The Quest for Alina Meridon @alinameridon - Tumblr Blog

What the F*ck is a Wormhole?

Wormholes have been a beloved aspect of dozens of different science fiction novels, TV shows, and movies. If you’ve watched or read anything science fiction, you’ve probably heard of them. They’re typically portrayed as just a door or tunnel, that when stepped through, you simply “arrive” at the other side, often times many thousands of light-years away. Not only do they sound pretty f*cking neat, wormholes actually have a fair amount of mathematical support behind them.

Ever since wormholes were officially introduced into the scientific community in 1957 by John Wheeler and Charles Misner, scientists have been thoroughly tinkering with their fascinating and also terrifying possibilities. Despite the fact they seem too good to be true, Einstein’s field equations permit a traversable wormhole to actually exist in our universe. The ability to use wormholes would make traveling to otherwise unreachable areas of the universe a real possibility. So, instead of traveling from point A to B in a typical linear fashion—which in terms of space travel usually means many lifetimes—a wormhole is just a shortcut.

Here’s a nice Wikipedia photo since the description of my bank account is equal to my artistic ability—not so good. It vaguely illustrates how a wormhole connects two points together by manipulating spacetime.

A wormhole is sort of like plugging a Game Genie into the universe. Just plug the Game Genie in, open up the cheat menu, and well, it might cause glitches, but f*ck it—let’s just create a whole separate dimensional plane in which to travel through and call it hyperspace. In all seriousness, this dimensional plane is literally known as hyperspace (all hail sci-fi nerd scientists). Hyperspace is the where the actual “tunnel” of the wormhole exists. Sound like some sci-fi bullshit right? Well, it’s not.

Wormhole problems

Around 1985, Caltech professor Kip Thorne, with his graduate student Mike Morris, set out to design a fully traversable wormhole. But they had to iron out a few rather glaring snags preventing theoretical travel through a wormhole.

A traditional wormhole has two “mouths” that tend to open and close with a flicker. They close with such speed and force that it would be impossible to traverse through without something to “hold the mouths open.” This makes safe traversing somewhat problematic. Without something to prop it open, it would collapse on you with the collective pressure of a neutron star (which, in case you were wondering, is a ridiculously goddamn high amount of pressure— you’d be f*cked into another dimension).

In order to avoid being f*cked into another dimension, they needed something to keep the wormhole open artificially. Thorne conceived a “recipe” to solve this rather glaring problem—negative, or exotic, matter. Negative matter is just normal matter, but in reverse. Normal matter is damn sexy (attracts), and negative matter is ugly as hell (it repels). The repulsive gravitational field generated by negative matter would be enough to keep the “mouth” of both ends of the wormhole open long enough to travel through, or to keep it open indefinitely.

Thorne, among other scientists, have speculated that an advanced enough race could develop a method to easily manipulate negative matter as they please—allowing effortless travel through the cosmos.

Fun fact: Thorne worked out much of the scientific details of his wormhole to help Carl Sagan with his novel, Contact.

Time Travel?

Thorne (and many many other scientists) believe a wormhole could potentially act as a bridge in time. For the sake of simplicity, I won’t go in to the entire complex nature of this hypothesis. Though the more you delve into it, the trippier it gets. For a small taste, here’s an example from Igor Novikov I simplified: say two clocks, with the same time, are at either end of a wormhole, but one end is within the gravitational field of a neutron star (the pace of time depends on the strength of the gravitational field). Stepping through would essentially send you to the past. You could even see yourself about to enter the wormhole if you waited long enough. So, you could potentially see yourself from a different point in time. F*ck, my brain hurts. This example just keeps getting more complex depending on the gravitational field, the amount of observers and their locations, and the amount of times you step through. There are also a vast number of paradoxes that can occur from even a simple example like this one. Trying to shit on times comfy, linear home is a dangerous game to be played, as illustrated in numerous science fiction tales.

