaford and trader joe's seemed a lot more expensive (based on my rough estimations of exchange rates and sales tax)

oh yeah the sales tax not being included on the price of the thing is strange to me also but I kinda knew that was a thing already

I occasionally see memes about like US public toilet cubicles being poorly constructed, with gaps, etc, and living in the UK I did kinda relate to them, but actually going over there I can confirm that the US gaps are bigger and the amount of panel you have is significantly less. like I can maybe squeeze my head under a uk toilet cubicle but I could fairly easily completely shimmy under a US one

okay this one is probably because of the state we were in and I'm sure it's not universal but like, the amount of pride flags I saw flying?? the amount of progressive pride flags?? the amount of "trans people are welcome here" signs and "we respect trans people" posters?? Active trans specific inclusion in *government buildings* right there for everyone to see, and not a single one (that I saw) defaced or torn down? in the uk you're lucky to get trans positive stickers on streetlamps (and even then a lot of them get defaced/torn off soon after going up) and specific LGBTQIA+ businesses might fly flags or put up posters, but in the US, even in the small towns we visited, a bunch of private houses and not specifically queer businesses had pride flags and posters up (again I'm sure this is different in other states but coming from the uk it was a breath of fresh air). oh and also we went to a farmers market in a tiny town and someone running one of the stalls was like "how's it going guys?" and then was immediately like "ah wait is it okay that I say guys? I don't want to misgender anyone" and like, that has never happened to me in the uk and I struggle to even imagine it happening outside of specifically queer settings

oven pizzas!! honestly the oven pizzas we had while there were better than 99% of UK pizzas (I'm including UK oven pizzas, restaurant pizzas, and takeout pizzas), idk what goes in them that's different to the uk but they were So Good

vanilla ben and jerrys??????? we get some B&J flavours in the uk but they're generally expensive compared to other ice cream and there might be 1-3 flavours to choose from in stores that stock it. we saw a whole freezer dedicated to B&J ice cream, in the entire aisle dedicated just to ice cream. anyway, I thought B&J only did fancy flavours so seeing the plain vanilla there was cool

also my lactose intolerance seemed to go on holiday during the trip?? like is american dairy just different? I had cheesecake and ice cream and incredibly cheesey pizzas and cheese toasties and had like 0 ill side effects. As soon as I got back to the uk I went "well I must be cured" and drank a yoghurt drink and Let Me Tell You That Was A Mistake

cars are B I G. we got off the plane and went to the car rental place and all the trucks and vans and stuff were just completely towering over me. It's like someone took a uk truck and expanded it to like 1.5x size. I felt kinda like I was a child again just with the height difference

gas stations!! we stopped off at gas stations and I was expecting like a lil selection of packaged sandwiches and bottled drinks but like, there were salads and sushi and wraps and sandwiches and then an entire hot food counter doing pizzas and hot wraps and there were pastries and several different types of filter coffee and teas and then An Entire Beer Cave?? (side note: alcoholic arizona ice tea?? holy shit??). apparently gas stations are some of the best places to buy booze, which I was not expecting?

I had a super great time while there and everyone was so friendly ^_^ but if someone could tell me why the toilet bowls are like that I'd appreciate it D:

#own post #personal

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mysweetgeorge · 2 years

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happy pride beatlemaniacs i made us our own flag

#the beatles #paul mccartney #george harrison #ringo starr #john lennon #pride #beatlemaniac #beatlemaniacs #putting the B in LGBTQIA+ /j

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acelor-acetaylorswift · 4 years

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Hey there!

To be asexual means you're not sexually attracted to others. Asexuality is a spectrum, and some may occasionally be attracted (graysexual) or only when they develop a strong bond with someone else (demisexual.) It gets more and more complicated, so I'll leave it at that.

