A Place To Hide Away

Meta and X can pound sand filled with scorpions .

[mapsontheweb]

Adult Transgender Legislative Risk Map, November 2024

[canisbeta]

This map is made and maintained by transgender journalist Erin Reed. She read all 550 bills targeting trans people in America in 2023 and 586 so far in 2024 and she scores state safety based on proposed and enacted legislation. She regularly updates the map (including explanations of recent legislative changes) on her site. She has a separate map for trans youth (which: warning, is even more scary), since a lot of policies target minors specifically.

It’s depressing as all hell, but Erin does great work and I’ve been using her maps to plan my career and vacations for years. It’s helped me figure out where to apply for grad school, and helps me keep track of what states I cannot do a layover in while flying because of bathroom bills.

[depsidase]

[karlovycross]

⋆｡°✩

[consecuences]

[meeravandaseera]

According to folklore, using an "artificial" mermaid tail is still considered to be part of a true mermaid.

Edited "Sea Weeds" painting by Arthur Prince Spear, public domain, 1927.

If anyone doubts whether they're a "real" mermaid with just a fabric or a silicone tail, (at least I did when I used to swim with one) it actually could be considered to be a true tail of a mermaid if you look at the good ol' folklore!

Take the fin-wives of the Orcadian finfolk from the Orkney Islands. According to Orknejar, some say their tails were part of their body. Anyhow, others related that their fishtails are said to be a garment that only gathered together to form a tail-like end and that covered the entirety of their legs. On land, a fin-maiden's tail skirt would turn into a "beautiful embroidered petticoat".

Of course, remember the selkies who wore their sealskins in the sea and came on land to take them off.

According to the folk-tale "The-maid-of-the-wave", collected by Donald A. Mackenzie in his "Scottish Wonder Tales from Myth and Legend", the Scottish half-grilse (young salmon) mermaid called maid-of-the-wave, maid-of-the-sea or ceasg also had a large, bright salmon skin covering that she discarded ashore and wore only in the sea again. As it's mentioned in the tale, the maidens-of-the-waves also wore sea-blue garments ashore instead of their salmon skins.

The "Penguin Book of Mermaids" shares the lore of the karukayn, a mermaid from the belief of the Gurindji people in the Northern Territory of Australia. Those freshwater-maidens also have fishtails that they can take off and wear again once they go back into the waters.

According to "Water-beings in Shetlandic Folk-Lore, as remembered by Shetlanders in British Columbia" by James Teit, the mar-folk from the Shetland islands also had fish-like coverings for their legs which they discarded in their homes and when they went ashore.

The most common motif is that a mortal steals a waterperson's skin or hat (as found in the Irish merrows) to return back to the water. Without their skin or whatever they need, they cannot go back to the water, obviously. Mar-folk of the Shetland islands could not travel the seas without their fish-like covering, too. The aforementioned water-wife motif is even present in Australia, far away from Europe. In the legend related in the Penguin Book of Mermaids, a karukayn is taken by a man to be his wife as she had her tail smoked off. Like almost all folk-tales of the selkies etc, the karukayn returned back to the water later on.

Bloop, that shell-tacular lore is shrimply as vast as our oceans...

This only included some of the waterpeople who were capable of removing their tails. Obviously, there happen to be more in the sea.

I had originally published this on reddit via r/mermaid: https://www.reddit.com/r/mermaid/comments/1emp4ay/according_to_folklore_using_an_artificial_mermaid/

[softsquishymedusa]

So long TikTok and thanks for all the fish!

[notbecauseofvictories]

Don't Go Talking Classics Out of School: Medusa

by now, most of you have probably seen this post about how “Athena gifted Medusa with ugliness and the power to turn men to stone as a way of protecting her from further violations of her person…As the original myth tells it, she lived in solitude because she did not wish to be around men after what Poseidon had done. And Athena gave her the power to never be at the mercy of a male again”

In addition, it makes some claims about how the image of Medusa’s head was found on the lintel of women’s shelters, and it was patriarchal Rome that subverted this myth into the one of rape and victim-blaming and turned her ugliness into something shameful.

….EXCEPT REALLY NOT

first let me say, I am all for reinterpreting and retelling Greek myths! People have been doing it down the ages, and I love the Romantic fixation on Prometheus and Freud’s fetish for Oedipus and tumblr’s fascination with Persephone/Hades. And I am definitely all for reclaiming stories that have been used to shame and silence women.

