backroomsbrain

Latest Posts by backroomsbrain

Did you use limewire and how bad did it fuck up your computer?

i love when fic writers who have clearly never tried any kind of alcohol in their lives try to write someone drinking bc they're always like

"he ordered a tall glass of hard liquor. after three large glasses he was feeling tipsy" like babygirl i can't be sure but i think u just sent this man to the hospital

I'm sorry I keep posting my tiktok comments but please. What does this mean. What do people THINK shipping is for anymore???

ive found that partially treated mental illness can sometimes look to uninvolved onlookers like faked mental illness.

She's an excellent subject for texturing fun if you ask me 😌 Also she doesn't really have golden nails but it felt fitting for the vibe...

forgot to put this here too

but what if i read one of your fanfics and then went to your ao3 accounts and read all of your fanfics and left a comment on every single chapter of every single one and you got spam emails from all of my kudos and comments and it made you smile, what then? what if i brighten your day with my words like you did mine, what then???

There is a reason jayvik sounds like gayvik. its becsuse it it its because theyre ga

For the people who are out there “fighting the good fight” and “trying to make fandom a better place,” I have two important questions for you:

1. Is the author dead? x

2. Is your baby in the bathwater? x

What do I mean by those things? Let’s start with #1. The Death of the Author is a type of literary criticism, the extreme cliff notes version of which is that art exists outside of the creator’s life, personal background, and even intentions. I’m using it slightly differently than Barthes intended, but that’s okay, because the author is dead and I’m interpreting his work through my own lens.

In fandom, the author is dead. In fact, the author was never alive in the first place, not really. The author has only ever been the idea of a person, because unlike published fiction, the only thing we know about a fanfic author is that which they choose to tell us about themselves.

Why is that important?

Because it might not be true. Hell, that happens in real life with published authors, who have SSN’s on file with their publishers, who pay taxes on the works they create and have researchable pasts. If the author of A Million Little Pieces could fake everything, why can’t I? Why can’t you? Why can’t the writer of your favorite fic in the whole wide world?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “you can only write about [sensitive subject] if [sensitive subject] has happened to you personally, otherwise you’re a disgusting monster that deserves to die!!” Or maybe “you can only write [x racial or ethnic group] characters if you’re [x racial or ethnic group] otherwise you’re racist/fetishizing/colonizing!”

You can play this game with any sensitive subject you can come up with. I’ve seen them all before, on a sliding scale of slightly chastising to literal death threats.

Now, I could tell you that I’m a white-passing Latina whose grandmother was an anchor baby. I could tell you that I speak only English because my family never taught me to speak Spanish, something which I’ve been told is common in the Cuban community, though I only know my own lived experience. I could tell you that I’m mostly neurotypical. I could tell you that I’m covered in surgical scars. I could tell you lots of things.

Are any of these true? Maybe! I could tell you that my brother has severe mental development problems, so uncommon that they’ve never been properly diagnosed, and that he will live the rest of his life in a group home with 24-hour care. Is that true? Am I allowed to write about families struggling with America’s piss-poor services for the handicapped now?

Am I allowed to write about being Cuban? After all, I did just say that I’m Cuban. But is it true? Can I instead write a character that’s Panamanian? Maybe I really am Panamanian, not Cuban. Maybe I’m both. Maybe I’m neither. Maybe I’m really French Canadian. Should we require people to post regular selfies? I can’t count the number of times I’ve had someone come up to me speaking Arabic, and I’ve been told that I look Syrian. What’s stopping me from making a blog that claims that I am Syrian? Can you even really tell someone’s race and ethnicity from a photo?

Am I allowed to write about being a teenager? Am I allowed to write about being a college student? Am I allowed to write about being an “adulty” adult? Can I write a character who’s 40? 50? 60? How old am I?

All of this is to say: you can’t base what someone is or is not “allowed” to write about on a background that may or may not be real. No matter how good your intentions. And I get it - this usually comes from a place of well-meaning. You’re trying to protect marginalized groups by stopping privileged people from trampling all over experiences that they haven’t suffered. I get that. It’s a very noble thought. But you can’t require a background check for every fic that you don’t like.

If you say “you can only write about rape if you’re a rape victim,” then one of three things will happen:

Real survivors will have to supply intimate details of their own violations to prevent harassment

Real survivors will refuse to engage and will then have to deal with death threats and people telling them to kill themselves for daring to write about their own experiences

People who aren’t survivors will say “yeah sure this happened to me” just to get people to shut up

Has that helped anyone? I mean really - anyone??

