#spectrum public access

[lizzozzil]

🔴LIVE: SPECTRUM PUBLIC ACCESS

This 24hr live stream celebrates the weird and wonderful creativity of the autism and neurodivergent community, showcasing innovative films, video art, and stories by neurodivergent filmmakers.

The stream encapsulates 15+ years of creations from Spectrum Productions, featuring the work of over 150 different autistic and neurodivergent artists.

Want your work to be featured on a future stream? Check out the link in the stream description. No idea is too small!

Thanks for watching and keep being creative! :D

[antiterf]

Its kind of ridiculous how difficult it is to find critical intersex literature if you don't know where to look.

That said, here are frequently cited things I've found. For the one's that are behind paywalls, I have a Google Drive folder set up to hold them for access. The only things I leave behind a paywall are books by individual authors. They are not organized at all, I'm sorry.

Intersex Variations Glossary by InterACT

Narrative Symposium: Intersex—Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics (NIB) Volume 5, Number 2, Summer 2015.— Trigger warning for intersex genital mutilation (IGM), sexual assault, and medical trauma—it's honestly a lot but incredibly important. (Drive)

A human rights investigation into the medical "normalization" of intersex people - A report of a public hearing by the Human Rights Commission of the City & County of San Francisco

Surgical Progress Is Not the Answer to Intersexuality - Cheryl Chase. - TW for IGM and images of genitalia (Drive)

The Intersex Roadshow, a blog of Dr. Cary Gabriel Costello - Costello is an intersex trans man and tries to bridge the gap between trans and intersex issues

Beyond Binary Sex and Gender Ideology - Cary Grabriel Costello - Chapter 12 of The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Body and Embodiment (Drive)

Transgender and intersex: theoretical, practical, and artistic perspectives (book/textbook) (Drive)

Intersex: Stories and Statistics from Australia (Book) (Open Access)

Fixing sex: intersex, medical authority, and lived experience (Book)

The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment (Open Access Article)

Intersex: cultural and social perspectives (Open Access Article)

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) - Technical Note on the Human Rights of Intersex People. Basically, if you want an easy way to say that doctors are going against human rights by performing IGM.

An experimental philosophical bioethical study of how human rights are applied to clitorectomy on infants identified as female and as intersex (Open Access Article) - People were more likely to support the same surgery on infants labeled as intersex than they were on infants labeled as female.

Caught in the Gender Binary Blind Spot: Intersex Erasure in Cisgender Rhetoric by Hida Viloria - About how cisgender often doesn't accurately express the experiences intersex people have. Costello, mentioned earlier with Intersex Roadshow, coined Ipsogender for this reason.

Introduction for Intersex Activism - A guide for allies

Sex, Science, and Society: Reckonings and Responsibilities for Biologists (Open Access Article)

Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis by Georgiann Davis - TW for medical trauma

Spectacles and Scholarship: Caster Semenya, Intersex Studies, and the Problem of Race in Feminist Theory by Zine Magubane (Drive)

Owning Endosex Privilege and Supporting the Intersex Community: WPATH, Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM), and Sex Variant Bodies by Margo Schulter

The Spectrum of Sex by Hida Viloria and Dr. Maria Nieto

A long way to go for LGBTI equality from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights - Before the UK left the EU

If anyone wants to add, feel free! This was the non-medicalized stuff I had saved in Zotero, and definitely not all that's out there.

[schraubd]

Fine Art is Ridiculously Cheap/Expensive

Over the past year or so, I've developed a new passion and hobby in collecting art. I deeply resent this, since it flies in the face of one my cardinal life rules I've abided by for as long as I can remember: do not develop expensive tastes. And fine art is an expensive hobby. Or is it? Well, yes, in many ways. But in other ways, it's ludicrously cheap. Let me explain. First of all, I'm not talking about the headline-making auction prices of masterworks that involve more money than some countries' GDP. Robert Rauschenberg's "Buffalo II" silkscreen painting, for instance, auctioned for $88.1 million dollars in 2019. That is expensive under any definition. It's also functionally irrelevant to my life. Go down to the other end of the spectrum. If I want to buy a decent-sized painting from an "emerging" artist -- a term that generally encompasses artists who have gallery representation but are at an early career stage, aren't in any museums or public collections, and haven't otherwise made any major "mark" in the art world -- it generally will cost in the low four-figures. That is expensive. It is a price I have paid for things, but it immediately becomes one of if not the most expensive thing in my house that I can physically lift with my own hands. At that price, there's not a lot of room for dabbling or experimenting or dilettantism. If I buy it, it better be something that I want on my wall for at least a decade. And again, that's entry-level. What happens if you want to move up in the world? Well, here's where the "ludicrously cheap" comes into play. Because you can absolutely get a Robert Rauschenberg print -- not a reproduction, a genuine, vetted, real-deal limited editioned Rauschenberg -- in that same price range. Earlier this year, Christie's auctioned a numbered Rauschenberg lithograph (edition of 31) from 1969 titled "Gulf" for $2,142. That is not cheap. But that is a price a normal human could imagine paying for something. My wife and I are financially doing reasonably well, but we are by no means 1-percenters. We couldn't toss out two grand on a lark. But could we do it periodically, for something we really loved? Yes, absolutely. And Rauschenberg is an indisputable A-tier artist. What happens if you go the next step down? This is a woodcut by Werner Drewes, titled "Goddess of the Night": It was executed in 1961 as an edition of 10; one of those editions is in the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. Drewes himself is no small figure: he is credited with bringing the Bauhaus movement to America, and he coined the phrase "It Can't Happen Here" as the title of a 1934 portfolio of works critiquing the rise of fascist repression in his native Germany (Sinclair Lewis would use it a year later for the title of his famous book). "Goddess of the Night" recently auctioned for $924. Two other Drewes woodcuts sold together as a lot at that same auction for $826. There's just something about that particular price range that I can't wrap my head around. It is simultaneously so expensive, and so accessible. It's so expensive in the sense that it is a figure that I would need to think about, and I'm far more financially secure than the vast majority of Americans. It's so cheap in the sense that it's a figure I can feasibly pay, which feels absurd to me when we're talking about historically significant artists whose works are in major museums. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/uEe2hBC

