kinda random question but the history has actually a plan or is it going with the flow?

i'd say the early game is about 50% planned! Not every plot point can be realistically driven by reader input, so i have ideas in mind for what most characters will be doing if "unsupervised". But i'm also ready to alter the plans whenever the narrative deviates from them (and have already had to do so)

late game tho? almost entirely up in the air for now

i would actually like to hear more of your thoughts on whipping girl, whenever you feel ready enough to talk about it. i've only ever heard positive recommendations for it. i was thinking of reading it. i've read one or two introductory 101 texts on transmisogyny as well as some medium/substack posts, and always looking to read more as a tme person. ty!

thanks for asking! I'm gonna try to be concise because I'm stuck on my phone for the month, but here are my thoughts on whipping girl:

serano is at her strongest in the book in three areas: manifestations of transmisogyny in media (e.g. how trans caricatures pervade movies), the history of medical institutions developing a pathology of transsexuality (like the diagnostics of blanchard et al. or how trans people seeking healthcare were and continue to be forced into acting out prescribed expressions and manufacturing memories), and the construction of her own transition narrative (telling the reader what it was like for her to grow up desiring femininity in a way that confused her, the experience of crossdressing, the effects of hrt for her)

whenever she's just sticking to this, I think she effectively communicates a lot that the unaware reader could benefit from—even many trans women/transfems/tma people who are otherwise in tune with the history of medicalized transsexualism and our popular depictions could probably benefit from her own personal narrative, by nature of how variegated our experiences can be.

unfortunately I think the book fails at its primary—stated—goal, which is to theorize about transmisogyny. in the big picture this is a bifurcated failure:

on one branch of her argument, she remains committed to there being something biologically essential/innate about gender. this manifests thru multiple claims: that we have "innate inclinations" toward masculinity/femininity and "subconscious sex" rather than what I believe, which is that the latter are constructed categories imposed on different matrices of behaviour/expression/desire in different cultural contexts; that there is "definitely a biological component to gender" (close paraphrase) after a discussion of how she believes E and T tend to affect people (thus equivocating gender with dominant hormones!); that we have such a thing as "physical sex" which is the composition of our culturally decided "sex characteristics" (don't ask me how the dividing line is drawn) even as she says we should stop using "biological sex" as a term; that there is "no harm" in agreeing that "sex" is largely bimodal with some exceptions; that social constructionism is necessarily erasure of transsexual experiences in early childhood... altogether she is unwilling to relinquish arguments about the partial "innateness" of femininity/masculinity and gender. this is at tension with her admission on several occasions that these are neither culturally/geographically nor temporally stable concepts! but that doesn't seem to be a line she can follow thru on.

on another, intertwining branch, she engages in what I think is a deep and widespread mistake in the theorizing of transmisogyny: reducing it (mechanistically) to what she calls effemimania* or essentially anti-femininity. it is her stated thesis at the start that masculinity is universally preferred to femininity. she doesn't offer a definition of either term until one of the final chapters, where she defines them as the behaviours and expressions associated with a particular gender. but I think this reduction just misunderstands transmisogyny. it is even in tension with an observation she makes early on, that trans women are often punished for their perceived masculinity! but again, this is a thought she seems unable or unwilling to follow thru with.

my problem with the thesis is that masculinity and femininity do not float free of gender—it is not possible to speak of their valuation in the abstract. anyone who grew up as a masculine cis girl and never "grew out" of that "phase" can attest to the violence wrought upon expressions of masculinity from women. and this applies doubly so to the subjects of transmisogyny! not only are we punished for any perceived bleed-through of masculinity from our supposed "underlying male selves", those of us who are willingly masculine and thriving as mascs are punished for our failure to conform to the rules of the normative womanhood that is imposed on us (just as we are punished for any willing femininity as "false" and predatory upon cis womanhood—observe that transmisogyny is reactive degendering in every case!).

