i have no motivation to produce a proper jacq artwork for now so have this little sketch that i did of him instead

Can you please help me with understanding some points?

Today I saw a viminer that was clearly a Jimin anti and I’m so pissed that people claim to stan him just for a clout or because they believe in certain narrative that they have made up by themselves.

Their behaviour is truly hypocritical - she said Jimin has always been careful about lgbt community and v has been always loud about it - “Taehyung gifted Jimin “woman” clothes, so he started accepting himself”. But she never mentions that Jimin called out V for saying that man shouldn’t check selfies, called out members saying that he didnt get why they are so upset about wearing dresses.

But when in one ask someone said that V was being controversial about lgbt - “he called out Jimin for liking man, laughing at his attitude to Jungkook” that girl defended him🤡 like V has always been supportive more than Jimin

Tell me am I right or wrong? Do we have a masterpost about Jimin supporting lgbt or should we make one?

Ok I get this, and it's not like we can ever expect these people to paint him in a good light. The funny thing about how stans use idols or celebs in general talking about or engaging with queer media as proof that they're queer is funny because when you look at someone who's obsessed with queer media or at least wants us to think that they are, it's the straightest person ever. Enjoying a certain type of media doesn't mean you're part of that community, most times queer people engage with and consume straight media more, it doesn't make them less queer.

And I don't understand why we have to prove that Jimin supports LGBTQ.. is he getting an award for his support or does his support cause any significant change in the community?

Also if you ask the average kpop Stan who isn't an army that can't stand the idea of Tae with a woman so they try to convince themselves he's gay because he posted about a wong Kai war movie, to list 10 idols they think could be queer or idols who have helped to break gender stereotypes, Jimin will be the only BTS member on that list.

It reminds me of how armys diagnosed jk as autistic and call him "babygirl" when he would never be the first Idol anyone would think of when they hear the term "babygirl", also how years ago armys and Taehyung stans swore Tae was "unique" because he acted "weird". Everyone wants their fave to be "not like the others", stans and their neverending quest to prove that idols are queer or autistic because they think it makes them unique or because they want to see themselves so bad in the idol even if that idol is anything but.

I think we are past the era when we think someone is gay because they post about gay media. Most BL fans are literally straight women. I'm attracted to women and I consume more straight and mlm media than wlw, it doesn't change my sexuality.

A lot of people think Jimin is queer for reasons that are deeper than these.

Until a few years ago when certain BTS members discovered what the fans wanted to see and what was accepted by their international fanbase, they would literally say the most insensitive things to Jimin about his masculinity, Tae included. That man discovered that fans eat these things up and he's not looked back ever since.

Like I'm not accusing anyone of anything but I just don't think Tae is as close as he is with those wooga squad men and then he's actually queer, or that he could even push anyone to self acceptance. That's like the ultimate "bro club", they are misogynistic and I've heard homophobic too (although I don't know how true that is, I think people just say they are because they give that vibe and I get it). If he's actually queer and oh so forward thinking then being friends with people like that isn't a sign of self acceptance at all in my opinion or maybe wooga squad members are good people in private lol.

I don't think anyone should be making a post to prove that Jimin supports the queer community because he's the last idol that needs that defense.

Jimin has been subjected to homophobi* and transphobi* for years because he's always been himself but of course Tae is more progressive simply because he watched a gay Netflix movie and posted about it on Instagram 😭

as a title, “a certain persuasion” speaks to me 👀

This was something I was working on with the idea that maybe I could publish it. It was (very loosely) based on Jane Austen's Persuasion, except set in (more) modern times and gay.

In the Austen story, Anne is in love with Frederick Wentworth, but an older mentor figure convinces Anne to leave Wentworth because he is a poor sailor with no real prospects. Anne later regrets her choice, and Wentworth moves up through the ranks and becomes a fairly successful and respected sea captain. Their situations reverse: Anne is considered an old maid, and her family has fallen somewhat both financially and in respectability. But they never really stopped loving each other (even though Wentworth was terribly hurt) and so it works out in the end.

I wanted to examine a social reversal that was really relevant to modern times and isn't something I see much explored, though I will say the recent movie Bros touches on it more than anything I've seen. The reversal I'm talking about is the changed attitude, in many social circles, towards homosexuality.

In my story, Anne and Fred are two high school girls in the late 90s. Fred is a social reject about whom there are a bunch of nasty rumors. She and Anne best friends and mean everything to each other. Fred eventually confesses that she's in love with Anne. Anne, who has never once considered her own sexuality, much less anyone else's, and has only ever heard of homosexuality in the context of hate crimes, AIDS, and jokes, has no idea how to react or even what she herself feels. She assumes she doesn't return Fred's feelings, since she's never thought of it before, but she isn't very open or clear about her struggles, and to Fred, Anne's response feels a lot like homophobia.

They meet again in 2012. Fred is an out and proud lesbian who is extremely influential and popular in queer and queer adjacent social circles. She's the cool activist everyone, including straight people, want to say they're friends with. Meanwhile, despite the revolution in social attitudes towards LGBT+ people in the place where Anne lives, Anne is just as confused and uncertain of her identity as ever. The one thing she does know is that she was in love with Fred and still is; she falls in love all over again when they meet again. Fred, who thinks of Anne as That Girl so many lesbians have met--the one who will let them get close in every way except the "ew, gross" one--really isn't interested. Except she can't stop herself from falling in love again, still assuming that Anne is straight and/or at least homophobic.

