#argumentative essay

[malwareproductions]

@yay-bunnies-zone

hello!! decided to argue my claim in another post so that i can format it a bit better.

while many people may argue that misandry isn't real in its entirety, i would say that in some cases, it is - but only when in correspondence with other axis of oppression. it's not an issue of whether misandry is real or not, but what axis it lies upon versus which axis it doesn't.

according to a study analyzed by the University of Albany, "By age 23, 49 percent of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic males and 38 percent of white males have been arrested." In comparison to the statistics found for women of these groups, "By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 16 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively," the numbers are staggering. It indicates not only a specific bias towards people of color, but one aimed towards men of color specifically. These statistics are further supported by a study run by sciencedirect, where it's stated that "We find that Black men have the highest levels of violent victimization with the lowest likelihood of evading victimization. Black women experience especially high rates of chronic victimization that decreases over time,(...)". It's evident that there's a uniquely high bias against black men in the justice system - a form of misandry that becomes prevalent when it's intersected with racism. This intersection has been dubbed andronoir in a research paper by Chaaz C Quigley.

Additionally, a study done by the Williams institute showed that in terms of violent crimes, there were no differences between transgender women and transgender men. The study is quoted to have found that "Transgender women and men had higher rates of violent victimization (86.1 and 107.5 per 1,000 people, respectively) than cisgender women and men (23.7 and 19.8 per 1,000 people, respectively)," meaning that in terms of violence transgender men actually were reported to have faced more violent victimization in comparison to their peers. This is further supported by a study poll done by the Jama network, having found in their data that "In a Poisson regression model controlling for age, cisgender men had lower risk (AIRR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.7), transgender men had greater risk (AIRR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.7-5.1), and nonbinary individuals had greater risk (AIRR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.1-5.2) of past-year sexual violence relative to cisgender women (eTable 3 in Supplement 1)." Trans women were reported to have relatively similar rates of sexual violence to cisgender women in these studies. The reported discrepancy between trans men's rates of victimization comparable to other groups has been dubbed transmisandry, or transandrophobia - not as a reflection of transmisogyny, but as a gender-specific term for the oppression and violence trans men face.

now, i do acknowledge that there are some flaws within these research articles - the study run by the Jama network does underrepresent trans women in their study, with only 35 participants compared to trans men's 52. additionally, the study also acknowledges that there may be some missed data when we bring ethnic violence into the mix, as they have stated that "For example, transgender and nonbinary individuals who belong to minoritized racial and ethnic groups face disproportionate risk of violence and are at greatest risk of fatal violence,24 but we could not assess this in our study due to small cell sizes." There are also many arguments to be made that trans women do face unique challenges that trans men do not, such as their hypervisibility within anti-trans news, their complete ban from the Olympics, and the study done by the Human Rights Campaign revealing that trans women make 60 cents to the average worker's dollar, 10 cents less than trans men's 70 cents. Transmisogyny is a very real, very important societal issue to address.

However, these unique struggles also go the other way. Testosterone is a schedule 3 drug according to the DEA, making it much more difficult to access than estrogen and placing all trans men who use it on a governmental list. Not only that, but abortion bans and medical discrimination affect trans men disproportionately compared to cis women- a study done by the Williams Institute explains that "Transgender men are less likely to obtain regular Pap tests compared to cisgender women, and the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 13% of transgender respondents had been denied coverage by a health insurance company for supposedly gender-specific services such as Pap smears and mammograms." The effects of abortion bans and discrimination in reproductive healthcare on transgender men and nonbinary people are vastly understudied, and there are likely more extensive issues beneath the surface that have gone unnoticed.

There are so many examples of how misandry becomes realized within varied axis of oppression, I don't have time to get into each one. It exists within disability, within religion, within sexuality, within socioeconomic status. Deeming misandry "not real" purely because it does not stand on its own is erasing the experiences of millions of marginalized men, and how their masculinity is inherently tied to the oppression they face. The truth is, it doesn't fit neatly into either box of "real" versus "not real" - it sits in a gray area and only becomes visible when it is intertwined with other forms of discrimination, but there are so many places where it intersects that it ends up in a perpetual in-between zone on how "real" it is. It's a matter of nuance - of understanding that sometimes things are not just one or the other, but somewhere in between.

thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[yourpalsalamander]

IMPORTANT.

Opinion on Sharks.

I think they're dangerous.

I think they're scary.

I think they're ok!

