#this applies to any trans depictions too

[kittypyuun]

@sskurwysyn AKFJFHAJFH?? THANK YOU????? Your arts real pretty...... (*´∀｀*)

Have fem Leo as a big thank you

[themoonking]

elaborating on a post from last night.

back when the good omens show first came out, i saw this fandom quickly dismiss concerns transfems had about the transmisogynistic tropes present in the show, the book, and gaiman's other work. i saw this fandom praise a depiction of a man disguising himself as a woman with the sole intention of gaining access to a child and influencing them into evil as a bold, positive representation of gender nonconformity. unfortunately i, being very young at the time and not as familiar with transphobia as it applied to trans women as i was with how it applied to myself (a tme enby), was part of this dismissal. i, like many other good omens fans, participated in brushing aside trans women's valid concerns in favor of supporting neil gaiman's bullshit. but i have since left the fandom, learned, and realized how fucked up it was.

so it's honestly sickening to see this same fandom now use defense of and support for trans women as a shield to excuse neil gaiman's bullshit once again. i believe that tortoise media had motives for wanting to break the story that had more to do with gaiman's milquetoast support for trans rights than they did concern for his victims, but i also believe the victims. i wish scarlett and k had come forward about their abuse with literally any other outlet, and it's entirely possible that one or both of them have bigoted beliefs about trans people themselves, but i'm not going to dismiss what they went through just because they aren't perfect victims or perfect people.

it's without question that gaiman had sexual relationships with both of these women, both being in their early 20s while he was in his 40s and 60s, one being a fan he met when she was a teenager and the other being his employee, respectively. that alone should make you want to distance yourself from him and his work. it also seriously makes me doubt his innocence that his own defense of himself is that k is just still so upset about the way their relationship ended that she's making sa allegations to get back at him almost two decades later and that scarlett is literally delusional and has created false memories of assault due to a medical condition that she does not fucking have.

we have seen time and time again that victims get absolutely no reward for coming forward about abuse, especially so when their abuser is a wealthy public figure. the idea that women are incentivized to create false allegations is a straight up lie and i had thought, after you all were fooled by depp and his pr team not too long ago, that we had all moved past believing it, but i guess fucking not.

[foone]

One thing I think about a lot is that how omegaverse is a sort of meta-setting that can and has been applied to many different fandoms, right?

So there's "omegaverse supernatural" (because that's where it started) and "omegaverse star trek" and "omegaverse Frasier" and "omegaverse Batman" and "omegaverse US presidents".

You can basically easily apply it to any fandom with lots of men in it, which turns out to be most of them. (and you can apply it to the rare female-majority fandoms with a bit of extra work).

But the interesting thing to me is that omegaverse depends on characters having subgenders: alpha/beta/omega are effectively gender roles on top of the regular male/female ones, but they're ones not specified in the original fiction, right? (I mean, not usually).

So like, you can watch NewsRadio and it makes it pretty clear Dave is a man, but it never specifies if he's an alpha or omega, because why would it? Also, why is my go-to example of a random sitcom one from 1995?

Anyway. So you've got a bunch of characters with canonical genders (not that that has ever stopped fans from headcanoning them as different! Dave is a trans man, Lisa is a trans woman, and Bill? All Phil Hartman characters are closeted trans women, so jot that down), but you don't have canonical subgenders.

So fans have to decide which characters in a fiction are alphas and omegas and so on. They tend to be pretty consistent for most characters, actually.

But the part that interests me despite not really reading omegaverse stuff is just those headcanons.

Like, I can take a show I know well, like say Star Trek: The Next Generation, and find out what the fans think their subgenders are.

Like, I'm gonna guess that Riker and Worf are alphas. Picard could go either way. LaForge is an omega, Data is... An android, but he's had sex, so... I'm gonna guess alpha? O'Brien is an omega, but that's mostly going off DS9. Maybe he wasn't in TNG yet? Wesley I'm guessing gets headcanoned as omega.

And see, now I can go look at ao3 and see what other people think for these! And for some reason that's way more interesting to me than just reading any omegaverse fic.

I think we should do more of this sort of shit. I mean, I guess we kinda do for things like top/bottom, dom/sub, trans/cis, but I demand more subgenders! Subgenders that aren't depicted in the fiction but fans have to headcanon.

I kinda want to make a sort of wiki website which works by scraping ao3 tags and assigning alpha/beta/omega to characters from shows, basically a fan vote on how people headcanon the subgenders of these characters.

Anyway I checked and oh boy yeah everyone says Wesley is an omega. Apparently Zefram Cochrane is an omega too.

And the one fic I saw with Data in it made him an omega. Huh. Interesting.

I dunno. It's weird: I've got no interest in reading a fic where these characters fuck in their weird omegaverse ways, but I can't not be interested in knowing how fans headcanon them.

[wlw-webcomic-bracket]

WLW Webcomic Bracket presents:

THE TRANSGENDER WEBCOMIC SWAG TOURNAMENT

Is there a trans or nonbinary webcomic character that you love? Do you want to see them do battle against other trans and enby characters to see who is the most beloved on Tumblr? Would you like to get acquainted with more queer webcomics? Then this tournament is for you!

RULES:

Characters must be canonically trans or nonbinary. Your headcanons are beautiful and I respect them (I have mine too), but this tournament is meant to be a celebration of canon depictions.

"Webcomic," for the purposes of this tournament, means any comic that is originally and primarily published online.

Fictional characters only, please!

Don't take the word "swag" too literally. If you like a character, that character has swag.

If you're unsure about any of these rules, asks are open!

That said, if you're going to ask me "how many entries does _____ have?" then you also need to include some propaganda or I won't answer.

Standard tournament etiquette applies - no spamming, yes propaganda, be kind to each other, zero tolerance for bigotry.

This tournament will be held in two stages, similar to the World Cup. In the first stage, characters will be placed in several pots for a round-robin competition. That way, everybody gets to compete several times and nobody gets eliminated based on one bad matchup. In the second stage, the winners of each pot will be placed in a single-elimination championship bracket.

Sounds good? Submit your nominations here! The tentative deadline is Sunday, June 18.