This story is really important to me, because I know so many women my age who weren't thinking about their sexuality because no one was talking about it, then suddenly were because suddenly everyone was. There is a very specific confusion that comes with that, a feeling of stupidity because you didn't ask these questions before, a feeling of rejection because you feel like you realized too late, a feeling of envy for those growing up with more awareness than you did and a feeling of lostness for where you belong now.

The main problem I have with this WIP is I wrote the high school backstory for Anne and Fred but have less interest in the 2010s story, even though I really want them to have their happy ending. Austen's story doesn't even show the backstory; you just start in the later timeframe and have to glean the backstory from the present. I don't feel the need to follow the Austen framework, but really there are two stories here, the backstory and the forestory, and I've really struggled to make them feel like one.

THE FINAL HANGOUT for Desuhiko. I. Think. I've gotten all of the Baubles up to this point. Going into this chapter, every character has one Bauble left to find for one last chill-sesh with them. The way that lines up looks deliberate.

Like, if this is the final chapter, it makes sense that everyone's last bauble to close out their Gumshoe Gab would be located here.

Oh god, are we breaking up?

You're literally the only character who has shipping tags pop up in the tag list when I go to type your name at the end of the post. Not even Kurumi. So if this is what it sounds like then you're about to break the hearts of approximately 100% of the game's audience.

Yuma has the patience of a saint. Imagine spending an hour hanging out on an empty rooftop with nothing to do but get rained on, while your only companion (who asked you to come here) is evasively trying not to talk to you.

I would have excused myself and bailed after like five minutes.

This conversation is coded as hell. No wonder Desuhiko's the only character with algorithm-prioritized shipping tags. He's gotten closer to a love confession in this brief conversation than Kurumi has in hours of hanging out with Yuma and constantly refuting that she's his girlfriend, anime-style.

This is purposeful ship bait. The game's made clear that Yuma/Kurumi is its OTP. It refuses to shut up about it even though it's moving that subplot along at a snail's pace. But the coding in this conversation is clearly meant to throw a bone to the shippers.

100% "If you get it, you get it. But if you don't then Desuhiko's just being a silly-billy by how seriously he's taking this." A paper-thin subtext with just enough deniability.

And judging by the hashtags, people have absolutely taken the game up on its offer. In fairness, reading into things like this is what you have to do to squeeze even an ounce of same-sex romance out of most IPs. Writers will ship-tease until the cows come home but balk at giving us openly gay/bi characters.

At least we got our cool enby Halara. As long as Kodaka doesn't lose the fucking script in the final chapter and sticks the landing for them, Halara will easily be the best LGBT character he's ever written. (Not that the competition makes that difficult or anything.)

Trust Yuma to be utterly oblivious to the subtext here. It's a long-established character trait that he struggles with understanding people when their behavior doesn't match his standards of normalcy. As is typical of Kodaka's protags, he is aggressively the Straight Man.

The musical equivalent of saying, "No, I will not go out with you, but I would like to be friends instead."

Desuhiko is not taking rejection well. But at least he's not doing that thing some people do, where they'll let someone go on tour with them as a fan while utterly convinced that, if he gives it some time, Yuma will come around and realize that joining the band really is what he wants for his life.

Desuhiko's in too much pain right now to accept Yuma as a fan. But he's accepting Yuma's rejection for what it is. He isn't deluding himself to cling to something that can't be. He's processing his emotions and allowing himself to feel. That's the first step in healing.

He is, however, stonewalling. His moment of vulnerability has passed. The defensive walls are up and stronger than over. Accusing Yuma of only wanting to be his fan out of pity is a defense mechanism.

Yuma has successfully pried Desuhiko back out from behind his walls. He's sorry that they can't form the band that Desuhiko wanted but there is a strong basis here for an incredible fanship, one that could change the course of both of their lives.

Sorry, Yuma. You talked yourself into this. Fortunately, I get to bail and let you two have this private moment together.

As is pretty well established by this point, I don't have a high opinion of Desuhiko. It's personal. He hits too close to home and reminds me a lot of myself at his age. But I can see why others would like him and his dynamic with Yuma.

He's a far cry from what I expected him to be when I met him. I expected a much more objectionable character, especially given Kodaka's track record. But actually, Desuhiko's pretty cool.

I don't fully trust any politician, but if I had to pick someone I like it would certainly be Ted Cruz. Dude's the embodiment of "Don't be a dick". Has opinions but still respects you if you don't agree.

He's been impressing me ever since the 2nd year of the trump presidency, it's not a constant as all politicians are going to be he's gone off the deep end here and there but I can't remember much major.

Really enjoyed after he got his vaccine and the reporters were asking where his mask was, he was just 'I got the shot, isn't that supposed to be enough to keep me and you safe?'

Turns out all the idiots that tried to convince us that the shot would end covid were all wrong, but still it was and remains a funny moment.

Dude's the embodiment of "Don't be a dick". Has opinions but still respects you if you don't agree.

You'll get some disagreements there, but ya he's pretty chill provide you aren't doing something that is a danger or blatantly lying about things.

Like I said on the post, you can be opposed to whatever lgbt groups you like and believe they're also sinners and all that good stuff without saying they should die because of it.

