For The Kids

someone stop them

There are 10 different train emojis.

There are 29 different clock emojis.

Yet there aren't aro or ace flag emojis.

Let's do something about that.

There’s not even a bi flag. :/ 

Direct link to petition: http://chng.it/6267vg46MC

Yeah, no bi flag. There's a curling stone, though!

Reactionaries are malding so hard over the blues clues pride parade that they had to make up that the MAP flag was secretly put in there.

This float represents the gender questioning flag

You can even see the distinction between the green and yellow.

I pointed this out to them, but they said it was a pedophile dogwhistle anyways. They don’t give a fuck.

Anyways, if you see posts like this going around, make sure to correct it.  because its really shitty that this is circulating.

I feel like we always see parents who are 100% super supportive allies, or parents who are horrible and cruel.  At least in media or in the most popular stories.  But I feel like that ignores just how many people have parents where you just have no idea?  And even if you think they’ll accept you on a surface level, you don’t know if they have a breaking point.  Especially if you need to go on hrt, or request they change the way they think about and refer to you.  Sure they’re liberal and all, or centrists, or “tolerant”, but how far does that stretch?

I think most closeted LGBT+ kids live like this, wading around in the grey area.  I’d like it of more of us knew that was normal, I’d like if we talked about it more.

We really, really don’t acknowledge the banal, disappointing reactions, and what those can do. When my husband came out to my MIL, her reaction was “Can I take some time to think about this?” and then she never, ever spoke about it again.

My MIL is not an awful person. She’s a loving mother who carries emotional scars from having been in an abusive relationship with her minister husband for a long time, which has left her with a disabling preoccupation with “What might the neighbours say” in her life, and that often means she makes poor choices without realising it. She loves my husband no less; she didn’t withdraw love and affection from him, didn’t cut him off.

But she chose to pretend it wasn’t happening, and that sent him into a hefty shame spiral we had to work through. A few months later, a stand up routine he did about being bisexual was doing the rounds on Facebook, and despite normally sharing every single routine of his, she rang him to tell him she wouldn’t be sharing that one because “Your brother’s wedding is coming up, and I don’t want it overshadowed by people talking about you and your news.”

And again, this is not because she rejects him. That’s an easy narrative, and certainly the one you’d assume from the outside. But that, in her own way, was her attempt to protect both her children from negative scrutiny - she truly thought that people would care, and would care enough to make a scene at the wedding, and that would hurt the two of them.

Everyone already knew. He’s a celebrity in his culture. No one cared. But, that was my MIL’s fear.

And the message it sent, intentionally or not, was “This is something shameful.”

She’s come to terms with it now. But she totally missed her “I love and support you no matter who you are” chance, and left him with a lingering issue. And that’s the sort of story we never see in queer media.

WOW.

I could write a whole essay, a whole book about this experience in my family, but I won’t. It feels ungrateful to criticize the actions of people who still say they love you, and have never hurt you and will never hurt you in the big dramatic ways we see in the media. But in my case, and I think in many, it isn’t a clean, decisive cut. 

It’s a love that feels lesser. An acceptance with strings attached. And that hurts in a quieter way, but it still leaves marks.

And that's that on that.

Apparently I wasn't done 🤔

These are FABULOUS, OP, but can I suggest one to the riff of "QUEERNESS IS NOT DEFINED BY THE AMOUNT PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED"?

Thanks! Here you go 🥰

Some other additions:

Inspired by @unicorn-in-the-library:

And because @surfs-up-roxy wanted an ace one:

I didn't want to make the message ace-specific because I wanted to make a point of how all of the above include aspec people, but I tried to use an ace colour palette for the background :) I also think the message applies especially (even if not exclusively) to the ace community!

Hope you like these 🥰

@rockmarina possibly “all labels were made up at one point, stop being an ass”?

I played around with the concept a bit, I hope you like it anyway!

