Concern was only natural, but it was also a hope for a better future, or from the sound of it, a continued good present. I’m glad things have worked out well since then, and as frivolous as fanfic might be in the greater scheme of things, it’s great that neither of us consider our time with it wasted. Thanks for the encouragement!
Whatever small part my sporadic writing played in helping you hang on, Anon, I’m glad you’re here and doing better, and I hope you never have cause to be hanging on only for updates, mine or anyone else’s, ever again.
There was a gift bag. A beautiful gift bag, all purple and floral, with gold elements speaking to my soul. But I had no occasion to need a gift bag, and no occasion coming up to be getting one myself. I bought it anyway. Then I rustled up some very cheap, basic notebooks I have stashed, and few other odds and ends, peeled that gift bag apart and got to cutting and pasting.
I now have a large notebook, a pocket notebook, two mini post-it holders, and a bookmark, with just little scissors chips of the gift bag left over. I could have gilded the pages edges, I do have supplies for that, but these are still very cheap notebooks that will see heavy use, and I didn’t want to spend that much time on it. So marker colored edges it is, green like the post-its even if you can’t see them here.
I always did like decorating my notebooks, it’s a mood lifter to take notes in pretty stationery, but I feel like I really stepped up my game with this one, and I can’t wait to do it again.
They don’t know what most of the words they’re using actually mean in the first place. They still think it’s activism and more importantly, trendy, to keep parroting that jabber. Everything’s been explained to them over and over, from how normalization actually occurs to why real child pornography is illegal, but I’m seeing more and more of a retreat to FEELINGS and MORALS in response, instead of incorporation of facts and law. As Stephen Colbert put it, they like TRUTHINESS more than truth.
The good news is mainstream porn isn’t actually all that damaging (this was like my first research paper in college).
Media doesn’t change behavior. So violent media (be it movies or video games) doesn’t make people more violent. Porn that degrades women doesn’t make people treat women worse.
What media does do is reflect the culture that produces it. So a culture where masculinity and strength is constructed so that violence is a good thing will produce media that glorifies violence and may also be more violent. The root is the culture not the media, the media just another symptom of cultural values.
Likewise porn can reflect how sexuality is constructed. What is masculinity and what is ideal femininity. Masculinity desires, femininity is a passive object of desire. Porn doesn’t create the programs with how women are treated, it reflects values which also lead to women being treated poorly.
So porn isn’t really a problem. That said, it is strange that there’s so much focus on fanfic when mainstream media is much more pervasive. I’ve also noticed harsher policing on stories featuring gay relationships. I think this has to do with the belief that women are supposed to be pure so are more dangerious if seen as deviant. Where as anything gay is seen as more deviant and therefor must be held to a higher purity standard.
They don’t know what most of the words they’re using actually mean in the first place. They still think it’s activism and more importantly, trendy, to keep parroting that jabber. Everything’s been explained to them over and over, from how normalization actually occurs to why real child pornography is illegal, but I’m seeing more and more of a retreat to FEELINGS and MORALS in response, instead of incorporation of facts and law. As Stephen Colbert put it, they like TRUTHINESS more than truth.
Ardwynna's Place 