Voting ended onDec 3, 2024

share this as much as possible, @ people, do anything- I'm trying to write an essay and I wanna see personal statistics.

Please be as honest as possible with your response, if you have another opinion please share it in a reblog or comment.

EDIT: Shark lovers I see you, I am one of you, but PLEASE remember that this is for a question about if you fear sharks, consider sharks directly dangerous, or consider sharks safe to you 💔

[swiftyswithin]

sighhh will i get shot for this??? idk

I don't think i've ever talked about my liking of Nia and Rebecca in the series period. Ive never mentioned what i think of them, and how they behave. this is a VERY passionate rant post about how they're written but because im such an opinionated person, its my interpretation of them.

and don't get me wrong, i love both of them!! you can have a good character but have them be poorly wortten :D

TLDR; Swithin rants about their opinions of the writing of Nia and Rebecca whilst throwing a few other engines under the bus. Keep in mind, this is not me defending the fact that henry and edward shouldn't have been replaced, this is me ranting about how poorly written and stereotypical they are to female roles.

tw; opinions.

I do not believe Nia and Rebecca are well written female characters within the cgi series. Both of them remind me of the most stereotypical female characters one can develop in a short period, and at this point are just filler characters for a show. While I enjoy them as characters, they’re both just stereotypical. Rebecca is the happy go lucky careless female lead, and Nia is a Mary Sue, but at the same time the “we need to make the equality write off” characters. Most importantly, neither of them have insecurities that others have. My point here is that Nia and Rebecca are poorly written characters, they both lack depth, and erase some forms of representation, but this doesn’t make them bad characters.

In addition to these topics, I'll be inserting my opinions of Percy because he's my absolute favorite character in the show, and how his representation of being misunderstood and mishearing got turned into him being portrayed as an incompetent child.

Let's start with Nia. I have a lot to say about her. Nia lacks depth in the way of who she is. She’s super similar to Gordon, has poor communication with several characters, and doesn’t have a purpose besides being there. I say she and Gordon are very similar because they’re both proud, stubborn, and intelligent engines. While that might be all they have in common, their differences are very obvious. Gordon has insecurities that are plainly obvious, he hates being seen as less, he hates not being seen as good, and he hates being compared to his brother. Nia? Nothing. She is a poorly written equality character just so Mattel could make a mark in the world and proudly say “We have equality” while erasing a well beloved character, Edward. I would love to see Nia be more insecure about how she looks in a similar way to James would, or be worried about something as small as how her wheels look, but Mattel doesn’t give us that.

Rebecca’s turn now, I have a lot to say here as well. I will say this once, her character is a standard happy go lucky but careless character. She loves her job but messes up trying to make a great first impression by leaving stations early to get on time to places and in the end, it messes up the time table, confuses passengers, and even upsets the Flying Scotsman. The same thing happened with her like it did to Nia- Rebecca also lacks a sense of flaws. Her class was prone to wheel slippage, so why can't she be self-conscious about something as simple as that (Thank you Unlucky Tug, great insecurity to give a character!) be implemented into the storyline. She lacks depth by being a walking stereotype of a character.

And while you could make the argument that it's a kids show, a kids show still needs to have depth. In the end, a character not having flaws makes them lack representation. For example, James and being vain. His vanity comes from a place of fear, hurt, and self consciousness. In a way, he's worried if he doesn't look good enough, he’ll be scrapped. He's over confident, yes, but once he realizes he'll do something that risks ruining his paint, he gets sloppy and careless just to get the task over with. He wants to be comparable with Henry and Gordon. On the topic of those two, Gordon represents a need for schedule and repetition, which was EXACTLY what Gordon was built for. He's the prototype for the A1 Pacific, he was built for repeating runs, testing until he breaks. It's the big downfall of the relationship in the show between him and Scotsman because Scotsman teases him that he’ll be little because he’ll never run on the mainland. Much in the same way, Henry is stuck in there with his anxiety issues. Yes the CGI series (especially nitrogen) butchered Henry, and ill stand by that opinion, his cautiousness comes from not wanting to be stuck in a place where he was before. He doesn’t want to be seen as a failed engine anymore. Where are these flaws for Nia and Rebecca if not there? They’re dumbed down to cute female engines who are there just because they needed an excuse to be the main cast.