Jesus was good at that, hanging out with sinners and not throwing stones or anything, just go and sin no more.

i'm talking to a beloved friend about how upsetting the whole "bi lesbian" business is to me as a lesbian, but he believes that labels aren't important, that it isn't really hurting anyone, that people should live and let live, that this stuff divides the community, etc., and i don't know what to say to that or how to convince him that it matters and i'm wondering if he's right. you're one of the most well-articulated blogs i know, so i wanted to ask what you think (unless it's too upsetting/controversial of a topic). what would you say?

sorry I took a while to answer this I just never feel like i have the head space to give a decent answer!

i mmean first of all assuming your friend isn't a lesbian that's pretty rich of him to assume its his place to decide. one thing I run into a lot is people who aren't lesbians and don't understand the relationship between lesbians and men is not comparable to the relationship between gay men and women. there's complex dynamics of oppression and misogyny here but to put it very bluntly, basically every lesbian either has, or knows another lesbian who has, been sexually assaulted by a man specifically because they are a lesbian. the politics of sexual availability are just utterly incomparable between lesbians and gay men and it's frankly extremely heartless not to care about WHY lesbians can be more protective of keeping men out than gay men are with women.

secondly, ironically, it's kind of just essentialising labels to use terms like this. the words lesbian and bisexual are both super clear about what they mean. when I hear the term bi lesbian im honestly just confused because some of them mean a bi girl who prefers women, some of them mean a bi girl who somehow identifies with lesbianism politically(?), or a perjorative against lesbians who are dating trans women, and more often than that it doesn't seem to mean anything in particular and is just a useless and confusing term stuck on in front of the word "bisexual" which was already explaining the situation fine on its own. I have literally seen people using the term who were gay trans men so I mean who the fuck knows 😭😭😭 there just isn't a question being asked to which "bi lesbian" is the answer.

thirdly, there's literally only one word to describe a woman who is never attracted to men. there are so many words for sexual fluidity or whatever that it's just capricious to decide you also need the ONE which applies to us. and people claiming words don't have meaning or whatever like yes and we apply meaning to them it's how we communicate. people calling themselves bi lesbians KNOW what the word colloquially means and that's exactly why they want to use it, it literally has that appeal to them because of us 😭😭😭 but you can't be a lesbian at your core based on vibe or something. it, like every other label, is something you pick to fit to what you're already doing. like you can call yourself a lesbian all you want but if you're not Doing Lesbianism then you're just essentialising some inherent meaning to the term that doesn't exist. any meaning it has is imparted by us, lesbians, doing lesbianism, regardless of how non-lesbians feel about that!!

finally, in an appeal to emotion, I don't think people who aren't lesbians realise how cruel this shit is. being a lesbian in this patriarchal society is so deeply exhausting and traumatic and isolating and I don't think people realise how much it seeps into every interaction. people don't recognise how vulnerable we are, how small a group of the lgbt community we are, and how little we are made to feel welcome when we really need a community that accepts us for who we are & lets us be us. the fact our boundaries are afforded less concern than like someone's right to feel edgy by cosplaying as us is a case in point!! lesbians deserve some fucking peace of mind!!!

final point but it's important to say that this isn't gatekeeping because no one is stopping you from BEING a lesbian. if you want to be a woman and only date women you can ;I find it kind of funny because if you want to be a lesbian that bad then be my guest <333 we are just asking for the word to be applied accurately. like if we're all in agreement that a word doesn't define who you are then you can't like change who you are by applying an inaccurate word to it

Most of my lgbt headcanons for borderlands are fairly common, but yippee.

Maya, Krieg, Brick, Mordecai, and Lilith are all living the bisexual life, you can't convince me otherwise.

Krieg is partially in denial about it. Lol.

I believe in the Mordecai part so thoroughly that one of my ocs is Mordecai's boyfriend.

Maya generally has a preference for women, Lilith is the opposite.

In my head, Zer0 really doesn't care much whether people use he or they for them. He's fine with both and just doesn't care much about gender in the first place.

Moze considered asking Amara out but didn't because she thought Amara to be out of her league lmao.

That's all I can really think of rn but I'll let you know if I remember any more. I think I wrote all my hcs down somewhere I just can't find it. </3

That's based af and probably canon actually since being bi is considered the default in blands. Epic gaming

MEGA ULTRA BASED FOR OC X CANON SHIPPING. I HAVE A FEW OF MY OWN BUT I NEVER TALK ABT THEM BC I FEEL CRINGE. PROPS TO YOU FOR HAVING THE BRAVERY TO TALK ABT THEM

BISEXUAL LILITH SO TRUE ‼️

I am a staunch they/them Zer0 fan but that's mostly bc I like being a lil hater and also lets me at least pretend Fl4k isn't the only they/them in the series. However I don't actually mind ppl using other pronouns for them that much (I think I saw a fic that used neos for them? Very cool) as long as they don't assume they're a man if you tag your zer4k fic as m/m I will personally incinerate your hard drive

NAUURRR...... someone put these women in a situation, STAT!!!!

I wish unicorn of war would just disappear from youtube that person (cant recall their gender) with the ammount of stupid points they bring up and like recently comming on a video called how rwby fails lgbt about a show thats not over yet (and the video having blake and yang a couple that techiqually isn't together yet wonder if they are still salty over clover dying (all because a writer shipped him and qrow I didn't even know that was a ship cause to me it seemed oh clover is helping qrow

Hello anon,

I am sorry, but I do not watch their videos hence I can't comment on them. That said, I would like to use your ask to share my 2 cents on the whole LGTBQ+ representation issue, not just in RWBY, but in general.

I think it is important to realize that offering representation and exploring themes linked to LGTBQ+ or gender is not the same thing. It is the same for all important social issues. A story where there is racism does not necessary set itself up to explore the issue deeply or thematically. A series with disabled characters might not be interested on truly reflecting on disability. In short, just because there is rep it does not mean the topic is going to be at the centre of a story.

