Because I'm only seeing other Jews posting about this, non-Jews I need you to be aware that for the past month or two there has been a wave of bomb threats and swattings at synagogues all across the US. They usually do it when services are being livestreamed. I haven't seen a single non-Jew talking about this. High holidays are coming up in a few weeks, which is when most attacks happen against our communities. We're worried, and we need people to know what's happening to us.

(this article was published August 15 2023)

Eroticism is simply one of the basic modes of human expression and the fact that it terrifies people who have built their lives out of repression and self denial is only more reason to make erotic art. They will not stop with their own lives, they want to punish anyone who doesn’t conform to the same standards of cruelty they heap on themselves. But of course it will not work. It has never worked before. Even under the most adverse conditions beauty has always found ways of flourishing. We refuse to hide or live in shame and fear. We will make beautiful that which they find repulsive. 

Ok , but what abt ace pepole ?

This kind of post always seems to forget that asexual pepole exist ...

Please don't try to pull that. "Pro-eroticism is anti-ace" is tired and bad ace discourse. Ace adults are adults. We know how to avoid things we don't like. Asexuals simply aren't clamoring for an extinction of erotic art or eroticism. Also the post said it was "one of the basic modes of human expression" not "THE basic mode and everyone's required to participate". Nobody's forcing you to engage with it. If you don't like it, then you're free to avoid it. Go engage with other art. The post didn't forget.

The post said "Stop trying to censor erotic art just because someone else doesn't like it. It won't work."

Signed, An Ace

"I don't like a thing so I avoid it" is sensible consumption of media.

"I don't like a thing so *you* shouldn't get to consume it, either" is shitty right-wing garbage talk.

Censorship is inherently reactionary.

Asexuals were always part of pride and it really fucking shows when people think it's a recent term.

Although not going by the term "asexual" yet, asexuality was spoken about alongside homosexuality as far back as the 1890s. Asexual history is just as vital to queer history as any other term and I'm so tired of watching us being treated like a new thing

This image is so so fucking important to me

Reblog this, cowards

David Cleary!

i'm in Ireland and the search for that bastards name is still blocked and hidden... the legnths the british go to defend and protect their instruments of colonialism and violence is beyond belief. no justice for the victims and yet every measure taken to protect David James Cleary and his fellow murderers.

Never a better time for the Streisand Effect than when it's a government covering up acts of brutality and evil.

With comments, it can sometimes be hard to know what to say, but as an author who adores every comment I’ve ever received, I can confirm how much it means to writers, and I’m so happy @justleaveacommentfest is encouraging people to write even more of them! If you still feel lost, here are some things to try:

So yes. Smash your face into the keyboard, highlight a favorite moment, or tell them it's 4 am in your timezone but you absolutely could not stop reading because it was so good. It means the world to hear positive feedback from readers, and it's encouragement for authors to share more works in the future!

I see Hollywood is now very into the idea of buying something once and then owning it forever and being able to make infinite copies. Which. Isn’t quite the message they imparted upon me in my childhood. In the spirit of their own long-held stance:

also the way that the nimona movie showed that hate is a taught behavior?? the way that gloreth, the hero worshipped for slaying monsters, was fully accepting of nimona until her mother told her what to believe? until that generational bigotry was passed down? the way the director’s motive wasn’t even power like most evil government figureheads in media, but rather a fear of monsters destroying the kingdom because that hate had been instilled in her too, like it had in gloreth? the way ballister was also indoctrinated into hatred of “monsters” until he was just as outcast as one? because only then was he willing to change and learn?? and how even people with good hearts and good intentions like ballister and ambriosius and even the queen herself are still capable of perpetuating bigotry and unnecessary violence when they don’t take the time to understand or learn about the “others” they supposedly hate????????? i need to lie down

The thing with the writers strike and actors strike is that. You ALL have to start realizing that the cool creative jobs they paint as "glamorous" in the media are actually ALL struggling in a big way, and basically everyone below "Huge Household Name" is actually often having to spend THEIR OWN DAY JOB MONEY to keep trying and trying to "break into" that household name status.

