girl the rot

Gerard keaaaay!!! Our beloved gerry,the burn scars were a struggle ..

Nigerian Pride 🏳️‍🌈🇳🇬

1.) I don’t understand how that can be

2.) But I’ve never done fieldwork from a car before (!!!) so I’ll take your word for it.

“Heeeey”, she said, like someone gently broaching a topic I should have noticed, “Why does the lane next to us have diamond shaped symbols on it?”

That is! A subtle and friendly way of asking why we’re sitting in traffic when there’s a carpool lane Right There! I laughed and pulled into the lane and started driving.

Unfortunately. That isn’t what she was implying, she was genuinely asking. So we were stuck in traffic, she asked about what was clearly a breakdown or emergency access lane, and I laughed and started driving in it. She was Alarmed.

“Hello! Excuse me! We can’t drive in this lane! No one else is driving in this lane!!”

“Oh! I should have said — this lane is for people with more than one person in their car.”

“That is RIDICULOUS. You are lying. You are lying about what this lane is for and we’ll get arrested! (ma’am it’s fine but if it weren’t it would be more of a “ticket” situation) we’ll get a “ticket”! (Ma’am again it’s fine but were it not I alone would get the ticket) because that IS NOT the purpose of this lane. That is a RIDICULOUS lie.”

“I’m sorry, I should have said — I thought you were being subtle about my oversight. Please observe the carpool sign.”

“I don’t know what a carpool is and I don’t believe you.”

“How about you look at all the cars stuck in traffic and see how many have more than one driver, and if there are at least five I’ll get back into the traffic jam.”

“FINE!”

<a pause>

(With dawning horror) “none of these cars have more than one person in them.”

“I know.”

“None of these cars have more than one person!!”

“If you weren’t here I’d be right there with them.”

“OK but there was no train to where we needed to go.”

“There’s no train to where they needed to go either.”

“I know McDonalds and Burger King sell Burgers, but what does Wendy’s sell?”

“Burgers”

“And Sonic?”

“Burgers.”

“Jack in the Box?”

“Burgers.”

“In’n’Out?”

I really haven’t had to pretend to have a gun that many times!

We were staying in a cheap hotel, she was coming out of the shower wrapped in a towel. Someone shoulder-slammed the hotel door and popped the lock open and started fumbling with the security chain. I snarled “GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR, I HAVE A GUN.” and the person left.

She was WAY way WAY more concerned about me traveling with a gun (ma’am I do not have a gun) why would I SAY I had a gun if I couldn’t back it up? (Ma’am to get him to stop trying to break in) But why would he THINK I had a gun? How would that even work? Please tell her where I keep the gun. (Ma’am I promise there is no gun.)

The debate continued through my call to the front desk and our packing and being protectively escorted to our car by a young man who I could absolutely take in a fight. (“What is she mad about?” “I told the guy I had a gun.” “Smart! Maybe you should get one if you’re gonna travel like this!” “Haha yeah” “So why is she mad?” “She thinks I have a gun.” “WHY WOULD SHE LIE ABOUT HAVING A GUN?!?!”)

Here are some sick tips

“Rapefic” and “a non-sexualized horror fic about CSA” or even “a non-explicit fic that just details how a character deals/copes with CSA” are not the same thing.

Yes, a character being coded as a (C)SA victim is a thing. This can either mean it’s written allegorically, or they have experiences very similar to victims. Hallmarks of this include themes of loss of autonomy, difficult relationships to touch/sex, losing a part of one’s body, not being able to remember one’s childhood, etc.

Not only is it okay to headcanon child characters as CSA victims, but you’re never gonna BELIEVE what the C in CSA stands for.

It’s also okay to headcanon characters from fiction mostly targeted at minors as CSA victims. “But what if a child sees it?” If it’s horror, or something else inappropriate for children, it should be filtered out with all other non-appropriate content. Otherwise, it’s fine. There is nothing inherent about themes of CSA that makes it automatically inappropriate. Again, you’re never gonna BELIEVE what the C in CSA stands for — why is representation for parental abuse victims understood as important for abused children, but not representation of child SA victims? Because our trauma is too gross? Very progressive of you.

If you’re about to say something about CSA portrayed in fandom spaces in the future, ask yourself, “If this was portraying psychological or physical abuse instead, would I have my panties in a twist right now?”

By making CSA victims out to be creeps for exploring or talking about our trauma (including through fandom), you are inherently contributing to the culture of shame and silence that silences SA victims.

Representation for CSA victims matters (including and especially those who are still children, because they are made to feel uniquely “ruined” — unlike their peers, who are still “innocent”)

All of this also applies to non-child SA victims and SA headcanons, too, by the way.

YOU GUYS R NOT GUNNA BELIEVE DIS.