#about etc

“I do not agree with what you say, but I would defend to the death your right to say it.” 

:) My title and username are both references to a quote from a sketch on John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme (which I understand is strange given I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned Finnemore on this account). Apparently that quote is commonly misattributed to Voltaire even though it was actually Evelyn Beatrice Hall who said it! So the sketch is a wacky situation in which Voltaire defends someone’s right to say he should be stabbed to death…uh, to the death..

Thanks for the ask! I answered 1 here. :)

11. Tell us about your first crush?I was always "dating" boys in pre-school and elementary school but my first real crush that I can remember was a boy in 4th grade. He had platinum blonde hair and his dad was a pro surfer so he surfed and rode a skateboard and I just thought he was the Coolest. We were cordial with one another but were never even really friends.

My first female crush was an online friend from Australia when I was 13. After about six years we realized we'd basically been dating and got sort of informally engaged after some convincing from her (I'd made peace with being just friends and I was nervous to accept that this was real). Which just made it really painful when she broke it off later claiming she'd been "confused" about her feelings and sexuality. I would've stayed friends with her if she hadn't vanished for a week right after that (when we'd been talking every day for seven years). It was just too painful for me. I miss her sometimes though.

17. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtq characterization in media?It seems like a lot of queer characters and stories, especially of the more marginalized identities like bi, trans, nb, etc are used as vehicles to educate a cishet audience. Sure, visibility is good, and correcting misconceptions is great, but this insistence on requiring that queerness be a plot point or attached to a Lesson just reinforces the idea that queerness is so unusual as to require an Explanation at all times. I want more incidental queer characters, older queers, queers in LTRs, queers whose lives are not simply a straight person's with a same-sex partner but which don't revolve solely around Being Gay.

26. Favorite lgbtq actor/actress?This is so difficult because I instantly become more fond of actors when I find out they're like meeee. Right now I suppose Alan Cumming, Laverne Cox, and Kristen Stewart are my faves, both as artists and as icons. I have a soft spot for most queer celebrities, though, and there are soooooo many that I loved to begin with and THEN found out they were queer, like David Hyde Pierce and Ellen Page.

Thanks! I just answered 1, 2, 3, and 4 here. :)

21. What’s an absolute turn off for you in the opposite/same gender?Men who are insecure in their masculinity. Be masculine or don’t, but own whatever it is, and miss me with the toxic masculinity bullshit.Also, for men and every other gender, very poor hygiene. I understand not always having the spoons to get super dolled up every day, but y’know, the basic stuff, like brushing your hair and teeth, using deodorant, wearing clean clothes--at least making an effort toward basic hygiene and a neat appearance is important to me.

22. What’s an absolute turn on for you in the opposite/same gender?Androgyny or embracing aspects of masculinity/femininity that aren’t necessarily expected of one’s assigned gender. Girls who wear suits and short hair, boys who dance and wear flowers behind their ears, NB folk who do whatever the fuck they want, etc.