How do you see God?

A NEW CREATION

[dandiliiontea-deactivated202105]

It’s INSANE to me how controversial romance novels are. Romance novels. Like, being openly a fan of them immediately opens you up to people constantly coming at you like “but don’t you think it’s ~limiting- and ~juvenile~ to have a genre of books with happy endings for women?”

Like.

No?

Why is it such a big deal to want to read stories where women have sex and then don’t die at the end? Jesus Christ.

Why is the concept of female characters being happy seen as less creative than female characters suffering? (Trust me, creating a world where women win in the end takes a lot more creativity and artistic vision lmfao)

Anyway, literary bros will pry my romance novels with their happy endings from my cold dead fingers.

[jennyredford]

Or die in the very beginning of the book. But no one calls out James Patterson for writing another formulaic thriller in which a woman is horrifically killed after getting laid and then some man solves her murder. Every. Damn. Time.

But hey, those romance novels where women get happy endings are so limiting, eh?

[dandiliiontea-deactivated202105]

Real talk: realizing how common it is for female characters to be punished for on-the-page sex with death was a big part of my embracing the romance genre. Once I noticed it I couldn’t unnotice it. It’s everywhere. A woman having sex in literature or non-romance genre fiction is the literary equivalent of a red shirt on Star Trek.

[roo-bastmoon]

It’s not just the sex thing, though that’s a key element. It’s that, in romance novels, the heroine gets to be cared for the way she normally would care for everyone else. It’s wish fulfillment in that her romantic partner will do emotional labor, spend a great deal of time thinking about her, or sacrifice his desires or fortune or reputation to be with her, or spend days nursing her back to health, or risking his life to save hers. In romance novels, you’ll find men taking care of children, talking about their feelings, putting effort into their appearance—even if they are adorably bad at it. Watch how many romance novel protagonists fall in love with a man who happens to be rich or handsome, but she didn’t give in until his behavior changed and he starts mentoring her, or providing for her, or being gentle toward her, nourishing her, listening to her, appreciating her… I suspect romance novels are looked down upon not for being juvenile formulaic “beach reads” but because they paint a fantasy world that leaves men feeling uncomfortable or even emasculated. But whether you’re a Midwest housewife or a big city CEO, women who read romance novels just want to read about men loving women the way women are expected love everyone else—with a nurturing and protective form of unswerving loyalty. Great sex they don’t have to die for is also a huge bonus, but the *romance* part of the novel is genuinely more about the woman being appreciated (for her beauty or spunk or intelligence at first, and then for all of her by the end).

[codenamecesare]

“women who read romance novels just want to read about men loving women the way women are expected to love everyone else—with a nurturing and protective form of unswerving loyalty.”

[obsessionisaperfume]

THANK YOU.

[lyricwritesprose]

According to the website smartbitchestrashybooks, which analyzes romance novels to a great degree, one common element of the average romance novel is what they call the grovel.  That is, there’s a turning point near the climax of the book where the leading man says, in effect, “I hurt you.  I had my reasons, but they don’t make it right.  I am devastated that I hurt you, and I will do whatever it takes to make it okay again.  Leaving you is completely on the table even though I find the prospect horrific.”

And that’s a very important fantasy.  To have your feelings, your pain, be made so absolutely central to the narrative, to someone else’s world.  You could call it a power fantasy, but I don’t think that’s exactly right.  It’s a significance fantasy.  A romance story is a story in which the woman is the most significant damn thing in the book.

And when you think of it like that, you realize why some people are really, really threatened by it.

[fruitypies]

T H I S. Excuse me while I go on a rant but i have a whole argument about why this is–

I’m gonna say it: Guys, women ask for sooo fucking little. Romance books are our escape fantasy away from the real world where the bar is in hell and women fear for their wellbeing every single day. Start actually putting in the effort to meet her emotional and physical needs for intimacy and care- ROMANTICALLY AND PLATONICALLY; Make her feel safe, loved and taken care of.

Help your wife around the house, listen to your daughter when she’s sad and don’t invalidate her emotions, support your girlfriend in her personal interests, and tell your female friends that you cherish the friendship you share. It really REALLY isn’t hard, and I’m so sick and tired of romance novels being listed as “Unrealistic” because so many men are seemingly incapable of thinking with anything else but their cock and their inflated ego. And if you feel threatened by me saying this, maybe you should take a look at your own behaviour and figure out why that is.

