they/them in a boy way. he/him in a nonbinary way. i’m a boy and i only want to be called they. im nonbinary and i only want to be called he. i’m the most unboy boy. the most boy not boy. schrodingers boy

Couldn’t help but notice this reblog in a certain recent “queer is a slur” discourse post.

Beyond being ahistorical, it is significant in its third paragraph, which is almost entirely made up with TERF and alt right dog whistles. For anyone who has even a basic idea of what to look for, this blogger has just outright shown their hand.

Let’s start from the beginning of the text I’ve marked in blue:

“a pedophilia and incest apologist”

This is a very handy tactic especially prevalent in alt-right rhetoric these days. It stigmatises anything it is attached to, in this case the person who coined the term “queer theory.” Topics like pedophilia and incest are extremely taboo and emotionally laden, and attaching them to a subject will cause many people to automatically distance themselves from that term out of a semi-instinctive desire to not associate themselves with such things. Spread this attachment widely enough, and you can push entire groups into abandoning terminology, praxis, and people.

For the record, I’m not sure of the source for this claim. The woman who coined the term “queer theory” was Teresa de Laurentis, and I’ve never seen anything by her which tries to excuse pedophilia or incest. She certainly wrote about the gendered nature of incest, but this was in no way laudatory. This may also be a reference to the work of Gloria Anzaldua, who helped further popularize the term. She spoke frankly and openly about her sexual fantasies, many of them of a taboo nature, because of her firm belief in de-stigmatizing discussions about human sexual behaviour. Not only are such fantasies extremely common, they are in no way apologetics for real life abuse, nor do they predict real life behaviour.

“a straight woman with a fetish for gay men”

We’ve gotten to the transphobic dogwhistle now. This is an accusation frequently used against trans men and nonbinary AFAB people, especially those who pursue relationships with men. With the current surge in transphobic public rhetoric, it has received a new breath of life, and trans mlm are currently facing a slew of accusations of being straight women/girls who have just fetishized gay men to the point that they’re trying to “become” gay men/boys themselves (CW: link leads to transphobic hate site genderhq.org). These accusations are even being used in queer circles–including by trans people–to gatekeep who “gets” to write fiction about mlm. Just a week ago, for example, queer writer Alex Marraccini accused indie trans mlm author Ana Mardoll of fetishizing mlm, claiming that Ana’s “fetishistic” writing isn’t nearly as groundbreaking or liberating as the work of real cis gay men.

I’m not sure who the blogger is referring to here as there’s no real consensus on who first used the term “queer studies.” However, I think they may be referring to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, who was most certainly not a straight woman. She was queer and came out as a trans man, though as far as I know continued to publicly prefer she/her pronouns (hence my own pronoun use here).

“use intentionally over academic language”

Ah, good old anti-intellectualism. If I can’t understand you, you must be using over-academic language just to confuse me on purpose. This dogwhistle not only gives people an excuse to dismiss anything they don’t understand straight away, it pushes the conspiracy theory that we academics are part of an ivory tower conspiracy to Queer Everything for…reasons (see below).

“to obfuscate that their founding texts and members are Marxists”

Aaaand here we are, the full show of the hand. This blogger is either alt-right or well down the pipeline to becoming one. The old chestnut that These Academics We Disagree With are all secret Marxists is one that is, you guessed it, strongly tied into antisemitism and Nazi conspiracies that push the belief that Karl Marx, Marxism, and Marxists are part of a global Jewish conspiracy that seeks to destroy the West.

And of course we have one more “incest and pedophilia” whistle to round things off, just to doubly ensure that people understandably disgusted by those things attach them to queer theorists.

Anyway, once again I beg the good people of Tumblr to please pay close attention to TERF rhetoric, where it comes from, how it’s used, and the other movements that it is tied to. I am not being a paranoid conspiracist when I say that “queer is a slur” discoursers and “pedophilia and incest” scaremongers and their ilk (including anti-kink discoursers) are tied to TERF rhetoric, which is itself allied increasingly with the alt right. They are telling you this for themselves. Listen to them when they tell you who they are.

Queer is inclusive.

