03/08/2017 23:20:33 ¶ ●

## Amonkhet In Review: Now Was Faith Justified

sam-keeper:

> Hey here’s a super heavy article considering Amonkhet’s overarching narrative now that it’s all wrapped up!

12/08/2017 10:55:35 ¶ ●

techtonicactivity:

> cancerously:

> > seerofsarcasm:

> > > cursmudgeon:

> > > > bawlgoblin:

> > > > > please tell me the wildest shit that happened in homestuck’s fanbase, its like listening to old tales that can’t be true but are.

> > > > Well there was the girl who nearly killed herself by soaking in a bathtub full of vodka and grey sharpies to try and dye her skin for her troll cosplay. And the fact that a bunch of fans sent the creator a MASSIVE horse dildo that later ended up in the comic. And the two people who spent $10,000 dollars a piece to have their OC’s appear for one frame and be immediately killed. And the one time a homestuck flash update ended up DDoSing newgrounds by accident. And the totally irregular update schedule made it so there was an application developed to tell you when the comic updated. The culture around homestuck is really surreal to look back on just for the sheer volume of alternate universes and fans works and in jokes and subcultures that developed within one fandom. It really makes me wonder if anyone will be able to capture that level of obsessive enthusiasm again. Like people joke about Steven universe being the new homestuck and I can see some parallels but that fandom still seems way smaller and way less messed up than homestuck at it’s peak.

> > > It wasn’t just internet concentrated either, it pretty much set up a lot of standards and practices for conventions today. In-characters panels were no where near as popular until Homestuck popularized them and now there’s ones for every fandom out there, versus only a scattered few (mostly Hetalia) before Homestuck had 5 going at any given con. The concept of a “draw party” was also a Homestuck invention, I believe, draw parties being midnight meetups at dead parts of the con center where people sat around, trading art cards and generally hanging out but with the common theme of them all being Homestuck fans. “Gotta go fast” and “first” took on whole new levels because as soon as a new design were released the first person to put together a cosplay for it got an intense amount of notoriety, mainly because it was generally just a few hours after the design appeared. Hell, I was once at a con where Homestuck updated on Friday and the next morning someone had made the cosplay in their hotel room and wore it to the con.

> > > Sadly there were also downsides which is where the crazy stories come from. Homestuck was something absolutely new because it was a perfect storm of being huge, having almost all characters you could cosplay require body paint, and having a really disproportionate amount of fans being very young and inexperienced at how conventions worked.

> > > Many conventions put limits on body-paint after Homestuck got popular because of young, inexperienced cosplayers not sealing their makeup and tarnishing convention centers. Going to a small con that forbids body paint? Homestuck is why. Homestuck became feared at a lot of cons because a non-consensual hug from anyone at a con is awkward and shitty, but if it was from a Homestuck fan you ran the risk of having grey stains all over your costume, and I had seen it happen to people on multiple occasions. Homestuck was also the first fandom to finally force conventions start making rules and limitations on fan-run photoshoot gatherings, which they had previously just ignored or discouraged all together. Homestuck shoots were so big conventions had to start working with them. The Saturday photoshoot at Otakon that Alex and I ran at Homestuck’s peak had an estimated over 700 attendees, and the next year was the year Ota started regulating their photoshoots through official channels.

> > > Speaking of that photoshoot and crazy stories, Michael Guy Bowman and Tavia Morra, two of the most prominent members of Homestuck’s music team at the time, literally showed up on a whim with a guitar and asked Alex and I if they could perform a three-song set in the middle of the shoot, then came back for the next day’s shoot in their Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido costumes and did it again.

> > > Don’t even get Alex started on how she ran in-real-life Promstuck events in Manhattan for years with official venues, decorations and literal tickets.

> > > Being in Homestuck for the time I was there was an incredibly surreal experience, because having been going to conventions for years before Homestuck, and having been somewhat in the center of these events (Homestuck was the only fandom where I was considered a “BNF”), I can still see the way Homestuck has changed aspects of fandom events at cons. I was in one of the first in-character Homestuck panels back in the summer of 20fucking11 and ended up being in some incredibly popular ones in 2012-13 that still get hits on YouTube today. Alex and I’s model for photoshoots are still being used by friends and people who we don’t even know who run other fandom’s events. Some cons I had reached out to so I could get official approval to run photoshoots of hundreds of people are still using my model and system to regulate shoots at their events years later. Hell, by the time I was hitting my peak along with Homestuck I was going to 10 conventions a year and running an average of 3 photoshoots per con, not to mention an average of 2 in-character panels per weekend that I was either in or running. At some of the cons I attended staff knew me so well because I had to secure the shoot details in advance and had so many panels under my name they had my number listed under “in case of Homestuck issue call her” because Homestuck was a category of attendee cons literally had to separate from other attendees and learn to anticipate ahead of time. I will emphasize, I was never on staff, they just knew me as the liaison for the massive hoard of grey 13 year olds that scared the shit out of them.