I’ll delve deeper into wormholes and other mathematical curiosities which would permit time travel in a future article!

Conclusion

For now, unfortunately, wormholes are still just a mathematical curiosity. They have never been directly observed quite yet. But the universe is sort of a clusterf*ck of crazy things happening, so the possibility of a bridge in spacetime existing is no longer just science fiction.

For the sake of brevity I’ve cut out a great deal of additional content about wormholes. Wormholes that can be conjured up from “quantum foam,” wormholes without event horizons, the Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole which functions without exotic matter (they were the first ever to publish a paper on a traversable wormhole), etc.

Would you like to see a part 2? Think this article was garbage? Think it was great? Think I’m a shill for Thorne, and that the Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole is the truly proper wormhole? Let me know in the comments/re-blogs :)

Autie/ND Facebook page

References: The Future of Spacetime, How To Build a Time Machine, The New Time Travelers.

Image Credits, from top to bottom: Corvin Zahn (wormhole illustration), Panzi (Source), Les Bossinas (Advanced spacecraft)

All other sources or references used are linked to in the article :)

joannechocolat

On media storms, and transphobes, and free speech, and the establishment.

(Dated 22nd August, 2022.)

Unless you were asleep last week, you’ll have noticed I made the news. I made the news a lot. The Daily Mail (twice); the Times (twice); the Telegraph; the Observer, plus radio and any number of online and international outlets, including UnHerd, where stories go to die.

The story has taken many forms. That J.K. Rowling feels “betrayed” by my “lack of support” for her: that my views on trans rights makes me ineligible for any public role; that people are calling for my removal from the Board of the SOA; that I’m a monster because I replied to a post from a satirical Twitter account with - shock, horror - a smiley.

I haven’t talked to anyone in the Press, in spite of many journalists asking, so this “story”, was taken from Twitter, where stories evolve at such a rapid rate that by the time they make the broadsheets, no-one really knows what shape the story started out at all.

But this is what it has become. I’ve been repeatedly (and wrongly) accused of a number of things, which when you unpick them, boil down to one thing. That as Chair of the Society of Authors (the authors’ trade union), I’ve abused my position to discriminate against people who don’t agree with my support of the trans community.

Full disclosure: this isn’t new. Ever since I was elected Chair in 2019, I’ve been getting increasing amounts of abuse, pressure and demands for “debate” from people with gender-critical views. Some of them are colleagues; some women I once considered friends. Some of these women now have become single-agenda tweeters, railing night and day online about what defines a woman, and spreading misinformation and fear about the trans community. Many of these women claim to be afraid, and to have suffered cancellation for their views. Some of them feel that as Chair of the SOA, I should have taken their side in Twitter debates, signed petitions, joined hashtags to validate their beliefs.

But here’s the thing. The SOA represents everyone. It has over 12,000 members. It needs to stay neutral to represent all its members equally. And it has a strict policy of non-intervention in Twitter debates between members, even when they get nasty, because Twitter can be a nasty place, and the SOA can’t be everywhere. That’s why I tweet in my personal capacity unless I specify otherwise.

The gender critical lobby has had real difficulty understanding this. Over the past two years, I’ve been under increasing pressure to “speak out” about individual cases (I can’t); ally myself with transphobes (I won’t) and “denounce” death threats to J.K. Rowling (which I do, but apparently not often enough.) Over the past two years I’ve received countless abusive tweets, urging me to kill myself, or resign from the SOA, or hoping that I would die of cancer, all from the gender-critical lobby.

The latest eruption began last week, with the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, a man whose life has been under threat since most of us can remember. Last Friday, an Islamist fanatic managed to get close enough to stab him, leaving him with terrible injuries. The literary world was shaken. Friends of Rushdie’s spoke out in horror. But those of us who only knew him for his books were also deeply shaken and upset. Because this wasn’t just a violent attack on an author, horrific though that may be. It was an attack on free speech, a principle all creators hold dear.