Another great example of a character not used to their full potential is Edward, who for a while was shown to be scared of being scrapped. Edward is a kind old man archetype. His whole thing was being kind, but cheeky, and having good advice for when someone needs it. In the series he encourages Thomas to tease Gordon, and many see him as wise when others see him as a silly old man (COUGH.. GORdoN… COUGH). When he was sidelined, he became visibly more and more upset in the model series, going from a happy old man to being sad and worried. His being flawed was thinking he’d be scrapped because he was old. And then Emliy joined and suddenly there was an older engine. I only bring this up because while Edward got sidelined, he never lost what his character was like what had happened to percy.  Having these flaws while being sidelined was his lost potential, and he eventually got around to being better, but he still has a well written personality, archetype, and has flaws and insecurities that Nia and Rebecca lack.

In the same way they’re both dumbed down, Percy was too. He's extremely childish, immature, and stupid. But he really isn’t. In both the books and the model era, he was in big issues. Percy is yes, immature from the start, but he is far from dumb. He has misunderstandings that get corrected, and taken as a  chance to learn, but it's because previously he had never ran before- do we remember that he didn’t even have a name? Percy gets so stereotyped down into a child that he cannot recover from it. His insults go missed, his personality gets stereotyped, and his flaws get smothered away. He is a flawless character by the end of the show (besides being a tad dumb) but if anything, it's exactly how Nia and Rebecca are.

While they are poorly written characters, they aren't bad characters. They have their own purposes they do, but they just feel like a lazy attempt at equality. Nia being just a Mary Sue and Rebecca being a happy go lucky careless just gives “stereotypical female” character to me just like Emily did when she was first introduced to the show. A bossy female? Sounds like a very narrow minded view of a character. They lack what's important- having flaws and insecurities that make a character what they should be.

And while it's just my opinion of them, they show what they were written for. Inclusion. That's all. I like these characters, I just wish there was more flavor to them.

also if you're curious, NO i don't forgive Nia for telling Gordon he'll still see Henry around because he was grieving a loss even if he could still see henry around. NOT GIRLBOSS OF HER.

[pupsmailbox]

THIS IS FOR A COLLEGE ESSAY

IM SORRY THAT THIS IS OFF TOPIC FROM WHAT I USUALLY DO IT BUT if anyone is able to answer this! I'd appreciate it! What is a good horror movie to YOU. and if you're able to. can you explain why?

Is it the writing/characters/dialogue/etc or the visuals/sounds/etc or something else? feel free to list multiple movies, ramble or dm me! :D

you could also mention video games/shows but I mainly want to focus on movies since it'll be easier :)

[shinystealingbirb]

Beyblade X: Why There are No More Supernatural Occurences

As a warning, this is a 1500 word opinion essay (calling it an opinion piece sounds too pretentious for what this really is), hit the "read more" at your own peril. This also includes Beyblade X Season 2 spoilers up to the end of the current English Dub (as of 29 November 2025)

I believe that there is no supernatural power exhibited in Beyblade X because the collective blading community shifted from valuing power to valuing skill, and I believe they are still using beyblades with power in them. I believe this because of the difference between the other generation’s “possession arcs” and Khrome Ryugu’s, the emphasis Beyblade X has put on demonstrating the B4’s monopoly over beyblading to it’s viewers, and  a very specific quote from Multi Nanairo that established Beyblade X’s unique perspective on beyblading.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that there is a reasonable chance Beyblade X exists in an alternate universe from the rest of beyblade, one further increased by Quinn Manju’s mother, who has been suggested to have been alive since the beginning of blading. Whether the entirety of beyblade is possible to have witnessed in one lifetime is impossible to determine, given the possibility of a time disparity between our time and in-universe time For this reason, this essay assumes that all beyblade “generations,” or sagas, or seasons, occurred in the same universe. I also much acknowledge my limited knowledge. I have watched the first two seasons of the Metal Saga, the first two seasons of the Burst Saga, and am, as of 29 November 2025, up to date with the english dub of Beyblade X. 

What we know right now, and what we can directly take from Beyblade X’s canon, is that there’s an impersonal relationship between bladers and their beyblades, which is significantly different than prior seasons. This stems from the way beyblades are mass-produced. Beycrafters are the only ones allowed to craft beyblades, and the B4 (currently unknown if it’s an offshoot of the WBBA,) controls the constraints (size, weight, materials) of created beyblades, and the licences given to new beycrafters. B4 has a monopoly over the creation, mass-production, and indirectly the schools beycrafting is taught in. For a business, kind of reprehensible. For a sport, it’s more reasonable. It ensures everyone battles fairly, controlling as many elements as possible except for skill level. However, beyblade has not always only been a sport. There are usually supernatural elements, helping or hindering tournaments, mysticizing certain beyblades, creating hierarchies, what have you. So where did the power go?

