Me thinking about how often I want certain darling characters in fandom to be treated with a bit more criticism, and other controversial characters to be treated with more grace, before I realize that what I actually want is for all the characters to be treated like multifaceted human beings

In another universe life would be kinder

My cartoon for this weekend’s Guardian books.

p.s. my latest book cartoons collection is Revenge of the Librarians: tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2

I feel seen. And mocked. And understood.

fictional cock as a coping mechanism

Mama I don't want kids, I say. For the hundredth time. Mother has this look on her face, it sits still- something between disappointment and bewilderment. But who will take care of you, she says, when you're older? And that is a rotten feeling. To believe that a child is only as good as what it does for its parents. To believe you are only as good as you give. To believe you owe someone, only to feel love. Who deserves this? Who deserves this wretched snarling beast sitting in my chest, whispering, shrieking- give, give, give.

-Ritika Jyala, The Beast that makes me Give

Wish we could get to a point where the ST fandom collectively understood that trauma isn’t just something that happened to Billy, but that it was in progress the entire time he was alive. There was no definitive end point. He didn’t have a traumatic childhood. He was having a traumatic childhood. He wasn’t abused in the past, and then just decided to hurt other people because of it. He was being abused, and he had no healthy coping mechanisms to deal with it. Billy’s life is a trauma response. He was always reacting to trauma, because he was always being traumatized. It wasn’t just incidental, and even Billy’s attempts to escape it had negative consequences. You can’t overcome something that’s still happening to you.

He's here...

Happy 1st birthday George.....

The fandom got forgiveness for every other character but Billy and that’s fucked up

Queer coded characters in Cardcaptor Sakura

I've started re-watching Cardcaptor Sakura after 17 long years and I cannot believe I've only just begun picking up on clues to uncovering just how many of the characters are queer! This is simply because as a kid I had watched the English adaptation of the show which had completely erased all the queerness from its characters in the service of a white-het audience. The Netflix version seems like the original anime and my eyes have been opened to the wonders of how beautifully each of these queer characters has been written. I don't know if any of them are canonically true because I've never read the manga but here is a detailed list of what these characters came across to me as. Feel free to add your own views! 1. Syaoran Li: Possbily Bi+ and/or pan

I'll just jump straight to the fact that he had a crush on Yukito that was depicted from the first day Li was introduced into the series. The way his cheeks flushed and he lost all semblance of composure around Yukito was unmissable. If that is still inconclusive evidence, take this very frame from the episode of the Erase card.

and Li's confession to Sakura when the two of them went to capture the Return card.

Although they were occasionally competitive about winning his favour, Sakura was very understanding of Li's crush on Yukito and never cornered him or outed him in front of her friends. Neither did she consider this sort of an attraction to be an anomaly or a sin. Neither did Li feel insecure about his identity in front of Sakura or Yukito. (Although I do feel, once Meiling announces in front of Yukito that she is engaged to Li, he gradually starts moving away from being around him) Sakura had just unconditionally accepted Li's attraction towards Yukito. And Li too was very comfortable around her to confess something so personal despite their initial rivalry. And I know that Li later states that his attraction to Yukito was because of his strong levels of moon power and finally ends up falling in love with Sakura, I'm certain he's not straight. 2. Tomoyo: Sapphic, in every sense of the term.

I'm not bothering with the specificities because the way I read Tomoyo is as an Aro Ace Sapphic. But every other interpretation of her is equally valid. One of my friends who had read the manga mentioned that Tomoyo does have romantic feelings for Sakura. In the Anime too, she loves Sakura deeply and is simply content about their relationship being all about her making Sakura new costumes and bringing her baked goods. She dotes on Sakura and cherishes the eraser Sakura gave her on the first day they met. She cheers Sakura on in everything, even her crush on Yukito, and eventually becomes Li's wingman when she realises he has feelings for her friend. It's just a very wholesome relationship they share without any of the sexual tension. It is already canon that Sakura is pan, so the lack of reciprocity of her feelings towards Tomoyo is not because she isn't into girls but that she sees Tomoyo as a friend doesn't make any bones about it. But I'm over the moon that Tomoyo is queer because I identify myself with her so damn much! 3. Touya: Possibly Bi+ and or Pan

Once again, cutting to the chase, Touya's sexuality is hinted at during two instances, one when his classmate declares her love for him in the Cinderella play episode:

And another when he met his old Junior high teacher, Kaho in the episode of the return card:

Even as a kid I always had a feeling he was clearly in love with Yukito because later in the series he gives up his magical powers to revive him. It was heavily suppressed in the English adaptation but the original Japanese one is very unabashed about their relationship. It is already established that Yue (Yukito's true form) was in love with Touya and Yukito too revealed to Sakura that he loves Touya when she ends up confessing her love for him.

That's kinda all I have right now. I'm yet to watch the Tsubasa Chronicles but I'm hella glad I was exposed to a queer show this early in my life. 😍

When Mary Shelly wrote "I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other" god I really felt that

Well shit, Henry Jenkins, out here in 1997 dropping truth bombs

girls will have one (1) good day when they convince themselves they've never been unwell in their life and the next day the horrors will return

Oops, I never uploaded this one to Tumblr (which I only realized when someone else did, but then was kind enough to tag me, thank you)!

This is the comic that kickstarted my obsession with telling stories with as few panels as I could (usually 10-11 haha), so it’s got a soft spot in my heart. 

No, kids should not have unsupervised acess to the internet.   Yes, I got that and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.    Its a paradox.

it’s always summer v winter bitches fighting for their life, where are the spring/autumn girlies, the moderate temperatures crowd, the transition period aficionados, the ‘sun is shining but the wind’s cold’ connoisseurs, the ‘decay and rebirth of nature’ devotees

i just love it when some of you fucks reblog a post about egyptian antiquities dug up by egyptian teams with shit like "wow cool! now put that back!". are you so completely lost in your kneejerk responses about museums that you're really gonna tell the egyptians to put their own shit back into the ground? or when were you going to admit to the fact you don't know what the fuck you're talking about but just want to feel like a Good White Person or whatever

Hey. Hey…look at me, yeah? Do not ever do this in my fucking presence. Not only is it fucking disrespectful to the Egyptians digging up their own history, but it perpetuates the “ooooh exotic land of poc with spooky black magic curses” racist bullshit. Mummy curses were made up in the 1920s to sell papers. They aren’t real. Learn to not speak on topics you don’t understand or only have the barest bones of thanks to memes.

And let's not even start about how a) any non-Egyptian team has to get express permission from the Egyptian government to dig in Egypt and b) artefacts haven't been allowed to leave the country without permission for over a century either. Genuinely this attitude is so fucking condescending and ignorant of literally everything regarding Egyptian antiquities.

What were your expectations of masculinity growing up?

#inPOLITIX

when kosinski wrote “i’m sure there are aspects of my personality buried within me that will surface as soon as i know i am completely loved.”

im permanently emotionally damaged but it’s chill, I’m chill