This is the asexual pride flag:

This is Taylor Swift performing You Need to Calm Down, now tied to LGBTQIA+ rights:

This is Taylor in the music video for the song:

On this blog, I find times Taylor looked like different pride flags. This ace pride flag on Taylor's shirt was the first I ever noticed:

This costume from the 1989 World Tour (for the song New Romantics, which features the lyrics "I'm about to play my ace) was the second time:

🖤💜🤍 this is acelor where we document every time Taylor has looked like the asexual flag (black, grey, white, and purple stripes)

Follow on Tik Tok @ acetaylorswift

Next: Famous Asexuals Taylor References on folklore

So this took quite a bit of time and help from my sister who knows calculus and literature better than I do, but I compiled a list of VERY interesting potential references to the work of various historical figures that are always listed on those web articles of people thought to have been asexual.

Even if you're not compelled by Acelor, this is an interesting read just in terms of Taylor actually meaning it when she said folklore is based on stories and imagination. I don't see many people actually take that to heart and look for references etc.

Enjoy!

Salvador Dali

"And losing on card game bets with Dalí" -the last great american dynasty

Emily Bronte - writer

There are a lot of parallels between "my tears ricochet" and the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.

"May she wake in torment...Why, she's a liar to the end...Be with me always...do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you..."

"Cursing my name, wishing I stayed"

"You say I killed you -- then haunt me!"

"You had to kill me but it killed you just the same" & "I didn't want to have to haunt you"

Heathcliff secretly comes to Catherine's wake

"And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake?"

J. M. Barrie - author of Peter Pan

- "tried to change the ending / Peter losing Wendy"

- writing about her friends' three kids (PP was written about Barrie's friend's kids)

- general Tinkerbell vibes in Taylor's styling (lol)

George Bernard Shaw - playwright

So in his play Pygmalion (adapted into the movie My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn...just put on netflix!) Henry and Eliza have a very tempestuous relationship, eventually leading to a huge fight at the end of the play. A lot of stuff in their argument reminds me of "my tears ricochet". And it's super interesting b/c Henry seems to basically just want him, Eliza, and their other friend to just live together in some platonic arrangement. Even before that, at the beginning, he expresses that he has no interest in marriage.

(the quote or example from the play is indented, the cursive is the taylor line that corresponds!)

"This ring isn't the jeweler's, it's the one you brought me in Brighton." *Henry throws it in the fireplace*

"We gather stones...Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring"

After Eliza is transformed into a lady, she is distraught because her transformation is supposed to let her go anywhere and be anything she wants, but when she tries to go home, she realizes she can't be there anymore.

"And I can go anywhere I want / Anywhere I want, just not home"

"You have wounded me to the heart."

"And you can aim for my heart, go for blood / But you would still miss me in your bones"

"Well, you have my voice on your gramophone. When you feel lonely without me, you can turn it on!"

"And I still talk to you (when I'm screaming at the sky) / And when you can't sleep at night (you hear my stolen lullabies)"

- The beginning of the ME! music video also gives me My Fair Lady vibes with the costumes and the green wallpaper...looks like Henry's library.

Isaac Newton - scientist and mathematician

my tears ricochet: a ricochet (a rebound off a surface) = Newton's Third Law (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction)

And

this is me trying: "the curve became a sphere" = Isaac Newton invented calculus

John Ruskin - art critic

Ruskin was an art critic who famously had his marriage annulled because it was never consummated. He fell in love with the Lake District at a young age and was inspired by it throughout his life, eventually buying a home there in the 1870s.

Alexa, play "the lakes" by Taylor Swift!

Florence Nightingale - nurse

Nightingale was an English nurse who revolutionized nursing on the warfront. I can't help but see a parallel in the heart-wrenching

"epiphany"

H.P. Lovecraft - writer

So there's this short story called "Colour out of Space". They made a movie of it recently with Nicholas Cage lol. Basically there's this meteor with an alien virus in it that makes plants really big, then turns them to brittle ash and leaves the fields barren....

"My barren land / I am ash from your fire".

This guy finds the stone and keeps it, not knowing its destructive nature....

"We gather stones never knowing what they mean"

Edward Gorey - artist

Gorey did this cartoon which really speaks for itself.

"I'm still on that tightrope" -mirrorball

Innocence, reputation, 1989tv liner notes....