[markodragic]

fuck esports, the only correct way to play smash is the way my 7 y/o niece plays it: connecting 2 controllers, setting one as peach, setting the other as marth, pretending marth is peach’s boyfriend and then playing virtual barbie and ken with them

[markodragic]

smash esports livestream but it’s just thousands of people tuning in to watch my niece make bayonetta marry solid snake on the zelda temple stage

[shizagmm]

走るアヒル

[senatortedcruz]

A lot of the discourse around Scarlett Johansson v Disney is very reminiscent of Taylor Swift vs. Spotify and Apple Music. It’s not about a millionaire getting selfishly getting richer, it’s about holding multi billion dollar corporations to their contracts and, if this is what they can do to their biggest stars, what shadier breaches are happening to smaller actors, artists, crew members etc?

[glamourweaver]

Court rulings that massive corporations have to adhere to contracts with creative labor ARE A GOOD THING, even if you aren’t a fan of the specific actor

[diaryofandnwoman]

#whitewomantears

[aestheticdaydreaming]

This is Suits Studio, a tailoring company specializing in women’s suits. 

We specialize in suits, but we’re not dressing men.

[uncloudedjoy]

But like, their website has men’s suits on it. They make suits for men and women. I don’t understand this ad.

[wastelesscrafts]

I'm not sure if this is something you can help me with, but I've been trying to darn holes in my couch. All my attempts have caused the material to pull around the outside of my darn, making a new hole that partly circles it. Is there anything I can do?

To be honest, I have no experience with furniture upholstery, so please take this reply with a grain of salt.

Couch with removable cover:

If the couch has a removable cover with holes in it, take off the cover and darn it in the conventional way. If that makes the surrounding material pull out and rip further, that means the fabric surrounding the darning has been weakened too much to handle the strain of your repairs, so unless you also darn the weakened spots to strengthen the fabric, it will keep ripping.

Sewing patches of fabric over the holes and the weakened fabric might be an easier route to take, depending on how large the weakened area is. Both the blanket stitch and the whipstitch are good options for this.

Couch without a removable cover:

Darning holes on a couch without a removable cover seems like a daunting task, and if that's the case I think you're brave for trying! Darning is difficult when you can't see or reach the back of your work.

Sewing a patch over the holes might once again be the easier option, especially if the fabric keeps ripping around your mends. Use a whipstitch to sew the fabric over the hole, and use a sufficiently large needle or even an upholstery needle to make things easier on yourself. If this proves too difficult, fabric glue is also an option (depending on the material the couch is made of).

Making your own cover:

If you're really adventurous, you could try to make your own cover. Old bed sheets or second-hand curtains are great for this due to their large size. You could even mix and match fabrics for a quilted look if you can't find enough matching material. You can also drape fabric over the couch to hide the holes, and hope they won't rip any further.

If the couch happens to be IKEA, there's a fair chance you'll find model-specific instructions or even sewing patterns to make your own cover online. You'll need to know the model's name to find them, though. There's quite a few examples of this on Pinterest.

Some inspiration:

(Image source)

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(Image source)

[smoldragonborn]

"we need to stop the stigma towards drug users and addicts" and "we need to challenge the idea that being sober makes you boring" and "we need to stop acting like binge drinking to the extent you're doing medical damage is fun and normal for young people" are all ideas that can and should coexist.

[fatfemmefreaquency]

just so we’re clear, the threshold for “binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage” is waaaay lower than you think.

I work in an obstetrician and gynaecologist’s office. we have to tell patients on a regular basis that they are binge drinking weekly when they think they are simply consuming a normal amount of alcohol on the weekends.

having more than 3 drinks in a single sitting if you have an estrogen based endocrine system is a binge that is medically significant.

having more than 5 in a sitting is a medically significant binge for someone with a testosterone based endocrine system.

every time you do this, it significantly impacts your risk of getting breast cancer, and damages your liver. it takes time to recover from that liver damage. if you’re having a 3-5 or more drink binge on a weekly basis, you are an alcoholic, medically speaking, and your liver is not recovering.

again: the bar for what binge drinking is, medically, is so much lower than what you think it is.

alcohol is a really toxic substance and not something you should fuck around with.

again: if you have an estrogenized hormone system (common for most women), then 3 drinks is a binge. if you have a testosteronized hormone system (common for most men), then 5 drinks is a binge.

anything above that number, consumed as frequently as weekly or more, and you’re medically a binge drinking alcoholic.

also, if you’re drinking any quantity of alcohol 6 days a week or more, that’s another threshold at which, medically speaking, you meet the definition of alcoholism. your liver needs more days without alcohol in your system than just one a week to recover and be healthy.