I feel like this also needs to be said:

this is why demanding flawless representation from every piece of media, and trying to police who writes what based on identity is a huge fucking mess

source

The publisher is now threatening to sue her btw,

Checked on this, the company issued a formal apology where they admitted they assumed the author was straight because she “presented herself as straight”

She literally told them she was bisexual in the query she submitted

I know, that’s what makes this even worse.

That publishing company is such bullshit lmaooo

Their “apology” is even more disgusting. They double down on the biphobia.

“No other authors will receive any constructive feedback from us” lmao what a baby

“We put you gays and lesbians on the purity pedestal and, when you really think about it, this “bisexual” (Whatever that means) is really to blame for making us realize you people fuck.That’s why we were wrong.“

“She isn’t posting pics of herself making out with every person of every gender on Instagram, so she is obviously just a straight looking for attention :/”

This song has been old for a while and it keeps getting older.

Along with its accompaniment, “the slutty bisexual”

This saga really is an ever-growing snowball of unprofessional behavior and not knowing when to quit:

This seems like the kind of situation where, long ago, someone had good intentions that went downhill when they decided to only engage with only the most unproblematic representation available.

Such an attitude negates the work of anyone doing their best who is writing about an experience that is not their own, or even representing their own experience in a way that makes someone uncomfortable. This is further evidenced by the publisher’s about page, which states that they will not publish books that include “explicit/toxic romance” and “any works that depict rape or have extreme trigger warnings,” while not specifying what those triggers are. That is their prerogative as a publisher, of course, but purging anything problematic from your catalogue can often do more harm than good, as authors use these subjects to work through their own problems and help others do so as well. That’s why trigger warnings exist in the first place.

It’s noble to want to hold up LGBT+ authors as much as possible, but this type of gatekeeping is not the way to do it. If you are critiquing someone’s writing and have an issue with its content, point out what has made you uncomfortable and ask for clarification on why they chose to write it that way, rather than jumping to conclusions about their intentions.

being gay is just like. damn it tattoos are expensive. damn it piercings are expensive. damn it getting your hair dyed professionally is expensive. damn it combat boots are expensive. damn it therapy is

One of the weirdest things as a Millennial is explaining DIY to younger generations. Like, before we were couture, punk/alternative/goth/gay fashion was cheap and lowkey crappy. Army surplus boots and Doc Martens hurt to break in. Black was a popular hair colour because you didn’t have to bleach your hair first so you could do your own hair in the bathroom sink. You sewed patches onto a jean jacket because it was cheaper than buying a custom graphic t-shirt. If you wanted jeans ripped, you ripped them yourself. The point was fashion that was accessible to kids in Middle America.

But now the bar is so much higher and nobody gets Home Economics anymore. :/

tbh, this is something a lot of Alt kids need to learn, and need to learn NOW. 

Shit was cheap because that’s what we had access to. Cheap n dirty and now. 

You picked up jeans second third or even fourth hand and yea they had tears in them. Don’t know how to sew, that’s fine, use safety pins! We used waxed floss to sew on our patches because we knew it was stronger than thread but ALSO we had access to a random needle left lying around and the floss in the cabinet. 

It didn’t used to be High Fashion. It was us, in our basements and our friend’s rooms, doing things we saw other kids doing…. but ALSO, it was just… part of the lifestyle. We didn’t know leather care like we do now, but we know it NOW because of Gay Leatherfolk for the most part. We used red and black hair dye, yes, because we didn’t need to bleach it. We also used really dangerous methods to bleach our hair…. don’t do that. 

Learn from what’s available to  you now and be safer definitely, but don’t forget the DIY roots of the movement. You don’t need to be decked in Blackcraft and Dollskill to be cutting edge. You can paint your jacket yourself and use fabric modpodge to seal it, y’know? Then it’s truly one of a kind…. not the same jacket you’ll be seeing on a thousand other alt people at the next concert.