But I am also allergic to those retellings being retroactively fitted back into their sexist framework. On top of this being just plain old revisionist history, it does a disservice to why we needed to retell it in the first place.

Medusa was (probably) not natively a feminist heroine and her head was not hung above doorways of women’s shelters (not sure if Classical Greece had anything recognizable women’s shelters, my research hasn’t turned up anything.) Ancient Rome is not automatically more patriarchal than Ancient Greece, because Greece was pretty damn gross in a lot of ways and their myths are not exempt from that.

Let’s unpack the history of Medusa, shall we?

[cut for length and excessive sourcing]

Keep reading

[softsquishymedusa]

So...I’ve been seeing A LOT of ppl on social media coming out and saying that the earliest myths of Medusa actually painted her in the light of victim with Athena ‘blessing’ her rather than ‘cursing’ her for being raped in Athena’s temple. Also, these same people are claiming that Medusa’s image was actually used on the entrances of women’s shelters and safe spaces meant specifically for women. 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the idea that ancient Greece and Rome weren’t sooo horrible as to have one famous monsters to be the victim of victim blaming on supernatural proportions. The added depth that Athena, the goddess of justice, gave Medusa the tools to protect herself from even all powerful gods is deep and oh so satisfying for women’s empowerment. 

But, I kept coming across the same problem. 

No sources.  This chick’s article pops up in google. I read it. I eat it up. Kinda of sad, but not surprised by the facts and sources, but hey, we can all agree that Medusa’s image was still a sign of protection- even if it wasn’t as feminist based as people would like to believe.  In modern times, we come to romanticize the monsters and demons from long ago, and Medusa is one of them. 

I don’t see anything wrong with that. If people can rewrite vampires and werewolves as sympathetic heroes, why not Medusa? I for one will still be getting the infamous gorgon as a tattoo on my forearm very soon.  

[cleanpokemonmemes]

I CAN’T THIS IS SO GOOD

[friendraichu]

you've heard of surprised pikachu, now get ready for distressed raichu

[cleanpokemonmemes]

The world isn’t ready for distressed Raichu but here it is anyway

[softsquishymedusa]

If this doesn’t become the new rapidly used meme, I quit 

[soracities]

“To love someone else is easy, but to love what you are, the thing that is yourself, is just as if you were embracing a glowing, red-hot iron; it burns into you and that is very painful. Therefore, to love somebody else in the first place is always an escape which we all hope for, and we all enjoy it when we are capable of it. But in the long run, it comes back on us. You cannot stay away from yourself forever. You have to return, have to come to that experiment, to know whether you really can love. That is the question - whether you can love yourself. And that will be the test.”

— Carl Jung (via macrolit)

[softsquishymedusa]

Can we start a discussion on the ‘women are refrigerators’ trope? And maybe even the ‘sexy lamp’ trope? 

Currently outlining a sci-fi novel and I’ve been struggling with a particular plot point so it doesn’t fall into this exact trope. A little background: the protagonist is a gender-bent version of the damsel in distress and is literally helpless to anything that happens to him. The love interest was originally going to be attacked with him being helpless to stop it, but then I realized in horror that I just stuffed my heroine in the fridge before I even started the first draft! I wanted this particular scene to depict that the heroine is strong and, even though she doesn’t look like it, a capable fighter. The hero sees this, and doesn’t understand why he wanted to help her in the first place. (he has been a captive for decades and sees anyone on the other side of his cell an enemy). Sadly, this just proves the fridge theory. I was going to put the heroine through a violent conflict solely for the hero to progress his own inner conflict arc of not trusting another living being to slowly realizing that not every being on the other side of the glass is a monster trying to hurt him. Then I got to thinking...is it just as wrong to be technically having my hero as almost being a lamp through most of the plot? Just because the genders are swapped, does it make it any better to use it as a literary device so to speak?

I thought it was an interesting take at first; to have the heroine save the hero, and turn all the tropes that women in fiction have been put through time and time again. But now I have my doubts...and was wondering if anyone who loves to write, or lurks the deep recesses of Kindle, Nook, and even Wattpad would love to give their opinion.

