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Censorship won't teach people consent. This isn't a problem of content that normalizes rape online. The problem is that rape is already normalized. The fact that there are predominantly male groups who feel entitled to sexual gratification is an issue on a massive social scale. Prevent them from expressing one version of this entitlement in online spaces and you will martyr their "free speech" cause without teaching them anything. If they can't enable each other online, they'll still keep doing it in locker rooms and ballrooms. They'll find other, less traceable ways to do harm. We can't stop these guys from doing harm until we can ingrain consent, deprogram entitlement, and convince them that other people deserve rights and dignity too. A faster solution is to give their intended victims more tools to protect themselves. Not paternalistic sheltering, but knowledge and bodily autonomy. These are much harder solutions than censorship, and they'd take a while. People might still think cutting off these predators' content will mitigate immediate harm while we work on the long-term problems. BUT!

Censorship will cause more harm than it prevents. You can't censor these guys without censoring everybody. Recently a woman in Australia writing age play--a fictional depiction of adults performing consensual sex--got criminally sentenced. It's a well-studied phenomenon that the fantasies of women tend to be pretty transgressive. That doesn't mean they endorse rape. Women and queer people are finding space in communities to explore their fantasies safely in ways that don't endorse harm. Actually in many ways, these spaces are critical for harm reduction. Tagging specific types of abuse as warnings is showing young readers to identify those harms as harms, for instance, even if it's presented as fantasy. A warning, or even just the acceptance of a trope as 'dark', reaffirms it as transgressive instead of normalizing it. Acceptance of transgressive fantasy empowers vulnerable people with knowledge and control of their own sexual experience, which makes it harder for predators to present themselves as sexual authorities. Penalize depictions of transgressive sex and a lot of innocent women and queer people who are actually reducing harm are going to take the fall. Meanwhile it'll clog up legal resources that could be used to stop actual predators. And, of course, once we allow governing bodies to censor content based on moral grounds, all they have to do is get that line moved to wherever they see fit. Queer content is always one of the first things at risk.

it must have been equally terrifying for her as it was for the real nikki to have someone else fight for control over what she perceived as her body. the scene where she's sobbing in the corner, terrified of her dreams is now more sad than terrifying to me. real nikki, who has just been raped by her once best friend hurting so badly that it seeps into entity!nikki's nightmares. entity!nikki who doesn't understand why the thing she wanted so badly is causing her so much pain. why she can't bring herself to lie in bed next to the man who is the center of her world.

and the worst part is bear doesn't even seem to like her. she's trying so so hard; she made a lovely memorial for his dead cat, she waited for him to come home all day without moving an inch, she made sure to be the most doting girlfriend at the party, and he's not pleased by any of it. he seems disturbed and angry and scared and she has no idea what to do to make it better. to make it worse, he keeps asking her to behave like the original nikki but he was the one who wished for her!! she can't be like nikki because nikki was simply not capable of loving bear even a fraction of how much she does!

she can't seem to reconcile it; he wanted her so badly he conjured her into reality and now he doesn't want her anymore. she doesn't know what to do. she tries everything. she obsesses over him, she threatens to hurt herself, she gets rid of that bitch sarah who keeps distracting him and trying to steal him away, and then dresses in her clothes for good measure and he still doesn't want her.

and then finally in a fit of desperation, she makes the wish and for one beautiful moment its all perfect. he's finally looking at her the way she looks at him. and then he's dead and she's lost everything.

roku had a summer fling with gyatso and that’s what really pushed sozin over the edge 

@all-inmoderation j/k lol i think there’s a lot of possibilities for what actually motivated sozin, at his core, to launch this attack, but i’ve always suspected that it’s because he believed he and not roku should’ve been the avatar. it’s a really small moment, but when the sages announce who the avatar is, and everyone bows to him, there’s just a small moment of hesitation before sozin also genuflects. coupled with the way he strode forward to greet the sages, convinced whatever message they had was for him, and given that he was a better fighter than roku, that roku was more awkward and nerdy, that they shared a birthday, etc, all suggest that sozin had implicitly accepted that he was “better” than roku for a variety of reasons. i think he still loved roku, but his ingrained sense of superiority was simply a facet of his nature, a silent understanding between them, such that i think even roku believed (at first) that sozin should’ve been the avatar.

when roku came back from his training as a fully realized avatar and therefore more powerful than sozin, but also with his own goals and vision that didn’t include just following sozin’s plans, it was a blow to sozin’s worldview, to everything he believed about himself. in my view, everything he did after that was driven by a desire to prove he could overpower roku, that he could be greater than the avatar himself, (and also that he could restore his former happiness with his friend by his side, not realizing he himself was responsible for destroying that possibility). leaving roku to die on that mountain wasn’t a victory and sozin knew that. he got lucky, and pulled a dirty trick on a devoted friend. but, although roku died, the avatar is reborn, and this time as an air nomad - at least roku was fire nation, but now sozin realizes all that power goes to someone from a nation of pacifist monks antithetical to everything he valued. an airbender avatar, in his eyes, is even less deserving than roku. so, he moves to wipe them out and start the war. of course, the avatar escapes him, and the feeling of self-worth and contentment he sought by trying to destroy the avatar festers and grows, and he dies with that self-created wound.

