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If you cant SAY the words rape, sexual assault, grooming, or sex, youre not mature enough to have an opinion on it.
lovely character. i need him to finally break down sobbing clutching his chest like it'll stop the pain crumpling to the floor begging God to either help him or let him die
shifting is for the people who can't fathom living in a world where children are bombed, governments let their civilians sleep on the street because of money, a world in which civilians spend the day hungry while greedy leader host banquets. it is for those whose heart aches seeing children being amputated without anesthesia, having to work in coal mine or in tissue factories because western power had to spread their nasty ideologies everywhere. it is for people who don't want to live in a world in which people have hatred based on race and think of themselves as superior because of theirs. it is for those who appreciate love and cannot fathom one's love being deemed as unpure or the reason why they should receive divine punishment. it is for those who support freedom and cannot stand the incapacity of women being able to navigate in this world without the fear of being raped or killed, and not being able to stand next to a window. for those who can stand male, female, men and women being arbitrary category based on a hasard, it being their only choice and being used as a scapegoat for any problem under the sun because they chose to live as their free selves. it is for those who cannot stand the idea that your monetary status can hinder your opportunities, stops you from being safe, from eating, being educated and achieving your dream. a world where if you're disabled you're isolated because the world is not made accessible for you. this is such a mean world and i refuse to believe that we have accepted all of those things as normal and immuable, things set in stone and that it will never change, this is not the world i wish to spend my 20s, raise my children and grow old in.
In the 60 extra pages I want an update on hizashi yamada, not present mic.
bucchigiri is about how one awful, selfish, cowardly boy is still loved by a boy he showed kindness to and how even though he finds himself undeserving of it, he wants to be able to love him back
are you uncomfortable from your hands being dry? if you apply lotion, you can instead be uncomfortable with how greasy they are now. Subscribe for more tips!
Periodic rent-lowering-gunshots:
Fiction is not reality.
You can enjoy things in fiction that would be awful in the real world. Like playing a murderhobo in a game! In the real world, being or supporting a murderer-thief would be pretty damn awful, while in the game it's just good fun. Same with anything else you choose to do with the pixels on the screen, like kinks that don't affect anyone real, so they're okay in fiction, but would be pretty damn bad in real life.
No one else is responsible for your online experience. They are required not to harass you, but they are not and never will be obligated to not post about ships, kinks, or tropes you dislike just to avoid you seeing them. It's up to you to blacklist words or phrases, block tags, or even block users as needed to avoid seeing content that upsets you.
No one can force you to read anything against your consent. Any content you don't like seeing can be instantly avoided by closing out of the offending post/fic.
You are not owed an online experience free of discomfort.
Nothing that happens in your imagination can ever make you a bad person. Words you write or read about fictional characters will never make you a bad person.
The claim that media consumption influences real-life behavior is intellectually dishonest and serves only to excuse the behavior of real offenders.
Fiction is a safe way to explore horrifying or confusing concepts. Therapists agree that fiction, even (or especially) about taboo topics is a good coping mechanism, especially, but not exclusively, for trauma survivors. Fiction is to adults what play therapy is to children. This doesn't stop being true if the work in question is of a sexual nature.
Sex isn't an inherently worse or better motivation than anything else. A work written to create feelings of arousal isn't dirty, shameful, or in any way less pure than works written to entertain, provoke moral questions, or for other reasons. And worth noting is that multiple purposes can exist in the same story, especially fanfiction.
You aren't entitled to an explanation for why someone reads, writes, or otherwise enjoys certain works, kinks, tropes, ships, etc.
Normalize not liking things for no reason or for stupid reasons.
Normalize disliking things others like and still treating them (the person and the thing in question) with respect.
Normalize not having an opinion on things.
Normalize not knowing things and asking others about them.
Normalize doing research.
Normalize disagreeing with your friends' tastes.
Normalize having mixed feelings about things.
Normalize being proud and loud about things you're into.
Normalize trying to emphasize with those you have opposing views with.
If something doesn't HURT anyone
It's okay.
We're only human!
We are not perfect and nobody should expect us to be.
Allow yourself to be you and to let others be themselves.
a comic about my weird irreverence for canon
go write a bad ending AU! ship your self-insert oc with your favourite villain!! the world's your oyster!!!