Also I would like to note that my revision of the scene would be to have the heroine not be a victim at all, but a savior to  a character even more vulnerable than the hero is currently. Possibly some faceless henchman bullying/abusing another prisoner...but then I’m not sure if I’m stuffing that secondary character in the fridge as well (no killing; just violence) just for the benefit of not putting the heroine in there...   

[swan2swan]

How to kill a Female Character without Fridging Her:

–Make her death be her decision, not because of some spur-of-the-moment reaction or emotional bond with a man, but because she’s thought it through and has deemed this path to be the one she wishes to follow (it can EVEN BE for a man, but there’s a lot to be said for a woman shoving the Hero down the passageway so that he can survive while she fights off an army alone, as opposed to leaping in front of a bullet or a sword for him)

–Make her death be the logical endpoint for her journey as a character; she argued “I don’t want to watch people hurt, I want to fight”, she dies as a warrior. She chooses to go to medical school and fight diseases, she dies exposing herself to a disease so others can study her. She’s spent her life running away from danger, she finally chooses to face death readily and willingly. 

–Focus on her lady friends and their reactions, the men who didn’t have romantic interests or a need to protect her, the ones who relied upon her who now need to face the world alone, without her teachings or protection. Be careful not to make her death the trigger for their development, but rather, make it clear what her absence is going to do. If she had her finger stuck in a dam to keep the water from pouring in, what happens now that she’s gone? Does someone else stand there? Do people evacuate the city? What are the consequences of her absence beyond emotional trauma and revenge?

–Just kill her. Have her die like a soldier. One bullet, one explosion, she’s dead, the heroes move on because there’s nothing else to do, they deal with something else. Minimal drama. Minimal angst. Turn the eyes from “Boohoo she’s dead” to “We need to keep moving” as fast as possible. 

–Make sure you’ve clarified all of her attachments outside of her love interests, and her goals, focus on her feelings, acknowledge the relationships she’s built with other people to make her absence more noticeable, and to gain a full perspective on what happens when she’s gone.

–Kill her like you would kill a man. Think of any famous man-death scene (”Clever girl”, “Fly you fools”, “There is another Skywalker”, “I don’t know how much longer I can hold this”, “Tell your sister you were right”, “Take her to the moon for me”), and just do that, put it on a level with that, and there you go.

[softsquishymedusa]

relogging for references later!

[uncoveryourjoy]

15 ways people in your life show they care about you

This is for all you survivors doubting your friends or partners love you, or have a tricky time feeling comfortable in relationships. Any of these are signs that someone you know truly cares about you. <3 

They respond to your messages and keep the conversation going (most of the time!)

They invite you out with them

They randomly ask how you’re doing

They’ll stop and talk for a bit if they see you in the street (and they’re not in a rush to get somewhere)

They remember your triggers

They smile when they make you laugh

They encourage you to go after the goals you set

They’re okay with you canceling plans cause your sick or something came up

They want to get to know other important people in your life

They say they love and care about you

They’ll send you memes for inside jokes or if they’re about you

They end up hanging out longer than they planned for

They’ll hang out even when you’re cooking or working, like hanging out in silence

They update you on their own life

They’ll set boundaries with you (boundaries mean they care enough about the relationship to want to protect it)

please reblog for all the other doubting souls who need this message today~

[thoselovelythings]

[thoselovelythings]

[thelibraperspective]

Your three identities

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐓 

The outermost shell. An identity that manifests externally in new surroundings.

physical appearances  

body language 

first impressions

demeanor

Energy of the rising sign is most evident in scenarios with strangers or new acquaintances, or in new environments. Our ascendant is the first impression we give others. It embodies how we act when cautious of our behavior and how others may perceive our behavior. It answers the questions; “how do I feel should I act? How do want to be seen? How do I portray myself to people who don’t know me?” The ascendant is our default “mask” we wear throughout our lives. It is an impression we send others, cautiously or not, and not necessarily indicative of the person we are deep down.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍:

 The middle shell. An identity that manifests externally in familiar surroundings.

