Wandering Aengus

// A physics major with commitment issues // I don't do DNIs but if you try to engage in bad faith I will block or ignore // 20s // 

[knightingael]

My gf has been getting stalked by the same psycho for the last year. She's real careful not to do anything illegal but she's been trying to weasel her way into my gf's family circle (and we recently learned, succeeded in doing so and getting gf's family to keep it a secret). I might need legit legal advice. This girl has been in and out of psych wards all her life and has a track record of being absolutely ruthless when she wants something (in this case, to "get back" at my gf for not cheating on me with her). Her bf is a convicted violent child rapist and the girl herself has sexually assaulted a friend of ours. She even moved to my gf's sister's apartment complex when we made it clear she needed to gtfo of our lives. I don't have much experience dealing with this kind of person, i.e. psychopathic rich white girl who gloats about how "ghetto" she is. Not sure what I can do other than look forward to her next attention-driven suicide attempt and hope she accidentally goes far enough to finish the job this time.

[despazito]

[biohorror-human]

Attention techbro. I am going to attempt to sabotage the creation of Roko's Basilisk. Now you may think this is a form of suicide, except I'm taking you with me. Unless you suck my entire cock right now, I am going to post poisoned digital art on Tumblr. That's right. Unless you suck my cock, I am going to sabotage roko. If you don't suck my cock, you are allowing me to sabotage Roko, which means you will be tortured by Roko forever for assisting in sabotaging it. You have 10 minutes to make me cum. Your move, techbro.

[knightingael]

Roko's basilisk was never taken seriously in and of itself; it just grated on the culture of the website it was posted on. The whole idea of trying to create "dangerous knowledge" as a lark. The site it originated on is closely linked orgs concerned with minimizing existential threats (among them climate change, pandemics, etc). The point was never that the basilisk was really a danger but that we shouldn't be trying to create something that's dangerous just to be exposed to, even in thought experiments. If you think this is nerdy tech bro honor code stuff, it is. But it's also connected to a lot of work that's legit, especially where the philosophy of science and tech is concerned.

[knightingael]

For real, I never wanna hear another bs gen-z take on working class problems, the state of the world, etc etc, unless they're doing something about it other than complaining on the internet.

"The rise of anti-intellectualism and illiteracy in the US is driving us off the edge of sane and civil society." Cool, so what are you doing about it? Go teach an adult literacy class. Go tutor kids at a library. Volunteer at a science museum.

"Lesbians don't have any spaces to ourselves anymore. The lesbian bars are dead." And who are you waiting for to establish those spaces? The government? You realize you don't need capitalist structures to create community, right? You can have potlucks, bonfires, parties and meetings in third spaces or in your own homes. No one is going to arrest you.

"The lack of access to free healthcare in the US is abysmal. We need to do better." Okay, well, while you're waiting for that to happen, I'm going to be working at a medical non-profit and volunteering my time with free health services.

Nothing is ever going to get better unless the vast majority of self-described anti-capitalists and activists start doing more than complaining. Fr, a lot of you act like you prefer the state of the world as it is, cause it gives you a reason to gripe and feel self-righteous. If you genuinely wanted things to change, you would take control of what's in your power to change. But where is that action? All the people I encounter volunteering are elderly Christian ladies and rednecks who love their community. The Republicans have us beat when it comes to real-world mutual aid, and it's fuckin sad.

[mythwoven]

Alternate universe where I literally just to go to school forever (for free) so I can just learn about art and literature and history and languages for 100 years. No job skills. No credit requirements. No student loans. Just learning.

[ivycopper]

I need everyone who’s currently living in a capitalist hellhole to understand that this isn’t an AU, this could literally be your reality with even a semi functional social system. I’ve been at uni for over 10 yrs now bc it’s only abt 200 € per semester. Yes, you’d still struggle to cover your cost of living, but it is possible here. Pls pls pls let’s normalise access to education

[knightingael]

Also, pro-tip for Americans. There's literally nothing stopping us from organizing towards this learning-focused lifestyle outside of universities. They're fickle beasts anyway, and they can never serve us the way a collective or smaller institution can address its own unique needs and wants.