Specific labels have their place in figuring out identity, finding safe spaces, and finding others with shared experiences and feelings. But Queer unites us, and also allows us room to grow and change as we figure out ourselves.

I AM queer - and I only tell people I’m bisexual to make it easy for THEM to understand. It is not my label of choice. Pansexual is a label that wasn’t around when I was figuring myself out, and while I like it better than bisexual it’s still not me.

Being queer also allows me to embrace my genderqueer qualities, even though I’m cis-presenting and mostly okay with being lumped into the cis-gendered category.

It’s OUR term and they can pry it from our cold, dead, queer as fuck hands.

aspec boys are literally amazing and if you disagree you're an asshole, have a bad day

aromantic allosexual boys are fantastic. you're not "heartless fuckboys" for experiencing sexual but not romantic attraction, and wanting sex without a romantic relationship is valid as fuck.

aromantic asexual boys are awesome. you don't owe anyone a relationship, and no matter what your opinion on sex and love is, you deserve to be respected.

alloromantic asexual boys are wonderful. you're not weird for not experiencing sexual attraction or not liking sex. it doesn't make you "less masculine", and you deserve a partner who respects, accepts and embraces your asexuality.

demiromantic boys are fabulous. your feelings are important and real and beautiful and anyone who says otherwise isn't worth your time.

demisexual boys are stunning. you are ace enough, and you will always have a place in this community. your voice and your feelings matter.

greyromantic boys are breathtaking. you deserve to be happy - be it in a romantic relationship or single. and if your opinion on romance and love changes from time to time, that's totally fine.

greysexual boys are incredible. your feelings on sex may change sometimes, but the fact that you're hella rad won't. you're not less acespec for being sexually attracted to a few people.

every single one of you is so amazing and beautiful, and you deserve to be happy. your feelings are real and valid and deserve to be heard. you are such an important part of this community and I love you guys so much.

I got the new fat cat set~

The little kitty paws on the bottoms of the slippers give me so much joy

Hey I have a question what the fuck is this game

I am the Warrior of Light. I have saved the world untold times over. I now don my cozy sleep shorts and kitty slippers. Behold: my cute little toe beans

A while back I saw one of those posts that was like “why are you trans, wrong answers only” and @cipheramnesia tagged it with something like “hopelessly addicted to the taste of estradiol” and I’ve been thinking about it ever since, because as someone who takes her pills sublingually… I kind of do unironically love the way they taste? Like it might just be the fillers or excipients in the tablet itself, but I actually quite enjoy the way my pills taste. It’s kind of sweet and kind of… not umami, but like… ahh, I don’t know, I can’t really describe it.

I think I'd just taken my estradiol and the sort of unsweetened bread batter sweetness was on my mind. Like, it's not bad tasting, but only just a bit offset from bland, so I figured being addicted to "barely a flavor" was funny.

I don’t use this but might be for someone out there who does, check it out?

Here’s a pretty comprehensive write-up:

https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/you-can-get-cheap-insulin-at-walmart-without-an-rx-in-some-states-576008/

reblog to save a life

That is incredibly interesting! Sounds like it would be a hassle, but 100% better than the alternative of just not having access to insulin.

So obviously I commented on this a while back but now I feel like it’s important to put it on the thread and not behind a link:

Using the older style insulin is not the same as using the newer versions, and requires you to be very attentive to your blood sugar and food intake, and typically requires a strict diet. It is not fast acting, and can still cause hypoglycemia. It is not a 1:1 replacement for modern insulins, and if you attempt to use it the same way you use your modern insulin, it can be extremely dangerous.

It is much better to use $25 Walmart insulin than to use no insulin, but you absolutely need to make sure that you are using it properly, which means speaking to the pharmacist, consulting with your doctor, and making sure you are knowledgeable about and attentive to your condition, which means frequent blood sugar checks and careful dietary restriction.

There are a few posts of people talking about how this post has gotten people killed and that is my nightmare, and specifically why I linked the writeup up above. If you find yourself stuck between using no insulin and using older style insulin, you have to make sure to do it properly, you can’t use it like other styles of insulin you may have used.

You want to know why Inigo Montoya remains such an iconic and beloved character even 35 years after the Princess Bride came out?

