Underwater Light

Case in point, I've never been to a woman's only space that wasn't obviously hostile to me, and that's when I was even allowed there in the first place. And I understand why - my voice is very low and I make no attempt at voice training, I dress in a gender neutral way, hormones have done very little for me. Unless I am making a special effort to be feminine I clock as a guy. I am also tall and broad. The only way I can gain any kind of acceptance in "woman's spaces" is if I go to extreme effort to completely warp my presentation and step on egg shells the entire time. If im not actively ashamed and apologetic about the fact I read as a man I am not welcome.

Because, again, the reality of woman's spaces is that they are about the comfort of those who organize them.

I'm also very aware that it's not just non passing trans women who get the short end of the stick here. There is a long history of racism connected to these kinds of spaces that absolutely has not been resolved, for example.

The other half of the woman's spaces discourse is about resources, and is just so detached from reality it is kind of pathetic. The idea that a trans man coming into a woman's only space is somehow stealing resources from women is pervasive as it is stupid. The reality is that very few resources of any kind are expended in cases like this, and far more important is the single most important resource in marginalized politics, solidarity and coalition strength. Any "loss" of resources that occurs when lines are blurred is more than made up for by the social and political power that depends on different marginalized people regularly interacting with each other.

So some fanartist drew a “sexy” (read: booby) version of a (cartoon) character who is traditionally very non-sexualised. Fans of the character got mad about it because it’s kind of groundbreaking how that character is written and portrayed and this art totally ignores the entire point of the character. They demanded the art be deleted. In response to that other people said, well what the fanartist did may be distateful but they have every right to draw what they’re into. The two sides fight for days and each starts a harassment campaign and even report their “opponents’” accounts.

So far so typical. But things eventually come to a head and they decide that this will be settled by votes - not through a poll. Through donations to a children’s education charity via each side’s portal. Whoever can get the highest amount of donation wins.

This is a form of backdoor bigotry from both normative facts (there are more straight than gay relationships) and well represented bigoted beliefs (men are superior to women).

I was driving through Vermont with a friend, and we pulled over at a tiny shop offering Maple Items. We were on the state highway, not the interstate, so "pulling over" meant "squeezing my tiny car into a parking bay the size of a broad highway shoulder."

As we got out of the car, an older woman emerged from behind the building where she had been pruning her roses. She introduced herself as Tammy.

Her shop offered the promised variety of Maple, but also a number of small antiques and a plethora of dog figurines, plaques, and clearly-hand-stitched garden flags.

A huge purple ribbon hung on the wall behind the register, along with many pictures of small dogs. This was no county fair ribbon. It was the size of my torso. The material had the soft sheen of actual silk.

As I placed my purchases on the counter, I asked, "Do you... Breed dogs?"

Yes. She does. She has bred Yorkies for the last 40 years. Her mother bred Yorkies before her. The purple ribbon was from her national championship winning Yorkie.

You may be expecting that the infodump was going to be about Yorkies.

It was not.

It was about 40 years of drama in the Yorkie breeding community. Where – you must understand – the judging at shows is often about who you're in with, not about the dogs. This is especially true when Tammy's opponents win anything.

And Tammy's mother! Well. Phyllis has been on the Yorkie scene since Yorkies were invented. Because of this, many women of equally venerable age hold deep grudges against Phyllis. The sort of grudges that result in episodes of Midsommar Murders.

This led to deep injustices against Phyllis on the part of judges and prevented her dogs from winning so often she retired from the scene. Judging is all about who you're friends with, after all.

After 20 years in hiding, Phyllis – the One True Queen of Yorkie Breeding – hatched a plot. She may have been out of the show circuit, but she was still breeding dogs. She entered an absolutely perfect bitch in the national competition, but sent her with a handler rather than go in person.

None of the usurpers knew who this dog belonged to, and in dog-breeding circles this Does Not Happen. This could have resulted in further injustices, but Phyllis was crafty. She knew this tournament was being judged by a man from the UK, who knew naught of the drama in the US Yorkie Empire.

