moss, 30ish, they/them (xe/xem if written, but spoken english x sucks actually) US-based so Iâm probably going to be pretty america-centric, sorry to every other country
 i believe in descriptive language rather than prescriptive and i think terfs are fuckin dumb. i think people can change and also be held accountable, and i think we probably shouldnt build parasocial relationships with people we havenât actually had a conversation with.Â
UH if you do need something tagged, you can ask, but odds arenât great for 100% accuracy.Â
youâre probably not going to enjoy following me if you enjoy a. any sort of cohesive post schedule, b. rigid belief systems, or c. picking fights online
I love that the internet saw people comparing women and other alienated groups of people and went, âtheyâre dating,â and, âthey support each other.â Weâre improving as a society.
Some of these I was able to find specific artists and many people were kind enough to credit the artists and send me their names as well! I found the images provided in facebook group that had no credits, so Iâll be sure to add them onto that post, and if you see any of them on an uncredited posts, inform the op like all of the lovely contributors have for me!
Original Art Credits:
1: Malcom Evans, political cartoonist
9: gigis_lab on Instagram
16: @victoriaskeller (site unknown)
Redraw Credits:
2:Â Alicetrijjet on twitter and instagramÂ
3:Â Â fluffysmolcloud on twitter
4, 9, 15, 16: destineytomoon on twitter and tumblr
5: napstachill on twitter
6: mrs_ponytails (AKA ms pigtails) on twitter
7:Â nomsikka on twitter
8: sortimid on deviantart (â ď¸âźď¸WARNING THIS INCLUDES NUDITY, SEMI-NUDITY, BODY OBJECTIFICATION, FETISHIZATION, AND OTHER GRAPHIC CONTENTâźď¸â ď¸)
10: tokimekiwaku on twitter
11: joanashino on instagram
13: @CinnaBani twitter and tumblr
14: Peachy-Milk-Tea/ on reddit
18: charoitea on twitter and tumblr
Check out these amazing artists! Like and follow their pages to show your support!
Special thanks to bizzarczar, loren-an-or-loren, soup-bastard, guyghoul,
justsomeimpressions, and everythingsamood for sending me artists names and links, or taking matters into their own hands and putting credits on the original!
If there is anyone I did not credit, please inform me and they will be added!
i'm in a group for people who own those 12 foot tall home depot halloween skeletons (i do not own a 12 foot tall home depot skeleton; do not tell on me). the skeleton owners post daily about how they're decorating their skeletons seasonally to circumvent local ordinances about "seasonally appropriate" outdoor dĂŠcor. they post anonymous fan & hate mail neighbors leave in their mailboxes which appear to be 100% genuine and a number of people are regularly posting updates as they pursue litigation against HOAs and entire cities to defend their rights to keep their 12 foot skeletons standing outside year-round. with lawyers and everything. it's a look into the lives of people who have money to spend on things i can never imagine, but i am compelled by their conviction.
you'd like to imagine the outcome of the bitter legal warfare might have knock-on effects that allow people more freedom in self-expression on their own lawns in general, but mainly it seems to be exclusively about the 12 foot tall home depot skeletons. and what a world.
Genuinely, one of the measures that's stopped book banning the most when districts implement it, is having the would-be banners fill out a form that demonstrates if they've read the book or not. Like where they have the summarize the plot and characters and do a mini book report and give a review. It stops them in their tracks. This is why in my high school, every time someone wanted to ban a book it ended up going nowhere. There was one where a conservative student wanted to ban the manga "Legal Drug" for having a marijuana leaf on the cover, then got the form that required them to actually read and either balked, or read it and realized it was not pro-drug at all.
(The other one that reduces book bans even further is "requiring the would-be banner to be affiliated with this actual school in some way, either by being a student, faculty/staff or a parent of a child at the school" because the vast majority of bans are "activists" with no affiliation with the school who just travel around trying to do this in districts all over the U.S. IIRC a few years ago someone crunched the numbers and just 51 parents were responsible for all the book bans that year nationally. 51! In a country with 50 states, with over 300 million people total!)
When I first watched 1x08 a few months ago and Gates turned away to face the door and Flint got that look in his eyes (I mean we all knew what was coming at that point) I just accepted it and went. Well. Sympathies, Hal, but you are in the way. NEEDS MUST. I was obviously sad about the neck snapping and all. But Nassau, baby. Jimmy has a vision. It's disjointed and immature but at least he's trying. Truly did not strike me that there were people out there who did not become ferociously attached to Flint's gore-covered self right from the get-go. You mean to tell me that you saw his shameless theatrical lying, you saw his desperate monomania, you saw him beat a guy to death with his bare hands (and a cannonball) for an audience. And you didn't like him? You saw his utter disdain for every man in sight and then you saw him turn right back around and very sincerely say "They're not animals, Mr. Scott. They're men starved of hope" and you didn't like him? You saw him fall to his knees at Miranda's door. And saw his whole being collapse with relief when she spoke. And you STILL didn't like him? Such is the curious variety of this great and beautiful world
in my post abt tumblr's porn ads I said something like "I don't care much about the fact that I'm seeing porn rather than that we as users can't post it but advertisers can". and a few people have reblogged with tags like "I DO care about seeing porn/I don't want to see it and I shouldn't have to/I also don't care but would love not to flashbang people" all of which are true and fair. but friends, colleagues. I put that line in there to keep swerfs away from the post. it is all too easy for anything which is ostensibly complaining about porn to be dragged into that sphere and lauded as proof that the world is porn addicted and degenerate.