Odds are, your local library, book store, museums, etc are all hosting events to freely educate the public on a range of topics. Mostly facilitated by volunteers. And they're definitely eager to connect you and your experience with resources so you can teach others. I teach kids at a local science museum once a month. I used to give ecology tours at a state park a couple times a week. I'm putting together materials for an AI literacy workshop aimed at seniors through my library.

On the student side of things, I've got a growing interest in media history, and I'm getting involved and connected with that by volunteering at conventions. I'm interested in conservation, so I show up to plant trees, pull invasives, and clean rivers. I want to get certified as a paralegal purely so I can volunteer my services, and I'm building up some credentials through online free access courses before I do pro bono work to learn more. In each of these areas, there are enthusiastic and knowledgeable experts who are so fuckin happy to share what they know. You don't need a university and a set of exams to learn. You just need people.

[thegaylibertarian]

[fuckassbobfem-deactivated202507]

support your local libraries.

[cieloyrosas]

If only I had eaten properly in my teens and played sports, my life would be different.

[knightingael]

If you eat properly now and play sports, your life will be different in twenty years.

[knightingael]

Idk how many radfems on this website need to hear this, but the women in your phone are not your community. Go outside. Volunteer at a shelter or clinic. Build a house. Teach a class. Join a community garden. Offer childcare to your neighbors. Help your elders maintain their homes. Check in with your coworkers. Go to a protest. Join a mutual aid network for abortion access. Big or small, these are all things that materially benefit women's lives.

Online politics shouldn't take the place of actually moving through and improving the lives of the women who live in your city. Women you pass on the street every day whose welfare is directly impacted by your empathy and effort. That's what feminism is, not "being right" on the internet and spewing unheard hate for people who are irrelevant to the good you can do, and whose actions are outside your control. And more than that, you have a basic need to be connected with other humans, face to face, meeting each other's needs. What are you all doing instead???

[knightingael]

"I can do both" (Who said you can't, if you're balancing them properly?)

"Why can't the internet be my community?" (Because it's not the real world)

"So you're saying it's not okay to vent?" (Not if that's all you do, or only to an online audience)

The internet is not a community. Venting and discourse is not feminism.

You can do all of the above if it serves you but it is not political action and it's not improving women's lives. You might think it's improving yours, if nothing else, but from the people I've interacted with in both IRL radfem spaces and online servers over the last decade - the difference in who is thriving and who is not is obvious. Your mutuals are not fulfilling your social needs, and politics grounded in internet discourse are going to be inherently bad. Y'know, via the same process that many of us blame for the direction of trans politics in recent decades. You're not immune to the toxic influence of online culture. Radical and healthy feminism is rooted in real-world relationships, conversations, and community.

[knightingael]

Idk how many radfems on this website need to hear this, but the women in your phone are not your community. Go outside. Volunteer at a shelter or clinic. Build a house. Teach a class. Join a community garden. Offer childcare to your neighbors. Help your elders maintain their homes. Check in with your coworkers. Go to a protest. Join a mutual aid network for abortion access. Big or small, these are all things that materially benefit women's lives.

Online politics shouldn't take the place of actually moving through and improving the lives of the women who live in your city. Women you pass on the street every day whose welfare is directly impacted by your empathy and effort. That's what feminism is, not "being right" on the internet and spewing unheard hate for people who are irrelevant to the good you can do, and whose actions are outside your control. And more than that, you have a basic need to be connected with other humans, face to face, meeting each other's needs. What are you all doing instead???

[problematic-polls]

if you don't like the term "cisgender" being used for you, why?

• it's more like a slur

• it's female erasure

• it's an insult

• it's an insult sometimes, but if it just means what they say it means, I'm fine with it

• other

• im cis and I don't care if somebody calls me cis

• I'm trans/see results

if you don't like the term "cisgender" being used for you, why?

it's more like a slur

it's female erasure

it's an insult

it's an insult sometimes, but if it just means what they say it means, I'm fine

other

im cis and I don't care if somebody calls me cis

I'm trans/see results

Voting ended onJan 14, 2025

[cisthoughtcrime]

other: because the term literally means that your internal gender identity 'matches' your physical sex, which is a fundamentally sexist and essentialist concept