That said, rep is still extremely important to normalize some phenomenons (the existence of queer people and their right to have happy relationship, what living with a disability means, etc.). The more rep there is, the best it is. Obviously there can be some rep that won't meet everyone's taste and maybe in some cases it might be offensive to some and can be criticized. However, with the exception of very rare cases, every rep is on some measure positive and deciding that it is not woke enough for your standards is literally helping no-one.

Now, RWBY has some decent rep imo. Blake and Yang are main characters and they are clearly ending up together. The series also has minor characters that are confirmed queer like Ilia, Coco, May, Sofron,Terra, Nolan and Scarlet. There is absolutely nothing bad in this.

You want more? That is a fair wish, but not all series are gonna have as much queerness as you want. That is a fact. Some authors will be more interested in representing this kind of characters and in exploring these themes. Others will not.

You don't like Bumbleby as a ship? Fine, it does not change it is 2 main girls ending up together in a Young Adult American series that debuted in 2013. Like, I am not sure, but I think Korrasami happened in 2015... imo remembering RWBY has been planned in its major bits (which I am fairly sure involves the endgame ships) not today, but 10 years ago is good food for thought.

Now, Bumbleby's execution is not perfect (I really think they should have handled Sun better), but it is not even remotely as out of the blue or as badly written as some people claim. Imo it is something clearly decided since early on:

Black the beast descends from shadows. Yellow beauty burns gold.

Even dismissing Red Like Roses, volume 2 and 3 still clealry code Blake and Yang romantically.

Yang and not Sun is the one who convinces Blake to go to the dance:

Yang: And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance.

So, symbolically she is the one who brings Blake to the ball:

Sun: Sooo, does this mean we're going... together?

Blake: Technically, though my first dance is spoken for.

Notice that Blake and Yang wear complementary outfits (black and white, ying and yang), while Black Sun have both black clothes.

Not only that, though:

Blake: I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual - little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first they were accidents, then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just... very familiar. But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So... I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did.

Adam: And as I set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love.

Yang: Blake! Where are you!?

Adam: Starting with her.

Yang is directly compared to Adam aka Blake's previous partner and lover and she is Adam's target the moment he is trying to hurt Blake. Like, crazy ex-boyfriend targets new love interest is a recurring trope. Not to count Yang losing her arm is juxtaposed to Pyrrha screaming Jaune's name while he is being attacked by Cinder. Arkos is clearly romantic and the 2 scenes happening frame beside frame is a way to equate the 2 relationships.

In short, structurally there is little doubt. Bumbleby is endgame and it is set up very very early on in the story. Criticizing the ship because it has yet to happen makes little sense to me. How many straight ships are confirmed at the end of a story? Why should they have the chance to crown the characters' arcs at the very end, but queer ones have to be confirmed early on to prove they are somehow good enough?

What is more, even if you somehow decide to follow this standard... so far only Bumbleby and Renora are clearly confirmed as endgame ships. Personally, I think all the major characters will end up in a ship by the end. Even if this were not the case, I am still fairly sure Renora and Bumbleby are not gonna be the only 2 ships. And yet, they are the ones who have undergone the most development and are clearly the closest to be confirmed as canon.

In short, for the standard of the series... Bumbleby is actually confirmed pretty early on imo :''')

Anyway, thank you for the ask anon and have a nice day!

The issue about tae/nnie has taken so much space in my brain for about a month now and it's making me go through such an unhealthy obsession.

I get bothered whenever that video appears in my timeline, but I'd still deliberately look for more clues and connections. I get an irrational satisfaction whenever I see posts dragging the girl (which I think is so evil of me. I mean, I never really liked her even before this, plus, her show really made me hate her more). I never engaged in fanwars. I'm just on the sideline, reading hate posts one after another. I would intentionally look for tags and stuff related to them. It's mentally exhausting. I'm beating myself up so much over it. I'm trying to find answers in an unhealthy way. It's not good.

I understand why fans are still having a hard time accepting it considering it all started with an accidental follow, then the gurumi photos, then now this. We've been debunking this for so long, so it may take awhile to accept everything. I'm still not sure if it was them coz the narrative was full of holes and downright suspicious. We haven't seen Tae in that jacket and hat, but the pants and shoes were the same. The Celine bag was there, too, held by the manager. Jennie was seen in that outfit, too, days after that. Jennie's hair was the same. Also, that fan who asked for an autograph, although super suspicious coz how in hell was she bringing a magazine with her at that time of night. The clearer video looked definitely like Tae, so I dunno what to believe anymore. They were seen getting inside the hotel, too, so, I dunno anymore.

I've been reading posts denying the rumors, too, so it's honestly just so confusing.

Thing is, nobody really knows what's the truth, only Tae and Jennie and their companies do.

I've been reading your asks, and there were a few who are convinced that Tae is not gay. Maybe we just read him wrong, and he's just an LGBT ally. However, I disagree with the anon who said Tae can't be gay because of Wooga or Bogum coz men can be friends with gays, too. I have gay friends and straight male friends, and they get along just fine.

It's been almost a month, and we still haven't gotten our answers, and surely, there won't be any confirmation happening ever. We will just live through the confusion until one day, this will just become part of our memory as their fans.

For now, we just have to remember why we became fans in the first place. We always have to hold on to that reason why we chose BTS, what they did for us. We need to continue supporting them. We don't own them. They make us happy, we should let them find their happiness, too.

Also, I realized how fickle our minds can get. If we're not mentally strong, we can get swayed easily. We create our own truths and beliefs based on our own understanding and judgment, so we have to try surrounding ourselves with more possitive things.

We're all in this together! Happy Festa!

