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herinsectreflection · 1 year

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I Guess Her Generation Isn't Cool With Witchcraft (Gingerbread)

On the 24th May 1988 the Conservative government of Great Britain, led by Margaret Thatcher, passed a law known officially as the United Kingdom Local Government Act 1988. This Act had many effects, but by far its most famous and influential section was the part that has come to be known as Section 28. Section 28 outlawed any school or local authority in the United Kingdom from “promoting homosexuality”, “publishing any material with the intention of promoting homosexuality”, or “promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. Given that the act (intentionally) made no effort to define “promotion”, the effect was clear and predesigned: from 1988 until its full repeal in 2003, queerness was illegal in British schools.

This justification for this discrimination was the same one that is always trotted out - the protection of children from predatory influences. Homophobic attitudes were rising in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, whipped up by an entrenched conservative government and a vulturine news industry. The likes of The Sun, Daily Mail, and The Telegraph ran regular scare pieces about the homosexual lifestyle and its apparent attempts to indoctrinate children. The most benign depictions of queer acceptance were accused of being pornographic, of being propagandic, of “glorifying homosexual intercourse”. One book - Jenny Lives With Eric And Martin - was described by The Sun as “vile” and Today as “gay porn”[1], and was deemed controversial enough to kickstart the movement that resulted in Section 28. It depicts a girl with a gay father, engaging in such salacious events as going to the laundrette, and planning a birthday party.

The accusations leveled at these books were lies, and easily revealed as lies to anyone concerned enough to engage in actual research, but their purpose was not to be true. Their purpose was to combine latent homophobia in the general population with the instinctive human desire to protect the young. Together, these elements create a powerful boogeyman. This boogeyman was then paraded out during the general election of 1987, in which the Labour Party was attacked for their (claimed) promotion of such offensive materials. This was an imagined threat cooked up by bigots and seized upon by political actors most interested in protecting their capital. It worked. The Conservatives won the election with 42% of the vote, and remained in power until 1997.

It is into this cultural landscape that Buffy airs the eleventh episode of Season Three, Gingerbread. The plot revolves around the deaths of two young children, and how those deaths spark a wave of anti-witch paranoia among the townsfolk of Sunnydale; a paranoia that escalates into censorship, persecution, and eventually a literal witch-burning. The dead children are eventually revealed to be an evil demon exerting some kind of mind control on the population, which is standard practice for Buffy hijinks. The important aspects are the real-world parallels that this storyline is intending to highlight.

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master-xochimilli · 2 months

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Love when I'm fucking a cute bitch and they start moaning oh god as I fuck a load into them

Like mmhm, that's me sweetheart— you praying and begging for me to go even rougher? Praying for more of me inside you, little dove~?

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beespaceprogram · 2 months

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warm

part 1

Alternate last panel (with no blanket) on my Patreon i designed a sticker of these two if you're interested <3

#comic #art #queer #flirting #definitely #band shirt comic #mild nudity #adult themes

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rustchild · 7 months

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desperately craving weird surrealist arthurania. Knights with no faces wandering through the mists. Seams between Christian and pre-Christian Britain gaping like open wounds. Beafts and visions. Maybe a monk. Maybe the monk is gay

#This post brought to you by remembering that The Green Knight exists #and longing to live in the alternate universe where it launched a whole genre of high quality queer indie arthurania retellings #craving themes of guilt honor repression wildness etc etc #bonus points if it includes critique of the whole divine right of kings English empire imaginary that can accompany Arthur retellings #I would write it myself but alas! I have no brain #Mine

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howlingtothevoid · 2 months

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Begging God to fix you!

(And other tales about religious trauma)

#web weaving #web weave #on grief #on love #webweaving #childhood grief #oc story: pathdog #Pathdog!Catherina #oc webweave #on religion #religious trauma #tw religious themes #catholic grief #no hate like christian love #happy valentine's day #i guess #queer tragedy

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yourlocalabomination · 3 months

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I am not immune to funny crackships.

+ Bonus

#*falsettos your chasitys*#this started out as a ‘aha yea they fucked once in highschool’ joke for me how did I end up here #it went from ‘Teddy: yea man it doesn’t count if your socks are on’ to queer teen situationship in the 90s angst with religious overtones #I would like to blame everyone who has made holybastard fanart/fanfics for converting me #I don’t see them as a long term relationship but more on an active affair between two old high school ‘friends’#I drew these while listening to The Last Dinner Party ans now I can’t stop thinking about holy bastard to some of their songs #‘picture me in bed- under your crucifix- under your long black hair- I’ll see you on Sunday’ are actual lyrics how can I not-#I just impor you to listen (there only 5 songs as of now) and do the same- ESPECIALLY SINNER ITS SUCH A MARK CODED SONG #who would have figured the queer ex religious person would be a sucker for queer relationships with religious themes #grace chasity #peter spankoffski #pete spankoffski #mark chasity #holy bastard #starkid #team starkid #starkid productions #starkid fanart #starkid animation #npmd #nerdy prudes must die #nerdy prudes must die fanart #npmd fanart #npmd starkid #hatchetfield #hatchetverse #hatchetfield universe #fanart #my art #my animation

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w0lfwren · 11 months

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thinking about how since showfall already had a token gay they could make fun of they probably just programmed any queerness out of niki and ranboo entirely so they’d be more palatable to their family friendly audience. thinking about how ethan came up with the drag idea then was immediately murdered.