Free speech is a term that has been misused a lot recently, especially by people wanting their say, but denying it to others. In fact, free speech is like oxygen: you can’t remove it from someone else without also losing it yourself, which means that, if you believe in free speech, you can’t then go around deciding who deserves it and who doesn’t. Rushdie is a great writer. But even if the victim of the stabbing had been a minor writer, a bad writer, or a writer with problematic opinions, the same attack on free speech would have happened, threatening writers everywhere. The principle of free speech matters. And it matters to all of us.

I wrote about this a bit on Twitter, where many authors were still upset, struggling how best to respond to the horrific attack. Twitter being Twitter, there were also a number of angry Islamist accounts, crowing about the Rushdie attack and targeting anyone who expressed sympathy. Some were abusive, some even threatening. Several people I follow were sent messages on the lines of: Shut up or we’ll come for you next. I got one myself. So did J.K. Rowling. But on Twitter, size matters. What J.K. Rowling, with her 14 million followers, says is instant news. So when J.K. Rowling announced that she’d had a death threat from an Islamist account saying: You’re next, her name trended for two days, and Rushdie’s all-too-real attack was overshadowed by a Twitter threat.

Now, it isn’t up to me to decide whether the death threat was credible, or whether J.K. Rowling should be afraid. I don’t know how many threats she’s received, or how many she thinks are credible. Having had them myself, I know they can be upsetting and frightening. But a threat on Twitter is not the same as being stabbed in the eye, and I didn’t see the need to comment.

Instead I put up a poll, asking fellow-authors if they’d ever received a death threat. I wanted to use it as a way of talking about author safety. As it happened, Chuck Wendig had been posting about his latest death threat the day before Salman Rushdie was stabbed (a weirdly specific death threat, in which his correspondent expressed the hope that Chuck would be, er - raped to death by a dolphin), and the tone of my first poll reflected the jokey nature of our interchange. In the light of the Rushdie stabbing, though, I realized that wasn’t appropriate. I deleted the poll almost at once and started again with a more neutral wording, but the folk on Twitter who watch me for any ammunition they can use had already screencapped it and passed it around. It made the papers, variously as: Harris Mocks Rushdie or Harris Mocks Rowling, but I was doing neither. I do have thoughts about white women online who make the all-too-real attack on a brown man about their own experience, but that’s a different discussion. Death threats – to anyone, including J.K. Rowling – are absolutely wrong. They’re also a crime. Crimes are for the police to sort out. Free speech, however, is a legitimate principle for a union to uphold.

But free speech isn’t always the speech that you agree with. Free speech can be confrontational. It can be unfair. It can even be upsetting. I’ve upset a lot of gender-critical people with my own use of free speech; my refusal to join their hashtags, sign their petitions, enter their debates. That doesn’t mean to say I don’t believe in theirs, or that I wouldn’t fight for their rights as fiercely as for anyone else. But that has never been enough for the people who want me gone.

Since last week, the wave of people demanding my resignation – or just my removal – from the SOA has grown. Many of those who have joined the “debate” are not members. Many are not even authors. Nearly all are transphobes, though. Because that’s what all this is about. Transphobes want me silenced. Graham Linehan has been posting about me since 2020, calling for me to be dismissed. He doesn’t know what the SOA does. He doesn’t care. He’s just one of many prominent transphobes who believe that someone who believes in the rights of trans folk doesn’t deserve a voice of their own.

I have a trans son. He came out very recently, and I haven’t discussed it online. Last week, I discovered that some of my principal detractors had found out about this. After talking to my son, and with his permission, I went public. I love my son more than words can say, and I didn’t want anyone to think that I was ashamed of him. Kathleen Stock, among others, gloated that this was proof of my bias. She (rather chillingly) denounced me for having “undeclared trans-identified offspring,” and claimed that this was the “real” reason for my support of trans folk. Kathleen Stock finds it hard to believe that someone might uphold a principle without having a personal interest. Actually, I’ve been a supporter of trans rights for much longer than this. Like I said, I believe in supporting the rights of all marginalized groups.

