Midnight Oil.

Moon in 1H things✨

i told myself i wasn’t gonna talk about this on the blog and i’m sure i’ll lose plenty of followers but i cannot believe what i’m reading in this fandom. how many brock turners and brett kavanaughs have to attack women at parties before we as a society accepts the basic tenants of consent???? 

look—if you’ve had drunk sex (mutually drunk) and do not have mixed feelings or felt it’s what you wanted, i cannot tell you what you feel, obviously. and….of course, mutually drunk sex happens. it does. 

but i can tell you that if there is an imbalance of power that comes from inebriation, then it is not true consent. if you encourage that imbalance, or brush it off, or worse, brush off the stories from women who were not able to consent vocally or were in a situation that led to or could’ve led to rape because of it—that is rape culture. if the argument is she “wanted it” because she drank, that’s rape culture. and you should be aware of that. 

rape culture, when not malicious, comes from a lack of understanding of consent. rape culture, when malicious, comes from willful ignorance and a lack of respect for the women who have felt like their consent was taken away or not an option—but everyone still blames them. how dare someone attempt to justify and normalize that? to tell a realistic story—sure. it happens. but to frame it romantically? what the hell. this hurts my heart, genuinely. 

rape culture puts the onus on the women, never the men. but we have to change that, and microclimates like fandom are the places to start. we have to create and write male characters who respect women, who do not which to violate their power over them. look at netflix’s to all the boys i’ve loved before—peter kazinsky is the perfect example of a trickle-down-economic soft boy. boys like that are a common fantasy in fic, and then they become popularized in books, and then film, and then it filters into the minds of young men and boys who feel encouraged to be kind and respectful, not that it’s their manly role to be assertive, sexually or otherwise. 

frankly, i have only avoided this kind of drunk-and-cannot-consent situation in life due to a friend of mine looking out for me at a party. what would i have felt afterwards, if things had happened the way i later realized they could’ve? would i have felt guilty, like it was my own fault? who would’ve protected me first, and not the boy? i think about these things a lot. and i’m very lucky that they are hypotheticals for me.

but they are not hypothetical for many women.

so if you’re justifying a willing, overt deception of consent because it’s your ship, i want you to look at that hard and think about the things you’re saying as means to justify it. if it were any other character but your fave engaging in the kind of behavior i’ve listed above, i think we all know you wouldn’t be advocating for it. so think about that, please. thank you. 

Louder for everyone in the back.

I did some phone banking this weekend (which is BIG FOR ME since I am an INTROVERT who HATES TALKING ON THE PHONE!!!!), and was, at first, discouraged that a fair number of people I connected with weren’t sure whether they were going to vote. 

Despite all the discourse online about how essential it is to vote, not just in this midterm election, or in 2020, but every frickin’ chance you get, a lot of people - especially younger people, it seems - feel like one vote just isn’t going to make a difference.

And, look, I get it, our electoral system sucks, and the fact that election day isn’t a national holiday is fucked, and in some places you literally only get a 12 hour window to vote and that is messed up. 

But it was still really disheartening to hear people say they are anti-Trump/GOP but not totally sure they’re going to show up and say so at the polls. Then, I got some good advice from a veteran phone banker, who asked me to steer the conversation to a couple of fascinating data points:

In short… please vote. I’m not one of those “if you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain” people because I know that the barriers to voting are very high, and it’s easy to lose faith in our government - in many ways, I have. 

But the only way we’re going to have a chance to actually make it work for us is if we show up and remind them that we’re here, and we’re paying attention, and we’re sick of this. 

Please, please, please, please, please vote.

This is so relatable, I’m dying.

LOUDER FOR THOSE IN THE BACK

MAKE SURE YOU GUYS ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE, THE APPOINTED TIME IS SWIFTLY APPROACHING

I’m glad I don’t have to hide my laughter right now 😂❤️😂💯

Smughead Jones isn’t the only smug smitten kitten in town. 😎

Jughead Jones is a Gryffindor, don’t @ me.

hard agree. 

as a slytherin no matter what test i take i find jughead jones to be the most impulsive hero complex having little shit i have ever seen outside of harry potter himself 

gang war for a dog? check 

drinks weird possible poison just to get a book? check 

like, literally the only thing slytherin about him is a snake mascot 

It’s been even further solidified this season that Betty and Jughead are without a doubt, my favorite part of riverdale. And it’s not just their cute, romantic, investigative moments. It’s all the small little moments where they make funny faces or gestures or looks or comments etc. Both individually and especially together, their moments are almost always my favorite. I love Betty. I love Jughead. I love Bughead. I love Riverdale.

THIS. IS. MY. MOOD.

how dare kj say that australia made up jandals, keep that shit in new zealand SIR.

Never heard of jandals in my life.

Kj, while we all share many things, jandals is purely Kiwi. We take full responsibility for the thong though. 

this is not okay

I in no way agree with FP being abusive to Jughead, but we don’t actually know quite what happened with the game while they were in high school… yet. After the next episode it will probably become more apparent why FP is being so protective about Jughead and Betty looking into the game. We don’t know the whole story, and obviously, it was quite traumatic for FP and he doesn’t want his son getting into it because he fears the worst. Yes, FP and Alice were both idiotic in this episode because they WOULDNT TELL US WHAT THEY WERE HIDING and that enraged me, but I’m sure they are hiding it for a good reason. G&G is dangerous, as we’ve witnessed thus far, but we haven’t seen the end of the game. The parents have. At the moment, FP grabbing Jughead by the face looks bad, like really bad. Even though that seems abusive in nature, I can tell that this was FP’s way of being concerned. This ain’t the normal caring FP were used to seeing. This is protective dad FP and I know damn well that FP would stand between Jughead and death if it came down to it. He’s literally done it before (2.21 anyone?). FP is trying to keep Jughead out of the game. This is not okay, but we also don’t quite know the real reason FP is so paranoid.