[kronkk]

I dont identify with my oppression, I'm recognizing I am by definition and adult human female

[knightingael]

I don't use the term cis for myself mainly because I'm intersex, but I personally don't see an issue with its existence or use. We usually have words for "default" or normalized states. e.g.: Able-bodied. Endosex (i.e. not intersex). Neurotypical, etc. Cis woman implies to me that a person falls within the default definition of female biology. And I've always interpreted the cis/trans divide as more of a juxtaposition of the default expectations for sex vs deviations from the norm. Which is why a lot of detransitioned women don't identify as cis. (They may or may not identify as trans.) You're cis female because you're genetically, hormonally, and phenotypically female. Anyone who doesn't conform to that definition may or may not be trans, or they might reject the binary labelling system altogether.

Most intersex AFABs I know don't identify as cis or trans. Cis is understood to imply more than having a gender aligned with your assigned sex. It's more of a statement about how your sex traits (inborn or otherwise) conforms to norms.

[gnar-slabdash]

hey honest question, did anybody have GOOD stuff happen to them in 2024? cause it was really bad for me and for most people i know, so it would be nice to hear about anything that's been going WELL for any of you. even if it's small stuff. just to know there's light out there.

[knightingael]

As a trans femme in this site, I skimmed through your blog and you don't seem hostile or against trans people. Thank you for not hating us. I don't really have any deep discourse or things to argue about. Just appreciate when people can be kind on the internet. Thank you.

I'm no stranger to the flaws within our community, but the perspectives you find on my blog honestly used to be the majority opinions in radical feminist spaces. More criticism was aimed at mainstream gender roles, far less at trans people. Grassroots networks and real-world activism was prioritized over cultural differences. Women with husbands/bfs wouldn't touch our spaces with a ten foot pole because we were too radical for mainstreamers. Now they run the show. The problem has been co-optive factions. A few vile self-IDed radfems have aligned themselves with the far right (anyone who doubts that can look up NWL chapters; see who they promote and platform, "Gays Against Groomers," pro-Israel crap, even pro-lifers who happen to be anti-trans). And they brought in all the garbage, pushing actual lesbians and gender-nonconforming AFAB people out, trans or otherwise.

I'm intersex. It used to be the case that someone like me could be open about that, but at some point, far-right politics became the majority voice in our spaces and suddenly I had to go back in the closet. Been called my fair share of slurs and lost lesbian friends to the radfem-to-far-right pipeline as it developed. It sucks for victims of their hate, but it also sucks for those of us who've been working towards inclusive sex-based rights and spaces for years. The worst part is that these alt-right women will show up for anti-trans rallies but won't even get their hands dirty helping actual women in clinics or shelters. They honestly run on hate and don't give a shit beyond that.

I appreciate that you took the time to consider me as an individual - I personally see no reason to spew hate towards other minority groups that get enough of it already, even if we have critical perspectives on each other's community writ large. I'm hoping that things improve within all our communities over the next few years. But it's admittedly hard to picture happening with the state of things now and the rate at which it evolved.

[knightingael]

Radical feminism is just sad these days, man. For me, it means helping out on a local women's land where I would probably be banned if the landowner knew I was intersex. It means losing friends within the movement when I assert antiracist or anti-religious attitudes. It means watching women fight over whether or not trans AFABs should be allowed in our spaces while all-over agreeing that wearing makeup and heels is a necessary compromise. It means watching feminine straight women preach about the patriarchal harms of gender non-conforming dykes, just because of the pronouns they use. There is no part of this movement that at all reflects the radical feminist values I learned while living in a working class, diverse community of lesbians. It's been overrun by suburban moms who get mad when their nephews are allowed to wear dresses because it will "turn them gay." And this shit isn't all happening online either - I'm in the real world encountering these problems. I honestly think it's time that actual radical feminists distanced themselves from the movement, or at least found a way to communicate and mobilize a schism. Because this movement is pushing out the very people it was made to protect.

[knightingael]

Reminder that ACAB means don't fucking call the cops (or threaten to call the cops) on POC or queer people. They are the LAST people to consider calling. Mental health crisis? Don't call the cops. Domestic abuse? Don't call the cops. Sexual assault? Don't call the cops. In most scenarios, unless you're a straight white person, the cops are not on the victim's side. Worst case scenario, you will get someone killed.