#one thing about me i’ll find queer themes in anything #genloss #generation loss #ethan nestor #niki nihachu #ranboo #austinshow #austin show #ogs

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sexy-sapphic-sorcerer · 5 months

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BBC Merlin being about 'magic' for 7 minutes gay

#not to be all autistic about media analysis again but i think fandom tends to overlook the symbolic/metaphorical aspect of queer subtext #a show can be queer coded because two same sex characters have an intense relationship with homoerotic undertones #or it can be queer coded because it conveys themes of alienation. repressed identity. oppression. internalised shame #Merlin does both. several times over #gay ass wizard show #bbc merlin #merlin #merthur #magic is gay #magic as a metaphor #flashing #flashing lights #< thanks to photosensitive-despair for advising me to change the tags

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lena-oleanderson · 3 months

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forgiveness and mercy in side wounds

#web weaving #poetry #lena's poetry archives #side wounds #forgiveness #mercy #god #religious imagery #religious themes #grief #on grief #on forgiveness #on mercy #queer poets #words #webweaving #quotes #literature #poems

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master-xochimilli · 3 months

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Making a sweet little thing kneel at my feet, eyes wide and pretty mouth swearing to worship me for their whole life, before taking me whole in their mouth

Moaning my name over and over into and against me like a holy prayer until my cum blesses their throat and overwhelms their mind~

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kaban-bang · 4 months

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#I really thought this season would shy away from the queer stuff to keep it as just two neighbors #who enjoy each other's company in a plausible deniable way #but then ep 7 happens and the queer themes become overt front and center #it was really nice #tsukutabe #she loves to cook and she loves to eat #long post #lgbtqia

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hecateisalesbian · 2 months

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I will not let anyone forget.

Also a flag I made during these times. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸

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punki-miltonia · 11 months

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Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss this.

Mansplain, Manipulate, Malewife that.

What about Androgyny, Anxiety, Anarchy?

Representation matters.

#queer #nonbinary #non binary #enby #happy pride 🌈#pride #I truly am an anxious pile of ferrets in a trench coat #I know not all enby and gnc people are androgynous #I needed to keep with the theme #non biney #enby pride #pride month #pride posting #should I share the non-binary aesthetic map I made that involves multi dimensional travel?

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yuriinadress · 2 months

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Tim honey you're gonna make your boyfriend cry what is wrong with you 😭😭😭

#sun screen ON the gloves #full robin suit #THE DAD HAT #this man peels like a sundried tomato i just know it #Kate's out here in a full themed swimsuit looking like a goddess and tim would rather be literally anywhere else #cryiiiiing #tim: the lame boy queer rep we needed #timbern #tim drake #dc pride #dc pride 2024

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anachronistic-falsehood · 1 year

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Vash and Femininity: Trigun Stampede and its Themes of Bodily Autonomy, Exploitation, and Vague Gender Fuckery

alright sit the fuck down. we're gonna talk about THEMES

I was on Twitter- terrible idea usually, but a couple people I follow made some tweets that got me thinking about Trigun's overall themes, and here we are. So let's talk about some themes in Tristamp! And I'll take a couple looks at Trimax as well, just for fun :3

Let's look at how the showrunners utilize gender roles and exploitation of feminine characters to show how unhealthy Knives' obsession with his ideal of Vash is, and how horrific his exploitation of Vash and the Plants is.

Vash, from the beginning of Tristamp, is someone who cares about people's choices. When people kill others in front of him, he reiterates that whether someone lives or dies is not another person's choice to make. This is something he learned from Rem (a prominent female figure in his life). He refuses to kill people because that is not his choice to make. To kill someone is the ultimate removal of their bodily autonomy. They can no longer make any choices at all; they're dead.

Vash is also someone who has almost no choice in what path his life takes. He's constantly dragged around by outside forces, namely situations that are caused by Knives (which we'll get into later). Vash doesn't make things happen, things happen to Vash. The majority of events that occur are not his fault. He's pushed and pulled in a thousand different directions. His entire life is completely out of his control.

This can be seen as early on in his life as the Fall, something he had no control over and had no idea he even had a part in. Even later, in the ship with Luida and Brad, after he's been rescued from the desert, he's kept in handcuffs right up until he's shown to be of use to them and the Plant on their ship. After that, he could theoretically say "no, I don't want to go to other ships and heal their plants," but he doesn't. He's Vash. He's helpful and nurturing at his core, and these people have done so much for him just by letting him stay, so he'll do whatever they ask, no question.

This carries over into his adulthood. At Jeneora Rock, he goes to look at their Plant at one simple request, doesn't protest when he's dragged into a duel-- he doesn't take initiative unless someone's life is immediately at stake. He lets people tell him what to do and lets himself get dragged around by the wrist. He doesn't even pretend to have control over his life like Trimax Vash does, which I mean. Fair. Why pretend to have a grip on your existence when it's impossible to do anything without a gun pointed at your head?