So now let’s get to point #2: is your baby in the bathwater?

If your intention is to protect marginalized people from being trampled upon, stop and assess if your boot is the one that’s now stamping on their face. Find your baby! Is your baby in the bathwater? Which is to say: find the goal that you’re advocating for. Now assess. Are you making the problem worse for the people you’re trying to protect? Does that rape victim really feel better, now that you’ve harassed and stalked them in the name of making rape victims feel safe?

Let’s say you read a fic that contains explicit sex between a 16 year old and a 17 year old. Is this okay? Would it be okay if the writer was 15? 16? 17? Should teenagers be barred from writing about their own lives, and should teenagers be banned from exploring sexuality in a fictional bubble, instead of hookup culture? Is it okay for a 20 year old to write about their experiences as a teenager? Is it okay for a 20 year old to write about being raped at a party as a teenager? Is it okay for a 30 year old? How about a 40 year old? Is it okay so long as it isn’t titillating? Is it okay if taking control of the narrative allows the writer to re-conceptualize their trauma as something they have control over? Is it okay if their therapist told them that writing is a safe creative outlet?

Is your author dead?

Is your baby in the bathwater?

Now let’s take a hardline approach: no fanfiction with characters who are under 18 years old. None. Is the 16 year old who really loves Harry Potter and wants to read/write about characters their own age better off? Should they be banned from writing? Should they be forced to exclusively read and write (adult) experiences that they haven’t lived? Will they write about teens anyway? Should they have to share it in secret? Should 16 year olds be ashamed of themselves? Should we just throw in with the evangelicals and say that the only answer is abstinence, both real and fictional?

Let’s say that no rape is allowed in fiction, at all. None. What happens to all the hurt/comfort fics where a character is raped and then receives the support and love that they deserve, slowly heal, and by the end have found themselves again? Are you helping rape victims by banning these stories? Are you helping rape victims by stripping their agency away, by telling them that their wants and their consent doesn’t matter?

Is your baby in the bathwater?

Fandom is currently being split in two: on one side, the people who want to make fandom a “safer” place by any means necessary, even if that means throwing out all of the marginalized groups they say they want to protect - and on the other, people who are saying “if you throw out that bathwater, you’re throwing the baby out too.”

The whole point of fandom is to be able to explore all kinds of ideas from the safety and comfort of a computer screen. You can read/write things that fascinate you, disgust you, titillate you, or make your heart feel warm. This is true of all fiction. People who want to read about rape and incest and extreme violence and torture can go pick up a copy of Game of Thrones from the bookstore whenever they want. Sanitizing fandom just means holding a community of people who are primarily not male, not straight, not cis, or some combination of those three, to higher and stricter standards than straight white cis male authors and creators all over the world.

There is nothing you can find on AO3 that you can’t find in a bookstore. Any teenager can go check out Lolita, or ASOIAF, or Flowers in the Attic, or Stephen King’s It, or Speak, or hundreds of other books that have adult themes or gratuitous violence or graphic sex. The difference is that AO3 has warnings and tags and allows people to interact only with the types of work that they want to, and allows people to curate their experiences.

Are these themes eligible to be explored, but only in the setting of something produced/published? Books, movies, television, studio art, music - all of these fields have huge barriers to entry, and they’re largely controlled by wealthy cishet white men. Is it better to say that only those who have the right connections to “make it” in these industries should be allowed to explore violence or sexuality or any other so-called “adult” theme?

Does banning women from writing MLM erotica make fan culture a better place?

Does banning queer people from writing about queer experiences make fan culture a better place?

Is M/M fic okay, but only if the author is male? What if he’s a transman? What if they’re NB? Who should get to draw those lines? Should TERFs get a vote? What if the author is a woman who feels more comfortable writing from a male character’s perspective because she’s grown up with male stories her whole life, or because she identifies more with male characters? What about all the transmen who discovered themselves, in part, by writing fanfiction, and realized that their desires to write male characters stemmed from something they hadn’t yet realized about themselves?

How can we ever be sure that the author is who they say they are?

Who is allowed to write these stories? How do we enforce it?

Is it better for none of these stories to ever exist at all?

Have you killed your author?

Have you thrown out your baby with the bathwater?

