an_actual_pigeon [she/her, comrade/them]

vote with your erection, gamers.

:pronouns:

your indie video game failed because it didn’t give 20 million clones of this adult toddler a chub

I know many people who have stated OP’s point are often being hyperbolic for the sake of comedy, but I really do think you’re on to something here, and I want to elaborate on it further. Nearly universally, every one of these online chuds who make endless waterfalls of “HAS insert media here GONE WOKE?!” content - if you followed all of their advice and listened to all of their complaints and did exactly what they asked you to, you would eventually just have hardcore pornography wherein someone who looks just like them violently fucks women and kills men. A snuff film, in effect. And every one of these “content creators” I mentioned, it should be said, just so happen to look like the sort of guy who just goons all day and loves jacking off more than anything else. I mean this, seriously and sincerely, and as someone who is generally sex-positive and pro-masturbation: these dudes have had their brains fucking COOKED and FRIED by watching too much hardcore porn and just gooning constantly. It’s almost self-evident, they’re practically telling on themselves. And now, any time they engage with media whose sole focus isn’t being titillating to their deranged viciously misogynistic fantasies, they throw a tantrum like a baby. More broadly, I think they apply this same worldview onto reality at a certain point too, and then their pornographic habits bleed into how they view the real world, and even worse, how they view politics and other human beings. Porn can be fine, isolated in a context, and so can self-pleasure, but these dudes are clearly taking it way too far and letting it infect how they see the rest of the world. Having 24/7 access to porn isn’t enough, they DEMAND like a petulant child that all media, universally, look exactly like the porn they consume.

This is a thread I want to pull on more and an idea I’ve wanted to explore more. How men’s porn consumption habits (specifically hardcore, violent, and overtly misogynistic pornography, which is blasted everywhere online) can lead to real changes in their political views, especially if it’s something that’s done daily or every other day. Then, by demanding that reality conform to their expectations that have been established through pornography, they essentially non-consentually rope us all into their weird sexual fantasies and kinks. You see it with Muskrat and his breeding kink. You see it with incels and tradcaths. And you see it with this weird unwavering insistence that “NO! All women are SEXY BITCHES! It is woke BRAINWASHING to tell me strong butch women exist!! Theres never been a strong woman ever! I know that for a fact because every day I watch 3-4 hours of videos of women being overpowered and brutalized by men! That’s normal and healthy!! Shut up I don’t have a problem!!”

I heard once that anger is a misalignment with your expectations and reality. Once I heard that, it helped me navigate my anger a bit better.

Like, for instance, you expected better treatment and behavior from your Ex. I think it was totally normal and understandable to expect that. I’m angry at the inhuman cruelty of capital, because I expect to live in a world where people are good and kind to each other. You’re right that anger can be a healthy drive, but anger can also be really overwhelming and get out of hand if you feed it too much, so you’ve got to slowly turn the burner down from “bout to go postal” way down to a calm simple “This is not what I expected. I deserve better.”. At that very very low simmer, it’s still a productive drive, it’s still an affirmation of your dignity, but it hasn’t become self-destructive or cruel.

idk, hope that helps, comrade

I’m sincerely sorry for taking offense at something that was clearly not directed towards me.

I feel there’s this very common perception that women are all big soft lazy squishy babies who are automatically ontologically incapable and unwilling to perform dangerous, difficult, and risky activities, and I feel like that perception is unfortunately in the background of our world everywhere I go, almost invisible, like a constant low hum of radiation. I worry that unchecked blanket statements can help reinforce our worst biases.

I’m self-aware enough to acknowledge that I might be projecting that insecurity onto a clearly well-intentioned hexbear post, so fr, earnestly, sorry for being annoying about it.

I understand what you’re getting at - material conditions make it difficult for women to cycle, especially in North America - but as a woman who is literally a professional bike courier and spends most of my waking hours on the road cycling, I can’t help but take a little tiny bit of umbrage at your statement. Not only is “women don’t ride bikes” a factually inaccurate statement, it denies the actual courage and strength and bravery that existing women cyclists have to possess in a world that is actively hostile to us and our safety.

There are many women who ride bikes in spite of how dangerous conditions are, and not a statistically insignificant number of them - they account for about 25% of all cyclists in the United States. I see hundreds of them every day. It takes courage from them. It’s the equivalent of reading “Well now you know why there are no women in video games” or “This is why there are no women in STEM” - again, I truly understand what you’re getting at, that there are material conditions that make these environments more hostile to women specifically. However, I’m sure you can understand why your phrasing feels a little insulting - as if these women, most of whom probably had to fight extra hard fit in, simply don’t exist. Their accomplishments, their names, mean nothing because “there are just no women who do that, sigh, what a shame - no women’s history here to celebrate”. An alternative and more accurate way of phrasing it would be “there aren’t as many women who ride bikes”. Sincerely hope I’m not being annoying or sounding like a scold or anything, but like, yeah dude, I’m a woman and ride bikes for a living, lol, there are women who ride bikes, idk what else to tell ya. also this isn’t even anything new, here’s some context on the long-standing and well-established historical strategic partnership between women and bicycles

edit:

In bike-unfriendly cities, only men with thick skin ride bikes

look man, I know broad strokes paint a picture quicker, but come on, lol, that’s such a blanket statement