sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc

was @spoopy-valkyrie for like, 10 years. 34, trans guy. answers to nik. blog title is the addams family credo. vegan AF. socialist AF. PTSD, anxiety, anorexia, bulimia. disabled and broke AF. sex work is work. LGBTQ+ identities are valid. there's no such thing as reverse racism. if you can't be nice, gtfo or be blocked. minors DNI.

[queervegancryptid]

I have until noon on Saturday (May 30) to pay this month's rent.

I did everything I could to avoid having to make this post. My partner and I are working and donating plasma as much as we can, but I don't see how we'll have enough by then to avoid total disaster.

I'm a disabled trans man and survival sex worker. We're both trying to set ourselves up for better in terms of financial stability, and we're optimistic about the long-term future, but right now, we need help. Right now, literally anything helps.

Unfortunately, the only help available near me would require me to wait until they start the eviction process, and even then, resources are stretched so thin, I can't count on any being available for me. So begging on the internet is basically my only option.

If you want pics or video, we can talk. I also have a degree in philosophy and can do proofreading, editing, and writing work. But we need help now. Not in a week or two. Right now. So I'm throwing my donation links out there hoping for the best.

Thanks to anyone who's able to help out, even a little. Literally anything helps at this point. It might be pocket change to you, but for us, it could mean the difference between staying housed and total disaster.

There's no time to find a talent show or battle of the bands contest to enter, or I'd be trying that, too.

cash // pp // vnm

[transmasc-theory]

There are few things more beautiful than seeing the joy of a transmasculine or nonbinary person wearing a binder for the first time. You can just watch their faces glow in a way that says without words that this is the happiest they have ever been in their body. It's like watching someone on the brink of starvation finally get a meal. It's beautiful, and our world deserves more moments like it.

[imjunebitch]

having an actual consistent set of morals in a vibe-based world full of people who say they have a "strong sense of justice" as shorthand for "I get really pissy when I don't get what I want" is kinda exhausting lol

[imjunebitch]

Do You Have Any Idea How Much Meaner I Wish I Could Be

[imjunebitch]

this post seems real self important in retrospect! to be clear, I mess up all the time and do the wrong thing. but I try to operate from a set of morals. I fail obviously. I am human

[ladyshinga]

Monogamous people with dozens of exes and the most horrifying relationship history you've ever heard of in your entire life: "Well I just can't support polyamory, because those relationships never work out"

[ceaseless-rambler]

This is the kind of thing I usually keep to private conversation rather than posting on tumblr, but I am tired and I'm going to talk into the void for a bit here, see if it can make any difference beyond the circle of "people I already know agree with me."

You guys have got to start treating trans guys better. Cis and trans people alike treat us poorly, people who call themselves allies, people who call themselves activists. We face everything from microaggressions to being hate crimed and killed for being trans men. Cis women who would swear up and down that they support us as men still think of us as "AFABs" and will say that to our faces. Cis women who don't support us will beat us up themselves or get cis men to do it for them. A solid chunk of the queer community treats as though being masculine taints us. Those of us who want to medically transition even face issues from those of us who don't! So many people have mentioned this nebulous "trans guy who transitions and then becomes super misogynistic" and yet that's not a type of person I've ever interacted with in my life. I could give specific examples of most of these, but I have no interest in detailing the suffering of myself and my community for the sake of being believed.

And it would be for the sake of being believed, because so few people believe us. Do you have any idea how many times I've seen people claim that transphobia towards trans men is just a side effect of trans misogyny? Or that people don't hate us, they don't care about us? And all the while people go on villainizing us because "well you're a man now and men are bad" or "you're betraying womanhood" or "you're trans and trans people are bad."

I really, really don't want to talk too much about transmisogyny in this, for several reasons, but especially because I'm tired of us and trans women being pitted against each other and I don't want this to come across like I'm comparing us. I do, however, need to point out that it's almost impossible to talk about facing oppression as a trans man without someone showing up to tell us that trans women have it worse. It's not even usually trans women who do this! And it's to the point where myself and so many other transmascs I talk to will preface things that they say with "and I know transfems have it worse" or even "I know this is really about trans women but it hurts me too" and it's. Do you see what you're doing? Do you know how harmful it is for a whole community to have to constantly undercut their oppression so that they don't get shut down because "they don't have it as bad"?

