心から愛してる

APRIL FOOLS! IT WAS A KITTY INSTEAD!!

My work for @belovedsheith ’s fic for the Alternate Shiro Big Bang!

sequel to that kuron/shiro/keith fic i did awhile back

now, if you work in retail, you know this sort of customer. those assholes who walk in right before you close and take their time shopping and act like they dont notice the announcements that “the store is now closed. please bring your final selection up to the front for checkout.” or that every employee is so fucking done for the night and want to get home. or that they are the only customer in the store. and when they have a shopping cart, you know they’re gonna be a while.

so a solid half hour after we are officially closed this woman comes to my register, because i am the only one open. because it’s ten fucking thirty pm and everyone else is ready to leave and ive been stuck here for eleven hours because someone called out and i was already there and a fucking idiot. 

and this woman, she’s a Suburban Mom ™ type and, like all the fucking moms who come into this store, she doesnt have a coupon because she expects us to just give it to her. and we will, if they ask. except i, after a solid hour of no customers and foolishly thinking nobody would come, had gotten rid of my coupons a few minutes before she walked in. so when she asks if i had a coupon i say no, i’m sorry, i don’t have one at the register. 

and this woman, she leans in and tells me “you know, i’m a professional psychic.” and i think “oh christ here we go”

and long island medium here, immune to the glares of the other employees who want her to just fucking pay and leave, goes on and on about this boy who loves me. we are soul mates, she says. destined to be. but there is a power keeping us apart. she mentions this “power” keeping me from mr. right several times. 

i, exhausted and frustrated and wanting to go home, reply “is it the power of me being a lesbian?”

tumblr users: stop shadowbanning us

tumblr users: stop flagging perfectly SFW posts

tumblr users: let artists post their NSFW art again

tumblr users: stop completely abandoning and ignoring your user base

tumblr staff:

tumblr staff: why don’t we

tumblr staff: change a color

tumblr staff:

I’ve come to suspect that a lot of LGBTQ+ discourse these days is conservative Protestantism with a gay hat because it’s pushed by people who literally are conservative gay Protestants whose worldview hasn’t been broadened beyond “now you can have 2.5 kids in a house in the suburbs… with a spouse of the same gender.”

My girlfriend Marna has been a queer activist since the late 80s. She’s told me about the incredible deliberation and debates LGBTQ+ activists had, in the late 90s and early 00s as the community began to see past the AIDS crisis and immediate goals of “surviving a plague” and “burying our dead.” There were a lot of things we wanted to achieve, but we had to decide how to allocate our scarce reserves of money, labour, publicity, and public goodwiil. Those were the discussions that decided the next big goals we’d pursue were same-sex marriage equality and legal recognition of medical gender transition.

From hearing her tell it, it seems like it was actually a wrenching decision, because it absolutely left a lot of people in the dust. A lot of people, her included, had broad agendas based on sexual freedom and the rights of people to do whatever they wanted with their bodies and consenting partners—and they agreed to put their broader concerns aside and drill down, very specifically, onto the rights of cis gays and lesbians to marry, and the ability to legally change your sex and gender.

As a political tactic it was terrifically effective. In less than two decades, public opinion in many countries has totally reversed on gay marriage, and we’ve won some truly enormous legal landmarks. Gender transition has entered public consciousness and the first landmark battles allowing people to define their own gender have been won. Marriage equality means that husbands and wives are protected from being banned from their dying spouse’s bedside, being forcibly separated from their children, or not being recognized as an important part of their spouse’s life.

The LGBTQ+ community knew they were taking a gamble, focusing so exclusively on marriage equality, and trans activists knew that they wouldn’t be able to achieve anything else until they’d gotten basic medical transition recognized. By and large, prioritizing things this way paid off. But they knew going in that there would be costs—and we’re reaping them.

Activists of 20 years ago chose to sideline and diminish efforts to blur and abolish the gender binary. Efforts to promote alternative family structures, including polyamorous families and non-sexual bonds between non-related adults. Efforts to fight the Christian cultural message that sex is dirty, sinful, bad, and in need of containment. Efforts to promote sexual pleasure as a positive good.

Those efforts have been going on for the last 20 years, but they’re marginalized—activists who had to decide where their finite time, money, publicity, and social capital went literally sat in committee meetings and said, “Marriage equality is our top priority. Legal gender transition is our top priority. Everything else will have to wait.”

