machiabelly
joined 3 years ago
Probably my rich white kid high school english class doing a unit on rodney king. Bernie losing the primary lit the fuse of my leftist powder keg, but all the experiences before that which made me mistrustful of the police and the army really packed the powder in.
I mean it worked really well until the ottoman empire stopped expanding. They operated by taking orphans from recently conquered areas and conscripting them. Once the new piece of land became more incorporated and there weren't enough orphans anymore they'd have to move on to the next place. Once expansion stopped for a long enough period of time they had to reform the Janissaries into a hereditary organization which both eroded their effectiveness in battle, and gave them political power.
Basically every single Ottoman institution was based around the assumption of conquest. And, to be fair, they continually expanded their borders for 400 years. Their decline took another 200 years after that. Liberal capitalism is only 200 years old and its already starting to decline so the ottomans were pretty baller by comparison.
It means I'm single! 
Remember kids, your disability is a punishment from god for not loving Jesus enough 
lmao I don't get the lesbians are all subs thing. I can't imagine ignoring dominant lesbians 
Problem is that there are like 10 people who want a dommy mommy for every dommy mommy. The ratio is a bit better though amongst the lesbian community than the straights imo
Does anyone else miss silly Hitler? Scary hitler is so scary. I wish we could go back to silly hitler. Anyway here's why your policy proposal isn't bi-partisan enough.
Having 3 part time jobs is a human rights violation
All they do is ask for donations. They don't try to tell you what great policy they have, they just expect me to fork over cash. I hate how little American elections care about policy. I hate how the dems feel like they are owed my vote.
24
I have to declare a major when I apply so I'm a little stressed about it.
I'd probably go literature or philosophy for the librarian track. And psychology for the art therapist track. I think I'd way more enjoy doing lit/phil for undergrad, but I think where I end up after matters more. I doubt many art therapy programs would want a lit/phil major.
I like the idea of being an art therapist as someone with a great deal of gender and gay. And it seems like a very vibes based profession which works for me. But if I was a librarian I'd probably read a lot more and that would make me happy. Plus maybe I could organize queer reading groups or something.
I'm curious if any of you have experience with either of those fields. Or just anything to add/offer.
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If anyone is worried about the trailer, don't. This is what it actually looks like in game. The photos are of:
Minrathous, capital of tevinter
Grand necropolis, Nevarra City
Minrathous Tavern
Grand necropolis, Nevarra City
Taash, Dragon Hunter and Lord of Fortune (Rivainian treasure hunters) - Rook, Protagonist - Neve, Detective and Shadow Dragon (Tevinter anti-slavery organization)
No I will not stop posting
87
Please read 
I enjoy both but its really cemented why I love dragon age so much more.
These are story based games set in worlds created entirely for these games. Its common to have discussion about how different story events could have gone differently, or what will happen in universe after the events of the most recent installment. Obviously, how these worlds are set up and how the story is told effects the discussions a lot.
In mass effect society spreads across the galaxy and encompasses trillions of individuals across thousands of planets. Despite that, the major story beats hinge on how you treated individual characters, or whether they are alive or not. Like whether an artificial plague causing 99% of krogan pregnancies to miscarry is justified is completely down to whether the good leader is in charge.
Despite trillions of individuals and complex economics all major conflict boils down to species versus species. All krogan, all asari, all turians are just like that so of course this has happened. There are hints in game that there are many different cultures within each species but we get very little evidence of that, and almost entirely in the 3rd game. Krogan (giant toad people with natural armor, anger issues, and a love of violence) are shown to be maybe not inherently violent individuals that care a bit about others, but thats mostly it. We get one pretty butch Asari (otherwise all feminine species).
So when the community talks about these things its always on individualist or species based terms. It is almost impossible to do materialist analysis because of how the games are made. When the community talks about the game arguments are more heated and personal. There are lots more gotcha type lines than in the dragon age community. I suspect this hostile dynamic could contribute to why there are obviously way more women and queer people in the dragon age community.
Mass effect's story is also about exceptional individuals overcoming impossible odds, which lands way better with men, in general, than women, in general.
In the dragon age community discussions revolve around things like, how does the church use drugs to control their private army? How will giving the dwarves a tool that enables them to put their souls into tanks effect their society? How do independent kingdoms respond to a paramilitary organization run by a prophet encroaching on their land?
Mass effect discussions are, "do the volus deserve a council seat?" Instead of, "How could the Volus get a council seat?" or, "How will the volus having a council seat change existing power dynamics?"