This got longer and a little ventier than I meant for it to, but I am exhausted. Please for the love of god be nice on this post. If you absolutely have to voice disagreement with anything please don't be rude about it. And a disclaimer that that last paragraph was not any sort of commentary on transmisogyny and solely about how people use the concept of it to dismiss trans guys

[quasi-normalcy]

[fairycosmos]

theyre saying you have to go to work again tomorrow even though you just went today

[northirish]

Vote for me and I will make werewolves real

[northirish]

Top scientists wil work hard round the clock to make it a reality

[northirish]

Bottom scientists as well

[bunnywept-deactivated20260201]

it’s just me and the song i choose weekly to play six thousand million times against the world

[sea-salted-wolverine]

I'm telling you; the time allotted for rest and the time allotted for relaxation should not come out of the same bucket.

I would like to do a low key enjoyable activity for my own benefit, but god fucking damn it. I need to sleep. Eyes need to be shut. honk shu mimimi. I do not get to relax because I only ever get to rest.

[dickgraysonsptsd]

i think MORE characters should be rape survivors. i think more characters should be csa survivors. i think more characters should be dv survivors. i think strong and noble and attractive and charming and brilliant characters with indomitable spirits should be survivors. i think the most powerful characters in the world should be survivors. i think characters who are cultural icons should be survivors. i think victims and survivors should see ourselves in the most admirable and beloved characters around! i think we should be protagonists!!!

[dickgraysonsptsd]

#‘it’s so unnecessary’ . okay . god yea this one drives me CRAZY. people will yap all day long about how it's "unnecessary" to make a character a survivor like do you think it was necessary for any of us to be abused or raped irl? was it narratively essential? did it teach the audience an important lesson? why do we, who have to justify our experiences and existences and reactions all the time in real life, also have to justify why we should exist in fiction? people act so repulsed by the thought of us. i've really fully and truly had enough of that. there is nothing so uniquely disgusting or repulsive or unspeakable about our victimhood or our survival that justifies this obsession with keeping the reality of our existence hidden

[dualcasterjay]

"oh but talking about it can be triggering for victims :(((" you know what else is triggering? living in a world that insists that we cannot be open and honest about what happened to us. maybe if we had, oh, i don't know, prominent examples in our cultural stories of people who are victims and are competent and strong it might be easier (for everyone, not just victims) to have the discussions we actually need to have about our trauma.

[stjohnstarling]

I think the battle is long since lost on what the “-coded” suffix means, but I (old movie guy specifically invested in queer coding) seem to be unable to let go of how annoying I find the fuzzy popular use of the term. This is probably a flaw in my character.

[stjohnstarling]

Coding is intentional, it’s a way of communicating indirectly with the audience through a shared language of signs. That’s why it’s called coding, because it’s communicating in code. It isn’t when a thing reminds you of another thing.

[visorforavisor]

I think disability justice would be easier if abled people understood that being disabled is a mixture of all three of

I can’t do that without negative consequences

I can’t do that unless I have support for it

I can’t do that

and that trying to treat one of these as if it’s another one will get you nowhere.

[gahdamnpunk]

American Girl stories were the best tbh

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Dude, read the books, she and her mom freed themselves in Book 1. We don’t disrespect American Girl in this house

[allthefandomss]

Don’t you dare disrespect Addy, or any of my girls for that matter. American Girl used to be legit. Good stories, good dolls, good movies.

[smugkoalas]

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

American Girl stories have always featured the very harsh realities of America through the years. But they’re always presented honestly, yet in ways that kids can understand. They just go to show that you don’t have to live in a perfect time to be a real American girl.

[chaos-in-the-making]

Dont you fucking dare disrespect the American Girls in my house. ESPECIALLY Addy!! That was my first REAL contact with the horrors of slavery, as I read about her father being whipped and sold and her mother escaping with her to freedom, but also how freedom was still a struggle.

A slave doll. Please. Read the books.

[ironwoman359]

Don’t forget Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant who had to deal with balancing her own culture and learning the english language and customs of her classmates, or Kaya (full name Kaya'aton'my, or She Who Arranges Rocks) , the brave but careless girl from the Nez Perce tribe, or Josefina, the Mexican girl learning to be a healer.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or  Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or  Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

These books, these characters, are fantastic pictures into life for girls in America throughout the years, they pull no punches with the horrors that these girls had to face in their different time periods, and in many cases I learned more history from these series than social studies at school. And that’s without even mentioning the “girl of the year” series where characters are created in the modern world to help girls deal with issues like friend problems, moving, or bullying. We do NOT disrespect American Girl in this house.