[jayz4dayz]

Lapidot headcanons because I love and miss them:

Peridot loves telling Lapis about complex mathematical equations or facts about space and Lapis just grins and hopes Peridot can't tell she doesn't know what tf she's talking about

After the tragic death of Pumpkin, they raise a family of squash and gourds that Steven brought to life for them

Neither are big on public displays of affection, but when it's just the two of them at the barn, they're never not touching each other

Both are autistic AF, but on completely opposite ends of the spectrum and often clash with each other's traits

Lapis enjoys sleeping from time to time and whenever she does, Peridot doesn't leave her side until she wakes up

You would think that Lapis is the big spoon ... That is incorrect. (Although Peridot occasionally insists to be the little spoon and her Lapis will gladly oblige)

Neither eat food except for Lapis when Steven comes over with lunch

When they aren't with each other, Peridot is usually hanging out with Amethyst and Bismuth, and Lapis is either getting alone time or she's with Steven or Pearl

Peridot hates her hair being messed with and immediately fixes it if it becomes disheveled (Lapis knows this and messes up Peri's hair any chance she can get just to hear her make angry gremlin noises)

Lapis "I woke up like this" Lazuli couldn't care less about how her hair looks (because it changes every episode fjemrnwkf) but only allows Peridot to touch it

Amethyst introduced them to cannabis consumption and although Peridot refuses to indulge in it, Lapis absolutely has a bong in the upper loft of the barn that she uses to calm herself when the PTSD attacks are especially bad

Lapis goes through periods where she doesn't want to be touched by anyone, including Peridot, but will always compromise with holding hands or sitting close to her depending on the day

Kissing is a very new thing for them both, since they witnessed Ruby and Sapphire do it at their wedding and on other occasions and wanted to give it a try for themselves. At first they're a little awkward about it, but they get the hang of it after a while and really start to enjoy it

Lapis asked Bismuth to make Peridot a special helmet that can be worn at all times because she was worried that Peridot would crack her gem with how much her clumsy ass constantly trips and falls on her face, but Peridot hates wearing it, especially if the other crystal gems are around, and compromises to only wear it in battle or training since it actually does provide adequate protection

Peridot wears boxer briefs and lame gamer boy graphic T-shirts, Lapis wears pajama bottoms and steals said lame gamer boy graphic T-shirts when Peridot isn't using them

Lapis swears like a sailor whereas Peridot is only legally allowed to say "CLOD!" And "DIRT BOMB!"

Every once in a while, they'll make each other Meep-Morp when the other is sad or had a bad day

When Peridot doesn't have access to metal so she can levitate, Lapis will carry her like a back pack or hug her close to her body like she's protecting a fine loaf of bread

Sometimes Lapis will leave little love notes on Peridot's tape recorder between log dates

After taking advice and lessons from Steven, Peridot becomes a master of healthy coping mechanisms and helps Lapis through her hard PTSD days

Peridot never lies or withholds information again after Lapis took the barn to the moon because she knows her lack of communication drove Lapis away and doesn't want to lose her a second time around

Garnet often invites Peridot and Lapis for double dates and will unfuse so Ruby and Peridot can geek out together over the reboot of Camp Pining Hearts: Wild West! while their blue gfs (wives) quietly and happily tune in

That's all I got for now! Let me know what y'all think and if I should continue this or make a similar post for the other gems :)

[morethanonepage]

all three of those channels are cable, not broadcast anything, so they wouldn't be affected either way 🤷🏻‍♀️

Reintroducing a fairness doctrine would end FOX News. It would barely change CNN or MSNBC.

[fic--writer]

The archmage must get married

Rolan x fem!Tav, Lia, Cal.

1780 words. Humor, romance, idiots in love, SFW, Post-canon

Rolan and Tav are secretly in love with each other, but neither of them dares to make the first move. However, the circumstances are changing.

"Rolan! You have to get married!" — Lia blurted this out right at breakfast.

Rolan froze with his glass in hand, then sharply turned to his sister, staring intently at her tired, yet extremely serious face.

"I have to... what?" — he asked, not believing his ears.

"Get married! You're an archmage now. You have status, and you're in the public eye. Damn journalists found out you're single and wrote that ridiculous article, and..."

Rolan frowned and took a sip of wine.

"What article?" — he asked cautiously.

A laugh came from the other side of the table. His brother, Cal, quoted from memory:

"'The new Archmage has been named the sexiest bachelor of Baldur's Gate.'"

Rolan choked.

"Zurgan!" — he gasped, coughing. "Maybe you both could finally start reading something more respectable than tabloid trash? Just think about it! You live in a tower with one of the rarest libraries, have access to any books, and instead…"

Lia interrupted his tirade, gesturing irritably with her hands: "It's not about that! The problem is your new admirers, who are becoming more and more persistent every day! Hundreds of letters, all smelling of perfume, and often cheap ones at that... I have to manually sift through the important correspondence, and yesterday I spent an entire hour explaining to one pushy woman that you don’t see visitors without an appointment!”

She shook her head and, crossing her arms over her chest, stared at him intently:

“Rolan, you're a grown man. You have a huge tower, a position, work... It’s really time for you to settle down."

Rolan sighed in resignation:

"Fine, I'll think about it, but only if it makes you shut up."

"Think about it? As if we don’t all know who 'exactly' will be your sweet little wife," - Cal chimed in, and he and Lia both started giggling.

