wretched creature

[creekfiend]

a funny thing about having conversations with people within institutions (academic in this case but also others) about gatekeeping, is that you end up having a conversation over and over in which you're like, "hey this alligator spike pit moat you have erected around your institution is keeping a lot of people out," and they're like, "well *I* navigated the alligator spike pit moat just fine," and you're like, "right. by dint of us having this conversation, you within the institution and me without, it is understood that you navigated the alligator spike pit moat. due to that being an inherent requirement of entering the institution," and they're like, "I don't think you understand the prestigious history of our alligator spike pit moat," and you're like, "is there a reason why there needs to be an alligator spike pit moat encircling the concept of higher education?" and they're like, "look, the alligator spike pit moat isn't for everyone. some people just aren't cut out for the alligator spike pit moat :)" and you're like, "right, yeah, like disabled people and people coming from poverty or unstable home environments or underserved communities or people dealing with difficult to navigate life events like pregnancy or abuse or prison or addiction or the death of a loved one, for example" and they're like, "how dare you imply that we are keeping those people out on purpose. it's their own problem if they can't wrestle the alligators and avoid the spikes while also disabled and/or poor and/or pregnant etc" and you're like, "well that seems evil," and they're like, "it sounds like maybe you're just bitter about the alligator spike pit moat because of your totally random individual experience with ONE bad alligator spike pit moat. have you considered therapy?" and you're like, "did you know that there's some patterns here in terms of how y'all are handling this stuff?" and they're like, "actually yes. we even have a department of alligator spike pit studies :)" and you're like, "that's great, how do I get access to and participate in those conversations?" and they're like, "well firstly you must cross the alligator spike pit moat"

[creekfiend]

if you can document that you have a medical condition that might make it challenging for you to navigate the alligator spike pit moat, they'll give you an extra 20 minutes to complete your navigation of the alligator spike pit moat

[creekfiend]

IMPORTANT: any injuries incurred as a result of navigating the alligator spike pit moat will be the sole responsibility of the injured parties. once you leave, the people who made you navigate the alligator spike pit moat and the institution that installed the alligator spike pit moat will never contact you again. except sometimes to ask you for more money.

[watercolormagicalgirl]

portal turrets were so ahead of their time actually because they’re autistic lil robogirlies who are ever so slightly chuuni and they’re adorable and polite and even though they could kill you in 10 seconds they’re incredible instant-lossbait and they go ahahaha >:3c and aaaa-auuu D: and awawawawa @_@ and other such noises

[astriiformes]

To be quite honest with you all I do think that aro/ace-spectrum fans in fandoms where people are desperately inventing crossover ships and humanizing non-human characters in order to have a conventionally attractive guy to ship the main character with, instead of possibly having to enjoy a story with no romance in it, have the right to refer to everyone else as cowards.

[easterndaylighttime]

if I just had the presence of mind and the wherewithal and the chutzpah and the bandwidth and the executive function and the energy and the mental resources and the spoons and the right attitude and the capacity and the gumption and th

[goflowolfog]

[hunter-rodrigez]

In Europe, you press one of these buttons if you want the bus to stop at the next stop.

The button starts violently vibrating the buttplug every driver is wearing.

[hound-mother]

can i stress the importance of boundary setting? of being able to say no? if you want to be able to play with this shit, or really engage sexually at all, you need to be able to look someone in the eye and say “i don’t want this.”

[hound-mother]

if you can’t look me in the eye and say No, if you haven’t demonstrated an ability to voice discomfort when you feel it, you are not a safe partner and i do not want to play with you.

[houndmother]

specifically what i’m thinking about here, though idk if clarification is needed, is that when you don’t tell me you’re uncomfortable you’re putting me in the position of harming you without giving me the option not to. if you never say “i don’t want this” then i don’t get to say “no problem, we don’t have to!” and you’ll grow to resent and hate me for crossing a boundary that was never communicated to me. actually, this applies to things other than sex too. if you never voice displeasure/discomfort, or direct desire, you’re making it impossible for people to respect you and give you what you want and keep you feeling safe.

[houndmother]

good tags. but i want to respond directly to one thing here bc in a lot of ways it’s the crux of what im talking about. “do not let them find out later that you weren’t actually consenting.” the thing about this is that, if you verbally consent, even if you don’t mean it, you DID consent. your partner cannot read your mind. they cannot anticipate that you weren’t actually feeling it. you don’t then get to turn around and go “oh this person assaulted me because i didn’t actually consent” when you said yes and responded positively to every check in. that person did nothing wrong, you failed to communicate. when someone needs to set a boundary and doesn’t, they’re causing the harm in that situation. their failure to communicate is what is putting them in an unsafe situation.

[elminx]

I’ve noticed some posts around about how you can’t romanticize your life during a fascist regime and while I deeply sympathize with this sentiment, I want you to try to understand that’s what they want you to believe.

