loud fart

some sketches seen in the reject false icons documentary (dec 16)

basically,

Which is like? Firstly, not a surprise that something steeped in alter-ego resonates for queer people, especially trans people.

And secondly, also super not surprising that it’s a community that is massively oversexualized and denigrated as sexually deviant. Like, js it’s a tale as old as time to target an overlapping interest group as a guise to target a minority demographic. 

And targeting sexual shaming at queer-dense populations, hah! HAH, I’m not surprised.

baby grebes

I admit I’m a sucker for adorable animals in videos and pictures. With all the troubles in the world today, sometimes it’s nice to vicariously immerse myself in piles of puppies, kittens, and other cute critters. Unfortunately, sometimes the media I’m consuming is a source of troubles itself. Many times ignorance about animal behavior is at the root of the cruelty, though there are situations that are born out of greed for money, prestige, likes, and so forth.

Obviously some of these videos have worse origins than others. The upset gecko gaping its mouth at its supposed rival in a mirror isn’t being nearly as badly mistreated as the loris that’s starving to death due to an incomplete or incorrect diet. What’s important is developing a critical eye for this sort of media and learning more about how to assess whether the animals involved are actually enjoying themselves or not.

Here’s some sauce for those of you who want to read further:

http://blog.whyanimalsdothething.com/ - Why Animals Do the Thing (@why-animals-do-the-thing) is a great start to learning more about animal behavior, which ones are healthy and which ones indicate stress (here’s an especially good post that goes into even more detail about some of these viral videos and photos: http://blog.whyanimalsdothething.com/post/128327199132/animal-science)

http://thehsi.org/2015/04/01/the-cruel-cost-of-cute/ - the Herpetological Society of Ireland explores more about the cruelty behind staged frog photos and more

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/whimsical-wildlife-photography-isnt-seems - more on those staged photos, including some good links throughout the article

http://chimpsnw.org/2013/10/take-action-tuesday-new-childrens-book-exploits-anjana-and-tiger-cubs/ - goes into more detail about how TIGERS and similar organizations exploit wildlife for profit

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/BathingBunnies-RO.pdf - if you absolutely must bathe a rabbit, here’s when and how to do it as safely as possible

Species portrayed: Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang), orangutan (Pongo sp.), tiger (Panthera tigris), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), scrub frog (Rhacophorus sp.), rhinoceros beetle (Dynastinae sp.), domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)

12-11-19 note: Hey, I’ve added a transcript of the comic panels above down below the read more cut. I have to run to an appointment now but will try to add neat links people post in the notes later on. Meanwhile, please reblog this version so that more people can enjoy this comic, including those who may have trouble reading the written text or who use text readers. Thanks!

Day 8: What’s your favourite species to collect and why?

i love collecting birds, but my favourite to collect has to be pigeons, specifically feral. the variation in feral pigeons is amazing and It’s always fun getting one to process as I know it’s going to be unique! they’re also apparently hard to process so whenever a pigeon skull comes out perfect I feel good lol