T89's Tumblr

Books, queer topics, and other things.

[bigfatbitchdotcom]

Endlessly diabolical how you can't say words like rape and suicide uncensored without either being criticised by idiots or punished by conglomerates.

[bigfatbitchdotcom]

It's not r*pe, it's rape. It's not su*cide, it's suicide. Not unalive, dead. The backbone needs to be reintroduced en masse because softening the blow of these concepts with advertising language does absolutely nothing but allow people unaffected by them to feel not even a sting of what they can do, prompting inaction.

[bigfatbitchdotcom]

And it's been proven that on certain websites, you don't even face a repercussion for using the words as they are. People just started censoring themselves because they feared the potential lack of views and likes and followers which is so nasty itself.

[its-the-blob]

I attended an anti-suicide seminar in college. One of the big takeaways from it was that stigmatizing suicide increases the rate of suicide, because people who are feeling suicidal feel like they can't ask for help. Every time I see babytalk garbage like 'unalive', I think of that.

[ralfmaximus]

Use the real words. Words have power, and they matter.

[tigger8900]

Agreed with a big asterisk. Make sure, damn sure, that you can actually say the words on the site you're on. Verify while not logged in, and periodically re-verify, because the situation can and will change. Tiktok is known to censor. Youtube has, or did have at one point, something going on. Reddit? That's a clusterfuck that operates at the sitewide level as well as on a subreddit-by-subreddit basis, all independent of each other. It doesn't seem common to run into issues there for words like "suicide", but I've been astounded multiple times by what trips reddit's filters. In all of the cases I'm aware of, they hide the fact that they're removing or suppressing your content from you. You have to check on it from outside your account to see if it's shown to the public, an extra step most people don't take.

If you're not sure, you risk talking into the void(at least a censored message is seen) or worse, contributing to others talking into the void by encouraging them to speak freely. For example, some time ago I encountered a comment on reddit that had censored the word c*nt, just like that. Somebody replied to them mocking them, and saying that we can swear on reddit. This reply was upvoted, and the original comment was downvoted. I tested it, and my post was only visible while I remained logged in — they showed it to me so I wouldn't know, but nobody else could see it. And I remember that every single time I see somebody mocking another person for censoring words or talking around something. If using a word is instantly removed by the filters, and censoring the word is mocked and downvoted by the users, the ultimate effect is that there's something that cannot be discussed. And that's chilling, to me.

"Cunt" might not be life or death(though you should be able to say it if you want to, and I say that as someone from the US who doesn't have it in their cultural vocabulary), but what about reclaimed slurs, or "adult" topics(like how tumblr seems to think that trans women existing = porn, obviously)? It would be one thing if the censorship was obvious and they told you when you erred, but it's not. You have to pay attention and be fairly paranoid to even spot it happening, which leads to people being overly cautious by default. And I can't entirely fault them for it, given the amount of effort it takes to investigate what a platform will allow and the possible permanent account consequences of testing too freely.

[weepingpussywillowtree-deactiva]

sometimes I think about how far we still have to go with consent

my worst relatives try to sneak meat or meat products into my food despite the fact that I'm a vegetarian

my ex's brother gave his mother an edible without her knowledge and when she got freaked out and paranoid they laughed, and people I've told that go "yeah that's shitty but it's just weed"

when I go to the doctor and ask them to describe what they are going to do before touching me they get frustrated

when I ask a friends of a friend who is a small influencer to keep me out of frame in videos they film for social media in public they look at me like I've pissed in their cereal

idk man, we've got a long way to go.

[themainspoon]

There's so many horror games about having to try to weed out and deal with inhuman imposters, but I want one where the script is flipped. You are something inhuman, you are an imposter, and if you want to survive you have to blend into a world that is trying to hunt you down and destroy you. You aren't human, but you must masquerade as one and infiltrate their world, or you will die.

[themainspoon]

I actually think we need to start inverting more Horror premises/tropes.