> > > When people who have been in the fandom five years like me try to emphasize how big Homestuck was we’re not just talking haha it was huge, Homestuck fundamentally changed the landscape of conventions for years and a lot of those changes stayed.

> > OHH MAN PROMSTUCK, the final event clocked nearly 500 attendees and cost roughly $12,000 when the whole thing was wrapped. That’s barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this sort of discussion though.

> > Homestuck was a phenomenon because with frequent updates and no defined update schedule, the hype train never stopped. Frequently fandoms will go through phases of an explosion of content and then a resting period, which can easily be tracked by when new content appears. With things like TV shows, video games, or even most webcomics, having a schedule means you could tell when everyone was going to be freaking out, and the subsequent planning around that meant the hype train could be quantified. The problem with Homestuck was those curves couldn’t be tracked, especially because there was NEVER any warning what KIND of content we were getting. One day could be an update dropped at 5 AM EST that was two kids pelting each other with fruit. 4 hours later we could get a flash that killed 17 people. Then it could be THREE DAYS before another update where haha it was retconned that was a dream none of those people are dead. It was fucking anarchy. Sure there was a WAY to define the plot but knowing what was going on or what was coming at any given moment was fucking impossible, and the break between these updates is what spawned “update culture”.

> > The thing with update culture is that most content creators are aware of, and plan content updates around, the idea of what the fans will be feeling and thinking once that content is done being distributed. For TV shows, episodes are released with beginnings, middles, and ends- a narrative arc that allows people to start thinking about media the way the creator wants them to, leading them along with little trails of plot and puzzles to solve. But Homestuck’s updates weren’t planned like that, because they came in chunks of whenever it was done, a carry-over from the original Choose-Your-Own-Adventure format. Because of this, people were theorizing about thing that’d be fixed in the literal next page, but because we didn’t have that information, the weirdest shit started being produced. It also didn’t help that Homestuck has some fucking weird shit happen in it! And sometimes fan theories wouldn’t resurface until literal YEARS down the line (Tricksters, anyone??) and people would be screaming and throwing themselves on the floor. There was no predictability, and therefore ANYTHING WAS VALID. And it created an incredibly interesting, though HORRIBLY chaotic space, that by god, was so much fun. Homestuck was a large-scale production media produced like a fanfiction author and because of the size of the audience lead to PANDEMONIUM on a scale that can’t be easily replicated.

> > Like it’s not really appropriate to say “oh x is the new Homestuck” because the very nature of Homestuck’s creation and population ensures there will never BE another phenom like it. The landscape of fandom, due to Homestuck, has changed, because update culture can’t exist without the perfect storm of described attributes that this comic had- that now no one else can replicate because Homestuck caused people to move away from that style of storytelling BECAUSE of the hectic fandom! It all feeds into itself. (Sort of like the story of this comic, honestly.) The Homestuck fandom experience will likely never happen again because of the way Homestuck shaped the fan scene. And that’s cool to know about!

> > Also I feel I should clarify on some of the above points. To begin, they’re all fucking true.
> > - The sharpie dyeing story is unfortunately real. It’s original source is 4chan, the OP posted it on their personal tumblr blog (which for some reason still routes to my page if you google it). It can be found here.
> > - The horse dildo was also real. It was sent as a joke because of a series of horse dick jokes mentioned in the comic; for those not in the know about Homestuck, there’s a character who talks a lot about horses and their rippling muscles. Hussie included it as a find-able item in a later walk-around minigame flash.
> > - Two people did in fact donate $10,000 to the Homestuck kickstarter to have their fantrolls be canon and then murdered. While I don’t personally know the story of the female fantroll, the one in the top hat (Nektan Whelan) was actually made by an American Army veteran who read Homestuck while deployed in Iraq. He credited it was part of what helped him stay positive during active deployment. I can’t find the link to this conversation because it was on formspring like 4 years ago but if anyone has the link, let me know, I’d be curious to have it archived.
> > - The Homestuck flash in question that killed Newgrounds was Cascade. Hussie recorded that at that time he received over 1.2 million unique pageviews trying to access it at once, world-wide. It also crashed the main Homestuck site and forums, then megaupload, and (for a VERY short time), Twitter and Livestream, because people started streaming it and tweeting the links. Someone made a comic about how that experience felt and as someone who was there screaming at Newgrounds to let me in, I can promise it’s accurate.
> > - The update notifier was a godsend, and people would design specific macros, sounds, and images for their notifiers. It became a mini-culture in itself how you heard about the update. For a long time, I used to make tumblr posts about it. Update culture, and how fast you got to the update, was so real.

> > Anyway, hi, I’ve been in the Homestuck fandom for more than 5 years now, talk to me about it. It’s been a hell of a ride.

> Even if you’re not into Homestuck the fandoms cultural significance is fascinating

12/08/2017 10:57:15 ¶ ●

## For everyone who wasn't Homestuck on 10/25/11,

imploder:

> Here’s a wonderful and accurate representation of that night.

