werewolves will never hurt you

If you lived in an environment where expression of pain or hurt would result in laughter, shaming, accusations, ridicule, minimizing, insults, further degradation and hurt, it is very difficult to believe that anything different could happen your entire life. We often feel the most shame for the things we were the most punished for, and humiliation is an excruciating punishment for a person in pain.

You become ashamed and scared of your emotions even if nothing's wrong with them. You have to hide them even if you see everyone else express them, because it's different for you and you expect to be treated worse. When hurt, your instinct is to hide and keep safe. You don't want anyone to see you. Even the thought of expressing feels humiliating. It makes you want to not feel anything.

The shame is forced on you even if you've done nothing wrong. There is no reason to be ashamed in reality because we're all humans and having emotions is normal. But all the experiences you had tell you differently, tell you it's dangerous, scorn-worthy.

in aotearoa, june isn’t our pride, it’s theirs. marsha p johnson and sylvia rivera are their historical figures, not ours. the phrase that “you owe your rights to Black trans women” is true there, but here we owe our rights to (mostly) Māori historical figures. i have the freedoms i do because of the legacy of an entirely different set of people operating in an entirely different context at entirely different times.

But because of american cultural imperialism, most queer people in Aotearoa don’t even know our own queer history. Carmen Rupe, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, the Dorian Society, Gillian Laundon, Georgina Beyer, and the Wolfenden Association are some of our queer history. We should know their names! we should know what they did for us! but because of the power of the american imperial machine, we don’t.

our national pride month should be july, the month that the Homosexual Law Reform Act passed in 1986. our two largest cities hold their pride festivals in february and march, respectively. american queer history has very little (or nothing, depending on who you ask) to do with our queer history. anecdotally, from my own queries, queer youth in aotearoa know more about american queer history than our own.

Of course, what was supposed to be a short term service industry job before he lived for his art has bloomed into just being his life, and life as a poor artist is never as romantic as one imagines. While the cost of living of Bikini Bottom is low enough that even a frycook can be a homeowner, it's not quite so low that he can afford the luxuries he was used to growing up.

His view of the Working Class as the downtrodden masses were rather tattered by years of living between SpongeBob and Patrick, who were not so much temporarily oppressed intellectuals as they were, well, SpongeBob and Patrick.

Still, through thick and thin he's never gone back on his decision to leave the money behind. The great irony is that he is ignorant of his greatest achievement—his superiority to Squilliam isn't turning a bunch of randos into a functioning Marching Band or turning a burger joint into a fine dining establishment, it's having the strength of character to look at all the advantages Squilliam had and choose to leave it behind.

YOU NEED TO FUCKING TALK TO PEOPLE

"I won't talk to someone who wants me dead-"

SHUT UP

SHUT THE FUCK UP

Most people DO NOT think the average person off the street deserves death. Many people with conservative opinions don't want to kill a specific group simply because they exist, they believe that group is a danger to them or their families. IF WE ALL FUCKING TALKED TO EACH OTHER; THINGS WOULD BE BETTER.

Don't believe me? Check out the Enemies Project;

The lack of knowledge is what drives bigotry. If a conservative doesn't know much about trans folks other than a vague caricature, then they are much more likely to use them as a scapegoat. By showing yourself to them and having a respectful conversation, they have the opportunity to become educated and to move past their bigotry.

If you plan on doing this, I will say a couple things. First, listen to the other person. Try to understand their point of view, what might be motivated their beliefs. They will respect you more if you try to understand them. Second, use debating/conversation techniques specific to the person. For example, let's use imaginary person Dave. Dave is a Christian, owns a gun, libertarian republican, and is a veteran. Don't spout rhetoric about hierarchies to Dave. Instead, I would say that the government has no dang right to impose its will upon my body! America's the land of the free and people should be allowed to do what they want! Dave might progress to the stage where you can tell him that what his grandfather fought against in WWII is very similar to what is going on right now. You might also encounter Linda. Linda's a SAHM, head of the PTA, leads a run club and has three daughters. Chances are, Linda doesn't care that you're trans, but rather that you are upsetted her valued normalcy. Tell Linda about how normal your life is (lie a little bit, its okay). Talk about how you had crushes and high school sweethearts, how you organize a pick up soccer league and how dang high the price of groceries are nowadays. Perhaps even mention how anti-trans laws might effect her daughters, as that's the issue she cares about. Now she's not completely against trans people.