"What?!"

"Oh, come on," - Cal smirked. - "You're too obvious. Even if you think you're hiding it well."

"What. Do. You. Mean?" - Rolan narrowed his eyes, his voice dropping dangerously low, and why did these troglodytes always manage to get under his skin...

"What do I mean?" — Cal chuckled, making faces and mimicking his brother. — "Tav, shall I pour you some wine? Tav, want to read together? Tav, will you have dinner with us? Tav..."

"Hush you!" — Rolan barked, feeling the heat rush to his face. — "She’s my friend, not my damn girlfriend!"

Cal just smirked and shook his head.

Of course, Rolan felt a whole spectrum of emotions toward Tav. How could he not? She saved his red hide from certain death, she saved his family, she helped him become an archmage, and even saved this damned world.

And she was damned beautiful. But did he have the right to want more? To demand her — all of her, without reservation?

"Well, it's your call, but decide soon before your fans start storming the tower or slipping love potions into your food."

Lia cast a glance at his plate.

"By the way... where did that pastry come from?"

Rolan froze. Then, slowly, he lowered his gaze to the dessert in his hands. The next second, he violently shoved it aside, desperately spitting out the remains.

Tav stepped into the Archmage's tower and found Lia, deeply focused as she sorted through some papers. Over the past few months, Rolan’s sister had essentially become his personal secretary, keeping order in the endless stream of work.

Tav’s attention was drawn to a tall stack of letters, many of them pink.

She frowned, grabbed one of the letters, and flipped it over in her hands. On the envelope, oh gods, there were... little hearts?! And in the recipient field, none other than Archmage Rolan was listed.

"What... is this?" — Tav asked, concern evident in her voice as she shook the letter in her hand.

"Oh, these?" Lia replied, not looking up. "Love letters. From women... and not just them. They all dream of being the companion of a man of status..."

"Oh? Ooo... Oh." — Tav could barely manage to squeeze out, her mind racing.

Almost with disgust, she shoved the letter back into the pile, her eyes darting nervously.

"Tav? Are you okay?"

"Me? Uh... yeah... no..." — she swallowed nervously. — "I think I’m a little... sick."

Lia narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Tav looked the same as always, no signs of illness. Shrugging, Lia sighed and returned to her work.

Tav, not saying another word, stretched out her hand. One quick incantation — and from her finger erupted a narrow pillar of flame, instantly turning the letters into a handful of ashes.

Lia swore, jumping back:

"What the hell are you doing!?"

"Oh, that was totally an accident! I don’t know..." — Tav desperately tried to put on an innocent face.

Lia raised an eyebrow, her gaze sharp with suspicion.

"Really? You don’t know? One of the most powerful sorceresses in the city ‘accidentally’ casts a spell?" — She wasn’t buying this nonsense.

“When I’m sick, I… I’m not myself!” — Tav blurted out, taking a step back.

Lia opened her mouth to respond, but just then, the door slammed open, and a stranger burst into the room.

A young woman, dressed in tight clothing that emphasized her very noticeable curves, smiled as she entered:

"Hi! I want to become the Archmage’s apprentice... I want to learn magic from him."

Tav slowly shifted her gaze to Lia.

Lia slowly shifted her gaze to Tav.

Tav narrowed her eyes, giving the young woman a thorough once-over. Before Lia had a chance to respond, Tav stepped forward and calmly said:

"Really? Then show me the simplest spells you already know. Please."

"Show you? Oh. Well, I need to get in the right mindset..." — The stranger blinked in confusion, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

There’s no magic in her at all, Tav realized, and continued:

"You know what?" — she suggested with a tight smile. — "It would be best if you wrote a letter to the Archmage."

"Really?" — The girl brightened, her eyes sparkling with hope.

"Really," Tav confirmed, barely holding back a sly smirk. — "He will definitely respond."

Satisfied, the girl nodded, apologized, and quickly hurried off.

Lia watched the girl leave, then slowly turned to Tav, her mouth slightly open, clearly about to ask a million questions.

But as soon as their eyes met, all the words got stuck in her throat. Tav's gaze clearly said: "Not a word more."

Lia sighed heavily and returned to her papers. Another day in the Archmage's tower was shaping up to be exceptionally long.

When Rolan entered the reception room, the first thing that caught his eye was the blackened scorch mark on the table.

"Zurgan! This is a red oak table! Who the hell did this?!" — He froze, then his tail flicked irritably.

"It was Tav," — Lia said flatly, not even bothering to look up from her papers.

Tav, standing off to the side, nervously cleared her throat.

Rolan blinked, finally noticing her:

"Oh, Tav? Hey... How are you? I mean... why my table?" — He ran a hand over his face, exhaling heavily. — "Alright, never mind."

The Archmage's anger noticeably subsided, and taking advantage of the moment, Lia lazily added:

"Oh, and she just kicked one of your potential apprentices out the door..."

Rolan slowly turned his head toward Tav.

Tav greeted him with a flawless, innocent smile.

Lia smirked and flipped the page of her papers.

Tav’s cheeks instantly turned crimson, and she hissed at Lia:

"Can you be quiet for just one second?!"

But it was too late.

Rolan crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her intently.

"You did what?"

Tav straightened up, trying to look confident.

"The cat at the fish stall has more magic flowing through it than that girl," — she countered. — "I just made your job easier."

"But you didn’t even let me take a look, you didn’t even tell me! Why?!"

Tav opened her mouth... and immediately realized she had no coherent explanation. She began stammering, stumbling over her words, cursing herself for not being able to just fall straight into hell right now.

Rolan, not waiting for an answer, let out a heavy sigh, grabbed her by the wrist, and decisively dragged her toward his office.

The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Lia alone.

She smirked, gave a satisfied hum, and walked off.

“Finally”.