Nikola Tesla - engineer

Okay, this is one I want to do more research on because there is just so much to read about this guy and his brilliance/quick mind makes me think of Taylor. But a kind of similarity I found was that he drew a diagram of a solar eclipse and ironically, three years ago, Tesla car batteries had this weird thing happen when there was a solar eclipse...

my eclipsed sun

Also, at one point, people in the press began turning against a project of Tesla's, saying it was a hoax.

your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in

Kinda goofy one, but I thought I'd put them out there as long as I was writing something up. And I'll leave you with the most amazing thing I found about Tesla, which kind of reminds me of Taylor's love for her CATS:

I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them for years. But there was one, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.

#taylor swift #ace flag #asexual flag #swifties #acelor #ace culture #evermore #ace pride #taylor swift lover #lover #you need to calm down music video #you need to calm down #demisexual flag #graysexual #ace ring #ace #asexual

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illgiveyoumygavichal · 4 years

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I don’t know why I wrote this, or why I wrote so much. Gomen.

So I just re-watched The Scene while I’m actually awake and coherent and I blasted the volume with my headset so I could hear every little thing and while it’s pretty clear they were filmed separately(?) from a writers point of view, the dialogue and reactions made sense --- not the ‘all gays go to super-hell’-bit... there’s no excusing that, but it was foreshadowed a long while ago (hence why I’m not 100% surprised that The Scene even happened since it was obvious that the character in questions’ ‘moment of true happiness’ would be a confession the moment the deal was made. I still think they’ll end on a ‘reset the universe back to point A to prevent point B’-type to just be like... well you already know the story so even if it’s ending, it’s not really ending but going on and on and on in a paradox because the whole show is convoluted what with the time-travel and parallel universes and other dimensions and shit.

Not my point, I started rambling. Uh... Click the ‘read more’ for more? Gods, I can’t believe this is what spurred a real-ass post from me...

If anyone wants to discuss this, please do. But don’t be an ass about it please, I’m just here to have a discussion.

Anyways, Jensen’s acting was flat. Like he wasn’t into the script at all. Like he totally believed that this went completely against the character he’s supposed to play - and he’s not really wrong, but you can see this a lot in movies and tv shows where the actors disagree with the writing and direction that it’s reflected in their performance.

While this scene in particular seems like the actors were shot apart and chopped together, I think they were both very much in the know about the script. Misha gave it his all, you could hear him thanking the audience for watching his performance. His in-character confession was just as much his ‘thank you’ and it shows - but while his whole speech was likely one good take (probably after a long day, especially since every one working on this show had to work around covid-19 safety procedures) Jensen’s was probably multiple takes, with the good shots being chosen and patched together to make him seem a least a little like he isn’t completely refusing the script.

As for the characters and the writing, it worked. Now I’m no expert in homosexual relationships but I’m very queer, as is my s/o, so I’m gonna try to not stick my foot in my mouth for this part. While homophobia is in no way acceptable, it’s understandable why Jensen isn’t into this particular pairing: The fandom shoved it down his throat, down the producers throats, until it was made canon. One thing that sucks the life out of creators is self-entitled fans. Yeah it’s nice to show your support and love of a content, but you shouldn’t be shoving your ideals for the content into the creators faces. It’s just uncouth.

Rambled again, sorry.

Cas’ speech was wonderful. He clarified his love for Dean by leveling his love for everyone and everything first, and then showing how his love for Dean was stronger than those - but stronger because of them. This way, in describing the care and love he has, Cas can be sure Dean understands that his love for him is a different kind of love without worrying about Dean being confused about his meaning when he’s already gone. Sorry I’m trying to figure out how to word this.

An example for clarification: A tells B they love them, but then they leave/die/whatever, and without clarification B might assume that it was a familial/platonic love - like saying you love your parent/sibling/friend. However, if A prefaced with a confirmation of familial love to B and then confessed their love for B, there is a better chance for understanding.

And from the way we see Dean shut down after the Empty takes Cas and Billie, completely ignoring Sam’s calls (which, after what he just learned from Billie as well as knowing Sam is in pain from losing Eileen - and everyone - is abnormal) in addition to not really moving from where he was thrown and burying his face - while SOBBING - I think it’s safe to assume he understood Cas’ confession as something more than family. Like, we’ve seen them ‘lose’ Cas before and Dean wasn’t as broken up about it as he was this time. Sure he was angry, but he’s always angry - but this time he isn’t angry.