on both branches serano makes only perfunctory remarks about the intersections with race, class, and colonialism. "sex" as such was made to only be accessible to the "civilized", most of all the white european! for a racialized person and particularly a Black person navigating gender the waters are just not the same; the signifiers of sex neither available in the same way, nor granted the same medical legitimacy. what is the "physical sex" of someone who is de-sexed altogether? how can gender have a "biologically innate" component when its expressions between the bourgeoisie and the working class are at total odds with one another? this all goes for the masculine/feminine distinctions as well. what sense is there in the claim that we have innately masculine/feminine inclinations when globally (and transmisogyny has been made global!) what is feminine and masculine can be very nearly mirrored? nor is "masculinity is always considered superior to femininity" innocent of obviating race. transmisogynoir adds yet further degendering thru the coercive masculinization of someone as a Black woman—masculinization as punishment, again!

and as a final point, the account fails to be materialist. there is no attempt to place transmisogyny in its role as an instrument of political economy or, as jules gill-peterson might say, as a tool of statecraft. it is just a psychological response to the way the world is, as far as serano has anything to say about it. but how did the world become that way, and why?? serano's solution, the abolition of what she calls gender entitlement, is naive to the fact that gender entitlement is necessary to the maintenance of the capitalist state, which is structured thru patriarchy and built on colonialism. it is not possible to reskin this into something innocuous!

this is why I cannot recommend whipping girl as a work about transmisogyny except at the most shallow level. it could be a helpful critical read, but imo, it is just wrong about transmisogyny.

Is gator gals tail sensitive?? It looks so pillow worthy...

what if tail pillow ... 😳 apparently crocodilians, despite having thick skin and scales, are pretty sensitive to touch! i won't go into detail, but look it up if you're interested. to tie into that, a gator-human hybrid would be more sensitive than a human being. mostly to pressure on the scale areas (scales being like armour, so it wouldn't feel like having your skin touched) and sensitive elsewhere but especially the face (and underside of tail)

tl;dr if you grabbed her tail she would squirm

You are a man of culture, my fellow tiefling tail enthusiast. Your brain is huge. Hwo do you feel about tiefling tails wrapping around someone in a hug. Be it accompanying a regular hug or on its own

You. You get me.

Tiefling tails wrapping around both people during a hug. Tiefling tails wrapping around just the other person. Tiefling tails wrapping with other tiefling tails to deepen the hug. Tiefling tails wrapping around a wrist or leg when the hug starts to pull apart because they're not ready to let go. Tiefling tails tangled around their partner's waist during cuddles. Tiefling tails -

Hee hee.

But yes, in my headcanons a tiefling tail is super sensitive and has a wide range of ways to show emotions. A tiefling tail accompanying a hug means the hug is extra special - like lovers or family or close friends. This person means a lot to the tiefling. A tiefling tail around them without the rest of the body engaging in a hug could either anxious (stay close in a crowd or not let them leave yet), or casual (around friends or family to show a small display of affection). A tiefling tail involved with hugging shows a deep display of trust, as they are easily dislocated and (as I said before) extraordinarily sensitive like a cat tail.

Why do ducks have ears?

Google : Hearing is an essential sense to ducks when it comes to communicating with each other. Waterfowls communicate with various vocalizations, including mating and alerting sounds. They rely on their ears to maintain contact with their mates and young ones.

Crowley : That's how they hear other ducks.

And never forget :

Waiting for your next ask funny anon :D

*Aggressively throws ravioli at you*

I feel like I’m trying to bribe or tempt people into the ship lol. But it’s so worth it

I am being

Ravioli'd D:

OH MY GOD BLINKY FROM TROLLLHUNTWERS (IDK IF YOU CONCLUDED YOUR ART REQUWESTS YET BUT IF YOU DID THAT'S FINE)

hell yeah

Can we get more secret!reader honestly I want to see her family, especially her sister, get what's coming to them

Jason leaned against the wall and watched from a safe distance away. Watching without looking like he was watching.

Laurel was in town.

And you were upset that she was there. Afraid, even if you didn't say that. But he knew. You stuck close to the house- not even going farther into the yard than you needed to fill your bird feeders or water your little herb garden you'd started. And if it weren't for that- for your need to look after your plants and your creatures- he figured you'd probably not leave the bedroom. Hiding in the dark until you could feel safe enough to crawl back out.

And that, upset Jason.

"Y/N is much prettier," Damian said, glancing up from the phone he was holding.

Jason blinked and looked down at him- that wasn't anything he expected Damian to say.

"Her eyes are nicer."

"Damian, they were identical. And she's across the street-" Not that Jason disagreed. Your eyes were kind. And you were beautiful.