Hi anon!

I fear you are making yourself very unhappy at the moment. I'm glad you recognize what you're doing isn't good for you. Maybe step out for a bit?

At this point you're unlikely to find out anything new about the Paris footage. But I don't even think that's where your real problem lies. You feel too unsure about Tae and Jk probably, and you're expressing obsessive behavior because you want to make sense of things and go back to feeling safe in your believes. But the thing is, we will never know exactly what's happened, so you are likely to always have a hint of doubt in your mind. That is what you have to come to terms with, living with doubt.

Doubt can make people feel really unsafe, even when it doesn't involve themselves. Just try to tell yourself that you are safe (at least I hope you are). Whatever happens to Tae and Jk has no physical effect on your safety. You yourself are not being attacked or harmed. Try to avoid reading hate. Hate is a nasty thing, it will never make you happy. You don't have to look at stuff containing Jennie if it makes you sad. It's all about choices anon, you just have to make the right ones for yourself. You do have some control here, you have the control to filter what you see.

i have a cis gay friend who insists he is "biromantic homosexual" because he could "date a girl, but wouldnt ever have sex with one". He got so so pissed at me when i said dating includes kissing and said "dude not everyone experiences attraction the same,i couldnt kiss a girl either but i could date one. It's not the same"

i lost my will to live i think

I definitely feel for you. Like... I do think there's a point in that "kissing isn't a pre-req for dating." You don't have to be kissing all the time or think about it right away to be attracted to someone and date them.

But there's also something to be said about how heteronormativity can affect gay men just as much as lesbians. Its not hard to convince yourself you like someone when you don't. And it's not hard to think you like doing something when you don't. Especially when the feeling is more "neutral" then actual dislike.

I used to think maybe I liked guys cuz they weren't repulsive or anything. But I think of dating women and it's a VERY different reaction and desire. And while it's normal for bisexuals to have preferences sometimes between genders, that drastic of a difference could very well mean something else.

Anyone can a date a girl. Many closet LGBT folks have and still do end up in relationships with people they aren't actually attracted to. And they can still live ok lives because 1. The alternative for them is worse, and 2. Relationships don't determine happiness. But imagine how much happier they'd be in a relationship with someone they actually like. It makes a HUGE difference.

Especially if he can't just call himself bisexual and has to use the split attraction model. It really does just point to internalized homophobia, biphobia, and heteronormativity.

Unfortunately, there isn't much in advice I am give you. Those kinda situations are just... Draining. You can't do much if he won't listen. And changing someone's mind can take YEARS. It's probably best if for right now, you just don't talk about it with him. Hopefully he'll realize shit in his own time. But you can't force it. If you want you can talk about different things that hurt your feelings. (Ex: my sister showing genuine hurt when she was told she just cares about dicks not personality in regards to pansexuality. Or my not yet gf showing anger at biphobic comments made by an ex pansexual friend). Those kinda things can help get them to start thinking of things, especially when you don't directly insult them. But don't treat it like your job or mission. It's definitely something that comes last to anything else. Focus on actually being happy and enjoying your friendships. Understanding and realizations will come naturally from that.

Either way tho, I've met people exactly like that. And it's definitely beyond annoying. And it's basically impossible to walk away without feeling a significant amount of anger.

I watched all of heartstopper today and I have THOUGHTS

Don't worry they are good thoughts.

One of my absolute *least* favorite things in entertainment media is the use of current, and predominantly online terms.

Especially when it comes to more left leaning politics. Because it comes off incredibly pedantic and pandering and insincere. Like, there was this cute show I was totally into up until it started using terms in that incredibly forced and insincere way, where I turned it off and simply haven't touched it again.

I'm really picky about this shit because I'm one of those fuckers that likes the characters to be characters before they are *insert token check box here* and that particular form of "inclusivity" just reads as tone deaf because I don't know a single person who would *out loud and in regards to themselves* use that type of language.

And like, that's generally a really big issue with lgbt+ fiction in media, because for some reason production companies and directors think that we like our identities being entirely linked to politics :/

Heartstopper was a breath fresh fucking air for me (I legit almost cried like 4 times watching it) because all the characters had incredibly believable dialog and reactions and even little inside jokes that are common within the community to the point that if you are *in* the lgbt+ community, you'd get it, and if you aren't, it's something small enough, you'd not even notice.

They felt like characters before they felt like stereotypical, tokenized identities, which was really nice. It felt like a *romance* before a story about sexuality, and the romance was incredibly well done 👏

And holy FUCK I love how they handled Elle. Actually, I loved how they handled every character's gender and sexuality, because it wasn't cheap. It was organic.

They trusted the audience to put two and two together about Elle being trans before finally dropping the proverbial bomb in I think like, the second to last episode??? Idk for sure but I *loved* it.

Maybe because I do the exact same thing with my trans character in Caring for Your Clown. Cause Oliver isn't *officially* revealed as trans until the mid point, but there are tons of hints throughout the text leading up to that point and I've not seen that anywhere else except for Heartstopper. (Granted the only other example i can think of is the trash fire that was high guardian spice trying to explain transgender people XD)

Like, Elle's treatment in the story is basically why I'm ranting about the show right now because I loved it so much. Granted, I kind of wished she had more screen time, but I'm automatically biased to love literally any trans rep so....that aside, Elle's character specifically was a really beautiful take on that representation.

I think though, the thing that really made this show so wonderful for me was how every POV character (with exceptions of Isaac cause he sort of doesn't exist) has incredibly relatable and realistic thoughts, reactions and above all else, STRUGGLES that are accurately portrayed.