The best way to look for it is to compare previous seasons of beyblade to the current one. The most reliable place to look for an exertion of power in any generation has always been the inevitable possession arc. Possession has become a consistent occurrence through beyblade. Two prime examples are Ryuga, from the Metal Saga, and Shu Kurenai, from Burst. Beyblade X’s version of a possession arc can be seen in Khrome Ryugu. In a possession arc, usually we see the beyblade influence, enhance, or overtake either a blader’s emotions or mind. Kurenai had an obsession with perfection and revenge, which we saw Spryzen Requiem encourage, mirror, and eventually use to overtake Kurenai. Ryuga had an obsession with victory. L Drago gave him power, and eventually possessed him through that channel. Khrome Ryugu is the odd one out. He exhibits the same obsession with Jaxon, his ideal of power, but his beyblade does nothing to influence him. Ryugu just happened to be blading when he met his ideal of power. It could have been any other sport, and have the same result. We do see Ryugu change his beyblade to match himself, a similar occurrence to the others, but it’s clear that changing his beyblade is an effect of his mental state, not a mirror, and certainly not the catalyst.

I believe this is because Ryugu has a less personal relation with his beyblade, and that, in beyblade X, a beyblade’s personal-ness, has become unimportant. Due to mass production, its accessibility has increased, so the attachment to a particular beyblade has decreased. Rather than swapping out parts, like characters did in Metal Fusion (see the Reji-Kenta battle at the end of season one), or adding removable pieces like in burst (see Valtryek and Revive Phoenix) you can swap out the beyblade itself. Evolution no longer means changing the beyblade to suit yourself. It means creating an entire other beyblade you can swap between. This is one of the only differences between Ryugu, and Ryuga and Kurenai. 

I initially believed powerlessness, because of the monopoly, stemmed from the B4.  Maybe it was their constraints, or a specific material? Maybe the 4X system, a mimicry of the prior beyblading spirits, stopped people from using actual spirits? This train of thought ended up being a dead end because of the infinite possibilities: It could be the 4X system blocking it off. It could be mass-production diluting a beyblade’s power. It could be any number of things, and it’s so easy to blame the B4 for it, but it’s also impossible to prove. To be the correct answer, it needs to fit Beyblade X’s current theme of winds of change, along with explain where the power went and why Beyblade is going through so much effort to show us the B4’s control. This leads me to my first jump from canon to theory: beyblades still have the exact same potential as in burst and metal saga. They still have spirits. They still have possibilities of power, influence, the works.

 Ryugu didn’t get possessed, not because he was better or stronger or more impervious to his beyblade’s influence, but because he and his generation are detached enough from personal beyblades that they make changing beyblades into a key strategy. The B4 doesn’t make their rules and constraints to stop power from leaking through. They make it because Ryugu’s generation prioritizes skill over power, leading to different qualities prioritized in beyblades: diversity, ability to work around potentially poor matchups, standardized size and weight, an ultimately fair fight.

The B4 is specifically shown to have so much control, I think, because after seeing them constantly be in control, we see what it looks like when they scramble, and why. The collective goal of the B4, as previously established, is to ensure a fair battle. “A fair battle,” has now been taken to mean a blading without any supernatural forces at play. But the goal of the collective bladers must align with the B4. If it does not, if rules or equipment become outdated, the B4 scramble to keep up, as evidenced by their behaviour in Season Two. This shows us that change is perpetrated by the collective bladers. And if change is perpetrated by them, then they are the ones that initially demanded a fair battle, one that did not include any supernatural forces. If this is the case, then the B4 formed, constructed rules and constraints for the creation of beys, made the mimicry 4X system, and mass-produced beyblades to create the exact reality Beyblade X currently exists in: diverse beyblades and options forming the backbone of strategies, the human becoming the most important agent in a battle by far. The B4’s existence is created by the need for blading moderation, and thus serves the collective bladers, who created the B4 because of a priority change from blading power to blading strategy. 