Periodic rent-lowering-gunshots:
Fiction is not reality.
You can enjoy things in fiction that would be awful in the real world. Like playing a murderhobo in a game! In the real world, being or supporting a murderer-thief would be pretty damn awful, while in the game it's just good fun. Same with anything else you choose to do with the pixels on the screen, like kinks that don't affect anyone real, so they're okay in fiction, but would be pretty damn bad in real life.
No one else is responsible for your online experience. They are required not to harass you, but they are not and never will be obligated to not post about ships, kinks, or tropes you dislike just to avoid you seeing them. It's up to you to blacklist words or phrases, block tags, or even block users as needed to avoid seeing content that upsets you.
No one can force you to read anything against your consent. Any content you don't like seeing can be instantly avoided by closing out of the offending post/fic.
You are not owed an online experience free of discomfort.
Nothing that happens in your imagination can ever make you a bad person. Words you write or read about fictional characters will never make you a bad person.
The claim that media consumption influences real-life behavior is intellectually dishonest and serves only to excuse the behavior of real offenders.
Fiction is a safe way to explore horrifying or confusing concepts. Therapists agree that fiction, even (or especially) about taboo topics is a good coping mechanism, especially, but not exclusively, for trauma survivors. Fiction is to adults what play therapy is to children. This doesn't stop being true if the work in question is of a sexual nature.
Sex isn't an inherently worse or better motivation than anything else. A work written to create feelings of arousal isn't dirty, shameful, or in any way less pure than works written to entertain, provoke moral questions, or for other reasons. And worth noting is that multiple purposes can exist in the same story, especially fanfiction.
You aren't entitled to an explanation for why someone reads, writes, or otherwise enjoys certain works, kinks, tropes, ships, etc.
Hey, I get that you don't like that person's stance, but they don't deserve to die or to relive their own trauma because of it. Don't dehumanize your enemies.
If you're at the point where the most substantial thing you could say to somebody is a threat, just silently wish the best for them.
Wish that someday they'll stop being an enemy. Wish for character growth.
(Note: This is not asking you to "fix them." That's not your job, and helping people with the mindset of "fixing them" is not actually that helpful. If they ask for civil discussion-- and are genuine-- then it's your choice whether you permit it or not, but don't try to force your point without listening to them. Don't "fix them." It very likely is not going to work, and will very likely instead give them a bad/worse taste in their mouth about you and what you represent. Sometimes it is best to leave people be, in all honesty. You don't have to save the world, doing what you can is perfectly acceptable. Promoting good-will and stability in your own space is just as-- if not more-- important as stepping outside of said space.)
“OP’s been real quiet since…” It was Shabbat. If you’re going to pretend you’re anti-Zionist not antisemitic, at least let Jews observe their holidays in peace
There's this specific dread that happens when you keep Shabbat and Yom Tov in a way that means you don't get news until after the holiday. That pit in your stomach when you turn your phone back on, waiting to see what horrifying things happened while you were observing the sacred day. Who desecrated it by shedding blood? What new horrors await?
Sometimes you get lucky, and things are relatively quiet.
Other times, you come back to the news that at least 11 innocent Druze children were dismembered by a Hezbollah rocket while they were out playing soccer.
I remember the first time I really felt this effect, coming back from Shabbat to the news that eleven Jews had been massacred in Pittsburgh. This past year has been a prolonged and repeated version of that, and shows no signs of slowing down.
It almost makes you want to avoid going offline at all, except that then you never get a break. It makes it so hard to want to keep Shabbat, knowing what may be on the other end of it.
Sometimes, all we really need is to be heard without having to fight for it.
I brought up how I felt—disconnected, unsure, a little tired of carrying the weight of unspoken things. And for once, I wasn’t met with defensiveness or silence. I was met with understanding. With effort. With a gentle “let’s fix this.”
It reminded me that love shouldn’t feel like walking on eggshells. It shouldn’t leave you questioning your worth or your voice. Sometimes, the simplest conversations can feel like healing.
I’m learning that being heard without having to explain myself twice is a kind of love I didn’t know I needed. I don’t need perfect. I just need real.
You don’t have to love abortion. You can dislike it. Maybe it even makes you sad. The way you view abortion is up to you.