With these advantages – and being the best dog there – Phyllis's bitch won the highest honor at the show.

Incensed by this insult to their ill-gotten supremacy, the other owners descended on the handler after the show, demanding to know for whom he was working.

"Phyllis," said he.

The name of the overthrown queen evoked horror in the usurpers.

"PHYLLIS!? She's still ALIVE!???"

Yes, Phyllis yet lived, and this bitch – the dog, not the woman – went on to mother Tammy's current dogs. One of whom, Lucy-Fur, is the reincarnation of Tammy's sister (also Lucy). This is certain for two reasons.

Firstly, Sister Lucy absolutely went straight to Hell upon her death, and Lucy-Fur the dog is positively as evil as Sister Lucy was.

study in the red keep.

"The gaming industry is bizarre. It is not an industry of success. It is an industry of your competitor, your direct head to head competitor, tripping over their dick and faceplanting into a bunch of shit. The only reason Sony got ground with the PS1 is because Nintendo fucked them with a deal and then went with carts for N64 and spent so many years pissing off third parties that everyone was willing to jump ship. The Saturn fucking killed itself by dropping into stores that were only Kmarts. The PS3 fucked up its entire early launch cycle by going a year late $200 more. And if you can just keep your company not shitty, if you can make a not terrible product, and your competitor makes an awful one, you’re the one who gets all the money"

Gosh, I just love that sweet Apple Boy, always so kind to our Dunk, really his truest friend. No agenda, just 'are you hungry?'

and 'come have some cider' and 'here, I bought back your horse because you're the best fellow I've ever known and you deserve some kindness after everything you've had to endure'. Oh, and 'hey, by the way, I'll back you up against that evil Targ princeling who's beating up women AND I'd be happy to hazard my life to defend yours and your honor, Dunk'. With no hesitation whatsoever.

And of course there's, 'Prince Maekar can bloody well stuff it, you goons are gonna have to go through ME to get to my bestie'.

✦ and that marks the end of tanselle week 2026!

you can check all the works published in the #tanselleweek26 archive on twitter.

Superman intervening in a conflict in the Middle East in order to save civilian lives

A twelve-minute long sequence where Lois and Clark debate the political and moral implications of Superman intervening in said conflict,

during which they note that the invading nation of Boravia is a close US ally despite their president’s shady track record,

and that the invaded nation of Jarhanpur having a controversial government does not justify the mass slaughter of their civilian population (who also seem to be primarily Muslim)

Lex Luthor is a billionaire misogynist with eugenicist overtones who invests heavily into propaganda and misinformation to make himself look good and turn public opinion against his enemies

Luthor is also privately allied with the Boravian government and is providing them weaponry in exchange for half of Jarhanpur’s land to develop in his own image

Luthor is operating a black site for-profit prison where he incarcerates political prisoners, whistleblowers and any ex-girlfriends that try to leave him

Luthor thoughtlessly murders an innocent Palestinian-American man just to taunt Superman, much to the cackling delight of Boravia’s pasty white president

Speaking of the Boravian president, when that guy orders a second invasion of the (mostly-unarmed) Jarhanpur, he publicly claims it’s to “liberate” the people of Jarhanpur while simultaneously commanding his army to genocide the entire population of the country

and as an added kicker, the Boravian president at one point claims during a press conference that Superman is only saving people to build a “harem” of exploited women, before leaving to privately surround himself with fawning young women, and later visiting Luthor’s private prison that’s full of kidnapped and abused women

The US government makes a big show of brutalizing Superman during his arrest before very publicly perp-walking him away (despite Superman actually turning himself over to federal custody, and also Superman apparently only being handcuffed with standard-issue cuffs due to the Earth’s explicit lack of kryptonite)

When Superman points out that nobody read him his Miranda rights, Rick Flagg says “you’re an alien, you don’t have rights” before shipping him off to the aforementioned black-site prison