The biggest demonstration of this priority change comes from Multi Nanairo, who asks a very interesting question back in the beginning of Season One. She asks Robin, our primary perspective, “Would you rather take all that time to master your Incendio now, or have a beyblade you can control at your level?” Robin chooses the latter. In any other generation, his choice would be laughable, borderline cheating. The protagonist would have chosen the first option and worked doubly hard to master it. Taking the second option so early in Beyblade X demonstrates this new mentality, and new emphasis on human power-level and human strategy, as opposed to sheer beyblade power. It’s a subtle change, from “this beyblade is stronger,” in Metal, to “we’re stronger,” in Burst, to “this person is stronger,” in X. It pushes the creation of the B4, and the B4, to validate their organization’s existence, creates rules, regulations, mass-production, the works, and at our “current day,” we have a B4 that is slightly removed from the collective bladers, collective bladers whose access to diverse beyblades creates the backbone of their strategies, and a beyblade whose spirit is no longer prioritized, or even required, to the point that no one even references it. 

There’s always the chance that the B4 is stifling power, regulating everything they can, including the way spirits activate, but Beyblade X isn’t a story about control. Upheaval, yes, but not control. In my opinion, it’s more likely that beyblades still have the power to do everything they could before. It’s just that people have exchanged exalting beyblades for exalting themselves.

I would like to leave you all with a prediction, in the case that this is correct- the beyspirits, the B4, all of it. There are people coming out of the woodwork, also ancient, also using beyblades and techniques technically B4-Legal, but for how long? The initial Phoenix spread like wildfire. These beyblades from older clans, Tenko Shiroboshi’s, for example, are appearing suddenly and becoming the new cutting edge. If we are looking backwards into the far past to create beyblades, I predict that Blaze Fujiwara’s “bey-timeshift” was intended to mark the swing of a pendulum from the extreme of “pure human skill,” and the beginning of its swing back towards power. I predict that we will see some instance of beyblade power reminiscent of Burst or Metal by the end of the season- even something small, like wind during a battle that breaches the 4x system and affects the crowd- and while I am fully willing to be wrong, I would be so, so delighted to be right.

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Feel free to leave critiques, theories, or additional evidence! I’m using this essay to create my Quinn Manju’s arc in a separate fic, who is trying to answer the question of “where did beyblade power go?” from the perspective of someone who grew up in the Metal Fusion era, so information and various perspectives are wonderful! If you do, please be nice to people in the comments, though. theyre tumblrinas, they've been through enough.

[goat-kiddx]

So, I'm rereading Animal Farm to write an essay about how Clover should be included more often in movie retellings, but idk what points to bring up further than "Clover had an important role" and "They nearly always keep Mollie in the story when she brings a similar amount to the story that Clover does" I read it two years ago but I need recent evidence to make a good argument. I also want to send this to my English teacher to see how he thinks about my essay writing skills

[beanseybeansvince]

A complete scientific, religious, and legal defense of LGBTQIA+ rights in the Philippines.

No form of love shall escape us. None of our realities are shameful.

The vast majority of Filipinos surveyed, at 79%, believed that gays and lesbians are just as trustworthy as any other Filipino, with 73% agreeing that they also contribute to society. Yet 40% of respondents still said they would want a gay or lesbian family member to change into becoming straight. It is my belief that if we take our position as a country with some of the most hospitable people seriously, we must continue the path to sexual orientation and gender identity equality.

Contrary to regurgitated homophobic talking points, the research and medical consensus actually overwhelmingly back LGBTQIA+ rights. The Psychological Association of the Philippines has long insisted that stigmatization and discrimination against queer Filipinos must end. Decades of studies from the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, British Psychological Society, Colombian Society of Psychology, Psychological Society of South Africa, Australian Psychological Society, and the International Network on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns and Transgender Issues in Psychology have found that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender is normal and definitely does not constitute a “mental illness.” The World Medical Association even asserts that variations in human sexuality are completely natural. These are not woke opinions; they are factual findings of science—because the reality is, logically sound evidence against the LGBTQIA+ simply does not exist.

Homophobia is a Spanish colonial product that goes against traditional Filipino values. Indigenous pre-colonial Filipinos actually did not practice known definitions of gender discrimination. Native Philippine societies even celebrated diversity and embraced a fluid understanding of gender and sexuality. One easily noticeable manifestation of this is that many Philippine languages have gender-neutral pronouns, according to the Imperial College Union. Additionally, the concept of being “makatao” is a core Filipino value that honors human dignity, which raises the question: how does illogically perpetuating biased and bigoted hatred against fellow human beings align with being "makatao"?