Not over emphasized, or made into a caricature. It's genuine nuance to them in their individual arcs.

Case in point: Elle's crush on Tao being largely inhibited by her fear (or at least me perception of her fear) that Tao would never be interested in her *because* she is trans. Cause you best be damned if I didn't catch that.

It's framed in a "Don't want to ruin the friendship" sort of way, but you cannot reasonably convince me that she wouldn't be terrified of pursuing a relationship with him because he is straight, and how that commonly reflects the idea that straight people won't ever be into trans people on the basis of their AGAB.

Like I'm sorry. You can't tell me I'm wrong here.

(This is also a parallel in my books, cause my MC has feelings for another and he actively dismisses them because he thinks that that person doesn't want him as a *boy*— I mean, there's also like a ton of other reasons, but that's one of them)

Or the entire arc with Charlie being feeling as though he is a burden to Nick because of his past relationship. Or the fact that it is so *evident* that Nick immediately understands that his fear of being ostracized and asking Charlie to do the exact same thing he did with Ben is hurtful.

Also HOLY FUCK actual God damned bisexual representation???? Like a MAIN CHARACTER being openly, decidedly bisexual? I love that. Because it's so often the "I don't like lables" sexuality. I fucking loved it when Nick came to that conclusion.

Basically, as an author, and avid lover of storytelling...heartstopper is really good and I highly recommend it if you want to see genuine and nuanced portrayal of LGBT+ romance.

And I really hope I get more fucking Elle and Tao because I love every scene with them so much I need my girl to be happy.

John: Examine GameBro Magazine.

CW: toxic masculinity, in-text misogyny, mention of someone getting hurt, stairs

Oh boy, the first long block of text I am mandatorily obliged to read for the sake of this reread.

I know that it's a parody, a joke both for the magazine writers and the author themselves, but this dude should be fired. You know, a GOOD reviewer would try to leave their confort zone and be curious of any kind a video genre. I like simulation, point n click adventures, puzzles, and action adventure games. Indies are the best! But you know what? I get interested by horror, rogue-like, turn-based strategy, first person shooters, heck I even played GTA and watched a bit of Yakuza. But that's not my favourite thing. And despite it all, I learned to be at least a minimum intrigued by other genre. So while it's fiction, it's shameful and disappointing that this dude played like, 5-10 minutes at the very most of Sburb and decided that it was lame and not worth his time.

His reason?

Because he didn't get to destroy stuff. Not only it's dumb and unrealistic to expect every single game to have destruction as part of the gameplay, if not the main gimmick if his attitude is to be trusted, but his impatience turned on him. Because you get to destroy things. TT did it (on purpose), GG did it (by accident). And he could get what he wanted if he didn't judge the book, rather the game here, by its cover and continued to play with his friend at Sburb.

It reminds me of a good article about masculinity in video games and its community. Go give it a shot if you're interested, it's in french but you can put the article in a translator. 'Video games have been parasitized by masculinist imaginary' End of the aside, let's dig into the article properly.

John: Read article.

Non native english speakers when they want to make transitions x)

"cats"? That's a lame way to designate people.*quick research* Hmm I was convinced he was specifically narrowing it to women players, cause I would have translating it to 'minettes' in french. But 'cats' in this context is 'guy'. But as in 'men' or 'people' in general? It's 2009, and the golden age of let's play is 2012, so it's tricky to pin out exactly if it's still a stereotyped period or if the game industry is more open to other genders (read as: cisgender girls, not a lot of neutrality or lgbt+ content during that time). What was I playing, raised as a cis girl in 2009? I checked and the Sims 3 was released that year but I barely discovered the series so I was playing the Sims 2. I mean, nobody forcing you to write anyway, dude.

I hate that he's fakely open-minded. "Like yeah to each their own, but breaking stuff is actually the real shit ". It irks me.

I'm glad he would be booed nowadays. You can't unironically write stuff like that and not expecting some backlash. He probably doesn't care, he won't suffer any consequences.

When in doubt, my buddy Urban dictionary is here to the rescue! Ok so 'wicked up' is being wasted, but how does 'ins' come into it?

*more research* Hmmm o.kay. Man bro slang can be difficult to decipher. Don't get my started with "the hook" and "pirouette off the handle" and all that. With the whole Strider lingo, there's still trouble to come..

What? What about my mom? She could murder you with words, you know. She isn't one to be stepped on and I'm proud of her <3 You gave 1.5 hats because I'm pretty sure you have to give a mandatory minimum note to a game. I mean, I don't really care. You'll be dead with the rest of humanity in a few hours. Really played yourself here.

I'll allow it, this article is terrible and going nowhere so at this point, who cares?

Oh fuck yeah! I saw it in theaters when it came out. I don't remember much of it cause it was more than 10 years ago, but I remember liking it. I saw it with my brother, and maybe my mom. Idk too far to recall.

D:

oh nooo!

May Dennis have a prompt and good recovery.

Also, 'huge useless tool against wet grass' would be so confusing for someone who doesn't quite master the english language. If we took it at face value, it's like rubber screwdriver dripping in morning dew. That's.. quite cute and poetic actually. A forgotten toy caressed by the grass and water.

What a shame indeed. *quick translation* Wow what an advanced word to use all of the sudden. 'girth' ooh boy I'm so glad to learn so many new words, and I will totally not forget them the next morning /sarcasm /half-joke

At least he's nice enough to wait and try again to watch it. Wait, is 'Brotel Rwanda' his name? Or at the very least his pen name. Rwanda is a country in Africa, and the first name got 'bro' in it. It sounds fake, gonna be the latter.