14/08/2017 11:39:47 ¶ ●

just-uta-things:

> whitebeltwriter:

> > leslieknope-s:

> > > [x]

> > This needs more notes

> I love how no matter what you say, you still end at, “A woman doesn’t owe you anything.”

> As it should be.

14/08/2017 11:44:59 ¶ ●

theamazingsallyhogan:

> weavemama:

> > weavemama:

> > > weavemama:

> > > > ……ummmm so,, trump literally has his own propaganda TV network that praises the president and his so called “accomplishments” without providing any credible sources or proof…. keep in mind this is what they do in North Korea and in any other authoritarian state., idk about ya’ll but this scares the shit out me and this isn’t a normal thing any presidential administration should allow

> > > oh and not to mention trump’s FCC allowing a highly conservative news broadcasting company “Sinclair” to take over 72% of american households. this would mean that whenever most of us watch local news, random ass conservative-based segments would pop up. such as praising trump, blatand Islamophobia, and calling us “libtards” and “snowflakes” for simply wanting equal rights for the marginalized. pay very close attention to this bc the trump administration is literally trying to take over the media and if obama or any other president tried to pull this shit off they would be impeached immediately.

> > A snopes article that confirms and explains a lot more about the Sinclair situation

> Yuuuuup.

14/08/2017 19:12:47 ¶ ●

arellasmercy:

> autisticassassinbird:

> > autistic-sariel:

> > > 1spoonatatime:

> > > > kipplekipple:

> > > > > Can we talk about the way people treat disabled people? All disabled people? Can we talk about:

> > > > > - bending down with their hands on their knees to talk to wheelchair users?

> > > > > - talking over our heads like we aren’t there?

> > > > > - gaslighting us based on our disabilities (lol you don’t know what abuse is, you’re autistic, etc)?

> > > > > - making accessibility sound like we’re being difficult?

> > > > > Etc.

> > > > > I am too tired to add more, help me out?

> > > > Making accessibility sound like a luxury instead of a right

> > > > Blaming people for their disabilities (rather than acknowledging that their status as able bodied as being temporary; disabilities can happen to anyone)

> > > > Using disabilities as insults

> > > > Staring when we use mobility devices (particularly if you’re younger)

> > > > Equate chronic fatigue to laziness

> > > Talking to disabled people in a “slow” or child-like voice

> > > Acting like disabled people can’t make decisions for ourselves/making all our decisions for us, even minor ones

> > > Mistreatment/abuse under the guise of “we’re just trying to help you/it’s for your own good”

> > > Acting like all disabled people can do x thing because one disabled person did it and condemning people who can’t as “lazy” or “unwilling” or something like that.

> > > On that note, “inspiration porn” of disabled people doing things in general.

> > > Deciding what’s best for disabled people without actually asking them for any input whatsoever

> > Denial of accomadations you “don’t need”, despite only recently figuring out you need those accomadations in the first place, due to ablebodied/neurotypical people not teaching you anything about your disabilites

> > Making trauma disabled people go through into a joke

> People literally trying to snatch canes from younger folks with invisible illnesses (I cannot even begin to tell you how often this happens to me)

> Making it cost prohibitive to get the physical therapy that has been shown to reduce the pain caused by disabilities

14/08/2017 19:19:13 ¶ ●

elodieunderglass:

> bellygangstaboo:

> > Reblog if you agree.

> Agree

15/08/2017 15:59:17 ¶ ●

slimeportal:

> yungtarkatan:

> > theswedishelf:

> > > slagartehfox:

> > > > metal-socks:

> > > > > Being in a mid-2000s High School Health class and they show you this on DVD

> > > > Didn’t that turn out to be a load of bullshit that no-one can replicate the results of to this day?

> > > Yep! His results were faked, and the entire film was basically anti-McDonald’s scaremongering, “poor people are stupid” and “fat people don’t get any sex”. It’s also thanks to this asshat that McDonald’s can’t advertise fuckin’ Happy Meals anymore and had to get rid of all their characters and their super size option, particularly because he claimed without evidence that they have a kid-fattening agenda, don’t list their nutritional info anywhere and have a mission statement from their CEO to make people sick and unhealthy from eating there for every single meal. On top of this, he actually tried to claim in a bonus experiment that McDonald’s fries aren’t actually fries because they don’t rot when left in an airtight container for a long time but all the burgers do–which is thanks to the oil and salt they’re loaded with, not some big conspiracy where the fries, which are processed and supplied by McCain in Canada, aren’t actually goddamn chopped potatoes–and equated the containers to a human stomach. Yes, cause the human stomach is an airtight container that food sits in for months, right? Spurlock, did veganism turn your brain completely off or something? Hell, the fucker even tried to claim credit for McDonald’s having salads, falsely stating at one point they didn’t have any before he “exposed” their EVIL PLANS.

> > > Yeah, that’s another thing to remember, he’s apparently a vegan. He didn’t let anyone know he’s one, of course, he only mentioned his girlfriend is one, because it would’ve made his vomiting after a single McDonald’s meal, something literally no one else on the planet has done, seem less ZOMG SCARY.

