Expect everything except consistency

tbh I really dislike how aphobia tends to be discussed whenever there's some kind of incident that makes it visible to general society. The most common response seems to be some variation of "why would anyone hate asexual/aromantic people, they aren't even doing anything" and it just always sits wrong with me. It paints such a passive picture of our existence and feels like a comment influenced by the level of invisibility that aspec people have in society. Why would you be annoyed by someone who is practically invisible? Just go back to ignoring their existence, it's easy!

But despite the invisibility, aspec people are actually doing quite a lot of things that will piss off queerphobic, right-wing and religious people (and hell, even left-wing people). And the most obvious point is that we are actively not performing heterosexuality the way they want us to. People who's entire world view is "cis men and women should be in monogamous, heterosexual marriage and have (white) babies" are not going to lean back and say "oh but those asexuals and aromantics are fine". They will also hate our guts, and they will come up with all sorts of reasons, including insinuating we're all secretly into bestiality, or mentally ill, or not human, or attention seeking children. It's just plain old queerphobia, and like all queerphobia, there's no inherent logic to it which you can worm your way out of by "not doing anything".

And like, there's a lot more that aspec people do which people hate. Raising awareness about amatonormativity? People feel attacked, they hate it. Asexual people having sex? Or not having sex? People hate it! Aromantic people being in (seemingly) romantic relationships? People fucking hate it! Aromantic people having sex? Ohh people hate that!!

I guess the existence of aphobia can be confusing when you haven't spent much time thinking about asexuality and aromanticism, but in the end, these are identities that aren't heteronormative and they will be hit with the same or similar bigotry as any other queer identity. I just get tired of this response after seeing it recycled for 10 years without ever seeming to go any further.

the Fantasy High webtoon is so much fun it almost makes up for the psychic damage I took wrangling the webtoons UI

not to Old Man Yells At Cloud here but goddamn. who thought it was cool to put disney fastpass microtransactions Play Mobile Game For 90 Free Coins economy into the webcomics ecosystem

it also drained my phone battery a full 35% while it was plugged in somehow but that might have simply been a physical manifestation of my Waning Lifeforce

I dunno, I don't wanna seem like I'm casting aspersions on my fellow webcomic creators because none of this feeling is about the comics themselves, I just.

Webcomics are the truest form of independence and freedom from salesmanship bullshit that a comic creator can achieve. No barrier between your art and your audience, no hoops to jump through for publication, nobody telling you "this is too weird or too niche or too low-quality to ever be appreciated, do something more normal like everyone else". You can just make your weird, niche, indie thing, whether you're drawing stick figures or using repurposed megaman sprites or just drawing your best every page until your art is gorgeous through the simple grind of practice.

So to see this fiercely independent art form repackaged into a mass-produced, ultra-polished popularity contest that (a) seems to exclusively front-page headline a near-identical swath of ultra-airbrushed gorgeous anime people who you could tell me were all from the same series and I would believe you, and (b) actively tries to offload you onto a million little mobile games to eat your attention for hours in exchange for microtransaction coins makes me, like. Genuinely queasy on a very profound level.

hate how the moderate liberal position is "trans people can play sports as long as they don't ever win"

every single liberal is like "haha you complete fucking idiot! you think trans women are dominating at sports! check this out! *pulls up example of trans women losing at sports* checkmate, conservatives", up until the exact moment that a trans woman is good, heaven forbid. then suddenly they don't have an argument anymore and they're just like "hmm. shit dude. maybe you probably shouldn't compete actually. your joy and success is really making us feel uncomfortable"

if tumblr shuts down follow me on this other website that's nothing like it and is fundamentally impossible to even wrangle into being like it due to a format that prioritises algorithmic short form text content and also nobody will join it anyway

OK so it's kind of like tumblr except you have a character limit and the userbase is completely full of humourless millenials and it doesn't have tags and you can't repost the same thing multiple times. BUT it'll have a moderation transmisogyny scandal within 6 months so really it'll feel just like home

if you're good it might even have eggbug

one thing about americans is that they know how to make a fucking milkshake

i hate the stupid milk consistency shit you get here like if you give me a milkshake it better be rock fucking solid. i want that thang thick like concrete. it should piss me off trying to drink it through a straw. i should have to wait for it to thaw

Americans are so good at making Beverage. One of our Foundational Moments was actually a party involving Making Beverage. Google "Boston Tea Party" for more

welcome to "what relationship is it anyway" where the rules are made up and the points don't matter

people are ship/blorbotagging this which is fine i'm not a cop and i do discuss fandom culture stuff here often but just to remind you. this is also a thing you can do in real life. you can define your relationships however you want (or don't). in fact that was my intention with this post

official aromantic post

Something that I get chills about is the fact that the oldest story told made by the oldest civilization opens with "In those days, in those distant days, in those ancient nights."

This confirms that there is a civilization older than the Sumerians that we have yet to find

Some people get existential dread from this

Me? I think it's fucking awesome it shows just how much of this world we have yet to discover and that is just fascinating

@makaeru peer review cos this made me check when the Sumerians happened and I forget how recent history is for every other continent. 7000 - 8000 years ago just isn't that long when you're in Australia, and the amount of detailed history we have access to here is wonderful and should be recognised more internationally

Source (non Aboriginal)

And a quote I picked out from a longer interview with an Aboriginal local elder about the area where he touched on the history

Source (the rest of the interview is really interesting and all transcribed, have a look if you're curious)

This is part of my Ancient Civilizations class that I teach, which does a whole week about Australia and the Torres Strait Islands because I was sick of never seeing them represented in USAmerican history contexts. With the help of @micewithknives and @acearchaeologist I've learned so many incredible things about Australia's past and it's been incredibly rewarding to share them with students.

My favorite fact about Aboriginal oral history is the fact that we pretty recently discovered that the Aboriginal myth of the 7 Sisters, an origin story for the Pleiades star cluster, accurately reflects a point TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO when two stars in the constellation got close enough together to no longer be distinguishable by the naked eye.

The story? 6 sisters running from something that took their 7th sister.

as a gilgar gunditj woman, i was not expecting to see my culture on my dash.

thank you for spreading our words and treating our culture with respect.

i would have done anything for him. My only regret is that we never hung out

close enough, welcome back aladdin from twisted

It’s the perfect place for a picnic!

Open your eyes, daughter of fire.

-

Starkid’s new musical is HERE and I’m already OBSESSED!!!

Mississippi’s first interracial marriage, August 1970.

Adding @bethanyactually 's informative tags!

look at this video of a mouse eating soup and bread and butter

peace and FUCKING love on planet earth

Happy Leland Melvin Day!!!

Happy Leland Melvin Day!

Happy Leland Melvin Day!

Happy Leland Melvin Day!!!

Btw it's okay to be sad about being aromantic, sometimes it really does feel like a bummer. I promise it feels a lot better after a while but it really is okay to be sad about it