Like, im a cartoonist. Just starting out, but already fairly successful! My comics are sold in a handful of states, i sell out of my works, and i even have been featured as a finalist in a couple awards shows AND have pieces bought by a cartooning museum. I still barely make a couple hundred per month off it IF IM LUCKY, and spend almost as much trying to print more. Oh yes, i have to print my own comics! And working for a big comic company, they generally require you to bring some level of your own equipment. Heck, even if you make it "big" as a cartoonist...you wanna know how much you get paid if your comic that you spent months of back-breaking labor on is adapted into a marvel movie? A one-time check for $5000. Out of the BILLIONS those movies make, in perpetuity for eternity, you are given $5k. Pre-tax. Pre-agent. Pre-lawyer. (Yes we have agents and lawyers too, quite often). There's hardly any cartoonists who can afford to quit their day jobs, and even those who do are never living above the lower middle class range.

Now obviously cartooning is not the same as acting or writing, but my point is that we NEED yall to stop thinking just because you see our work as cool that we are living some dream life!!! Basically the only people who are living these dream lives you think of are CEOs of major companies and the occasional celebrity. The rest of us are just out here, struggling to survive just like you, we just happen to have a side hustle which is Kinda Cool.

man. remember early in the pandemic, shortly into the telework phase, when a lot of women started vocalizing “wow, i didnt realize just how much time, energy, and even money i was wasting on dolling myself up for work every damn morning, until i didn’t have to do it anymore. i don’t think i’ll go back to doing that when we return to the office? i won’t be a slob or anything, of course, i’m just not going to go out of my way to look pretty at work"  and then,

so many people proceeded to lose every last crumb of their shit about it, writing the most asinine crybaby articles ever where they were just. utterly horrified by the possibility that more and more women might become comfortable looking natural/plain and completely opting out of the expectation to look as appealing as possible at all times, even when all they’re doing is spending all day in a cubicle. that was bonkers. lmao.

some ladies were like “during lockdown, i saw myself in the mirror without makeup much more often, and got used to it, so now i don’t feel as anxious for others to see me without makeup on either. i’m comfortable with the face i have, it’s fine just the way it is”

and some absolute dork ass losers heard this and went “truly, this is the death of femininity”

TERFS who think they’re welcome on my posts: you’re not. the freedom to reject conventional beauty standards should apply to and be shared with trans women as well, moreso, in fact, because trans women are literally held to an even harsher, stricter standard when it comes to rando third parties feeling entitled to meticulous over-performance from them - demanding they put every last possible ounce of resource and effort into altering their appearance just to be seen as acceptable, demanding they “prove” their validity through excessive glamour, to ensure they are not “faking” - and the consequences for a trans woman if she does not flawlessly comply with these demands can be so dire as to be lethal for her.

That should not be the reality these women have to endure! That is a horrifying injustice, and anybody who not only lacks compassion for that, but promotes the ideologies that enable it, is not welcome here. I will not debate with you on the matter. Get lost.

so this post is making the rounds again, but only the version without this very important addition on it, so, as a reminder,

real

important and encouraging

me: i don’t want to see jellyfish so i will blacklist the tag #jellyfish

people with no common sense: je11yf1sh, je11¥fi5h, j*llyf*sh, je//ÿf!sh, j3ï||yf¡sh, gel lee fisk

result: cannot account for the sheer amount of possible ways to alter the word jellyfish

conclusion: i have to see jellyfish now.

Once again, tumblr is not tiktok, tag properly.

Immigrant prisoners are lease to be slaves

rocky horror is the worst and is also transmisogynistic can we please finally get over this shit movie

ok but like the writer is transgender nonbinary and the language used in the play was the preferred language by trans people of that time can we not deny parts of our history because we’ve evolved since then thanks

So fucking much this.

PS, youth of today: you’ll be saying the same damn thing about art from this time before too long, for good or for ill. Terminology will, in fact, change. Definitions will, in fact, shift. It always does, they always do. 

PPS, it is pretty much impossible to overstate how life-alteringly important this movie was to kids who didn’t conform to standard expectations of gender and sexuality, back in the day. Especially when back in the day was the mid-to-late 1980s, when the only queers you saw on TV were neutered AIDS tragedies, Bowie was playing straight, and even Elton John was married to a woman, and midnight showing of RHPS were pretty much the only place that felt like home. It was mental life raft for a lot of people.

I was one of them.

#the queer youth of today has forgotten all its history and is spitting on its ancestors and i hate it (via @gaythreats​)

beautifully phrased

ALSO IT’S A SATIRE IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE AN “OFFENSIVE” PORTRAYAL IT’S MAKING FUN OF STRAIGHT PEOPLE WHO ARE AFRAID OF US IT’S EXAGGERATING THEIR IDEAS OF US TO THE POINT OF LUDICROUSNESS THAT’S THE ACTUAL POINT

also you fail to understand just how many, many people were allowed to be queer for Tim Curry and how many doors that began to open

we say this as someone who was in several closets and first saw the film when we were 18 and that was 1981 ffs this film MATTERED

Rocky Horror kept me alive.

