backgrounds and character design for one of my finals!

Yeah what the hell, I'm uploading my cover of the cover of Dream Theater's Parasomnia

This took me 3 days straight of painting 24/7. I was SO obsessed with this that I barely ate or slept LMAO

But I'm pretty proud of how it came out!! I had JUST seen Nosferatu at the time and I was really inspired by that art direction and color grading for this one!!

[PT: Sexual assault vs nonconsensual sexual contact - consider sexsomnia.]

There needs to be more of a distinction between the terms "sexual assault" and "nonconsensual sexual contact." Nonconsensual sexual contact is any sexual contact, intentional or not, that was done to a person nonconsensually. Sexual assault is a subset of nonconsensual sexual contact that was specifically done with *intent* or by *negligence.*

Before getting out your pitchforks calling me a victim blamer, please actually read through what I'm saying.

For those who don't know, sexsomnia is a sleep disorder (specifically a parasomnia, like sleep-walking and sleep-talking), which causes a person to do sexual things in their unconscious state.

This usually describes behavior like "talking dirty" in their sleep, moaning, and grinding, but it can also range to behaviors like masturbation and even having sex with nearby people or objects.

Sexsomnia goes beyond just having wet dreams or sleep orgasms, as it describes more verbal or physical action than traditionally seen (and it doesn't always need to accompany a dream.)

For the more "extreme" end of the spectrum, its like how people who sleepwalk might do more than just walking (ie; they might go on "autopilot", acting out chores and even doing things like cooking or driving in their sleep.) Sometimes, a sexsomniac will also have sleep-walking, which means even if theyre sleeping alone, it isn't always enough to prevent an incident if they're living with another person. Just having an unlocked door (or a key/lock that they can unconsciously get ahold of) and no bed restraints could lead to something happening.

Usually what happens is not contact with another person, but rather awkward situations like dirty-talking, stripping, or masturbating in public spaces. However, contact can sometimes happen as well.

It's even worse if the sexsomnia is sudden-onset, and the person was completely unprepared for the situation, because they had no idea their sexsomnia even existed in the first place.

There have been sexual assault charges towards sexsomniacs for behaviors that are completely out of their control (and before anyone says "well, what if criminals claim to be sexsomniacs to get away with their crimes?", the way that gets disputed in law is through sleep studies to see if their claim holds any validity to it.)

And don't misconstrue what I'm saying - the trauma of the other party in the situation is 1000% valid and they are not at fault for it. And if a sexsomniac knew of their condition, but didn't properly prepare some sort of protective system, then they are definitely at fault for it, and deserve to be charged with negligent sexual assault.