So, just what are they saying now? That I’m jealous of JKR? I’m not. I love my life, and I love my son, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. That because of my pro-trans beliefs, I should be cancelled or lose my job? That would be ironic, wouldn’t it, coming from people who are claiming to have been cancelled for their gender-critical beliefs. And full disclosure; it isn’t a job. It’s an elected position, as part of a Board of twelve people. It’s voluntary, time-consuming, often thankless, and unpaid, and I do it because I care about authors’ rights. All authors’ rights; whether they’re famous of not; whether I agree with their politics or not.

But this assault isn’t going to stop. Given how many people pretend to be “fearful of speaking out”, they’re certainly doing a hell of a lot of it. I’ve had open attacks this week from a certain sector of the author community – all London-based, all cis, all white, all influential people (many of them men) with lots of friends in the right-wing media – saying that they are coming for me. One person compared it to the March of the Ents, going after Saruman. The literary establishment, is seems is desperately afraid of progress.

Here’s the thing, though. I’m stubborn. I’ve never fitted into the London literary scene, so the fact that it now feels the need to mobilize against me means very little to me. This week, I’ve had death threats, attacks in the media, and countless abusive messages. I don’t care. I’m not afraid. I was elected to this role to help protect authors’ rights. That means yours, whoever you are, and those of all other authors. If you’re a member of the SOA, then we have elections yearly. You too can stand for the Board, and be elected, and add your views to the diversity of views already expressed there. My terms ends in 2024. Till then, I’ll do what I’ve always done. Raise awareness of authors’ rights. Treebeard and their London friends may find me harder to uproot than they think.

They grow us tough in Yorkshire.

aspeccharactersoftheday

Nina from An Aromantic Romance is aromantic!

alinameridon

I was writing my vampire novel Suzie & the Monsters in 2012 when I first learned about asexuality and aromanticism. I decided to add a minor aromantic character to the novel, and afterwards felt that I really hadn't done her justice. The short story, An Aromantic Romance, therefore, was written to try and add some depth to Nina's character. (Like Helen Arnold in my later novelette I Like It Hard, Nina is allosexual aromantic.) An Aromantic Romance can be read for free here: 1. https://alinameridon.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/an-aromantic-kiss/ 2. https://alinameridon.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/an-aromantic-proposal/

aspeccharactersoftheday

Helen Arnold from I Like It Hard is aromantic!

alinameridon

This was published by Less Than Three Press, who have sadly closed down business. At some point I need to do a new edition and make it available again. https://francisjamesfranklin.wordpress.com/i-like-it-hard/

logicheartsoul

Benjamin Sisko & Julian Bashir Talk About The Political Climate of the Early 2020′s in Past Tense, Part I

Original Dialogue:

SISKO: Don’t be so sure. One of the main complaints against the Sanctuary Districts was overcrowding. It got to the point where they didn’t care how many people were in here. They just wanted to keep them out of sight. BASHIR: And once they were out of sight, what then? I mean, look at this man. There’s no need for that man to live like that. With the right medication, he could lead a full and normal life. SISKO: Maybe in our time. BASHIR: Not just in our time. There are any number of effective treatments for schizophrenia, even in this day and age. They could cure that man now, today, if they gave a damn. SISKO: It’s not that they don’t give a damn, Doctor. It’s that they’ve given up. The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with. BASHIR: That only makes things worse. Causing people to suffer because you hate them is terrible, but causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care? That’s really hard to understand. SISKO: They’ll remember. It’ll take some time and it won’t be easy, but eventually people in this century will remember how to care.

miggylol

For further context: through another character, we saw that tech millionaires/billionaires were living wonderfully comfortable lives elsewhere in the city. Meanwhile, Sanctuary Districts had been set up to keep homeless and mentally ill individuals contained, so those millionaires (and wealthier people in other cities, as well) would never have to think about them.