This happened especially because sex education, sex positivity, and youth outreach were incredibly dangerous areas. Our enemies have been saying for years that all LGBTQ+ people are pedophiles, perverts, seeking to corrupt and recruit children to our cause; anyone trying to teach children basic facts about how to avoid disease, what’s happening to their own bodies, or what possibilities they have for identity and orientation, risks having their name, career, and life ruined. As a sex educator in the 90s, Marna had to tell teenagers, “I can’t answer your questions about safe sex now. Come back when you turn 18.”

So kids who grew up being told that girls and boys are different and ought to lead different lives, and sex is dangerous and sinful and gross, and you definitely shouldn’t want sex UNTIL you get married to your One True Love, only had that message tweaked a little bit. Now you can cross the floor from the Girl Side to the Boy Side or vice-versa. Now your One True Love doesn’t have to be a different gender from you. But those kids could survive with the rest of their worldview relatively intact. And I think that’s what we’re seeing in fandom, with an emphasis on “pure” OTP ships, on only including LGBT+ identities that use crisp, clear gender binaries and result in nuclear family life. The rest of those cultural messages about sex and love remain: men’s and women’s worlds are and should be different, “impure” sex degrades and defiles you, sexual urges that do not contribute to your One True Love and family life should be repressed, shamed, or destroyed, and sexual thoughts are every bit as bad as acting on them.

This isn’t because kids today are bad or stupid. It’s because as a community, we had to decide where our effort was going, and now we need to pay down the debt we’ve racked up over years of prioritizing marriage equality and legal trans recognition over sex positivity, sex education, and deconstructing gender.

TERFs, SWERFs, exclusionists, and transmedicalists have stolen a march over liberal queers because they’re doing the work to educate youth. While liberal queers have been staging protests and lobbying politicians, half a dozen of my undergraduate professors were radical feminists. Communities of exclusionists and anti-sex activists have honed their expertise at engaging teenagers with their ideas and theories. They’re the ones writing the FAQs, answering the asks, and doing the groundwork of saying, “Here is a basic framework of sexual ethics for you to follow.”

If we want to win back the culture wars, we have to step up our own efforts. Go back to the sex educators and gender activists whose good work has been ignored or underfunded for all this time and support them. Let major LGBTQ+ activist organizations know that their work so far is very nice, but it’s time to renew our focus on youth outreach and mentoring young activists. Brainstorm a way to help angry, isolated, disenfranchised young people form communities based around positive action and a sense of belonging. Get into mentorship or education yourself. Help us pivot as a community, to reach out to the kids who have obviously been underserved.

People doing the good work who need our support: San Francisco Sex Information Sex & U Scarleteen Sexplanations Making Queer History

We won a few battles. That’s nice. But now it doesn’t serve us to whine that they’re not all won. We’ve still got work to do.

the severe lack of resources LGBTQ+ activists were working with after the worst of the AIDS crisis, forcing a decision to focus on marriage equality and legal recognition of the true gender of trans* persons

the grudging sacrifice of attention to advocating for holistic approaches to gender & orientation education, due to that lack of resources & existing social stigma making LGBTQ+ youth education extremely dangerous

the consequence of having to narrow the activist focus being:  TERFs, SWERFs, exclusionists, and transmedicalists filling the education gap for the last 20+ years. (Is it any wonder the American LGBT+/queer climate is what it is today (early 2019)?

But for all that: it’s also a roadmap to a better future.

Event info

Writer Sign Ups HERE

Artist Sign Ups HERE

Beta Reader Sign Ups HERE

No internet

fledgeling fandom 

women run everything 

seriously where the fuck did we go wrong 

fandom wouldn’t exist as we know it without these women

conventions, badges, quite a lot of taboo but also lots of fun

closely-knit communities

mostly discussions in magazines 

hogging the phone so you can chat with your friends 

(while trying to pretend the rest of your family doesn’t exist)

basement meetings 

fanart what??

Dawn of Networking 

tin-bucket sites and forums 

the badly assembled DIY IKEA kits of the internet

these were strange places 

i’m too young to know firsthand but I’ve heard the stories

they were like,, inhabited by eldrich beings

 who would sell souls in exchange for fanfics

early RPs

nobody was quite sure what they were doing

but!! You could connect with more fans quickly!!! 

made obsessing less lonely

yay

“I was there Gandalf”

Live Journal 

small internet communities  

the name “Ann Rice” strikes fear into your heart 

also hatred, lots of hatred 

adding every warning and rating under the sun, hiding behind NSFW filters even if it isn’t necessary, praying you don’t get reported or deleted

you get reported

your friends get reported 

nobody is safe

fuck.