"What the hell is going on, Tav?!" — Rolan stormed into the office, his voice echoing through the room. — "First you scorch my table, then you make decisions for me! Has a worm eaten your brain?"

Tav, without taking her eyes off his face, replied, trying not to let her irritation show:

"I told you, there’s no magic in that girl. She just came to show off in front of you. You wouldn’t have taught her anyway, so why waste time?"

"Really?" — His voice turned mockingly amused. — "Then why didn’t you even let me take a look? Why didn’t you let me make the decision myself? Do you think I can’t do anything right?!"

"Do you really have to talk to me like that? Did I step on your tail or something?" — Tav took a defensive stance.

Rolan froze, staring at her face… and suddenly his smirk became almost devilish:

“Wait, what? Are you jealous?”

Tav quickly turned away, pretending that something interesting was happening outside the window, but her flushed cheeks gave it all away.

“Oh, I always knew there had to be some special reason for you to save me and my family so many times…” — he continued, stepping closer — “But I never could have imagined…”

Tav had no time to answer. Driven by something inexplicable, the Archmage scooped her up in his arms, sat her down on the table almost effortlessly, and placed himself between her legs.

Tav gasped, but made no protest. On the contrary, she grabbed his collar and pulled him closer...

Cal, as usual, entered the Archmage’s office without knocking:

"Rolan, what do you want for dinner? Oh! Sorry... uh... I didn't see anything, go ahead."

He took a few steps back and slammed the door shut with a resounding thud. A moment of silence, as if he wanted to forget what he had just seen, and Cal was already on his way to his sister:

"Lia! You won’t believe it! I think we can start preparations for the wedding!"

Lia simply raised an eyebrow:

"Relax, I started a month ago."

.

.

.

Read the NSFW follow up of the fic by wonderful @kimberbohwrites

[redfoxwritesstuff]

Why Is Misdemeanor Of the Heart's Reader...

White Coded?

Yep, I said it. Come, take a seat and get cozy in the Fox Den while Mamma Kit answers some questions.

CW: Discussions of race and racism in a historical context and me being a wordy ass bitch

I've seen some discourse around Human!Alastor readers and writers and have gotten some of these questions myself over the last few months.

Firstly- I am white. I'm so fucking white that I use SPF 100 sunscreen. I grew up in Alaska. The history I learned growing up wasn't African American history; it was Alaska Native history. I didn’t learn about how we fucked over African American people in America’s early history. Instead, I learned how we fucked over the villages of the land I was raised on.

Why does this matter? The current accepted fanon for Alastor's human life is that he was a Black or mixed-race radio host who died in 1933 and reached his mid to late 30s or 40s. We know he had a successful career and was also a serial killer. He favored jazz, and rye is his drink of choice. He exists somewhere on the ace spectrum.

Time for a little math. Let's go with the middle ground—he was 40 in 1933. That means he would have been born around 1893. Let’s assume his mother was 25 when he was born. She would have been born in 1868. Using the same age for her mother, Alastor's grandmother would have been born in 1843. Remember this—it’ll matter in a minute.

For MisD and all of my human Alastor writing, as well as the works of many other human Alastor writers, we approach Alastor's life through a historical lens. I, like many others, enjoy exploring a time period rich with change—dynamic and vibrant with energy, money, and hope.

What does this mean? This means Alastor would have faced significant amounts of racism. Being Black, mixed-race, or how well he could pass as white would all drastically impact his life. It affected what opportunities he had, the education he received, and how laws were applied to him.

Ready for a history lesson? The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It declared all enslaved people in rebellious areas of the United States to be free. Alastor's grandmother—based on the ages we used earlier—would have been a 20-year-old woman at that time.

Alastor would have been raised by a first-generation free woman. He likely wouldn’t have had access to public education, instead being taught in group homeschool-like sessions by those who had learned to read and write.

If he was mixed-race, he would have faced significant discrimination from all of society.

The Civil Rights Movement in the USA didn’t begin until the mid-1950s—a full twenty years after his death.

The reality is that we don’t know a lot about the Black experience during the early to mid-1900s. Much of this history wasn’t recorded by (white) historians. Instead, it was passed down through stories from parents to children, and so on. Only now are we starting to uncover and listen to the histories, stories, and experiences of Black Americans during this time period.

Remember how I mentioned at the start that I’m white as fuck? I don’t have grandparents I can go to and ask about the Black experience when they were children. First—my grandparents are all dead, and second—they were somehow whiter than I am. Their perspective wouldn’t help me because it isn’t my family’s story to tell.

What I can do is look at what we do know, listen to the voices of Black Americans who are finally being allowed to share their stories, and reflect that in my version of human Alastor. I can spend the time to research and learn. For instance, Alastor would have been ahead of his time—the first Black radio host was in 1929, a man named Jack L. Cooper from Chicago. He hosted the first Black-produced weekly variety show and showcased Black entertainers.

I can listen to stories of how mixed-race men were afforded the privilege of their lighter skin as long as they were useful to their white employers, only to be scapegoated the second anything went wrong. I do my best to reflect these stories in Human!Alastor's experiences and behaviors.

Why A White Coded Reader? I cannot even begin to hope to understand the Black American experience as it is now, let alone how it was in 1922, when MisD is set, or in the late 1910s, when my other Human Al fics take place. What I can understand on a deeper level is the white woman's experience, the experience of poverty, the experiences of abused women, and what it’s like to view the Black experience from the outside looking in.

And so that is what I try to highlight with my Human!Alastor fics. Yes, when I’m writing a Human!Alastor fic that deals with racial, class, and social politics as one of the themes to be explored (such as MisD), the reader is coded as white. It is through a white reader that I can have conversations with Alastor about why he feels he has to be perfect, why he straightens his hair, and so on. I cannot do proper justice to these feelings on a deeper level from a Black perspective because I can’t even begin to hope to understand it.

