#this also applies to lesbian couples of course

[perotovar]

into the beat of the night (ch 1) "transmission"

gif by me, moodboard by the lovely @sp00kymulderr ♥

pairing: frankie morales/nb!oc (they/them) rating: T (for now) chapter warnings: discussions of sexuality/gender (frankie doesn't understand some things and may use language that would be harmful, but it's not intentional), limited knowledge of the military, goth stereotypes abound, mentions of drug addiction/recovery, swearing, cute shit word count: 2.7k dividers by @saradika

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series summary: frankie morales thought he had himself figured out by now. he liked both men and women, had dated both in the past. but when someone that challenges what he thinks that means comes into his life, in an unlikely place, he truly learns who he is, and more importantly, who he loves.

series masterlist

a/n - i can't thank y'all enough for giving my fic a chance! i'm really nervous about posting it since i haven't properly written anything in years, but i've had some lovely cheerleaders (@scenaaario - who is also my lovely beta, i want to kiss you on the mouth for making this fic sound like i wanted it to ♥♥ - @undercoverpena @mrsquill and @kedsandtubesocks i love you guys ♥) along the way that gave me the motivation to post this little story. comments and reblogs are super appreciated! i'd love to hear what y'all think <3

In 1994, the U.S. adopted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as the official federal policy on military service by lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. It was officially repealed in 2011. Seventeen years. For seventeen years, LGBTQ folks, Frankie included, had to hide. At least, he felt he needed to.

He knew he was bisexual when he and his childhood best friend Mateo were in their sophomore year of high school. Frankie and all the other boys started to hit puberty the year before and things were changing: facial hair was slowly growing, voices were dropping.  Mateo started to develop a little faster than Frankie did. Frankie really liked how Mateo was developing. It was a little weird, because they’d been best friends since they were still wearing underoos, but Frankie started to feel things whenever he hung out with Mateo. Things he normally only felt whenever Alana in third period flipped her hair over her shoulder, or whenever Charlotte in fifth period stretched before she started writing and her sweater pulled over her chest a little too much.

Frankie didn’t know what to do with this information or these feelings. He didn’t have a word for any of it, so he just never said anything. He had a couple girlfriends throughout high school, and to anyone who cared to think on it, would see that Frankie was like any other straight, high school boy.

In 1994, Francisco Morales joined the military. He was nineteen. It was never his plan growing up to join, but his dad always wanted him to. When he didn’t have his own plan after high school, he figured it was a safe bet since he had family in the service. While there, he worked his way up in the ranks and eventually met his brothers: Santiago, Benny, Will, and Tom. They would die for each other, had signed up to do so, in fact. He’d grown closest to Santiago, and it was the first time since he was 15 that he got those feelings again. He pushed them to the side, though, because that’s when she came into his life. He didn’t need those feelings getting in the way.

Frankie’s bisexuality really only came into his life a couple of times. His first girlfriend in the military, Layla, was also bisexual and that’s when he learned what the word was and that it also applied to him. She only ever told him since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was in full swing. Of course he kept her secret, because she also kept his.

The only one of his group of brothers that didn’t know about his sexuality was Tom. He didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell him, and the others agreed it was best to keep it quiet. Santiago was the first one to know, then Will, and finally Benny. Ben was Ben about it when he found out. He immediately hugged Frankie and excitedly suggested they go to a gay bar instead of their usual hang out. It made Frankie laugh and Will smacked Ben on the back of the head. (They did end up going to a couple of gay bars from time to time. Frankie only went home with a guy once and the guys gave him a lot of shit for it, asking for details. Santiago gave him a smile and patted him on the back and said, “I’m glad you’re finally here, hermano.”)

Frankie had one man he’d consider a “boyfriend” in his life. After he left the military and after DADT was repealed, he went on a bit of a binge. He started hooking up with people more often, despite his introverted nature. He was always careful, safe, and eventually kept to one man for a couple years, before an especially messy breakup.  They were both pilots in the military, but were based in different states; Frankie in Florida, and Jackson in Kentucky. They bonded quickly after meeting at a nightclub in Nashville. Neither one of them remembers why they were there, but they made it a point to see each other frequently, each of them taking turns flying out to see the other.

The breakup happened after Jackson found Frankie’s stash for the last time. The military affected everyone differently. For Frankie, his coke addiction is what got him through the sleepless nights. Jackson had found Frankie one too many times leaned over the back of a toilet and snorting god knows what. Jackson had his own problems with drugs and felt that Frankie ignored them in search of his next fix. Addiction had completely taken over Frankie’s life for the better part of five years. Frankie hated Jackson for leaving him when he most needed him, and lashed out, accusing Jackson of only ever wanting to fuck. That broke Jackson, as he thought about how deeply he loved Frankie. Gay marriage was legalized a year later, and had things panned out differently, they might still be together. He doesn’t blame Jackson for leaving anymore.

Frankie’s daughter, Marisol, changed everything. She was the love of his life, and he would do anything for her. After going back to his days of sleeping around after Jackson left, he met Maya. He kept telling her that he would get clean and go to therapy while she was pregnant, but not until he held his little Marisol in his arms for the first time did he commit to both. He and Maya never planned on being together officially, and decided co-parenting would be their best option. 

He’d been clean and sober for two years by the time Santi told him about the Colombia job. He hadn’t flown, or been allowed to in that time, and was pretty content to never do so again. Every time he got in the pilot’s seat, it would take him to terrible places. But Santi was his best friend, so he took the job. He relapsed when he got home, after Tom. He never blamed Santi for it. He gave Frankie a choice, and where he could’ve said no, he didn’t.

Which brings him to where he is now, two years after Colombia. He’d crossed the street and stood in line for the entrance. He hadn’t been to this nightclub in a while. He looked up at the sign for the club, and raised an eyebrow. The Night Owl. That… isn’t what it was called last time. Was it sold? Apparently, it had recently undergone a rebranding, with new owners, and a slightly… different clientele. 

The best way he could describe it now was that it was a goth club. Frankie had never personally been to this sort of club, not really being a fan of the music or subculture, but never had a negative opinion either. He stuck out like a sore thumb when he entered, the bouncer giving him a once over and chuckling, but letting him in anyway. 

He made his way over to the bar and had a seat, taking in his surroundings and started people watching. He planned on going out tonight, and possibly go home with someone. A club is a club, so he decided to stick around and see what all the fuss was about. 

The walls shook with the heavy bass and beats of the music. It wasn’t like anything he’d heard before. His nostrils filled with the scent of clove cigarettes and hairspray. Everywhere he looked, someone completely decked out in teased hair and black clothing caught his attention. He smiled softly at all the variations in people’s style, wondering how long it took for all of them to get ready in the morning.

The bartender, a large man with heavy eye makeup and a lot of chains and spikes, came up to him and smirked. He felt a presence behind him and when Frankie finally faced forward again, he startled a little, not expecting such an imposing figure to be giving him a staredown.

“What’ll you be havin’, stripes?”

“Stripes?”

The bartender, who had a patch sewed onto his denim vest that read “Viper”, rolled his eyes and gestured vaguely to Frankie’s whole self. “You mean to tell me you’re not military?”

Frankie blinked a couple times and huffed a laugh. “Ex-military, yeah. Is that… okay?”

Viper gave him a long look, eyes slightly narrowed, and pointed to one of the many tattoos on his arm, up high on his shoulder. It was an old one, a little faded, but Frankie recognized it as the stripes given to Sergeant Majors.  “I left after this. Got injured,” he said.

“Sorry to hear that.”

Viper shrugged and reached under the bar, cleaning a glass. “I’m not. So what’re you havin’?”

Frankie thought about it for a second. “I’ll probably regret this, but surprise me.”

An amused look crossed Viper’s features, but he nodded and started mixing a drink for him. Frankie noticed all the ingredients used; lager beer, hard cider, and some kind of syrup. He raised a brow and picked up the glass as Viper slid it across the bar for him. Frankie gave him a look as if to say, ‘Is this safe?’ despite having just watched Viper make it. The bartender chuckled and just gestured for him to give it a try.

Frankie took a deep breath and gulped down a drink. A little foam was stuck to his mustache when he lowered the glass from his face. “Not bad. What is it?” Frankie asked.

“Snakebite. Kind of a staple around here,” Viper hummed, cleaning a different glass.

Frankie chuckled at the name. Of course that’s what it was called. 

Viper was pulled away when a pretty girl with big, teased hair and dark makeup came up to the bar. Frankie took the opportunity to look around the place again.

The music was best described as “dark” and “broody”, unsurprisingly, with slow tempos and even lower vocals. Everyone on the dancefloor was slowly swaying back and forth and, once in a while, would move their arms in ethereal shapes. 

Frankie remembered seeing one of the younger teachers at Marisol’s daycare wearing a t-shirt with a band logo that looked like a bundle of sticks. He tried figuring out what it said once, but was too afraid to ask, so he still doesn’t know. He doesn’t think she’d be at this kind of club.

“You’re new. Bit like a zoo your first time here, I bet.”

Frankie startled, putting his hand over his heart and turned to look at who was talking. Someone had sat next to him and was grinning, taking a sip from their own drink; something dark red and a little cloudy. He blinked a couple times and took in their features; big green eyes rimmed with dark lines, two different nose piercings, and black lipstick. Their hair was long and straight, dark, and with the right side in front of their ear shaved completely. He couldn’t quite figure out if who he was talking to was male or female, the androgyny of their look very clear.

“Uhh, hello?” They waved their hand, full of rings and black nail polish, in front of his face and chuckled quietly. “Oh! Maybe–” They cut themselves off and started making a bunch of symbols and shapes with their fingers and hands.

Frankie blinked and started laughing softly. “I’m not deaf! Sorry,” he grinned. “You just startled me, that's all.”