Like "You have to venture into the scary insane asylum!" VS "You're a patient who was admitted by force to an asylum, and you are very clearly in real danger, but everyone is pretending that you're just deluded, and are essentially leaving you to die because they don't really see you as a person."

I feel like there's a lot of Horror tropes built off of the fear of the other, when in reality it's actually often the other who is in danger. Maybe we could start recognising that more.

[themainspoon]

Interesting how the first half of the post has picked up popularity while the second part, which perhaps clarifies the idea of the original post, hasn't.

It's been interesting to see what media people are recommending based on the first post alone. A lot of recommendations for games/franchises like World of Darkness, Carrion, Kill All Humans, Among Us, etc. It's interesting because these are games that put you into the shoes of the violent other that has to infiltrate, without actually challenging the idea that the other is a threat. They actually parrot the ideas of the other as violent.

Funnily enough, the people recommending the comedy game Octodad understand the post much better than most of the people recommending horror media. A few mentions of Am I Nima, which isn't finished yet but does look like it could be what I am describing, so brownie points to the people recommending that.

But everyone saying stuff like "This is just being Trans/Autistic/Etc" really gets it, like really really gets it. Horror always communicates the fears and anxieties of the people who create it, this post was basically: "What if instead of communicating the fear of the other, we communicated the fears of the others, which are actually vastly more legitimate than the dominant groups fear of the other. We should recognise that it is overwhelmingly the others who are the ones who actually suffer and die, all for the perceived "saftey" and "comfort" of the dominant group."

This idea is about transphobia, it is about ableism, about anti-imigrant rhetoric and white supremacy, about queerphobia, it's about all of it. It is horror from the perspective of minority groups. It is the twisting of a trope built upon reactionary fears and narratives in order to critique them, it is a direct allegory for all those experiences you are describing.

Overall, it's just interesting to see who gets it and who doesn't.

[jayalaw]

This is being marginalized, hands down

[caesarsaladinn]

every morning i wake up and make the worst possible time management decisions anyone has ever made

[cryptonature]

It’s really that simple.

Withhold time/resources from organizations building an anti-human future

[tigger8900]

I was considering purchasing an indie game on steam just last night, until I came across a review claiming that the in-game art assets were generated using AI. Instantly, my excitement was gone. I don't even know if the claim was true or not. The mere fact that I now had this doubt in my head about whether the devs used AI and then kept quiet about it was enough to redirect my excitement toward other projects that I knew and trusted were honest.

[saintemiliosandoz]

y’all really recommend books like: title, there are gay characters, enemies to lovers, young adult, written by poc

not once do i ever see a summary

[mycoolstoryworld]

What more info do you need?

A SUMMARY

WHAT DO U MENA SUMMARY WHAT ELSE MATTERS ITS GAY POC AND ENEMIES TO LOVERS HOW OFTEN DO U CONE ACROSS THAT

i want to know what its about mainly. is it a romance? is there plot besides the romance? is it realistic fiction? sci fi? fantasy? historical? future? alternate history? whats the tone? what are the themes? what are the main characters’ NAMES?

I- it’s gay the gay

i value queer characters too. but i also want to know WHAT THE BOOK I’M READING IS ABOUT.

[marzipanandminutiae]

“GAY AND/OR RACIALLY DIVERSE” IS NOT A GENRE. nor is it an indicator of quality

do you know how many times I’ve been recommended a book solely because “it’s queer fantasy!”

do you know how many times those books have been so poorly written that I couldn’t finish them

[captainlordauditor]

Mostly, I want to know the tone. A 19th century war story isn’t gonna do it for me when I’m in the mood for a lighthearted austenesque romance - and those are both historical. A star warsy space romp isn’t gonna do it if I want to read about interplanetary political negotiations - and those are both sci fi. A fun gratuitious don’t-think-about-it-too-hard action story is not the same as a dark and complicated mob drama. A suspenseful thriller will bore me if I’m looking for a fast paced spy novel.

not providing a summary literally just shows how you treat marginalized people and their representation as this token woke thing that you can show off like a shiny trophy. no, people aren’t going to read something just because it has representation! that’s not how it works!