self esteem 

social relevance 

ego

status amongst others

The sun deals with interactions amongst people we see everyday or are acquainted with. The sun energy is about taking in your interactions with others and reflecting it unto our own behavior. This is where social energy can be harnessed. The sun identity is largely dependent on how you are influenced by others. It asks the questions; “How do I respond to a life of changing stimuli? How assertive am I? What kind of people do I surround myself with? ” Because humans are social creatures, the sun has a large influence on our identity. Our sun identity is usually most identifiable. Many times we feel most connected to this identity. It is responsible for a great deal of our behavior.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍: 

The core. An identity that manifests internally and within oneself.

mood

instinct

pride

emotional dependence

The moon has the most power over us when we are alone. Our moon embodies the person we are when we are separated from other’s influence. It is the person we are when left alone with our thoughts, anxieties, and wishes. It controls how dependent we feel on others and how much power our emotions have on our behaviors, decisions, and mood. It answers the questions; “how often does my mood fluctuate? What do I need to feel emotionally satisfied? How do I handle trauma and grieving? “What kind of things do I crave and long for?”

[pastelparrotlet]

It’s really thought-provoking to consider your foremothers, like the ones whose names we will never know, hundreds and hundreds and even thousands of years ago. 

What did my great-to-the-nth-power grandmother enjoy doing in the 13th century? Maybe she enjoyed baking bread for her children and telling them stories her mother used to tell her.

Maybe my biblical times greeeeeeeaaaaat grandma liked to watch fishing boats.  My 200 AD foremother could have heard of the power of Rome and dreamt of moving there and starting a business.  My early hominid foremother could have liked picking wildflowers.

I know things weren’t fantastic for women in the early days of mankind, but there must have been moments of enjoyment and love and pleasure in being alive and I think to honor their lives (that got us here to this point in time) it’s important to remember that they were individuals who had unique personalities and not just generic ‘ancestors’.

[piya-re]

This is so beautiful 😭😭😭 I’m actually tearing up

[rosewaterdoll]

🐚 Seashell Correspondence (masterpost!) 🐚

This is my near completed masterpost of shells which I tried listing up some common and uncommon shells for the past few days! I might add more shell info in the future💕

Disclaimer: This list is of associations collected from various sources around the internet and a mix of my personal ones!

     ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧      ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿       ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Abalone: love, healing, prosperity, luck, wealth, balance, peace, cleansing, meditation, psychic abilities, self-love, feminine energies, earth + water element

Angel’s Wing: determination, freedom, angelic energies, positive spiritual guidance, protection, aid in receiving and sending energies, air element

Auger: fertility, strength, courage, power, masculine energies, fire element

Ark Shell: safety, protection, finding strength in the outer world 

Bear’s paw: power, strength, vitality, nurturing, protection, warmth, feminine + masculine energies, earth + fire element 

(Banded) Tulip Shell: binding, friendships, relationships, social life, water element

Bonnet Shell: secrecy, the unknown, protection, mystery, trust, beauty, air element

Button Shell: connections, gatherings, friendships, spirituality, divination, air element

Bubble Shell: inspiration, creativity, happiness, curiosity, wished, intuitions, cleansing, psychic abilities, divination, air element 

Carrier Shell: overcoming shyness, helps getting out of your shell, courage, protection, strength, escaping from negative thoughts

Cat’s eye Shell:  protection against jealousy, gossips and negative energies

Cerith Shell: sexuality, fertility, masculine energies, fire element

Clam: purification, love, friendships, abundance, communication, healing, stability, vitality, protection, protecting emotions, truth, balance, peace, grounding, feminine energies, water element

Cockle: love, friendship, relationships, emotions, centering, gateway to a new life, new beginnings, feminine energies, water element

Conch: love, beauty, friendship, communication, feminine energies, truth, art , beauty, clarity, freedom grace, movement, speech, spirituality, strength summoning, trust, truth , vanity, feminine energies, air element

Cone Shell: protection, control, motivation

Cowrie: abundance, prosperity, fertility, love, wealth, pregnancy, growth, divination, sexuality, protection, beauty, menstruation problems, feminine energies, water element

Crown Conch: associated with crown chakra, meditation, divinity, intention, confidence, intuition

Drupe Shell: reflecting oneself, discover and being comfortable of who you are, self trust, confidence, bravery

Fig Shell: wisdom, creativity, peace, love, luck, fertility, divination, fortune, water + air element

Fighting Conch: aggression, defense, warding/shielding, protection, masculine energies, fire element

