whispers hey you can’t use the same critical framework on works by individual lgbt creators that you use for works by corporations looking for profit from lgbt stories written by straight people because the context and consumption of that content exist in completely separate spheres thannnkssssss
you can’t deride a depressed lesbian’s work for having the sad lesbian trope in it
you can’t tell a trans woman writing about being trans that she’s just writing the stereotypical trans narrative
those are their stories to tell and they’re not stereotypes they’re real lives and reducing them to the boxes het media puts us in is reproducing their oppression
And the God-tier is when people criticise individual LGBTQ people for being “stereotypical” in the way they live their lives X___x
Nuclear take that is going to get me hate: this is why you need to be careful how you talk to and about the straight creators too, though. Talking this way to the straight creators normalizes derision, and makes it harder for people to notice or care whether the creator is a depressed lesbian before going off.
Also, you can BET GOOD MONEY that one of the people reading your think-pieces about how the depressed lesbian trope needs to die and be forgotten is in fact that depressed lesbian, and that the result of this is hovering indecisively over holyshititmightbeanactualnovel.doc wondering whether to just hit delete.
Ok so imagine your fantasy setting with your typical giant spiders.
Ok, now imagine that these spiders have largely been domesticated for their incredibly valuable silk. They help make clothes, rope, textiles, even ARMOR. They’re almost treated like carnivorous cows in the regions that can support them. They might even name these girls the classic names like “Bessie”. They’re great mothers and produce many young; useful for trade and… even food if you like The Crunch.
People in this world are hardly afraid of big spiders the same as we’re hardly afraid of big dogs. Wary of wild ones, but not scream and cry terrified. Smaller spiders…it depends. Would you be scared if you suddenly saw a tiny cow crawling on your wall? The only type of spider people collectively fear are the hunting types: the ones that don’t spin webs, and instead attack their prey with brute force and a much stronger venom.
These large domestic spiders are incredibly lazy. They’ll sit in their webs and wait for their handlers to put their food on the web. Unless you get tangled, they don’t see you as food. This makes them great guards as well. They build traps for you. The venom isn’t deadly to humans…but can still be used as a weapon or in medicine. They’re just so damn useful that millennia ago, people put aside their instinctual fear just to get those sweet benefits.
Anyways the way Tumblr treats the Perks Of Being A Wallflower like it’s cringe and bad just because of the hipster craze over it in 2012 and ignoring the fact that it’s one of the few books/movies that shows the ugly side of teen mental illness and discusses sexual trauma in young boys (something only portrayed in shows like SVU) is in fact, bullshit, and I’ll never forgive y’all for taking the line “we accept the love we think we deserve” (a reference to toxic abusive relationships) and turning it into cringe culture. This is a book about a struggling depressed kid who I saw myself in as a teen, and yeah he and his friends could be annoying and pretentious but are you going to say you weren’t as a kid?
Alexa post tweet
Honestly, I read the book back in the early 2009 when I was getting ready to start college, and the above line, “we accept the love we think we deserve”, was so utterly profound in helping me to realize I was in an abusive relationship and why I kept going back to him.
It gave me the power to reject the idea that this was all I was worth, and made me hold myself to a higher standard of self love and worth, and to ensure I never let anyone treat me like that again.
Words matter. Even popular ones.
Fuck, even those “live laugh love” signs are important to somebody. And if looking at those signs every day keeps someone going and reminds them of important things in their life, just fucking let them be and mind your own business.
We’re all just trying to get by in our own way. There’s no need to make it any harder.
This is the kind of shit people did back in the Depression. When mortgage holds would try to sell a farm, everyone in the community showed up and strong armed any serious bidders away. They had the ‘penny auction’ tactic, where farmers would bid absurdly small amounts on farm equipment and land (while glaring intensely) until the auctioneer realized they needed to take what they were getting, or get their legs broken. This kind of stuff saved so many farms, they’d buy off 500+ dollar mortgages (which were huge amounts back then) for less than 100 dollars and give it back to the farm owners.
The lesson to take away is that only direct action and community organizing can help in such dire times.
reading a paper on quality of life among 45-to-70-year-olds with Down syndrome:
“Individuals expressed a desire to be allowed to go to bed when they wanted to.”
😦
Imagine.
I lived in a room and board that failed the burrito test. (”If you’re not allowed to get up in the middle of the night to microwave a burrito, you live in an institution.”) No one stopped me from going to bed, but they did tell me I had to have my lights out by 10, and that I had to be out of the house by 10 the next morning. When I complained to my outpatient program that I needed more help than I was getting, they threatened me with board and care, where my cell phone would be taken away and I would lose contact with the outside world. My case manager sounded so damn smug, like he had caught me out, when he said, “if you’re really as helpless as you say, then you need to be in a board and care.” Like my only options were struggling to do things I couldn’t do, or surrendering my life to an institution.
When I tried to talk about these things with other people, they always rationalized it away. (I told my dad once that my caseworker was reading my e-mails as I wrote them, demonstrating extreme disrespect for my privacy, and he said, “Well, she’s probably making sure you don’t use the internet to goof off.” I was 22 years old.)
