I Genuinely Think @staff Should Give Us An Official Bot Kill Count Where It Ticks Up Every Time A Bot

I genuinely think @staff should give us an official Bot Kill Count where it ticks up every time a bot you reported is officially taken off by the tumblr team and when you hit a certain number you get gruesome little trophies. Gamification can be of the devil but in this particular case I need a little treat for doing my daily chore of taking out the trash

Ruin Anniversary album giveaway!

In honor of the 1-year anniversary of Ruin, I’m giving away digital albums to two winners!

Here’s how it’ll work:

1 like = 1 entry

1 reblog = 2 entries

1 like and 1 reblog per person

The giveaway will be open until Wednesday, November 2 at 9pm EDT

Winners will be contacted via tumblr by @the-gods-upturning-inkpots

You’ll need to be willing to provide an email address to receive the album

Albums will be gifted on November 4th, bandcamp Friday

If you’re reblogging to boost but don’t need the album, please say so in the tags

Good luck!

Reclaiming

Disclaimer (!):  (1.)This is based off of my own experiences and opinions and is in no way meant to belittle or attack members of any community and is just a ramble about something that stuck out to me and would not go away until I wrote it out.   (2.) I’ve been in a weird place last few days so I might get a little rambly and off track. I apologize in advance.   (3.) I am well aware that the word in question is just too hurtful for some people to truly feel comfortable reclaiming and I am sorry if any of this comes across as insensitive or overly opinionated. Your concerns, feelings, hurt and experiences are valid but please, I am asking that you don’t attack the post or those who may agree with it.

So it has come to my attention that there are those in the LBGTQ+ community who don’t like the term queer. They find it offensive and insulting and say that the rest of society has turned it into something to be used against us. I understand where a lot of them are coming from. But here is why I personally find the word empowering and encourage any who connect with it, any who hear it and it resonates with them, accept it and wear it with pride.

To me the term queer has never even been exclusively LGBT. It was a term used to describe someone who was unique, odd, someone who didn’t quite fit the mold set by the rest of society.

Personally I would call people queer when I saw someone with neon hair, so many tattoos you couldn’t tell what their natural skin colour was, piercings in odd places or clothes that really should never have even been attempted but they somehow made it work. Queer was a word to positively describe those who were different. Those who were fearless about their differences who didn’t give a damn about what people thought of them or had to say about their life choices. Queer was a term used only for those brave enough to be completely and unashamedly themselves.

I grew up in renaissance faires, I grew up surrounded by queer, interesting people. They taught me that men can wear corsets and put every woman in attendance (including their fiancé) to shame and women can have buzzcuts and drink an ‘Irishman’ under the table. They taught me it was okay to be speechless at the pretty woman in the chain mail brazier and rainbow gypsy skirt who danced with a short sword and dagger at her hip one moment and the lad who was all gentle words and soft smiles as he taught the little ones how to properly nock an arrow on their bow the next. They showed me that sometimes the purest romantic love has no sexual aspects to it and that’s okay. They showed me that sometimes you don’t have to say a word to tell the world its opinion is not wanted here. It can be in who you love, how you dress. The colour of your hair, the pattern of your tattoos, cut of your clothes or blatant disregard of societal norms.

They taught me that to be queer is to be yourself. To be queer is to do what makes you happy and anyone else’s opinion be damned.

My parents didn’t always approve. They looked at the small woman with the shorn hair drinking her husband and his friends under the table, the girl in the gypsy skirt showing her girlfriend the difference between a short sword and a rapier, the lad teaching archery with his two partners watching from the sidelines as our circuit’s resident crossdresser waltzed about hand in hand with his fiancé and showed her off to anyone who hadn’t met her yet (and even some who had) and they saw something that was different and wrong and went against their religious sensibilities. They heard me using the word queer and they winced at the pride in my voice as I declared myself one of the queer folks you see about faire. I took the word and made it my own because I was a small girl who looked at what the world said that I should like and be interested in and said I would rather learn how to handle weapons and read my book up in the tree branches thank you very much.

It wasn’t until I was in highschool that I learned what queer meant to the rest of those my age. They heard the word queer and the way I claimed it with pride and they assumed that I was lesbian or trans or even ace. Kids my age saw the way I wore that word like a badge of honour and it made them uneasy because I didn’t fit into their designated boxes and I took pride in that.