> > > Want a good film of this nature? Try Tom Naughton’s Fat Head instead, a film where a guy actively proves Spurlock wrong by actually losing weight while eating nothing but fast food for a month. He accomplishes this by NOT fucking gorging himself on the unhealthiest food choices, eating more meals than he claims or cutting out his usual physical activity. While he’s at it, he also exposes exactly why Spurlock is a total fraud. In the process, he gets actual doctors and nutrition experts to help him explain why everything you know about healthy eating is probably wrong or half-true, inform us about good and bad cholesterol, expose the real reasons behind the so-called “obesity epidemic” and point out why fat =/= unhealthy by default. Yeah, Naughton encourages viewers to try the paleo diet in the end, but at least it comes off more as a suggestion and doesn’t demonize anyone in the process.

> > Wow, everything I know is now a lie.

> Also, to elaborate on this, Spurlock claimed that he was eating 5,000 calories a day, and yet when a Swedish university tried this very experiment with several different students, no one (I repeat, no one) could even come close to replicating the results.

> So yeah, Spurlock basically lied to prove a point, who would have guessed

15/08/2017 16:01:04 ¶ ●

## If you're going to make a registry of Muslims... make a registry of all pro-lifers. They could shoot up a Planned Parenthood.

alwaystruenorth:

> rose-in-a-fisted-glove:

> > avienbgwp:

> > > rose-in-a-fisted-glove:

> > > > lexluthor-is-bae:

> > > > > destroy-the-fucking-patriarchy:

> > > > > > ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

> > > > > THOSE WERE ONLY A COUPLE OF INCIDENTS YOU ASSHOLE! Compared to the MAAAANY terrorist attacks by radical muslims

> > > > Wow. Can we just appreciate this cognitive dissonance here.
> > > > “Only a couple of incidents” versus ‘many attacks by radical Muslims’

> > > > Like, they aren’t even denying that pro-lifers have blown up clinics but it’s different because it supposedly happened less times within the US than attacks by radical Muslim extremists.

> > > I’m not sure why you said “supposedly” when it is less.

> > According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), an organization of abortion providers, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, 13 wounded,[12] 100 butyric acid stink bomb attacks, 373 physical invasions, 41 bombings, 655 anthrax threats,[13] and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers.

> > Meanwhile, between 1970 and today there have been a grand total of 13 terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists within the US and 8 in Canada.

> > So, even if you only count the terrorist attacks in which damage was done. You’re looking at 587 successful terrorist attacks from pro-lifers (not included death and anthrax threats) and 21 terrorist attacks from extreme Muslim fundamentalists.

> > That is why supposedly is there.

> > Pro-lifers are quantitatively, significantly, statistically, a larger threat to public peace than Muslim extremists.

> FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK:

> ## Pro-lifers are quantitatively, significantly, statistically, a larger threat to public peace than Muslim extremists.

15/08/2017 16:07:38 ¶ ●

claryfightwood:

> the extent to which straight people don’t get gay humour is incredible like the whole thing is a satirisation of how gay people have been treated for years like the reason we say “___ is for gays only” is because yall have been going around calling everything you don’t like gay and we’re making fun of that dumb mindset and taking away the power of it and having fun and yall still come onto every gay satire post with this “what if straight people said this about you” like you have?? that’s why the post was made in the first place i don’t understand how yall are this oblivious it’s honestly baffling to me

15/08/2017 16:16:50 ¶ ●

## Friendly reminder

xovortex:

> vastderp:

> > undeterr-ed:

> > > “Doing your best” does not mean working yourself to the point of a mental breakdown.

> > this one still smashes me in the face ten times a year. do not ignore pain, it’s no longer your best at that point

> it’s no longer your best at that point

15/08/2017 16:24:47 ¶ ●

cesoirvert:

> lgbt-history-archive:

> > “JUST MARRIED,” Fernando, seated, and his husband, both members of Los Angeles’ Blue Max Motorcycle Club, get pulled over as they leave their wedding ceremony, December 1969. Photo c/o @onearchives. In the mid-twentieth century, the Blue Max Motorcycle Club, along with many other gay motorcycle clubs, provided an alternative to gay bars, which were constantly at risk of police raids and harassment. #lgbthistory #lgbtherstory #lgbttheirstory #lgbtpride #queerhistorymatters #haveprideinhistory (at Los Angeles, California)

> fun fact: motorcycle clubs in the U.S. were founded and run largely by gay men who missed the homosocial camaraderie of being in the U.S. military during WWII. the lifestyle and aesthetics of those motorcycle clubs gave rise to many of the stereotypical/classic gay “looks” (leather, chaps, etc) and indeed to the gay leather scene itself (both the gay male leather/biker scene and the lesbian/dykes on bikes leather/biker scene)

15/08/2017 18:32:20 ¶ ●

blindrapture:

> alexi-mayhew:

> > fuckitandflee:

> > > The real problem with books-turned-movies isn’t “omg they didn’t include every single word in the book” it’s “omg they completely overlooked the main theme, threw out any significant allegories, took away all the emotional pull, an turned it into a boring action movie with a love triangle in it”

> > You can say Hunger Games it’s ok.

