#divine division

[clawingatmyenclosurewalls]

Ok so just saw the phrase "romance books are becoming fast fashion" and I just want to throw my "erm, actually" into the ring. And yes I know this is apparently a few months old, but I don't have tiktok and am very behind on the times.

Anyway it's not that romance books are BECOMING fast fashion, it's that certain romance books that are fast fashion are becoming more popular.

There have always been mindless romance novels, and I AM NOT saying that in a bad way. Fabio romance books, or as my grandmother called them "bare shoulder books", were very popular in the 80s and 90s. The idea of the "dime store romance" has been around forever, but because there has been/is poor record keeping and archival knowledge and discussion and all that, they've basically been pushed to the side and forgotten about.

It's no surprise that they are getting popular now. "Mindless stories" are popular because they are an escape. You don't have to think about everything going on you can just read and be happy for these little characters. With everything going on, more people are turning to an escape.

And now we're so interconnected, you can hear from everyone around the world all the time. So even larger communities form around these types of books, and the communities are more well known. And now people are shocked that there are communities around books that have always existed but they just made fun of. And don't get me started on the "booktok/dark romance = bad".

In short, these books have always been around but you're just hearing about them for the first time. Also protect and document "bad" or "non-substantial" art. We've only been writing shit down for roughly 5,000 years, and that's about peanuts to all of human history. I KNOW we have lost so much more from not holding onto things we deem "non important".

[galdrgobrrr]

It’s dawned on me that I don’t draw her much so here’s a redraw (2021 -> 2025)

[galdrgobrrr]

I can’t believe I’ve had these bozos for over 5 years now so here’s a redraw

[clawingatmyenclosurewalls]

Trexel Geistman is a absolute motherfucker. A true narcissistic bitch. Everytime I hear his voice I want to beat him up. If I met him I would propose onthe spot

[clawingatmyenclosurewalls]

I really hate the narrative that like all intrusive thoughts should horrify you and you shouldn't joke about them and if you do you're a bad person. Like a while back there was a controversy about a writer putting a sentence that was like "it was as soft as a thousand baby's foreskins" and when people were disgusted by it she laughed it off as an intrusive thought. People then got mad at her because it's an intrusive thought and she should be horrified by it, not laughing.

But like if you let the disgust be the dominate thing that prevails when you have an intrusive thought, it's not going to help you. The disgust doesn't get rid of the thought, it just turns right back around and gets placed on you in your mind. Even if you know those intrusive thoughts are not your own and you aren't going to act on it, your brain just finds the simple solution and correlates "bad thought comes from you = you bad".

At some point, you gotta learn that the intrusive thoughts aren't going away, and you just have to live with it. Worrying all the time about them isn't going to help, it's just going to keep them on your mind. Sometimes you just have to feel the twinge of disgust and tell it to fuck off. For me that's the best solution so they don't overtake my mind. I have to tell them to shut up and try to focus on something else.

I think it also ties into the puritanical mindset things have been in recently. Like it has the same energy to me as people getting disgusted by booktok and dark romance books.

[clawingatmyenclosurewalls]

Ok so i think the two kings in chess would be more doomed yoai because they cant get near each other but will always chase and hunt the other down at expense of their entire army/court. But the two queens are toxic yuri because they can and will take the other down and are showing off with excessive power and violence at expense of their entire army/court.

[clawingatmyenclosurewalls]

If I hear one more "all men are trash" type comment im going to actually genuinely research the "man-hating queer" to terf pipeline i swear to god

[clawingatmyenclosurewalls]

Every once in a while, usually around this time of year, I get the urge to become simple. Choose an easier life. Ignore the disgust around romance and find a nice man, get married. Have a simple apartment and a dog and steady job that im fine in for the rest of my life. To be quiet, keep my head down, stay out of the way, ignore everything and not engage. Life would be simpler, things would be better. Ill be safer if I am not there. At least thats what I tel myself. That's what it seems like.

Anyway not sure what this says about me.