Additionally, Dean didn’t outright reject Cas. He said “Don’t do this, Cas.” Which could easily be interpreted as ‘how fucking dare you confess to me when you’re about to die, thus immediately breaking my heart’ - which, if you’re really reaching for straws, could be a ‘wow, so my feelings would’ve been reciprocated if I actually had the balls to confess - not that it matters because apparently if I did confess you’d literally be so happy you would die.’ Ultimately, it’s a lose-lose-lose situation.

To add on to Sam’s phone call, when we see him hang up after leaving the silo we could assume he first tried calling Cas and then called Dean meaning that since Cas was taken, Dean sat there disassociating and trying to figure out wtf just happened when Sam snapped him back to reality - thus interrupting his compartmentalizing and forcing him to feel, because Dean hates feelings.

And yeah, the whole ‘Bury your Gays’ trope is shitty, but this is Supernatural: a horror-drama tv show where People Die and unfortunately, because most of the characters that die are side characters, the queers die mostly because they’re side characters and side characters are expendable. It fucking sucks, especially now that they are using LGBTQIA+ to boost their views at the END OF THE SERIES. Honestly, would be more acceptable to have it be a thing a few seasons ago, but they also have to work with the actors to even produce the show - and if the staring actor isn’t comfortable with certain themes, they can’t really force him without the show crashing and burning - which, in good old capitalism, a little homophobia to conserve their money-maker is normal. I don’t even know where I’m going with this.

Luckily, this is Supernatural, and Supernatural doesn’t like leaving people dead - even at the end of the series. There are a few possible endings they could go with, but through speculation there could be more without noticing.

A) Chuck taunts the brothers, probably tortures them more just ‘cause, before simply ending everything.

B) Amara somehow takes over Chuck - or they properly combine and suddenly remember why they made everything.

C) The boys give up and accept their fate.

D) The boys don’t give up and go out fighting.

E) Somehow they negotiate with Chuck and exchange themselves for everyone else.

F) Chuck hits the reset button, and this time he’ll make the boys more controllable.

G) The boys kill Chuck, but in the sudden power imbalance, the universe eliminates all supernatural beings and just create a mundane world - whether the boys are part of the world or not is up in the air.

H) Everyone is in the Empty now cause there’s no place left to exist but the Empty - since for some reason the Empty is more limbo than purgatory, but it makes sense.

I) The Empty is piiiiiissssssssed that Chuck suddenly made everything stop existing and then eats Chuck because Chuck will be loud making new things - or because Chuck will be a threat to the Empty... or he just wont let the Empty sleep. God what even is the Empty? Like, really, shouldn’t they be all-powerful - moreso than Chuck - since, without God there is nothing and without anything existing wouldn’t everything/nothing be Empty?

J) Empty eats Chuck 2020 - and the show ends just like that.

K) Chuck, to prevent being eaten by the Empty, brings everything back to put some cushion between him and the Empty - or gets the boys to kill the Empty in exchange for their world back sans God. (Their own little playpen that they can do whatever they want with.)

L) Dean kills Chuck with Death’s Scythe.

M) Sam and Dean somehow kill Chuck and in the power imbalance, replace him. (I’ve had this theory - unspoken though - before where Dean becomes head honcho in Heaven or Hell and Sam takes the other spot, no luck on this one yet.)

Either way, two episodes left to find out what the fuck is going on.

Next episode will be dramatic and sad as Sam, Dean and Jack reconvene - probably with Sam and Jack stopping Dean from giving up. Also, Jack will probably get dusted too - I’m surprised he didn’t go at the end there.

HONESTLY by the title of the episode, I think option K if more likely... but Chuck will probably be like... yeah here take it idgaf anymore. The road home will be very epilogue-y with flashbacks and shit to tie everything up and be all ‘They lived happily ever after.’