“Oh!” The stranger laughed, too, putting a hand on his right knee in a friendly gesture. He looked down at the hand and smiled, his heart skipping a beat. Even if he didn’t know very much about them, he couldn’t deny it; they were very pretty.

He removed his cap and ran his fingers through the unruly curls for a second before putting the hat back on. “Sorry,” he repeated, shaking his head slightly. “Yeah, it’s my first time here. I didn’t realize the club had changed owners.”

“It did?” They asked, tilting their head to the left slightly. 

“Yeah, it was a– Uh, last time I was here, it was a… different kind of club,” Frankie mumbled. 

The stranger’s eyes twinkled mischievously, the smirk still present on their lips. “What kind of club? Are you secretly into some really heavy BDSM type stuff?” They wiggled their eyebrows.

Frankie had started taking a drink of his Snakebite again and nearly choked on it at the stranger’s teasing. He coughed a couple times, a wide grin on his face. “No! Nothing like that,” he chuckled.

The stranger snapped their ring-clad fingers like they were hoping he’d say otherwise and slumped their shoulders in disappointment. “Damn…”

Frankie’s cheeks warmed at the insinuation, but laughed, convinced they were just joking with him. He cleared his throat and continued, “Y-Yeah, uh, I wasn’t expecting this kind of… group, when I came by. Although, the name of the place probably should’ve warned me.”

“What kind of group?” The stranger grinned, watching his handsome features change from thoughtful to concerned.

Frankie panicked, worried he’d somehow offended them, and cleared his throat again. “N-Not that there’s anything wrong with– Um! I don’t, actually… know,” he tapered off, looking down as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

The stranger snorted and waved him off. “I’m fucking with you,” they laughed. “I know what you mean. When I heard a new club opened up closer to my apartment, I got pretty excited. No more hour-long drives to the nearest one, y’know?”

Frankie nodded, their low, smooth voice captivating him the longer they spoke.

“Oh! Meant to say this before, but my name’s River,” they smiled and held their hand out to him to shake.

“Frankie,” he answered, holding his own hand out to return the gesture. But River beat him to it, and gripped his long, thick fingers in their own hand and kissed the back of his softly.

Frankie blushed like mad, eyes widening slightly. No one had ever kissed his hand before. He kept his eyes downcast, his hand still securely in River’s grasp.

River tilted their head, brows furrowed in concern before letting go of his hand. “Sorry, was that–?”

“No! N-No, um…” Frankie smiled shyly, tugging at a loose curl behind his ear. “It was fine– Nice, actually.”

River grinned as if they had clocked him immediately. “Well, Frankie, it was very nice meeting you. Will I see you here again?” They asked, looking him up and down.

Frankie found himself nodding before he could say or do anything else. “Y-Yeah, absolutely. Um, how–?”

“My song just came on, and I simply must dance to it. Later,” River winked, stood, and leaned over to kiss Frankie’s cheek as they slipped something into the front pocket of his flannel shirt.

River was gone before Frankie could ask anything else, his eyes following after them as they reached the dancefloor. He watched them dance for a few minutes before he was brought out of it by someone clearing their throat behind him. He spun around and saw Viper, the bartender, leaning toward him and giving him a look.

“You gonna pay for these drinks?” He grumbled, motioning toward Frankie’s Snakebite and whatever River was drinking.

He followed Viper’s tattooed finger and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. Sorry,” he mumbled, pulling his wallet out and putting a couple bills on the bar. Viper nodded in thanks and Frankie took that as his cue to leave.

As he stood, he looked toward the dancefloor again in the hopes of seeing River one last time. When he didn’t, he tried to shake himself off and made his way toward the entrance. The bouncer gave him a look and Frankie just shrugged as he exited the club. The cool night air hit his still-warm cheeks, making him feel like he came back to reality. 

“Oh, right,” he mumbled to himself and reached into his front pocket and pulled out a little scrap of paper. A phone number with two cute little devil horns drawn on either side and a little, ‘text me?’ written down beneath it.

Frankie smiled to himself and rubbed the ink on the paper with his thumb.

[cowardnthief]

on tv, two men who are best friends always have 100x more chemistry and romantic potential than any actual romantic relationship on the show (and i mean this to include straight and gay couples) because:

1) the creators have to actually put effort into developing their relationship, explaining why they like each other as people, and getting the audience invested and, importantly, believing, without the shorthand of making out which is, imo, a crutch

2) men tend to be more developed than women on tv, so they become more believable characters, and in turn more compelling. two men are likely to both be equally involved in the story, in the world. it feels less like an afterthought - less like oh, she's the only girl here, so i guess she'll hook up with the protagonist...

3) similar thing, and maybe i'm going on a little feminist rant here, but i think relationships with two men are able to get away with so much more because they are on "equal footing." i'm not intending this to be commentary about real-life relationships at all, but on tv there are certain things that audiences expect and accept from same-sex relationships, platonic or otherwise, but not opposite-sex. for example, violence (a tumblr-beloved toxic yaoi trope) is extremely common in male friendships on tv but would be unheard of in a male-female friendship due to what it would imply.

4) instead of spending time on the "romantic subplot" away from the plot, two men spend time together INSIDE the plot. INSIDE the world. their relationship becomes a facet of the universe rather than an annex to it. (this does happen with well-written straight couples of course, but i find it to be less common, especially in the kind of trash camp tv tumblr gobbles up.)

anyway, i think about this a lot - why despite being a rampant feminist and 90% lesbian, i find myself drawn to male friendships over female ones on television, over romantic relationships. why i find weird, twisted friendships where all they do is beat each other up and stare at each other, something dark and unspoken flickering just behind their eyes, more compelling than relationships, involving any gender, where they actually do the nasty.

i think some of this applies to female friendships too, but i see it less often, again because women tend to be less developed, have a harder time dodging boring tropes, and are also just less present on television (and even when they are, they don't interact with each other in any significant way).

[blackpilljesus]

Can we not just stop birthing men like... women have to stop giving life to men.

I'm doing my part ✌️ and I agree but collectively most women wouldn't. I remember when there was discourse over a radfem having & celebrating giving birth to a baby boy. I've seen radfems praise lesbian couples adopting baby boys.

Tbh a lot of women are sellouts, they sellout other women & even betray themselves for love or having a slightly higher social status in society. When forced to cohabit with predators that have more power & essentially want to reproduce a copy of themselves, women giving them that could elevate or secure their status in society - it's an incentive & many would go for it.

Another thing to consider is that many women birth maIes to spare their lives, there's been cases where maIes would kill their partners & daughters for the woman not having a son (even though the sperm determines the sex). Part of me considers maternal instincts of women not being able to kill their maIe offspring bc that's still their child but then I think of post partum psychosis & cultures where daughters are routinely killed when they're born. If these instincts applied to maIe & female children I dont think things would've gotten this bad. Also a lot of women treat their sons much better than their daughters.

In a patriarchial society, birthing sons lets boymoms live out their power fantasies through their sons. They 'borrow' power from their sons or use their sons as a proxy for power. Like toxic mother in-laws treating their daughter in-laws like shit bc it's through the association that this woman is married to their son, women that cover up their sons sex crimes, in some cultures; boymoms look for women who've undergone FGM for their sons.

Bear in mind so many women still have faith in maIes as a collective, they think they'll raise the "good ones". This notion is popular in feminist spaces, women think they'll magically train & raise maIe allies. There's a saying of how several boymoms have emotional incest with their sons, they see there aren't good maIes in society so they want to create their own one(s).

However I think the biggest issue is that women are never going to be sociopathic or apathetic enough to moids. It would take a high level of apathy to abort maIe fetuses & refuse to birth another xy solely on the basis of their sex, to get to this point you'd need to have this feeling towards maIes generally and most women dont have this. MaIe survival is contentigent on female subjugation, women dont need to subjugate maIes to survive, we carry life, we can also provide for ourselves & maIes know it which is why they've set up societies the way they are and they're brutal about it because they and their bloodlines would be dead anyways if they dont have a system forcing women to rely on them to survive. That said; In the end despite everything, many women still want to partner with maIes, many women still love & believe in maIes. Most women wont disassociate with maIes collectively, catherine mckinnon goes into this in her book "the second sex" where she speaks about how women are scattered everywhere & identify with the tribes maIes put them into as opposed to seeing themselves as a sovereign group.

I personally dont think birthing another oppressor is worth it but people are different. Of course this can (& does) backfire against women but by the time the damage is realised it's too late. Ultimately for a shift in gender ratio & for women to refuse to birth maIes at any cost, they need to think bigger than themselves individually. Think of womankind instead of maIe supremacy & its structures but this will never happen & I wont kid myself otherwise.

