Mattlindel - Babayaga

tumblr dont sleep on letterkenny

LGBT representation in the media

My mother: (homophobically) Are there any shows these days that don't have gay people in it?

Me: Biting my tongue back because I could go into a whole rant about how underrepresented the LGBT community is in television and how when we ARE represented it's either stereotypical Gay Best Friends, or good looking, cis, gay white boys. I could tell her that all of it is usually blatant gross fan service and Hollywood throwing the dog a bone, and I could tell her that The Straights are freaking EVERYWHERE and since we've all been doomed to watch them fall into sappy repetitive overly dramatic cliched insta love over and over again in every.movie.and.tv.show.ever the least she could do is not be homophobic while the boyfriends in this show get their 30 seconds worth of allotted screen time (that was only given, in the first place, because Hollywood feel like they have no other choice but to be 'politically correct')

So I need backup here to show her.

Can you all PLEASE like and reblog the shit out of this post if you agree that the LGBT community on a whole is grossly mistreated and actually, contrary to what she may think, very underrepresented in the media.

on monday’s staff announcement

[disclaimer: i no longer work at tumblr. the views expressed here are mine and don’t represent oath or tumblr.]

i love tumblr. i love seeing the endless creativity from this community and the sense of belonging that i and others like me find here every single day. i’ve been a tumblr user since high school, and i feel like i grew up on this website based on how much it helped me learn and develop my understanding of the world, society, and myself. it’s part of the reason i moved across the country to new york to work there in 2016.

as someone who loves this place so much and contributed to its development over the last 2 years, monday’s announcement by leadership to remove adult content from the site was deeply disappointing to me. it’s also part of why i left the company in september.

first, i want to establish that explicit content involving children, as well as the people who share and consume it, have absolutely no place on tumblr, anywhere else on the internet, or anywhere else in general. apple’s policies on the app store and other content are absolutely puritanical in many other senses, but i believe in this specific context their actions were fully justifiable. 

as a platform that prides itself on freedom of expression (this is one of tumblr’s core mission statement values), the move to censor such a large swath of legal and consensual adult content from it is a direct contradiction. the ability to share, explore and connect across the full spectrum of human expression is a core part of what made tumblr into the unique and nuanced website that it is today. it’s also something that david karp fought strongly to preserve.

this change will, without a doubt, also remove a critical platform from countless sex workers who already increasingly struggle to find a safe and secure way to make a living, connect with others, and simply be seen as human beings online. in the wake of SESTA/FOSTA and the subsequent closure of sites like backpage, tumblr has become a place that many sex workers rely on, and removing their presence on tumblr will likely have a highly negative impact on their livelihoods and wellbeing.

removing adult content from tumblr will also remove a safe space that so many LGBT users (including myself) call home. our community is fundamentally based on interactions that span the SFW/NSFW spectrum as an extension of self-discovery and identity (also core tumblr mission statement values), and in many cases for resources that LGBT folks don’t receive IRL, such as LGBT-specific augmentations of sexual health education. tumblr was many of these things for me. growing up in a small town without access to many LGBT peers my age, tumblr was a place i could go to find my community when it sometimes felt like i didn’t have one in the real world. it was a support network when i needed it, and the place where i met some of my best friends that i still remain in touch with today. removing adult content will remove this sense of community and will remove what so many rely on as a safe space for self-discovery and exploration.

to be clear, i understand the reality that it’s difficult to monetize on a network that contains such a mixed range of content, and how cutthroat this can be in the social media space. i still fully believe, though, that there are better, more balanced solutions to this problem that respect the needs of the community while also providing a stable source of revenue to build and grow the platform with.

additional hiring investment in human moderators to aid existing policy enforcement, for example, would be a great start. while they’re very promising, i believe the software tools and algorithms the industry uses to enforce policies like these instead of humans just aren’t ready yet. i’ve seen it in the countless false positives that have already been flagged here under this change, and i’ve seen it in the waves of spambots that wash over this and other similar sites on a regular basis. to be clear, others in this space also grapple with the same issues just as much – tools like machine learning are still new and rapidly developing. however, their relatively higher usage of human moderators as counterbalance is apparent in the relative lack of these problems that end up reaching users. a renewed investment in human moderation, along with anti-spam experts and the other human beings needed to fix these issues, in addition to addressing the growing epidemic of harassment seen across this and other networks, would be a more sensible alternative to relying so heavily on software to enforce such a far-reaching policy.

i love tumblr, and i love my staff family that i had the privilege to work with and get to know over the last 2 years. the people i worked with at tumblr continue to be some of the most passionate and empathetic human beings i know. the things i’ve written here aren’t intended to be an attack on them; i’m writing this because i love tumblr so much, and because i truly care about what happens to it in the future. tumblr played a fundamental part in shaping who i am today, as an LGBT individual, and as a citizen of the internet and the world. it’s important to me that those today who are finding themselves in the same place i was so many years ago when i found this community are able to make a home here the same way that i made mine.