<3

[metanarrates]

i have a lot of mixed feelings regarding trans headcanons in orv, or in general in fandom spaces because of how often its taking transmisogynistic jokes and bending them to actually have a cool and awesome meaning instead of just reading fiction with transgender characters. how do you feel about this as an everyone in orv is transfem poster (not accusatory tone i am genuinely wondering your take on this)

I think it's complicated because i Do agree that most trans headcanons in fandom are rooted in transphobic ideas, especially when it comes to transfem characters. I actually personally wouldn't trust most people who headcanon characters as trans unless they're able to point out when something in the text is transmisogynistic. and orv does have transmisogynistic stuff in it. the whole joke with nirvana and the entire scene with the pink kids is based around transfems being predators and men in disguise. I really don't want to hang around other orv fans unless they're able to point that out. (also, i would Definitely not trust anyone who refers to those characters as trans icons or whatever.)

I'll also fully admit that I don't remember the revolutionary arc all that well. at the time when I first read it, I just simply assumed that jang hayoung was meant to be a trans woman, and any issues kim dokja had with recognizing her gender was interesting because of how it tied into the metafictional elements about how characters can change beyond a reader's perception. from my recollection, and from the readings of other people in my life who have read the novel, it seemed canon that she was intentionally transfem. similarly, I felt like the plot point of "yoo joonghyuk has a female alter ego" was taken pretty seriously, rather than being a meanspirited joke. if I'm not remembering that right, though, please let me know.

orv in general has a problem in depictions of lgbt people. there's the abovementioned transmisogyny with nirvana and the pink kids, and there's also the undeniable fact that "kim dokja and yoo joonghyuk are gay but haha Not Actually" is leaned on a little bit too much as a joke. I have a similarly complicated relationship to the idea of shipping them for that reason - I think their relationship is meaningful and rich, but I really dislike that the fandom seems to just take that joke as an uncritical BL trope, rather than discussing how it's sometimes a bit homophobic. again, I don't trust joongdok shippers who aren't able to discuss this.

at the same time, though, I do think that if you're aware of the problems in the text, it's possible to construct a lot of rich meaning out of applying queer lenses to the text. there's a lot to dig into regarding how the story depicts gender, for example, and how it depicts transcendence and self-actualization. you can't credit the authors here - like I said, their writing has several issues with lgbt people. but as long as you aren't advertising the story as Queer Fiction, I find that it's extremely valuable to discuss how a trans reading might cast an interesting light onto a character. and on a more personal level, I think having these sorts of open discussions about both the problems and merits of trans readings, as well as the issues present in a text, do tend to make a lot of trans people feel more welcome in fan spaces. both are necessary for making a story and space that may be hostile towards them feel more welcoming.

yes, I do agree that it would probably be better to read fiction with better trans characters. those stories are out there! this is also why I am wary to praise singshong for jang hayoung's character - I don't think orv exactly Deserves a reputation as a trans inclusive story, especially when there's a lot more of those that are much better at it out there.

but at the end of the day, there are going to be trans people who do like orv, all the same. I'm one of them, though I will say upfront that I am tme and therefore much less affected by the story's problems. my fiancee is transfem and she likes it. a lot of my mutuals who like orv are trans. I don't think it's such a bad thing that we've constructed these community readings in a work we already liked for its other merits. we're going to be here anyway. as long as we do our best to be respectful and point out problems as they arise, I think it's a good thing that we're having these sorts of discussions.

[kitsu-katsu]

I'm gonna make this post as condenaed and abridged brainrot to explain why Victor Frankenstein is my boy from 200 yr old media prompted by a tag question from @samathekittycat in a post I reblogged because that highjacking would've been too much

So. Basically every adaptation ever is way off, Victor in the og novel is a guy from a rich family, yes, but one that has it's own fucked up occurrences that shape him even though he says his life is the peak of idyllic and that can lead to really good character analysis

He becomes an alchemy fanatic at 13, completely obsesses over it, even harder when his father claims the whole subject to be trash and he's in general somewhat fascinated by natural occurrences as well, so he gets it into his head that he wants to change the world by attaining the alchemist dream of basically defeating death, and this is all exacerbated when he's about to be sent away to study in Ingolstadt at 17 and just days before his mother dies of an illness his cousin-sister-future wife (it's complicated, it's a whole mess with hiw mother's involvement too) contracted first, so his trip is delayed a bit, but he never really processes his grief and is not that interested in actual science at first until a professor he meets there validates the alchemists ambition and he starts to hyperfixate on science so bad he's surpassed his professors in 2 years, and with all this baggage, at 19, he decides he's going to decode the secrets of death basically, because as he sees it at this point, if applied enough in the right direction with a scientific method any mediocre man could change society

So he builds his creatire after 2 years of isolating himself completely to do it, so he finishes it at like 21, and the thing is, the guy basically did all of this in a hyperfocused state he started at 19 and influenced by All That Baggage and grief he has Not Processed, so he wasn't really thinking about the consequences of anything. So his creature opens its eyes and suddenly the weight and terror of everything falls upon him along with a good mix of uncanny valley, and he just. Collapses. He sleeps a bit, his creature's still there, and he's so scared he runs away from his dorm room and by chance meets with his bff who was back in Geneva with the rest of his family he hasn't talked to in 2 whole years, his creature sneaks out while this is happening, and when going back, Victor is so mentally collapsed and strained and also scared he mighr be called crazy that he's just glad that the creature's gone and enters a fragile state where he's just completely physically sick and done for for a Big While, he can't take care of himself anymore and can't even look at anything relatingnto science anymore

When he's getting better, he has to go back to Geneva because his brother died. Whoah-oh, it was the Creature. He confronts it eventually and it asks for a bride and promises to go away with her, this is a Whole Conflict, because Victor can't reveal what he knows or he'll be labelled insane, he also doesn't wanna finish the bride because she'll also be her own person and what if she doesn't wanna run away with og Creature as his bride? While all of this is happening, one family servant is being accused of the murder and trialed, Victor is squealing in a corner

