Hi I'm Feather!!

Rhetorical dogwhistles are things that most people would not be able to identify as bigoted because they're INTENDED to have plausible deniability.

The wording changes are meant to be subtle enough that people really can mix them up accidentally when they don't have much information!

So when the gender critical movement calls trans women "transwomen", they're hoping for 2 things.

this usage will spread enough among people who don't know any better, to give transphobes the plausible deniability of not LOOKING like a frothing bigot constantly.

the usage grammatically places trans women in a different category than other women; it's changing "trans" from an adjective to part of a noun to make this distinction.

The more we can avoid this usage, the less deniability have transmisogynists have when using it, and the less rhetorical ground we cede to the degendering and misgendering of trans women.

So we know they're all repressed it's just a question of who has it the worst and who has it the least bad

Here's my best guess, order of horrid-awful-painful-repressed to still-repressed-but-they'll-be-okay-maybe

Angelica

Clef

Dakota

Isaiah

So we know they're all repressed it's just a question of who has it the worst and who has it the least bad

Here's my best guess, order of horrid-awful-painful-repressed to still-repressed-but-they'll-be-okay-maybe

Angelica

Clef

Dakota

Isaiah

The general term for a non white person casually referring to a Black person is moreno (Moroccan) or sometimes I’ve heard Central Americans say “piel-negra” (dark-skinned) to distinguish from themselves as dark skinned indigenous people. Brazilians use pardo except that term is from medieval Spanish for a brown animal so I’d be careful there.

Black Spanish speakers say Negro amongst ourselves and I personally let my allies say it.

Under no circumstances use negrito/a/e. That’s blackie. Never use “Los negros,” that’s “the blacks.” Typically if you say something like “el negro,” one specific black man, the addition of the Spanish “the” is alienating and thus roughly the equivalent of calling someone a hard r slur.

Say “las personas negras” “communidad Negra.”

i drew my favorite of the quartet... and then a doodle of her and Angelica together because despite never having seen an interaction between the two of them i have so many thoughts about them i love them so much i feel like they'd be best friends and they're really interesting foils to one another and i could. talk about them. for days but i will spare you

your oc designs are so beautiful and glamorous.............. i love your art i love your art

since Angelica is a chronic perfectionist and Dakota is very empathetic I interpreted their relationship as "Angelica refuses to let effects of stress/exhaustion/just general unwellness show and does a fantastic job but Dakota does an even better job. of noticing" and I have mental images of Angelica falling asleep at its desk and Dakota putting a blanket on it

Eventually Angelica stops bothering hiding stuff from Dakota because there's no point if she'll know anyway and it's just a waste of energy. so Angelica is still relatively distant with the others, but when it's just halo and Dakota, halo doesn't. bother. at all. or maybe halo does a bit but not NEARLY as much as halo does with everyone else. I don't think they'd hold their friends at arm's length or be unfriendly, they just wouldn't talk about their problems. In the very early stages of their relationship when they first became friends, Angelica notices that Dakota is too perceptive so they actually avoid her but they can't avoid her forever since they're in the same friend group and they don't want to avoid all their friends

SO. NO MORE ANTI CONFRONTATION BEHAVIOR FROM ANGELICA. and eventually, after Angelica realizes there's no point trying to distance herself from Dakota, she ends up being more comfortable around her than she is around anyone else (maybe even family) because it is nice not having to project perfection all the time. she wouldn't say so but she's grateful Dakota is so perceptive now because it was the only way she ever would've stopped those behaviors, and even though it is just with Dakota, it's something. she starts going to Dakota when she's stressed or scared. not every time, but when it's really bad. and Dakota makes her some tea or gets her to eat or just gives her a hug and it's cute and they're so cute aogjremiogeaiaeornger

I also think Angelica would get protective over Dakota in not a super obvious way but you see if you're looking for it. like. Dakota has anxiety about talking to people maybe and Angelica is more accustomed to it (I actually think Angelica is also socially awkward they just don't know they are and they think everyone else is weird. so they aren't really scared to talk to people) so they do things like advocate for Dakota when she won't advocate for herself. little stuff like "Clef can you move? there's not enough space for Dakota" and Dakota is like "//// no wait wait" but Clef has already scooted to the side. also. if anyone is mean to either of them. they will argue

in Angelica's case I think it'd stare someone down with the fury of a thousand suns while saying polite stuff that comes across as a veiled threat and Dakota would get really flustered and yell at people for being mean to Angelica and her voice would break and she'd tremble like a leaf.

and they'd be best friends i envision them as being one of the closest pairs in the quartet. AND THEY ALWAYS SIT NEXT TO EACH OTHER AND THEY TAKE SIPS OF EACH OTHERS' DRINKS WHEN THEY GO TO CAFES AND STUFF AND THEY HOLD HANDS NEOGNWSGIOEGVEOWJFWGWEFW rolls around on the floor hugging a pillow and kickinng my feet grgmaeio

“Is This Healthy” is a comic that I made for an independent study in which I looked deeper into the idea of health, mental, physical, and emotional as it relates to myself.

“Hey, no, none of that.” Hands frame their face ever so gently, thumbs brushing the tears away. “You're doing everything right, sweetie. You're so perfect for me.”