Conservative Christianism, which dominates the Philippines, labels homosexuals as sinful and unholy—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Progressive sectors of Christianity that fully support the LGBTQIA+ do exist. There are even organizations in the Catholic Church which openly advocate for complete acceptance of homosexuals, such as Dignity USA. Other branches of Christianity, such as Evangelical Lutherans, are also very LGBTQIA+ affirming.

Many “anti-homosexual” verses in the Bible are not actually very concrete. This is because the Bible is difficult to translate perfectly, as it is the result of the corroboration of several artifacts, such as fragments of papyrus paper. For example, 1 Corinthians 6:9 states, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived neither … sodomites … with mankind.” The issue is the Greek wording from which “sodomites” (people who have anal sex) was derived is vague and generally just means someone who is soft or passionate, not necessarily gay—the King James translation even uses the word “effeminate” instead, changing the meaning.

Secondly, anti-LGBTQIA+ Christianity frequently cherry picks bible verses. Though Leviticus 18:22 does say that “man lying with man is an abomination,” other Levitical and Deuteronomic biblical verses also say that those who follow God aren’t supposed to eat pork, that rebellious sons should be stoned to death, that when you win in battle against a town you should kill all the males and take the females as slaves, and that we should forgive debt every 7 years. St. Paul’s sexual ethic even encourages everyone, including married couples, to be celibate (not have sex). If we reasonably do not follow these passages, then why do conservatives selectively choose only the anti-LGBTQIA+ ones? And why do they then ignore verses such as Romans 15:7, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God"?

Finally, many pro-LGBTQIA+ Christians largely base their beliefs off the teachings of Jesus. Jesus asked us to love our neighbors, even our enemies. It’s clear that there is no exception. Is discriminating against the LGBTQIA+ really holding true to this? Additionally, if being anti-LGBTQIA+ was so important, then why didn’t Jesus directly address it? In fact, in Matthew 19(:12), Jesus even instructed his disciples to accept eunuchs—males who had their testicles removed—into the early church, which before had rejected them. We see this result in Acts 8 (:26-40) where a eunuch was baptized by St. Philip. This shows that Jesus accepted people who were otherwise excluded for not conforming to societal norms.

Leaders in the Catholic Church, the Philippines’ major religion, have also moved in a direction welcoming homosexuals. Former Pope Francis insisted that "being homosexual is not a crime. It is not a crime," and that "I would tell whoever wants to criminalize homosexuality that they are wrong.” While not a crime, he believed that it was still a sin. He clarified his statements like this: "When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin." He also recognized that the fact that homosexuals simply cannot marry under the Catholic Church should be considered and weighed: "Of course, one must also consider the circumstances, which may decrease or eliminate fault." Current Pope Leo said that he would continue the legacy of Pope Francis: “Everyone is invited in, but not as an expression or non-expression of a specific identity. I invite a person because he or she is a son or daughter of God." He also continued the policy of Pope Francis that Catholic marriage rites can only be extended to heterosexual couples but allows priests to bless same-sex unions without recognizing them as “married.”

Though the Philippines has failed to pass several pieces of legislation that would further support queer individuals, existing laws do provide significant legal protection. Firstly, being LGBTQIA+ is not criminalized in the Philippines, unlike in 65 other countries worldwide. Additionally, the Safe Spaces Act, also known as the Bawal Bastos Law, bans the use of words, actions, or gestures that ridicule on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. Under the law, using transphobic and homophobic slurs are 1st-degree offenses that can carry penalties ranging from 12-hour community service and a PHP1,000 fine, with a requirement to undergo a Gender Sensitivity Seminar on the first offense, up to 11–30 days in prison and a PHP10,000 fine on the 3rd offense. The Magna Carta of Women Law also prohibits discrimination against women, including those on the basis of their sexual orientation. It’s simple. Under Philippine law respecting the LGBTQIA+ is not a “woke idea”—it’s a legal requirement.

One thing homophobes are obsessed with is conversion therapy, wherein they attempt to change a queer person into becoming straight and/or cisgender. The American Psychological Association calls this “sexual orientation change efforts” and “gender identity change efforts,” and strongly condemns its practice. Studies found that victims of such practices are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, suicidality, substance misuse, posttraumatic responses, loss of connection to community, damaged familial relationships, self-blame, guilt, and shame. A study in JAMA Pediatrics even estimated that these long-term negative effects of conversion practices occurring to significant numbers of victims in the United States could be causing an economic loss of USD 9.23 billion yearly. With all the harm it causes, conversion therapy doesn’t even work and is basically 100% ineffective, according to research from Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, the Journal of Counseling Psychology, and the American Psychological Association’s 2009 task force review.