It’s crazy to me now seeing people get their green hair or whatever at a salon for like $100+. I remember in high school someone would get a bottle of developer and everyone would get whatever color they wanted, and we’d all do our hair in someone’s kitchen (whoever had the best sink sprayer, usually). Like, back then, if you wanted a COLOR you usually couldn’t get it at a salon. You had to buy the colored dye at the record store.

Are you part of an alternative community? Queer? Goth? Metal? Punk? Any sort of not-particularly mainstream? LEARN TO DIY.

When I was in school, we used Kool-Aid unsweetened packets to dye our hair. You can use it to dye wool yarn (an animal protein fiber) and it lasts forever, and hair is also an animal protein fiber, so it dyed us just as easily. If you wanted extra longevity, you mixed it with a little vinegar. Goth accessories didn’t appear in stores before Hot Topic, so we made our own with second hand clothes and scads of black lace.

Make Do and Mend, the subcultures edition.

If one did want to learn some DIY sewing skills, you coulkd try:

https://gothfashion.info

And honestly, DIY and thrifting are a lot of fun. Way more fun than scrolling through websites of things you can’t afford, anyway…

(Lilibat’s projects are an excellent way to learn to sew, can confirm, made a bunch of them back in The Day)

the time travel agency seamstress (that one Tumblr post) |  Karolina Żebrowska

being gay is just like. damn it tattoos are expensive. damn it piercings are expensive. damn it getting your hair dyed professionally is expensive. damn it combat boots are expensive. damn it therapy is

One of the weirdest things as a Millennial is explaining DIY to younger generations. Like, before we were couture, punk/alternative/goth/gay fashion was cheap and lowkey crappy. Army surplus boots and Doc Martens hurt to break in. Black was a popular hair colour because you didn’t have to bleach your hair first so you could do your own hair in the bathroom sink. You sewed patches onto a jean jacket because it was cheaper than buying a custom graphic t-shirt. If you wanted jeans ripped, you ripped them yourself. The point was fashion that was accessible to kids in Middle America.

But now the bar is so much higher and nobody gets Home Economics anymore. :/

tbh, this is something a lot of Alt kids need to learn, and need to learn NOW. 

Shit was cheap because that’s what we had access to. Cheap n dirty and now. 

You picked up jeans second third or even fourth hand and yea they had tears in them. Don’t know how to sew, that’s fine, use safety pins! We used waxed floss to sew on our patches because we knew it was stronger than thread but ALSO we had access to a random needle left lying around and the floss in the cabinet. 

It didn’t used to be High Fashion. It was us, in our basements and our friend’s rooms, doing things we saw other kids doing…. but ALSO, it was just… part of the lifestyle. We didn’t know leather care like we do now, but we know it NOW because of Gay Leatherfolk for the most part. We used red and black hair dye, yes, because we didn’t need to bleach it. We also used really dangerous methods to bleach our hair…. don’t do that. 

Learn from what’s available to  you now and be safer definitely, but don’t forget the DIY roots of the movement. You don’t need to be decked in Blackcraft and Dollskill to be cutting edge. You can paint your jacket yourself and use fabric modpodge to seal it, y’know? Then it’s truly one of a kind…. not the same jacket you’ll be seeing on a thousand other alt people at the next concert.

It’s crazy to me now seeing people get their green hair or whatever at a salon for like $100+. I remember in high school someone would get a bottle of developer and everyone would get whatever color they wanted, and we’d all do our hair in someone’s kitchen (whoever had the best sink sprayer, usually). Like, back then, if you wanted a COLOR you usually couldn’t get it at a salon. You had to buy the colored dye at the record store.

Are you part of an alternative community? Queer? Goth? Metal? Punk? Any sort of not-particularly mainstream? LEARN TO DIY.