I cannot truly understand what Alastor’s Blackness would mean to him or how he would feel about being mixed. However, I can learn and understand how it impacted his life from the outside looking in. This is what I strive to do—to shed light on what Alastor’s accomplishments would have meant and how much his mistakes would have cost him.

I would love to see more Black writers in the fanfic space, especially within the Human!Alastor space. I would also love to see fewer readers written as blank slates. The Black experience in America and other white-dominated cultures is still not spotlighted often enough, both in present-day and historical settings.

These are stories that need to be told—perspectives that need to be explored, seen, and heard. However, they are not my stories to tell. Personally, until I am far better educated on the matter, I feel it would take away from these stories and be disrespectful to the lives of the very real people who lived them if I were to write from a perspective I cannot hope to understand.

I will continue to strive to write readers as racially neutral as often as the plot allows. However, I also ask that readers respect that, when the plot deals with racial, social, and class divides in a historical setting, if the reader is coming from a place of privilege, their skin tone is often the reason for such privilege.

Of course, I encourage readers to suspend disbelief and insert themselves into the fic regardless of their personal skin tone. I write from a historical setting, but as readers, you can imagine a set of historical laws or circumstances that allow for the same dynamics without requiring a white reader.

Can I do better? Absolutely—we all can. We’re always growing, improving, and learning. I was blessed to be raised in one of the most diverse places in the country (over 45 languages were spoken fluently at my high school). However, since leaving, I’ve struggled with the realities of having that bubble burst—not that Alaska was without racism.

I always welcome respectful discussions about the themes in MisD and all of my fics, as well as the reasons things may be portrayed the way they are. I prefer to write dark content, and with that comes the opportunity to educate and shine a light on topics many people avoid discussing. I simply ask for respect in return for the respect I give.

Much love, Kit

[valleyfthdolls]

Onyx's cringe ass horror recommendations for Halloween: so you like the idea of mascot horror, but most mascot "horror" makes you wanna kill yourself

I personally love the concept of mascot horror, at least in the idea of childish horror, combining childlike and nostalgic things with actual horror, etc. I don't love Garten of BanBan.

So here's some "mascot-esque" horror I think is a good sort of replacement, that utilizes the contrast of cute and childlike vs disturbing without just pretending to as an excuse to open a merch store.

1. Petscop (2017-2019 YouTube series) Basics: A man discovers an old Petscop disc in his mom's house and uploads a series of videos of him playing it to prove to a "friend" that it's real. Not outright scary, but cryptic and eerie. Content warnings: Child abuse and allusions to suicide

2. Shipwrecked 64 (2024 video game) Basics: A cursed "lost N64 game" created by a slighted developer with the intention of exposing the covered-up crimes of the company that commissioned it. One of the most outright scary on the list. Content warnings: Graphic violence, self-hate, self-harm (brought up by ralseibinary because I forgor)

3. Mr. Hopp's Playhouse (2019-2023 video game series) Basics: A girl's dying gift from her grandmother- a creepy toy rabbit named Mr. Hopp- turns out to be housing a demonic entity. Not very scary, but an entertaining game with an interesting story. Content warnings: Emotional abuse against children and implied violence (both in Mr. Hopp's Playhouse 2)

4. The Walten Files (2020-present YouTube series) Basics: A series chronicling the disturbing incidents and supernatural occurences around the now-defunct Bon's Burgers. My personal pick for the scariest on the list. Content warnings: Harm against/death of children, extreme/graphic violence

5. Harmony & Horror (2019-?? YouTube series) Basics: A mad toymaker traps his family inside a series of grotesque living dolls in a search for the perfect toy. A somewhat disturbing and scare-heavy series. Content warnings: Religious/satanic themes, graphic violence, domestic and child abuse

6. The Nursery (2024-present YouTube series) Basics: My own horror series. A girl returns to her hometown years after leaving to investigate the urban legend of "The Thing" and an unidentified Jane Doe. Not so much childlike, at least, not yet, but designed to be Petscop-esque, sort of nostalgic. Content warnings: Implied child abuse and abandonment, graphic violence, harm to and death of small children, religious themes, body dysmorphia

7. Welcome Home (2023 "ARG") Basics: A website detailing the restoration and preservation of the fictitious lost Sesame-Street style show Welcome Home. Not really an ARG. The opposite end of the spectrum from The Nursery, Welcome Home is less horror-based and more rooted in the nostalgic, childish aesthetic. Content warnings: None that I know of

8. Amanda the Adventurer (2023-present video game series) Basics: A Dora-the-Explorer-esque public-access TV series houses at least one demon and the trapped souls of children who have been lured in by the show. Content warnings: Religious/satanic/cult themes, implied harm to/death of small children

9. Choo-Choo Charles (2022 video game) Basics: A giant spider inhabiting a defunct train terrorizes a remote island, and an archivist and monster hunter is tasked with finding the spider's eggs. Different from most mascot horror and basically all horror on this list, but in a way that felt worth honoring with its inclusion. Content warnings: Religious/cult themes, animal death?

Feel free to add in in reblogs!

[lizzozzil]

Written. Directed. Produced. By the Autism Community!

Spectrum Productions is a Canadian non-profit that works with autistic and neurodiverse creatives to tell stories through filmmaking, animation and art!

For Autism Awareness Month, they'll be posting a bunch of short films on YouTube to celebrate!

⭐ Spectrum Productions (@Productionsspectrum): A channel dedicated to summer camp films made within the past 15 years.

🎬 Spectrum Studios (@SpectrumStudios_MTL): A channel dedicated to animations and short films made during yearly programming, as well as movie reviews and interviews with other neurodiverse creatives and community organizations.