Basically, he's very autistic, he's seen a hysteric, his creation of the Creature can be analyzed from so many different angles, from teenage pregnancy and postpartum depression, trans experiences (both transmasc and transfemme! I've seen excellent analysis from both perspectives, though I have a personal bias towards the transmasc reading), the process of artist in general (like, that point when you start drawing something and you start zooming into every detail for hours and once you zoom out again you realize you don't like how it came out at all even though you put so much time into it), his illnesses and disabilities both mental and physical are really interestingly depicted as well, overall, he's a very meaty character who was FAR from making everything right, in fact, he did a lot wrong, but he's also a victim of his circumstances, a teen/young adult in the whole duration of the thing, and is suffering tons of pressure from everywhere while losing his purpose and selse of self to his opposition to his own creation. They are the definition of "they can make eachother worse" and Victor loses everything. He's a tragedy. A tragedy that a lot of people wanna ignore and just say he's plain evil because the Creature must be plain good and they feel smart if they say the typical "Small brain: Frankenstein was the monster vs Big brain: Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster vs Galaxy brain: Frankenstein was the monster all along" and they completely skip out on all the depth this character has

I went super aurface level in a lot of parts here, but I hope it's somewhat understandable

I recommend reading the novel though! It's Good

[sodasa-was-taken]

The problem plaguing cishet romance and the biggest advantage queer romance has over it: A sociology of literature analysis on the history and prevalence of the romance genre

I've gotten some feedback where people have expressed that they thought they didn't like romances but later found out they liked queer romances. I thought it would be fun to go over some inherent differences between cishet and queer relationships in fiction and how they came to be. I've chosen to use cishet instead of straight because I want to make it clear that these things don't necessarily apply if someone in a straight romance is confirmed not to be straight, and they definitely don't apply if one or both are trans.

As usual, I hope you enjoy this.

So, what is the biggest problem with cishet romances? Its ubiquity. The type of relationships depicted in those stories wouldn't be half as problematic if they weren't so prevalent. It'd be one thing if a few stories had some questionable, to say the least, relationships portrayed positively. After all, countless stories have some questionable things in them that go unnoticed by the narrative, but that doesn't mean that people who like those stories can't tell that those things aren't commonplace. Nor does it have to mean that there’s any harm in those people believing those things were accurately portrayed. The times this becomes a problem is when the portrayal of something questionable becomes so widespread that people start to think that it's odd for them not to have this thing in their lives or when a popular work inaccurately portrays something that's already poorly understood and highly stigmatized. This, inversely, is also the main argument against setting requirements for one specific story since one story isn't going to change the world, no matter how popular. Storytelling is one of the most collective forms of expression there is, so what really matters is how much effect it has on other storytellers. Not to mention the role fandoms have in normalizing queer identities as someone who has previously been sheltered learns about different people’s experiences through a common interest.

So, how did cishet become so prevalent? Well, for starters, there used to be a time when a man and a woman getting together was seen as a societal obligation, and whether or not the people involved even liked each other wasn't a concern to anyone. There was also some method to their madness, as this sort of arrangement worked quite well for the societal structure at the time. It made sense to create stories where the justification for someone getting together is that they're a boy and a girl because that was the main requirement in the eyes of society. If anything, the stories often portrayed people choosing to marry someone for their personality, which many historians would say wasn't something people did. At least not typically. Though, who's to say? It's a lot easier to find out what people in the past did than why. The bottom line is that cishet relationships were so prevalent in stories because they were stupidly prevalent within society.

Then there’s the way a lot of cishet relationships are depicted in fiction. It tends to imply what a desired relationship should be like, which at best creates unreasonable expectations and sometimes straight up encourages girls and young women to seek out traits in men that ain’t healthy. Some of the most prominent of these are anger issues, controlling behaviors, and possessiveness. This, too, used to serve a function. How good of function that was is debatable, but the point still stands. Portraying these traits as manageable, at the very least, was a way to prepare girls to be married away to someone who might not treat them the best. Stories managed to do this by reassuring them they could tame their new husbands. The whole “I can fix him” mentality evolved from this. Telling someone repeatedly that they can fix someone by making them fall in love with them tends to make them believe it. This somewhat common delusion results from centuries upon centuries of multi-generational gaslighting. Long ago, believing this could be seen as a form of copium since girls at the time usually didn’t have much of a say in who they got promised away to and were stuck with that person until one of them kicked the bucket. Nowadays, in all the places where girls and women, or those perceived as such, ain’t forced into relationships, this mentality causes nothing but trouble. It should go without saying that if someone doesn’t treat others well, they are not relationship material.  

However, it’s worth noting that this has become less of an issue in recent years as there has been a decline in romance in pop culture, particularly in movies. There’s also been a rise in queer romances in more wide-reaching stories, and male/female relationships have gotten healthier depictions. Although a lot of those consist of people who are not straight, so they’re technically queer relationships too. The only place those outdated ideas consistently persist is in stories targeted toward people who are already used to those kinds of depictions.

Speaking of queer relationships, when it comes to fiction, they tend to avoid these issues. So, why is that? Well, for starters, despite what some bigots might say, it’s a lot harder to avoid being exposed to straight attraction than gay attraction. Many commercials are, in particular, needlessly straight. Also, there isn’t a precedent for two people of the same gender or anyone who isn’t perceived as a man and a woman to be obligated to get together. This leads to authors being less likely to either write or be asked to write a queer romance for the sake of it, which means that the romances in stories that feature queer relationships tend to be more deliberate. Then there’s the casual sexism that’s often brushed off in cishet romance that will more than likely come off as odd if it appeared in a romance between two people of the same gender. For example, it’s not too uncommon for one of the main characters in cishet romances to have had some unfortunate encounters with someone of a different gender, and the character does that thing where they think everyone within a group is the same. Try having a female character think that all women cheat without guaranteeing that it’s going to give someone pause. Unfortunately, internalized misogyny is very much a thing, but the point is that it’s not something people are just going to shrug off.

When it comes to how healthy queer relationships are depicted, it varies greatly from story to story, but when these relationships are extremely toxic, it’s rarely done by accident. There might be some cases where people who have internalized that guys show affection by easily getting angry and being controlling and possessive could see a man being abusive to another man and not see a problem with it. The stories themselves rarely seem to depict a toxic relationship as anything other than a toxic one.

Lastly, the main characters in queer romances rarely seem to be reluctant to spend time together. That’s not to say they always like these others from the get-go, but that one of them is more likely to contemplate murder than think about how they’ll have to be in the other’s vicinity for an extended period of time. If one or more of them has something against the other, it also tends to last only as long as it takes for them to get to know each other. These characters quickly grow fond of each other compared to their cishet counterparts. Forget about spending half a novel for one of them to find out they were wrong about the other; it usually takes a couple of conversations at maximum before they start to enjoy each other’s company. It’s not clear why this is, but it is hilarious to think about.

