rikkila

Listen, just hear me out-

You can thank @blakbonnet for this one

Twitter is an incalculable loss for artistic expression, news, and so many other facets I can’t even begin to count.

This sort of loss of information is impossible with AO3 and how it’s set-up. Obviously an AO3 style model isn’t sustainable for every site bc the moment images get involved the server costs skyrocket exponentially, but now more than ever the theory applies.

AO3 is an archive of our own, donators have direct say via vote about what happens to the site, you help shape it.

As long as AO3 has donation drives and doesn’t rely on advertisers it will remain around as a foremost place of art and freedom of expression. What happened to Twitter can’t happen to AO3 as it currently exists. And that is why we fight tooth and nail to protect AO3 from corporate interests and out of touch billionaires like Musk.

“I’m the Kraken,” means something like “I’ve had to kill before and that scares me.”

“I am still Blackbeard,” means “I am still worthy of respect.”

“Do you wanna do something weird?” means “I think I can be myself with you.”

“We didn’t come all this way to not dig something up,” means “I’m in love with you.”

“Never left,” means “I’m in love with you.”

“Yeah. I know I don’t,” means “I’m in love with you.”

“What makes Ed happy is you” means two things. It means “I love you.”

My Halloween Costume this year: Pom Wonderful bottle! I’ve always joked about sharing the same body type as my favorite juice, so I decided it was time for the vision to come alive.

All of the front lettering is felt that has been hand sewn to a dress (from ebay). Most of the nutritional facts on my bum are done with puffy paint. The cap hat is made from cardboard, phonebook paper, hot glue, and some netting.

My purse is a large Pom Wonderful bottle, dyed with alcohol ink, lined in cellophane with a ribbon strap and button closure. Wig is from Amazon! Shoes are thrifted.

Artist name: Horns-of-Mischief

Art Title: And the rain washed our worries away…

Warnings: Blood

Author #1: Rikkila

Story Title #1: Remember When it Rained

Pairing(s): Anders/Fenris

Warnings: Violence and Gore

Author #2: Araglas

Story Title #2: The long journey

Pairing(s): Anders/Fenris

Warnings: none

Link to art, by Horns-of-Mischief

Link to story #1, by Rikkila

Commission for @valauthielelensar of her Warden Kallian Tabris.

getting a blowjob is a sexual thing and it also does not ‘feed’ anyone whereas breastfeeding is literally not even a sexual thing a baby is having food that they need to live like it’s nowhere near on the same level as getting a blowjob omg

if you are uncomfortable seeing a woman breastfeeding then that is your problem because you have oversexualised breasts so much that you can’t even stand seeing them being used for their actual purpose and also you’re an idiot

1.) Breasts as sexual fetishes is a (largely Western) cultural construction. Yes, it’s a fetish – anything you are sexually attracted to that is not the genitals of an adult is a fetish, or paraphilia. My professors have met non-Westerners who think our men are “like babies” because they are attracted to breasts.

Breasts ≠ genitals. Scientifically, they are considered secondary sexual characteristics – same category as facial hair. They can be sexual in a sexual context, just as necks and feet can be. But their primary purpose is reproductive.

2.) Breastmilk is not a “bodily fluid.” It is FOOD.

It is not categorized by the CDC as a biohazard, and so no you don’t need to freak out if your coworker wants to store her milk right next to your Lunchables.

MOREOVER,

Breastmilk is not just protein and vitamins. It is a living, dynamic substance that BUILDS HUMANS.

It has hundreds of ingredients (<— actually that list needs to be updated because they’ve discovered more already). There is a lab at the University of Washington St. Louis, where they have written all of the ingredients of human milk on the wall – They have run out of room on that wall. Among those ingredients:

The exact ratio of protein-sugars-fats that human infants need (cow’s milk doesn’t even come close)

Antibodies to pathogens in the baby’s environment (synthesized by the mother within hours of coming into contact with a given pathogen) and other immune factors

Stem cells. FUCKING STEM CELLS. (They used glow-in-the-dark mice to find out what they do!)

Hormones (support growth and regulate behavior)

peptides

Self-digesting fats (what the whaaat)

Growth factors

water, vitamins, minerals, carbs, etc.

prolly other awesome shit we don’t even know about yet because we’ve barely scratched the surface of this research!

These ingredients change hour-to-hour according to the baby’s needs. It will even add more water on hot/dry days. Fuck, breastmilk kills cancer in a petri dish. Breastmilk. is. not. a. bodily. fluid. It. is. liquid. gold. 3.) When you tell a woman to go to the bathroom to breastfeed, you are perpetuating the notion that it is dirty and shameful and needs to be hidden away. This idea is the biggest barrier to achieving breastfeeding goals in the United States. Because women feel ashamed, they often stay isolated at home when they should be spending time out and about with friends and family and having, like, a life. This isolation can contribute to postpartum depression. From the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding: Women may find themselves excluded from social interactions when they are breastfeeding because others are reluctant to be in the same room while they breastfeed. For many women, the feeling of embarrassment restricts their activities and is cited as a reason for choosing to feed supplementary formula or to give up breastfeeding altogether. And since we have this culture of shame and privacy surrounding breastfeeding, young girls and women don’t see it enough to learn what is normal/not and how to do it, so they often give up when they run into problems because they don’t realize there’s an easy fix. Moreover, an infant needs to be integrated into society in order to develop properly. He/she needs to see faces and hear voices. Isolating them – or throwing a blanket over their head – takes this important component of their development away. It also often annoys them because they are understimulated. 4.) YOU NEED TO SEE IT. That’s right, YOU. Even if you are a dude. Maybe you aren’t a parent, but you probably have loved ones who are. Or you might become one yourself someday. And if you are American chances are you have no idea how breastfeeding actually works, because you never fucking see it. It’s messy and complicated, and hard. It used to be a part of everyday life, because there weren’t any alternatives – So we learned how to do it by being around it all the time, NBD. The whole sexualization/modesty thing surrounding breasts wasn’t a thing until like the mid-20th century. Check out this 1871 drawing of a woman breastfeeding IN FUCKING CHURCH:

It is not the prettiest but here is a little chart I made of skin tones.

Fenris and Theo Hawke - commission for @chanty92. Thanks for commissioning me!

Fenris and Theo Hawke - commission for @chanty92. Thanks for commissioning me!