[enilehtnorevol]

do you have any recommendations to help improve anatomy skills? i wanna improve but i legit haven’t improved for years and anatomy is my worst enemy 😭 i like art like yours and others and somehow the anatomy always seems so good so i was just wondering if you had any suggestions

i'm trying to figure out how to answer those types of asks for ages because most of my 'anatomy skills' come from observation and there's not much of what i've been actually actively learning i'm sorry 😭

doing studies works great but if you never tried and are not sure where to start find some artists who do them or better artists who explain how to. i wanted to suggest tb choi but she seems to delete everything at least from public access. found cosmic spectrum art on yt, a lot of great stuff, just the kind i'm talking about, but of course you can look for someone else yourself

a book on the topic i would certainly recommend is 'taco - point character drawing' thought everyone most likely know this one already. looks simple and doesn't overwhelm with walls of text and half of the book being dedicated to each separate bone and muscle, but actually very informative (nonetheless having a general understanding of how skeleton looks and works will always be helpful). i can recommend something more advanced if you're interested

and if anyone wants i could probably make some little tutorials like the one with face proportions but i need more specific requests for this

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

life expectancy for individuals with Autism is 16 to 20 years lower than the general population

Hi there,

You are correct about the life expectancy. Mostly due to drowning and other accidents. According to an abstract from the Library of Medicine:

Research has shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher rates of health problems throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and that this may result in elevated risk of early mortality. The present study reported the rate, timing, and causes of death in a large community-based cohort of adolescents and adults with ASD (n = 406) over a 20-year period (1998 – 2018), and identified predictors of mortality. Over this period, 6.4% of individuals died at an average age of 39 years. Causes of death included chronic conditions (such as cancer and heart disease), accidents (such as choking on food and accidental poisoning), and health complications due to medication side effects. Even after controlling for age and health status, significant predictors of mortality were early childhood levels of impairments in social reciprocity and high levels of functional impairments at the start of the study period. The results suggest the importance of social engagement and functional self-sufficiency across the life course, as well as adequate access to health care for individuals with ASD.

Another study reported:

Two recent studies will undoubtedly shock individuals and families affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These studies show a much earlier age of death in those with ASD as compared with the general population.

One study, published in the American Journal of Public Health in April 2017, finds the life expectancy in the United States of those with ASD to be 36 years old as compared to 72 years old for the general population. They note that those with ASD are 40 times more likely to die from various injuries. About 28 percent of those with ASD die of an injury. Most of these are suffocation, asphyxiation, and drowning. The risk of drowning peaks at about 5 to 7 years old. As 50 percent of those with ASD wander, water safety and swim lessons are a must. GPS trackers are also available for purchase should a child wander or get lost. This makes finding the child or adult much easier and faster.

The other study was published by the British Journal of Psychiatry in January 2018. This was a Swedish study showing similar results but elaborating on other causes of death as well. This study showed a life expectancy in those with ASD with a cognitive disability (or a learning disability) at 39.5 years versus 70 years for the general population studied. Those with ASD without a learning disability had an average age of death at about 58 years. The leading causes of death in those with ASD in this large study were heart disease, suicide, and epilepsy. The suicide rate among those with ASD was 9 times higher than the general population. There have only recently been studies showing the increased risk of suicide in those with autism spectrum disorder. Future studies will help us to understand what causes this increased suicide risk so that we can help to fight it. It should also be noted that 20-40 percent of those with ASD have seizures compared to 1 percent of the general population, causing this increased risk of death by seizures.

As someone who has epilepsy and autism, I can’t help but live in fear every day. I never know when a seizure happens. I just wake up feeling off. Sometimes even hitting my head or other injuries.

I hope this helps. I hope you have a wonderful/night.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In 1940s Britain, at a time before fast food and ready meals were staples of the British high street and in a country struggling to deal with the ramifications of war, a popular new restaurant chain was established. It served high-quality meals at reasonable prices, attracted customers from the full spectrum of British society, and grew at a rate of 10 new sites a week at its most popular. The brains behind the operation? The British government, led by the prime minister, Winston Churchill. Churchill’s British Restaurants, a chain of government-funded canteens offering nutritious price-capped meals, were intended to counter inflation in food and fuel prices related to the war, as well as to boost community spirit. At their peak, there were more British Restaurants across the UK than there are branches of McDonald’s or Wetherspoons today. Now a new report is calling for the return of a “national restaurant service” in some form, as a way to tackle contemporary issues such as health inequality, food insecurity and even climate change in the UK. A forthcoming report entitled Public diners: the idea whose time has come, by food policy NGO Nourish Scotland, marks the beginning of a campaign to introduce restaurants as a new piece of national infrastructure, a call backed by politicians and experts. A public diner, according to the report, is a state-subsidised eatery serving quality and ethically produced food at affordable prices. Crucially, says Nourish Scotland, they are neither charity nor a treat, but rather everyday eating places for entire communities to access.

[...]

Last year hospital data showed the number of patients in England and Wales being treated for nutritional deficiencies had tripled in a decade while a January 2024 survey by the Food Foundation found 20% of UK households with children reported experiencing food insecurity. And, Nourish Scotland says, ingredients could be sourced from organic farms, reducing unsustainable food production practices and food waste, and stimulating local economies. Public diners have already been realised elsewhere in the world. In Poland, government-funded “milk bars” (bar mleczny) gained popularity in the communist era as a way to serve traditional home-cooked food at low prices, and remain numerous today. Singapore’s “hawker centres”, market-style community dining rooms, emerged as part of the nation’s urban redevelopment following independence, and bring an array of street sellers under one roof to ensure vendors’ access to ingredients and space, as well as food hygiene standards and choice for consumers. The call for state-subsidised dining in the UK comes amid a growing international movement for public restaurants as key infrastructure.

31 August 2024

See also I Dream of Canteens, by Rebecca May Johnson

[positivelyqueer]

hey, some advice/a request from a mobility aid user for interacting with people who use different mobility aids at different times.