[liquidstar]

i think that on here we've kinda talked a lot about how the traditional "coming out" narrative presented in popculture is flawed in reality. because it always presents this idea that you have to tell everyone who you Really are, that youre Hiding parts of yourself, that you can never be You until you bare your Secrets to the world. and that actually this isnt because people feel entitled to your personal business but that its hurting YOU when they dont know your personal business so you should really just tell them. (but also dont be "too" proud because thats annoying :( act mostly cishet please but dont lie about it! hehe!) it will work out every time for sure :)

but ofc thats not how real life works. i mean, naturally i understand that there are OF COURSE people out there who want to be loud and proud about who they are, and that this is incredibly important to their identity which theyve suppressed for so long. but that "coming out" narrative is harmful because it ignores many of the reasons it had to be suppressed to begin with. its fucking dangerous! its dangerous to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. they can lose their support system, family, job, house, and their entire life. both in the sense that they'll be completely uprooted from it, and in the sense that they could be killed. so constantly presenting the notion of "coming out is good for you no matter what because its the Only way to be your Real Authentic Self and also you HAVE to do it eventually because thats how this narrative is just Meant to go. be a good little queer and please dont stray from this path."

and the problem is that plenty of young LGBT+ people completely internalize it too! ive had so many convos with young people worried about coming out to their conservative family because, well, theyre supposed to! and their minds are completely blown when i tell them that actually they dont have to do that. that theyre under no obligation to tell everyone their business and its okay to just keep being them w/o making an announcement about it. ESPECIALLY IF IT PUTS THEM IN DANGER!!!! and to be clear this issue doesnt stop at age 18 or at moving out or anything like that either, there continue to be many obstacles for many people that make coming out unsafe, or just a bad life decision to uproot everything Right Now. it's okay to just be in the closet and it isn't a moral failing like cishet media wants to convince us. we all agree, right?

good! but here's what my actual real point is:

when we talk about this, for some reason, we seem to only reaaaallly be talking about the gay side of it, right? like im sure lots of people imagined, like, teenage gay boy movies. maybe a couple lesbian and bi characters too perhaps. and that makes sense because thats like the most common narrative for this sort of trope, so ofc those are the first examples we imagine. and ofc theres the more complex addition of "passing" when it comes to trans versions of this story, the idea that you gotta look a certain way to be "valid" adds another layer.

so i think its time more people started to acknowledge this about trans people too, right? i think we can all agree with this on paper already; no trans person is obligated to come out or present a certain way if theyre not in a place where they currently are able to do so. physically, mentally, financially... or just because they dont wanna! whatever the circumstances are, there is no criteria they have to meet to be vindicated in this. it doesnt only apply to 14 year olds living with shitty parents who plan to move out soon and become "Really Trans" (as if they didnt count before conforming to The Narrative), the person could be 40 and never planning to be completely out, and its the same. they dont owe you this "showing the world who you Really are in order to [earn the right to] Be Yourself" crap. thats their choice only.

however, i also think that even if most ppl on here in lgbt circles on here agree with the general sentiment... sometimes it doesnt always get applied it practice. though the whole "truscum" thing kinda died down (thank god) i still think that rampant transmedicalism has left its scars on lots of people and the things they internalize, combined with similar cisheteronormative messages in popular media about how your narrative Should go and how you Should act and look to be respected, and its Morally Wrong not to fit that mold.

so when encountered with people who dont pass, who dont TRY to pass and instead actively choose to look like their agab due to the fact that they are literally in the closet irl (lest we forget people have whole entire complex lives outside of the net) this sort of short circuit happens in ppls heads, where that internalized idea of "but you're supposed to be THIS WAY! youre not doing it RIGHT!" pops back up and they end up labeling that person as fake or Not Trans Enough for this reason.

and i do also think part of this stems from people not having enough sympathy for those whose paths are different, because they were told not to. theres a Right way, and they did it the right way. and likely they struggled for it a lot, so isnt it unfair that people are doing it the Easy Way (as if its easy to be closeted to begin with) and claiming theyre like you? thats Wrong. they have to Earn it. you lgbts should all get mad at EACH OTHER actually! this will help your community be better [in the eyes of cishetero society that doesnt really want you to exist to begin with]

additionally the reason im emphasizing the internet side of this so much is because... well, in this day and age, thats the space lots of people go to to NOT be in the closet. to at least microdose on being "out" while in real life they very much arent. like i said before, being in the closet is rough and taxing, suppressing yourself hurts which is why so many people wanna be loud and out and proud! not everyone can though, so turning to a place with relative anonymity to get that is great, and i think its probably saved a lot of people. but also because of this, its pretty much the only way to get the scenario this is positing to begin with- where you know a stranger can know that youre trans even if youre otherwise closeted completely, just so they can tell you that youre Not. but how many people in the past do you think lived lives where they never let these feelings out at all? how many alive today do you think dont even express them online?

you know that sort trope (often stereotypes in media) of a trans person "crossdressing" only when alone, in order to get a short bit of relief or euphoria that they cant in their closed life? i think that today we have the internet to do that. i think its kind of the same thing. but its also very different, because its not as private. its still secret, because its anonymous, but its also something shared with plenty of strangers at the same time. they dont know you irl, so its safe, distant, and gives you that rush of being yourself, and being referred to correctly by others too. theres community, theres support, and theres friendship too, once you get to know those strangers. its not a "second life" or a "persona" is just a side of yourself you dont show elsewhere, an identity that needs to be let out one way or another.

who the fuck are we to deny others the right to this life-saving connection just because they arent out? because they dont pass or dress the Right way irl? because we decided they arent trying hard enough to "fit in"? because they dont plan to change their lives to fit the right narrative anytime soon?

should they not be allowed into the community then? that would be perfect wouldnt it? leave many who need support out to die, because they did it Wrong. fight within our community over who is doing it Right until we've broken it in half. the righteous ones [according to cishet standards] are surely going to be treated with respect once they get rid of the Bad ones, right?

yeah, i dont think so. thats horseshit. we're stronger together than we are apart, thats why infighting is so useful to those who dont want us to be strong to begin with. its important to help each other, boost each other up, even if some of us arent playing the "right" part irl. are we really just going to sit around and accept the cishet norms as rules to live by? fuck that. not everyones story will reflect it, and you have to accept them anyway if you want a strong community. it doesnt matter how much they might look/act like their agab irl, if theyre telling you otherwise take it at face value, respect them the way you would any other. again, many of us agree with this on paper, but i think we still have to put work into acting on that too.

the end <3

[2gayy2functionnn]

Don’t say Forever- Chapter 3

TW: Bullying

Janis Imi’ike is known for quite a few things. She’s an artist, a good singer, an outcast, an orphan, a dyke and for the past three years she’s also been a raging insomniac.

Ask Janis the last time she slept eight hours. Go ahead. Ask.

Trick question, the answer she cannot remember. As Janis sits on the comfy bed covered in a large weighted blanket, in a silent room. She wonders why sleep won’t come naturally. She parts her hair, blows it out of her face and repeats the process. She scratches her bug bites. She stretched and twists her back until it cracks. Everything she can think of she does. Hoping it calms her mind and lets her rest. It doesn’t.

Nonetheless, she picks her phone back up and scrolls instagram. She wishes she had her paint stuff here. She wishes she were anywhere but here. Although Regina may have been sort of nice. She doesn’t believe it will last. 

Janis just wants her grandma again. The minutes tick by on the alarm clock way too slow. Eventually she falls asleep, the clock reads 3:26 am. 

                                  ***

Her alarm blares. Janis sits up her hair everywhere around her head and her pajamas top completely twisted. She lets out a yawn and a stretch. Before looking at the clock.

7:00

Shit! She has to be in regina’s car in ten minutes. Janis frantically hops out of her bed before getting caught in her sheets and slamming to the ground with a yelp. 

“Shit!” She shouts running her sore nose as she quickly pulls on a pair of black jean shorts and an oversized flannel with Elmo on a graphic tee flipping the bird under it. Janis grabs her shoes and pulls them on as she runs to the bathroom.

She quickly applies deodorant and eyeliner and mascara before brushing her teeth. No time to eat now! 

As she rushes out to the front yard she sees regina blasting the horn and smirking at her from the drivers seat. 

Janis slides into the back and buckles before turning to her and snarking.

“I’m not late!” She snarls curling up next to the window. Regina’s glare hardens as she backs up.

“watch yourself imi’ike.” She scoffs before starting the drive over to karen’s. 

She beeps a couple times as the tall girl runs out. She almost trips over her comically large heels as she pulls a flower striped cardigan on. 

“Hi Regina!” She says smiling, sliding on the other side to janis. She looks her up and down before smiling and putting out her hand for a shake.

“Don’t touch her Karen, my mom found her in a sewer. She might have rabies” Regina snarks turning up the music and looking back in her rearview mirror at Janis.

Janis grumbles and slides lower in her seat wondering what changed from yesterday. 

As they pull up outside gretchen’s house, the perky brunette is already standing outside waiting for the car to pull up.

She rushes up the door and opens it sliding in. 

“Cute skirt regina!” she says without breathing. Regina grins and turns to her.

“Thanks, mommy just got me it, new drop at zara. It’s not supposed to come out till next month” She brags. Janis watches as Karen leans up to the from seat.

“Careful, Regina says the stowaway has rabies” She whispers loudly to Gretchen who snickers as Regina slams into a parking spot. 

“She’s mom’s charity case, and of course i have to suffer for it” Regina scoffs pulling her keys out of the ignition. She grabs her bag and slams the door behind her.

“Where do I know her from” She hears Gretchen ask as she walks into the school. she goes to the front office and requests her class form. 

Janis pulls out her phone and types a quick text to damian. 

Janis quickly runs to his locker and steps next to him. 

“Oh my love!” He shouts pulling her into a hug not caring as her feet leave the ground. Janis kicks her feet and groans.

“Damian, i saw you last may.” She struggles trying to slip back to the ground.

“I know it’s been too long I missed my favorite little lesbian” He says setting an arm around her shoulder and leading her to class. 

“I’m so glad mommy george set it up so all our classes are together.” Damian smiles ruffling her hair.

“One, don’t call her mommy george and Two, it is nice but it kind of sucks that she thinks i need a babysitter and three, apparently she made regina have the same classes with us too. So watch out”  she shoots over her shoulder as he runs to catch up with her.

“WHAT” He screams right in her ear. She pushes him away and snarls.

“Dude watch my ear” She grumbles and shifts her tote bag higher on her shoulder.

“sorry sorry, I just- Regina our classes” he says pretending to faint on her. Janis yelps as she gets pushed over. 

“Damian!” Sheri grumbles as she hits the ground.