[liquidstar]

Hey if I had a transmasc character and he never actually transitioned himself, would that be transphoic? bc I have a really cool, like, metaphorical thing there, where he makes this artificial living puppet to be his idealised self + physically masculine, but that metaphor kind of falls apart if he himself also transisitions into a male body.

Am willing to elaborate!

Oh there's absolutely nothing wrong with depicting a pre-transition or NO transition trans character. I do think there can be wrong ways to go about it (such as caricatured depictions) but nothing here is raising any red flags to be about that.

Not every trans person medically transitions (hormones and surgery). There can be many reasons for this, from personal choice to inability due to outside factors. That's okay. And not every trans person is about to socially transition- to come out. Many do in fact go about their lives presenting as their agab because sometimes there's not really a choice. It's something that will upend your entire life too, so many people just take their time. Nothing at all is wrong with that. Not every trans person got to go on hormones by age 16 and had top surgery by age 20, that's a very idealized narrative that isn't actually very common at all (nothing wrong w indulging in wish fulfillment tho but not to overdo it)

Basically what I'm saying here is that not every trans experience is getting to do all the medical transition stuff, or even the social transitioning. And it's not inherently wrong to depict that. Because that's just kinda... Life. There are lots of different experiences and all are valid

And the whole puppet thing in this case... I think it makes sense. I think that lots of people who want to transition/come out but can't will find ways to express themselves. In the past I've talked about how many identify w a different identity online than what they seem to irl, and I kinda compared this to that old stereotype of a closeted trans person finding freedom in "crossdressing" in private. It's not a 1:1 but I think you understand what I mean.

I would maybe be a bit careful about the idealized self stuff because while that is VERY MUCH a thing, I think it's also important to acknowledge that his appearance and medical transition (or lack there of) isn't what makes him a man. A no-op no-hrt trans dude is still a dude, no matter how much he looks like a "girl" according to binary societal standards. Y'know? But obviously that doesn't make it wrong for him to have an idealized self, I just think that too much escapism on this end isn't ideal either. But this can certainly be an arc, because like I said before, this stuff is often a necessary coping tool for many. I think what would be nice (if it ever comes to it, idk how you story will go so I'm just spitballing) would be that if the people around him ever saw his real body, they still treated him like a boy even if he doesn't "look the part." (Again, according to binary standards that mean nothing) Because it's not about looks 👍 that's only superficial, doesn't reflect who you are. And I think that could be a good lesson. if it makes sense for the story, that is.

Because his body already is a male body. Because it's his body. And he's male. That's it. Everything else (hrt and surgery) should be a personal choice about presentation, rather than conforming to a societal ideal of what a "male body" is. A male body, regardless of AGAB, can look like anything. A cis man can look like anything, or have "female" sex characteristics, since sex itself isnt binary either. (Though I'm not the person to ask for writing advice from on that end) Same applies for a trans man. Even if he does eventually want to medically transition, that doesn't make his body now any less "male," because that's his decision. Bodies just aren't that binary.

Anyway those are just random thoughts but the TLDR is that there's not an inherent issue w portraying ppl who haven't transitioned one way or the other. It's not an offensive subcategory of trans people! It's how many live and that's okay... As long as you're treating them like a character and not caricature it's all cool. But please please please please remember that a trans mans body is a mans body no matter what. Good luck anon! Feel free to ask follow-ups if you want!

[mushiemellows]

So Usopp’s this really fascinating character in the lineup because you learn to love him so much and in doing that you gotta learn to love yourself? Like, okay so the Luffy Zoro Sanji and Nami clearly hold character tradition in Lupin, Goemon, Jigen, and Fujiko. Not perfectly 1-1 but they obv don’t mess too much with the winning formula.

And then usopp gets to come on the journey. Why does usopp get to come? Because we get to. He serves as this really great outstretched hand to everyone else, to see themselves in any strawhat. He’s audience proxy. Now, I’m going to say something that may be a little inflammatory to some (controversial yet undeniably true) but I think it’s so vital to understanding his journey. Usopp, from an initial character design perspective, hails from the historical repercussions of minstrelsy. The racism is inherently baked into his character. I think I didn’t realize just how deeply ingrained it was (like the totality of bad traits, you don’t need to look hard to identify visuals) until watching opla and seeing how Jacob’s Usopp pulled back on a few traits that are historically linked to that racist tradition (I think having Matt Owens, a black man, leading the writing staff was an absolutely influential part of reframing the character as well) but I also think that’s why he felt almost overly sanitized (in a similar fashion to how I fear they will treat Bon Clay in s2). Nuance- two things can be true at once, usopp can both be a racist caricature with negative traits associated negatively with black men AND I can love him for his flaws and see myself in him and empathize with him. He can be a coward and a liar, two traits that are definitely applied with racist intention when he Looks Like That, and I can independently like that a coward and an liar gets to be on the protag team. That’s kind of the point!

So by like, 2003, as Oda is deciding he’s not actually going to end with Skypia and is going to keep going for 100 more years, it makes sense that Usopp is the first loose thread to need development. So, then, what defines Usopp’s identity? What’s he bring to the team?

And then they double down by making his arc foil Franky. A man. A man’s man. A man’s man’s man. A caricature the same visual American Export Animation Tradition (early 20th century minstrelsy’s big brother: ww2 racist propaganda), but not racialized in the way Usopp is (he’s not a racist depiction of white men is what I mean). So visually, they’re already at odds. And then in terms of character Franky fills like, 75% of what Usopp’s been bringing to the team, and generally he does it better. He fixes things better, he makes better inventions, he’s a good shot (but vitally NOT a BETTER shot), and he takes on some of the the load of temporary comedic relief.

Of course usopp takes the rejection of Merry personally. He’s having this deep crisis of what he is able to uniquely provide, and the answer he keeps coming up with is that, well, he brought the ship to the table. And without his ship, he’s……. Uh oh. He’s jealous and he’s bitter and he doesn’t know how he fits in and the anxieties get the better of him. He’d rather self sabotage than be rejected down the line and abandoned who knows where. Or worse- he thinks he’ll let everyone down if the pressure falls on his shoulders . And that’s what makes him so wonderful and heart breaking and lovable and relatable. I get it, I see his insecurities when they’re all laid out and it pulls you in to empathize with your own insecurities.

