listen i also hate those dumbass political cartoons about kids and their phones but at the same time you’re a fool if you flat out deny there are negative aspects to the way we communicate in the social media age
facebook and instagram strategically time your notifications after you post something to make you waste time scrolling. those two platforms also come to mind as being particularly performative (“look at this beautiful picture-ready thing i’m doing today”) although any social media encourages that. snapchat’s streak feature, as well as those stupid emojis next to people’s names, exist solely to suck you into using the app every day. twitter and instagram display your follower count, and facebook displays how many friends you have. tumblr cultivates a culture of oversharing, and although you can have one-on-one conversations on here, most “communication” takes the form of shouting from a soapbox. all of these things are related to the problem of privacy online, which many of us simply assume doesn’t exist and should therefore be tossed aside so that we can dissect and manufacture every detail of our selves and desires online. you can’t honestly tell me these things are of no concern for the way we understand ourselves and others, and our relationships to the world.
n*tasha: (kisses bruce and then shoves him off a cliff, hoping that his fear of falling to his death will bring the hulk out)
bruce: (hulks out because he’s terrified of dying)
thor: hey uh…i’d appreciate it if the hulk could help me save my entire civilization. oh…? you’re not comfortable with that?? okay, i understand, there are other ways that you can help us.
bruce: (sees that the situation is next to hopeless without hulk, and changes willingly in order to protect thor and his people)
Hmmmmmmm. It’s almost as if Nat sees Bruce as a tool/ monster while Thor sees Bruce, no matter what, as a friend 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
“Children can’t ID as ace because children are naturally asexual, stop sexualizing children”
1) children are allowed to explore their identifies in any way they want. There’s no argument about “knowing asexuality exists will confuse children about their own identities” that doesn’t have some unfortunate implications elsewhere.
2) “children don’t have a sexuality before puberty” is like saying “children don’t have romantic feelings before puberty”. The vaaaast majority of people had a crush in mid-childhood (usually 5-8 y/o) and many report their first sexual fantasies around age 10, if not earlier. this doesn’t mean that they understand or actually want a romantic let alone sexual relationship. It does mean that they may begin to notice differences and identify those feelings. Source, source, anecdotes.
3) Some people don’t experience attraction in any way until late puberty or even late adolescence. Many people do, as a natural part of human development. Both are fine and an understanding that labels can be fluid and can serve a limited purpose is helpful. Informed confidence in and exploration of their own identities makes kids less vulnerable to abuse.
Children experience the beginnings of sexual and romantic feelings very early on. Variations in these feelings can also start becoming apparent very, very early in life. None of these things is suggesting that adult sexual attraction to or interaction with children is appropriate or acceptable (in b4 “SAYING CHILDREN AND SEX IN THE SAME SENTENCE IS PEDOPHILIA”). It’s a natural goddamn part of being human.
Or: not every child that never gets a crush will grow up to be ace/aro, but some will. And if they feel that and know it and say it then more power to them.
I wonder where the break happened that such wide swaths of younger fans don’t grasp fandom things that used to be unspoken understandings. That fic readers are expected to know fiction from reality, that views expressed in fic are not necessarily those of the author, that the labels, tags and warnings on various kinkfics are also the indication that they were created for titillation and not much more, please use responsibly as per all pornography. The ‘problem’ isn’t that so-called ‘problematic’ fic exists but that some of the audience is being stupid, irresponsible, at worst criminal, at best not old enough to be in the audience to begin with. And that’s on the consumer, not the author who told you via labels, tags, ratings, warnings and venues what their fic was about and what it was for.
So my dad used to teach human evolution at the University of Minnesota, right? And his favorite thing was discussing Native American cultures and bashing misogyny.
So he’d start off class by going “Raise your hand if you think you know why men hunted and women stayed back in the settlements” and most kids would raise their hands. He’d list off a few various reasons and kids would slowly start participating. Then he’d go “How many of you think it’s because men are stronger” and of course most of the males would raise their hands with a few girls. He’d then proceed to rip apart the patriarchal views they had all been taught. “No,” he’d say, “It’s because if five men went out and three or two came back no one would bat an eye. They’d grieve sure, but society would go on. Now if five women went out and three or two came back you know what would happen? Society would collapse.”
And it was true. For many Native American cultures the only reason women did what they did was because the men couldn’t do it. We are (usually) taught a twisted, self-aggrandizing form of history despite evidence suggesting the complete opposite of it.