He snorted derisively, "As if that matters. Y/N also walks better in heels. Her sister looks like a velociraptor trying to hammer nails."

"You've got to stop watching Drag Queen shows with Steph."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Are you gonna snitch me out to-"

"What Father doesn't know won't hurt him."

I saw you asked for someone to send you comfort HCs for Simon, so I thought I'd send you some short ones! Hope whatever has you down improves soon!

You're from Fionna and Cake's dimension and get sucked through the portal when Fionna does. Now you're on their journey with them to save your world.

Simon slowly takes a shine to you, but tries to remain focused on his goals on somehow finding Betty. Sometimes he catches himself stealing glances though.

Sometimes he finds himself going through the logistics of being with you, despite everything. He promises himself that its just a passing thought. After all, you were a creation of his mind- sorta. Would that make a relationship with you less real? And why were you so much more attractive/appealing than your counterpart in his world?

"Fionna, you really need to find a shirt or something," you'd sometimes chastize the blonde while the four of your wandered aimlessly. "You'll catch cold with your belly out like that." "Who are you, my mom?" She'd whine back, rubbing and squishing her bellyfat. "Besides, it's hot as balls out here!" Simon would always snicker at your back and forths with the girls, being brought back to his expeditions with Betty, where she'd constantly nag him in a warm and motherly way.

You had a way about talking your way out of things, he'd noticed. Whenever he'd recognize a wayward counterpart of someone he knew, and started getting beside himself or dug you all into a hole, you were almost always able to smooth things over for him, and he greatly appreciated that.

Sometimes at night, when you've all stopped for camp, you'll stay up together, talking about your past, just the two of you. You almost always fall asleep before he does, usually while enduring some brutal archeological tanget. Once Simon realizes he's bored you to sleep, he'll shed his blazer, draping it over you to keep you warm. Every great once in a while, he might even spare you a delicate kiss on the forehead.

OUUHHH THESE ARE SO CUTE TYSM!! I've been having a rough go of it this week cause I've been ill + hives. These are nice to read wahhhhh.

"Morning fearless leader!~" Nora greeted her team lead in her usual manner ... via a flying hug from behind.

Jaune grunted as he felt her hit his back, the pain on an annoyance as he held her up by her thighs, "I really should just give up asking you to stop doing this, shouldn't I?"

please... Darcy x Qiu crumbs... tell us more 👉👈

*Inhale* I already made a post about it once that resume the evolution of their relationship with some funfact here but let me dive further.

Rom com high school crush.

She’s his best friend’s sibling, they have seen each other afar for a long time, they have the familiarity you’d get off people who often see each other even if they don’t really talk.

There is this awkwardness of the jump between platonic care and affection to someone you grew close to the romantic attraction that both stop them from making any move or even thinking there is any move to.

They aren’t childhood friends they are childhood connaissance, there is a slow-burning connection that links them to each other and it’s scary because-

What if they said no ?

What if she just imagined feelings that weren’t there ?

What if

That is too scary to think about. The incertitude that if your selfishness for a romantic connection wasn’t reciprocated it would hurt more than just you two. It would hurt your close common friends, it would hurt your confort zone, it would be impossible to not be confronted to that refusal everyday when you get out of your house and see theirs and know that they are here too and you will bee seen but you don’t want to be seen.

The possibility of a failed relationship is scary, even more so when you deeply care for the other and want them to feel at ease after all they went through.

Darcie knew Qiu had a hard time when they were younger, Qiu noticed that Darcie changed when they entered high school, and they are proud of each other and want to cherish that growth.

They are content with what they have, despite yearning for more.

*inhale* in conclusion none of them would confess unless there is a 100% certitude that it would go well or when it’s already too late to regret it-

Step 4 is far away for now but if we can have an ending like with Cove where you reunite after college, they would probably confess at this period lol

Very long, long, long slow burn.