I think humbleness, the ability to say you’re sorry and grow and then PROVE that you’ve learned and grown, is so key to both Usopp and Oda. I don’t think the (at most charitably, ‘unintentional’) anti-black rhetoric fully ever leaves the franchise. I think the work is too old and will never be able to scrub it off. But I think Oda can learn. I think he has. Each time he takes a swing at a racism allegory, he learns more and more. Same with uhhhhhh gay and trans people, while he’s at it.

Ussop’s getting (re: fights, not shipping, tho I’m shocked it isn’t more rare pair) paired off with Perona is cool and I wish people talked about the arrangement more because I think he’s ‘pessimism as strength’ trait is the first time he gets a good independent moment after rejoining. Everyone else is down!!! And when they all rely on him, he DOES have skills no one else does. He DOESN’T let the team down at their most vulnerable. He out-illusions a GHOST.

I think that’s where a lot of love for post-ts Usopp comes from. He gets to finally stand on his own. To survive! And thrive! And figure out what makes him him. Not a caricature, not a filler position defined by how others need/utilize/manipulate him. But who he wants to be. Flaws and all. And comedically, he is the best and funniest as the “straight man” and everyone else get’s to be the punchline (he still gets to be funny, but by being the one to point out ironies he gets to step back from his roots).

I think One Piece as a work of Gender Propaganda (the purpose of shounen manga is to teach young boys what “man shit” is- that’s not a spicy take) does it’s best when it gets to define the nuances of masculinity by a million different proxies (that’s what fights are). The function of the timeskip is to “make a man” out of the main team’s boys (and allies) (I can elaborate on this in another post if there’s interest). And post-ts Usopp is unequivocally A. Man. Maybe not a man’s man’s man’s man. But a man regardless. That’s not even in question. He gets to find his own unique identity and grow in front of our eyes. And if he’s the audience proxy, that means we can too.

[bug-decal-kissing]

Hey friends!

An Invitation, by chilipot, was updated today, with 3/? Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, with additional tags "Prohibited wish - Freeform, Enemies to Lovers, Alternate Universe - Office, Office, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, band au, Fluff, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, someone give scarab a raise, they're both autistic and in love your honor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change, Tags Are Hard, Alcohol, Weed, Smoking, Concerts, Music, Inspired by Music"

A new work, woke up burning by VioletThePorama, was published today, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, with additional tags "Mentioned Prismo, Eye Trauma, Mild Gore, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Drabble, Takes place after another fic, Inspired by Fanfiction, Magic, Phantom pain, Past Violence, I don't think it's too graphic but tagged for safety"

You can read it here:

NSFW works are below the cut :].

The Beginning is the End is the Beginning, by grylos, was updated today, with 3/? Chapters released! It has a rating of Explicit and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, with additional tags "Genocide, Slavery, Sexual Slavery, Bombs, Suicidal Thoughts, Sad, Happy Ending, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Backstory, Slow Burn, Child Abuse, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, Corruption"

You can read it here:

A new work, Honorary Nasty by TJade, was published today, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of Explicit and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Smut, Lack of Communication, that gets fixed, Self-Harm, Scarab sticks a pin through himself while masturbating, That's it. It’s not graphic or anything I promise, Light Angst, Humiliation, Safewords, Dirty Talk, Fantasizing, Happy Ending"

You can read it here:

Interlinked, by Finn565, was updated today, with 11/14 Chapters released! It has a rating of Explicit and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, with additional tags "Human AU, Blade Runner AU, I played pretty lose with the lore so forgive me for that, Violence, not too gorey tho, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Orbo is a piece of shit, sorry I just made him that way in this fic, Prismo is just a lovely guy, Prismo is going to teach Scarab to love fr, Kissing, Hurt/Comfort, Porn With Plot, smut in later chapters, Confessions, Trans Scarab, they’re in love your honor"

You can read it here:

Timekiller, by MatrixDream, was updated today, with 5/16 Chapters released! It has a rating of Mature and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, and No Archive Warnings Apply, and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, and Major Character Death, with additional tags "One-shots!, Angst, Loneliness, Isolation, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, (Tags will update as fic updates), Bug Scarab, Popcorn, Captured in a pickle jar, silliness, Physical Disability, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Scarab had his wings removed as punishment headcanon, Blood and Violence, Blood and Injury, Ableism, Chronic Pain, Self-Harm, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma, Triggers, Whump, Monkey's Paw AU, Major character death - Freeform, Violence, Hurt No Comfort, major angst, mentions of gore, Revenge, Ambiguous/Open Ending, (But still hopeful), Let me know if I missed any tags/warnings!"

You can read it here:

Sans Soleil, by Cosmic_Rainstorm, was updated today, with 6/? Chapters released! It has a rating of Mature and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, with additional tags "Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Injury, Minor Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Slow Burn, Idiots in Love, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Scarab has PTSD, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, babys first fic, No beta we die like Jake, Human AU, Kinda, As in Prismos hair will always be pink and idc, Broken Bones, Scarab has Chronic Pain, Swearing, smoking weed, Survivors Guilt, Mentions of Suicide, Mental Abuse, self worth issues, Coming Out, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Depression, Mental Breakdown, healing infections through herbal treatments, is that a thing? cause it is in this, Gets worse before it gets better, infection/sickness, Blood and Gore, Violence, idk how the military works, idk how broken bones work either, Panic Attacks, Prismo sleeps in weird positions, Hes Fine, these old men got chronic pain, scarab has arthritis, prismo has abandonment issues"

You can read it here:

[sir-klauz]

Reading list for this month!

(Rb or like if you decide to read one of these titles after seeing this, I love knowing if I’ve inspired anyone to read things I have! It’s fun)

Pond Snail Robber

“The delightful and brutal life of living with a robber! Ji Ho ends up missing the deadline to apply for a dorm due to a slip of carelessness but luckily a sunbae from his major helps him get a room nearby. Unfortunately, not even half a day after moving in he gets attacked by a robber. After managing to get away, Ji Ho later comes back home to see the robber shedding tears over the novel he wrote in high school...But this robber, with the reason of wanting to continue reading his unfinished novel, asks to live with him in exchange for taking care of the house?! The sweet and fierce life of these two has started!”