A common homophobic accusation is that gay men sexually abuse our children, a claim that incites fearmongering. However, there is no evidence supporting that homosexual people are actually more likely to commit sexual crimes than straight people. On the contrary, the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center even reports that most child molesters are straight. In reality, LGBT individuals are actually 4 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault, rather than the perpetrators, a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found.

A prevalent anti-LGBTQIA+ tactic is to weaponize daily life activities and topics through illogical conclusions and misinformation. For example, in sports, the only established advantage of men over women is higher levels of testosterone, and existing research suggests that treatments that lower testosterone are already enough to completely get rid of that advantage in at least some athletic activities. A study in the Journal of the Endocrine Society even concluded that there is no reason to believe that transgender people who start gender-affirming treatment before or during puberty will have an unfair advantage. On the issue of bathrooms, no evidence shows that transgender people using their preferred bathrooms puts women or men at greater risk. Instead, laws that force transgender people to use their bathrooms based on sex assignments at birth actually increase the harassment of non-trans people who are accused of being trans, especially non-trans women who do not conform to traditional ideas of femininity. Lastly, the rising cases of sexually transmitted diseases affecting homosexual people are mainly because of more testing rather than more infections, the European AIDS Treatment Group has explained. And while several sexually transmitted diseases are more likely to be transmitted through anal sex due to the anal lining being more susceptible to points for pathogen entry, the risk can effectively be remediated through healthy sex practices—such as the use of condoms and anal lubricant, among other medical recommendations. Therefore, we observe that anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment through manipulation of these issues is largely based on blatant lies and misconstrued truths.

During Pride Month, many Filipinos claim that we should instead focus on celebrating Independence Day. Yet we are notorious for having the longest Christmas season in the world, with celebrations beginning as early as September, so how could we possibly be incapable of celebrating two events at once? Additionally, the Philippine independence movement was characterized by a desire for freedom, a craving to be able to live in true harmony without oppression, and to be liberated from despair—an honorable human reality that aligns with the values of Pride Month. So instead of going around in circles unearthing from the sewers random reasons to invalidate the month-long celebration of one of the most widely attacked and vulnerable groups of people in the world, just admit that you are a diehard homophobe allergic to our joy.

The scientific consensus debunks all claims against the LGBTQIA+. Progressive religious beliefs put love over hate. Philippine law demands that queer Filipinos be treated with respect and dignity. Every human being deserves to be accepted for who they are. Bigotry has no place in our islands and seas.

Sources :D! :

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184968364/in-the-philippines-a-survey-shows-growing-support-for-gays-and-lesbians

https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/blogs/lgbtq-officer/lgbtq-history-month-queer-culture-pre-colonial-philippines

https://www.pap.ph/announcement/24

https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-statement-on-natural-variations-of-human-sexuality/

https://www.pap.ph/announcement/24

https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq

https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-clarifies-remarks-about-homosexuality-and-sin

https://www.them.us/story/pope-catholic-doctrine-lgbtq-people-will-not-be-changing-soon

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389760/

https://www.dignityusa.org/about-us

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bu4siKfy9/

https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/evidence-against-conversion-therapy

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021-06/LGBT%20Pride%202021%20Global%20Survey%20Report_3.pdf

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ncvs-lgbt-violence-press-release/

https://zeroabuseproject.org/victim-assistance/jwrc/keep-kids-safe/sexuality-of-offenders/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8944319/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/health-issues-for-gay-men/art-20047107

https://www.eatg.org/hiv-news/eacs-2025-increased-sti-diagnoses-in-gay-men-with-hiv-are-mainly-due-to-more-testing/

https://glaad.org/fact-sheet-misleading-narratives-about-transgender-people-and-restrooms-locker-rooms-and-other-single-sex-spaces/

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSxnpgPRy/

https://theweek.com/96298/the-countries-where-homosexuality-is-still-illegal

https://pap.ph/position-paper/11

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSxWEkmWs/

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSxWKwmCJ/

[pink0lamby]

my punitive justice essay has been completed, and now I'm gonna share it

dedicated this to one of my fav mutuals @musashi :) but this is also just my general opinion. i might now have done the best job, but i do hope that this essay is at least persuasive!!