When I was in school, we used Kool-Aid unsweetened packets to dye our hair. You can use it to dye wool yarn (an animal protein fiber) and it lasts forever, and hair is also an animal protein fiber, so it dyed us just as easily. If you wanted extra longevity, you mixed it with a little vinegar. Goth accessories didn’t appear in stores before Hot Topic, so we made our own with second hand clothes and scads of black lace.

Make Do and Mend, the subcultures edition.

If one did want to learn some DIY sewing skills, you coulkd try:

https://gothfashion.info

And honestly, DIY and thrifting are a lot of fun. Way more fun than scrolling through websites of things you can’t afford, anyway…

(Lilibat’s projects are an excellent way to learn to sew, can confirm, made a bunch of them back in The Day)

I don’t know if I can contain my “The Muppet Christmas Carol has better costume design than most Oscar-nominated period dramas” rant until after Thanksgiving you guys, I have…so many Thoughts

Ok, buckle up kids.

Basically they did not have to go as hard as they did here. A Christmas Carol covers 60 years of fashion through flashbacks and they still manage to do nearly everything right. 

I’m mainly going to be talking about the human actors here because it’s harder to judge Muppet costumes proportionally, but those costumes are still on point 90% of the time.

First off, A Christmas Carol was published in 1843, and anyone who knows me knows I love the absolute train wreck that was mid-19th century men’s fashion. Do you like plaid? GOOD, BECAUSE IT’S ALL PLAID. Mixed with whatever else your little Victorian heart desires, color schemes be damned. Go wild.

This of course means I absolutely love Fred.

This outfit is hideous and it is also 1000% on point.

We also get to see him in a different outfit the next day, along with his wife and some friends.

First off, MORE PLAID, good for you. Second, I can literally find near-identical images of both these ladies’ dresses just by googling “1843 fashion plate”, I shit you not. To the damned year.

A good part of the story involves travelling through Scrooge’s life, so we get to see the costumes varying wildly over the course of several scenes. This was a time when styles were changing rapidly, and you had to keep up if you wanted to be fashionable and keep up appearances. Fashion changed so fast that you can often pinpoint an outfit to within a year or two like the ones above. 

First, we go to Scrooge’s childhood school. Given the timeline that’s normally put forward Michael Caine is definitely not old enough to play Scrooge, but ignore that for now. Let’s say if Scrooge is 75ish in 1843, it’s about 1783 when we see him leaving school and going off to be an apprentice. We actually see a few years of Little Scrooge fashion, but it’s fairly standard stuff. Scrooge doesn’t have a super childhood and his clothing is pretty plain, but it’s totally on par for the time. Why this haircut though? It makes me sad.

Then we jump ahead a few years and it’s about 1789. The whole group is attending the Fozziwig Christmas party and have gotten tarted up like they’re about the storm the Bastille, including Gonzo and Rizzo.

Again, they look absolutely ridiculous and it is absolutely accurate. 

Now, this is super ostentatious and a lot of people would have considered it way too French for their taste in this time period. But it definitely did happen (I’ve seen stripey bubblegum pink menswear in person) and like. It’s the Muppets. So, Rule of Funny.

Scrooge and Belle are dressed way closer to average Londoners of the time, and it’s worth noting that both are supposed to be somewhat poor. Fozzy pays everyone well but Lil’ Scrooge is still a skinflint and Belle is just getting by. They’re both looking darn good but their clothes are much more understated than everyone else’s and maybe even on the verge of out of style. 

Even their hair is pretty good. Including his. Also, holy shit does this guy look like he could be a young Michael Caine. Like, he doesn’t actually look how Michael Caine looked when he was that age, but if I didn’t know that I would totally buy it. Wow.

Then we jump ahead another ten to twelve years or so. This is the period I know the least about, especially when it comes to outerwear, so Jane Austen stans please comment. I don’t think it looks too bad though.

Here’s a couple of fashion plates from 1801 and 1803 for comparison.