[the-uncanny-dag]

Artist bio by Anna Daliza

[ariaste]

okay, I’m concerned that maybe folks are using the word “summary” in different ways here and that there might be a misunderstanding what folks are asking for.

For those of you who are in the “????? but why????” camp, let me explain: You are not being asked to write your very own book report. You are being asked to please go to the book’s Goodreads page and copy-paste the Official Description into your post, or copy it out from what is written on the back cover/dust-jacket flap. That’s it! That’s all. The book description (“cover-copy” as it is called in the biz) is a marketing tool, and it’s one of the best marketing tools a book has because it’s been precision-engineered to convince people that it’s a cool and interesting story. Just add that to your posts! It will take an extra 2 seconds.

You don’t have to STOP saying “Here are the tropes, and btw it’s gay”, because yeah, some people DO find that to be the thing that tweaks their interest – but I bet even those people read the official description before they buy the book. So if you actually want people to listen to your recs and be persuaded to read your new favorite book, including the cover-copy when you talk about it saves them a step of having to look it up themselves. You might say, “Oh but they’re just being lazy, why should I do the extra work?” – Because it’s YOUR new favorite book, hon! And because how many times in your life have you heard a book rec and vaguely thought, “Oh, maybe i should look that up later” and then straight up forgot? Trust me, including the cover-copy makes it stick in somebody’s head WAY more than just a list of tropes.

But hey, it’s up to you – maybe you don’t really care about whether or not people listen to you and read your favorite books, and that’s fine! But if you DO want to persuade people, if you DO want to support under-appreciated and/or marginalized authors… This will help. This one little addition will genuinely help.

(For a bonus-level: Include the book cover as well. The book cover is an even more powerful marketing tool!)

[tigger8900]

Someone in the comments(now locked) was saying that summarizing is difficult. And yes, you're not wrong. Sometimes you don't have the publisher-provided summary at hand(or it's bad — yeah, they're not all winners! I can think of a few off the top of my head that outright misrepresent the book) or you're looking to emphasize a particular element from the book to explain why it's a good fit for the person you're recommending it to, and that's really hard to do, actually. A lot of people struggle with this, whether neurodivergent or neurotypical.

But here's the thing: it's a skill and you can get better at it! The best way to practice is by writing your own one-paragraph summaries(or spoken elevator pitch, if you're a verbal guy) of all the books you read, capturing the essence of what it's about without resorting to a play-by-play of the plot or doing a book report about the themes. Aim for something that might appear on the book jacket and give it your best try, even if it turns out to be bad(nobody else has to see it!). I say do it for every book because some books are easier than others to write summaries for, and getting to do the easy ones is still good practice and will make you feel better about yourself as you struggle with the difficult ones. I promise, it gets easier the more you do it.

I had to learn to do this for work, so that I could book talk in the moment without boring the pants off the person I was speaking to, but I've found myself using the skill in so many other areas. I struggle significantly less than I used to when writing AO3 summaries for my fics, and I can succinctly summarize articles and websites in a workplace newsletter I contribute to. As a bonus, I've found that the book summary practice also aided my recall of the titles I wrote them for(I stopped doing them when I got too busy), to the point where I recall those titles better than some I've read within the past year.

[mossworth]

Guys, queers. Specifically my fellow queers.

I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it's necessary to make sure there's room in the library for new materials.

I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I've seen folks pass around those beautiful "queer your library" flyers. Keep doing that. That's great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.

My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don't have as many materials as I'd like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I've gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn't a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn't another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it's been since the last time the item was checked out.

Three years.

No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.

I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn't a horde. This isn't a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won't* be there anymore.

This isn't a vague post, there's no one person I'm hinting at or calling out. I'm not even talking directly to anyone who's directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn't matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.