I am a porn creator who considers porn & sex a significant part of my artistic expression. when I say I'm not bothered by seeing porn on dash, I mean ideally I would be seeing much more of it from real people. but even if this wasn't the case, I consider the naked body a neutral object to look at - it doesn't disturb me and I am concerned at the amount of people who seem disturbed at seeing any amount of nudity on their screen.
so let me be more explicit. the problem with the porn ads is not the porn, it's the ads. it's the fact that advertisers can post things that users can't. it's the inability to filter out the content because it is an ad and is not beholden to the same TOS or labelling rules as users are. it's the fact that many of the ads are for AI services, showing AI generated skinny white women (further pushing the needle on the extreme fascistic, white supremacist body image issues people are developing) in lieu of paying real life sex workers.
it's cool and fine that you would prefer not to see explicit porn in your day-to-day life. but you need to know that repeatedly, compulsively reinforcing this desire when I'm trying to talk about a problem of capitalism and censorship of expression does in fact position you nearer to the censors than it does to me and other sex workers.
i can't see my mutual's boobs on tumblr. i also can't see a sex worker's boobs on tumblr. but if Age Of Elf War Gambling Scam wants to show me digital elf titty, i will see those titties seventy times in a row, and if i complain i will be told to buy a paid subscription to tumblr.
porn isn't the problem, consent is. advertisers telling us we can't show our tits OR avoid seeing theirs is an incredibly stupid situation to be in.
When you're unable to solve an IT problem at work, there really is nothing quite like having it escalated all the way up the ladder. With every step, there is a degree of smugness about how real my problem is, and that yes, I was right to have trouble with this.
You can get a minor version of this if one IT person solves it but they spend a bunch of time repeating things youâve already tried and when they eventually solve it itâs by doing something you wanted to try but didnât have the requisite permissions to do
Was in a situation where neither I, nor my boss knew what was causing the problem, so we ended up calling one of the head engineers, and ive never experienced anything quite as validating as the moment where said head engineer, after spending several minutes just staring at the problem, quietly said "what the fuck"
My finest moment of technical triumph was sending an error ticket to a vendor, then quietly troubleshooting it on my end, and then sending them what I thought the solution was likely to be. They disagreed. SIX MONTHS LATER, they came back with the fix and it was exactly what I said it would be originally. I have never and likely will never capture that high again but by god was it sweet.
I love lying to my landlord. âWeâre currently looking at a comparable unit in the area at $[a hundred dollars less than our current rent]/month, so if your offer has any flexibility to come down on the rent, that would help us reach a decision about whether or not to renew our lease hereâ and the comparable unit exists only in my own beautiful mind
Actually, no! And since several people have replied asked for my script for negotiating lower rent, Iâm gonna share that below, as well as the philosophy behind it. Full disclosure that Iâm not a leasing office person or a realtor or god forbid, a landlordâIâm just someone who has been a renter for 10+ years across different states, and I know for a fact that I have saved myself thousands of dollars by successfully negotiating a lower monthly rent on almost every lease Iâve ever signed. (Also, Iâve only ever rented in the U.S., so this advice may not be as applicable elsewhere.)
Step 0: Know Thy Enemy
The key thing to understand about all residential landlords, whether theyâre corporate conglomerates or Just Some Asshole, is that their assetâthe propertyâis a Cinderella carriage that magically turns back into an expensive ass pumpkin of a liability any time itâs sitting empty. The property taxes, insurance, mortgage, HOA fees, and maintenance costs all still come due every month/quarter/year whether they have a tenant to cover it all and then some, or not.Â
Because of this, at the end of the day, their ultimate goal is to fill every unit at all times with someone who will reliably pay the rent on time and in full. And because everything else is secondary to that goalâand because with the exception of Just Some Asshole landlords, the person responding to your emails and writing up your lease paperwork is several degrees of separation removed from the shareholders who profit off your rent moneyâtheyâre almost always willing to negotiate with you. As long as it gets the liability converted into an asset faster or keeps the carriage from turning back into a pumpkin for longer, then in the long run, itâs actually in their best interest to give you a better price.Â
Step 1: Identify Your Leverage
If you understand how supply and demand works, you can figure out how much leverage you have pretty easily. High supply and low demand = you have more leverage, and vice versa. Do they have an âAVAILABLE NOW - MOVE IN TODAYâ sandwich board on the sidewalk or a web banner that says âFirst month freeâ? Does their website and/or Apartments.com show a bunch of currently open listings? Do you already live there and know at least two families on your floor have moved out in the last several months with no one new moving in to replace them? These are all indications that they have more than one unit currently sitting empty, meaning higher supply and lower demand. No sandwich board and a website that just says âcall for availabilityâ? They might just suck at marketing, but more likely, supply is lower and demand is higher.Â
You have the least leverage if youâre a prospective tenant looking to move in somewhere that has a waitlist. They have no reason to offer you a discount if six other people are already in line to pay full price for apartments that arenât even vacant yet (but you can still ask!). You also have no leverage to negotiate if youâve already signed a lease and youâre in the middle of the lease period; you legally agreed to pay $X/month for Y months, so youâre stuck with that until the lease is up.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have the most leverage if youâre a current tenant who has always paid your rent on time and youâre being offered a renewal on your existing lease with higher rent than you're currently paying, especially if they already have some units that have been empty for a while. If you move out, not only is your unit going to sit vacant for at least part of a month, theyâre also probably going to have to put in some work to âturnâ the unit (repainting, professional cleaning, etc) to get it in move-in condition for the next tenant.