-hunter

p.s. – in the wake of this announcement, please consider donating to the EFF, who work to defend privacy and free expression across the internet, and also to SWOP, who work to defend the rights of, and end stigma and violence against, sex workers. both of these causes will help those who find themselves displaced by this change.

little things i’ve learned:

one: pay attention to the music you’re relating to. sometimes it’s a clear indicator that something is wrong. other times, it’s an indicator that something is very, very right. when the latter happens, pay extra close attention.

two: true control is subtle, not obsessive. you may not even know that you have it when you do. people who are in control do not question it. they just are.

three: never pass up the opportunity to stick the tips of your fingers out the window of a moving car. feel the wind carry you to the sound of your favorite songs. this is a reminder that you’re alive.

four: thoughts don’t have to mean anything. you can just let them be there.

five: notice when you’re struggling and allow yourself some leeway when you do. however, learn the difference between giving yourself leeway and enabling your struggle. 

six: you cannot build self-love from a foundation of self-hatred. first, work toward self-acceptance. love will follow.

seven: do not love others simply because they love you back. do not expend your love on people who won’t love you back. 

eight: don’t forget to stop and look around. take a moment a day to stop doing and just be. the mindfulness hype isn’t overrated. there’s a reason for it.

nine: setting limits and saying no will not end any relationship worth keeping. 

ten: friendships built on moments of competitive misery are not healthy. if you find that you’re having the urge to constantly showcase your misery around someone, take that as a red flag. sadness is not a competition you want to win.

eleven: recovery is not about being happy. some days you will feel bored and flat. but these days are still better than those you built around destroying yourself. these days are still victories. recovery is about being alive.

twelve: when you’ve built an identity around being sad, the concept of happiness may scare you. giving that sadness up will strip you of most everything and leave you feeling empty. embrace this emptiness and fill it up with exploration. you’ll find that it’s worth it.

thirteen: you will not come out of your coldest days the same as you were going into them. this is not a bad thing. someday, you’ll be warm enough to feel the sun on your face again.

“How arw you paying for photoshop” im not LMAO

2010 me: who are you

2016 me: im you but gayer

ao3 mcu a:aou abo bdsm ot3 hs au pwp

It’s been a few hours, you’ve just been hanging there. You’ve been quiet, too quiet. Usually there’s music playing, or your foot steps could be heard. But today, you’re quiet. Your little sister, who doesn’t normally come to greet you because you lock yourself away, decides to see what you’re doing. She assumes you’re taking a nap, or doing some homework quietly. She runs up the stairs, eager to see, but she comes to an immediate halt. You’re not doing your homework, nor taking a nap. Your music isn’t playing and you aren’t walking around. You’re hanging there, completely still, now just like her. At this moment, her whole world shatters. Everything she has ever known, looked up to, loved, is hanging there by a thread. At this moment, her life has been changed forever. At this moment, she wishes she was hanging with you.

Before you decide to take your life, imagine who will find you. Imagine them walking into a room, and seeing you just hanging there. Whether it be your little sister, little brother, mother father, grandparents, a friend. Imagine what will happen when they find you. No, they will not say “Finally, they’re gone.” No, they will not say “I’m happy they did that.” No, they will not say “I never loved them anyways.” They will die. Their hearts will break. They will hurt, more than you ever could. They will cry, scream, and break down. They’ll believe it’s all just a dream, praying to wake up. Except, they won’t feel that for a few seconds, or a few days, not weeks, nor months. They will feel that until the day they die. Everyday will be hell. They’ll think of you ever second. They’ll hate themselves for not being able to help or save you. They’ll wish they could die too. They’ll want to give up, just to be with you. They won’t be ever be happy again. They won’t smile. They won’t go back to their daily routine. They’ll die every time they walk past your room, or see a picture of you, or think of a memory with you. They’ll think, but stay quiet. They’ll visit your grave, feeling a knife go through their chest every time. And every morning when they wake up, no matter how long it’s been, they’ll wake up to thinking they’ll see you, only to be let down once again. And every night, they will cry themselves to sleep, because even though they refuse to admit it, know you’re gone forever.

Before you decide to take your life, think of your family, burying you. Yes, your own mother and father are planning your funeral. It’s supposed to be the other way around, but it’s not. They’ll have to call the cops, sign a death certificate, pick out clothing, buy a tomb stone, a casket, pick out flower arrangements, and more; All for their child’s funeral. The morning of your funeral, everyone who loves you is wearing black. Tears are streaming down their face, while their heart is breaking. Everyone who you thought didn’t need you, or didn’t care, are waiting in line to see you. They aren’t waiting in line at a party, or a graduation, or at a wedding reception. They’re waiting to see you, hands folded, lifeless, in a casket.

Before you decide to take your life, think of everyone you will be hurting. Don’t you dare say no one, because absolutely everyone will be affected. Your grandparents, won’t have a grandchild anymore. Your parents, won’t have a child anymore. Your brother or sister, won’t have a sibling anymore. Your pet, won’t have an owner anymore. That person you sit next to in class, won’t feel your presence anymore. Your teacher, won’t have a student anymore. That time your grandparents told you no, will haunt them forever, thinking it is their fault, that you are now dead. That time your parents yelled at you, will haunt them forever, thinking if they didn’t yell at you, you would still be here. That time your sibling said they hated you, will hate themselves, because they believe you would still be alive if they said they loved you instead. Those kids who made you feel bad, will wish they were dead too, because if they just smiled at you instead, you would be here. That teacher that said you didn’t meet her expectations, will feel like a failure, because you would still be here, if she believed in you. Everyone, who has ever been in your presence, will hurt, because if they showed you they cared, you would still be here.

Before you decide to take your life, think. Don’t just think of yourself, think of the consequences for everyone else. No one’s life will be the same again. That person who God made specially for you, won’t have you. That happiness that was waiting for you, will never show again. Before you decide to take your life, realize that you may be ending your pain, but you’ll be starting a lifetime of everyone elses.

If you are feeling alone, and think that suicide is the only way out:

My ask is open, and I’m always here. I’ll never judge you. I’ll try to help you.

If you are thinking of taking your life, call:

1-800-784-2433

1-800-SUICIDE

I feel like fandom generations are both very specific and easily conflated. Like,, you either live through so many they blur together into one hellish mess or you join in on one generation and remain blissfully unaware of the previous ones