[alanfromrochester]

I work in a different library and can confirm, it's a decision based on popularity not censorship

we're big enough to have lots of shelf space but still have the problem on a different scale. We do have a back storage room rather than completely getting rid of some things, but having to ask for that might be a barrier for sensitive subject matter and prevent people from casually stumbling across something of interest

[paintedpigeon1]

Yep. Different library worker here, we weeded adult non-fiction recently bc it's most rarely used and we needed to clear a bookshelf of space, and there were a decent number of queer books on the list. Thankfully not all of them, but some (we had a lot lol). Our criteria is also no borrows in 3yrs. I can't borrow the whole list by myself. I do try to get these books in, and the local authority are happy to buy them, but we need space for new books every so often and we can't keep everything forever! If you want them, you have to use them!

(incidentally, the whole list was 35 pages long, which... please borrow the books you want people)

[qbdatabase]

I didn't have time to comment the first time I reblogged, but I can add now:

I'm also a librarian and queer books are almost always cut first when we have to weed for space or prioritize new releases over old items because no one reads them

I will say, when I worked at a large downtown location, we had a "browsing card" that we would check out items we found taken off the shelf and left on a table, as an example of a book that had clearly been read, just not checked out by anyone

it's possible queer books do actually get a bit of unfair treatment in this regard because people may be nervous or outright scared to check them out onto an account with their name on it. so they get browsed at a much higher rate, but if a library doesn't have a specific system in place (or need for it) to count browsed items, then it looks like they aren't being used and they get weeded

for other librarians, a browsing card is a great idea if you have enough staff for the extra work / enough items left out to justify it

for patrons, check out queer books even if you don't read them! you're not lying or committing any type of fraud. you're keeping books on the shelf long enough for pride season when people are interested in checking them out again and for people scared to use their own accounts or who don't have library cards

for anyone nervous about using their library card, libraries do not keep search histories of what you check out!! this means even if the government does come back with a warrant, *wet farting noise* too bad! it doesn't exist!

so please check out queer books!

[tigger8900]

Yes yes yes but caution on that last point! Some libraries do keep reading histories. Whether it's being tracked and if you can opt out(or have to opt in) varies system by system, so it's best to ask a local library staff person what the situation is.

Though bear in mind that they might not even know the risks. There's been a lot of compromises made for convenience, in recent years. My system is opt-in for reading history, which I do not have enabled, but I discovered that if I check things out via the library's app it generates an e-receipt for me. This receipt is saved in the app(and, presumably, someone's server somewhere) and not deleted even after the items are returned. I no longer check out via the app after I noticed that, but this was not something staff were made aware of as being a security concern. I don't know how many of us know about it. I brought it up to a superior after I noticed and was brushed off/made to feel paranoid.

Similarly, my system keeps a record of cancelled hold requests on individual accounts which are purged after a period of time, I believe 60 days. An example of what would create a cancelled hold request would be ordering an item to your location but asking the staff to check it in off the holds shelf rather than check it out to you. There is no opt-out. Staff used to be able to manually delete these entries from our staff client(though we weren't supposed to), but we can't anymore.

[dollsahoy]

thinking about that post where people explained that many US cities are zoned so that it is not allowed (and possibly illegal) to mix businesses and residences in the same neighborhoods, meaning lots of Americans must travel notable distances to shop or go to a restaurant, library, school, hospital, work, and so on

and things are exacerbated by the car industry managing to keep robust public transportation from ever being built

and then, because there's nothing to walk to in suburban housing developments, a lot of them are being built without sidewalks, making things like "recreational walking/walking for exercise" dangerous to do near your home, but there will often be places built specifically for walking that you can drive to

And people from other countries were like "Wait, I thought Americans just loved cars and refused to use public transport or go to the corner shop out of stubborn senses of independence, I didn't know the country was set up so you actually needed those cars to survive"

Just a reminder that you can't assume that everyone else is working off of the same information you have, even if the information is incredibly obvious to you

(and yes not every American lives in situations where cars are necessary. many do. both realities can exist.)