The episode first aired in 1995. They’re walking through San Francisco, 2024.

just--space

Earthrise 1: Historic Image Remastered : “Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth coming up. Wow is that pretty!” Soon after that pronouncement, 50 years ago today, one of the most famous images ever taken was snapped from the orbit of the Moon. Now known as “Earthrise”, the iconic image shows the Earth rising above the limb of the Moon, as taken by the crew of Apollo 8. But the well-known Earthrise image was actually the second image taken of the Earth rising above the lunar limb – it was just the first in color. With modern digital technology, however, the real first Earthrise image – originally in black and white – has now been remastered to have the combined resolution and color of the first three images. Behold! The featured image is a close-up of the picture that Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders was talking about. Thanks to modern technology and human ingenuity, now we can all see it. (Historical note: A different historic black & white image of the Earth setting behind the lunar limb was taken by the robotic Lunar Orbiter 1 two years earlier.) via NASA

skodasforge

You know maybe amatonormativity exists but it's hard to say that when I'm 90% sure gay people were not being encouraged to seek out relationships by the wider culture until maybe 2005-ish

im-fucking-asexual

what's amatonormativity?

skodasforge

A Tumblr-based sociological theory that boils down to "compulsory alloromanticism" but I've also seen it defined to include monogamy as another expectation under the header of amatonormativity

srsblog4srsposts

Amatonormativity is not tumblr based- it was not created on tumblr nor was it popularised on tumblr. Amatonormativity was not even coined by asexual people or with asexual people in mind exclusively.

Amantonormativity was coined by feminist academic Elizabeth Brake in her book “Minimising Marriage” to refer to:

the assumptions that a central, exclusive, amorous relationship is normal for humans, in that it is a universally shared goal, and that such a relationship is normative, in that it should be aimed at in preference to other relationship types. (Source)

Amatornormativity doesn’t just affect asexual and aromantic people. Whilst it’s often asexual and aromantic people you see talking about amatonormativity (because we become hyper aware of it due to how it affects us), it actually impacts the lives of people of all orientations, including LGBT+ people.

Amatonormativity in practice is…

The assumption that all single people are unhappy with their status and looking not to be single.

“Coming of age” milestones often revolving around romantic accomplishments (first kiss, first crush, first love, marriage, etc).

Non romantic partnerships (sexual or platonic) being looked down upon.

A sort of relationship hierarchy where marriage is at the top and everything else falls somewhere below it.

The expectation for romantic partners to be more important than jobs, hobbies or other commitments in a person’s life. And the belief that people who choose to pursue the former are selfish.

People who are not seeking exclusive romantic relationships being seen as less mature, stable, trustworthy or settled.

The structuring of laws and society on the basis that eventually everyone will be in a committed romantic partnership (marriage).

The toxic idea of a “friendzone” (which of course, overlaps with misogyny), where friendship with a woman is seen as “second prize” to a relationship with her.

People settling for someone they’re not really happy with or compatible with just to fulfil the desire or expectation to have a partner.

Non-aromantic asexual people trying to normalise their orientation by saying they can still “fall in love” or “have relationships” “just like anyone else”.

Asexual people or people who don’t feel attraction to anyone feeling pressured to seek out and enter into relationships.

And much more…

Violations of amatonormativity would include dining alone by choice, putting friendship above romance, bringing a friend to a formal event or attending alone, cohabiting with friends, or not searching for romance. (Source)

kyraneko

Also the way turning down a request for a date, while single, is often viewed as some sort of terrible insult instead of an analysis of poor compatibility.