I don’t even know anymore... why can I write this much over a stupid show but not for like... a book or something.

#wtf #spn #theories #review #destiel #i guess #what is wrong with me #imagine writing 1.5k words #about a show that's about to end #feel free to interact

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slytherpuff9 · 5 years

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Things I Cannot And Will Not Believe Anymore

1.People are inherently evil.

2.People deserve the apocalypse/hell.

3. Women are responsible for the sexual impulses of men/can control the sexual impulses of men.

4. Men deserve authority over women.

5. Doubt is the devil using my spiritual gifts against me.

6.I owe sex to my husband/other forms of submission or obedience to my husband.

7. LGBTQIA+ are confused/evil/led astray -- their orientation/identification is wrong or invalid and forcing them to change/deny this about themselves will be good for them.

8. Women should not be in positions of leadership/roles that are considered to be traditionally masculine. Certainly not over men.

9. Jesus is the only absolution you need for sins that hurt other people.

10. Self-worth is pride/arrogance/vanity.

11. Religious values should dictate secular laws/civil rights.

12. Intimacy (psychological OR physical) that I share with men I love before I meet/marry my husband cheats my husband out of elements of my sexuality/liberties upon my body to which he is entitled.

13. Mental illness is merely a soul crying out for God and professional help is a scam to steal your money and lead you away from God.

14. People in unfortunate situations must have done something to deserve it/bring it upon themselves.

15. Women who have abortions want to kill their babies/hate children/are cruel and callous and loose/would choose murder over living with consequences of their presumed promiscuous lifestyle/believe abortion is the only form of birth control.

16. Men cannot and should not be expected to control their sexual impulses toward others on their own. (see #3)

17. Evidence supporting scientific/medical/psychological advancements that clash with a literal interpretation of the biblical account should be ignored, boycotted, banned, and impeded or even outlawed.

18. Sexual confidence (real or perceived) cheapens one’s worth as a person or invalidates one’s spirituality.

19. Teens cannot be trusted with an actual education in safe sex. In fact, I should deliberately mislead my daughter about birth control until FOUR MONTHS BEFORE HER WEDDING. There’s no way that could backfire spectacularly, cause damage to her health, her marriage, or even my ambitions to have grandchildren one day. (NOT ON YOUR LIFE, NOT FOR MANY, MANY YEARS!!!)

20. People who are not “with” me -- who believe what I do without question -- are “against” me -- militantly attacking me personally. The people “out there” are out to get me. They want to tear down my faith and send me and my children to hell.

21. Teens and unmarried women cannot be trusted with freely available contraception. If we make contraception available, they will do ALL the sex! O.O *gasp! horror! clutches pearls!*

22. It is okay and an expression of Christ-like love to demand that other people forsake their lifestyle, religion, and worldview, but feel personally persecuted and threatened when they question mine.

23. Teens cannot be trusted.

24. Women cannot be trusted.

25. Men cannot be trusted.

26. Doubt is selfish/dangerous/a slippery slope and means I’m not really sincere in my faith, or my faith is weak, or can grieve the Holy Spirit and take away my faith completely.

27. The Bible can and should be used to enforce anti-immigration policy. (see #11)

28. The Bible can and should be used to shame/denigrate victims of police brutality.

29. Unfortunate accidents/hardships that happen to me or my family can and should be seen as signs that God is punishing or testing me.

30. Disobedience -- even psychological disobedience (i.e. skepticism) -- casts into question or completely invalidates my morality.

31. It is okay to rail against affordable healthcare, actively impede it in the polls, then slander health organizations like Planned Parenthood and shame those who accept their help ... all without providing a viable alternative but claiming that the church can do it better.

32. “You just need to have faith”, “It’s a mystery”, “That’s a good/hard question, I’ll get back to you” (but he never DID), or “That’s the Old Testament Law, Jesus freed us from that” (when so many other O.T. laws are quoted and used to define sin, just sayin’ ...) are ACCEPTABLE and SATISFACTORY answers to questions about the 100% literal, true, God-breathed verses explicitly prescribing stoning or marrying rape survivors to their rapists ...