Don’t Comment On It. Please. If the user brings it up, sure have a discussion (relevant to the tone/context) but otherwise ignore the difference unless relevant (ie access issues).

I’m a full time forearm crutch user/part time wheelchair user. When people see me in my wheelchair they have this urge to comment things like ‘oh I didn’t know you used a wheelchair,’ or ‘have things been worse lately?’ or ‘are you feeling okay?’

First this isn’t your business and second you can’t judge how someone is doing with their health based on which aid they use.

Reasons I might use my crutches over my wheelchair:

Low pain or fatigue day

Short outing

The venue isn’t accessible

Don’t know if the venue will be accessible (including all the foot paths, road crossings, public transport stops etc to get there)

Crowded event

I couldn’t transport my chair

Conversely High pain or fatigue day in a way that makes my wheelchair less useful than my crutches

Can’t handle the mental/emotional work of going out in my chair

Anywhere it could be unsafe to have reduced mobility (ie a protest)

Struggling with internalised ableism

Reasons I might use my wheelchair over my crutches:

High pain/fatigue day

Problems with my legs specifically

Accessible venue

Big week upcoming and need to conserve as much energy as possible

Long outing

Few opportunities to sit down/rest

Going somewhere with people who could help me if I get stuck

It’s not just a spectrum of good day = crutches, bad day = wheelchair. Which mobility aid can be such a complex decision with no right answer.

If you’ve got other experiences please add on if you feel comfortable. I’d love to hear more people’s thoughts.

[orange-ghost]

My hottest take on disability media is that this film (as much as it deserved a good 90% of it's backlash; my GOD it was ableist, harmful, horribly written, horribly paced, and clearly not well thought-out) ...would NOT have been as poorly received had the titular character had low-support needs as opposed to high.

I'm serious. I saw that some of y'all's knee-jerk reactions were "AUTISTIC PEOPLE DON'T ACT LIKE THAT!" and "BUT I'M NOT LIKE THAT!" and... I mean? Yeah? She's one girl, she obviously can't represent the whole spectrum.

But I'm sick of this lateral ableism, "I'm-not-like-other-girls"-esque attitude some of us Autistics have towards the others. We learn to look down upon those who can't take care of themselves or get by in the world like we can; the ones who can't mask; the ones who are sometimes dealt the most abuse in life because they'll never have the privilege of being able to verbally speak up against it or live without a caretaker. Because what often happens is:

Autistic people who need a lot more support than we do wind up becoming allistics' Default Setting™️ idea of Autism.

Autistic people who are very different (usually more independent, sharper intellect and maybe inclined towards more mature[?] interests) then come into those allistic people's lives.

The allistics then begin to infantalize them the same way they infantalize the Default Setting™️ Autistic people around them, then refuse to listen when asked/begged to stop; denial of autonomy.

Instead of directing the VERY warranted disgust, anger and resentment towards the ableist allistic people doing this to us, we direct it towards the initial victims of this treatment; who, frankly, ALSO don't deserve to be treated like literal babies or burdens like that in the first place!

Instead of trying to find solidarity? In-fighting ensues.

I don't know, that's always irked me and it's been in my brain for like four years. Because think about how much we learned in a short period of time around the movie's release. The woman...

Forced a 14-year-old Allistic child to imitate a disabled person when she didn't want to;

TAUGHT her to do so via forcing her to watch meltdown videos filmed & posted by Autistic kids' parents (likely without the child's consent);

Dissed Autistic actresses online for no fucking reason, really.

Named a movie after a disabled child character who's treated more like a prop and isn't even centered in the film's story (and lowkey repeated the pattern twice, if you guys remember Felix's storyline. He was just shoved into this for like... sadness points?)

Teams up with the "most popular" Autism organization even though it has been VERY accessible and public knowledge for years that they've earned a pretty negative reputation for themselves.

Portrays unnecessary prone restraint as a GOOD thing.

...And has MULTIPLE instances of questionably racist undertones. Including within the first 5 seconds of the film.

And yet, some of y'all's priority was the fact that "I'm not like that! I'm FUNCTIONAL!"

...Yeah. Yikes.

Something tells me that Music would've gotten significantly less backlash had Maddie been made to portray somebody who could consistently speak verbally, stimmed in more subtle ways, and didn't have so many meltdowns.

We feel so much shame & discomfort at just sharing a diagnosis with somebody more disabled than ourselves that we will reject it (and them) the moment it happens, without a second thought. Because the thought of being treated by abled society as even more disabled than we are already terrifies us. Because we KNOW that disabled people as a whole are not treated well.

Hell, clearly Sia internalized something like that as well because she wound up being diagnosed as Autistic herself, and she WROTE the damn thing!

Yeah, I've... got a couple of words for all this. 😬

Assimilation. Trauma. Internalized ableism, even. Let's unpack that in 2025, please!

[armoricaroyalty]

fashion and world-building for royal simblr

my friends are sick and tired of listening to me ranting and raving about how fashion can be used to convey information about your characters and setting. instead, i bring my rants to you, the general public.

disclaimer that I'm (obviously) not mandating that everyone have an answer to every single one of these questions or that your story is bad if you don't think this much about your sims' wardrobes. my own personal answer to half of these questions is "I dunno, I never thought about it" and/or "I dunno, I'm not interested in that"

don't treat this list like homework, consider it a series of suggestions and prompts that might spark something interesting for your story :)

Does your royal family have a dress code? Are there codified internal rules for how your royals are expected to dress, or is it an unspoken set of expectations?

If your royals have a dress code, who sets it? How is it enforced? Does it ever change?

Are any of your royals considered style icons? What impact does their wardrobe have on trends within your country?

Are your royals expected to dress modestly? How do they define 'modest?'