“Sorry sometimes i forget your smaller than average” He smirks. She grumbles  and flip him off behind her as she stalks into the class. They sit together at a table. 

The grumble and laugh. Hating the fact they have math first period but loving that they have it together. The continue laughing as the door slams open to their class.

Janis groans as she sees Regina standing there in her leather skirt and white tank top glory. How she gets away with that stuff is beyond her.

The Queen Bee looks around the room a few times, her gaze stopping at Janis and Damian sitting at their 4 person table.

“Please sit anywhere but here” Janis begs into her crossed arms. Regina stalks over and sets her purse down on the desk across from Janis.

“Seriously” She groans slamming her head on the desk as Damian pats her back sympathetically. 

“Shut up imi’ike” Regina scoffs tapping her pink nails on the desk. 

Some boy with shaggy brown hair makes his way over to set his bag down. He ruffles with his button down.

“NO” Regina snaps turning to him. He blanks and runs across the room to another desk. 

Damian’s and Janis’s mouths drop open. Damian leans forward and places his hands on regina’s.

“Teach me your ways master sensei” He says bowing his head to her.

Miraculously Regina fucking giggles. Than she looks at damian and janis and nods.

“Sit with us at lunch. Than I’ll show you” Sheri says with a head tilt.

“No!”

“Yes!”

Damian and Janis yell at the same time than turn and look at each other. Regina leans back with a smirk and pops her gum. 

Damian raises his eyebrow and leans in and whispers something in Janis’s ear. She pales and turns back to the front.

“ok fine” Janis whines.

Regina raises an eyebrow. 

“What did he say to you” She asks leaning forward and setting her chin on her palm.

“Nothing” Janis blushes. Damian smirks.

Looks like they’d end up having lunch together after all.

[misskattylashes]

I just wanted to share some thoughts with you about why celebrities don’t come out and why there is still a need for fake romances etc.

I will start this off by declaring that I am a heterosexual woman and in no way am I writing this from my experience as a gay person because I have none, only from the experiences of my friends. It is more what I have observed, especially doing my research as part of writing my Milex sagas.

For anyone who hasn’t read them, the first one Yours is the Only Ocean is set in 1785 and when I started my research, I was expecting to read of countless gay men being hanged or imprisoned for their sexuality. But strangely, even though sodomy was punishable by death, there were very few prosecutions. Molly Houses (male brothels) were raided, arrests were made, but no one was charged. The Georgians weren’t particularly gripped by moral panic and were quite sexually free and loose. The attitude taken that as long as something wasn’t affecting them, they would turn a blind eye. That of course didn’t mean that gay men could live openly – but a lot of them still can’t today (which I will come to later), but even fashions for men were ‘dandy’ consisting of powdered wigs and face paints to hide their pox scars.

By the way, I am only referring to men because lesbianism was never recognised legally.

But for my next novel The Fire and The Thud, things have changed somewhat,. Where previous laws only applied to sodomy, it now applied to all homosexual acts as they were an ‘outrage to public decency’. The Victorians were gripped by moral panic. Poor people were only poor because they were lacking moral fibre, alcoholics were weak and needed to be punished or else taken under the wing of the Temperance Society and encouraged to find God. Unfortunately attitudes that still prevail today.

In the Victorian era you were not executed for being gay, but you were sentenced to two years hard labour, and of course the shame of what you had done. Also, the roles between men and women were becoming much more defined, so any signs of effeminacy would stand out, so we see much more closeting happening.

The next book is going to be set in the 1950s and I have already started doing my research, and in some ways, it seems this era is even worse. Gay men were seen by some as subversive and a danger to the stability of society (this is the start of the Cold War era don’t forget), and homosexuality was now deemed as a mental illness and therefore considered curable. Advances in medicine and psychology meant that horrific conversion therapies could be carried out, or chemical castrations as Alan Turing suffered, to avoid going to prison. Gay men were pushed further underground, but at the same time, society itself had started to become more permissive and some gay men began to stand up for their rights, and the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957 led to the eventual decriminalisation of homosexual acts between men over the age of 21 in 1967.

So we reach 2024 and I can totally see why people find it hard to believe why gay celebrities don’t come out, and rely on fake relationships to distract from their true selves. After all being gay isn’t a crime, we have Pride, we have other openly gay celebrities and influencers whose careers are thriving, so how can it be that someone still chooses to stay closeted and go as far as having a fake partner?

Well for one, society is still a dangerous place for gay people. Homophobia is rife. See any innocent reel on Instagram about a kid coming out to their mum, or a same sex couple kissing, and you will find a hundred comments expressing either disgust, or telling them they need to find God, or else that some things shouldn’t be public (hello Victorians and your outrage of public decency).

But when it comes to entertainment, the biggest hurdle is their ‘Brand’. All entertainers have a brand. A ‘character’ actor would probably have little problem careerwise, coming out, because they are chameleons, they become the part they play then move onto something else and are equally convincing. But once someone hits the big time for playing certain roles, then they end up with a Brand, and I’m sorry, even in 2024 some brands are not going to be accepted by homophobes if they are played by a gay person. I honestly don’t know what would cause more uproar, a gay actor or a black actor being cast to play James Bond.

If your money maker is your looks or your hardman image or sex goddess image, then you’re not going to be encouraged to come out in your private life. When it comes to an actor, if they came out as gay, then served to play some tough guy, many people who wouldn’t even consider themselves homophobic would find their unconscious bias finding it difficult to take them seriously because of outdated stereotypes about gay men.

When it comes to musicians, it’s a doozie. The same young girls who love watching a gay influencer online telling all about his journey and sharing funny dating experiences etc, are not going to want their heartthrob favourite musician to be gay. For the influencer, being gay is their brand. Being handsome and sexy and available is the musician’s brand. Paint him to be a womaniser, or someone who can’t hold down long term relationships with beautiful women, and he becomes a challenge, someone who is just looking for the right woman to change him. Which by the way is not a criticism of young girls, I was one myself once and absolutely convinced I was going to marry my favourite musician and even when he got engaged, I convinced myself the wedding was never going to happen (they have been married 20 odd years now lol). It’s a natural rite of passage.

What is immoral is that the music industry feeds off this and just sees it as a way of making money. While their heartthrob is straight, they are available and this equals tickets sold, merchandise purchased. Quite often the fake girlfriend gains hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, meaning she becomes an influencer and brands fall over themselves for her to promote their stuff, knowing girls are going to want to buy it because it will make them smell like her or dress like her and X might find them attractive too.

Of course, the musician themselves makes lots of money and gets to travel the world and stay in the best hotels and eat the best food…but unlike the average person who can be seen out and about in a restaurant with their partner, they have to make sure the restaurant is discreet, or else carry Non Disclosure Agreements with them everywhere to make sure no one speaks about seeing them. Their friends and family are sworn to secrecy and often have to lead clandestine lives as well to accommodate it. They have to live in shadows, like their relationship is a dirty secret, like we are in 1954 rather than 2024.

So you are probably asking yourself why don’t they just stop it if it’s so restricting. Well normally they have to sign contracts that are so watertight they can’t break them without being sued for millions. There is also the moral aspect too. I am sure a lot of artists come to have good friendships with their fake girlfriends – after all they are expected to spend a lot of time with them. Well, if said artist came out and said his latest squeeze was fake, then everyone would look at all the girlfriends before and wonder about the nature of their relationship, and it would be humiliating for them. Especially ones who were mega famous themselves, or now in authentic relationships.

So yeah, that’s what I wanted to say really. Like I said, I have no idea what it is like to live as a gay person, but I do know a bit about how the media works, and so much of it is smoke and mirrors, and just because we might like to think we’re more Laissez-faire like our Georgian ancestors, so many of us still carry the moral judgement of the Victorians whether we like it or not, and now of course you can go on Instagram or X and tell everyone about it.

[vintage-bentley]

I think what sets apart actual gay people from self-proclaimed queers is that when I, a lesbian, see middle-aged men or women kissing it fills me with joy whereas it fills them with repulsion. and I know crowley and aziraphale aren't human so this doesn't apply to them but on a wider, real life cultural scale it's pretty horrible to not want to see middle-aged gay men kissing or being physically affectionate given how many died young and never got the chance to do so.

You hit the nail on the head, and reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to talk about, which is how important representation of older same sex couples is.

Because most representation of same sex couples is of young hot people. While OSA people get to see themselves and their futures represented endlessly, from the teen drama couples to the parents in sitcoms to old couples in movies…gay people really only get to see where we’ll be in our late twenties to early thirties at the latest. There’s hardly anything more than that. And because most of us aren’t surrounded by same sex couples like we are opposite sex couples, there’s a sort of uncertainty about what our lives will look like.

It means so much to me when I hear middle aged to old women or men talk about their wives or husbands respectively. If I see them hold hands or kiss, like you said, it fills me with joy. Because that’s not something I see often, and it’s like a glimpse into the future I hope I’ll have. It’s also beautiful knowing the hurdles these couples must’ve faced in their time, yet they’re still together and in love. And again, like you said, many gay men didn’t get the chance to have what these older couples have because they died young. Old gay representation is so, so important.

For self-proclaimed queers, there’s none of that personal connection. Most of them are OSA and can expect to have an opposite sex partner in the future, if they don’t already have one. They never had the experience of growing up seeing nobody like them, and seeing no representation of what their futures might look like. To them, gay representation isn’t something that’s necessary…it’s something purely for their entertainment and often even fetishisation. It’s eye candy, so they don’t want it to be realistic, they want it to be glamourised. I’m sure that’s at least part of why we’re seeing people express disgust at the thought of two middle aged men kissing, because it doesn’t fit their fantasy.

