ROSE: God, it’s a good thing you’re not actually my dad,
huh?
DIRK: In the flesh sense.
ROSE: In the sense of having put your flesh in more flesh,
in a deliberate flesh action, to create my flesh, yes.
DIRK: Because –
ROSE: Because this way we can hang out. Roxy has the misfortune of being my actual
mother, or at least being symbolically adjacent to my actual mother in an
immediately palpable sense, but she’s also blessedly unencumbered by a sense of
responsibility, which makes everything relatively “chill”. The dread import of what she, or “she”, has
wrought upon me and by extension the rest of our miniature creation is lost on
her.
DIRK: Whereas –
ROSE: Whereas your sense of guilt is so profoundly
overdeveloped that you literally create additional versions of yourself to do
things that you feel bad about. Psychic
blame magnets. Phantasmagorical whipping
boys.
DIRK: Scapeghosts.
ROSE: Precisely. And
it is only the knowledge that there is no version of yourself extant that would
voluntarily father a child – that no iteration of you is so deluded as to even
entertain the possibility that inflicting yourself on a non-you, non-simulated
person during crucial stages of its development would be a good idea – that allows
you to speak to me, given what I’ve become, without folding into a
grief-stricken fetal croissant.
DIRK: That’s not true, of course. The product of my parenting is right over
there, diving headlong into a relationship with a boy who shouts at him all the
time but is too charmingly incompetent to injure him physically. The perfect cocktail of the kind of love I
taught him and fear of the kind of love I taught him, served straight up with a
chaser of atavism. Just an apocalypse of nubs and sweaters and
pajamas and fluff. When I fuck someone
over I mean business.
ROSE: A fair point. But
–
DIRK: Of course I didn’t choose to have him. That me didn’t. But you know there are practical reasons why I’d
never trouble a vagina with my delusions of adequacy. Clearly if given the opportunity to pick a
toddler up off the street and traumatize the fuck out of him I’d climb aboard like
a horny babyfur on the last train to diaper city.
ROSE: You can’t possibly expect this to upset me.
DIRK: What I am doing is known in the business as “setting
the tone.” Understand that the me who made your brother
what he is – that’s me. That’s all in
here. And what that means is that I’m proud of you, honey, because you are the best case – a real Strider product, the
legitimate fruit of my goo, who never had to deal with me. Which means you are on the same map as
functional, in the same way that Pliny the Elder was technically a philosopher,
or that Scootaloo was technically main cast.
But you’re on there. You did
it. You’re welcome.
ROSE: I can’t believe
it.
DIRK: What.
ROSE: The luck! Here I came in on my little flagellant horse,
whipping away, only to be taken to school by the king of the hair shirt and his
Stallion of Pain. A masterclass of self-hatred! I must be the luckiest latchkey champion the
world has ever known. Do you suppose we’re
going to be friends?
DIRK: I feel like I made myself clear on that point.
ROSE: Yes, well. The love I was taught is expressed in small tendernesses,
daddy.
DIRK: Please don’t call me
ROSE: Sweet, unwelcome tokens of esteem. Pattering down, day by day – drifting from
the ceiling like petals on the dinner guests of a mad roman emperor, until they
drown in roses. Do you know how
thoughtful I can be, Dirk? How considerate?
DIRK: You can’t
ROSE: I can. Believe
me, I can. Year upon year. Gesture after gesture. We will be the closest of friends, father
dearest. I will wear away at that edge
of yours, blunt you like a spent razor. You will beg for mercy, beg for solitude, but
I will be there, thoughtfully insulating the echo chamber inside your
head. And in the end, you will
break. You will admit that you’re not a
monster, not a criminal – that the people you’ve hurt are not irrevocably
stained, that your damage is as fleeting as your strength. I will love you until you admit that you are an
okay person, Dirk Strider. And then I
will laugh.
I don’t just mean that it’s chinese box office figures are great. They are, but the audience is also emotionally thirsty for venom. He’s the new number one dream boyfriend. All the chinese articles I’ve read keep talking about his 男友力, his boyfriend power level(ie how good a SO is) and how its off the charts. How even people who aren’t into superheroes and are just along for the ride will be charmed at this romantic dreamboat. How adorable and lovable and cute and charming he is. How he’s become a 国民男友, a National Boyfriend, ie, someone the whole country wants to date because they’re such a Ideal BF. That Women Love Venom is accepted fact. The top three things articles in Chinese keep mentioning about the film are a)the box office success, b)how popular venom is With The Ladies in the audience and how he’s an Ideal Boyfriend, and how Venom and Eddie have Incredible Chemistry and c)blah blah cast plot trailer reactions blah. I’m so proud of the goo, y’all, he’s such a good boyfriend to Eddie that he’s made himself a Publically Recognised Dreamboat.