[tigger8900]

There's also the situation where an area is technically serviced by a (horribly inadequate) bus system, but due to a lack of proper sidewalks it's not actually safely accessible. I've been going through this with my workplace, where there's a location that they claim is accessible by transit. There is a bus stop about 3/4 of a mile away, which is what they're basing that assessment on, and if that's all you know about the area it seems fair enough.

However, if you pull it up on street view, you see that getting from that bus stop to the location in question means that you have to walk along a winding road(posted limit is 25 mph, but I can personally attest that the average speed is 30-35 around the curves and as fast as they can get up to in between) with...ok there is technically a sidewalk, but it's tiny, overgrown, and practically in the street. With the way traffic behaves on that road, this is not a safe walk(and if you use a wheelchair, it's probably not even possible).

Therefore, the location is not functionally accessible by transit, though on paper management insists that it is. This has led to a situation where non-driving people in roughly 1/4 of the county are being denied equitable access to the services that have been assigned to that location. People who don't drive don't need access to a notary or weekend library service hours, right? 🙄

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

Spellcheck has just got immeasurably worse in almost everything over the last few years, right? It's not just me?

[tigger8900]

I vented about this to some friends a few weeks ago and was told that it's because companies have tried to make spellcheck smarter by using "AI" technology to guess what word you meant based off what you'd typed, rather than comparing to a dictionary without considering the context. I have no idea how true that is, but the timeline tracks and it explains some of the bizarre things that had been happening, specifically real dictionary words said in an unusual context(I'm a gamer and a fan writer) being flagged and other real words that are not what I meant to say being suggested instead.

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

I wonder whether someone born in a place that isn't part of the US but it later becomes a US state would be eligible to be elected as President

[tigger8900]

You don't have the political shitpost tag on this one, so I'll answer as if it's a real question. Just ignore this if you forgot the tag. The requirement in question is not "born in the US" but rather "is a natural-born US citizen", which is almost but not quite the same thing. If they were originally citizens of another country but naturalized at some point after their birth, they would not be eligible. But if they had US citizenship from birth through their parents, even if they were born outside the US, the interpretation thus far has been that they are eligible.

More about the natural-born citizen phrase on wikipedia.

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

The last post is one of the major reasons I hate the whole gift of fear/trust your instincts shit that keeps getting pushed. If you haven't examined them what you fear is almost certainly undergirded by bigotry

[tigger8900]

I've been saying this for years. I get a lot of shit over it, but how do people not see that "trusting your gut" is the same thing as just going along with whatever the unconscious biases in your brain tell you?

I understand why it's an empowering book and concept for people who have experienced abuse. That's part of what makes this conversation, and all like it, so complex. Trusting your gut doesn't generally hurt you, only others around you. Is that price worth it? I don't think it is.

I also recognize that I speak from the privileged position of not being traumatized to the point where I feel the need to utilize such tools in order to feel safe. So there's that. But I think it does eventually come down to needing better mental healthcare and access to therapy, so people can work on fixing their own traumas and fully integrate into society rather than relying on temporary soothing tactics that make them feel safe in the moment but harm society as a whole. And as we don't have access to that healthcare right now...they just get mad at you on the internet for suggesting there's anything wrong with their tactics.

[crocincrocsart]

unpopular opinion: Vimes is kind of drama queen

[mangaluva-deactivated20220930]

Sam “held a burning hot coal until it nearly took the skin off his hand while maintaining perfect calm and eye contact with the asshole in need of intimidation Just Because” Vimes? Sam “sitting on the stoop with a mug of cocoa and a cigar, cautiously aware of every inch of the scene he’s building” Vimes? Sam “could just tear his sleeve to show the mark of the Summoning Dark but instead tears off his whole goddamn shirt” Vimes? A drama queen? Reaching a bit don’t you think

[thestuffedalligator]

Yep, certainly doesn’t seem to describe Sam “pretends to eat poison as a power move” Vimes. Not Sam “buries an axe in the table in the Rats Chamber” Vimes.

