From ashes to ashes

Source for the comic is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, if anyone was interested:

Hi, OP, great blog and I mean this sincerely. Now. Genuinely. What the fuck oh my god you can't just do this to people without warning oh my god i am literally sobbing this is round one? round one you bracketed these two absolute gut punches against each other and put them there for everyone and the devil to see? Round ONE?

When you enjoy dialogue so much that you end up completely avoiding describing the places properly

This addition is actually more accurate to me than the original 🤣

The second one is me

Also as a quick surgery summary for anyone interested:

For people who were AFAB, you can get phalloplasty or metoidioplasty without vaginectomy (here's someone who got phallo, and someone who got meta). You can also leave your tdick unburied w phallo and basically have two dicks, if you so choose!

For people who were AMAB, you can get penile-preserving vaginoplasty, with or without orchiectomy (here is one person who got it with)

No matter what you are starting with, it is possible to have a penis and a vagina (and balls, if you want!). It is very much something people can and have gotten.

Recently found out about the subreddit r/salmacianporn which is specifically for salmacians to share NSFW content about their bodies– obviously very 18+ but figured I would share it on this post both because salmacians are hot and because it might be useful for people wondering what some post-op genitals can look like

updating this post once again to add that r/salmacian has an alternative site made in the case that Reddit shuts it down/otherwise fails.

The site is kbin.social/m/altersex, a platform on the Fediverse. I'm really glad this exists, since the subreddit is the only public platform thats salmacian-focused. If we lose that, we won't lose the community space.

For altersex folks, please consider participating in this survey! It will close 9/2023!!

Ten postage stamps from a running series of twelve, issued between 1955-1957, depicting regional costumes of Czechoslovakia

Designed by Karel Svolinský, engraved by Jindra Schmidt and Ladislav Jirka

Ronny D posting MPREG fics on main.

look, not to be a downer, but... why are we making omegaverse jokes about this.

this article is about how Ron DeSantis is leveraging people's hatred for trans men to fundraise for his presidential campaign:

I know people love "haha omegaverse" jokes but. I REALLY need people to realize that its a microagression against trans men. Pregnant men can face extreme amounts of transphobia, and are in a highly vulnerable situation, and they are being used as a symbol of wokeness by Florida's fascist wannabe. And it makes me upset to see other trans people seeming to not take this seriously.

Like. ask yourselves why "pregnant men" immediately conjures jokes and absurdity to you, instead of real people that exist and who Ron DeSantis hates? When you see "pregnant man" and your first thoughts are omegaverse porn and "cis men getting pregnant," you are also mocking the idea of men getting pregnant. And you do so while erasing trans men from the conversation. You make male pregnancy into an absurdist joke about cis men instead of a reality for trans men.

There doesn't seem to be a single person in the notes of this post who has mentioned trans men. Its just jokes about heat suppressants. People acted shocked and bewildered by the idea of a pregnant man. On "the trans website." That fucking hurts.

A pregnant trans man was very recently on the cover of a magazine & received a ton of backlash. Pregnant men are accused of child abuse & child molestation for simply being a trans father, and I've seen many people specifically say that trans fathers who have been/are on T will "poison" their children. Ignorance about men being pregnant can have real fatal consequences. Transphobia make it a traumatizing process. Pregnant trans men face workplace discrimination. Trans men who are pregnant are in heavy contact with the transphobic medical system which leaves them extremely vulnerable to abuse. This doesn't even get into trans men and abortion access. There are already people who think pregnant trans men need to have their children taken away. Ron DeSantis is using them specifically to foster hatred and get money. This is serious.

I cannot feel safe around people for whom "pregnant man" is nothing but an absurdist punchline. It hurts to see other trans people erasing transmascs from the discussion, especially when this article is SPECIFICALLY about how DeSantis is emailing people to say "hey, don't you think pregnant "men" are delusional and a threat to American society? Me too! Give me money so I can terrorize them via the government!" This is not the first time I've seen people do this with pregnant men (immediately jumping to "haha pregnant cis men!! omegaverse!!" jokes without even mentioning trans men at all. Even though we are men that can and do get pregnant. In real life. And are abused for it) but its the first time I've seen it done in response to a very clear act of targeted anti-transmasculinity, and this. Hurts.

I don't know how y'all think you can combat transphobia if you can't take seriously the issue of male pregnancy. Because transphobes are clearly very interesting in using pregnant men as a weapon, and I would hope y'all would step up for them. We have to acknowledge that the "haha thats so weird and absurd and gross!!!" response to male pregnancy is transphobic and it hurts trans men a lot.