10/10 FELT SO SAFE AS A TEENAGE AND YOUNG ADULT CHRISTIAN WOMAN!

33. People who reject the evangelical message are just butt-hurt, pouty, selfish, petulant liberals who don’t want to face hard truths.

34. People who believe differently or celebrate different religious holidays in winter should be forced to use my seasonal religious greeting and failure to do so indicates a vitriolic antagonism to everything I stand for. But it is unreasonable to expect me to extend the same consideration to them.

35. It is okay to deny/limit/discourage my child’s access to the level of education required to succeed in the world we live in (even with the caveat that it clashes with my beliefs/worldview and I believe it to be false) because I do not trust my child to discern my interpretation of the Bible in the face of a single chapter in their no doubt riveting 10th grade biology textbook. I’m sure they’ll just breeze through that in college.

36. Children are also not to be trusted with intellectual/psychological/spiritual autonomy.

37. Not a single word of this book could possibly have been mistranslated, misinterpreted, metaphorical, made obsolete with time, or simply penned by a woefully misguided human being. (see #32)

38. If I open my mind enough to really understand the person I am trying to reach, my brain will fall out.

39. To seriously question these things is to deny my faith/attack that of others.

40. It is okay to train a child to be a soldier in my culture war.

41. It’s okay -- virtuous and caring, even -- to tell someone who is struggling or grieving that this life is meant to be a trial and their lot will improve drastically after they die.

42. There was a point in human history when water covered Everest by 22 feet of water, and scientists are actively hiding the geological evidence because they are in league with Satan and want me to go to hell.

43. Obedience = protection. “If you just follow God’s plan, nothing bad will ever happen to you.” The Bible is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth and if you just do what it says, you’ll live a long and successful and fulfilling life.

44. Bad things happen to good people because omniscient God has reason to question/test their devotion. They are just being petulant or are deluded about their secret sin/doubt/disobedience, and if they search themslves and the Bible, they will see that God is well within His rights to hurt their families/hurt them/cause this hardship. (see #1,2,5,10,14,18,20,26,29,30)

45. It is okay -- advisable, even -- to tell someone who is struggling that they are being prideful/sinful/selfish, and they need to “die to self”. That can in no way be interpreted as a message of “just get over yourself or die already.”

46. In fact, just the whole ANY death imagery should be considered kind and appropriate dialogue with a human being who might be thinking of suicide. They should just know that isn’t what I mean at this turbulent point in their life. I have no responsibility to consider any other interpretation of my words or the biblical jargon/verses I use. I have no responsibility to examine what those words/jargon/verses really even say.

47. A survivor of abuse or assault has a civic duty to come forward to keep me and my daughters/children safe, but I have NO civic duty to believe/accept their account if:

a. I know the perpetrator.

b. They know the perpetrator.

c. They wear clothes I disapprove of.

d. It’s been a certain period of time.

e. They behave in a way that I disapprove of.

f. They are “sex-crazed/rebellious” teenagers or unmarried young adults.

g. The perpetrator is a public figure I approve of.

h. They “allowed” themselves to be alone with the perpetrator/somehow “put themselves” in this situation.

i. They continued a relationship with the perpetrator.

j. They are married/related to the perpetrator.

k. I am THE authority on what is abuse/assault, and believe their account does not qualify.

48. Not only do I NOT have a civic duty to believe/accept the accounts of abuse/assault survivors, I have the right to slander them publicly when I don’t. To shame them. To question the veracity of their account in the same breath that I demand why they didn’t jump at the chance to defend the women I actually care about in the wake of their trauma. They are the problem here.

49. It is impossible to have a fulfilling spiritual experience/personal contentment in life if I do not believe all of the things on this list.

50. It is certainly impossible to have a fulfilling spiritual experience/relationship with compassionate and unconditionally loving Christ if I do not believe all of the things on this list.