This article too, was perfectly wasted. That was boring yet I manage to deliver a whole-ass post.

Alright, let's go back to John's shenanigans, shall we? —>

Ok, time for my rant post of what's going wrong in my life.

I have high blood pressure now. My systolic is in the prehypertension range, and my diastolic is in the stage one hypertension. My doc wants me to document my blood pressure for a while and then get back with him. Today I was 128/85 so that's the best I've had all the last couple weeks as they've been in the 130s/90s. I don't want to take pills for that and I know that it's because I'm fat. I'm old and fat, that's what I get, I guess.

My doc thinks my anxiety isn't under control and that I need to speak to my psych about it. I took this questionnaire that they give you and I guess I got a wrong score. His biggest concerns are that I often imagine impossible (well, more like unlikely) scenarios and worry about things like, "is my house on fire," or, "what if my car breaks down and its irreparable," or, "I hope no one abducts my daughter on her one block walk from the school bus stop." I wouldn't say these are impossible but it's things I will worry myself sick over. My daughter is out of town the rest of the week on a school trip and I worry about her being mugged, abducted, or assaulted. I had her check in with me every now and again to let me know she's ok. Also, if I lock the door leaving the house I have to touch the lock or I won't think it's locked. Sometimes I have to do it three or four times walking back to the door and touching it again. I also don't exit my car coming home unless the garage door is completely closed. I walk quickly if I hear footsteps behind me. I carry my purse crossbody style so it's harder to steal. Yeah, I just thought these were quirks, didn't really put anxiety as a reason for these.

Speaking of mental illness, that's not doing so well. Per my psych dr, I've reduced my olanzapine from 20mg to 10mg a day and things aren't so good. I have been forgetting to take my seroquel in the afternoon and things are really going down hill. I'm back to seeing squiggly lines in the tile again. Like the tile grout is moving in waves. I know it's weird and not really anything but I've noticed that back again. I have already said about the worm thing, that's still a slight concern but not as concerned. I've stopped taking the black walnut and wormwood tincture. For a few days I was convinced my husband was really a nazi and was planning to kill me. I started thinking about how he is obsessed with Scandinavian/Norse mythology and culture. He wears a Thor's hammer every day. He has shirts in runic, and his tiktok algorithm has lots of racist jokes that I hear him laugh it. Mine is mostly LGBT and witchtok. He said it's just his algorithm and that he can't control it but yes, yes tf you can. I talked to him about it a couple times and he assured me that it's "just a joke," and that it's nothing to be nervous about. The killing me part hasn't lasted, but the idea that he might be a ws is concerning me. As a person he's always been very progressive. Is this just a coincidence or is there something I don't know.

On top of it all, I'm so bummed about being fat and not losing weight fast enough. It's catching up to me now 😞 but you all already knew that part.

The end

(Anon who started her ask with 'I find it so refreshing' here.) First of all i'm sorry, i didn't intend to prompt you to comment on "mean" people in the fandom, ofc we all have different experiences!

But anyway, yess you understand me! There would have to be textual confirmation first that both buck and eddie are lgbt before going into buddie. It's easy for us to see "hints", but casual viewers? I rewatched some of 911 with my mom and like yours, she is a great example lol. When eddie and ana started dating in s4, my mom was convinced eddie had found the love of his life, you can't just have him say "I am in love with buck" without thoroughly and unambiguously hinting at and pointing towards that first.

I imagine it would be a bit difficult to suddenly have two bisexual awakening story lines without having either of them seem "forced". I'm curious what you think would be good ways to have both sexuality story lines and canon buddie happen, in a realistic way? 👀

oh anon, you're fine!! i just don't tend to venture outside my corner of the fandom so i'm not really one for discussing wider conflicts and such 😅

as for your question, in terms of where canon is right now, i agree doing two sexual awakening stories at once probably wouldn't be the road they'd go down but i still think they could pull it off in way that would make sense for the wider audience. for example, i think what could work is if they focus on eddie first just because his storyline is so prevalent at the moment. i'm quite married to the idea of another character pointing it out to him, or at least observing eddie's feelings while he watches buck from the other side of the room. and then seeing a masterful face journey that i know ryan guzman could pull off as he realises just how important buck is to him.

like to throw out a hypothetical - if someone in the season finale (i'd love if it was hen or karen) made some comment about buck being there for eddie and chris or something similar to the ana "readymade family" stuff and then for eddie to not freak out before wondering why he's not freaking out, you know?? and then he looks at buck across the room with chris and there’s the realisation of oh - this is different. (and what a Stunning full circle moment that would be in comparison to 5x01)

and so if we had a season or half a season of eddie grappling with his feelings for buck they could also tie it in with his therapy and explore his sexuality that way??? like re: his parents and his idea of a family and toxic masculinity etc etc

on the flip side, even in canon, i've always sort of been team "buck knows he likes men". like, it would Not be hard to throw in a line about how back when he was travelling or during his 1.0 phase that he'd slept with men before. and y'know, i'm not a bisexual man so it's not my place to say he doesn't need to experience a big journey like eddie but oh i just think it would be so impactful if the thing that catches buck by surprise isn't his sexuality but his feelings.

like i want eddie to tell him he loves him and i want that to rock buck to his very core. because he's loved eddie so steadfastly and with such conviction for so long that i really don't think he realises just how deeply it runs or what it means because he's never taken the time to examine it. so buck suddenly questioning everything he thought he knew about love and what it means to be a partner and how he's been doing that with eddie the whole time without realising?? that would be DELICIOUS.

again, i do think it'd be a good way to bring his sexuality up organically and maybe spoon feed the audience about how Not Straight some of his and eddie's moments have been too. like if he's thinking back over their moments together and talking through them with maddie and then seeing their dynamic in a new light???

to me, that would all be pretty realistic and within the realms of possibility in the show but again it would probably take a season of commitment to it to get the general audience there, y'know?? idk, either way i think if they decide to go there they'll do it justice. this is just the best way i can envision it in my head 🥰

Hi!