Also the idea that it’s wrong to break up with someone unless they’ve done something objectively terrible enough to “deserve it” rather than because the relationship isn’t doing anything for you.

jabberwockypie

It also encourages people to stay in abusive relationships because it pushes being in a relationship is the highest priority/being alone is terrible.

nasa

Say hello to globular cluster 47 Tucanae 👋

This glittery spray of ancient stars is about 16,700 light-years away from Earth toward the constellation Tucana. Globular clusters like this one are isolated star cities, home to hundreds of thousands of stars that are held together by their mutual gravity. And like the fast pace of cities, there’s plenty of action in these stellar metropolises. The stars are in constant motion, orbiting around the cluster’s center.

Past observations have shown that the heavyweight stars tend to crowd into the “downtown” core area, while lightweight stars reside in the less populated suburbs. But as heavyweight stars age, they rapidly lose mass, cool down and shut off their nuclear furnaces. After the purge, only the stars’ bright, superhot cores – called white dwarfs – remain. This weight loss program causes the now lighter-weight white dwarfs to be nudged out of the downtown area through gravitational interactions with heftier stars.

Until these Hubble observations, astronomers had never seen the dynamic conveyor belt in action. The Hubble results reveal young white dwarfs amid their leisurely 40-million-year exodus from the bustling center of the cluster.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

70sscifiart

Ed Emshwiller

lsleofskye

Los Glaciares National Park | manueldietrichphotography

crazyintheeast

Quick reminder that Luke had about five minutes of training with a lightsaber and NONE of it included actually fighting against an other opponent. Remember Ben sparring with Luke? Nope. It was just him playing around with a robot that tased him

Do you remember Yoda sparring with Luke? Nope. He was teaching him about the Force but we never saw him ONCE teaching him how to actually fight with a lightsaber. Luke had precisely ZERO experience when it came to fighting with a lightsaber. And yet none of you said anything when Luke actually kept up with Vader and later on actually defeated Vader

Rey on the other hand spend her ENTIRE LIFE defending herself with her staff. She is very well versed in fighting with a melee weapon. But when she fought against a HEAVILY INJURED Kylo Ren you immediately cry Mary Sue and unrealistic.

Think about that. Think about what this attitude says about you.

astrariumsmoved-deactivated2021

Also an important thing about fight choreography:

A great deal of thought was put into that scene, particularly Rey’s fighting style. She may seem pretty well adapted to lightsaber combat, but in reality she struggles a lot during the fight.

This is a character who has trained exclusively - as far as we know - with a quarterstaff, which is completely different from fighting with a two-handed weapon. Form, stance, strategy - you name it. And this is actually quite apparent in Rey’s choreography for the first half of the scene.

She starts attacking Kylo Ren with these jabs that would probably crack his ribs if she were wielding her quarterstaff. But since she has a brand new weapon in her hands, the strikes are completely ineffective.

But that’s what’s so amazing about this scene. Rey adapts. She’s analyzing Kylo Ren’s form the entire time and she’s learning how to apply it to her own fighting. When she uses the Force to help her focus, she overcomes the translation between one style of weapon to another and secures her victory.

Rey is the first character we’ve actually seen learning how to use a lightsaber against another opponent. And we see it happening in the middle of a fight.

gahdamnpunk

These are $30 for one but stitches at the hospital are more expensive so this is pretty damn great

unaffiliatedpangolin

So what you’re saying is that someone in the free market has responded to high costs by developing a new product that is far less expensive, and can be applied by the injured person themselves not just a doctor or nurse.

thriftshop-faith

This is neat AF

Its an advanced butterfly bandaid.

@keyhollow

jenniferrpovey

Wilderness guides should carry these. So should sports coaches.

They’re designed for cuts of 1 1/2″ or less length.

However, don’t forget tetanus risk. They claim that it reduces tetanus risk, but if you aren’t up to date on your shots, you should go get a booster. If you are around animals or in the wilderness, you should get antitoxin. This is obviously much better than no care at all and is awesome if you can’t get to a hospital.