A lot of cities have alternatives. Research and know those way in advance of a crisis.

Don't Call The Police - An online directory of local resources available as alternatives to contacting local law enforcement or calling 911.

[fairymischief-deactivated202502]

If someone is threatening me or my family (man or woman), or hurting a child, or otherwise terrorizing the community or hurting a vulnerable person, I'm 100% going to call the cops regardless of what race they are or if they identify as "queer." 🤡 Spare us the "don't call the cops on the extra SPECIAL people" bit.

[knightingael]

Uh-huh. Interesting way to hijack an ACAB post. "Last people to call" means exactly what I said. There are situations and places where you have to call them. But a fuckton of white people act like the cops are go-to mediators for any emergency or for everyday disagreements. "Terrorizing the community." Fuck off. This post is about POC and queer people in crisis. Hence why I linked a resource aimed towards non-white, non-hetero victims. Your mind went to instances where they're the perpetrators. I wonder why.

Odds are, if you encounter someone who isn't white/hetero in a crisis, e.g. sexual assault, domestic abuse, or mental health, they don't want you to call the cops unless there is clear and present threat to their life. Because the cops themselves constitute a very real danger, and at best will often dismiss non-white or queer victims. Calling the cops on your own actual emergency situations is fine if you're white and hetero. Congrats on winning the lottery and having institutions exist to prioritize your rights over others'. But don't fucking call the cops on a situation if a) there is no absolute need for them, and b) there are victims or non-aggressors involved who would not be treated fairly by the cops. Especially not when there are alternative resources you can use.

White heteros are the actual "special people" who have the privilege of not having to fear cops. The rest of us have to take measures to protect ourselves from people, like you, who hear about queer people or POC in crises and immediately assume, despite context to the contrary, that we're talking about violent people who need to be violently countered. Thanks for proving my point.

[knightingael]

Reminder that ACAB means don't fucking call the cops (or threaten to call the cops) on POC or queer people. They are the LAST people to consider calling. Mental health crisis? Don't call the cops. Domestic abuse? Don't call the cops. Sexual assault? Don't call the cops. In most scenarios, unless you're a straight white person, the cops are not on the victim's side. Worst case scenario, you will get someone killed.

A lot of cities have alternatives. Research and know those way in advance of a crisis.

Don't Call The Police - An online directory of local resources available as alternatives to contacting local law enforcement or calling 911.

[knightingael]

the harm you cause others will not heal you

First off, I don't "harm" others by having nuanced opinions. Cry more. Second, this is white Christian rhetoric - you know that, right? It's the response of white men and institutions to minorities and women. They want us to be above the harm they've inflicted for centuries. We have every and all right to cause what you perceive as "harm" in defense, or yes, in expressions of aggressive defiance. No one's activism has an obligation to be "nice."

People who are afraid of women and minorities "hurting" them are people who've gotten away with too much for too long, and are now dealing with the slightest amount of pushback. Because what little capacity we have to "harm" them pales in comparison to what's been done to us. It is the disposition of white men and their allies to preach forgiveness and passivity, because they'd be fucked if they ever got a fraction of what they gave.

[knightingael]

Islamist Women of Hamas: Between Feminism and Nationalism

If you're interested in the future of feminism in Palestine, it's a good idea to brush up on Islamist "feminism" (not the preferred term by Islamists but functionally accurate). This paper by Dr. Islah Jad is a pretty good intro to the topic. It's outdated, ~2010, but the historical overview is still good.

[knightingael]

Ppl really need to stop posting GoFundMe's and calling it mutual aid. Passing the same $20 around your community is not mutual aid. Pooling resources means skills, time, labor. It's 100000x better to have the mechanic in your neighborhood help you fix your car than to beg five dollars off fifty strangers to get another stranger to do it. Like fr. Mutual aid is meant to strengthen the bond within communities, address class resource shortages, and deconstruct hierarchies while opting out of capitalism to the best of your ability. And if you don't know a mechanic, you damn well better try to meet one or at least teach yourself how to do basic maintenance.