... a wolf?

Non-practising intellectual. I'm pretty but tough, like a diamond, or beef jerky in a ball gown.

[todaysbird]

i think this is…actually the most extreme stupid dove nest I’ve seen.

video

[apoemaday]

Postcard

by Margaret Atwood

I’m thinking of you. What else can I say? The palm trees on the reverse are a delusion; so is the pink sand. What we have are the usual fractured coke bottles and the smell of backed-up drains, too sweet, like a mango on the verge of rot, which we have also. The air clear sweat, mosquitos & their tracks; birds, blue & elusive.

Time comes in waves here, a sickness, one day after the other rolling on; I move up, its called awake, then down into the uneasy nights but never forward. The roosters crow for hours before dawn, and a prodded child howls & howls on the pocked road to school. In the hold with the baggage there are two prisoners, their heads shaved by bayonets, & ten crates of queasy chicks. Each spring there’s a race of cripples, from the store to the church. This is the sort of junk I carry with me; and a clipping about democracy from the local paper. Outside the window they’re building the damn hotel, nail by nail, someone’s crumbling dream. A universe that includes you can’t be all bad, but does it? At this distance you’re a mirage, a glossy image fixed in the posture of the last time i saw you. Turn you over, there’s the place for the address. Wish you were here. Love comes in waves like the ocean, a sickness which goes on & on, a hollow cave in the head, filling and pounding, a kicked ear.

[equality-street]

Hey, Margaret, how was your holiday?

Actually, I'm reblogging because I just realised something about the phrase "wish you were here": I always assumed the speaker/sender is saying they wish the listener/receiver was in the same place, but what if it's a directive? "Hey you, looking at this glorious, unreal postcard. Wish you were here. RIGHT. NOW."

[depsidase]

[equality-street]

She tried to warn us. The Cassandra of the 2000s.

[depsidase]

[equality-street]

AI couldn't write something this beautiful.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Hippos

Sarah Gailey: Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the river of teeth Gailey: it's about the most dangerous game of all Stephen King: is it man? Clive Barker: what kind of question is that, steve? of course it's man Barker: it's always man Mary Shelley: phht

Mary Shelley: man ain't so dangerous King: well, actually, mary, it probably would be more dangerous than hunting a lot of other animals on account of Shelley: shut the fuck up, steve Shelley: i said what i said King: King: no but really Poe: steve, she's talking about men King: oh King: oh right

Sarah Gailey: actually when i talk about the most dangerous game i am not talking about man Shelley: told ya Gailey: i'm actually talking about hippos King: Poe: Barker: Koontz: Lovecraft:

Shelley: hippos ain't that dangerous either King: oh now come on mary you can't expect us to believe that you'd stab a hippo Shelley: why wouldn't I? King: King: i mean King: i mean it would take more than a knife to take down a hippo Shelley: not for me

Dean Koontz: but hippos aren't dangerous! Koontz: they eat plants! Sarah Gailey: oh dean Gailey: oh dean dean dean Gailey: actually according to statistics did you know that more people are killed by hippos than by lions? Koontz: whaaaaaaat?!?! Gailey: i know, right?

Gailey: did you know that there was a plan by the us government to import hippos to the swamps of louisiana Barker: yeah we all heard that NPR story Gailey: well, we all know that plan was never implemented Gailey: what this story asks is Gailey: what if it was

Gailey: what if the swamps of louisiana were now infested with evil, man-eating hippos? Gailey: and there was only one man who could stop them Gailey: a grizzled, battle-scarred veteran of the hippo wars out for one last score Gailey: and no hippo is safe

Gailey: that's right Gailey: colonel horatio T. Mchefferbottom III and her royal majesty's 12th airborne hippo division is back in action for a ripping bunch of two-fisted tales of wholesale hippo slaughter Gailey: the swamps will run blood Gailey: there's also romance too

Gailey: don't fool yourself Gailey: the hippo may look cute, maybe even harmless Gailey: but the so-called river horse is a remorseless murder machine, designed by God only for death Gailey: you ever looked into the eyes of a hippo

[equality-street]

equality-street: you ever seen a hippo with its mouth wide open

equality-street: because let me tell you

equality-street: hoo boyyyyy

[depsidase]

[equality-street]

Isn't the correct punctuation of the tweet "I am stylish, useful and, in some cases, absolutely necessary"? Or, if you're an Oxford comma appreciator, "I am stylish, useful, and, in some cases, absolutely necessary"?