Vash is a very passive character. He's nurturing, kind, gentle- he's a guy that fits a lot of very typical feminine character stereotypes. If you wrote this same story but made him a woman, I wouldn't bat an eye (but I would definitely be looking at it a lot more critically, what with the amount of stereotypically nurturing/motherly female characters in media already.)

This contrasts directly with Knives. He makes a decision and carries through no matter what stands in his way. He takes initiative. If Vash is a passive character, Knives is an active character. Wherever he goes, he leaves a lasting imprint. He makes shit happen! If outside forces make things happen to him, he'll go out of his way to make sure that particular force doesn't affect him again.

These two tweets I saw are what got me thinking about this originally. I just feel like here's a good place to put them as a segue into talking about episode 11.

Episode 11 is where a lot of this feminine imagery really just. Explodes in your face. IT'S RIGHT THERE. You can't dance around it if you try. And it kind of reaches a peak when the connection reaches 100%, the gate opens, and. well. THIS happens to the Plants.

Plants, in both Trimax and Tristamp, are almost always typically feminine-looking. Knives and Vash are the only two who are male or even masculine at all. Knives, as the most masculine out of all of them, is the one trying to take charge, and mould the world as he sees fit, to a degree that is detrimental to both him and everyone else. And Vash-- passive, feminine, kind and nurturing, whose Angel Arm in the manga always sprouts decidedly feminine-looking Plant parts-- is the one being exploited for Knives' plans. It's no mistake that they made the giant plant formation at the end of ep 11 look like a giant woman that almost resembles Rem.

Vash wants people to make their own choices and keep their autonomy when it comes to their bodies and lives. Knives is the exact opposite. He wants all Plants to become independent and he uses Vash to achieve that goal, without asking what Vash wants or even knowing what the Plants themselves would prefer. He exploits Vash for the soul purpose of trying to make these Plants have Independent Plant babies. He's completely incapable of seeing that his choices are not for the greater good! He thinks he's saving them, but none of his actions are for the good of anyone but himself. He’s just violating them for his own gain.

They're really leaning into gender roles for these guys, but in a way that screams "HEY, LOOK AT THIS! ISN'T IT FUCKED UP? LOOK AT HOW FUCKED UP THAT IS. LOOK AT THIS, AND BE UNCOMFORTABLE, AND KNOW THAT IT IS FUCKED UP."

Because it is! It's so extremely fucked up. They're using this imagery and these roles, something that makes most of us intrinsically uncomfortable, to drive home how unhealthy Knives relationship with his ideal of Vash is. That's the point. We're supposed to be uncomfortable with this.

Now of course there's some nuance to it. Like, you could see Knives as somewhat of a feminine and/or queer-coded figure as well, ESPECIALLY if you look at some of his panels in the manga, which could in turn lead to themes about infighting and control within marginalized communities, but that might be something for another post. :3

And there's definitely different ways you could take this! Vash, with all this feminine imagery, could be either transfem or transmasc coded, depending on what way you'd rather see it, which could lead into themes of how people outside the norm constantly face a lack of bodily autonomy and are exploited for purposes outside their boundaries. We could also look at Wolfwood and his lack of choice over joining the Eye of Michael and becoming the Punisher, and how masculine men (particularly men of colour) are often forced into violent roles against their will. If we look at Trimax, the exact same could be said for Livio/Razlo and people with disorders such as DID/OSDD.

There are many different ways you could spin these themes, some of which I don't feel personally qualified to discuss. If anyone who is qualified to talk about Wolfwood or Livio/Razlo or even other characters related to these themes, then god PLEASE add onto this post or make a post and tag me or something. I would love to read it!

Anyway, in conclusion: Vash is a feminine figure constantly taken advantage of and exploited and and he's so incredibly trans/nonbinary-coded that it drives me insane. Thank you

#whiskeys word soup #trigun #trigun stampede #HI. HELLO. THIS DRIVES ME INSANE PLEASE READ THIS #and seriously if anyone wants to make a post about wolfwood or livio/razlo or any other character exploring these themes of bodily autonomy #on GOD. lemme know i wanna read it #well aware that some of this is probably me digging too deep for things that aren’t there but still!!! fun to look at #what is media analysis other than putting on ur queer glasses and picking out trans allegories within stories #it’s been a while since I’ve made a full analysis essay kinda post!! this is how i normally format them bc it’s easier for me to read

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stagefoureddiediaz · 17 days

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Something something about Tommy ending up at HARBOUR and getting to be his true and full self. Now he’s doing the same for Buck - providing him with a harbour - a safe space for him to find himself and figure things out.

The water theming continues to send me spiralling

#water theming around buddie and queer discovery is everything to me actually #coming into harbour for safety #a harbour in a storm #bucks ship is going to find its anchor in harbour and be safe - Eddie’s ship is next - when both ships are in harbour - then can buddie set #sail - were getting there and I’m feeling insane #the metaphors are so good and deep #god I love this show so much #911 spoilers #911 abc #evan buckley #tommy kinard

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