And maybe if you don't like abortion, you spend your time advocating for proper sex education, access to birth control and other things that have been shown to lower the types of pregnancies that often result in abortion. That's fine.
But what you shouldn't be doing is disrespecting other people for having abortions. You can't take that choice away from people just because you don't like it. Your feelings aren't more important than anyone else's bodily autonomy.
You don't have to like abortion. But you definitely have to respect other people's rights and that includes their right to safe, accessible, abortions.
This has been a Certified Sex ED Post.
THIS. You actually read my mind.
I'm not interested in people being needlessly pedantic over whether or not he literally "lost his soul" in ascension, because he very clearly lost something crucial to his being. He burned a bridge between himself and the future of healing and redemption he could have had. AA is not "free" in a meaningful way, and he shackled himself to Cazador's legacy forever, trapping himself in a state of non-healing. Of course he's not "just another Cazador", maybe he's even "not as bad". But that doesn't mean he's good. He chose to turn away from the good in himself. As Neil Newbon said, becoming Lord Astarion solidifies all of all the worst in him.
Being able to walk in the sunlight won't make him happy. Having no vampiric hunger won't help him heal from the trauma he's choosing not to face. Being able to see his reflection won't absolve him of his crimes. Being a vampire lord won't give him back the identity that was stripped from him. The Spawn ending isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but its a new dawn. Radiant and hopeful. Full of love and support for the long road of healing ahead.
"Ascended Astarion is what happens if trauma wins - he’s the desensitization to violence after centuries of torture and cruelty, he’s the false facade of confidence and superiority shielding a weak sense of self, he’s the belief that the only way to not be a victim is to be the abuser."
"He may not act exactly like Cazador but he has embraced the belief that to be safe is to be powerful at the expense of empathy and care for others, and with that it is inevitable his hunger for power will grow more and more sadistic consuming every good and tender part of Astarion just like it did to Cazador"
Flawlessly put. Actually perfect.
Some fans think Ascended Astarion is free from the curse of vampirism because he can walk in the sun and see his reflection and he isn’t hungry for blood, but he has just replaced all that for a far more sinister and consuming hunger. Vampires crave power the way they crave blood, insatiably and beyond their control. They are a metaphor for abusers, trapped in their futile struggle to feel fulfilled by harming and dominating others. That is part of their curse, the darkest and most isolating part. If we read Cazador’s thoughts, we find that he doesn’t identify with this monster he has become and deep down wants to just die. He is consumed by the curse of vampirism, everything from torturing his spawn to the ascension ritual were part of this vampiric hunger for power that made Cazador what he became. If Astarion ascends, that is what he will become.
He may not act exactly like Cazador but he has embraced the belief that to be safe is to be powerful at the expense of empathy and care for others, and with that it is inevitable his hunger for power will grow more and more sadistic consuming every good and tender part of Astarion just like it did to Cazador. Cazador was once a young Spawn who reached out to a friend and was impaled for a decade straight because of it. From Cazador’s perspective, he was a “loving”, “paternal” Master compared to Vellioth but that’s just the distorted mindset of the abuser. Just like every abusive parent thinks they aren’t abusive because their parent was “worse” to them. Cazador was different from Vellioth and Ascended Astarion would be different from Cazador but they’re the same beast. There’s no denying that the nature of vampirism and Master/Spawn relationships are abusive and the only way to free yourself from that cycle is to reject the poisonous allure of vampiric power.
Spawn Astarion cannot see his reflection or walk in the sun, at least not yet, but he can live and he can heal. He knows it’s safe to be loving and kind, that there’s more to the world than an endless cycle of power and pain which was all he experienced for 200 years as a slave to Cazador’s sick, undead mind. Spawn Astarion has won something Cazador never could, and that’s his soul back. Cazador died a power-hungry husk who didn’t recognize himself from the boy he once was with everyone he claimed to “love” relieved he was dead - Spawn Astarion won’t suffer that fate. Ascended Astarion is what happens if trauma wins - he’s the desensitization to violence after centuries of torture and cruelty, he’s the false facade of confidence and superiority shielding a weak sense of self, he’s the belief that the only way to not be a victim is to be the abuser. Spawn Astarion is bittersweet but hopeful and free to be himself, he is not consumed by what trauma and vampirism wants him to be. He is free to heal and find out who he is. That will take time, but it’s finally possible.