Do your royals wear trendy clothes or are they expected to dress conservatively or in an old-fashioned way?

Are your royals allowed to be experimental or "alt" in the way they dress?

Are your royals expected to dress in a gender-conforming way?

How much autonomy do your royals have in deciding what to wear?

How do your royals pay for their wardrobes? If their clothes are paid for with public money, how does the general public feel about that?

Do your royals have their clothes custom-made? Do they wear designer clothes? Do they shop at normal stores and wear "accessible" brands?

How do your royals use clothes to signal class status? Do they practice conspicuous consumption, or do they dress in an understated way to signal that they're above wealth?

Do your royals have relationships with the designers of their clothes? Do they have any favorites? Do they borrow clothes from designers? Attend fashion shows? Accept "freebies?"

Do your royals ever re-wear outfits? Is this normal for them, or do re-wears drive commentary? What do they do with all the clothes they'll never re-wear?

How much jewelry does your royal family own? When do they wear it? Are there any rules (formal or informal) about colored stones?

Are there any non-jewelry garments that have been passed down by the royal family? (i.e., a bridal veil, a Christening gown)

Does your country have folk costumes or traditional dress? Who wears traditional clothes and on what occasions?

What kinds of textiles are produced in your country?

How do royal children dress? Are there any clothing that children have to "graduate" into? (for example: British princes have traditionally worn shorts and knee socks during official appearances until they're 9 or 10, when they begin wearing longer pants.)

Are there any differences between how your royals dress while on duty and how they dress in their private lives?

What do your royals wear for special occasions like weddings and funerals?

What kinds of political messages do your royals send through their clothes? Are they expected to wear clothes from designers from their own country? When they travel overseas, do they wear designers from their host country?

Clothes and fashion are a huge part of how royals are understood and interpreted, historically and in the present. It's almost impossible to discuss the French Revolution without touching on Marie Antoinette's wigs and gowns. On the opposite end of the spectrum, modern royal women often wear a mix of expensive and affordable pieces in order to be seen as relatable to the average woman and because they know what happened to Marie Antoinette.

So go forth! Incorporate fashion into your story! Make worldbuilding posts with all the lore! Write up individual histories of your royals' fashion evolutions! Do all of this and then tag me so I can read it 😤

[transmutationisms]

hello! I remember you making a post mentioning Margaret Sanger + eugenics recently… I’m wondering if you might be willing to share more thoughts on the relationship between Sanger, eugenics, and the birth control movement? or if you have any recs for papers to read on this topic? thanks in advance if u have anything to share!

yeah i stuck some reading under the cut for length but basically and reductively this has become a poisoned discursive well because reactionaries of various stripes have discovered that Sanger was a racist eugenicist, and have also discovered that if you say that about a public figure, a certain brand of liberal will immediately rush to condemn the person with little to no reflection on what the significance of their objectionable beliefs might historically have been, so now every family values white supremacist thinks they are the cleverest boy in the world for being like "erm actually Planned parenthood was founded by a eugenicist" and the best response the average liberal can come up with is "[splits hairs] no it wasn't".

in reality what they should be saying instead is more along the lines of: this is because eugenics and white supremacy were incredibly popular politics in the usa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were ideologies that united public health champions (& political figures in general) from across the 'left–right political spectrum'. additionally Sanger's rhetoric varied over time and by audience, though i'm not really interested in doing rehabilitative work for her historical image and mostly bring this up to demonstrate that eugenics was so popular it was widely rhetorically advantageous to throw support for it, whether you were a feminist demanding access to birth control or a garden-variety misogynist opposed to reproductive autonomy.

anyway Sanger's legacy and the legacy of US feminists in general simply has to account for the fact that both 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' policy demands can be weaponised either for increased reproductive autonomy or for eugenic endeavours. it's not the [contraception / abortion / etc] in itself that creates the eugenics, and banning contraception or abortion doesn't solve the problem of capitalism nurturing and relying on eugenics (as disingenuous reactionaries already well know). a lot of right-wing writing on Sanger is indeed trumped-up, poorly substantiated, de-contextualised shock tactics—also, she did genuinely espouse a lot of racism and eugenics.

none of this is really relevant to the political question of whether, moving forward, reproductive autonomy ought to be ensured (it ought). but, it is certainly relevant to the question of why the us feminist movement has done a generally middling job of securing access to things like contraception and abortion: in part, this is because it has long been a movement that sacrificed an actual commitment to providing healthcare in an extremely unwise series of faustian racism bargains that (at best) framed reproductive rights in a very negative, libertarian-inflected way, and (at worst) threw over the principles altogether and wilfully ignored or even participated in the establishment of eugenic policies expressly designed to constrain the reproductive autonomy of racialised, poor, and disabled women.

Dorothy Roberts talks about feminist eugenics broadly, including some remarks on Sanger, in Killing the Black Body (1997)

Peter Engelmann's A History of the Birth Control Movement in America (2011) pretty much what it says on the tin; my notes from when I TA'd bioethics say we focussed on the introduction and chapters 1 and 3

Evolution and Eugenics in American Literature and Culture, 1880-1940: Essays on Ideological Conflict and Complicity (2003) ed. Lois Cuddy and Claire Roche has at least one chapter you'd probably find useful

there's also this annotated bibliography on Sanger but it's from the 80s, so the real value-add is if you want to see contemporaneous writings about her, or you want a list of her own actual publications. I don't know whether this is still considered a comprehensive list of the 70-odd years it does cover!

a couple dissertations, even though these are generally not as valuable citation-wise as published books or articles:

International Intercourse: Establishing a Transnational Discourse on Birth Control in the Interwar Era (2004) by Julie L Thomas, Indiana University

Feminist Eugenics in America: From Free Love to Birth Control, 1880–1930 (2006) by Susan Marie Rensing, University of Minnesota