Mock poster for a fake post-PHM cartoon

I also imagine Olric as a really sweet and caring brother who supports March during his transition 🤧

So every day I'd pick her up and we'd enjoy some time in the car together. She is a friendly and curious child. And also the most stereotypical girliest girl you can imagine. Her favorite color is "pink", followed closely by "rainbow". Her last birthday party was princess themed. Her favorite animal is a unicorn. She chooses her own outfits, and it's frilly tutus and sparkly tights every single day. Ironically her parents are both gnc and lament that they have no idea where she gets this from.

Anyway, in my car I listen to my music collection on shuffle. It's a large and eclectic selection, so I make sure to skip any songs that are inappropriate or I think she just won't like. No matter what we're listening to though, she doesn't really seem to care.

One day my attention drifts a bit, and then I suddenly realize we're halfway through a Korn song. I skip it, and suddenly the girl speaks up and says "Can you go back? I liked that song."

"You like Korn?" I ask.

"I love Korn" she says with emphasis. She reasserts her love even after I confirm I'm not talking about the vegetable.

Well, I decide that Eaten Up Inside is not really inappropriate even though it's pretty grim, so I allow it. I'm pretty sure she's lying about loving Korn since I'm confident she's never heard it at home. Her mom is mostly into pop and dance music and her dad almost exclusively listens to video game soundtracks. Later that day, I confirm with her parents that's she's never heard Korn as far as they can tell, and we all have a chuckle.

Over the following weeks, however, her love proves consistent. Anytime a Korn song comes on shuffle, she make a positive comment. No other songs merit any recognition. Keep in mind, I have thousands and songs, and only 5 of them are by Korn. After the 4th time, she asks directly if I have any more songs by Korn. I technically still have one she hasn't heard, so I switch over to that. After that day, I play the closest thing I have to metal playlist, because that's what the princess girly girl wants.

Other than Korn, the only songs she ever heard over the course of the month that got compliments were Rob Zombie's Dragula ("it's great!") and Carry on My Wayward Son by Kansas ("that one was ok"). I guess she craves growly lead singers and electric guitar solos.

my parents were hippie feminists so my brother and i could play clapping games and sleep in puppy piles and give each other weird hairdos, but all the ‘normal’ boys just up and stopped knowing how to touch anyone without hitting sometime between kindergarten and first grade

and my little kid mind briefly saw the vastness of life stretching out in front of all of us, and all the hugs everyone would need and not get, and for a moment i was just like

So I grew up knowing full well that the whole Men Don’t Touch thing was puritanical bullshit.

What I was absolutely not prepared for, however, is the super intense effect it has on straight men’s romantic relationships.

Because when you are literally the only person it is okay for your boyfriend to touch, Jesus fucking Christ, that changes the game.

I strongly suspect that a lot of Str8 Dude feelings of entitlement to women’s bodies, particularly the bodies of their wives and girlfriends, is a direct result of those women being the only non-violent physical contact they’re allowed to have.

I know for certain that the framing of any and all platonic physical contact as un-manly has been directly responsible for a lot of sexual dysfunction (and then the attendant misery of trying to get that treated at the ripe old age of 22) with at least one of my exes. It’s a mess when you can’t get it up because you’re depressed and want to be held but you’ve been brainwashed into thinking what you actually want is sex because being held is for girls.

–>all touch is sexual, no touch is platonic

–>thus anyone I do touch/am affectionate with is SUPER SPECIAL and sexual

–>thus every woman who’s nice to me wants to bang

–>being nice means you want to bang

–>being nice to a woman means I want to bang her

–>I can’t be nice to a woman unless I want to bang her, if she’s nice to me then she wants to bang

–>I fall in love with any and all nice women

I like the contrast between this panel here of Luffy triumphantly going out to sea, where it seems the sky's the limit and Luffy's got a whole world to explore, and the one at the end of the chapter

Spells of Mistria: Caldarus' Blessing v0.16.5

My best friend: