All I Had, I Gave.

interacting with a mutual for the first time: oh fuck i have to say something funny what if they don’t like me do i look okay

i’m going to hold your hands when i say this and i am only going to be kind about it once: ai does not belong in fandom spaces, ever. not in writing, not in art, not in video, not at all. it does not matter how bad you want to see your favourite characters kiss, or how much you need a bit of help finishing a chapter, or whatever.

make friends with artists. commission somebody. learn to draw yourself. ask for a beta read. try a writing partnership. fandom spaces are communities, so engage with them! it is about the journey and the fact that we all love something enough to create and build together about that thing.

spending 30 seconds to kill a tree and get an AI to push out some soulless empty piece of “content” is antithetical to the entire point of being engaged with fandom, and if you’ve taken to doing this you should really reconsider if you belong in these spaces with the rest of us.

i keep finding good music with ai generated album covers and it actually like hurts me. you're a musician. you're an artist. you spend i assume hours and hours poring over a single track, come out with something you're proud of and then dont have the braincells to stop yourself from making an ai album cover. you won't hire someone or make some photobashed shit in canva out of copyright free images or something. have you no sense of dignity. no sense of comradery as a creative type. you could make a crayon drawing and take a picture in shit lighting with your phone and it would be infinitely more charming than the ai art. youre ugly youre disgusting im gonna kill you give me 500 dollars

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

Trans women are women.

This post doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t roll back harmful laws, it doesn’t offer you legal protection. It’s understandable if you currently feel more bitter than encouraged when you see statements like that on social media. What can a silly little slogan do against this wave of hate and danger we are currently experiencing?

And yet, I think it’s more important than ever to post those silly little slogans. Here’s some reasons why: 

Silence can look like agreement. Transphobes and fascists love to paint the picture that the „silent majority“ agrees with them, that they’re just saying out loud what everyone else is thinking. The „silly little slogans“ provide an accessible way to disprove that. They don’t fix everything but they offer an easy way to break that silence and show that transphobia actually isn’t as common or fashionable as fascists would like people to believe. 

Complying in advance is never a good idea. If you give up on posting stuff like this because it feels like the transphobes are winning anyway, well, then you’re giving them exactly what they want. You’re basically agreeing that they already won. Quiet surrender is awfully convenient to fascists. Don’t give them that power. 

Social media posts are also seen by trans people. Even if you feel like you’re not gonna change anyone’s mind: you can at least let trans people know you care. We need little rays of hope now more than ever, and social media posts definitely can be a way to make each other feel a little less alone. In fact, I think repeating a slogan can actually be ideal for that because they’re so easily recognizable. There’s comfort in that clarity. It takes off some of the mental load of trying to figure out if you’re a safe person or not. And that’s valuable in exhausting times like these. 

So no, this post doesn’t fix anything. But it doesn’t have to. It just has to be one small, firm act of resistance. A reminder that not everyone has given up. A reminder that trans people are real, loved and deserving of protection.

Trans women are women. Let’s say it again and again. Lets say it out loud. Lets say it until the hate feels small in comparison.

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

I hate the sound of babies crying, but I can't hate a baby. They've been here for like five minutes and approach this situation with an unhesitant attitude of "my needs are unmet and I am going to make it everybody's problem", and I respect that.

The definition of a woman is an adult human female, right? Is that transphobic?

No offense to you, I just want to see if the trans movement can actually define the term woman since I haven't been able to and I think your blog could help. I'm new to this and I'm pretty curious. Again, absolutely no offense meant and I'm sorry if you take any.

When I was a kid, I thought that nobody actually wanted to be a girl. That it's just one of those unfortunate fates you get handed, like being born with no eyes or no legs or something. That it's something miserable, that's supposed to be miserable, and everyone else is just better at sucking up and enduring it than I am. That it's supposed to hurt and you're supposed to act like it doesn't, and that's just what everyone does.

Being born in mid-90s, I was vaguely aware that trans women exist, but I was like 13 when I discovered that it goes the other way around too. Like you can transition female-to-male. And my first thought was "how hasn't everyone done this?" I thought it had to be some very well-guarded secret, because otherwise how else would they stop every woman from flocking to these things. My first initial thought was that if women knew there was an option to just stop being women, the world would run out of women.

I don't understand why anyone would want to be a woman, but it gradually came to my understanding that some women do. They actually enjoy that. So, as far as I'm concerned, the definition of "woman" is anyone who wants to be one. I don't understand why anyone does, but it's not off my plate if someone does.

The definition of a woman is a person who wants to be a woman. That is none of my business for as long as they let me stray out of it.

My dreams haven't really been subtle lately.

"Dude," Steve says, pressing on his eyes because he feels like he's about to cry. "What the fuck."

"What?" Dustin squeaks, alarmed. "What? Steve, you're freaking me out!"

"Good!" Because Steve just worked eighteen hours and it's past midnight and he got thrown up on twice and there was a bed pan incident and even though he showered at the hospital he probably smells awful and it rained and he lost his keys so he had to take the bus and he's sweaty and tired and wet and cold and Dustin's DnD friend is hot. "I can't believe you'd do this to me!" Okay, maybe Steve's feeling a little delirious.

"Do what??" Dustin is full on shrieking right now. His hot friend is standing in their apartment looking more and more worried and hot.

"You didn't tell me he was hot!"

The expressions that go across Dustin's face is impressive, before they stop and he settles on a flat glare. "Seriously??"

Hot guy is now blushing and Steve will collapse if he doesn't keep with the righteous fury.

"I've been TRYING to get you two to meet for months now!"

"You didn't tell me he was hot, though! Dustin!!"

"I don't know what guys are hot, Steve!" Dustin says indignantly. "I thought you didn't like nerds!"

"Dustin!"

"Um," says hot guy. He looks like he's panicking.

Dustin's face changes again. "Oh, no. Oh, no, you're right."

"All this time!" Steve says and he really is close to tears. "You've been nagging on me all this time to find my soulmate, and you had the perfect guy right here?? You had him in my home??? Dustin!"

"Whoa," whispers hot guy.

"I'm sorry," Dustin wails now, just as distraught. "You love nerds, all your favorite people are nerds, I don't know what I was thinking, oh my god!" He whirls on hot guy. "Eddie, give Steve your number right now!"

"Okay," says hot guy Eddie, immediately. His face is super red and his eyes are wide, and he looks scared out of his mind as he fumbles his pocket for his phone. "Yeah-Yep-Absolutely. This is a thing that's happening."

Steve, tears burning in his eyes, watches as Dustin punches his number into Eddie's phone. "Okay," he says a little nasally, wiping quickly at his face. "Okay, I'm going to shower and then sleep for two days, and then pretend like this never happened so I can look hot guy in the eye when he asks me on a date. Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" Dustin says, all cheery now. Behind him, still looking vaguely scared for his life, hot guy gives him a shaky thumbs up.

I just know that the dudes who make those "girls get 500 compliments a day vs. guy gets one compliment once and cherishes it for the rest of his life" memes put zero effort into their appearance. Like what exactly do you expect people to say? Wow nice plain ill-fitting hoodie, goes great with your basic-ass blue jeans and nondescript haircut. Got some real cool Grey Man vibes going on, you could seamlessly blend into any crowd ever without being seen at all.

Like nobody has any obligation to look any certain way, but you can't expect to be praised for doing something you're not even trying to do. I dress like I got tarred and feathered in a Tim Burton film costume department discard scrap pile, and someone saying they like my style is a biweekly occurrence.