And all of this is why it’s so frustrating to see people going “haha I don’t know why but it’s just so gross and weird for me to think of them kissing! I hope they don’t because it would be icky!”. Like, I’m a lesbian, of course watching two men kiss isn’t on the top of my to-do list lol. But I can appreciate it from the perspective of a homosexual, I don’t watch gay couples on screen to be attracted to them, I watch them because they’re like me. And that I think is what sets you and me apart from the TQ+.

[wosona]

I think the interest definitely comes from people being intrigued and trying to work out from the various little things. It’s definitely more obvious with luna now though and so I think the obsession that some people have is probably how people think they aesthetically suit / seem very into each other. I didn’t particularly ever feel that invested in wonze at all personally because to me they just gave very strong we have a great friendship and have grown up together vibes (rather than wow amazing chemistry vibes, but again we saw very little and that’s only my opinion and I know wonze fans clearly wouldn’t agree and that’s also fine). However, I have seen some wonze fans who “still believe” say that keira kinda does look very normal girl down the road vibes so maybe in their minds lucy being with her made them think omg maybe I have the smallest tiniest chance? I know she’s a pretty girl but I don’t necessarily think if she wasn’t known people would be turning their head constantly when she walked down the street (which is fine and I genuinely don’t mean that as a dig at all because that applies to most people realistically). I suppose with ona and lucy it’s different because they are definitely up there as the most thirsted over players in woso like most edits I’d say they’re usually making an appearance in and so together people are a bit like 🤯 and therefore love the idea of them together. Like a lot of their comments on their recent stuff is people being odd and begging for a joint photo of them together so clearly some fans want to see them together beyond just being satisfied with the knowledge that they are together? If that makes sense 😅

i love it when people go on a ramble it’s so interesting to read

even though a lot of this is all opinion i think you’ve hit the nail on the head. i was never a huge wonze fan but i like them individually so of course i liked them together. there wasn’t that chemistry though that a lot of couples have, at least it wasn’t very obvious to me

i don’t think there is another european (not nwsl) woso couple that has the same sort of thirsty lesbian fan base for both players. like viv and beth are adorable but it’s not the same, katie and caitlin have a good fanbase but in terms of stupid tiktok edits i think lucy and ona win that one. even sam and kristie don’t elicit that sort of response

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/735066906548191232/calling-mf-relationships-straight-anon-i-would#notes

You know it would have been 100% more helpful if you'd just added the link, because like this I had to use tumblrs dreadful search function to figure out which parts you were specifically refering/answering to. /post/734652801973616640/what-word-should-i-use-biphobic-heteronormative#notes Now I'm gonna write unreasonably long response, so skip if you don't wanna read, bc I'm currently running on energy drinks and bad decisions.

1 It might surprise you but I can and do both. I in fact tell a lot of people not to assume a couple is heterosexual or homosexual just because of how they "appear." I can do both lol.

2 If they can get married or not has absolutely nothing to do with my issue as such. I'm really confused why you even bring this up since my focus was on how M/F relationships are treated in queer spaces, and how people always default to straight or gay, instead of just not doing that since queer is more than just "straight" or "gay". Maybe it was because I mentioned not liking the way straight passing/straight passing privilege is used? But that still is a different layer of the issue I have with the term itself and how it's applied in queer spaces to treat non-homo queer identities. I do think the term has its valid uses, but there's a difference between "you can't be queer if you're in a M/F relationship, because even though you're queer that privilege means you shouldn't enter queer (safe) spaces" and "SPP is when you don't need to fear from the Government or bigots for being out with your opposite gender partner." Though that doesn't take into consideration what happens if a M/F couple might not fit the typical cis normative and heteronormative gender roles. A feminine man, and/or a masc woman in a relationship can still experience open queerphobia. A lot of people do not acknowledge that even straight passing privilege isn't as cut and dry and "M/F", but comes also with the need to uphold a certain type of gender conforming role in society. Anyway, I'm objecting to the use specifically of "straight" as a way to other bisexual, and other non-straight relationships and how it's actively used to push M/F couples or M/F presenting relationships out of queer spaces, even when one or both people are queer. This includes relationships with trans, enbies, and other queer identities. Because it happens and it's not rare that even the queer community has tried to erase or push out bisexuals, and other non-monosexual queer identities. 3 My question more along the lines: Why the need to "gender" a relationship to begin with? As in why do you need to label a relationship as straight or gay just by looking at someone? Especially by queer people. Why is it ok to use that "binary" in queer spaces to exclude queer people because they're on the "wrong" side of the binary? A binary, hetero or homo, they don't even belong to? How often do you actually need to label someone else's relationship? We know the gender binary is bullshit, but people in queer spaces still decide to uphold certain binaries in so many aspects, and then judge you based on the binary they uphold, instead of you actual identity. It always seems to be much more acceptable to other and mess around with the identities of bisexuals and pansexuals, or other identities that fall outside the monosexual binary of homo and hetero, or the even the gender binary of male and female presenting.

Add-on: I also see bisexual relationships be labelled gay and it becoming a big thing in queer fandoms to erase their bisexuality, or of course pansexual character, even when one or both characters are bi, and then they get claimed under just the homosexual label, aka "Lesbians" or "Gay." This happened with Korrasami, Bubbline, and recently Lumity, even though each of these relationships has at least 1 bisexual character. I still see fandom wank about these relationships and how people are "erasing" lesbians when they state that the bisexual character is in fact bisexual, or how people label them under the lesbian identity for both. This happens with males as well, but it's more visible with female presenting relationships and characters. And obviously on the other end, when queer characters get labelled as straight, and then suddenly their actual queer sexuality doesn't count and they get treated as bad rep, or as not-valid because they aren't performing queerness on the right side of the monosexual binary. An example from recent times was Owl Houses HunterxWillow, where even though Hunter is bi and Willow is said to be pan, people disregarded their queerness because it was an implied M/F relationship sp people started wank about it being a "straight relationship" and doesn't count. Obviously there are more instances, but Owl house is more recent in my memory and this is long enough.

Ps: I don't care what you label your own relationship. I'm speaking in general terms, and I do not decide or speak for each individual bisexual, or pansexual or w/e. I'm speaking on my observations on how the label "straight" has been used to treat bisexuals and pansexuals as less valid or even completely erase their identity the moment they enter a M/F presenting relationship.

Pps: The first post was just a tired vent, and more of a throwaway thing. Not sure what this is, but I'll try avoid the energy drinks for now.

--

[theroundbartable]

Little queer story:

It's one of the few memories I'm very fond of, so there is that :)

Between the ages of 10-14 you can apply for a camp in my village. In German it's called "Zeltlager" and it's an annual event that lasts for 10 days.

However, in some cases, when for example your parents both work at the camp, you can come with sooner. I've known only one of those kids and he was 8 in my first year (I was obviously 10).

This is my Buddyfriend Christian. That's the name I called him during that time based on a Coldmirror Joke (Coldmirror is a German youtuber, known for her satire videos, especially in regards to the HP universe). His name isn't actually Christian but that's precisely why I'm using it.

He kept following me around the entire time on that trip and I thought him a very good friend because people never really sought me out at that time. Even my ex-bff kept abandoning me (she had not applied that year). Of course, we'd receive a lot of comments, like: he's obviously into you, and stuff like that. I think that's why he later distanced himself from me, or his first girlfriend made him do it. The comments made me really insecure but I wouldn't have been mad had he had a crush on me. I mean, we were eight and ten. I just hoped he hung around because we clicked, and not because he found me atrractive (again, never understood the part of relationships where appearance matter, so... I didn't want it to be the reason at that time either.)

I did think it was weird that he was so attached to me but I thought he was lonely until the possibility was brought to my attention. He was very well liked by everyone around him, it was just that he was younger than most. I thought perhaps he hung around because neither of us really fit in, although for different reasons.

As you may know, today I identify as aro/ace (spectrum) and am in a qpr with a female friend.

Today, Christian is friends with my older brother. They reconnected through work and my brother was one of the first people he came out to as gay.

Now, here is the thing. I think we really just did the 'queers recognise each other' thing at the time without noticing.

And I had always been really open about the idea of being queer. Which, in a homophobic village like mine used to be during my growing up, and the type of children I grew up around, is not necessarily a given. But I believe that I was still, somehow, accidentally, raised that way.

My ex-bff had once explained to me that every girl has a gay phase, as her parents explained to her, and so I kept waiting for that phase without it every really materializing (despite my relationship status, I've never thought myself attracted to girls. Or guys. Or- you know what I'm getting at.) But it did seem completely normal to me. If everyone had this phase- and no one specified how long that phase would last, why would I make it a big deal, right? I think I was 7 when I came to that conclusion. I also came to the conclusion that public displays of affection are socially not accepted because my brothers did react rather disgusted when she kissed me.

I was 14 when I had my first fallout with a couple of friends who were rudely talking about a guy from parallel class who was reading yaoi mangas. My thought process at the time was: why do YOU care? He has done nothing to deserve this! He may be reading something smutty but have you READ mangas? (My first manga experience was vampire knight and I stopped when they started with the incest, so who was I to judge, amiright?)

when I turned 16, and was a little more knowledgable about LGBT+ topics because I did some research, one of those friends outed herself as lesbian. I had already known because I wasn't the first person she'd told and my brother had overheard her coming out. It was actually why I DID do research. I wanted to know how I could be there for her. So, I scolded my brother (same from above btw) for telling me because I wanted her to tell me herself. (When she did, I confessed that I didn't know what I was myself, which in hindsight was a bit disrespectful but I didn't want her to feel like she was alone. I didn't know better but it's also a very striking parallel to Alice Oseman's Loveless because that was my exact line! Jesus, you have no idea how often I had to stop reading that book because of how emotional I got and how often I cried! Ahem...)