[mangaluva-deactivated20220930]

I mean are we really talking about Sam “yes a whole room full of candles with wicks dipped in holy water is the best way to beat this vampire” Vimes, here? Sam “has fought bad guys on top of a speeding train AND a riverboat during a flood” Vimes, really? Definitely Sam “nearly gets shot in the head by a crossbow bolt that shatters his shaving mirror and then uses the bolt to prop up a shard of said mirror to finish shaving” Vimes we’re discussing here?

[davetheshady]

excuse me?????

vimes did not resign from his post in protest, observe the rest of the watch resign from their posts in protest, recruit them into a militia, sail to the country they were at war with, and attempt to arrest two different armies for disturbing the peace so you could sit here and call him a drama queen, as though drama was some myffic quality bestowed by an accident of birth and not the inherent right of every creatively petty and histrionic citizen of ankh-morpork 

vimes is a drama public employee

[goqmir]

setting up a tiny detail in one chapter to pay it off in the next few chapters feels sooo devious like oooh i can't wait to write the small little reference here that 70% of readers will miss but 30% of readers will cheer for

[dialupmodern]

it feels so good loading the gun when you're Chekhov

[sandersstudies]

My friend sometimes brings her six-year-old to our DnD sessions and my husband (the DM) lets her roll for all enemy attacks and sometimes he will show her a few figures and let her secretly pick what creature we meet next. Who needs encounter tables when you have a first-grader around

[sandersstudies]

She cheers when the monster is winning.

[sandersstudies]

DM: *places an ugly, slavering, repugnant, spine-tingling creature on the battle map*

Child who can barely see over the table: ᵗʰᵃᵗ’ˢ ᵐᵉ :)

[tigger8900]

One time, the guy who was GMing for us(we took turns, in that game) asked us to help populate a table of possible random events for a session. One of my submissions was "go ask your creepiest child what should go wrong and do that". He didn't roll it that night, but he said he had a good laugh about it.

[raakhti]

this is not my screenshot

discord has been pushing its new uk online safety act changes early for some users. this screenshot belongs to a 32 year old who used discords built in face scanner to verify their age. the scanner said they were 11 years old, and instantly suspended the account, with no option to try again or appeal, and the suspension will automatically end in 2027, when they’re “old enough” to use discord.

DO NOT SCAN YOUR FACE TO VERIFY YOUR AGE

if you really want to verify your age, use a different option available. don’t trust the face scan.

[kolejnylangblr]

why would you let a company scan your face anyway?

[tigger8900]

You have a choice between letting them scan your face or uploading a scan of your ID documents, which include PII. Both options are shitty, and you get to choose which shitty you engage with. Personally, I figure I'm already facially mapped from existing in life. I would've considered the face scan to be less risky(relevant: I don't lock my devices using biometerics), compared to handing over information useful for identity theft. If they actually delete it as they claim, no harm no foul. But my level of trust is low, at this point.

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

tbh my immediate reaction to seeing Trump actually getting blowback from his base in relation to Epstein is just confusion because everyone already knows Trump is a rapist

[tigger8900]

I'm pretty sure I can explain this one. It's not because of the sexual assault. They don't care about that, might even admire it. It's because of the sexual assault of minors, since that's pedophilia*. They've been conditioned for many years now to chase conspiracy theories involving pedophilia(that's what pizzagate was, back in the day) and to essentially use the "pedophile" label to indicate that someone was bad, even when children had nothing to do with it. This train was set on its track a decade ago, and it looks like someone just lost control of it. Womp womp.

*(I know, technically not. But I'm not gonna be the person to split hairs about ephebophilia, here. They sure don't, when they talk about this. It's all pedophilia to them, and the broken clock is right twice a day here because yeah, it's predatory no matter what you call it.)

[gay-mormon-wizard]

today I used the phrase "breasting boobily" in casual real life conversation and everyone was shocked asking how I came up with that and I had to explain it. ive been at the devil's sacrament so long that I forgot he wasn't god

[lets-burn-down-the-post-office]

“I’ve been at the devil’s sacrament so long I forgot he wasn’t god” is getting added to the tumblr line book