51. I have a spiritual and civic duty to force society worldwide to conform to my specific beliefs. (see #11)

52. It is okay to tell an underage girl that her clothing is distracting grown men in the congregation, but NOT tell the grown men in the congregation presumably raising these complaints that their “distracting” sexual thoughts are predatory and constitute pedophilia, or even incest in some cases. Similarly, it is okay to tell these girls that their clothing is distracting boys their age, but NOT tell these boys that their “distracting” sexual thoughts are predatory and sexually objectifying their sisters in Christ. It is okay to put the onus of males’ sexual sin/distraction on underage girls who presumably have better things to do (like stress about their skirt and posture and bra straps) than listen to the sermon the men are blissfully enjoying.That isn’t at all distracting or distressing to the underage girls, who need the message ... less?

Will add more as they occur to me. If you feel personally attacked by any of these things I no longer believe, please know that was not my intention, but perhaps you ought to bring that to God and find out why it is so offensive to you that I do not believe it. I was taught all of these “values” in a church by wonderful people who know not what their doctrine really says to the children they are raising and the people they are trying to reach.

#exvangelical #exfundie #statement of disbelief

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brittanyyoungblog · 4 years

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Take Control of Your Sexual Health with an STD Check

**Note: This post is sponsored by STDcheck.com

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a significant public health concern, with cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia recently reaching a record high in the United States. There is much work to be done in terms of combatting the high prevalence of STIs, and improving sex education is certainly one important avenue. However, it’s also vital that we reduce barriers to STI testing in order to ensure that infections are detected and treated earlier.

Many people at risk for STIs fail to get screened for them, and there are numerous reasons for this, including issues with access to care. However, a significant obstacle to widespread STI testing is the fact that shame, fear, and embarrassment hold many people back from getting tested in the first place.

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The fact that people feel this way isn’t surprising, especially in light of research finding that, even among some healthcare professionals, it is common for people to pass judgment on those who contract STIs—and they judge them more harshly than people who contract non-sexual infections [3].

So how can we encourage more people to get tested, especially those who feel a lot of shame, embarrassment, and anxiety around getting screened in the first place? Enter STDcheck.com, a service designed to help combat these concerns.

STDcheck.com provides a confidential testing process that can that addresses many of the most common concerns people have about getting tested. For example, some people are not comfortable talking to their primary care providers about sexual matters and/or are afraid of being judged by their doctor, some are worried about having STI testing on their medical records, and some are concerned about positive results increasing their insurance rates. For people with these concerns, seeking care through a private, confidential service may help put their mind at ease.

Likewise, you don’t need to show an ID when you go in for testing (you simply show a code that you receive via email instead) and test results are accessed online rather than someone calling and/or leaving a voicemail.

The way it works is that you order your desired STI test package online, visit one of their testing sites for a 5-minute urine and blood test, and receive your results in 1-2 business days. Tests cover the most common STIs, including HIV, herpes, hepatitis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.

The results come back faster than they might otherwise would if you went to an STD clinic, where it can sometimes take up to a week to find out. In this way, it also reduces the anxiety associated with a long waiting period.

In the event of a positive result, physician consultation and treatment is provided.

One limitation to this service is that swab testing is not performed, so if you want or need oral and/or rectal swab tests to screen for possible infections in those sites, you would need to visit your doctor or an STI clinic.

Also, there is an out-of-pocket cost associated with utilizing this service, so it’s not going to be in everyone’s budget—but for those on the lookout for confidential and quick results, it’s an option that is definitely worth considering. To learn more, check out their website here.

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[1] Morris, J. L., Lippman, S. A., Philip, S., Bernstein, K., Neilands, T. B., & Lightfoot, M. (2014). Sexually transmitted infection related stigma and shame among African American male youth: implications for testing practices, partner notification, and treatment. AIDS patient care and STDs, 28(9), 499-506.

[2] Stall, R., Hoff, C., Coates, T.J., Paul, J., Phillips, K.A., Ekstrand, M., ... & Diaz, R. (1996). Decisions to get HIV tested and to accept antiretroviral therapies among gay/bisexual men: Implications for secondary prevention efforts. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 11, 151-16.

[3] Klein, V., Brunner, F., Grabowski, M., & Turner, D. (2020). Stigma Surrounding Sexually Transmitted Infections among Medical Students in Germany. The Journal of Sex Research, 1-8.

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