(I also suspect that ambulances will start carrying these as they save the hospital time and money too).

lsleofskye

Tunnel of love | Oleg Petrenko

Location: Tunel Kokhannya, Rivne region, Ukraine

lsleofskye

Hawaiian Islands | dgphotography26

just--space

Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey : Yes, but can your rainbow do this? After the remnants of Hurricane Florence passed over Jersey Shore, New Jersey, USA last month, the Sun came out in one direction but something quite unusual appeared in the opposite direction: a hall of rainbows. Over the course of a next half hour, to the delight of the photographer and his daughter, vibrant supernumerary rainbows faded in and out, with at least five captured in this featured single shot. Supernumerary rainbows only form when falling water droplets are all nearly the same size and typically less than a millimeter across. Then, sunlight will not only reflect from inside the raindrops, but interfere, a wave phenomenon similar to ripples on a pond when a stone is thrown in. In fact, supernumerary rainbows can only be explained with waves, and their noted existence in the early 1800s was considered early evidence of light’s wave nature. via NASA

vaspider

Queer is the label we used when we weren’t sure. Queer is the label we used when we were sure no other label would do. Queer is a gender that is my own and only my own. Queer is a sexuality that defies definition.

Queer is the label which became genderqueer, and from which non-binary and genderfluid sprung. Queer is the label which is the un-box, in which everyone who is not cishet (including ace people!!) fits. Queer is community.

Queer is activist. Queer is in the streets screaming ‘we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!’ Queer is not ashamed.

Queer was ours from the beginning. Queer was ours a century ago. Queer was used against us, and we said 'fuck you,’ and we took it BACK. Queer is butches and bears with bats, protecting our community.

Queer is blue-collar. Queer is working-class. Queer is poor. Queer is people who can’t afford to sit out Stonewall quietly and then go fight for marriage equality when the tax bills come due. Queer is a distinct identity, and queer is the un-box.

Queer makes TERFs and exclusionists angry, because it doesn’t let them define people by gold stars and terms like 'SGA’ that come from conversion therapy. Queer doesn’t give a shit about historical revision to exclude members of the community who have always been here, because queer has always been here and always will be.

Queer is the life raft onto which we climb. Queer is community. Queer is important, and people will have to pry it from my cold dead hands. I’ve been queer for thirty years. My community is queer, and it is opt-in.

If you tag my fucking posts ‘q slur’ or any variant thereof I will immediately fucking block you. Don’t fucking do it. If you feel obligated to tag my posts ‘q slur,’ don’t interact with them. My identity is not a bad word and does not require censoring.

alloaroworlds

Allo-Aro For Allies: Link Post

It says something about Tumblr’s culture of activism that my “can you please first read through our blogs and tags if you want to learn how to be an ally to allo-aros” post provoked certain asks in response. What you think I can do to be a better ally to you? Can you recommend any good informative/resource posts allies should check out? Since my post discussed what allies can do to support us and educate themselves before asking questions, it’s hard not to feel like some folks completely missed my point.

The lesson is that my future safety and acceptance as an allo-aro in a-spec spaces is too dependent on my ability now to present and re-present information. (Irrespective of the limitations on said ability, which was why I wrote the post in the first place.) So please find a list of the activism-focused posts I’ve written on this blog. I insist, though, that this post only serves as a launching-off point for your investigating and supporting other allo-aro bloggers, activists and creatives. This post collates only one person’s view on being allo-aro and it does not (and should not) stand for a whole community’s activism.

For further information and resources, tags specifically relevant to allo-aros include #alloaro, #allo aro, #allosexual aromantic and #allosexual aromanticism.

In terms of learning what it feels like to be allo-aro, the best way to learn really is to read through our tags and our blogs! There’s so many expression and identity posts you’re missing out on when you don’t! It’s also worth keeping in mind that most allo-aro resources are going to be grassroots and informal: Tumblr posts. If you’re waiting for fancy websites and mainstream journalism discussions, you’re doing allo-aro activists right now a grave disservice.