🌖 when the sun sets, will i lose you 🌙

@DeadMudila

Sketchy from Arcane rewatch, and all I've had energy for.

meljayvik in modern au. to me

In regards of the Trump government scraping all trans inclusion in its queer information portion of its websites I have made this thing. Spread the word. Don't let them pretend we never existed.

P.S: Don't like! Reblog! <3

Museum dates where she stares at the art and I stare at her.

Martin Buxbaum

— David Cronenberg, Consumed

Wounds of the Earth

— by xis.lanyx

By Roberto Ferri

the fact that i'm no longer the same age as the protagonists of novels and films i once connected to is so heartbreaking. there was a time when I looked forward to turning their age. i did. and i also outgrew them. i continue to age, but they don't; never will. the immortality of fiction is beautiful, but cruel.

— Nikita Gill

Franz Kafka, 1912

Unfinished Doc, dated Dec 14, 2022

I’ve been told the best remedy is to let it all out somehow, somewhere. I cannot share my deep dark secrets with those close to me, for fear of worrying them too much. They don’t deserve to carry my burdens, especially when most of those are just results of my perpetual inertia.

 The things I haven’t done in my life are entirely my fault as far as I see it, I am not a victim of circumstance. I could’ve tried harder so many times before.

 Things are too fucked up now and none of it is an easy fix. While I am patient, I am a slut for instant gratification. The thought that I would need to plan, and wait, and wait, for things to get better is terrifying. How the fuck do I do this? How do I climb out of this hole? I don’t have the energy to force myself.

 Something in my mind shuts down at the thought of doing things simply because I “must”. I think when people judge me as immature and childish they’re not wrong. I am unable to click on the “Responsible Adult” persona, instead opting for being a ghost in my own life and in others’.

I’d rather not be perceived so as not to be asked for anything because I have nothing to give. I’m unmoored and empty and failing. Every single day I wake up and… great. Another fucking day. More of this shit in this body that is fucking horrible and I don’t have discipline to make it bend into the shapes I wish it would.

 I wish I was more like my sister who can make herself do the things she needs to do. I don’t even do the things I want. There are so many things I want. And I can’t move to get them. I want to cut my legs off, I want to cut my arms off, I want to put my brain in salty ice water. I want to shave my head, I want to be choked. Or touched, desired would suffice. I wish I had a sex partner. I am not done learning and experimenting. But he seems to be done. He’s always been done. I’m stupid enough to stay here.

 Oh, yeah, also I don’t have any money. I love his company but I need more. I need so much more. I’ve gotten used to being ignored so I do my own thing. But I miss being flirted with and I miss being desired.

 I miss her, because she made me feel fucking amazing but now she does’nt want me anymore either. Because at the end of the day, nobody really does. I’m too complicated and too flawed and too married which is really fuxcking ironic if you think about it. At this point its just a “dont have sex with me “badge because I don’t deserve sex therefore I don’t get it or get it half-assed or get it taken away. 

Im just as good as anybody im just as bad as anybody 

I wish i knew how to play guitar but for real. OR again discipline to actually learn. I want to learn new languages. I want to teach. I want to cook, I want to hike and swim and travel and read and paint 

I want to make masterpieces, take on large intricate projects but I guess I have to start somewhere and I have no idea where to start. I want my art to be in museums. Not international, that doesn’t matter. But locally, that would be nice. For people to want to go see it and stand next to it and observe and see every single tiny detail that I will undoubtedly put into it. A canvas seems so limited, a body seems so limited. I want infinite space for creation. The world could be my canvas if i only wanted it to. Right? 

I dreamt I was at a party at someone’s house. I was hiding out in the bathroom. My

It's so hard to be a people pleaser when someone is constantly hurting you and your damned sense of empathy keeps finding ways to go easy on them. " Oh, don't worry, I won't take it personal" " oh it's ok don't worry I don't mind that we made plans and you completely ghosted me" " no no its ok that you talk absolute shit about people I love just because *you* couldn't deal with things like an adult".

I hate it. I want to scream, want to tell them to accept at least some accountability, but when I finally say something, I am just... gaslit.

btw. your search for the most morally upright and ethical piece of media that has the most correct “representation” will destroy your ability to find the most profound and beautiful and human of stories. and may even destroy the stories themselves before they are created. if you even care.

— Marie Howe, Magdalene: “Walking Home”

Doodles 3/15