(I wouldn’t say the description is totally great at describing what’s actually happening but it’s good at hiding spoilers of what the actual circumstances ended up being and it’s kinda a funny joke about the “robber” part once you read it. Also, it has the cutest unique font design ever, a snail!”)

Boyfriends.

“Want a boyfriend? How about 4?! Meet Prep, Jock, Goth and Nerd -four boys with a lot of love to share!

A comic about getting yourself a boyfriend... or multiple boyfriends! Four college students begin a polyamorous relationship and navigate the adventure that is their dating life!”

(I freaking love this, it’s really smooth and fun, and wholesome. As someone who’s poly you don’t get a lot of kind depictions of poly relationships, or there’s only threesome, foursome, or more being writing about for kinks or open relationships that aren’t poly or about polycules. The graphics are great on the eyes with lots of pastels, and each character has their fun personalities, not to mention actually including a trans guy within a gay relationship! It’s grand. 10/10 love Goth or wanna be Goth ahaa. Nerd is too adorable. Really recommend.)

Minmotion Syndrome

"The 600 million that was left to you, I’ll pay it off for you." Seo Taeyoon, who was dragged into the situation because of his father's debt, got angry and sneers at Park Jaein for being an omega after the latter made a sarcastic remark. Although Taeyoon detected Jaein's faint pheromone scent, he was able to identify him as an Omega. Jaein found Taeyoon interesting, as nobody else can really detect his smell, so he offered to pay off his debt in exchange for buying him...! Thus, Taeyoon now wears a leash designed for dogs. How would their dangerous relationship begin and end?”

(So this whole thing is so tongue in cheek so far, and absolutely not digestible for everyone, though I’m only at chapter 9. but the art, is phenomenal and I adore the styles for both characters. And well, it’s nice to see omegas which are characters designed to always submit and be mindless totally being the top dog. I like it when things don’t fit into boxes, it’s kinda like in any nsfw circumstances where someone typically assumed as having to be subservient, isn’t, because it’s not as cut and dry as that nor has to for, for instant when people are like big macho bois can’t “bottom”… if you catch my drift.~ Park Jaein is pretty mentally whomped aha, his “crazy eyes” are spooky hot. I’m so bad. Taeyoon is an omega hating alpha son of a poor drug addicted male omega SW (adult worker). It goes into their stories about why they’re the way they are, and I guess I’m hoping it works out and they don’t hate each other anymore.)

The Pizza Delivery Man and The Gold Palace

“Woowon has spent his entire life repaying debts with his mother as a result of his father's irrational business investments and gambling. When his mother falls unwell, she retreats to the countryside, where she struggles by herself. One day, Woowon is fired from his part-time job, and while searching for a new job, he is introduced to one as a delivery man at a pizza shop in a wealthy area by a friend. Not only was the food delicious, but the staff was also known for being attractive. Woowon, who had a dashing appearance, goes to an interview and immediately passes. Seo-an has spent his entire life being swayed by his father's greed, who would not tolerate even the smallest flaw. That was how he lived, chewing at himself with bursting panic and constant avoidance of people. One day, everything came to a halt and Seo-an locked himself up at home. Then, a person who had done him a tiny favor appeared. After a long time, he was no longer afraid of others. A young love story in which two people who are tired of life fall in love.”

Lover Boy (Jeky)

(I really adore the art here and that a moan character is an artist, it’s a trialing story for both of them!)

Ongoing reading list still reading from month prior:

-

What's with this strange dream?!

“Jungoh was just expecting to take on a part-time job as an assistant. What he didn’t expect was working inside people’s dreams with a cute, but grumpy shaman named Ibeom. And he certainly didn’t expect Ibeom to be cursed by a nightmare seedling!”

(Sorry I had to use this image, it’s hilarious.)

Night by the sea

“Kim Euihyun, who had given up everything due to reaching his limits, ran towards the sea with a child in his arms and was caught by an alpha, Yeo Taejoo. Euihyun, who is left with only debt by his father running away, was given money, a house, by Taejoo and even a job if he gives his body..."

Intoxicated

“Omega Shen Tingwei wakes up after a traffic accident and soon realizes something is very wrong. The people around him have no idea what an omega is, the local pharmacy doesn't carry his heat suppressants, and no one - including the doctor at the nearest hospital - seems to understand the reason he is feverish is because he's going into heat. Enter Lian Jue, a wealthy man with Emotional Deprivation Disorder who is struggling to balance running his company, appeasing his difficult family, and caring for his adopted son, Kangtong. When he encounters the heat-drunk Shen Tingwei staggering around the city and saves him from getting hit by yet another vehicle, the two men soon become entangled in each other's lives. Shen Tingwei is lost and helpless in a world not his own, and Lian Jue can't help but be drawn to the unusual stranger...”

“Shen lived in a place as a lawyer where there are three gender known: alpha, beta and omega however an incident caused him to be transported in a society where there are only two gender recognized: male and female.”

Is there a love at first sight in e-sport

“The Asian champion is free to take the girl to score points in the game. Finally, he brings a girl to Kaimai but finds that the other party is a boy. Mr. Champion left behind the online dating that ended before it started. When he went to train with the club, he accidentally had a little friction with another team. When the opponent's deputy captain showed up, Mr. Champion was instantly tempted to doubt life. When the opponent spoke, it was the "girl" he personally brought that day. Is there love at first sight in e-sports? Exists.”

[machine-saint]

Maybe you will have some insight into this. You seem reasonable and are aware of things like sampling bias and I'm kind of confused: Why is everyone so confident that the posts that are getting flagged for adult content are disproportionately posts by/about trans women? I keep seeing tons of innocent stuff (pictures of mountains, pictures of food, silly comics etc) that has nothing to do with trans women, getting flagged. And also stuff about or depicting cis or not-specifically-trans women. Reporting systems are definitely ripe for abuse but there just aren't very many terfs on this website and the bit of looking around on their pages and tags that I did for as long as I could stomach it (admittedly not that long) didn't give me any impression of a coordinated campaign. Unconscious bias does exist but that applies to cis women and all lgbt people too... Mostly I just keep seeing stuff that goes like "I'm a trans woman and all my friends on here are trans women and our posts keep getting hit with the mature content hammer therefore it's targeting trans women hugely disproportionately" and that's possible but it also seems possible that if someone's entire social circle is trans women then they're not going to see all the other circumstances where the label is being erroneously applied and will be getting an inaccurate picture. and it's a picture that people who think that "how many lgbt people are on tumblr" poll is a useful source of data have been pushing so I'm kind of skeptical about how much people are accounting for sampling bias and similar things.