All of this means that if you move out, even if they can fleece you out of your security deposit and find a new tenant the very next month, itâs still gonna cost them at least a few thousand dollars to turn that pumpkin back into a carriage again. Theyâre probably willing to come down by $100-$200/month or so on the renewal offer rent if you ask, because they know itâll actually save them money in the long run. Similar situation if youâre a prospective new tenantâif they canât get you or anyone else to sign a lease and move in this month, thatâs $[whatever the monthly rent is] down the drain, and theyâll never get it back. Itâs a perishable item about to spoil.Â
Step 2: Get Their Opening Offer
This is the first number theyâll quote you for the rentâthe sticker price that youâve always just accepted as set in stone. The truth is, theyâve built some buffer into that number. Thereâs almost always some room for them to come down, and depending on your leverage, they will if you ask nicely. But for reasons that baffle me, most people donât!
Step 3: Wait, Research, & Counter
Donât reply to their initial offer right awayâunless thereâs a waitlist (in which case, you have little haggling power anyway), wait a few days. It makes them sweat a bit, and it shows you arenât desperate. The person who is rushing to reply is not the one who has more leverage in the negotiation, and making them wait reminds them of that. In the meantime, use Apartments.com or Zillow to get an idea of what similar units in the same area are currently going for. Then you come up with your counteroffer.
As a general rule, anything more than about 20-25% below their opening offer (or below market rates) will probably just piss them off or make them take you less seriously. But when weâre talking about your monthly rent over the course of a year or two, even a 10% discount adds up to a lot of money!
When I negotiated our original lease for my current place, I also asked for and got a two year lease term instead of the standard one year. But whatever automated calendar event system they use to remind their leasing office staff when itâs time to send out renewal offers didnât get the memo about that, so they mistakenly sent me a renewal offer the following year, meaning I got to see how much they would have jacked up the rent if they couldâve. For that second year of the lease alone, my negotiating saved us $3,000!Â
Step 4: BDE (Big Dick Emailing)Â
Hereâs the tricky part. You need to write an emailâalways negotiate over email if you can, itâs too easy for a salesperson to bowl you over on the phone and anything they say that isnât in writing means nothingâwhich simultaneously makes it sound like you would sign a lease with them in a heartbeat and like you are actively flirting with five other apartment complexes right now who all want you so bad it makes them look stupid, because you are just so sexy and fun and your credit score is eight inches flaccid. You need to make them believe you are both highly motivated and ready to sign on the dotted line and willing to just walk away from the table at any second, but if they could just come down a little bit on that number, youâd delete those other hoesâ numbers forever! Hereâs the rough script I use every time:
â Thank you for [your email/the tour/sending over the offer letter/etc]. I have had a chance to review and consider it. I think [name of apartment complex] would be the perfect fit for me, but I am also exploring and touring other options in the area, including a comparable unit nearby at $[a little below your counteroffer number]/month.
If we could come down to $[your counteroffer number]/month on the rent, I would be prepared to sign the lease today. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks! "
Step 6: You Win Either Way
Sometimes they really do just accept your counteroffer without question and send you over a revised lease to sign. (When this happens, I make a note for next time that my counteroffer was probably too high and I shouldâve asked for more!) More often, they get approval from The Powers That Be and come back with a number thatâs higher than your counteroffer but lower than their initial offer. Assuming I can afford it, I always accept this offer; youâve achieved your goal of saving yourself money from sticker price, and theyâre likely to lose patience if they have to keep going around and around with you. And sometimes (though only very rarely), they may come back and say the price is firmâin which case, guess what? You still didnât lose anything by asking!
THIS!!! Exactly this. I didnât mention it above because I just couldnât fit it neatly anywhere, but once while negotiating a lease renewal, I got as far as receiving their counteroffer, which was basically âprice firm :(â, but then life happened, so I forgot to respond and accept. The email sat in my inbox for a week. And then, completely unprompted, they magically replied again saying, âactually, nvm, howâs $[number that is lower than our opening offer] sound?â
To them, it looked like I was staring them down cold as ice like
I was literally just busy with other stuff! and they were sweating!!! BULLETS!!!