Could we say that rejecting afab transfemininity is a form of bioessentialism because this rejection is based the sex assigned at birth of this category ? Isn't this like rejecting amab people from womanhood for the same reason ?

this only makes sense if you believe that "transfemininity" was a freely-made, vibes-based gender category with no prior anchor in the world. bioessentialism requires prescription by the accused bioessentialist; it requires that your imagined bioessentialist (me) decide post-hoc that certain biological claims about a person determine whether they can be transfeminine or not. if transfemininity was just a set of expressions, forms of behaviour and labelling, a particular aura or whatever, it would be indefensible to gatekeep people from it based on assignment. but that's not what transfemininity is.

transfemininity as a term developed to describe a category of gendered subjectivity in response to transmisogyny. the transfeminine isn't just a particular appearance or set of labels—transfemininity is anchored to the way transmisogyny shapes the subject-formation of those people who are subjected to it. like being a trans woman, being transfeminine is a politicized positionality determined thru cisnormativity and its reflex, transmisogyny. and the logic of transmisogyny operates precisely thru birth assignment.

here is a second clarification: birth assignment is not a biological fact about someone. birth assignment itself is a bioessentialist social action done to someone in the maintenance of hegemonic sexgender. the corrective machinery of gender then sets its normative expectations in accordance with ASAB, and metes out its punishment likewise. and transmisogyny is the specific genre of punishment reserved for those who have betrayed the expectations of being coercively assigned male at birth: the class of failed men who become an underclass of failed women because they cannot even perform the kinds of reproductive labour expected of women "proper". the transfeminine is a subject formed in response to this experience: a gendered category that coagulated against the stream of transmisogyny. it was not an invention ex nihilo, but political development.

so when I reject "afab transfemininity", I am not engaging in prescription. I am just describing transmisogyny, and deducing what must therefore be true of transfemininity. to call this bioessentialist would be a category mistake. take it up with the instruments of transmisogyny. the bioessentialism sits much deeper than a trans lesbian saying no—and your comparison to transmisogyny itself rejecting trans womanhood is, to be honest, absurd.

Your Gator Girl is an adorable cinnamon roll. She deserves lots of warmth and all the fish, turtles and other prey animals she wants!

she likes borger :)

I have to very shamefully admit that I wouldn't mind if Zevlor managed to get me knocked up. Thoughts on gregnant Tav and him seeing his tiny babbu first time?

This has actually come up in the discord before lol

Zevlor does not believe it when Tav tells him they're pregnant. He goes through an entire identity crisis because he's going to be a father? Him??? He is the last person he thinks should be a father

Tav is there next to him with soft kisses and kind words, assuring him that he'll make an awesome dad

Halsin taught him that hold your hands under the pregnant belly thing and he does it often. Tav complaining about a sore back? He's right there to take the weight for as long as they need

back massages are definitely happening

He gets a little more protective of Tav during the pregnancy. It shows mostly through his tail, which curls around them protectively everywhere they go. And how quick he is to rest his hand on the pommel of his sword when things get tense.

During birth, Zevlor stands diligently at Tav's side to hold their hand and is a firm advocate for their needs and wants

he faints when the doctors ask if he wants to watch

Zevlor is convinced that he will hurt the newborn if he so much as breathes on them. But he really, really wants to hold them because they're so small. But he also doesn't because they're so small.

Tav has to push him in a chair and gently guide his arms to hold the little baby

He melts instantly. He is now one with the chair, gently supporting the little baby as Tav goes off to shower. When Tav comes back he has fallen asleep sitting up, the baby still carefully cradled in his arms, now asleep as well

He is now very confident he can hold the little one and does so often. It's not even a "if Tav needs a break", Tav doesn't get to a point they need a break because he's right there with them, helping with everything

he gets one of those baby slings so in the morning he can make breakfast while Tav is still asleep and watch the baby at the same time (yes he wakes Tav up to breakfast)

pregnancy glow? nah, Zevlor gets a whole-ass fatherhood glow. He's just beaming every single day, showing off his baby to everyone and praising Tav about being so wonderful and amazing and how he loves them so much

*Offers you a 🥐*

^^

assuming this is from the truth or dare ask meme, then, "an internet meme that always makes me laugh"? gonna go with the uh... uh....

that one. it just has so much versatility.

i mean just. that's just the first fandom example i thought of.

hey @flowery-laser-blasts @selfox we need something drakgo for this lol

thanks for the ask!! ^_^

Help! I'm in love with that hair style as a way to show relationship status! It's so amazing! Did you come up with that yourself?

I came up with the designs for the braids, but the idea of demonstrating relationship status, gender presentation, or orientation through braids is something I've seen before! It was inspired by this:

Go check 'em out! :)