People tend to mock the idea that telling an adult when to go to bed, when to eat, etc., is a human rights violation, even though they would find it outrageous and absurd if anyone came into their lives to do the same thing to them.
And this is what people seem to think when they tell disabled activists we’re just not disabled enough to understand that some people really do need to be locked up and deprived of all autonomy.
if you get an advert with a little boy saying to his mum ‘can you close my closet?’ or something like that SKIP IT.
its an advert for the halloween reboot and it has a jumpscare at the end
Doesn’t really fit my blog, but as someone with anxiety I wanna help my pals with anxiety 💗
More detail on the ad:
It’s a young black kid and his white babysittier, he asks her to close the cupboard/closet door and she goes to do so.
The door doesn’t seem to close so she shoves it a couple of times before opening the door, revealing Micheal Myers (the killer in a mask) and he moves to stab her and there is a loud sound accompanying it.
It’s a very well telegraphed scare with the door not closing, so if jumpy things do make you nervous it’s very easy to tell when it’s going to happen which can take the shock out of it. Nothing comes at the screen, if you have your volume at a reasonable level the sound and music isn’t too bad, it’s only slightly louder than the boys voice, it just occurs suddenly.
I say all this because I know sometimes the vague descriptions can make things sound worse and increase anxiety around the ad showing up. As far as jumpscare-type ads go this isn’t on the level of that Nun one, which encouraged people to turn their volume up and had something come directly at the screen.
Honestly I wish YouTube just had an option for people to screen out Horror/Thriller related adverts. I’m a massive horror fan and I love seeing adverts for new films, but I hate that these are being shown to people who hate anything scary.
Actually, thank you so much! Thing is, I hate jump scares, but I also have massive history with self-triggering because of PTSD mixed with ‘curiosity killed the cat’ syndrome so it’s very likely that if someone had just told me ‘hey this exists and it’s bad skip it’ I likely would have looked for it to watch it myself because I never learn from that mistake.
Thank you for telling, that’s actually very helpful.
[Text of Tweet: George Takei: If you are turned away at the polls because your name is not on the register, don’t walk away. Say this: I REQUEST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT AS REQUIRED BY LAW.
Don’t let them steal your vote]
Additional info:
“Provisional Ballot Laws are laws that require a provisional ballot upon verficiation of the idenity of the voter if a voter fails to present proper identification at the polls or when registering before voter registration deadlines.”
Poll worker here! Let’s talk about this “I DEMAND A PROVISIONAL BALLOT AS PROVIDED BY LAW” thing.
== TL:DR; Yes, provisional ballots are important! And yes, you should absolutely ask for one if you need to. But there’s a couple of things to try first. A provisional ballot is a last resort. ==
It’s very common for voters to come up to the “check-in” desk, and not be found in the poll book. Some non-nefarious reasons why that might be the case:
1) The poll worker doesn’t understand how to spell your name. 2) You’re not in the right precinct (this happens ALLLL the time) 3) New married name? 4) You’re a college student, and you are registered, but you’re registered at home.
Here’s my recommendation for what to do: * Make sure the poll worker is looking in the right spot (the book will be right in front of you; you can help find your name.) * Mention your home address to the poll worker. THey may very well immediately say something like “Oh! Yes, you should be voting in the cafeteria. Here in the GYM, we are your next precinct over.” * Ask politely to speak to someone to verify your status with the county. They will get on the phone with county folks, who will look you up in their BIG COMPUTER.
The steps above will, eight times out of ten, change you from the scary status of “Huh? you don’t exist!” to “Oh, right! Okay, here you go, voter!”
If that doesn’t work, ask firmly and politely for a provisional ballot. If you say “AS PROVIDED BY LAWWWWW”, you will only get an eye-roll from a tired and hungry poll-worker. But hey, you do you – it really IS the law.
If you don’t get satisfaction, all is not lost. Step outside the precinct and call the ACLU, and they will send someone over to have some FIRM WORDS with the Judge of Elections.
How do I know? I’ve had ACLU lawyers sent to talk to me during an election: “Hey, we heard that you were turning voters away!” they said.
I wasn’t, but I DID NOT MIND having someone smart and informed come to check on what was up. The ACLU counsel was smart, engaged, and knew the rules. Had I been trying some crap, this person would have SHUT. IT. DOWN.
So, the BOTTOM bottom line is: 1) Provisional ballots are a last resort. You can read up on them; they’re definitely riskier than a full, “real” ballot. You want to vote at your proper precinct as your first choice. 2) Don’t panic if you’re not in the book. Are you in the right place? 3) If you decide you do need a provisional, be firm, polite, and persistent. There’s no “secret phrase” that’s going to make us poll workers hiss with dismay: “CURSESSSSSSS! They know about the provisionalssssss!” 4) But do stick up for yourself! And if you don’t get what you want, call it in! There’s LOTS of folks to help!
them: hey so what gender are you me: oh actually i… i lost my gender in a terrible accident. its very hard for me to talk abt
them: hey so what gender are you me: ok so you know that feeling where u arent sure whether or not you’ve left the stove on? them: ….yeah? me: its that
them: what’s ur gender me: oh i have this condition where im allergic to the sugar found in gender, its called genderose-intolerance
SlythKris (tumblr backup babey) 