[razzleberryjam]

American Girl is probably going to be the only exposure young girls are going to get to history from a female perspective. This is actually kind of important considering that in history classes we dont really get that exposure. We dont hear about what women felt and endured during these time periods cause schools are too busy teaching us about what happened from the male perspective, which is not unimportant, but we need both. Girls need both.

[star-linedsoul]

These books were such a crucial part of my childhood and shaped my love of history, which still ensures today. These books can be a young girl’s first lessons in diversity and cultural awareness (hopefully burying that insensitive “we’re all Americans” tripe) and looking at history from more perspectives than just that taught in school. They also are an example of how women have ALWAYS been part of history, which some people would rather us not believe.

I think Kit and Kaya were the newest American Girls when I started “aging out” of the books, but hearing about some of these kinda makes me want to revisit them!

[breezeinmonochromenight]

I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you know what?

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

[physicsandfandoms]

And they departed from the norm in Kaya’s doll to fit her culture! The other dolls all show their teeth, and Kaya does not because that is considered rude in the Nez Perce culture!

It is absolutely true that these books covered the stuff in history that was absent from our history books. I still distinctly remember reading about Addy being forced to eat bugs she missed on tobacco plants, and that started me out from a different perspective and made it easier for me to know to reject the sanitized version of the slave trade we’re taught in school. And these books are targeted at ages 8+, which is a pretty critical time for developing your own thinking and morals.

[lunacorva]

Reblogging for general awesome

[hey-marlie]

when i was in 3rd grade i was reading the Meet Addy book at school & a couple boys made fun of me for reading a “doll book” - my teacher overheard & started reading Meet Addy to the class after every recess. everyone became extremely invested & by the end of the year we had read the entire collection of Addy books & did a presentation on the civil war at the end of the year that we all presented to the class one by one.

i think back on this & realize that as third graders we were talking about how awful slavery was & because we were simply innocent kids without any societal or institutional influence yet, all of us could kept saying “why would you treat a HUMAN like that ?!” this one girl for her birthday invited all of us for her party & she got the Addy doll - every single one of us (boys included) held her & was in awe of this doll - it was such a touching experience.

i went back home about a year ago & ran into my third grade teacher in the grocery store. she said that year opened up a whole new teaching structure for her. she now reads american girl stories to her students starting day one of class every day to calm them down after recess & she’ll get through maybe four or five sets of books a year. she has the dolls in the room with packets on information from the doll’s time period that her students can “check out” to take home for weekends to care for them.

we oftentimes overlook how powerful toys can be in influencing young children & american girl honestly knew that kids could read intense moments in history & synthesize the issues to learn how to be a better person. my grandma bought me my first doll, molly, when i was only six & the dolls became a huge part of my childhood. when i turned 21 a couple years ago - we were living in minneapolis - she took me to have lunch for my birthday at the american doll place in the mall of america & bought me the Addy doll for my birthday. it was such a powerful moment i hasn’t expected.

i’ve since gotten rid of majority of my childhood toys, but i still have every single one of my dolls & all the books that i plan on gifting to my future children.

[iamthecutestofborg]

I’m white and my first real introduction to slavery and the underground railroad was Addy. She was a young girl like me I could connect to and care about her story. American Girl does a great job of making history relevant to kids.

[boldlygoing-nowhere]

Also American Girl sells all sorts of books unrelated to the dolls. The Care and Keeping of You books were super important as I started puberty and were the most comprehensive, non judgemental account of what was going to happen.

They also have “the smart girls guide” series which covers topics like crushes, worry, middle school, drama and gossip, sports, friendship, the digital world, communication, money, confidence, etc.

[iamthecutestofborg]

Oh I had those too and I loved them!

[fishfrommars]

I want to say I think there was an American Girl Doll magazine series that came out, but don’t quote me on that. there were lots of helpful girl guides that used the American girls as examples for doing good or learning lessons or trying to understand why girls did what they did

I learned a lot of my core beliefs from these girls.

I remember being very invested in Molly, Addy, and Kaya. Mostly cuz I look like Molly, and the other two had a lot of information on two of my favorite time periods. But I owe a lot of my personality to these lovvely girls

[dragonqueenzoyaa]

yo don’t forget my girl Caroline. Her father was captured by the British during the war of 1812 and she basically learned how to sail and rescued him herself.

[janeslandrys]

omg yeah i love caroline

[beggars-opera]

I can confirm that they really do their research - during the creation of Caroline the company called a museum I was associated with and quizzed them extensively about what sort of food kids would have eaten at the turn of the 19th century.