This was present in a lot of cultures in the past before white colonization (see: imperialism and genocide)
In Australia the Aborigines believed that women were more powerful than men and closer to gods because of their ability to give birth, and men would make themselves bleed just to be like women when they came of age
In the Philippines many people held practices which celebrated a woman’s first menstruation, encouraged free sexual exploration before marriage for young men and women, and believed women to be spiritual leaders, so that the only way a “man” could be one was to become a woman (transwomen were able and even encouraged to marry, and were identified as women within the community)
Also in the Philippines economic structures defined power, so a man who was poorer than his wife would take her name, and daughters would inherit and become heads of the family if they were the eldest
Westerners love to flout how great they are at women empowerment when it comes to other cultures that treat women badly, but actively try to hide the fact that there are thousands of other cultures who treated women better centuries ago than they do even today
My mother also talked about periods to my brothers.
When I first got mine I had terrible cramps. Crippling cramps. I once was camping with my family and a few of my big brother’s friends when my period came. My cramps were so bad that my mom gave me a full pain killer ( I was 13 and before that she only gave me pills cut in half).
I literally laid down on my parents’ air mattress and cried in pain for an hour before the pill kicked in.
My brothers friend came in to the big tent and I was just curled up and sobbing. Now, I was quite the tomboy and was known to rough house with my brothers and their friends and made sure I wasnt seen as just “a little girl.” So my brother’s friend was confused to see me openly weeping in the fetal position (seriously, these were the worst cramps I have had in my life. My vision went white). He asked what was wrong with me.
My big brother stood up immediately and suggested a nice long hike. During this hike I am sure he had a pretty awkward conversation with his friend explaining menstrual cramps, because when they got back the pain pill had (mostly) kicked in and I was sitting up at a table when my brother’s friend sheepishly asked me if I was feeling better. I said I was better, and he said good.
When we made s’mores that night my brother and his friend kept me well supplied with chocolate.
Making sure sons know as much about periods and menstruation as daughters makes them better brothers, better sons better fathers, and better men. A man that understands a period will not lightly accuse a woman of “being on her period” if the woman is in an argument.
Raise better sons Teach them about normal bodily functions.
The whole debacle with the She-Ra reboot design left a VERY bad taste in my mouth.
To clarify, I grew up adoring this She-Ra:
This She-Ra, for the 4/5-year-old me was a goddess. She had her own sword, she saved He-Man, her twin brother, from death on her first time she transformed, she rode a pegasus. She was an older-looking, Valkyrie-kind of warrior who was also kind and considerate. She was awesome. Throughout cultural osmosis, She-Ra went on into the pop culture memory as someone who could go toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman.
Lately, I’ve learnt that this She-Ra is supposed to be sixteen years old. Sixteen.
Back when I was four, this wasn’t a hard thing to believe. To a little kid, sixteen years old is… an adult, practically. You’re a woman at sixteen, surely!
I’m in my 30s now and I know better.
This design was a product of male artists who drew their own fantasy of a warrior woman. Curves, short skirt, cleavage…
Fast forward to 2018, and the rebooted She-Ra looks like this:
And oh God, the comments from the older fans…
“She looks like a boy!”
“She-Ra was a woman! Why don’t you want to look like a woman? Embrace femininity!”
“That’s not She-Ra!”
As a fan who grew up with She-Ra, all I’m gonna say is:
SHUT UP!
This reboot has a different demographic: little girls who want to see heroes who they will identify with, not old timers like me who grew up with a completely different version. This isn’t for us.
It’s been decades since we were children. Accept that. Times have changed and for the better. If this She-Ra is supposed to be ateenager, this design makes more sense and is far less creepy than the original one.
Let the little girls of today have their younger heroine whose they can put themselves in. Because little girls like me sure couldn’t back in the day.
The only way Adora and Adam are 16 is if Eternia and Etheria’s years are the equivalent of 18 earth months. They looked, sounded, and acted like 20 somethings. I don’t buy the age 16 now, and I’m not sure I would have bought it then. We had other shows that had teenagers(bionic 6, beverly hill teens, Galaxy High), we knew what distinguished teenager(at least fictional teenagers) from adults. Add in Jem being a show for girls airing at the same time that also starred adult women as role models (and featured teen girls for handy comparison between adults and teens)
This She-ra is apparently supposed to be 14. She looks like a 14 year old girl. Let her be a 14 year old girl and not give girls complexes about not having 36C breasts at 14.
Coming from somebody who didn’t grow up with She-Ra, I actually love the new design? For the target audience(children), she is sporty and young but really pretty? Idk, I get that rebooting stuff is a touchy subject, but I do think her new design is really adorable!
Artisan Scribbles 