It’s terrifying how easy it is to fall into the traps the stories set for us.
When I first started writing seriously–not fanfic, which is often serious, but is not Serious Writing in the eyes of our culture–I didn’t even notice that all my long-term love stories were about women getting with men. Women being happy with men. Women finding happily ever after with men. I was a woman who preferred women, had known that about myself for some time, could even envision myself happy forever with my girlfriend of the time…but my happy endings, in fiction, were for women who loved men. I felt uncomfortable when I encountered same-sex happiness in books that weren’t about The Gay Experience. I didn’t know why, I just knew that I did.
Well, turns out that “why” was a thing called “internalized homophobia,” which being queer did not vaccinate me against. But more than that, it was the schema of the stories available to me. The structure of happily ever after, as I understood and had internalized it, was for a woman and a man. As soon as I realized that, I became enraged by it, and began actively fighting against it. Which is not to say “there will never again be a male/female happy ending in my work,” just that I’m working to make it Not The Default.
There is no default. No one’s existence is a checklist. We are all people, wildly diverse, wildly complicated, and we all deserve to see ourselves in fiction. The only way we revise and overturn the schema is by allowing people to understand that no, they are not doomed to exclusion; there’s room for all of us.
The Imam of Peace drops a MOAB on the U.K. Trump protestors
Hello rightsmarts, the latest in conservative news. I’m just reblogging this because it’s gotten around to the punk side of things and sometimes it seems like anarchists forget that PR is important in political movements.
(RAICES) to help the children in detention camps. The comparative cost of the balloon is about a quarter of a percent of what was donated to RAICES alone.
You know what’s great about a balloon? It’s ridiculous. It’s got a fun, airy parade feel. You go to a protest with the Trump Baby and you see people who share your values and are equally frustrated with the world – and it’s hard as hell to show a bunch of people having a fun old time with a parade float as dangerous antifa terrorists.
(Also it gets news cameras pointed at protests of Trump, and at this point we should all recognize the value of big stunts that get you free press because Trump sure as hell did.)
That and it gives frustrated, burned-out activists a bit of a laugh. We’ve got to have levity, we’ve got to be able to enjoy things and have a sense of humor. If we’re all grimly grinding away and donating all of our spare change to the ACLU and only ever talking about the horrible things that are happening we’re going to get too exhausted to carry on. Which is exactly what folks like rightsmarts and Imam Tawhidi want.
So a professional pot-stirrer is criticizing activists for spending the equivalent of a quarter of a percent of their donations on a fun balloon that bring out large crowds to protest, creates feelings of solidarity and levity, and is an excellent PR tool.
Yeah, fuck off with your bullshit. People recently crowdfunded a couch for Elon Musk and tried to give Kylie Jenner $100 million so she’d be a round billionaire. Nobody should feel the tiniest bit bad for donating to the construction and display of a protest sign.
The Trump Baby balloon is a good investment on the part of protesters and helped ensure that Trump knows he’s not welcome or appreciated by the people of London.
(hey by the way this criticism of decadence and fun is the kind of puritanical authoritarian shit that you get from the right and from tankies and it’s why nobody likes tankies. bread AND roses, motherfuckers.)
If you are considering meeting up with someone online use this trick identify who really are who they claim to be:
1. Ask them to Skype 2. If they refuse or can’t for some reason ask for a current selfie 3. If they also refuse or can’t do not meet up with them 4. If they provide one ask them to send another with them holding 3 fingers up 5. If they refuse read step 3 6. If they provide a selfie where they show 3 fingers they are probably for real
(If you’re still unconvinced try again with them drawing something in their hand)
I SAY THIS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY please spread this message as more and more young people are lured out into situations where they get kidnapped because they weren’t 100% sure the person they were talking to was real.
ALSO IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 MAKE SURE YOU STATE THE FOLLOWING:
“My [fill in trusted adult here] wants to come too. [pronoun] said we can do our own thing and [pronoun] will just sort of grab [pronoun] own table, but I wanted to let you know. Hey, if you have an adult coming too they could sit together!”
