the man, the moth, the legend

acrylic & pen in sketchbook

Some women are conditioned to be fragile and weak, and to believe that it's a sin to outperform a man. Her feminism would involve allowing women to be strong.

Some women are expected to be strong at times when they can't. Her feminism would involve reassuring her that it's okay to not be strong.

Some neurodivergent people are raised to believe that they're too stupid to ever amount to anything. Their disability activism would involve reassuring them that they're capable.

Some neurodivergent people are raised to believe that they're smart and gifted, and are expected to live up to impossible standards. Their disability activism would involve allowing them to fail, make mistakes, be stupid, etc.

Some children are constantly reminded "you're the child, I'm the adult" in order to deny their autonomy. Their youth rights activism would involve treating them like an adult at times when they feel ready for it.

Some children are treated like adults in order to justify increased expectations or to downplay abuse against them. Their youth rights activism would involve allowing them to be a child.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to oppression. Each individual person's experience is different. Whatever trauma is caused by their oppression, the activism should focus on undoing it.

today's potentially cold take is that a whole lot of people in fandom have a 'skinny fetish' and just don't call it that because they don't realise that's what it is

to elaborate: a lot of what people call "sexual preferences" are really just fetishes without the subversive element. liking big boobs is a preference, but liking really, really big boobs is a fetish. having a thing for hands is a preference, but having a thing for feet is a fetish. being attracted to skinny girls is a preference, but being attracted to fat girls is a fetish. and so on.

i've read a lot of literature that tackles eating disorders and body dysmorphia. but one of the most triggering things i've ever read was a fic in which one of the characters was very thin, and the narrator was constantly waxing lyrical about how beautiful his thinness was - describing his prominent ribs, his delicate collarbones, his tiny wrists, how frail and breakable he looked, how small his waist was. at one point the love interest casually said he'd break up with him if he ever got fat and it was just skimmed over as a cute bit of banter, like that's not a completely insane thing to say even as a joke.

if the character had been overweight this would have absolutely been classed as a fetish fic. but it wasn't. it had tens of thousands of hits - it was one of the most popular works in that fandom. someone in the comments requested that some content warnings be added, as they had an ED and had found it distressing to read. they were ignored. the fic stayed untagged.

and like, that's an intense example, but it's absolutely not an outlier. i've read tons of fics where the author takes a character with a canonically average-to-slender build and portrays them as borderline emaciated, with constant commentary on how fragile and delicate they look and exchanges about how they need to eat more. (contrast with "fat fetish" or "belly kink" fics, which from what i've seen are always appropriately tagged and described; you're never going to stumble into one of those by accident.) once you start noticing it you see it everywhere. anyway i think fanartists and writers should start taking skinny characters and making them fat, just to balance things out. it's equality :)

I’m not going to lie to you he’s really scary sometimes

I WILL BE GOOD AS LONG AS YOU WANT ME, 1/28/24

image from wikimedia commons

the 🔑 to my heart

At the end of the day you have to understand some people are mentally ill like really really mentally ill on a level you can’t understand. I see this a lot when someone does something weird or incomprehensible and people are shocked trying to figure out their intentions and why they’d do it and it’s like there’s people who are psychotic or delusional or have rapid mood swings you’ll never be able to comprehend and very often people with other mental illnesses who are able to function more acceptably have a bad lack of understanding of that and compare what they can do and act like as the standard not understanding that’s not the same playing field

People facing addiction, eating disorders, abuse, etc as well will do things you’ll never understand. Getting in the habit of not judging or at the very least not making the lives people who aren’t harming you worse, is actually, a pretty good thing to do

"What good, this heart of stone, for it to be shattered?"

Commission for @ratlab-art !

heartbreaking: the worst person you know just made a great point

oh so you thought existing only to perform a soulless office job was bad. how about existing only to go to the dentist. how about existing only in planes. how about existing only to perform stupid and repetitive yet socially expected tasks. how about existing only to withstand every unpleasant thing that somebody else decided to go without

BUNNY CHESS

Note: Not for sale, please refrain from asking!!! I may consider making individual piece replicas in the future.

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Stoneware, Colored Slip, Clear Glaze

[A lot of people have asked me this question, but no, I am not interested in recreating this entire set! Sorry!]