Frog Shell: moving forward, starting over, new beginnings

Harp Shell: secrecy, beauty, art, protection, feminine energies, water + air element

Helmet Shell: grounding, protection, strength, honor, masculine energies fire element

(Horned) Turban: protection, faith, trust

Horse Conch: beauty, freedom, grace, strength, progress, water + earth element

Jackknife Clam: (inner) strength, speed, warding, secrecy, masculine energies, air element

Janthina Shell: faith, peace, trust, moving forward, going with the flow, trust in the universe, air element

Jewel Box Clam: beauty, vanity, glamour, passion, (self) love, self care, feminine energies, water element 

Jingle Shells: wealth, prosperity, cleansing, positivity, trust, intuition, earth element

Junonia Shell: strength, beauty, marriage, fertility, childbirth, feminine energies, named after the Roman goddess Juno/Hera (Greek)

Keyhole Limpet: finding a way in/out in a situation, meditation, unblocking psychic/divination abilities  

Limpet: courage, confidence, strength, nurturing, self  trust, peace, endurance

Left-Handed Whelk: making drastic / positive changes in life, transformation, air element

Lightning whelk: awareness, banishing, intent, trust

Lion’s Paw: strength, courage, protection, inner strength, victory, pride, masculine energies, fire element

Miter Shell: peace, spirituality, grounding + centering, calm energies, spiritual introspection, lunar magick, feminine + masculine energies, water element

Moon Shell: purification, peace, protection, meditation, clarity, vitality, rebirth, cleansing + charging energies, psychic awareness, cycles, progress, warding, lunar magick, feminine energies, water element

Murex: protection, defense, binding, masculine energies

Mussels: communications, friendships, luck, health, travel, abundance, dedication, determination, community, life giving stability, enduring life’s hardships, feminine enegies, water element

Nautilus: focus, intentions, clarity, wisdom, growth, peace, endings + beginnings

Olive Shells: healing, hope, love, friendship, hope abundance, opportunity

Oyster: love,luck, good fortune, prosperity, banishing, fertility, (hidden) beauty, vitality, passion, turning pain into beauty (pearls), lunar magick, feminine energies, water element

Oyster Drill: curses, warding/shielding, protection

Pearl Whelk: control, life, progress, trust, strength, manifestation, fire element

Pen Shell: beauty, confidence, creativity, self-love, art, love, inspiration, feminine energies, water element

Periwinkle: grounding, intuitions, focus, friendships

Purple Snail Shell: beauty, divination, psychic abilities, air element

Pyram Shell: determination, hope, strength, air element

Scallops: travel, love, friendships, movement, beauty, grace, change, fertility, peace, healing, travel, spirituality, happiness, communication, patience, diversity, openess, all-purpose shell, feminine energies, water element

Slipper Shell: balance, generosity, transformation, healing, peace, community, helping others, air element

Snail Shell (Garden Snails): fertility, sexuality, travel, protection, home, feminine + masculine energies, earth + water element

Spider Conch: maturity, responsibility, self-defense, maintaining your position, fire element

Spindle Shell: inspiration, meditation, fate, change, karma, destiny, vitality

Strombus Shell: truth, communication, divination, speech, trust, air element

Star Limpet: strength, growth, beauty, art, water element

Sundial Shell: hope, success, victory, the sun, fire element

Thorny Oyster: defense, creativity, intuition, focus, beauty, art

Tooth Shell / Tusk Shell: wealth, business, abundance, strength, aggression, masculine energies fire element

Top Shell: spiral energies, centering, helping energy flow, control, air element

Triton Conch: happiness, intentions, prayers, helps clearing your voice/intentions, use to seek help/attention, air element

Turkey Wing: freedom, happiness, emotions, lifts bad moods, change emotions, water + air element

Venus Comb Murex: vanity, beauty, glamour, love, feminine energies, water element

Wentletrap: creativity, inspiration, art, water element

Whelk: taking control, get a hold of a situation, life changes, good fortune, wisdom, guidance, control, positivity, understanding, spiritual development, air element

Whelk Egg Casing: abundance, new beginnings, faith, luck

Worm Snail Shell: tenacity, hope, life and death, creation, overcoming obstacles, hope, changes, earth element

                          ❤ Note: Please use/collect your shells ethically! ❤

    ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧      ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿       ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