the gargoyle king could have killed fp’s parents and all of his sibling and it wouldn’t make grabbing his son’s face or the many other times he’s shoved jughead around okay. i’m not trying to be mean, but this really horrifies me to read. it is not okay for fp to be violent with jughead because he’s scared for him. how many times have hermione, fred, and even alice been upset with their kids? and they’ve never put their hands on them in anger. that doesn’t mean they haven’t been awful in their own ways but they at least know physically pushing your kid around isn’t okay 

tbh, i don’t know where your “normal caring FP we’re used to seeing” is coming from. he occasionally steps up, but he’s all around a shitty, abusive dad. he jerks jughead around when he’s angry (and let’s not forget he also threatened archie physically), he’s an alcoholic who used his son being beaten as an excuse to drink again, and he was actively trying to get into his son’s girlfriend’s mom’s pants with absolutely no care about what that might do to betty and jughead’s relationship (he thanked the farm for opening her up to the idea of them fucking behind their kids backs?? that’s nasty??). one nice scene where he brings jughead a bag of burgers doesn’t absolve all the horrible things he’s done to jughead. the same way penelope warning cheryl about the raid in 2.22 didn’t absolve her of all the terrible things she’s done 

i’m not saying people shouldn’t like him or think he’s interesting, but don’t try to excuse the inexcusable way he puts his hands on his son

Vote!  Because all our futures depend on it.

In 2008 INDIANA went for Obama.

Decisions are made by those who show up.

Decisions are made by those who show up.

Hey do y'all fucks remember two years ago when just before the election all these “don’t vote both parties are bad” or “vote independent!” Posts were going around and then Trump won and now two weeks before midterms there’s all these “don’t bother voting, revolution is the only way!” And “your vote isn’t gonna matter and is an ineffective way to protest” posts are going around? Yeah knock that shit right the fuck off, don’t fall for it and get your ass to the polls, we are not doing this again.

“Remember when people didn’t vote bc they said there was no difference between Hillary and Trump, and now there are child concentration camps” (Zack Bornstein)

“I know voting can be a pain in the ass, so just pretend like, if you don’t vote, children will be ripped from the arms of a parent who crawled across a desert to give them a better life and put in cages.” (Laurie Kilmartin)

We now KNOW FOR A FACT that Russian writers were paid to study US politics and make posts on social media to influence the election. We know FOR A FACT this happened ON TUMBLR. There is every reason to believe that’s still happening:  State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0

Right now, if you want to continue to have a democracy, the only thing that matters is eliminating Republican majorities, everywhere. That means voting for Democrats. It truly doesn’t matter how you feel about the Democratic party. Right now, your choices are between Republican despots who are taking away citizens’ right to vote in every way they can manage– or Democrats, who still want you to have a say in your government. It’s up to you, this year. By 2020, if Republicans have their way, it may not be up to us anymore.

all y’all had to do was vote for hillary clinton

I’m reblogging this every single time it pops up.

fuck every democrat who says the issue of trans rights is a “distraction.” fuck every single liberal who say that the threat of stripping every trans person of legal recognition is a red herring or a losing issue and if we focus on it too long we’ll throw the election. we’re talking about human rights, access to medical care, sex education, discrimination, citizenship, and a whole lot else, for millions of people.

trans people aren’t a “distraction.” we’re human beings. the fact that so many liberals turn their backs on trans people is fucking despicable.

Okay…but this, right here? This is exactly what the Republican party wants. Young voters turning against the Democratic party and either not voting at all, or voting in favor of some third party candidate that has literally zero chance of pulling in enough votes to win. They want division among the ranks. They want to split our vote. 

In political terms, calling something a ‘distraction’ means it’s a distraction tactic, not that the issue itself isn’t important. The Republican party has a very longstanding history of dropping hints of major policy changes right before big elections in the hopes of getting the “hot-headed liberals” all fired up about it so we start bickering among ourselves. They deliberately drop issues that they know are hot-button topics because these are the topics that have the potential to be the most divisive. 

They’re awful but they’re not dumb. They know trans rights is an issue that could potentially split the democratic vote. It’s an issue that’s very heavily weighted toward the younger side of the party, which again, was a deliberate move on their part. If they can convinced you that the “big bad Democrats don’t care about you little trans and nonbinary kids so why bother,” then they’ve effectively won the election in a walk because the democrats went in divided–again.

Look, the democratic party isn’t perfect. Not by a long shot. But it’s literally the only party that has a snowball’s chance in hell at overtaking the republican majority right now. If we as trans and nonbinary individuals ever want our identities respected and protected, it’s the only party that’s going to be able to get us there, because it’s the party going in the direction we need to go. If you want to vote in favor of our rights, then vote Democrat. No number of videos with pennies is going to change the fact that right now, in this political climate, third party candidates are not going to have enough power to effect the changes we want. 

Warning against something being a distraction doesn’t mean “don’t look at it or worry about it,” it means, “hey, I know this is majorly upsetting, and absolutely something needs to be done, but don’t let it divide us.” It’s literally because the issue is so important that democrats are warning against it as a distraction tactic–if we want to prevent that kind of change from happening under republican rule, we have to keep our heads and not let them keep us from voting as a unified party. 

Please don’t let the political rhetoric make you think that the democratic party isn’t going to be fighting for us and our rights. That’s kind of exactly what the Republican party wants you to think. It’s a division tactic. Don’t fall for it.

The Republican party has a very longstanding history of dropping hints of major policy changes right before big elections in the hopes of getting the “hot-headed liberals” all fired up about it so we start bickering among ourselves.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

I’ve been voting since 1998. This is what they do every single election.