Untitled

[fractangle]

Pride month vest project, a patch a day #29: Wheat But Not Bread, Fruit But Not Wine

[gelbgelbgelb]

As my friend Julian puts it, only half winkingly: "God blessed me by making me transsexual for the same reason God made wheat but not bread and fruit but not wine, so that humanity might share in the act of creation."

-- Daniel Mallory Ortberg

[technologistrevolution]

This has been driving me insane because this quote is so incredibly Jewish but every time I saw it was completely divorced from Judaism in the version applying it to 'transsexual'.

The original concept that humans complete the act of creation by making bread from wheat is from the Talmud! And the specific "wheat but not bread, grapes but not wine" phrasing is from Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel but it is missing "clay but not bricks".

And among trans Jews the sentiment was already popular before I ever started seeing this specific phrasing so I knew, knew, knew a Jew and likely a trans Jew was involved.

As it happens, Ortberg's friend Julian is Jewish and they have strongly negative feelings about the way the quote has been removed from the context of their life as someone trans and Jewish. They used to have a thread up on xwitter about it but have since made their account private and only have a very terse FAQ online from which you can glean the treatment they likely received when being more open about their Jewishness, relationship to transness, and the interaction of both.

[kosherdragon]

I've always thought there was something extremely Jewish about that quote! I had no idea that Julian is Jewish.

[kosherdragon]

I looked at Julian's twitter and there's a linked in bio thread about this quote. There are a few clarifying tweets there

1. Julian isn't Jewish.

2. The quote actually is influenced by Jewish theology, specifically Rabbi Akiva.

Anyway, I'm glad I saw their twitter and the thread about this famous quote. It's often misattributed, and it's clear that it annoys Julian when people post this quote starting with "As my friend Julian puts it..." and then cite Danny Lavery (usually with a surname he no longer uses) as the author, when the original quote is available as a tweet from 2018.

[apricops]

*trying to pitch public transportation to Americans* it’s like a legal form of texting while driving

[eaglingarchive]

i dont disagree with genderfluid caine or nonbinary caine but in my opinion we are not talking about sometimes feels like being femme and sometimes masc. idk how to explain this but i feel like hes like. bit-gender. the gender of maximal commitment to the bit. and i mean that in the sense that like all gender is playing dressups to him because hes not a human and gender to a combuter is like asking an animal that reproduces asexually whether theyre a top or a bottom. the kind of nonbinary that cannot concieve of the binary in the first place. so if hes presenting in any kind of way its relevance is not to what gender he is in his heart of hearts bc he hasnt one. hes presenting that way for the bit. and so if you want me to buy in to your genderfluid caine you cant put him in a dress just for hanging out purposes and call it a day. you need to put him in a dress because today the bit hes running is that hes doing like, the beauty and the beast opening number

[overclockedopossum]

The way you get out of doing "masc as default and femme has to be justified by plot" is that often the bit he's committing to is ringmaster. But if he changes for another bit he'd probably forget until his costume became relevant again. Caine is chilling in a dress because he did the beauty and the beast opening number then got distracted.

[eaglingarchive]

agree and just to reup on "the bit he's committing to is ringmaster" yep 100% correct. hes not committing to the bit of "man" or even "masc" he's commiting to the bit of ringmaster. if in human society the platonic ideal of a ringmaster was a big tittied swampmonster thats what his default avatar would be

[hornybirdnoises]

Caine IS genderfluid, but not like that XD

He has a vat of WACKY GENDER FLUID™©® in his office and now it's open for ALL to swim in. Caine imbibes the tincture himself as the bit demands which is why he's been able to flawlessly mimic all this gender stuff you humans are-

What do you mean that's not what gender fluid is? Then WHY IS IT CALLED A FLUID THE, THE ZOOBLE? I don't- Can I still wear the dress? I had this whole musical number planned and it REQUIRES I salsa dance in a sparkly red dress, this is non negotiable.

[mortalityplays]

I truly don't think there's anything worse than an artsy theatre kid band trying to do a dark edgy song about domming someone. like it's giving dr horrible. I don't believe you.

[mortalityplays]

it's the same problem every booktok dark romance D/s fantasy has, which is that it's written by a sub projecting what they think they want that guy to sound like. there's nothing sexy about someone sweatily pointing out to you how dommed you are right now for fear that you weren't aware you're totally subjugated and definitely 100% under their control. also they're feeling very possessive btw. are you listening. though actually now that I'm typing it, this is also the problem with 90% of cishet maledoms irl so maybe they're cooking. post cancelled.