[kurganfilledwithbearbones]

When i was like ten I wrote a letter to the American Girl magazine saying that the girls in their magazine were all really skinny and it made me, a chonk, really sad because it was showing that I couldn’t wear any of the outfits they suggested, and I got a personal letter back from the editor apologizing for making me feel that way and saying they would work on that. Dunno if they actually did, i can’t remember, but they did promptly personally respond to a letter about something that was not exactly on the radar for girl’s media in fucking 2002. So there’s that.

[torchlake]

I’m happy to report that the messages from American Girl have only gotten better in recent years.

These are from one of their latest books, A Smart Girl’s Guide to Body Image:

They got a lot of flak from conservative parents for this and they did. not. back. down.

Their newest historical doll, Claudie, is a black girl growing up in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her story is about Black artists thriving, and making a safe, beautiful place for themselves in a society that tries to reject them. It teaches about the NAACP’s protests against lynchings, in ways kids can understand, but there’s also so much Black joy and creativity showcased in her story.

Another historical doll, Melody, is growing up in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. She faces the struggles and triumphs of attending a newly integrated school, and learns about the bombing of a Black church in Alabama that killed four little girls her age. Her stories show how black people found support and community within the church, as well as music— she loves to sing! If you have a free hour, I highly recommend watching her special on Amazon (free with prime). It stars Caila Marsai Martin from Blackish and it will make you weep.

The girl of the year for 2022, Corinne, is Asian, and her story touches on the issues of anti-Asian hate in the wake of covid. When conservative parents threw a fit about this, American Girl went ahead and made the girl of the year for 2023 Asian, too.

Any of their dolls can be customized with assistive devices like hearing aids, service dogs, and wheelchairs. They also have bald dolls, to include stories about girls battling cancer or alopecia. And it’s not just girl dolls— they have boy dolls now, too! And dolls with no gender assigned to them! People complained that they couldn’t find any dolls in the Just Like Me line that looked like them, so they now give people the ability to create their own custom doll, with tons of different options.

I’m not claiming American Girl as a company is perfect, but I am saying they’re important. Girl perspectives, girl stories, and girl communities are IMPORTANT. If there are kids in your life who would benefit from these stories, or if you’d like to read them yourself, you can find any American Girl book for pretty much dirt cheap on eBay, and libraries usually stock tons of them!

[eclecticmess]

I used to sell American Girl dolls at a store I worked at and I honestly didnt know how deep it went or how much love these dolls had. And I learned a little as I sold them, but this post is lovely. I have even more respect for the dolls and the creators of them than I did before. I’m really proud of them for standing their ground on actual issues that people face. I can see why they’re so beloved.

[itsyabroagain-blog]

There will come a day when

Everyone will use your correct pronouns

No one will use your deadname

You will be able to be fully, unabashedly yourself

If for no other reason,

Stay alive for that day

[queervegancryptid]

I am going to lose my fucking mind.

Really, I don't think it's too much to ask to be allowed some time on a semi-regular basis to try to think about anything -- ANYTHING -- aside from nonsense (the bad kind) and other unpleasant things.

But lately that's literally impossible. It's gotten to the point where I'm a little afraid anytime I feel at all good, because right on schedule, something awful happens that I have to deal with. I know it's not because I feel something positive or enjoyable, in any genuine causal sense. But I guess I've been conditioned to expect bad things to come with anything remotely good, and lately, that's a lot of what's been happening. Right on schedule.

It doesn't help that this is a horrible time of year for me because of how everything went down when my mom died. It doesn't help that I'm about to turn 37 and I feel like I've never had an opportunity to actually fucking LIVE my life and feel like I won't anytime soon. It doesn't help that my partner is out of town and so stressed that I feel like I need to maintain my composure around him just to not burden him even further.

And after all that and SO MUCH MORE lately... My mother-in-law texts me at 3:30 AM. She's in the hospital. So I spend the next hour dealing with that.

Never mind that she thinks I'm a cis woman (I'm a trans man) and that she's said to my face that she doesn't think queer and trans people should even exist because we're an affront to God. So I gotta make nice with her in general, and now I have to help take care of her. When she thinks people like me should be locked up and worse.

I fucking can't. I just can't. Something has to fucking change, and I mean soon. Or I'm pretty sure my head will literally explode.

Happy fucking pride to me.

[herpsandbirds]