Sorry this got long. I was worried if I posted it not on anon I'd basically get harassed till I deleted so I'm hoping to get your take because this seems so obvious to everyone else but seems really faulty to me. Please feel free to ignore of course.

so i think there's two things going on here

tumblr was under investigation by the new york city commission on human rights and they reached a settlement a year ago. apparently their evidence wasn't made public but i assume that a government organization has better sources than "animalgirlnoun on tumblr's selfies got taken down". there's also been historical cases of people doing much more 'controlled' experiments, like removing the word "trans" from the title of a youtube video, in ways that show some pretty clear discrimination (in terms of effect). i've also seen people post screenshots of tags that you can't search for (which is clearly a manual decision on tumblr's part)

but yeah considering the fact that there are screenshots going around of, like, pictures of trees or abstract patterns that are marked mature i don't think it's really possible for us to say how much of the problem actually is tumblr's moderation being discriminatory (intentionally or unintentionally) and how much of it is it just being bad. even if you try to, like, upload the same selfie twice and call yourself cis in one and trans in the other, it's likely that any human review would be done by separate people. the youtube example only works because that's an automated process.

ultimately i think it's likely that tumblr's moderation system has some amount of anti-lgbtq bias but the only people that can really know that are tumblr themselves and obviously they're going to try to make themselves look good. i've seen every combination of [trans girl porn/cis girl porn] [labeled as mature/with no moderation label] and it's not like i'm keeping a running tally

[davekat-sucks]

to that anon that said to pick a side or whatever, if the trans hcs are made ONLY as an excuse to ship something that previously would get you harassed like dirkroxy or johnrose, only applied to the youngest kids specifically, at the detriment of the worldbuilding, or as a tool to attack and guilt trip like june, then yes, im against that too. thats what nuance means.

similarly, anon cant claim to be all pro diversity and inclusion when they like fangames that promote segregation, negative stereotypes and racist caricatures, and also insist these interpretations are the only canon. validate speaks for itself, but in friendsim 2 the only trolls that have darker gray skin and clearly are more racialized than others are the purple bloods. and not just the friendsim purples, the ENTIRE purple caste. only one bloodcaste receives this treatment

and why only make them so clearly americans? why make trolls human or alternia troll USA? why cant they be black and from any other culture? why cant trolls from any other bloodcaste be drawn with black features like them? why should i be okay with people othering me as they please so they can feel they have the moral high ground and heal their white guilt?

some americans really think they are the center of the world and want to convert everyone else to their worldviews huh

trolls are aliens. the only "coded" they are is E.T.-coded. and fangames like these and tumblr advocates like that anon or the HICU with their y12000 shit are the reason its embarrassing to mention this webcomic in public

It's funny that those fans will bitch about Gamzee & Meenah being black stereotypes and find Damara's depiction as racist, but are unaware they are doing literally the same thing but trying to claim themselves to be the more progressive. It is also crazy knowing that if you make one character trans for shipping, it can be okay to say the ship is now yaoi or yuri. Like the aforementioned DirkRoxy with how people have Roxy trans. Because people are stupid in thinking that genderbending is transphobic. They have to use trans headcanon to make it gay. I wonder if some are afraid to admit they want to self insert as Roxy. There is nothing to be that ashamed of. We all self insert as someone in ships sometimes, even in characters that aren't blank slates. If people are can self insert as Karkat for Davekat, then people can do the same for Roxy in DirkRoxy, regardless of Dirk's canon sexuality. Because you can ship whatever the fuck you want.

[ame-blogs]

I'm a closet trans girl.

I live in a place and within a family where I can basically never actually come out and be who I want to be. Outsiders looking in find it easy to say "Screw them! Live your life! Do what makws you happy!" While a nice sentiment on its own, when you apply it to reality it's never that simple.

I love my parents with all of my heart, I genuinely do. They've been so supportive or all I do in life, so unreletingly forgiving and caring. They've spent a big part of their lives busting their backs, stressing themselves out, working to the bone, just to make sure I get equal opportunity and a good life.

They're a muslim family, they genuinely think I'm a devout muslim like them (I don't have the heart to tell them otherwise.) Honorable people, they inspire me and uplift me and I owe them the world.

They would never accept me being trans. It would destroy them. It would make their lives so much harder within their peer groups, and the ammount of stress they would put themselves under could as well kill them.

I'm bi, and I'll never tell them that either. The cultural climate they were raised in, their personalities, they way they handle change, it would genuinely be too much. I don't hate them for it. It's not their fault. I suppose it's nobody's fault.

But I'm suffocating. Each day I lie to the world. Every glance at a mirror, every self conscious millisecond where I'm acutely aware of my body. Each innocuous remark by my friends and family and awknowledges my gender. All of it feels like a kick in the chest.

Yet what answer is there? I am not some big heroine that will defy everyones wishes, make the lives of the people I care about crummy, burn all of my IRL bridges ETC. The misery I will feel from that is just as bad as what I feel now, except that the way things are now, I'm not hurting anyone else.

I wish I was someone else, but I'll always be me. I needn't any huge pity or anything. My besides the tight rope around my heart, I am living great.

I always depict myself wearing a pink bow on the top of my head in my online presence, it's something my parents, friends and peers all see and know. Nobody comments on it.

The bow is my tiny rebellion. Online, I've been endlessly questioned on the pink bow. Been made fun of, called horrible things etc all because of a little acsessory on an online avatar. But it keeps me strong. It's a little ""dogwhistle"" to likeminded people too I've found. It keeps me sane.

The pink bow will always be on my head, and even if I'm not the way I want to be I'll strive to keep that said head held high. Thank you.