[mortalityplays]

hey so you'll never guess what prompted this post

[mortalityplays]

get secondhand embarrassment with me

[mortalityplays]

[hornybirdnoises]

Yeah I don't actually talk all that much while domming people, it's more...what and how you do things to and around them. The less you talk the more they wonder what you're am thinking and their fantasies are always better than any scene you could attempt to write for them.

[jell-o101]

"We want more complicated female characters!"

Ya'll couldn't even handle HER.

[blackstar5078]

Important tags to include actually.

[featurefilms]

I Saw the TV Glow (2024) dir. Jane Schoenbrun

[blood-bla-bla]

Most horror films show your teenage years as this powerful time where all those possibilities enable you to fight against a threat from outside. I saw the TV glow does the exact opposite. It shows the emptiness, the endless existence of adolescents. Knowing that something is wrong, the need to change while being absolutely terrified of change. Growing up queer, autistic, depressed, trans and/or with strict parents, realising that you do not belong but a part of you tries to conform so fucking bad. This movie was able to show the horror of surviving instead of living.

[demiurgicviscera]

i think that's what i saw the tv glow did honestly.

that moment when you're watching it as a trans person, and every cell in your body is begging her to not stop, to not run away, please please please. you need to see it more than you've needed anything. and then she does. she sees everything inside herself in a bathroom all alone where we've all been, and she closes it all up, her emaciated and sickly body barely holding her up, and she walks back into an arcade room apologizing for her outburst to a building full of people who refuse to see or hear her.

and then you realize, while your chest feels like it might just cave in under the pressure, that this film refused to afford you the relief of seeing someone else do what you must, to give you that false and fleeting pressure eased. no. if you want this film to have a good ending, you have to make it yourself. you have to do what she could not, because otherwise, well. you just saw your future.

[hornybirdnoises]

Between this and TADC cracking eggs like they wanna make the mother of all omelets I really think we need MORE tragic trans media to counterbalance the inspirational stories.

Those stories ARE good, but no seriously you need to understand how bad it can get for you if you let this fester inside you. Please examine these feelings and be as kind to yourself as you can manage.

There's still time, it's never too late and anyone saying otherwise is not your friend.

[pankendev]

there are places in the world today that are experiencing 40°C for the first time in recorded history. of course there's no way to know whether chucking billionaires into volcanos will appease the sun god but i feel we're doing the scientific method a disservice if we don't at least try

[isuggesteatingtherich]

i have an easier suggestion

[liminal-disaster]

I mean we could try both

[isuggesteatingtherich]

in ancient times people would ritually burn the best cuts of meat as an offering to the gods

[hornybirdnoises]

Wait, so NOT the rich then? I think we can offer lower quality cuts of meat, just this once...for science.

[prokopetz]

Elaborate fantasy and sci-fi worldbuilding as necessary context and structure for porn is great, but what's really fantastic is when the worldbuilding is a product of the porn. It clearly didn't need to be there, but at some point the author took a closer look at the porn and started asking "okay, so what does this imply?"

[prokopetz]

Level 1: The worldbuilding needs to be there for the porn to make sense.

Level 2: The porn needs to be there for the worldbuilding to make sense.

[hornybirdnoises]

In my book the now extinct Glasherzen people, desert folk renowned for their glass craft, are the major reason glass strap on and dildo design is so good in the modern age in my universe.

They were fire and earth mages with a knack for precise and sustained heat control, used both to cool their dwellings and make exquisite glass crafts, they perfected and passed down techniques that long outlived their own people.

And now people use it to bang!

[softgritspoonie]

When I tell you I'm disabled your response should not be "I'm sorry"

[lusciouslusciousliz]

saw someone ask "why are trans people always skinnier in the after image of transition timelines" and the responses were pissing me the fuck off

literally the only answer is that transition timelines are meant to visually justify the necessity of transitioning to a cis audience. people won't believe you if you just say you're happier, but if you're more attractive aka a more morally righteous person, then you're allowed. a massive part of this is weight loss. fat people are hated, fat women even more, and being a fat trans woman is utter misery. transition timelines where the woman became or stayed fat don't get popular or are never posted at all. that's why you don't see them.

also every fucking answer in the comments that basically just kept repeating "fat = depressed and miserable and ugly and gross but thin = happy and active and social so transitioning just makes your life better so you get thinner because good people are thin and fat people are evil :)))))))))" fucking straight to jail. I'm done with all of you

[hornybirdnoises]

Yeah, and if you frequent trans spaces you WILL see those types of timelines, but generally only other trans people see them and no one else so they disappear. The latter part has SOME merit, but how you say it matters in my opinion.