I don’t say any of this to shame anyone—to me, alcoholism or substance use disorders aren’t a sign of weakness or moral failing. and most of us genuinely don’t know this stuff.

rather—I point this out because it’s important to reduce harm, and find ways to live healthier, happier lives. there is a life outside of constant binge drinking. it’s not always easy to find it. but it’s out there. you deserve a life where your emotional needs are met by something other than alcohol, and a life in which your liver is healthy, and the ways you cope and celebrate and find joy don’t put you at increased risk of cancer.

[odonism]

methods of organizing books alignment chart:

[katscozycottage-deactivated2026]

Guess I’m neutral evil.

[uncloudedjoy]

Neutral good, sometimes lawful good, a little neutral evil ...okay chaotic neutral it is

[rotfae]

A cunning vampire door-to-door salesperson who stands in people’s doorways and talks until they can find a convenient moment to drop their pen and the person picks it up and the vampire says oh “Thank you” and the person says “you’re welcome” and the vampire smiles a big fangy grin and steps inside And that’s this vampire’s modus operandi for decades And then the language starts to change and suddenly millenials have homes and the vampire thanks them and they say “oh, no problem” and the vampire is like ???????????????? this was not the plan

[kermiehere]

Millineals Are Killing the Vampire Industry

[odin-n-out]

honestly the most unbelievable part of this is where millenials can afford to own homes

[cliffracer]

the second most unbelievable part of this is millenials answering their front doors for people they didnt know were coming over

[uncloudedjoy]

Ain’t no door to doors coming into my shitty apartment building that’s for sure...#millenialwinlose #safefromvamps #notsafefromrent

[kayforpay]

history fucked me up

oxford was built and operational as a college before the rise of the mayans and cleopatra lived in a time nearer to pizza hut’s invention than to the pyramids being built

[kayforpay]

I need a noncomprehensive history book that covers Known World History in time periods, like “in this century, all this shit was happening concurrently” and not just all spread out so I have to piece it together like some unpaid uneducated scholar

[tzikeh]

The last execution by guillotine occurred the same year that Star Wars premiered.

[ruinedchildhood]

[thedeadofflandersfields]

Pigeon steals poppies from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia in order to build a nest beside a stained glass window.

[cant-hug-every-human]

@birdblogwhichisforbirds

[iwilltrytobereasonable]

@snitling EXACTLY

[tinysaurus-rex-deactivated20240]

This is two pigeons, pigeons nest in bonded pairs (notice the first one is checked and its mate on the nest is barred). Usually they don’t make nests nearly so big but I guess if you have the materials, go for it.

[theramseyloft]

The nest is so unusually big because the vast majority is a platform to keep the actual nest (just that tiny ring in the corner around the bird sitting in it) cushioned from the anti bird spikes.

This is a work of beautiful defiance.

Using the very thing installed to make just a moment’s rest impossible as structural supports for an immovably stable nursery.

[jurassicjenday]

The symbolism achieved by these pigeons is better than some writers can hope for and I love it!

From the nest on the bird repellent spikes to the fact that those spikes are along the stained glass windows of a church, a place associated with sanctuary and compassion. The fact that the nest is made of stolen poppies for remembrance day hits the hardest though. Of the 54 animals to be awarded the Dickin Medal for acts of gallantry during WW2, 32 of them were pigeons. These were messengers who flew through battlefields and across borders, many of whom were killed or severely injured by enemy forces including gunfire and trained falcons. Many of their achievements saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers, and yet now their descendants are faces with anti-bird spikes, shooting and poisoning in an attempt to rid the cities from the rats with wings. I love this picture because it feels like they’re taking back just a little bit of that credit owed to them. 

[theramseyloft]

Reblogging for this beautiful addition.

[shockpine]

[mdintraining]

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has trouble remembering developmental milestones. I put these together, but can’t take credit for any of the photography. Hope someone finds them helpful!

[thelastpilot]

This is very useful to me i have absolutely no gauge for how old children are and what they can typically do at what ages

[johncribati]

I’ve been on Tumblr too long I was definitely expecting this to turn into some existentialist meme

[bogleech]

Every writer needs to see this because I’m really tired of otherwise competent novels in which a two year old is like “mother dearest I do believe I am quite frightened” or conversely they’re supposed to be five and going “me hungie!!!”

[depsidase]

[lost-son-of-rome]

It’s your problem now, fuckers.

[deadstuffguy]

New state dropped my dudes

[coriesu]

Calming the storm Arnold Friberg