[dead-loch]

my roommate and I keep having convos about this but I feel like the disconnect between “older” and younger trans people (and queer people in general) is so fucking vast. (Maybe this is just the normal disconnect you feel as you get older).

I just do not have the energy anymore to write people off completely when they do something shitty, which is like, a favourite past time of angry young people (I’m not saying this to chastise; I’m saying it because I remember feeling that same way). it’s always black or white, the person is immediately the enemy and everyone else who likes them joins the ranks. it’s fucking exhausting.

I’ve been in the middle of these like crusades where people are trying their hardest to get someone kicked out of a community for making a mistake. I’ve been on the board of arts orgs that had to bring in a mediator because 2 people had an issue with a board member and refused to accept: an apology, the board member being made to step down, AND a full recounting to the public of what was done on our end and their end. they aren’t happy with any of that because they want to punish, punish, punish. Note that the issue was not, like, life threatening or dangerous.. the board member had just said something they didn’t like and to be fair we agreed that it wasn’t okay and literally took them off the board as soon as they contacted us. But that wasn’t enough.

(These same people are also protesting against police brutality and calling for the defunding of police. In case you don’t realise this already, moving away from our current system of “justice” will mean having to find empathy within yourself for people who’ve done horrific things. If you don’t believe in punitive justice, you need to be applying it to your actual life, too, not just yelling about it on socials. Some of you are truly not ready for a system that doesn’t value dehumanising human lives.)

I spent my teenage years and young adulthood so unbelievably angry and hurt and I don’t want to keep poisoning myself like that anymore (I’m not always successful in this). we grew up with depictions of trans people being jokes or worse 99% of the time. if we didn’t watch media that was problematic we would literally just watch nothing. my roommate is in her 40s and came out about a decade ago. she’s a trans woman who will never (and doesn’t want to) “pass” as a cis woman. she cannot afford meds or surgery. neither can I. We spent so much time hiding that it’s almost impossible to be who we could have been, had we had the freedom we’d have today.

We both used to call out transphobia in every piece of fking media we saw (including calling out celebs and public figures and raging against them) and it’s goddamn exhausting. There’s a lot of value in the strides we’ve made to stop glorifying actual monsters (murderers, rapists, etc) but someone signing some bullshit letter which has zero impact on real life is not on my radar.

Let’s take JK Rowling as an example. Not only has she made it her mission to be as transphobic as she possibly can be, but she WILL NOT STOP. She will not apologise, she will not change her views. She’s proven that over years. This to me is nowhere near the same level as someone saying something once in an interview or adding their name to some disgusting letter that hundreds of other idiots signed. JK Rowling is malicious in the way she does these things and is doing them to purposefully harm others. There are others who are like this as well, but it’s far from the majority of people.

I’m also seeing WAY too many people also go way too far the other way, where they’ll defend a piece of media like their life depends on it instead of admitting when there’s problematic depictions, or admitting when the creators or actors or whoever is being harmful. Like that person saying “keep my show out of your mouth”…. you realise it’s just a fucking tv show, right? And like if you didn’t engage, there’d be nothing for the “other side” to rage at? And that by saying that shit you’re valuing your tv show over the concerns of actual human beings? There’s no excuse for this behaviour.

Idk man. I think I’ve just learned to pick my battles (again, I fail at this sometimes too) and I don’t understand anymore why people want to poison themselves by engaging in behaviour that pits them against others. Most of the time they’re pitting themselves against people with whom they have more in common than not, and they’re doing it at the expense of focusing on real issues.

To bring it back to the art org I was a board member on, the experience where we had to bring in a mediator killed the org. The founder (an Iranian queer woman) had just lost family to covid and these people kept coming at her again and again and not respecting boundaries or feeling an ounce of empathy for what they were shovelling on her. The org itself was a tiny music festival which brought musicians I’d never heard of to our city and specifically served marginalised communities. The board member these people didn’t like was a queer Vietnamese rapper. So instead of this tiny org getting to flourish and do some good, in-fighting completely killed it over something that could have been resolved by people sitting down face to face.

I know I’m really rambly but I hope this makes some kind of sense.

I just think so many people are fighting the wrong enemies. In that… they aren’t even enemies. You’re fighting people who could change if you weren’t being such a fucking asshole about it (because someone being an asshole isn’t super conducive to me rethinking my position and doesn’t make it easy to say “you’re right, but I also think ____”)

You’re all seeing people as irredeemable when you need to see them as being capable of change, which they are. Probably not while they’re being told they should kill themselves though.

[darkmasterofcupcakes]

Donald Duck?

First impression: "Not going to lie, it's so weird to see Donald being depicted as this parental figure who is kind of a mess but clearly cares about the well being of his nephews? I'm so used to the shorts where he's basically just as immature as them."

Impression now: "He's the best dad, basically no contest. But I also like how he's come back to embracing being on adventures again, at least once in a while? But gotta give him so much credit for having boundaries for when he wants to go on big adventures and when he just wants to go on a trip for a while with his girl...and his new adopted kids, I guess."

Favorite moment: I always love the moment in "The Shadow War" where he decides that he and the boys need to go back to Scrooge because he's realized that their family has been too broken apart for too long, and the implication that he's come to really forgive Scrooge for what happened, because he understands how much regret his uncle has over what happened.

Idea for a story: I don't usually do crossover stuff, but after seeing jokes about how Donald apparently just adopts any kid he sees, I almost feel like I'd need to do something with Donald as a Mandalorian. That duck would have so many foundlings it wouldn't even be funny.

Unpopular opinion: While I understand him being angry at Scrooge for building the rocket and him not wanting to have the boys go on adventures, I don't think he was really in the right to both take the eggs and just leave, or to never tell the boys about their connection to Scrooge for so long.

Favorite relationship: I think it's a testament to the quality of the writing in this series that I love him and Daisy so much when they admittedly don't get a ton of interaction...and normally I'm painfully neutral to borderline disliking them in other continuities. But in the reboot, they just have such good chemistry and are so sweet together, I'm just so happy for them both.

Favorite headcanon: Ever since I learned that apparently him and Della hatched out of the same egg, I've developed the headcanon that Donald is trans. Not sure if this would apply to all version of the character, but it's my headcanon for the 2017 version.

(All of these are under the impression you meant the 2017 version)