LIke yes, happier people trend towards losing weight, mostly because they stop stress eating as much. But also by that same token, skinny people tend to GAIN weight for similar reasons! Turns out being happy means you take better care of yourself and trend towards healthier habits for yourself. Stress affects your eating habits, and that effects weight in [a direction].

But ALSO there is nothing moral or righteous about your weight. I lost a bunch of weight(like 40 pounds) when I transitioned because of spiro nausea and me exercising more often, it's coincidental at best and I have already gained a fair bit of it back because it didn't change my habits all THAT much.

It's like they saw the end results of our transitions and drew the worst conclusions from them.

[ghost-in-a-dino-costume]

TADC SEMI SPOILERS

Text under cut

Ok is this a safe space? Cuz I still don’t like Jax. Like I appreciate goose for making her canonically trans but I think that bc someone is a form of representation doesn’t mean that all their sins and bad things are washed away. Idk man like I enjoy the fact she’s morally grey but we also didn’t see what she could have done…

Blegh idk man

[hornybirdnoises]

Oh no, I get you COMPLETELY and I do like Jax myself!

...as an EXAMPLE.

Jax is that awful, self hating, toxic 4tranner type that every trans person knows at least one of. And we also know these types make the rest of us look bad.

Jax is the dark side of the trans community, she is everything we need to avoid becoming, she is us at our worst AND us at our lowest. She was always an awful, mean, sadistic and kinda rapey person. No concept of consent or boundaries, zero empathy, selfish in the extreme, but not necessarily completely shameless

My partner made a joke today about my dysphoria spiral being classic Jax behavior and I kind of loved it as a concept. Jax is bad behavior personified, literally she is the worst. So don't be like Jax! She's someone we can point to and say, "This is objectively bad. People write essays on how much this girl SUCKS. She is a cautionary tale to be studied well."

[cheaphalloweencostume]

the idea that a sex scene in fiction is fundamentally useless/simply for audience titillation UNLESS they’re fucking infodumping exposition while they bone or something is so funny and myopic to me. like, you really genuinely believe for real that there is NOTHING to be gained about your understanding of a story or characters simply from how they approach and engage in sex? really for real?

[hornybirdnoises]

So I am fully asexual, my name is a joke on this, I am a writer.

And let me tell you there are few things more useful for figuring out a character than how they approach something as intimate and risky as sex. I love writing sex scenes, sex scenes are CEREBRAL, they are all ABOUT how characters feels and react.

What kind of sex do they want, WHY? Do they want to be in charge? Do they want SOMEONE else in charge? What do they like in OTHER people, what traits would they find attractive, what acts would they prefer to do or have done? What's their headspace? are they nervous? excited? scared? going along with it because it's easy...or dangerous to say no?

Sex is all about power dynamics and personal desires, USE that.

[rubysapphrald]

i feel so defensive and protective of people with ARFID like if i had a disorder that made my brain register 90% of food as poison for no reason and i had a bazillion people on the internet constantly calling me a manchild who needs to just grow up and stop being a picky eater i would start killing people

[rubysapphrald]

people with ARFID and people with very few autism safe foods and people with contamination OCD and people in ED recovery and everyone else with a complicated relationship with food that no one takes seriously GET BEHIND ME!!!!!!!

[hornybirdnoises]

I once knew a coworker with ARFID that could only eat french fries and potato chips and I may have gentle dommed them into being cool with eating doritos since those are basically just a different shape of potato chip, right? Just made of corn!

From there I got him to be cool with a few more corn based foods and got him eating stuff like cornbread. That was about all I managed but I was just happy to give the guy some VARIETY

[saywhat-politics]

Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC - talent gigs - craigslist

T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event t

[flip-this-table]

Holy shit, this is REAL.

(Also 1k in crypto isnt shit, lol)

[ralfmaximus]

Paid in crypto. Amazing.

[hornybirdnoises]

"Hey, so we suck so much that everyone hates us and thinks we're racist(we are). We'll pay 1000 (not American) dollar of (not)cash to anyone willing to sit through our bullshit. We won't pay non-whites(disgusting creatures) more, but we WILL put them on display like props(because they are)! Because of the aforementioned us being racist thing. And you HAVE to wear the RED hat. It's just red baseball cap, no connotations there at all. Please."

"Lunch is McDonald's and soda, we legally aren't allowed to serve water within a 1 mile radius of the president."

[sharkapology]

People do not give us (Brasil) enough credit for:

Our fucked up dolphins

Our fucked up porcupines

Our fucked up snakes

This

[celestial-seasonings427]

What the fuck is that

[sharkapology]

can u be nice

[hornybirdnoises]

No. I can be horny? Birds like horny, I think.