Like:

Kataang- they literally make me cry every single time I think of them. Their love story is wonderful and genuinely heartwarming. It symbolises healing and peace for both of them and the literal world. He showed her the world and he's her biggest supporter and she always defends him and they find solace in each other because they understand what it's like to be the last of their respective kind. And they're each other's hope and just... ahhh. They're so much more than the vanilla hero gets the girl ship people paint it as. Haters stay mad or smth.

Zukaang- the symbolism? They're the actual Ying and Yang of the show! The Rozin parallels? Them standing in a vortex of rainbow fire as two dragons (the blue one like Aang's tatoos facing zuko and the other one, red like Zuko's general colour scheme facing Aang) forming a heart shape around them? Zuko was literally searching for Aang and found his redemption in Aang and Aang made him a better person and Aang is literally the only person who genuinely experienced Fire Nation culture before the war and he clearly values it and he's helping Zuko bring peace to the world and the nation...

Taang- The og tomboy x soft boy dynamic. He's literally the person that helped her free herself from her parents and Air is the element of freedom? And she teaches him when to stand firm like the Earth? And I love when they do synchronised earthbending it's so satisfying and they work so well together. Toph having lost her face in one of Aang's nightmares is also a nice parallel to Ummi and Kuruk. (One caveat though: i hate taang being used as a "get Aang out of the way" side ship to Zutara)

Sokaang- they kinda come out of left field for me but the more I think about them the more obsessed I become. It's all about a teenage boy who has been forced into a role that demanded way too much of him finally learning to trust and rely on others. It's about Sokka finally living out the childhood that he was forced to grow out of. Sokka also has such a cute bond with Momo and more importantly, Appa, Aang's animal soulmate. The fics write themselves.

Sukaang- ok, I know Suki and Aang barely interacted in the show but like Hear me out.Suki is so connected to one of Aang's past lives. And she saved Appa, which would totally bond her and Aang (genuinely distressed that this was never discussed in canon). And they both value a sense of community so much, and Aang was one of the people who inspired Suki to leave Kyoshi to help others. Plus, there could be some amazing Rangshi parallels if Suki became Aang's bodyguard instead of Zuko's, which could be very plausible.

Azulaang- I adore this ship because I genuinely think Aang could really help Azula find her redemption. Hell, he was so nice to her in The Search and she literally killed him. Plus I've already laughed about how it would absolutely kill Ozai. The mental crisis Azula would go through due to fallingin love with Aang would be hilarious, and also the guilt over everything she's done, as Aang's kindness makes her realsie she was on the wrong side this whole time. He's one of the only people who can beat her at her prime and he doesn't seem to fear her at all, which is rare for her. Aang could give her the unconditional love she so desperately craves and needs.

Maiaang- genuinely adorable to me. Other than the obvious grumpy x sunshine trope, Maiaang has a lot of potential. Mai seems to genuinely like Aang in the comics, which is really cute. I also think Aang would be able to help Mai express her more positive emotions, other than just anger. Also something about the girl who was forced to remain silent and passive her whole life learning to finally let go and allow herself to just live with the help of probably one of the most active and expressive characters of the show has me by the throat. Plus, he got along great with her lil bro!

Tyaang- They're so similar and cute and bubbly! They'd have tons of fun together and I just know Ty Lee would teach Aang some gymnastics and he really enjoy it! I think he can also find Ty Lee's chiblocking very cool, since it is essentially a great way to deal with a conflict without causing permanent damage. Very airbendery. Speaking of which, Ty Lee is also very airbendry herself. I can genuinely see her finding herself in Air Nomad culture and be excited to help revive it.

Onjaang- i just find this ship so funny because imagine being a random schoolgirl in the fire nation and not only rizzing up a demigod but rizzing that demigod up successfully. This ship can also go so many ways depending on On Ji's reaction to that random cute guy who threw a cool dance party is actually the Avatar, so it's certainly interesting.

Yuaang- the ultimate cinnamon roll x cinnamon roll ship. But more than that, there's of course the Yue becoming the Moon Spirit and Aang getting lowkey possessed by the grieving Ocean Spirit. There's Yue appearing when Aang needed her most, while he's stranded in the middle of the ocean and helping him. They both understand sacrifice and responsibility, and maybe they could comfort each other through it. Also Aang being the bridge between the spirit worlds and Yue being a Spirit could lead to a very interesting romance, depending on how much the Avatar could interact with the Moon Spirit.

Jetaang- ok, Aang was just as infatuated with Jet as Katara was, right? And I think Aang was heavily affected by Jet's actions and behaviour. Also Aang really not wanting to hurt Jet while fighting him (twice!) was really cute. And Aang helping Jet snap out of the Dai Li brainwashing could be a really cool ship moment the more you think anout it.

Teoaang- Honestly their little one sided rivalry at the beginning of the episode was really cute. And I think there could be some interesting symbolism between them. Aang symbolising the old and Teo symbolising the new. They compliment each other like that. Teo comforting Aang by showing him that the critters of the temple are still alive and well is also sweet. And Aang admitting that Teo has the spirit of an airbender is so sweet.

Kuzaang- they're adorable. I loved the comic about them. Aang calling Kuzon "Hotman" is really funny. Aang helping Kuzon make a bigger flame with airbending is also really sweet. I especially like this ship in combination with Zukaang. It's such tasty symbolism.