Dear children.

I know your pitchforks are shiny and sharp and you’re dying to use them.

But please. Before you go a’pokin’

Learn your history before you burn your history.

When I came out to a (straight) friend of mine in high school (late 90s), she enthusiastically said, “You have to watch Rocky Horror! You need to meet your people.”

I watched it. I didn’t understand it. I was still partially ensnared by my conservative upbringing and was embarrassed by the open sexuality. I was squirmy and uncomfortable. I didn’t really like it.

The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to value it. One, I’ve lost a lot of my hangups around openly sexual things, so I don’t feel weird about everyone running around in underwear and lingerie and bondage gear. Two, I’ve come to value finding a connection with my people, as my friend so wisely suggested I needed to do. And while I value it for what it was, I value it even more for what it IS: A way for me to connect to my elders, who are so frequently inaccessible to me for one reason or another. A window into a time where that movie was defiance, was pride, was a riot all its own. It said we’re here, and we will not be ashamed of ourselves. A bulwark against fear in the time of renewed aggression in which we find ourselves.

Anyway. Rocky Horror. I appreciate it for helping me meet my people.

The big discourse on twitter right now is that writers going on strike or cancelling their own series are breaking an invisible “contract” they made with their fans and all creators owe their fans a satisfying conclusion to their stories. Actually all fans owe all creators for entertaining them and if a creator says “I don’t want to perform this labor anymore,” then regardless of the cliffhanger that leaves you with, your only response should be “take care! Thank you for all your hard work!!!” :)

Like it or not… this.

This guy is really going to regret sitting down with Jon

TRUTH. What you need is imagination, and you don’t need to go anywhere to use it.

Yeah, sure, seeing new things is helpful as a fantasy writer. But. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that exposure to new things is the same as traveling. You know what else exposes you to new things?  The internet. Documentaries. Books. Freaking Youtube. So when you’re bored of cats and cooking tutorials, go on an adventure!

You wanna write create some fantasy creatures but don’t know where to start? Go check out some videos The Weird Creatures Earth has Had.

Want some inspiration for your Super Evil Villain’s Villanous Deeds?

Or maybe you want some weird locations to kick start your Fantasy World Terraforming?

Or maybe you need knowledge of bunches of historical places and cities and cultures?

But maybe you’re basing fantasy on the modern world?

Okay but lets say you want to start from the same inspiration as GRRM? (and part two!)

That’s just the stuff I could quickly grab. Things I’m subscribed to, that I know offhand. There is So. Much. Stuff. Online.

The best thing about the internet is that it means its not just the fortunate sons that get to learn, and explore and imagine and write. We get to see stories from all over the place, from all sorts of people, who bring All Kinds of New Ideas.

I like you.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:

The phrase “the innocent have nothing to hide” is inherently false;

No one is innocent when surveillance is used by the oppressor to prevent you from protecting your dignity.

This would help a lot of people, and it's one of the reasons it's so important to push back against the "but the parties are equally bad, so you shouldn't bother voting" type rhetoric.

jesus christ this would be huge.

hi! if you see this and think it's a good idea: PLEASE leave a comment. it's super easy & you can do this in <5 minutes:

When a government agency proposes a rule change like this, they legally must have a public comment period before finalizing it. AND they have to read and respond to those comments in the final draft of the regulation. Not enough people are aware of this , but it can really have an impact!!

This link will take you to the Federal Register page for the proposed rule, where you click the big green button to Submit a Formal Comment

Your comment can be as long or short as you'd like- it can just be one sentence! The key is to clearly STATE YOUR SUPPORT for the proposed rule. You can also look at other existing comments for support.

If you have personal experience with disability benefits, especially the reduction of benefits from free meals/groceries, those are great to include. They like to hear from people personally impacted by these changes, or know people who are.

I know it can be intimidating to post a public comment like this but it is SO IMPORTANT to engage with specific policy changes like this. Saying "this is great!" on social media doesn't help governmental officials understand the level of support a change like this has, or how much good it would do.

I need to make sure my husband's mother sees this. In 1980 she teamed up with Joe Biden to block a bill from Reagan's Secretary Of Education that would have placed disabled students in institutions forever, and she made throwing petitions on the White House lawn cool. This is something she would advocate for fiercely.