Back to Christian. I think, maybe, deep down, he sensed that we were somewhat alike. I'm usually very distant with strangers, so to have had someone I clicked with like that without feeling afraid is one of my fondest memories and my fondest friendships of the past. (Especially because that was shortly before my great depression phase where I believed that everyone hated me.)

Should you ever read this, my buddyfriend Christian, you're awesome. It's sad that we grew apart and have no reason to really reconnect, but I do miss u sometimes. And I hope you and your boyfriend are well. I wish I could have been there for you during your coming out. But I'm glad you didn't have to experience me during puberty. I sucked.

[hard--headed--woman]

3rd day of Pride Month - 2nd LGB history 🏳️‍🌈

Today is the second day of my "post about one lgb icon/story everyday" thing for Pride Month, and I am gonna talk about the first lesbian wedding in Spain !

It's a quite famous story, but I wanted to talk about it anyway.

Here's the story of Elisa and Marcela !

Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sánchez Loriga got married on June 8, 1901, in A Coruña, at Galicia, in Spain. Their marriage was the first homosexual marriage in Spain since the Roman imperial era (though some documents were found, proving that two men got married in Spain in 1061, I'll talk about it in another post !) and happened more than 100 years before the country legalized homosexual marriages !

To achieve this, Elisa disguised herself as a man, and adopted a male identity, Mario Sánchez, which is the name on their marriage certificate. Their lie was later discovered, but their marriage was never annulled, and they remained married for the rest of their lives.

Here's a picture of them after their wedding :

There is a very good movie on Netflix, called Elisa y Marcela, that tells their story. I watched it and liked it a lot, though there are some little criticisms to be made, and if you're interested, you should watch it too! I really enjoyed it and will probably watch it a lot of other times.

Note that there are some differences between the movie and the real story, and if you watch if, I think you should also read their true story, like reading their Wikipedia page. But the biggest part of the movie (except 1-2 details and the end) is pretty accurate, so if you want to watch it and to discover their whole story like that, don't read the end of this post ! I'll tell their story in details here. Keep reading only if you don't want to watch the movie/don't care about already knowing the entire story before watching it.

▪︎

The two young women meet at the Teacher Training College in A Coruña, where future primary school teachers are trained. Eighteen-year-old Marcela is studying there, while twenty-three-year-old Elisa is working there after completing the same course. They become friends, and then lovers. Marcela's parents, fearing scandal, send their daughter to continue her studies in Madrid, but it's not enough to end their love story. Marcela is appointed teacher in Vimianzo, in the village of Calo, while nearby Elisa works as a temporary replacement in Couso, a small parish in Coristanco in the province of A Coruña. They decide to live together in Calo, until 1889, the year in which Marcela leaves to teach in Dumbría while Elisa stays in Calo. The two keep in touch, writing to each other, until Elisa joins Marcela.

They live their love for years, hiding their relationship, until they have had enough, and decide to hatch a plan to get married.

In 1901, Elisa adoptes a masculine appearance and applies to the College of Education under the name of Mario. She creates a past for herself based on a cousin who died in a shipwreck, claims to have spent her childhood in London with an atheist father. She gets baptized as Mario on May 26, 1901 and gets her First Communion under the same idendity.

The couple gets married on June 8, 1901, after publication of the banns. A short wedding ceremony is performed before witnesses, and the couple spends their wedding night in the Corcubión guesthouse on Calle de San Andrés - Elisa and Marcela are officially the first spanish homosexual couple to get married since the Roman imperial era, their plan was a success.

Unfortunately, the villagers begin to have doubts, and realize that this marriage is what they call "a marriage without a man".

The Galician and Madrid press reports the case, the two women lose their jobs, are excommunicated and placed under arrest.

Here's a picture of them after their arrest :

Elisa tries to pass herself off as intersex (using the term hermaphrodite at the time) when a doctor checks whether she's male or female, to no avail. Despite this, and the Civil Guard's attempts to prosecute them, their marriage was never annulled, and the two lovers manages to escape. Their story becomes famous in Spain and many other European countries.

(Un matrimonio sin hombre = a marriage without a man)

After that, we don't know what happened to them. The last thing we know fore sure about them is that they embarked on a ship bound for South America - perhaps Argentina, like so many other Spaniards of the time, where they spent their honeymoon and settled.

But in 2008, a book, Elisa e Marcela – Alén dos homes (Elisa and Marcela – Beyond men), by Narciso de Gabriel, was published in A Coruña, and tells their story from 1901 to 1904. It narrates the events in Porto, Portugal, where they were imprisoned, tried, and later released. They fled to Argentina after the Spanish government demanded their extradition from Portugal. The book tells that before leaving Porto for the Americas, Marcela gave birth to a girl - I couldn't find any other information about that. It also tells that after they landed in Buenos Aires, Elisa (under the alias of Maria) married Christian Jensen, a wealthy immigrant from Denmark 24 years her senior, in 1903 and that Marcela, under the alias of Carmen, pretended to be her sister and stayed there with her daughter.

Elisa refused to consummate the marriage with Jensen. He grew suspicious and tried to have the marriage annulled on the grounds that Elisa wasn't, in fact, a woman. This claim was never substantiated: Three medical examinations confirmed that Elisa was a woman.[11] Since the marriage was between a man and a woman, and therefore valid, no charges were brought against Elisa. After this time, there is no further record of Marcela and Elisa. Still according to this book, Elisa refused have sex with Jensen, who grew suspicious and tried to have the marriage annulled on the grounds that Elisa wasn't, in fact, a woman. It didn't work : three medical examinations confirmed that Elisa was a woman, and since the marriage was between a man and a woman, and therefore valid, no charges were brought against Elisa. After this time, there is no further record of Marcela and Elisa - though some sources claim that Elisa killed herself in 1909.

I'm sorry if some things aren't very clear - sometimes the sources I've found contradict each other, and there are differences in information between French (I'm French), Spanish and English sources. Sometimes even the same source says two different things. I've done my best, and I hope what I've written isn't too far from the truth.

This is a very interesting sorry, that is very, very important in LGB history, and I encourage you all to do your own research, read the book and watch the film! Personally, I'm very happy to have discovered this story, which I like very much.

See you tomorrow for another story/lgb icon :)

[headcanonsandmore]

"All Alone (For The Holidays)', Chapter Two

Summary: Tegan and Nyssa adapt to sharing a room (and bed) between them. Hopefully, they may just become closer as a result, but how will things change between them?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Read on AO3.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tegan and Nyssa stared at each other. There was a very pregnant pause. Tegan was sure that she could hear her own heart beating through her ears, and her palms were suddenly very sweaty.

‘Oh,’ said Nyssa. ‘Er…’

‘I’ll doze in the chair,’ Tegan said, quickly. ‘You take the bed.’

‘Oh, don’t start all that again,’ Nyssa replied, with a sigh. She removed her hat, letting her long mane of curly hair roll down to her shoulders. ‘There’s plenty of room for both of us.’

Tegan blinked in confusion.

‘You’re… you’re okay with us sharing a bed?’

‘Yes. Why? Are you not?’

‘That’s not what I…’ Tegan trailed off, before rubbing her forehead. ‘Nyssa, you haven’t even known me for a day. Why are you fine with us sleeping in the same bed?’

‘Well…’ Nyssa began, and Tegan was shocked to see the younger woman’s cheeks flush slightly as she removed her coat and hung it next to Tegan’s. ‘You’ve been very kind to me, Tegan. I… I trust you.’

Tegan goggled at her.

‘Nyssa, I’m happy that you trust me but… but…’

‘What?’

‘You do realise I’m a lesbian, right?’

Nyssa smiled, cheeks dimpling.

‘I did rather surmise that, yes.’

‘Most straight woman aren’t lining up to share a bed with a lesbian.’

‘Well, given that I’m not straight,’ Nyssa replied, with a grin. ‘That doesn’t really apply to me, does it?’

‘O-oh, I… I suppose not.’

Nyssa chuckled.

‘Lovely. Now that we’re agreed, shall I strip off first or do you want to?’

Tegan spluttered, feeling her face burn. She found herself blinking quickly.

‘W-what do you-’

‘In the bathroom,’ Nyssa said, gesturing to the door nearby. ‘Do you want to get changed in the bathroom first or shall I?’

‘Oh,’ Tegan said. ‘Er… I’ll go first.’

Nyssa giggled.

‘Are you usually this embarrassed when sharing a room with another woman?’

‘No,’ Tegan mumbled, undoing her suitcase. ‘I’m putting this on just for you.’

‘You’re so kind,’ Nyssa said, cheeks dimpling adorably. ‘Smart, beautiful and funny; you’re quite the delight, Tegan Jovanka.’

Tegan ignored the spike in her heart rate as she grabbed her pyjamas and toiletries before heading into the bathroom. She quickly closed the door behind, and stared into the mirror. A very tired and nervous-looking Australian stared back at her. Of course, she could also near Nyssa humming absentmindedly to herself outside, and heard the springs of the double bed creak as the Englishwoman sat down on the edge.

The edge of the bed they would be sharing for the night.

This was bad. This was bad.

*

‘All ready?’

‘Yeah,’ Tegan said, looking up from her book. ‘You all set for… for…’

Tegan was unable to finish that sentence, as Nyssa had appeared out of the bathroom. She was wearing a long blue-grey nightgown that reflected the gentle light from the bedside lamp, and her long locks of curly hair were hanging loose around her shoulders.

Tegan’s stomach seemed to flip over. She was suddenly aware that she herself was wearing a pair of old striped pyjamas that her step-son had bought her several years previously, and that her reading glasses had slipped slightly down her nose. A small amount of mild envy arose in Tegan’s heart at the way Nyssa seemed to move with such easy confidence, and the way her nightie gently accentuated her curves.