And this reaction wasn’t exactly unanticipated. Official promo images included art of Venom being a great BF in this vein:
Yes. That’s been on the official Weibo (chinese Twitter) account.
The little stamp says Venom: Caring Protector (the film is released in China as Venom: lethal protector so its a play on that). The term 暖男 is a particular archetype of caring and emotionally available man. A sweet softboy, if you will.
Highlights from articles include:
V keeps being called a 忠犬, a “loyal dog” love interest archetype who is loyal and self sacrificing and values his SO above all else. Kind of like the Service in Service Top.
he gets called 蠢萌 and 贱萌, which respectivekey are cute because he’s a dumbass and cute because he’s a dick
One article talks about how you expect a monster but you get a beautiful creature with beautiful perfect teeth. Ok???? Horny much????
Insisting he’s lovable because he’s Sensitive and Emotionally Intelligent, and know What Women Want, as shown by the scene where he coaches Eddie through his convo with Anne in the car
These aren’t from fanblogs by they way they’re from movie and entertainment sites and are Articles.
there’s this one user’s review on the biggest chinese movie review site that talks about how Venom is so sexy it makes them tremble. I’ve seen it quoted like four times.
Admittedly I’m biased but I just finished reading a Chinese think piece on Why Venom Is The Sexiest Villain so excuse me if I’m too enthusiastic. FYI reasons include:
he’s played by Tom hardy who is Sexy. (Hardy’s Chinese fan nickname is 汤老湿, which sounds like tom+sensei, but written as Tom+always wet…Chinese people are horny for Tom hardy.)
Because he’s got that contrast of sharp and lethal on the outside and soft and tender on the inside
And my favourite: because he is Socially Responsible and Does The Right Thing and is a Good Boy for Saving The Earth And Mrs Chen The Shopkeeper. This writer is so horny for V???? I’m screaming.
I think it’s all worse as an artist too, you know? and I’m not even primarily a 2D person but still. no one will ever do a hand study of my little sausage fingers with slivers of nail and a thousand hangnails. no one is going to paint frizzy curls on its second day after washing
I had to sit there for five straight minutes of criticism during painting for how my colors were too strong on a self portrait before I finally stopped my professor and said that I painted myself at home and he’d never seen me without makeup and that’s just What Rosacea Looks Like
even when we paint fat girls we pick the ones with skinny faces, the ones that don’t get irritation between their rolls, the ones who would never get heat rash between too heavy breasts
I am fascinated by what society calls flaws in others – a face is so much more interesting with a crooked eyebrow, uneven teeth, moles in unexpected places. it’s what makes us human. I’ll look at other people’s stretch marks all day but don’t make me look at my own
We really have harmed a whole generation of trans and gnc children by failing to communicate how serious a decision binding actually is, how there’s no ACTUALLY safe way to bind, how it permeneantly damages the body, how it can make top surgery more difficult in the future. I don’t think we should be keeping trans kids from binding (we let kids do all sorts of things they’re really not old enough to understand the potential consequences of) but we owe them the ability to make informed decisions at LEAST
So this is definitely an important conversation to have, but can you point me at some reading about “permanent damage”? I might just be lucky, but I had zero lasting effects from binding. I’d like to at least read up on it so I can have this conversation and be more specific than “be careful.”
Of course! I can’t easily source right now but I am more than happy to provide further info when I am not at work and on mobile. Unfortunately, like a lot of trans healthcare, a lot of what we know about binding is anecdotal and word of mouth. BUT permeneant damage can include:
-Musculoskeletal damage. Binders are indiscriminate compression tools; they can’t flatten the chest without applying pressure every other anatomical structure underneath including the spine, ribs, lungs and heart. Many people who bind experience chronic back pain, shoulder pain, sharp stabbing chest pains, permeneantly decreased lung capacity, literal spine deformation, etc etc.
-A continuation of the above but the ribs are actually jointed bones. Their ability to flex is absolutely vital to their ability to withstand trauma and protect your vital organs. Imagine the damage that would be done to your elbow if your bent your arm to full flexion and then tightly bound it closed like that, for six, eight, twelve hours per day, every day, for weeks or months or years. And you don’t NEED a functioning arm to live!