> Looking at you, Lion King. >_>

15/08/2017 18:50:24 ¶ ●

## Trans resources (( please signal boost ))

alkanive:

> General resources:

> - local resources
> - gender masterpost
> - LGBT social group meetups
> - agender chatroom
> - trans chatroom
> - transgender faq
> - Everything Gender Part 1 (Video)
> - Everything Gender Part 2 (Video)
> - The trans teen’s guide to dating
> - Literature with LGBT+ characters
> - LGBT+ Films
> - Transgender advice
> - family issues
> - Transgénero (Spanish article on all things trans)
> - Transgender Religious Expression and Spirituality
> - tips for living stealth (written for trans men but also applies for trans women)
> - gender therapy

> Trans related terminology:

> - transwhat
> - transhealth
> - transgender glossary (this one’s a bit outdated)
> - transadvocate
> - becomingus (includes the dos and don’ts of using certain trans-related words)
> - transgender faq
> - list of gender identities
> - Glossary of Transgender, Non-Binary and Genderqueer Words
> - Definitions

> Understanding your gender identity:

> - Gender identity flowchart
> - What is gender?
> - Understanding gender
> - What am I?
> - list of gender identities
> - Am I Transgender? (Video)
> - Being Trans (Video)
> - I Think I Might be Transgender, Now what do I do?

> Pronouns:

> - What’s a pronoun?
> - Gender Neutral Pronouns (Video)
> - The Pronoun Place
> - Gender Neutral Language
> - How Non-Binary Pronouns Work
> - Guide to Non-Binary Pronouns
> - Gender Neutral Titles
> - pronouns
> - How to Correct People’s Pronoun and Name Slip-Ups

> Intersex:

> - INSA
> - Advocates for Informed Choice
> - Interact Youth
> - What it’s Like (Video)
> - What is Intersex?
> - Intersex Definition
> - Male, Female, or Intersex

> Nonbinary resources:

> - Nonbinary support blog
> - Unisex names
> - Living as Nonbinary (Spanish)
> - Genderqueer (Spanish)
> - Nonbinary Flowchart
> - Explaining Genderqueer
> - Genderqueer and Hormones (Video)
> - The Nonbinary Safespace
> - Nonbinary Autistics
> - Gender Queeries
> - Ask a Nonbinary
> - Nonbinary.org
> - Genderqueer ID
> - Hell Yeah, Agender!
> - A-Gender
> - Genderless Person (Video)
> - When no Gender Fits
> - Androgyne Online
> - Practical Androgyne
> - Ambiguous Sexuality
> - Neutrois.me
> - Neutrois.com
> - Neutrois Nonsense
> - What is Neutrois?
> - Experiences as Neutrois
> - Bigender Resources
> - What it’s Like Being Bigender
> - Demigender Safe Space
> - Demi Safe Spot
> - Introducing Demigender
> - Subgenders
> - Genderfluidity
> - Genderfluid Facts
> - genderfluxsupport
> - Teaching About Gender Fluidity (PDF)
> - How can I Live as Genderfluid?
> - Genderfluid Definitions

> Two Spirit:

> - 2spirits
> - Who Are They?
> - Native American Concepts
> - Of Indigenous North Americans
> - As They Are
> - Two Spirits: The Story of a Movement

> Other Cultural Based Genders:

> - Hijra Wikipedia
> - Hijra Takes place in Indian Law
> - Kathoey Wikipedia
> - Where the ‘Ladyboys’ are
> - Muxe Wikipedia
> - In Mexico, Mixed Genders and Muxe
> - Fa’afafines Wikipedia
> - Fa’afafines: The Third Gender

> Transfeminine resources:

> - tucking masterpost
> - Tucking and other skills
> - trans women resources master post
> - Makeup for beginners
> - MtF resources
> - Ask a transwoman
> - Tucking and other skills
> - Male to Female Support
> - How to hide stubble
> - tucking forum and thread
> - Tucking How-to Guide
> - low budget diy breast forms [video]
> - Realistic Breast Form Tutorial (Video)
> - The Breast Form Store
> - How to make home made breast forms
> - Women’s Clothing Terminology
> - TheLeelahProject
> - surgery booklet
> - hrt booklet
> - Trans Health Matters: Trans Women
> - girl names + their meanings
> - etiquette for women’s bathrooms
> - MtF HRT
> - Hormones: A guide for MTFs
> - Hormone replacement therapy (male-to-female)
> - Transgender Hormones - Transgender Care
> - Feminizing HRT (for Male-to-Females) - Michele O'Mara, PhD
> - Sex reassignment surgery (male-to-female)
> - Vaginoplasty: Male to Female Sex Reassignment Surgery
> - Surgery: A guide for MTFs (PDF)
> - MTF GRS
> - MTF surgeries price list (this is just for one surgery centre but can give you an idea of the estimated cost of any surgeries)