The rest of her heart was, of course, completely overawed. The majority vote was taken, and the envy rapidly disappeared under a lake of adoration.

‘Yes,’ Nyssa replied, not seeming to notice Tegan’s unabashed staring. ‘Rather a nice bathroom, isn’t it.’

‘Y-yeah,’ Tegan stammered, as Nyssa climbed into bed to sit beside her. And it was right beside her, since the bed wasn’t exactly large. She could almost feel Nyssa’s hip against her own; they couldn’t have been more than a couple of inches apart. ‘V-very nice.’

Nyssa looked at her.

‘Tegan, why are you blushing?’

Tegan’s hands rose sharply up to her face, and she was horrified to feel that both her cheeks were boiling hot. Goodness knew what her face looked like; probably something resembling a tomato.

‘S-sorry!’ she exclaimed, unable to meet Nyssa’s eyes. ‘I just…’

 But Nyssa didn’t seem alarmed. Instead, the Englishwoman let out a giggle.

‘Oh, you’re adorable when you’re flustered,’ she said, laying a gentle hand on Tegan’s arm. ‘Was it the nightdress? I am rather pleased with this one-’

‘Stop it!’ Tegan moaned, putting her book on the bedside table and laying down on her side, facing away from Nyssa. ‘I am not adorable!’

There was another giggle from behind her as Nyssa turned off the bedside lamp. Outside, there was the soft flutter of snow, giving the room a warm, cosy atmosphere.

‘I beg to differ, Tegan.’

*

‘Can’t sleep either?’

‘No.’

It was roughly an hour later.

Tegan let out a sigh. She had been hoping that the day’s events would have tired her out, but the fact that she was sharing a bed with Nyssa had probably caused her brain to fry. She really was useless, wasn’t she. Goodness forbid she stop acting like an adolescent with a crush everytime she was around a pretty lady.

Well, Nyssa wasn’t just pretty; she was funny, smart, kind and sweet, on top of being drop-dead gorgeous and utterly mesmerising.

Not that Tegan was taking notice, of course. Definitely not.

‘Nevermind,’ Nyssa said, and Tegan heard the mattress alter slightly as Nyssa adjusted the way she was lying. ‘At least we’re inside in the warm.’

‘True,’ Tegan replied. ‘Sorry about the smell, by the way. I think that hot chocolate on the train disagreed with me.’

‘Oh, we’re both past the age where flatulence causes embarrassment,’ Nyssa chuckled. It sounded like birdsong to Tegan’s ears. ‘Thank you for kindly not mentioning my cellulite.’

‘To be honest, I didn’t even notice. That nightie sure is something.’

Nyssa’s soft giggles shook the bed.

‘Tegan, are you flirting with me?’

‘Dunno. I’m a sleep deprived lesbian lying in bed with another woman. My brain is a tad scrambled.’

‘Good point.’

There was gentle silence for a few seconds.

‘Tegan, you never did explain what you do for a living.’

‘Didn’t think it was important.’

‘Of course it’s important; how could it not be?’

‘Spoken like a true scientist. Nah, I’m not particularly career-focused nowadays. Retirement isn’t far off.’

‘Tegan….’

The Australian let out a sigh. Oh, she couldn’t say no to this woman…

‘When I was younger, I used to work as a flight attendant,’ she said. ‘I thought it would be fun, but it got grating after a while. Long hours, couldn’t put down any roots anywhere, and tons of unpleasant passengers. Eventually, I poured some wine over someone’s head when they got snarky with me.’

‘You didn’t!’

‘I did. Got fired after the plane landed at Heathrow. Ended up working in a travel agents for the next twenty-odd years. A bit more my scene, to be honest. Although living halfway across the world from my family did get lonely at times. Still does, to be honest.’

‘Is that why you’re-’

‘Yeah. I’m heading up to the Shetland Islands to catch up with some of my mum’s family.’

‘No kids or partner?’

‘Two ex-husbands,’ Tegan said, with a snort. ‘Although I do have a step-son from the second one. He lives in Spain these days.’

‘I take it both marriages happened before you came out?’

‘Oh, I came out during the second one. Could have gone worse though; he came out as gay at the same time!’

Nyssa gave a giggle.

‘That must have been a surprise for you both.’

‘Sure was. We still catch up from time to time. Him and his husband got married a couple years back; they’re a lovely couple.’

‘Sounds nice,’ Nyssa said, quietly. ‘A family…’

Tegan frowned slightly.

‘If you don’t mind me asking…what about you? Partner? Kids?’

Nyssa sighed.

‘No. It never really happened for me. It took me decades for me to figure out the whole asexual thing, so that was an added bit of difficulty aside from finding women pretty.’

‘Really?’

‘You sound surprised.’

‘Course I am. People seriously couldn’t be with you just because of that? They were clearly morons! Nyssa, you’re… wonderful.’

That last word had slipped out of Tegan’s mouth before she’d realised what she was saying, or how it would sound with the two of them in bed together, with barely a few inches of mattress inbetween them.

But Nyssa didn’t seem to think much of it. Instead, she let out a chuckle and turned on her side to face Tegan.

‘Thank you, Tegan,’ she whispered. ‘For what it’s worth, I think you’re wonderful too, even if I’ve known you for less that twelve hours.’

Tegan’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart was suddenly beating fast against her chest. She turned on her side, so that she was looking directly at Nyssa.

‘Thank you,’ she breathed. ‘Hey, You don’t have to talk about your family. I’m guessing… lots of difficult stuff?’

‘I suppose. But… well, since you told me about yours…’

‘Only if you want.’

‘I do,’ Nyssa said.

She took a long, calming breath and started to speak again.

‘My mother died when I was five years old. And then my father passed away when I was seventeen. I… I don’t really have family; neither of my parents had siblings, and both sets of grandparents had died before I was born.’

Tegan found tears already blossoming in her eyes.

‘Oh, Nyssa…’

‘Tegan, it was over half a century ago,’ Nyssa said, gently. ‘You don’t need to get upset over it.’

‘But… oh…’

Tegan froze, as Nyssa reached over and wiped the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand.

‘Better?’

Tegan nodded, breathlessly, the feeling of Nyssa’s skin still burning wonderfully against her own.

‘Er, how… how did…’

‘My father? Traffic collision,’ Nyssa said, with a sigh. ‘On the Barnet Bypass. He was trying to get home from work and… a drunk driver ended up going sideways into the car. The coroner said that dad probably didn’t feel a thing. Of course, that wasn’t really much of a comfort…’

Nyssa swallowed, and continued.

‘I lived with a family friend for a while afterwards. Doctor Smith; he was a close friend of my father. After I went to university and got my doctorate, I went into bio-chemistry.’

Tegan didn’t say anything, letting Nyssa talk.

‘I love my job,’ the Englishwoman continued. ‘My colleagues are lovely, and I enjoy living in London. But, sometimes, I wish it wasn’t so… fast. I find that, as I get older, the frantic pace is just too much.’

‘So…’ Tegan whispered, softly. ‘The Orkneys?’

‘Away from London, and all that hustle and bustle over the holidays. I wanted… some quiet.’

‘All by yourself?’

‘Yes. I booked a little lodge to stay in. I’m used to being by myself, even in London.’

‘That seems ever so lonely.’

Nyssa sighed.

‘I suppose. But, like I say, I’m used to it.’

‘You shouldn’t be used to it, Nyssa,’ she whispered. ‘You shouldn’t be.’

Without thinking, Tegan reached over and intertwined her fingers with the woman lying beside her. The Englishwoman squeezed softly.

Through the dark, Tegan could see Nyssa’s eyes widen slightly, and her mouth curve into a wonderfully soft smile.

‘You know what, Nyssa?’

‘What?’

‘I… I think you’re amazing.’

‘You’re not just saying that because we’re sleeping together?’

‘Not a chance,’ Tegan chuckled. ‘Besides, we’re both well past that stage in our lives.’

‘True,’ Nyssa replied, with a giggle. ‘Although, surprising as it may seem, I’ve never been much of a flirt.’

‘Couldn’t have fooled me.’

Tegan could have sworn that Nyssa’s face briefly flushed.

‘Now you’re just trying to flatter me.’

‘Nope,’ Tegan said, softly. ‘You’re too harsh on yourself, Nyssa. And I should know; I’m not exactly the most confident person on the planet.’

‘Really? I find that hard to believe. I… I envy you, Tegan. Confident, brave… you’re truly amazing.’

Tegan’s heart beat happily against her chest.

‘Thank you, Nyssa.’

‘Er… Tegan?’

‘Yes?’

‘Can… can you hold me, please? I… only if you want to-’

Without conscious thought, Tegan slid the few inches left inbetween them, and wrapped her arm gently around Nyssa’s waist. Her nostrils were filled with the wonderful scent of Nyssa’s hair. Oh. It was at once intoxicating and yet relaxing, as if settling into a bath at the end of a long, difficult day.

‘Goodnight, Nyssa.’

She could have sworn that Nyssa’s face crinkled into a wonderfully sweet smile, with cheeks dimpling. In the darkness of the room, it was almost impossible to tell either way. But Tegan hoped she was right. Without thinking, she nuzzled softly into Nyssa’s hair, and the younger woman seemed to relax deeper against her. The Englishwoman’s hands slipped around Tegan’s waist, resting gently on her back, and she squeezed softly.

‘Goodnight, Tegan.’

~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you liked the second chapter! Love me a good bed-sharing trope!