If hearing this freaks the other person out and they decline, TERMINATE ALL CONTACT. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to block. I’m 26 years old and if you tell me you’re coming with a friend or parent for your own safety, I will automatically say “hey, cool. Y’know, if you’re nervous we can just do Starbucks or something, I’m okay meeting in a busy place. That way your [adult/friend] can hang out, too, and they don’t have to pay for [admission, a movie ticket, whatever].” Your safety and comfort is important to me, and is important to any good person you meet online who wants to meet up IRL. In the early 2000s when I first started seeing online safety PSAs, this was a widely-spread tip. Use it.
And for the record, you can use this over the age of 18, too. I still won’t meet people from online except in public places. You never know–that person holding up three fingers and drawing a Pokemon on their palm could be some pervert’s child, niece, nephew, family friend’s kid who was encouraged to take some silly pictures. Always voice-verify and always meet in public, with another person if possible.
Be smart and stay safe, kiddos. Nina loves you.
This is all so important for everyone and especially my younger followers.
Anyone who is being upfront with who they are and who you can trust will do whatever they need to do to make you and your parents/guardians comfortable. Hence why I am constantly requesting to too-busy-dancing13 to FaceTime her mom…
Please please please listen to this. Not everyone out there can be trusted.
This is wonderful information, but it’s all so *exhausting*. People shouldn’t have to jump through these hoops to get the meds they need. it’s a fucked system and people are dying.
I know everyone’s talking about how the cast of Danny Phantom is full of gay and trans characters exclusively to piss of Butch Hartman but let us not forget, Butch’s bread and butter, Fairly Odd Parents…
Timmy’s parents were 100% sure that Timmy was going to be a girl before he was born, as seen in the episode Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker.
Cosmo seems to be the only other one in the know about this, and has baby pictures of Timmy in a dress on hand
Then, in the episode The Boy Who Would Be Queen…
When Wanda does, inevitably, transform Timmy into a girl to teach him a lesson…
Cosmo immediately panics.
AND in the episode “It’s a Wishful LIfe” when Timmy wishes he never existed…
The Turners have a daughter instead.
In conclusion:
Timmy Turner is trans and used the power of one of his fairy godparents to wish that everyone in his life completely forget that he was born and raised female for a portion of his life, including his parents and his other fairy godparent.
Share to make butch hartman mad he accidentally keeps making characters trans
I’m constantly forgetting meds and missing doses, so here’s something to pass around as a reminder.
Have you taken your medication today?
That other medication too?
Did you have the food/water you need with it?
Do you need to order any refills?
Reblog to save a life
I’ve been taking meds for over a decade, and I still forget them about once a week. I have a phone alarm and a daily organizer and all that jazz. Sometimes, you just need someone to remind you to do it right now.
Effing literally “Drop the T” is a radfem/TERF popular tag.
TERFs are right in lockstep with the right wing as long as trans lives suffer.
A direct quote from the article:
“Attendees were also told to wrap their transphobic rhetoric in the language of feminism, claiming gender identity is a concept offensive to women.”
reblogging because this is not just an abstract dotted line trans people and their allies are drawing for rhetoric’s sake, but very much a literal and intentional initiative on the part of the right. I’m sure that not every budding “gender-critical” radfem has any notion she’s being used as a pawn in this way, the opinions in question will feel organic, but that’s the downstream effect of a well crafted right-wing communications strategy: that’s how this works.
I actually somewhat answer this in my FAQ but in short, ETD is from America, so when our plan for him to move to the UK disintegrated 6 weeks before the wedding (thanks UK govt) we just changed plans and decided to move to the US where he already had a job, family and a place to live.
At the time things were a little more…stable and hopeful in the US. It’s also easier, or was, to get into the US than it was Canada. Canadian immigration is difficult, and they have a lot of restrictions about disabilities, physical and mental.
I actually have a friend who was denied entry because her kids are Autistic. Whether that’s a universal thing or it was just an extremely awful case, I’ve no idea. But I do feel people tend to look at Canada with rose tinted spectacles a little too much. Makes it hard to see some of the red flags that pop up.
Which is true of anywhere, really. Just depends on your perspective.
The sheer number of people who act like Scotland would be a sort of utopia have no idea just how bad poverty is over there right now, and just how in danger things like NHS are from the current Westminster government goose stepping it’s way ever further towards the collapse of the social wellfare of the populace in the name of corporate greed.
Which is why I always feel the grass will always appear greener on the other side, simply because you’re not the one having to water it.
Frankenuff’s Castle 