Sometimes you just have one of those moments where the progress we've made as a culture get thrown into stark relief. You look at something and go "Holy shit, that would never have happened when I was a kid."
Today, I had one of those moments when I realized that the teenage boys I'm working with are just. genuinely, openly enthusiastic about going to Build-a-Bear for their outing.
These are sixteen and seventeen year old boys! They just had a whole conversation about what to name their "cute", mostly new squishmallows! They're genuinely excited that they're going to Build-a-Bear this weekend and asking other kids to pick up specific accessories for them!!
Holy shit, that never would've happened when I was 16. None of the boys would have dared to be visibly interested - and neither would most of the girls! There would have been a million gay jokes and "Haha, you're a girl" jokes and "What are you, a baby?" jokes. Teenagers weren't even supposed to care about anything back then!
Less than 15 years later, and I'm watching three 17 year old boys treat all that as not even worthy of comment.
So let's call that a reason for hope. Even when the kids aren't alright, in some ways apparently they are alright. Go Gen Z, honestly. It's so lovely to watch you guys just openly doing and saying stuff that, when I was a teen, would've been a social death sentence.
I am going to be a little bit blunt, this isn't meant to be an "insult", just an honest observation.
When I say you seem argumentative and like you need to have the last word, I say that because I am also that way and I see a lot of those traits in you too from experience. I don't think there's anything wrong with those traits in theory, and as you point out, those traits are much more criticized in women than in men. But unchecked, those traits can be annoying. I don't think you're an annoying or bad person, because the vast majority of the time you are not, but there have been a couple of times when I've thought maybe a particular series of posts or something was annoying. At the end of the day though, you have every right to be annoying on your own Tumblr blog. If there is ever a place to be annoying, or "cringe", or any other personal expression:- that's where it is. Lord knows I am wildly annoying sometimes. I think there is a time and a place to embrace being annoying. And when I find your, or anyone else's posts annoying, I just stop reading and keep scrolling, just as I assume people do to me.
If you were like that all the time in every context it would be a character flaw, but occasionally on Tumblr? Nah, it's fine.
I didn't say this on your last ask but I would also describe myself as argumentative and needing to get the last word. In fact, I have. There's an episode of MASH that's painful for me to watch because Hawkeye denies always needing to have the last word and then physically cannot stop himself and it's like holding up a mirror. There's a t-shirt that says "I'm not arguing, I'm explaining why I'm right" that my mom always says I should have. And I've been like this since I could talk.
There's an extent to which I use tumblr as an outlet for these traits to make me more tolerable to be around in real life so it definitely comes up more here. Anyway thanks for this ask, it's a really good point, and I don't think it was mean at all! I'm blunt too, I love blunt.
EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt
i love cishets and their somewhat ugly pride merch that lets us know they're at least fairly safe to be around i'm serious. like genuinely being like 13 and seeing random adults at the store in black "love is love" shirts where every letter is a different pride flag and the whole thing clashes horribly was the most comforting thing.
The scene in the Barbie trailer when Barbie is skating around with Ken and asks "Why is everyone staring at me?"
THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE AN ADOLESCENT GIRL.
Living in Barbieland (childhood girlhood) but then suddenly you're all grown up in the real world subject to scrutiny and sexualisation (the guy slapping Barbie's ass) and feeling like existing is a crime?
Being forced by adult men into a box (which leads to the not like other girls syndrome) and exploring the 'real world' (being forced to grow up too quickly) while fighting the realisation that maybe the world sucks and being a woman is so difficult while hoping with all your heart that it's not always going to be this way.
Losing touch with the very things that made you happy because they're considered immature and girly? (The group of teens that said they hadn't played with Barbies since they were five.)
Older women telling you that you have to learn the truth about the world and that you can never have your old life back (Kate Mckinnon's Barbie) despite it being the only thing you yearn for, but also older women being a bright spot and support (the old woman on the bench) in the endless slough of life.
And this is just the trailer!!! I'm so excited for this movie I can't breathe, Greta Gerwig the woman that you are 😭
Whenever I feel sick, I pull every blanket and pillow from my room and curl up in a corner on the floor. I drew this inside of said blanket pile :(
Despite being genetically engineered magic super soldiers, I’m sure the kids have had their share of off days, what with them running around New York sewers and all. Reptiles can be pretty sensitive to environmental conditions.
According to some googling, reptiles can’t actually get fevers though as they can’t raise their own body temperature. They also don’t truly shiver, though they can simulate it voluntarily. As mutants, the boys probably aren’t purely cold blooded, and have some control over their internal temperature due to their mammalian traits.
The word “fight” can be interpreted a number of ways, so you get one drawing of the two of them doing some friendly sparring and one where they’re just having a stupid sibling fight
Sokka and Zuko get SO much funnier when you remember this is both of their first times talking to another teenage boy in years. Sokka had all the other boys leave the tribe when he was little and Zuko just hasn’t talked to other teenage boys. They wanna be friends but have absolutely no clue how to talk to other teenagers. I love them so much.