Allyhood and How to Ally

Why posts encouraging allo-aros to do the labour of correcting and educating our allies isn’t true allyhood.

Why allies framing allo-aros as a valuable addition to the aro-spec community, as opposed to our being unquestionably part of it, provokes further feelings of alienation.

Why it’s important to give allo-aros non-activist posts and spaces to vent to each other about our experiences, alienation and frustration.

Allo-Aro Alienation, Erasure and Antagonism

A list of forty-five ways allo-aros are erased in a-spec and aro-spec community spaces.

Why the flooding of aromantic tags with asexual-only and non-aromantic content is an accessibility issue that denies allo-aros equitable access to our own spaces.

A screencap essay demonstrating some of the asexual-only content dominating aromantic tags and how it makes me feel as an allo-aro.

Why it bothers me to see asexuals using my allo-aro posts to start conversations about asexuality and asexual activism.

Why “aro-ace” doesn’t mean “a-spec”, and why we need to avoid sexualising discussions of sexual attraction in a-spec spaces.

Why accusations of “splitting the community” or “hating aro-aces” in response to allo-aros voicing antagonism or erasure is doing nothing to benefit the aro-spec community.

Why the assumption that allo-aros have a complete or even any separation between our allosexual and our aromantic spectrum identities alienates many allo-aros.

Why I feel required to check my allosexuality at the door in order to participate within the aromantic community as an aro-spec.

Several allo-aros talking about the need to push aside our allosexual experiences in order to engage with the aro-spec community.

A-Spec Community Inclusion and Terminology

A list of ways in which you can make your a-spec community more welcoming to allo-aros.

Why it’s important to use “allosexual aromantic” alongside “non-asexual aromantic” in positivity and informative posts when referring to allo-aros.

Why “allosexual” is a word without contention in the aro-spec community and a hesitancy in using it is harming allo-aros.

Why I think “allo-aro” means “someone on the aromantic spectrum who experiences and/or wishes to equally centre their sexual attraction”.

My feelings on feeling a-spec enough against a context of a-spec community language not being made by or for allo-aros.

Why the historical, erasing use of “asexual community” meaning “all a-specs” requires asexuals to clearly label asexual-only spaces.

Why you need to specifically mention that your general aromantic community, project or event is inclusive of allo-aros.

Why “aro” as a non-SAM identity is open to any aro-spec, including allosexuals.

My allo-aro manifesto, part one: terminology definitions and a-spec community expectations.

Creative Media

@arotaro created the dark green/light green/white/yellow/gold flag gaining prominence as allo-aro-specific pride.

My free to use watercolour version of the above allo-aro flag.

The tag #alloaro on my aro-spec creative media Tumblr, @aroworlds, collects a range of allo-aro stories, crafts and visual art pieces.

Hallo, Aro is my ongoing flash fiction series about allo-aro experiences and the intersection of aromanticism with sexual attraction. You can find these stories on Tumblr, on my WordPress site and as a PDF or EPUB ebook.

Love in the House of the Ravens is my serial novelette about an autistic allo-aro character’s discovering his aromanticism. You can find installments on Tumblr and on my WordPress site.

I also have a master post collecting all my fictional works with allo-aro narrating protagonists. All of these pieces are available for free as either stories posted to my website or downloadable digital books.

Lastly, in light of the time it took to collate this post, I’ll mention that I have a ko-fi account and I enthusiastically and desperately welcome all purchases of digital beverages. I’m a multiply disabled, trans allo-aro who is not as supported by our government as I need to be to pay my bills and fill my prescriptions, so this is how my allies can help me stay alive to keep making resources like this post.

If you can’t support me financially, then I’d be grateful if you would consider reblogging my allo-aro book master post, my aro-spec book master post or my Hallo, Aro stories. These posts–not my community discussion pieces–are what let me grow my audience for a future of being able to market my creativity.

Thank you for reading and thank you for your support!

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