wherever the wind blows

come talk to me about Leviticus

[teno-zi]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Leviticus (Movie 2026) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Naim Reid/Ryan Whelan Characters: Naim Reid, Ryan Whelan Additional Tags: Established Relationship, First Time, Anal Sex, Bottom Naim Reid Summary:

He and Ryan watch the TV in silence for a few minutes as the woman starts bouncing up and down, and all Naim can think about is doing the same thing to Ryan.

Ryan seems to be thinking the same thing because when Naim turns to look at him, he's already looking back, a smile growing.

"Reckon we could do it better?" Ryan says.

-

They improve over time.

[teno-zi]

This was as Ronan remembered it.... His hand still pressed against the back of Ronan’s skull the way it always did when they hugged.

[wedonotsowa03]

We talk a lot here about how the fist in mouth scene was violating and represents sexual assault towards Naim, but I haven’t seen much about how traumatizing the private deliverance healing ritual event was for him.

After being forcibly dragged from the car by grown men, from behind a locked door, we hear Naim yelling “get off of me”, “stop touching me”, and then just wordlessly screaming as he struggles against the people holding him, before he’s grabbed by the face/ throat (the first time isn’t by entity Ryan!) to stare into the flame. I’d say this is allegorical for sexual abuse as well- a child losing their bodily autonomy and physical agency at the manipulation of others for a harmful purpose. Not only does Naim know that there are monstrous forces at play if the ritual is done to him, but now he knows no matter how hard he protests, adults think he’s so deeply corrupted by sin any violation of his body and mind becomes justified.

Some are saying it’s kind of Arlene to spare him the public humiliation, and I suppose that it was a kindness, in her way, but I would argue that it’s less about Naim’s emotional welfare and more she doesn’t want the town to know the shameful secret that her son is also part of the degenerate homosexual class they’re all so afraid of.

This isn’t to diminish what happened to Hunter and Ryan in a public environment as less traumatizing. After all, public humiliation and being made the town “example of” IS deeply abusive, and being in a room of their peers and church community who stand by and watch it happen is a deep act of betrayal that extends beyond their parents.

Two kinds of bodily violation for one misguided purpose. Ugh.

[alistairlowe]

[teno-zi]

pt. 6

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pt. 5

[alistairlowe]

[teno-zi]

Eurydice and Orpheus again... If Ryan had looked back he wouldn't have been able to leave.

[teno-zi]

pt. 4

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pt. 3

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pt.2

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pt. 1

[wedonotsowa03]

OOOHHH RYAN LOVES TO PLACE NAIM ON HIS LAAAAP ARE YOU SEEING IT

YES I SEE THE VISION I LOVE IT

[teno-zi]

and they're perfectly eye to eye when Naim is sitting there because of their height difference 🫣

[hystericalend]

"entity ryan lowkey seemed like it actually wanted naim LOL" yeah bc it's supposed to.. entity ryan panting like a dog, tongue wetting his lips, eyes blown and heavy lidded as it chokes naim, forcing his way into his mouth. how violating is that for naim? to see ryan's face as he's hurt, and have him look like he's getting off on it? the entity isn't just violent it's sexually violent, bc encounters with it are designed to be traumatising. the entity's attacks are sexually charged so that queer kids associate desire with harm, and fear it.

[frenetic--energy]

yes and this behaviour from the entity is also reflecting cultural anxieties about gay men! gay men as predators, as transgressors, as pedophiles and rapists. it works to position queer desire as something that is inherently violatory and licentious—immoral, lustful, unrestrained.

the entity is a really tidy piece of symbolism in this regard. it communicates this notion that queer desire and queer relationships are not an appropriate avenue for connection or tenderness. it reduces queerness to sex (violent sex at that!) and removes any possibility for these kids to continue to think of their queer identity as something which brings them joy or comfort. as OP says, these encounters are engineered to be traumatising, and as i’ve gotten at in a previous post, the entity is wholly concerned with lulling these kids into a sense of security, making them let their guard down, and then violating them at their most comfortable. it reflects cultural anxieties about gay men and trans women inhabiting public spaces—especially bathrooms.

and, of course, the scene where entity!ryan puts his fist in naim’s mouth takes place in a bathroom! i don’t think this is a coincidence by any means, i think it’s a really delicious hermeneutical shorthand that helps us to view that scene in the correct light. entity!ryan is essentially raping naim onscreen, and it’s taking place in a locale which is deeply embedded with cultural anxieties about the alleged predatory and violent tendencies of gay men and trans women. it’s supposed to be horrifying not because it’s a fun piece of body horror, but because naim is being symbolically raped by a thing with the face of the man he loves.

[gnawu]

leviticus + words