[nerdasaurus1200]

question but why do you hc cass as bi? As a lesbian myself Cass is so lesbian coded it's off the charts (clearly butch but is forced into rigid gender roles? loves swordplay and the arts of combat? faked attraction to a whole ass man to get into the royal guard? Gotta emphasize that butch thing because damn!! Represent! She's gotta be magnificently buff under that gambeson)

Also there's that whole thing with Rapunzel (kudos to the storyboarders , they had a vision and it came out clear!!) because it's gotta be a canon event for lesbians to have a painfully unrequited crush on a straight girl, even if you shove it deep down where the sun don't shine. That repression has gotta be about 80000% worse in the 1700s when homosexuality is really, really taboo in the western world (Disney kids show logic notwithstanding)

It’s funny that you ask this because I was actually just thinking about it the other day XD There’s actually a couple reasons I headcanon Cassandra as bi.

I have a good friend who’s bi, and they’ve told me that Cassandra checks off a lot of bi boxes so to speak. A lot of the stereotypes and traits that apply to gay women can also apply to bisexual women as well. Heck, sometimes they don’t apply to them at all, and sometimes they apply to completely different groups. And heck even bisexual women are forced into those same rigid gender roles among other boxes.

While I’m not at all against the idea of Cassandra being attracted to women, I don’t think lesbian has to be her only option for her to be with a woman. And just because we have implications of her being attracted to men in the writing of the show but that doesn’t mean she’s only into men either. Sexuality is a spectrum after all, you can be attracted to men and/or women and not be gay or straight. I myself am demisexual and I’ve stated to friends and family many times that the gender of whoever my partner ends up being doesn’t matter in the slightest to me.

As for the storyboarders, their work is absolutely amazing and they did a wonderful job but they were also lied to. Chris, the director, enjoyed all the attention Cassandra and Rapunzel were getting from the crew and from fans so he led them on and never bothered to tell the artists about the sister plot. And then of course there’s the whole harassment situation which I won’t get into here. But long story short, Chris misled his crew and his fans just so he could fetishize Rapunzel and Cassandra’s relationship and any semblance of it and I’m not here for any of that.

And as for the more fun reasons, I love the idea of Eugene “teaching” Cass how to be bi, helping her pick up women and men. He would totally understand the bi struggle. In my mind it’s like when Rosa comes out as bi in Brooklyn 99. I can only see the gang being super supportive of Cass and trying to get her to go on blind dates with both men and women.

[epickiya722]

❤️‍🔥 BurnBunny Headcanons 🐇

PART 2! Because I can and it's what I want...

FIND THE FIRST BATCH HERE!

Burnin is the one they suggest they get a pet in the home. Of course, they got a rabbit and named her Carrot Cake.

When it comes to sexualities, Burnin is a lesbian. Miruko, though, doesn't really label herself. She just knows she loves Burnin and Burnin only.

Miruko loves cuddling against Burnin because she's practically a walking heater. She especially loves cuddling with her on cold nights.

They're not big on social media, but they use it often to post about each other. They have a fanclub, but it's a mystery if they know it or not.

However, they both have used their social media to defend each other. So far, in total, it's been 3 times. Twice for Miruko and once for Burnin. People who offended them learned the hard way to shut up and immediately apologized.

When Miruko didn't get on a magazine cover, Burnin goes on a rant about how she should have been and eventually it leads to the magazine getting burned into ashes.

Miruko has came to the Endeavor Agency to see Burnin. Of course, Endeavor has made comments on it but because she sasses him, he gave up. She has only visited the agency three times though, since her and Burnin mostly cross paths on duty anyways and they live together.

Sometimes, it takes forever for Miruko to go to sleep when Burnin isn't in bed with her. Burnin's her natural heater and the warmth soothes her.

It also helps for whenever Miruko needs a massage from aches that Burnin is happy to help with.

They apply each other's face masks.

Burnin has been the only person to ever touch Miruko's ears and tail and get away with it.

They have only gotten in really big fights twice.

The longest it took about two hours before they both gave up, talked it out and made up. The shortest amount of time has been a couple of minutes. It's usually Miruko who apologizes first because she doesn't want to have regrets.

Burnin is obsessed with Miruko sitting in her lap. The moment she sees Miruko about to sit down, when she's in the mood, she'll rush to be in that spot. Miruko doesn't complain.

Burnin in Miruko's phone -> Hot Stuff ❤️‍🔥💚

Miruko in Burnin's phone -> Bunny Boo 🐇💜

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

I'm not really surprised gay men don't watch anything in terms of queer women like women in general would for queer men whether gay, straight or bi men only care about themselves.

I know. I watch a lot of reactions on youtube. From straight but also gay people. And sometimes a couple of lesbians show up on the shows/movies gay men (not bi just gay through and through) react to, and all of them... I mean all of the gay men seem incapable of being moved by two women loving each other 😭

I know some gay men develop really good friendships with women, but as far as men comprehending that women love and desire other women goes, they honestly just seem unable to wrap their minds around that fact. It's like they get it, and of course see it as normal, but only to some point.

So it's interesting in the way that speaks of how women are almost genetically coded to feel empathy and be able to put themselves in someone else's shoes, but men just aren't. We're talking about gay men right now, but of course it applies to straight ones too. They just lack empathy.

[sage-nebula]

A trend I've noticed cropping up into Pearlina works that has started bugging me a little is the tendency to make Pearl masc/butch while Marina is femme. Which, on the one hand, at least people aren't making Marina butch just because she's Black, which is something a lot of fandoms do to Black women due to racism. But on the other hand, it's still not true at all to Pearl's character and, more to the point, I think it's bugging me because I feel like it's heteronormativity applied to a queer couple.

I mean, these are fictional characters so at the end of the day it's not a big deal. But this is something we (i.e. queer people) face all the time. Like as a lesbian, I've had to have the "well one of you would have to be the man" talk with my father multiple times because although he understands on some level that we're both women, there's a part of him that's like, well, one person still fulfills the Masc Role and one person still fulfills the Femme Role. And it doesn't help that I'm gender nonconforming and always have been (to the point where, even as a child, I would get my older relatives to purchase my clothes from the boys' department because I, an otherwise extremely well-behaved child, would pitch fits if made to wear feminine clothing). So like in his mind I'm the Masc Role, which I mean, true, but that still doesn't make me "the man," I'm still a woman, and a cis woman at that. But this is sort of veering away from the point.

The point is, in a wlw relationship, sure, sometimes one of the women involved is butch and the other is femme. But also, sometimes both women are butches. And sometimes both women are femmes. And being butch or femme isn't always about how you dress anyway. And sometimes people like to change up how they dress depending on the day, and so on and so forth. But I feel like, at least in fandom, sometimes fandoms take queer couples in fiction and they still subconsciously box them into Masc and Femme roles. This happens both with wlw couples and mlm couples. Because we're raised in a very heterocentric society, we'll often subconsciously apply the heteronormative relationship patterns onto these queer couples in our art and fiction without even realizing we're doing it.

And I think it's happening here because Pearl's personality is very rough-and-tumble. Pearl is loud, she's assertive and can be aggressive when she's protecting those she cares about, she's not afraid to fight and get messy, she's reckless and brave and has a stereotypical "masculine" personality. This contrasts with Marina (intentionally), who is sweeter, more gentle, more openly affectionate, more cautious, et cetera, and overall has a more stereotypically "feminine" personality. So people are like, okay, Pearl has the more stereotypical "masculine" personality, so we'll make her the Masc/Butch one, and Marina the Femme one. Which, again, at least they're not going the racist route with Marina. I do appreciate that.

But it's still is a stereotype that doesn't really fit Pearl, and when I look at some of the fanart, it still doesn't square. Of course people can draw what they want, and I have reblogged some of it, and I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad. But I am just saying, Pearl is VERY feminine in her dress and presentation. Yes, Pearl has a brash personality, but actually take a moment to look at her, in both Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3. Here are hallmarks of Pearl's wardrobe and design:

Traditionally feminine colors in pastel shades: pinks, creams, and yellows/golds

Shiny jewelry, such as rings, necklaces, and most notably jewel encrusted crowns

She wears dresses; her main outfit in Splatoon 2 is a dress, she wears her baggy hoodie in OE like a dress, and she has a gold sparkly dress under Marina's her jacket in Side Order

Pearl is princess themed all over (hence her stage name of MC Princess), and it shows! She's very feminine. She loves being pretty. Yes she has short hair, but it's a cute, feminine bob. Yes, she has a rough-and-tumble personality, but that doesn't have anything to do with how she loves to dress up in girly pastel dresses (or hoodies that she can wear in such a way that they look like dresses) to look pretty. This squid contains multitudes. (And if you're like, "But what if she ruined her pretty dresses?" well, she's filthy rich, so what does she care? She'll just buy a new one lmao.)

And yes, I am aware that when Pearl was in her heavy metal phase before meeting Marina, she did dress in a black punk outfit, complete with pants. She is also wearing a black version of her OE hoodie in my icon, which comes from a Famitsu render. (At least I believe it was a Famitsu render.) But as I mentioned before, people can change their styles every now and again, and at least for the past 5+ in-game years, Pearl has not only been doing hip-hop instead of heavy metal, but has also been dressing a lot more feminine and in much brighter colors. Who knows? Maybe meeting Marina brightened up her outlook, and that inspired her to brighten up her wardrobe :)

And none of this is to say that Marina should be depicted as butch, because she absolutely should not! Marina is ALSO very feminine! Yes, Marina likes to wear pants, but pants aren't automatically masc, and she still wears a lot of feminine tops, pumps, et cetera. Both Pearl and Marina are feminine.

Again, I'm not trying to police what anyone can or can't draw or depict, but it just started to bug me a little in a, "This is the same heteronormative pattern I often see" kind of way, and also a, "This is not true to her character" kind of way as well. Especially as a lesbian woman who, again, is GNC and not feminine at all. Trust, I would love more honest representation of women like me, but Pearl is just not that. She's a sparkly, high-femme, rowdy little princess. And I love her just the way she is.