Fascism thrives best in the cesspool of hopelessness. They want us so confused and hopeless that we give in. When you give in, you don’t fight back.

If you wait for life to look good to do the things that bring you joy; life will still be bad - you will just have less joy.

As someone who has struggled with my mental health a lot for the last thirty years, I know this struggle firsthand. And changing this belief system - the one where you spend all of your time expecting bad things so you won’t be surprised when they happen - it’s the hardest work that I have ever done. And I’m not perfect; I still have setbacks. I still experience really real fears about the state of the world and the US, in particular, because that’s where I live.

But I made a vow to myself that I will not let the choices of others ruin my life. When I made that vow, I was thinking of my parents - but it applies to the state of the government right now, too.

There are still flowers in my garden, and ripe tomatoes, and it’s almost pick-your-own apples season, and I have plans with my friends to go to as many cemetery ghost walks as we can find this October.

I still deserve to live. I still deserve to laugh. I still deserve to love. I still deserve to be as happy as I can be.

And you do, too.

[yeahawvampire]

Dan Savage.

[maid-photographer]

The more I get back into doing creative stuff the more I understand that one Fujimoto quote

[malpensante]

[letatlin]

for anyone wondering about the second quote:

[rabbitkinglune777]

my biggest thing with disability advocacy is that we genuinely gotta be fucking nicer to people who BECOME disabled overtime physically. like it just happens or goes unnoticed for a long time because the healthcare system especially here in the USA is a nightmare.

anyone can become disabled. and I feel like advocacy forgets that and treats if like a horrific thing to avoid at all costs and not just something that happens along with needing to treat disabled ppl with respect, autonomy, and sometimes caretaking if they request it/need it.

[boxheadpaint]

tragedy of pride evebts is that they are so crowded and loud that all of my syndromes or disorders are activated at once but people are also dressed so awesomely and i cant say anything about it or even look. Just occasionally split second whale eyeing them like a dog to see some really awesome 70s style print boots and hoping they dont think im some kind of living being

[haikaisenshi]

LEGENDARY PULL i got the Odo Fucks card. you fucking wish you were me

[corrya]

I think about this like once a day

[vaspider]

I have heard a variant on it that I really like: "You cannot hate yourself into someone you can love."

[v3l3nomortale]

Rodney Wood

Inamorata’s Memory

[shamebats]

The (European) sun is a deadly laser, stay safe everyone

[unfuckablebogtroll]

☝️🤓 it’s because the further you move toward the earth’s poles, the lower the angle of the sun is at the hottest parts of the day, meaning the radiation hits your whole body, causing it to feel 10-20 degrees warmer than the thermometer reading will tell you. People from tropical climes, aka close to the equator, are used to the sun’s radiation hitting a much smaller target- their head and shoulders.

Also the further you move toward the poles the more pronounced the difference between the length of day and night is. Worst part of a far-north (or south) heatwave is it doesn’t get dark long enough for meaningful cooling.

It’s not the heat. It very literally is the sun.

[psychotic-gerard]

give it up for girls with vaginas and boys with penises

[psychotic-gerard]

pause i forgot cis people exist this was intended as a celebration of bottom surgery

[sailorbrazil]

thursday..... and i bet you wish you were her

[ndnbutch]

genuinely I do love katara and sokka as a representation of how Indigenous people can be written in a fantasy setting and it was nice to have something like that in a childhood that was spent consuming a lot of media set in fantastical worlds. however I think if those are the only fictional Indigenous characters you can name, especially like as an adult, you should really make an effort to also engage with stories that portray real Indigenous people and cultures in the real world

[ndnbutch]

actually I’m going to add to this and say something that I know will be very controversial on tumblr but. if the only fictional Indigenous characters you as an adult can name in general are from solely children’s media, you should really make an effort to engage with a broader range of stories that portray real Indigenous people and cultures in the real world. sorry. I know this is a touchy subject. This isn’t meant as an indictment of adults who engage with children’s media overall. I just think those shouldn’t be, like, the only Indigenous characters you’re exposed to. respectfully. you’re going to be missing out on a lot of aspects of our stories, frankly. no matter how deep you think that story tailored to a child audience is. it very well may be. it was still written with children in mind first and foremost. please attempt to broaden your horizons.

[ndnbutch]

and if I’m being really honest? once you’ve finished listing fictional Indigenous characters you’ve heard of? my challenge to you, white tumblr user, is to name at least one work of non-fiction (book, essay, documentary, etc) created by an actual Indigenous person. you’re allowed to use search engines you just have to name one. and then you have to engage with that work, if you haven’t already.

[shiverandqueeef]

Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit, & Metis Filmmakers

currently represented in this list: Mi'kmaq, Blackfoot, Mohawk, Cherokee, Anishinaabe, Cree, Haida suggestions always welcome

here's a list of 120 movies to get you started!