(My personal approach to commas is "where would I pause if I were reading this aloud": an approach based on vibes, not rules nor logic.)

[incognitopolls]

Hypothetical scenario: You are talking with a friend. Your friend says, "I know this guy, she works at the grocery store."

Assume your friend is not the type to misgender anyone. This is not asking about the use of "guys" to address a group (e.g. 'hey guys'), this is talking about referring to one specific person as "a guy."

How surprised would you be to hear someone referred to both as a guy and with she/her pronouns?

Not surprised at all; "guy" used this way is gender neutral to me

Not surprised at all; I'd assume it's that person's gender expression

A little surprised; I'd assume it was a gender-neutral use of "guy"

A little surprised; I'd assume it was that person's gender expression

Surprised; I'd assume it was a gender-neutral use of "guy"

Surprised; I'd assume it was that person's gender expression

I'd find this jarring; I'd assume it was an attempt at gender neutral usage

I'd find this jarring; I'd assume it was that person's gender expression

I think it's flat out unacceptable to combine singular "guy" and she/her in this

Other specific opinion

Show results

Voting ended onMay 23

We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[equality-street]

Lightbulb has just flickered on. Ohhh, "guy(s)" follows the same rule as plural "they" in French (assuming other languages too, I'm just more familiar with French). Which is a ridiculous rule:

il - refers to one man, you wouldn't say "elle" if you know the referent is a man;

elle - refer to one woman, you wouldn't say "il" if you know the referent is a woman;

ils - more than one person, either all men or mixed. Even if this refers to 100 women plus 1 man, you would still use "ils".

elles - more than one woman, and all have to be women. If one solitary man is there, even if he is overwhelmingly outnumbered by women, you would use "ils".

--

... and "guy" referring to a single woman sounds weird: you can still understand what the speaker means, but it doesn't sound right. So, at least from a prescriptivist perspective, "guys" isn't the gender neutral term it's claimed to be. Never thought of it this way before, thank you Tumblr.

[ofmd-ann]

- I'm not a good person, Stede. That's why I don't have any friends - Hey, I'm your friend

[equality-street]

I'm your friend too, Ed!!

[lierdumoa]

It's fascinating to me, as like a study in fandom linguistics, and also a sociological study in gender roles and gender biases, the extent to which so many fic writers will have Shane and Ilya doing the exact same things but use feminizing/infantilizing language to describe Shane's actions, in sharp contrast to the more masculine/empowering language used to describe Ilya.

When Ilya takes charge and shouts insults, he's "dominating" and "rage-baiting." When Shane takes charge and shouts insults, he's "bossy" and "sassy." When Ilya laughs quietly he's "chuckling" but when Shane does it he's "giggling." Shane doesn't get to just be "pissed off," he has to be an "angry kitten" about it.

And sometimes it feels very purposeful, like the writer is intentionally following a yaoi uke/seme style guide, but other times it seems writers don't even realize they're doing it?

I read a story today that is explicitly about Shane standing up for himself and punching back against homophobia and battling his team and his management for fair treatment, and even in that story the subtly diminutizing adjective choices throughout were constantly reminding the reader that Shane is a bottom, and a bottom is ~basically a little girl~, so all his actions have to be described like he's a little girl doing those actions, rather than an adult man.

[equality-street]

This is interesting, and voices something I've been thinking about in relation to Our Flag Means Death. I'm afraid I'm one of the few queer people here who hasn't seen Heated Rivalry: this reblog isn't meant to change the subject but develop the point about writing style.

The difference between how Stede is characterised in some (some) fanfic and Ed is, before Season 2 was released and after, very interesting. By no means was it ever a fandom-wide characterisation, but some earlier fics definitely characterised Stede as the uke/bottom - possibly because of Stede's costumes, his mannerisms and speech style, the power imbalance of his being an inexperienced pirate being tutored by Superstar Pirate Ed, etc. In these fics (where there is explicit sex), Stede is the bottom, and there's lots of "the blond giggled"s, pouting, being described as sassy/bitchy, etc. As illustrated in OP's post, Ed often performs the same actions in these fics but the word choices are different.