Citrus Cheesecake 

DeviantArt and ff.net 

bright shiny eyes

children everywhere 

“more of a lime than a lemon >//< but also kind of just a lemon with fluff?” 

where did all the adults go? Where were they hiding??

pls don’t flame

A/N *dances away from your flames because idgaf*

omggg such a nosebleed!!!! XD lol

characters and authors having conversations in the author’s notes

Archive of Our Saviours

ooo we found the adults

mass migration by younger fans to Tumblr, Ao3 etc 

looking at fandom’s earlier stages like “I have no memory of this place”

ratings that had nothing to do with fruit 

(thank gods)

fandom grows up 

we are all grateful 

we have proper websites to call home

wanderers can finally settle down

many fans are Tired

We’re here again, Gandalf

your elbows are explicit 

cats are explicit

there are legends of a paradise of pillows 

but none of us wants to leave hell 

blue blue blue 

a well-respected petblr is flagged as explicit 

will we be here in January? 

who will survive? 

those with sense watch the chaos from Ao3, sipping mocktails

but we’re not really scared

nothing can kill fandom 

so happy to know my boys are in love and living happily ever after and travelling all over the galaxy together etc

Howdy! As you can see by the title, Sheith Positivity Week for 2019 is up and running!!!

The major theme has been pre-decided ( crowd sourced!) and it will be “Just Sheith Things~” or otherwise, well, Sheith things! 

The date for the week is currently in decision mode. I’m trying to find the BEST week for everyone involved, so I think a poll on ‘months’ would be the best option- and then to narrow it down from there. After all I do want fan participation lol. 

What is Sheith Positivity Week?

Well, if you’re new here or just need a reminder:

Sheith Positivity Week of SPW, is an entire week dedicated to all things Positive Sheith! The week is themed (as seen above) and for a full week fans can participate and share their fresh new works with the community.

This year, the week is very open to interpretation. The prompt should be as non-specific as I could get them while still staying within the Sheith theme (that being Keith & Shiro as both individuals and as a couple). 

While the week is for Positive Sheith works, should you find the prompts inspiring you elsewhere then you’re free to write/draw/animate/gif/edit to your hearts content. I only ask that things are tagged accordingly. (This also includes N SFW works)

Rules

All entries should focus on the romantic relationship between Shiro and Keith.

No OT3 that includes Shiro/Keith will be allowed for this week (sorry OT3 fans!)

Entries should focus on positive energy. Please don’t make it too angsty and/or triggering. The prompts ARE open for interpretation, but this is a positivity week!

NSFW entries are okay. Just make sure to tag appropriately and/or put under [read more].

Tag your entries as #sheithpositivityweek and#sheiththingsweek2019 within the first 5 tags of your entry.

If you post on AO3, please post it under sheithpositivityweek collection.

This is a hate-free event. Do not bash or harass other participants.

Have fun and spread the words around ❤♥

The Prompts

The prompts for this years week have already been decided to create a quicker turn out period, lol. So here they are, up for YOUR consideration, with some gentle explanations for the prompts.

Monday, TBA: Rainbow / Monochrome

An easy first day, a big part of the theme this year is color, and as our favorite black and white duo- nothing fits better than these two!

Tuesday, TBA: Jackets / Gloves

Iconic gear, another easy prompt set but more specific for sheith.

Wednesday, TBA: Nicknames / Last names

A slightly more difficult prompt set. But still applies to the characters well, while still having room for interpretation.

Thursday, TBA: Sometimes / Always

This was a personal pick. A more difficult prompt set. The words feel very sheith and give room for either really happy content or really heart wrenching and then everything in between.

Friday, TBA: “It’s Killing Me When You’re Away” / “It’s Good To Be Back”

Two of the most iconic lines, said by one to the other. A more difficult prompt set meant to be an end of the week deal to give you time to think up ideas.

Saturday, TBA: Song Inspired Work

So!!!! Over the past few months I saw the Sheith Song List take off, and I found that many people have their own favorite song picks for Sheith. This prompt is a happy little nod to the community, so go wild! That song you always play your own mini animatic in your head to? Go for it. If you wanna make a sheith song, that works too! 

I only ask that you: Use a lyric from a song to Inspire, Title, of Quote in the work. So basically, if you write a fic insp by it, title it with the lyric/song or use it as a quote, if you draw use it as your caption title or again a quote. ETC. (this is just clarification, please feel free to use the prompt as you please)

Sunday, TBA: Free Day!!!

Self explanatory!!! Go wild! After that finale there’s been a dip in content on tumblr- and I wanna see all those ideas that have been looking for the write audience!

I have the hope, that this positivity week will bring back fans. We all went though some rocky time with the finale, and we all love this ship. I want everyone to remember why they love it. I wanna see the art and stories, I wanna see the niche craft content. And I wanna share the opportunity with everyone!!