-Tissue atrophy. Forcing chest tissue to lay in an unnatural way can and will change the way that tissue looks, even to risk of atrophy. Some people who bind and only moderately dislike the way their chest looks find that they HATE the way it looks after binding for a period of time. Tissue atrophy can also make top surgery more difficult in the future, and increase the risk of complications like nerve damage.
-Worsened dysphoria. Once someone starts binding and becomes accustomed to seeing themselves with a flat chest, it can be much more difficult to see yourself without one, and dysphoria that much more intolerable. You can imagine the psychological feedback loop of binding more in response.
The typical safety measures passed around about binding are harm REDUCTION measures and should not be advertised as making binding “safe.” Binding is not safe. It is a very serious health decision with long term consequences and should be treated as such. That doesn’t mean it’s the wrong decision, but it should not be considered the DEFAULT decision for chest dysphoria which is frankly how it’s currently treated.
I went to the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference and went to a workshop held by a chiropractor who works with trans men (as well as being a trans man himself), so I’m going to pass on his advice to people who bind:
Stretch your chest, shoulders, and back everyday (at least)
This is a passive stretch where you place a foam roller at the bottom of your spine (to support your hips and lower back), and lifts your shoulders off of the ground, with your arms on the ground to balance you.
This stretch is meant to be held for a few minutes, open up your chest, and aid your everyday posture.
You probably don’t own a foam roller, he advised to wrap a towel or blanket very tightly and tied as a substitute. I use a layer of bed foam rolled up with two belts to keep it rolled. Whatever you use, it ought to have a bit of give and it needs to lift your shoulders off the ground.
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This is an active stretch. Stand in front of a doorway with your feet together (if the door way was not there, your toes would be touching the wall, not crossing through it). When you lift your arms up and put them against the wall, your feet, hips, and arms should all be in line with each other (your arms should not be behind you with your feet and hips in the doorway).
Make a “W” shape with your arms against the wall so that your elbows are the closest part of your arm to the ground, and take one small step forward.
You should feel a pull in your lower shoulders, but it should be comfortable to hold. Donot over stretch, you shouldn’t be leaning your weight into your arms to balance, your weight should be balanced by your legs. Do not judge yourself and think you are doing yourself a favor by thinking that you ought to have a bigger step. Sure, you could overstretch today, but you need to be able to do this tomorrow too! Hold this for 10-15 seconds. (Yet again. Do. Not. Overstretch.)
Bring your feet back together, and do it the other foot. There will probably be one foot that is easier than the other, stretch that step more often than the less difficult step.
Bring your feet together and bring your elbows up so that your upper arms are parallel to the ground and your elbow forms a 90° angle with your forearms. Take your small step forward and hold for 10-15 seconds and switch feet.
Now reach your arms up as high as you can. It doesn’t have to be much higher than the last stretch, if that is as high as you can go, then that’s it. If you can’t reach higher than the last stretch, put your arms down at your sides and then lift your arms up from your sides and put them against the wall (sorry he didn’t include a picture of this one in the slides, message me if this is unclear.)
Your goal is to be able to reach your arms up like in the picture so that you form a Y shape. Step forward and hold for 10-15 seconds, then switch feet.
His advice was to do this stretch as often as you use the bathroom at home (shoot for 3-5 times a day).
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The next two stretchs don’t have pictures! If you can do these stretches with ease and want a more intense version, try using dumbbells and incorporating it into your workouts.
If you’ve ever done snow angels? Put your heels, butt, shoulders, and arms up against a wall (as much of your body as you possibly can should be touching the wall) and lift your arms up as high as you can go like you are making a snow angel.
Alternatively, lay down on the ground instead of up against a wall if you need to work your way up to lifting your arms above your head.
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Again, with your body up against the wall, but this time with your arms in front of you, bring your arms up like Frankenstein’s monster, so that they are as high as your shoulders. Hold this for a few seconds.
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After trying these stretchs, it’ll probably be clear where your range of motion is most limited. For me, the most useful stretches are the W and 90° angle doorway stretch and foam roller stretch, bc I have the most trouble with my lower shoulders and chest. Try to maintain your range of motion where you have it, and use these stretches to improve your range of motion where you are limited.
oppression isn’t generational and trying to frame politics as “the old people are wrong and the young people are right” erases the fact that there are old people who have been fighting the good fight for decades and the fact that there are young people who are literally nazis
Plus while there might be less old people fighting the good fight it’s usually because they were killed or were part of the minorities that have poor living conditions that kill you early
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