In Season 2, the audience sees Ed and Stede just before and the morning after they have sex, and can infer who bottoms and who tops. Here is where my argument starts relying (even more) on 'vibes', so I'm prepared to be wrong on this. However, it seems to me that more fanfic written post-Season 2 release characterises Stede in a more masculine style (which aligns with his canon characterisation: his costumes are plainer ((even the sexy cursed suit is dark in colour and no match for the sparkling turquoises and pastels of Season 1)), he's more experienced if not more competent, and is re-established as captain again, even captaining Ed). This includes fanfic written post-Season 2 but set pre-Season 2. There has always been a portion of the fandom that called Ed "baby girl" (guilty), but I wonder if this became more pronounced after Season 2 came out.

Anyway. I think this is an interesting example because the main relationship of Our Flag Means Death is not only queer but also works against stereotypes relating to top/bottom, seme/uke, masculine/feminine dynamics in some queer media. Sometimes this doesn't translate into fanfic.

[sherlockig]

[equality-street]

BEAUTY SECRETS OF ICONIC PIRATES - WHAT THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!

Buttons the seagull A little bird tells me that there's a very good reason Blackbeard, scourge of the seven seas, The Fanny Tickler's #2 Most Comely Pirate of 1716, is said to have eyes that glow. Read on to discover Blackbeard's one weird tip!*

Craving brighter eyes? Pupils so dilated they make your eyes as big as saucers (tea with seven sugars optional)? Blackbeard uses the same trick as your gran back in the Renaissance - belladonna eye drops!

When approached for comment, Blackbeard scoffed for a full ten minutes, growled that the rumour was "fuckin' diabolical", then threatened to "stab [your intrepid reporter] in [the] fuckin' face" if this rumour was ever published.

Source: The Fanny Tickler, 8 October 1717. No further articles nor public records pertaining to this reporter have been discovered.

* Please note: not the name of an M-rated fanfic

[djarin]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH 1.07 • "This is Happening"

That bizarre little man over there likes you very much, and you like him. And if you can't get over yourself long enough to realize that, you're gonna end up another leather-clad, middle-aged sad sack dying alone in a puddle of his own piss!

[equality-street]

If I was Lucius, on the receiving end of this look from Ed, I would simultaneously be having a panic attack and an orgasm.

[changes]

An update for users in Brazil and the United Kingdom

To continue our commitment to user safety and to comply with local laws, we will start using age groups to determine access to certain experiences.

People in Brazil or in the UK, who are 18 or older, will soon need to verify their age to change content label settings and view mature-labeled content. Until then, the settings will be locked to hide.

As a reminder, verification is handled by our age-assurance partner, k-ID. Tumblr won't have access to the information you submit, just the final age-verification result. Documents are deleted after confirmation, and facial scan data never leaves your device. 

Questions? Contact Tumblr support or learn more about these changes here.

[tigerator]

all uk & brazilian citizens must forfeit their biometric information to third party overseas ai-driven for-profit corportions seeking to harvest and sell this data because, despite the fact we already banned porn, we need to stop you looking at your trans friend's blogs who we habitually mark as mature content because of deeply transphobic moderation that we refuse to address.

thanks.

[equality-street]

Will the dystopia be "1984" (repressive surveillance state) or "Brave New World" (neverending consumption/stimulation-seeking)? Fantastic news: Tumblr is giving us BOTH

[edwardyouinhere]

[equality-street]

I support Blackbeard's right to bare arms. 💗💗💗

[depsidase]

[equality-street]

Stupid, sexy Flanders.

[processedlives]

“I will have an undergraduate class, let’s say a young white male student, politically-correct, who will say: “I am only a bourgeois white male, I can’t speak.” … I say to them: “Why not develop a certain degree of rage against the history that has written such an abject script for you that you are silenced?” Then you begin to investigate what it is that silences you, rather than take this very determinist position-since my skin colour is this, since my sex is this, I cannot speak… From this position, then, I say you will of course not speak in the same way about the Third World material, but if you make it your task not only to learn what is going on there through language, through specific programmes of study, but also at the same time through a historical critique of your position as the investigating person, then you will have earned the right to criticize, you be heard. When you take the position of not doing your homework- “I will not criticize because of my accident of birth, the historical accident” - that is the much more pernicious position.”

— Gayatri Spivak (via fearandwar)

[equality-street]

I'm very guilty of doing this. I won't do this anymore.

[asneakyfox]

it's my birthday

[equality-street]

Happy birthday!! Did I see you in north London on Monday?

[haveyouseenthisqueerfilm]

Have you seen This is Going to Hurt (2022)?

Yes

No

I've never heard of this miniseries

Voting ended onMay 12

[equality-street]

BELOVED