A while ago you talked about the whole they/them pronoun thing with cc's (totally agree with you btw) and that's why I thought I'd come to you with this. I hope that's okay, obviously feel free to ignore this if not.

I've seen a good amount of people (especially on tiktok for some reason) saying that dream and sapnap have used they/them pronouns for George like this past week or so. (https://twitter.com/gnfarchive/status/1411559886379487232?s=19 can't find specific tiktok, sorry)

And I feel like that just...isn't true? Like, English isn't my native language but each example they give... it's kind of obvious to me that in each instance they didn't actually address george.

Generally, if the people that think that find some kind of comfort in that, sure that's fine. But it just doesn't look/sound like that to me. And I don't think it's "healthy" to add so much meaning to something that was either dream stumbling over his words or just not addressing george at all. Ultimately, I don't care if people believe they used they/them for gnf or not, it just feels off to me that a lot of fans are so convinced they did when it didn't look like that to me at all. I don't know if I'm just a dick about this and if I am, please tell me because I don't want to be.

HI!! answering this under the cut bc it got a little long <3

this was articulated super well first of all and i completely agree with everything you said here!! so dont worry about coming across as a dick. the instances ive seen have just been places where it would be pretty natural to refer to someone with they/them (like in the clip where you provided -- they were pretending like "georgenotfound" was a stranger, so they both switched to they/them to joke about this ~anonymous individual~)

ultimately, as a nonbinary person, to me it comes across as a similar mindset to truthing? like u are clearly trying to project lgbt-ness onto streamers that dont claim those lgbt labels. and while i don't think it's done with malicious intent, trying to find representation in CCs where there (probably) isn't any can be really harmful. like, your perspective of a CC starts to strip them of their humanity to me (this sounds overdramatic but you get what i mean). streamers aren't characters to project onto; they have their own identity to protect, and pushing something else onto them is bad for your own health and appreciation of them as well.

also, there are nonbinary streamers if you're looking for streamers that represent you. and i'm not gonna pretend like i don't understand why it would be special for streamers you already fixate on or enjoy to use they/them, but it is disappointing to see nonbinary people swept under the rug in order to cheer over "representation" you pressured from streamers who are (probably) cis.

AND TO WRAP IT UP. dream has he/him in his bio and people claim him a he/they legend. i don't think we should claim any streamer to have a different preference of pronouns unless they clearly state it to be the case

thank you so much for the anon!! please know u are not alone in this feeling LMFAO i am right here with you

I've just been thinking about Harry and some actors I follow who I believe to be in a glass closet. I know there is that argument that you can't be 100% sure on things and that is true but I also believe in the argument "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck". Sometimes you just get a strong feeling about something, or you see enough to form an opinion. Also the fact that a famous Hollywood publicist once said that there are more gay men and women in Hollywood than bi and straight. Many journalists and actors have said this too... that most of HW are in the closet for some reason or other. Mostly fear of being typecast. Not fear of the public but of the academy itself. I remember Ian Mckellen saying that HW hates gay people and most actors are in the closet because of how HW treats them. They lose out on awards and the big blockbusters, and are typecast to stereotypical roles. This isn't new, it has happened forever. The LGBT+ community tends to full of hardcore liberals and they love the arts, so it isn't a surprise. I think the same can kind of be said for the music industry too. Lots of artists who have come out have said that they were told or encouraged to stay in the closet. But I digress. No one could convince me that Louis is straight or bi, even with a woman on his arm. All the clues are there. I see this with actors too. But anyway, I was just comparing Harry to these closet actors and they're very vocal about the lgbtq+ community, much more than him, and they celebrate pride but it doesn't end up all over the media. It actually goes mostly unnoticed by the media (because their pr teams do nothing with it) and the gp because you'd only notice if you follow them and their friends social media feeds. So it makes me feel that they're doing it because it is important to them, and not to profit off because it goes unnoticed. But every single thing Harry does or says ends up all over the media and it feels like he is taking advantage. It also really annoys me how he gets praised for wearing a dress on a magazine but in pap shoots he's always in trackies. Also that he pushes fans to donate to the lgbtq+ community but he doesn't donate much himself, but he will take credit for the fans donations. So is he really gay or a straight man faking it for publicity? Part of me feels like he is gay because he really did look in love with Louis in 1D. I don't think that can be faked. They looked besotted with each other... and he has always been vocal about the lgbtq+ community. But maybe he's just turned so selfish and greedy that he's using it to profit off it now? I just don't understand how he doesn't feel bad for doing it... for taking advantage. What do you think?

To me, Harry’s LGBT alliance always seems to train the focus back on himself, on teasing his audience with the titillation of whether he’s LGBT or not. Interviews on this question also dance both ways— “It doesn’t matter, I’m not sprinkling clues, it’s for aesthetics, I don’t care what people think, but I’m also a legend for wearing a dress, painting my nails, wearing pearls, waving a flag.” These are performative acts without the activism to back it up.

What Harry does is marketing. It is not activism. It is not representation, unless Harry is representing hyperprivileged wealthy men whose sexuality won’t be used against them.