> Transmasculine resources:

> - The Art of Transliness
> - Ask a trans guy
> - What it’s like being on T
> - Transmasc tips
> - GC2B Binders
> - Swimwear binders
> - Binding : how to guide + safety
> - FTM masterpost
> - boy names + their meanings
> - Workouts to Promote a More Masculine Figure
> - Where to Get Men’s Clothes that Fit
> - Dealing with the Dreaded Period
> - Pros and Cons of Strap-On Sex for Trans Guys
> - Relationship Tips for Trans Guys
> - A Guide to STPs and Standing to Pee
> - To Pack or Not to Pack
> - Swimming as a Trans Guy
> - Packing and Packers 101
> - Everything You Need to Know About Binders and Binding
> - Using the Men’s Bathroom
> - All About Top Surgery and Nipples
> - Androgel Q & A
> - What to Expect from Testosterone and When
> - Risks and Dangers of Illegal Testosterone
> - Genital Changes on T
> - 10 Common Myths about Medical Transition
> - FTM Testosterone Therapy Basics
> - FTM resource guide
> - FTM transitioning guide
> - effects of testosterone therapy
> - FTM Chest Reconstruction Surgeries (includes Spanish translation link)
> - Hysterectomy/Oophorectomy
> - FTM Genital Reconstruction Surgeries (GRS)
> - FTM Basics: Terminology
> - Myths and Misconceptions about Testosterone, Transition, and Trans Men
> - 1 year on testosterone: timeline of changes
> - FtM HRT
> - Hormones: A Guide for FTMs (PDF)
> - The Philadelphia Centre for Transgender Surgery

> Coming out:

> - coming out tips
> - Coming Out to Family and Friends
> - Coming Out to Friends
> - Coming Out to Partners
> - Resources for Coming Out
> - Coming Out as Nonbinary
> - When Should You?
> - How to Come Out to Parents
> - Tips and Advice (Video)
> - Coming out & family issues
> - How to Deal with Parents that are Not Accepting
> - Tips for Coming out and Dealing with People
> - Explaining Your Transition to Kids/Younger Family Members

> Trans mental health:

> - Gender spectrum: mental health
> - More Subtle Dysphoria
> - Dealing with Dysphoria and Helplessness
> - 8 Signs and Symptoms of Dysphoria
> - 25 Ways to Ease Dysphoria
> - tips on coping with gender dysphoria
> - How do I deal with dysphoria?
> - how to cope with Gender Dysphoria
> - transselfies: a trans body positivity blog
> - How to Deal with Parents that are Not Accepting
> - Trans suicide hotline
> - emergency hotlines (U.S. only)
> - international emergency hotlines
> - Doubts, Decision, and Detransition
> - Trans Lifeline

> Trans advice/resource/discussion blogs and sites:

> - Genderfork
> - Gender inbetween
> - anagnori
> - transgenderteensurvivalguide
> - transclothesexchange
> - transresource
> - the-lgbt-youth-blog
> - transcending-anatomy
> - transgenderhousingnetwork
> - Transyada
> - Susan’s Place
> - transwhat
> - transselfies
> - Nonbinary support blog
> - helpfultransinfo
> - trans tips
> - transgenderadvice
> - transgenderbenders

> > Well… thats about it! Of course there’s a whole bunch of useful resources which I just couldn’t include in this post because it was getting too long.

> > Even if you yourself aren’t trans and wouldn’t find this content useful, please reblog because it may be of great help to some of your followers.

> > And if you ever have any trans-related questions or need some advice or support, feel free to message me at my main blog here or at my personal/transition blog here.

18/08/2017 23:21:09 ¶ ●

lagonegirl:

> Wow! That’s unbelievable and most including myself had no idea that he was throwing it back out of harms way to protect innocent people…

> My heart goes out to him and his family!!

> ## #EdwardCrawford

18/08/2017 23:35:00 ¶ ●

totalspiffage:

> A song about being in unrequited love with a great girl, and having to let go aka the wlw struggle.

> Buy on bandcamp! (itunes/spotify coming soon)

> > She illuminates the stars at night
> > That’s how bright she shines
> > But there’s no way that this could be returned
> > But she’s on my mind
> > She’s still on my mind

> > But I know that I can’t tell my heart to stop its beat
> > I’ve tried to prepare for my retreat
> > My heart is taken up by all this occupied space
> > My love for her can never be erased
> > Erased, erased

> > (full lyrics)

> If you enjoy what I do, you can tip me on ko-fi!

19/08/2017 01:20:43 ¶ ●

i-so-informed-you-thusly:

> # ATTENTION ALL AUSTRALIANS

> As we all know, we face an upcoming postal vote on marriage equality. Due to the sheer anger and frustration of this unecessary beauracracy, many have urged those voting Yes to send their vote back packaged with glitter bombs or rainbow confetti in protest.