It’s because he’s one of the few characters in fiction who has a story where he has dedicated his life to revenge, his whole motivation is about getting revenge….and he gets it! and then he isn’t empty or despairing! he doesn’t regret it! he’s totally satisfied!

because so many stories about revenge or rage are about characters “seeing the futility of their actions” or learning “their desire for revenge has only made them the monsters they hated” FUCK THAT.

Inigo Montoya kills the man who kills his father, is allowed to live in the narrative after and be happy about it and it is so satisfying. it’s fantastic. it’s iconic.

let more characters rage against the world, bring it down with bloodied hands, and let them be FUCKING RIGHT about it. Let them celebrate their success with sharp grins, and let them live happy, full lives where they always remain proud/fulfilled for what they’ve done

Another thing that set Inigo Montoya apart from other characters with vengeance arcs is that Inigo’s vengeance drove him but it didn’t consume him. He was wronged and wanted - needed that injustice to be corrected - but his vengeance was focused. Rather than taking his pain out on the whole world, Inigo was a charming, pleasant, good-humored person that treated everyone respectfully, even folks he was fighting. He even asks politely to people he meets about any extra digits they may have.

Would a bitter, angry, vengeance-consumed man swear on the life of his father and help a guy he was planning to duel, then give him time to catch his breath? Would he hand his sword over to his future opponent to lovingly show off his late-father’s skill as a swordmaker?

“You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.”

I think part of what makes Inigo so iconic and beloved is because while vengeance was his story, it wasn’t who he was, so when he achieved his vengeance it was less an emptiness and more of a satisfaction, a story completed, a wrong made right, and a man suddenly baffled at the possibilities before him, not sure what his next story would be.

x

i dont fucking know

Gasp! Little German Boy?!

Tumblr really has evolved as a website if the first personification of the new icon i see is just a little lad instead of a sexyman

Anyone else feeling burnt out by streaming services because any time you start a show the company expects an immediate audience and a fucking worldwide campaign of support or they’ll cancel it.

Stuff like “watching things in your own time around your busy life and work schedule might cause your show to be cancelled” is insane

On the topic of how way too many people are apparently offended that Obi-wan Kenobi is now canonically bisexual, it genuinely baffles me how many people still think lgbt narratives are unrealistic, especially in a setting like Star Wars.

You're telling me in a world where humans interact with hundreds of different sentient species all with their own cultural nuances and different biology and are able to coexist in relative peace, you think those same people give a rats ass about something as little as SEXUALITY? B u L L s H I T.

Maybe I'm biased because I myself am bisexual, but if I could walk out a door and almost get my ass beat by a giant sentient worm, who other people are fucking would be the least of my worries. Who I choose to fuck would be the least of my worries too. It's a vast universe. Time to experiment. WHO is gonna judge me, huh? An Ergesh, whose species reproduces by planting a seed from their bodies in a swamp called the Shoolbloorp, the "Land of Beginnings," during a special mating ceremony??

Perish.

Conservative be like: I CAN ACCEPT BLUE ALIEN WITH SIX ARMS AND TEN EYES BUT LGBT IN SPACE?! LGBT IN STAR WARS?!!!

I wonder if those people ever tried Mass Effect lmao. The outrage is just another chuds kicking and screaming in their corner

WE NEED TO SEE OBI KISS A GUY OR SOMETHING IN SEASON 2 not just for the good of humanity but to make bigots cry as well

People love when fictional women are direct but let me tell you in real life they will call your boss and complain.

I am afraid I was unclear in how I worded this. This wasn’t about women ratting people out to supervisors or w/e

This was about how, my male coworkers can speak plainly and clearly to people without anyone making a comment on their tone, whereas when I do the same thing while not radiating 1000 appeasement gestures a second I am being “short.”

It is not rude of me to not show my belly and beg you to take me seriously every time I speak. I also do not owe you any fawning or apologies when you do something plainly obnoxious and get corrected.

Federal Judge Rules Anti-HIV Medicine Is Unconstitutional

A Texas federal judge has ruled a provision of the Affordable Care Act that mandates free coverage of drugs that prevent HIV infections violates religious beliefs. MSNBC’s Katie Phang spoke with Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta on the dangers this poses for the LBGTQ community.