I looked at kids my age who just didn’t get it and I saw judgement and discrimination even from those who were innocent of any because I had been taught that if you weren’t one of the queer folk then you were one of those who were scared by what they represent. This mindset cost me a lot of friends and a lot of chances to connect with those who probably needed someone to show them how to be an ally or how to accept themselves and what made them queer. My sophomore year my best friend basically made me pull my head out of the dirt and face the fact that half of the reason people looked at the word queer in relation to me and became confrontational was because of me.

I had been so focused on the fact that queer was my word that I forgot it belonged to the rest of the world too. I forgot it belonged to the rest of the world first. He showed me that being queer isn’t only about giving the world the middle finger, but being there for other queer folk. Being someone open and accepting and willing to listen, willing to stand up, willing to be defender and friend and safe haven for those who need it.

He didn’t claim the word. He considered himself perfectly ‘normal’. He liked girls, was a bit of a nerd (even if he was super into his weight-lifting class and half of his friends were stereotypical jocks), didn’t have any alternative clothing tastes or even an exception to his orientation. He was a standard white heterosexual male of moderate popularity and no stake in the LGBTQ+ community beyond his friends who claimed alternate orientations or identities, all of which he was very protective and supportive. If asked, he didn’t even consider himself an active ally to the community. And he taught me what it meant to be out and proud in a way that didn’t shove it in others’ faces and let baby queers know that I was someone safe to talk to. He taught me to love myself and love others and that has made all the difference.

I’m sad to say that we don’t really talk anymore. We had been engaged a year when we realized that our lives were going different directions and we weren’t in a good place to maintain a friendship yet. But I still consider him my best friend. He is still the person who knows me best, even after months of no real contact. He is still the person I trust most in this world and when I need a reminder of what it means to be queer and proud I think of him.

I think of the boy with such unconditional love for those he claimed as his own that it put the found-family of faire to shame. I think of the boy who looked at a scared little bi and told her it was okay to be herself and not just an ally. I think of the boy who showed me how to help people in my community accept and be themselves without claiming any aspect of it himself.

So the word queer doesn’t belong to me, and it doesn’t belong to the LGBTQ+ community and it doesn’t belong to the rest of the world. Queer is just a word, what it means and what it represents is up to you. But for me it will mean pride and love for myself and those around me. It will mean unconditional love and acceptance for others despite and because of their differences. It will mean wild hair and wilder clothes, it will mean unashamed lovers and friends who don’t care what the world thinks of their interactions. Queer will be a simple description and a battle cry. It will be a rallying point and a promise to accept everyone who has no one else.

And I know that for some it has become something twisted and cruel and I am so sorry that anyone has to go through that. I am sorry that a word I have always known to mean so much good and acceptance has been used to make you feel ashamed and/or attacked. I am sorry if anything I have said is offensive to you but I will not apologize for feeling this way about this word. Because this word is what resonates with me and was the first step towards accepting myself in this community. If this word is something you can’ t accept for yourself or has too many bad memories for you to feel comfortable being used in relation to you, please don’t take that as liberty for telling others they can’t/shouldn’t use it as well.

And if this is a word that just fits for you, don’t make others accept it or try and make them claim it as well.

Guess my overall point is just love each other, love yourself, use whatever word feels right for you and those who look at us and say we’re wrong just don’t get it.

Discussions and friendly debates are welcomed. Just no actual fighting or hating on anything please?

Treat people with kindness, stay home and stay safe, and don’t be afraid to be brave lovelies

So... I answered no before remembering that a firearm oriented guild at a ren faire let me fire a pistol during after-hours when I was like 12. They made sure an adult was helping me brace and I'm pretty sure it was a blank so not sure if that counts? 🙃🙃🙃 I just wasn't that interested at the time cause my brother and the boy faire brats wanted to do shooty things and we'd made a deal if I went along with them then they'd go along with me to the sword people.

Also country is America for like the sample size and whatever.

poll time!!

please reblog with your answer and country!!

i, for example, have fired a gun, and am from canada.

enjoy!!

edit to say: air rifles, bb guns, paintball markers, etc, DO NOT COUNT. only REAL firearms (as in gunpowder powered) count.

i like the idea of every little queer in hawkins coming out to steve like he's so kind of gay magnet

Scott: Jesus, look at all of these case files. There's no way we'll be able to find a single traffic ticket from 1956 in all of this paperwork. I mean, how are you supposed to find a needle in a haystack?

Derek: Easy. *Pulls out phone* You use a magnet. *Makes a call* Hey, Stiles? We need your help....uh-huh...yeah...alright, see you soon. *Hangs up*

Scott:

Derek: The magnet says there better be fresh coffee brewing by the time it gets here or there's going to be a riot.