Look, I adore some a/b/o, I won't lie. Omegaverse was one of the things that let me explore my gender identity before I realised I could even be trans. Characters being seen as full on real men, while still having bodily functions similar to female people was so empowering to me, as a transman.

& I'm not saying everyone should love it. Hell, I can't stand genderbends but many people use them as I did omegaverse, to explore their gender identity. One of my best friends makes gorgeous genderbent art.

But what people act with so much disgust towards a/b/o, when they treat it as absurd, when they claim mpreg is a 'squick' of theirs, I just can't help but think: are they a safe person to be around? If I ever get pregnant, as I'm planning to, will this person shun me, harass me, treat me like a freak? When I take the steps to become a parent, will I have one of these 'hur dur, omegaverse icky' assholes attack me on the streets?

I don't trust anyone who treats mpreg & omegaverse as this fictional 'what if' scenario ripe for the mocking. I simply don't. If you can't be normal about a fictional man being pregnant, how am I supposed to expect you to act normal around me, a real life man who can & will get pregnant?

& this is, to a lesser extent, extends towards people who see omegaverse as just a fetish, & maybe even enjoy it: can you be normal about pregnant men too? Or do you see us as just something to jerk off to? I love a good omegaverse story, but if you can't separate your fictional cum sock from a real life person, then you're not a safe person to be around either.

Dagger with Sheath | Turkish | 19th century | Met Museum

"Saying 'chai tea' is silly! You wouldn't say 'tea tea'!"

Except that yes we absolutely would and do, frequently, use words that mean the same thing to specify a specific variety of that thing. It doesn't even have to be two different words. A "fancy party' and a "fancy fancy party" are two different things. This is a common thing in English and, so far as I'm aware, many other languages as well.

(I believe there is a specific term for this ligual quirk but I do not remember it and can't find the big post I saw one time explaining it.)

"Tautonym" was the word I was looking for. It's a word or phrase comprised of the same word used twice, either in the same or different languages, to specify a certain type of that thing. It's usually used to refer to taxonomy in which the latin name of a species and genus is the same (ie: gorilla gorilla or vulpes vulpes) but is also when a specific preparation or type of a certain thing is specified by using the same word in the language of the place where it is prepared in that manner or where the thing is located or when a word consists of two or more identical syllables (ie: bonbon) "Chai tea" is "tea prepared in the style of the place where the word for "tea" is "chai. "Sahara Desert" is the desert in the area in which the word for desert is "Sahara", etc etc. It's a very fun thing about language!

HELP WHILE Ao3 IS DOWN SOME PEOPLE ARE POSTING FICS IN THE DOWNDETECTOR COMMENTS 😭😭😭

I’M SCREAMING

apparently no one was paying attention in middle school language arts when we learned what a fucking protagonist was

#while we’re at it the author is not the narrator or the protagonist either

now THIS one louder at the back

why is explaining a villains sad backstory always taken as an effort toward excusing their actions. why does the conversation need to involve the question of excusing anything rather than just making their present behavior way more interesting by complicating their feelings or their motivations. why is acknowledging complicated feelings or motivations taken as apologism in and of itself. why is everyone so incredibly boring

Fuck that post going around saying "you can have coffee in your story without justifying it :) you don't need to explain everything :)" I want, no, I DEMAND a fully researched ethnobotanical paper on every single food item in your work, if you don't explain to me where did potatoes come from in your fantasy setting or don't explain how the industry of coffee works over interstellar distances with full detail you are doing things wrong and I personally hate you and I hate your stupid story, fuck you

Why are your stupid little wizards and knights eating potato stew in your dumb European middle ages fantasy world. Where did they get potatoes from. Where is the center of domestication of potatoes, do you have a fantasy Andean civilization? What are the social and economic consequences of having such a calorie rich crop in cold climates. I don't care about "themes" or "enemies to lovers with found family", I didn't ask about that. Where does your idiot space captain gets their shitty coffee from. Is it imported from Earth? Are there coffee growing worlds? Is it an alien species replacement with the same name? What are the social consequences of that? Don't try to change the subject, I'll stop pointing the gun when I want, I'm trying to have a conversation here,

gold in them there tags

A novel. By Beef Biltong.

Are you struggling with being a writer? Well Have You Tried Poison Testing As A Hobby,

do you ever read a fanfiction line so bad…

they meant blood

its 5 letters

To be fair, I've seen some weird shit in professionally published books too. Writers are just Like That sometimes

have your characters permanently disabled at the end of their story. It's not a punishment, I promise. You don't have to imply that your hero is going to "overcome" their disability at the epilogue.

in fact I'm always shocked when whump with any severe injuries *doesn't* involve permanent changes.

Writing prompt? No. Writing much delayed.