Truly

truly

Same goes for being gay! When I first learnt it it was through watching YouTubers that were very open about it and I just assumed everyone was like. Cool with that???

Later on my classmates talked about this one girl in my class being a lesbian like she has the plague and I would just look at them so confused like.

Ok? And??

That's literally always been my reaction even before I knew exactly what everything meant I think if I told past me like

Yo you're gonna be genderfluid kid

.. okay but do I graduate??? Do I get a cat?? DO I GET A JOB???

I genuinely don't think kids care but that just might be me

(note: I grew up in a religious household and yet I was never taught about it because they were so vague about queerness it flew over my head)

"we can't let trans ppl near our kids, it'll confuse them!"

My genuine first reaction to learning what transgender means:

I was in my early teens, attending a fun summer camp that had many activities divided by girls/boys.

During lunch, I befriended a couple kids, a nice girl and a nice boy. The boy mentioned something during a girls' activity.

Me: wait, I thought you were a boy?

Him: yeah, but I'm trans

Me: what's that?

Him: it means I was born with "girl parts" but I'm really a boy

Me: oh ok

Continues in the conversation as we were

Later, I notice him having to participate in the girls' activities like he said, and out of curiosity, go up to one of the adult leaders to ask why he has to be with the girls when he's a boy

Adult: oh, she's not really a boy.

Me: but he says he is?

Adult: we don't believe in transness. If you're born a girl, than you're a girl, and if you're born a boy, then you're a boy, and that's final.

Me: but that doesn't make sense. If he says that he's a boy, that must mean he's a boy, right?

Adult: no, your gender is the same as your biological sex. Do you understand?

Me: no??? That doesn't make any sense???

It didn't take long for the adult to dismiss me in a huff, while I'm left extremely confused.

That was before I learned about the existence of non-binary genders, and I just thought it was really cool. It didn't confuse me at all!

Nowadays, I've had to explain being trans to young kids, mostly cousins, a fair amount. Even with my tendency to over-explain things, it's not that hard to grasp. Every time, it only takes a couple minutes at most to explain, then they move on or ask questions that I'm happy to answer. Some have never heard of it before, while others have and thought of it as "changing your gender", which is a reasonable conclusion to make when no one's educated them about it.

You know what I've found always confuses kids? This "biological sex is absolute" nonsense. It doesn't make sense to anyone who's still learning about the world, it has to be indoctrinated the same way religion is.

So get the fuck out of here with this "trans identities are confusing" bs. Just like every other bs excuse for bigotry that we all know has zero real basis in science.

Kids are learning new things about the world around them every single day. Everything is going to be confusing until it's adequately explained, or they've had time to figure it out. "It's confusing" has never been, and will never be, a reason to stop anyone from learning new things.

Erin. Erin no. I know you have trauma about this and have not had the best model for dealing with it, but you don’t. It’s not the best or ‘right’ way of doing things.

You know that feeling when you see a character dealing with a struggle that you’ve worked so hard to overcome and are still actively dealing with? That feeling when you feel so much for that character and wish they could see outside of their head and realize what they actually need? And then you realize that’s how people who’ve been trying to help you feel too? But still struggle to recognize that you are deserving of and need that very thing?

Yeah, that’s kind of what’s going on in my head for this chapter, not to mention seeing this page of Aurora.

Like

ugh/pos

This kid is so lonely and is convinced that if someone is looking out for him it's not out of genuine care but rather pity or that they've been asked to do as much by an authority figure. This has left him sure that if he can't take care of himself then he's a burden to others. He's worked so hard to be independent and be the best at what he does out of a sense of inferiority that's developed into this warped sense of superiority that is built on insecurity after insecurity.

He's just so... so...

I want to give him the biggest hug and tell him everything's going to be okay, but I know that it wouldn't have worked for me when I was stuck in that headspace. I think he needs someone to validate his fears and ask questions that probe at it all to make him think about it and poke holes in this mass of fear and force it to deflate.

Kendal and Tess have already started with the process of asking questions, but unless Erin's fears are heard and acknowledged, he's going to keep spiraling and burn out.

Put whatever you want in the space above his hand. It will definitely be 100% responsible, I trust.

75 votes oh my.

Well I did both. One hand has blue and yellow the others green if you want to see the artwork- the post right before this one!

Time sensitive RTC question

WHAT COLOUR WOULD MISHA PAINT HIS NAILS GUYS I CAN'T DECIDE HELP.

''Nobody understands this character like I do"

Immediately finds a rant that understands the character BETTER than me and is able to articulate it better