> ## DO NOT DO THIS!!

> Your vote will likely be destroyed and therefore not counted. And arguing that “glitter isnt dangerous” doesnt mean shit to people who just see a foreign substance detected and immeadiately assume the worst (Anthrax anyone??)

> If you won’t take my word, at least take MP Claire O'Neil’s, who was asked:

> PLEASE, do not fuck up this crutial vote for everyone by being stupid and getting your voice dismissed like this. Put stickers on the envelope, draw rainbows on it, if you must protest in this way be smart about it.

> Even if you’re not Australian, you’d be doing us a solid to spread the word, since unfortunately a lot of younger voters still think this is a good idea when its literally the opposite.

23/08/2017 12:31:09 ¶ ●

charcoalandcowpies:

> blackmoonbabe:

> > brain-confetti:

> > > nightvalemeteorologist:

> > > > suctioning:

> > > > > Why

> > > > She had a dream and she realized it.

> > > Hey wait but sit down

> > > This is Megumi Igarashi

> > > She’s a Japanese artist

> > > Japan, the country with some of the most fucked up pornography and the penis festival

> > > Where the vagina is basically illegal to talk about

> > > So she did a bunch of art featuring 3D sculptures of her vagina, including this kayak, and was put in jail for it

> > > She was indicted again in December on obscenity charges for selling vagina art to crowdfund for the kayak and could spend two years in prison

> > > > In Japan, women’s vaginas are treated as though they are men’s property. The trains here usually display pornographic advertisements. As a woman, I find that blatant objectification to be humiliating. I’m disgusted by it. My body belongs to me.
> > > > So, with this project I wanted to release the vagina from the standard Japanese paradigm. Japan is lenient towards expressions of male sexuality and arousal, but not so for women. When a woman uses her body in artistic expression, her work gets ignored, and people treat her as if she’s some sex-crazed idiot. It all comes back to misogyny. And the vagina is at the heart of it.
> > > > The vagina is ridiculed. It’s lusted after. Men don’t see women as equals—to them, women are just vaginas. Then they call my vagina-themed work “obscene,” and judge me according to laws written by and for men. [x]

> > > She plans to turn her trial in to a manga comic. She seems pretty sure she’s not going to do any jail time but if you’d like to help her pay for her inevitable fine and court fees, you can check out her online store. There are little glow in the dark vagina characters.

> > Wow I’ve seen this reblogged a ton of times without seeing the whole going to jail part.

> if I recall correctly - shes had a few skirmishes with the law over censorship.

23/08/2017 12:33:14 ¶ ●

> When we took Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” into a maximum security woman’s prison on the West Side…there’s a scene there where a young woman is told by a very powerful official that “If you sleep with me, I will pardon your brother. And if you don’t sleep with me, I’ll execute him.” And he leaves the stage. And this character, Isabel, turned out to the audience and said: “To whom should I complain?” And a woman in the audience shouted: “The Police!” And then she looked right at that woman and said: “If I did relate this, who would believe me?” And the woman answered back, “No one, girl.” And it was astonishing because not only was it an amazing sense of connection between the audience and the actress, but you also realized that this was a kind of an historical lesson in theater reception. That’s what must have happened at The Globe. These soliloquies were not simply monologues that people spoke, they were call and response to the audience. And you realized that vibrancy, that that sense of connectedness is not only what makes theater great in prisons, it’s what makes theater great, period.

Oskar Eustis on ArtBeat Nation (he told the same story on Charlie Rose)

28/08/2017 11:56:37 ¶ ●

> The election of Donald Trump and crying “free speech” to end any discussion of cultural sensitivity are not unrelated. Casting the dissent of marginalized groups as a First Amendment violation is the kind of pseudo-intellectual argument that seems reasonable to people who don’t have enough skin in the game to bother paying attention. “Discourse” is good! Sunlight is the best disinfectant! The more airtime we give to irrational bigots on high-profile platforms — the more assiduously we hear both sides, stay “fair and balanced” — the sooner they’ll be rejected by the public at large! Unfortunately, as any scientist can tell you (for as long as we still have those), more often than not, sunlight makes things grow. Conflating criticism with censorship fosters a system in which all positions deserve equal consideration, no bad ideas can ever be put to rest, and lies are just as valid as the truth. It’s not hard to draw a straight line from internet culture warriors’ misappropriation of free speech to our current mass delusions over climate change, the Hyde Amendment, abstinence-only education, health care as a luxury and class as a meritocracy. “Free speech” rhetoric begot “fake news,” which begot “alternative facts.” The right cannot lay claim to the First Amendment when its own president is actively hostile to it. Sometimes disinfectant is the best disinfectant.

Save Free Speech From Trolls - The New York Times (via brutereason)

29/08/2017 11:25:04 ¶ ●

ibambinasensei:

> ibambinasensei:

> > keepinitrell:

> > > ibambinasensei:

> > > > Square Cash - $bambinatheenative

> > > > I need to make a car payment of $373.31 or they will repossess it. I have been job hunting and interviewing but no job yet, also.. Sonic has been helping me with the other bills. I just really don’t need to lose my car right now.