I’d also like to point out that there is a wide variety of costumes based on social class that we get to see in the 1843 “present” that you wouldn’t really notice. So while the Scrooge family that’s doing alright for itself is wearing the latest looks, the rest of the town is not. A few of the women in the crowd dancing around Scrooge during “It Feels Like Christmas” are wearing dresses a couple of years out of date. Not too far, but you can see some looks from the tail end of the 1830s before women started shrink-wrapping their sleeves onto their arms.

You can see something similar to these outfits from 1839 in the crowd.

Contrast this with Mrs. Cratchit, who is living in poverty and has put on her absolute best dress for Christmas; it’s silk but it’s ten years out of style. 

This would have been the height of fashion in the early-mid 1830s.

And that’s important for making a world look real. Fashion was super important back then, but even so average people weren’t necessarily chucking their clothing out every year to keep up with the latest fashions unless they could really afford to. You would get there eventually, but you don’t want everyone in your universe, rich and poor, to look like they just stepped out of the latest fashion magazine. 

It’s absolutely astonishing to me that they put so much effort into this. I don’t tend to go down the rabbit hole of nitpicking historical costumes in movies as much as some, but when a movie that you never expected does it very right it just throws me for a loop. 

Was everything perfect? No, I don’t think any movie is. But this is the damn Muppets. They were under no obligation to do this. Add to that the fact that it’s one of the more accurate renditions of the story, to the point of including a ton of the original dialogue, both through the characters and through the narration, and they just created a masterpiece. 

The people in the notes who’re insulting OP don’t understand introversion and feel offended by somebody suggesting being alone could be more interesting than being in their company.

When you’re comfortable with yourself and your solitude, people can’t talk you into breaking your boundaries or lowering your standards with the threat of being alone, because it just doesn’t bother you

It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s precisely what made people upset at this post, realizing not everyone is threatened by loneliness and they wouldn’t keep them in their lives out of fear of being alone

AH has canceled their stream today

Listen up!

You see a post like this? Where OP might hurt/kill themselves? You hit that button that I circled

Hit that.

Click Suicide or Self-harm Concern

Yes.

Fill in the rest of it, and hit submit. The "content you reported" will fill itself in

Tumblr will follow up and help them.

Warning: this is only for mobile. If anyone knows how to do this for desktop, please add it!

This could SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.

YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE NOT TO REBLOG THIS.

I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF IT DOESN'T GO WITH YOUR BLOG'S THEME.

And yes, REBLOG. Liking does no shit at all. This isn't ig.

You reblog, people see it. You don't, people don't see it. This shit's that simple.

This could save someone's life. It's not a joke.

I figured that the most badass version of this song would be with Elsa (Idena Menzel) singing over the Panic! at the Disco Instrumental.

I was Right.

Enjoy!

We often call clothes silk when they are satin, velvet where they are velveteen or we have no clue what we’re on about. So today let’s look at fabrics.

Laying down the law

Many renaissance/mediaeval societies governed over who could wear what. By adding these laws you had a layer of depth to your world.

Peasant Clothing (Beggars to Merchant classes)

Nobility & Royalty

Designs

Colours

Here are the colours that you will catch your people wearing. Keep in mind that dyes had to be sourced and could be very expensive.

Furs

happy national coming out day! reminder that you’re not any less valid or bi for not being out. coming out can be stressful and you should 100% do it when you’re ready and you’re comfortable. we wish everyone a great day today, whether you’re out or not!!! 💗💙💜

Can we just talk about how “Goth Anime Legs Uncle” IS A FAMOUS ARTIST AND AUTHOR, BUT HIS NIECE OR NEPHEW NEVER THOUGHT TO BRING THAT UP?! No no no, you have a famous artist/author for an uncle, but screw that, here’s his goth phase.

Think about it: This guy is known on Tumblr for his goth phase, but not his actual freaking work, even though we’re all familiar with his work!

Listen. Look at his body of work. This is not a man who had a goth “’"phase’”’.