> > > > Please. Send whatever you can.

> > > Boost.

> > The bank said if I can pay $373.31 by 8/14, they won’t pick up my car.

> I have nothing as of yet.

30/08/2017 20:02:20 ¶ ●

zaxal:

> “passing privilege” is not a real thing.

> the term ‘passing’ was, iirc, used to describe african americans whose skin and facial features were light enough that they could escape from slavery to somewhere else and live in a state of constant fear of being found out.

> people who could ‘pass’ did not have any sort of privilege; they simply lived out their oppression in different ways. they still suffered at the hands of the system that had been built to subjugate them.

> arguing that anyone who is oppressed has ‘passing privilege’ is fundamentally misunderstanding what passing is and how dangerous it is.

> a trans woman who ‘passes’ for a cis woman is in as much danger of being a victim of violence, of being murdered, as her non-passing sisters, especially if a cis man feels ‘tricked’ into finding a ‘man’ attractive.

> a bisexual man who ‘passes’ for heterosexual is more likely to be abused by hetero and homosexual partners, who will then blame his sexuality for dissatisfaction in the relationship.

> a ‘high functioning’ neurodivergent person will suffer the same lack of accommodations as a ‘lower functioning’ person with the same disability, but will be expected to achieve more because they aren’t ‘really’ affected by it.

> passing means having your struggles erased or considered ‘lesser’ because there’s a chance that you could be seen as ‘normal’ in the eyes of passersby.

> this is not a privilege. it’s living your life in terror of being found out. it’s being denied access to the community and services that claim to support you.

> it’s oppression in its most insidious form; it pretends that you have gained something positive through the way you experience oppression.

30/08/2017 20:06:45 ¶ ●

sassygaysatan:

> thatdiabolicalfeminist:

> > sassygaysatan:

> > > sure, when my grandfather fought nazis and fascism he was “a hero” and “on the right side of history” but when i do it im “way too sensitive” and “no better than they are”

> > That’s because when our white grandparents fought Nazis, it was for fear of them taking power away from other white people.

> > White Europeans and Americans were explicitly fine with genocide and the ideologies that led to it – a great many people, including Churchill, vocally supported most of what the Nazis were doing. Their only fight with Nazis was to maintain sovereignty from takeover.

> > Today’s Nazi-fighters usually have a problem with white supremacy and the antisemitism and racism etc behind it – which most of our white grandparents didn’t see a problem with and neither do many white people today.

> > This is why so many people don’t see any reason to stop the Nazis now, or why many others think it’s purely a struggle for Democrats or other neoliberal parties in other countries who might lose political power if they gain traction. Many people don’t see Nazis as a real problem unless they threaten the political power of other white people.

> > White supremacist organizations and movements have been a life-threatening scourge for people of colour and Jewish people this entire time. It’s really important that we focus on that as the real threat, or we risk having the same myopic perspective as generations past.

> This was a great addition to my original post so I’m reblogging it.

30/08/2017 20:09:51 ¶ ●

abraxaswithaxes:

> nyailist:

> > thatlittleegyptologist:

> > > ezairick:

> > > > thatlittleegyptologist:

> > > > > ezairick:

> > > > > > thatlittleegyptologist:

> > > > > > > Fun fact: Egyptian gods do not have ‘animal heads’. The depictions of gods are meant to contain a duality, as is important in Egyptian Religion (life/death, red land/black land, chaos/order, human/animal). So when you see, say, Anubis with a man’s body and a Jackal head it represents both his human form and his Jackal form, meaning he might appear in either form. But never as a human with a Jackal head. That is only something you’d see on temple walls for the duality aspect.

> > > > > > How di you know??

> > > > > > I mean it sounds likely but where are you getting your information from?

> > > > > I’m an Egyptologist? This is literally my job.

> > > > > But if you want a source, read: Silverman, D. (1991) Divinity and Deities in Ancient Egypt, In J. Baines, L. Lesko, & D. Silverman, Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths and Personal Practice. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. 7-87.

> > > > Thanks for the sources.

> > > > I had just never heard about that fact before.

> > > No worries! (I realise I put a full stop instead of an exclamation mark at the end of “this is literally my job” which might have sounded harsh, so I apologise!)

> > This is a very pure interaction

> this is exactly how you should react to hearing new information that you’re skeptical of or don’t immediately believe is true

30/08/2017 20:14:22 ¶ ●

toreachpoise:

> theymightbeyonce:

> > theymightbeyonce:

> > > the distinction between “crafts” and “fine art” is probably driven by misogyny and the devaluation of women’s labor

> > art forms that have traditionally been practiced by women like embroidery are devalued and called just “crafts” while art forms that women historically were mostly barred from (painting, sculpture) are “fine art”

> Also racism; African and Indigenous art is considered crafts whereas only white forms are “art”