Dragon age stories are, "how does magical talent being both random and dangerous effect society?" "Is it worth it to consort with demons to gain power?" Mass effect stories are, "oo ouch owie my magic gives me migraines." (I like Kaiden don't @ me, the whole child soldier bit both games have is nice)
There are other differences too, like dragon age having braver character writing that scares away some of the chuds. Most people on the dragon age subreddit don't like Vivienne, but understand how her inclusion makes the game better. That kind of subelty doesn't exist in mass effect discussions because the game literally wasn't designed for that level of depth. All characters that are apart of your "squad" are meant to be likeable or at least the kind of person their players would respect. Dragon age release characters also in your "squad" like Sera and Vivienne knowing that tons of their players will hate them.
In summary, mass effect is lacking a pair, let alone a quad. (krogan have 4 testicles) (Please laugh I mentioned testicles)
This is underselling ME3 a bit, it was relatively anti-gamer for its time. ME1 and 2 get the 
tho. Even though I like them anyway.
Edit: how could I forget Dragon age has literally actually good trans representation. Theres a FtM guy whos literally just the coolest fighty bro and his dudes respect him.
"So If I grew up under the Qun they'd treat me like a real man?" "You ARE a real man Krem." 
Edit 2: adding data from reddit surveys
The dragon age subreddit is 45.2% women (3.2% trans), 44% men (1.9% trans), 9.1% non binary and 1.7% other. 45.3% Heterosexual
The Mass effect subreddit is 76.4% men (0.6% trans), 19.7% women (1.5% trans), and 6% total trans people. 73.9% hetero
Dragon age reddit 2023 demographics survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vi-9XTyIx2kvu4hXb309b0NvdWL7Ub_Yj73le6WXzpI/viewanalytics
Mass effect reddit 2019 demographics survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdNHQxT7COKRuYIaoHBXt0s3DOdq2RgPCLlJg2RCN5pf3kcKA/viewanalytics
I am deeply incentivized to broaden the definition of lib to satisfy my ever growing sadistic hunger. Fear my gluttonous wrath! I will never confront my troubled past! You cannot make me!
I WILL NAME YOU FOR THE LIB YOU ARE
Every single woman I've been with since coming out as a lesbian, and being a woman, has treated me more masculine than I wanted them to. But the most recent date was something truly special. I was expected to act more masculine by her than by any straight woman I had ever been with pre transition.
She really thought I was her boyfriend. She did all of the classic things that f4m do on dates. She tried to attract my attention while simultaneously not looking at me or doing anything to make me feel wanted, let alone pretty. She moved away from my touch because she liked the feeling of me pulling her in. She let down her walls and expected me to pounce on her. At the end of our first date I told her how much I identify with femininity and hoped a second date would go better. It didn't go better.
And worst of all, she was trans! She absolutely no interest in my femininity while being a trans woman on a date with a trans woman! I trusted her because of our shared experiences and she made me feel dysphoric.
Part of this comes from me retaining a more masculine kind of physicality and attraction. I'm very visual and can get horny very quickly. My body can't hide its attraction either, people can tell when I want them. My experience of women is extra intense, and so is the way that I naturally kiss and touch them. Women really want to see me "take" them, and when I don't they think I'm innocent and infantilize me. They don't realize I have absolute control over myself and won't do a damn thing unless I feel safe. Because expressing anything masculine as a trans woman makes me feel vulnerable. Nothing feels worse than doing everything you can to make someone else feel pretty and beautiful and them not giving anything back. Not to mention how all this makes me feel like a threat to women, giving me intense paranoia around being seen that way.
People see me, 6'4, confident, cock, and make miles of assumptions about what I want. They stroke my ego instead of making me feel pretty. They expect me to take control. But, I don't want them to! My ideal partner is literally someone who makes me feel safe, taken care of, is affectionate, and tells me what to do! Being expected to take control by 80% of the people who are attracted to me stresses me the hell out! The physicality that makes them want me to take control is the same one that makes me want to give them control. If I just focus on doing what I'm told then I know I won't hurt anyone, and I won't get overwhelmed by experiencing their beauty and having to make decisions.
It feels like I'm not pretty enough for anyone to value that over my masculine traits. So that's how I get treated. Almost all of the women I've been with are bi. I think they find me attractive as a man and not a woman. I should really try and meet more lesbians but I think they find me threatening. Bi women are more used to people who experience attraction like I do, even if I see mine as nearly incomparable to men's. I'd love to meet another trans lesbian, as I literally never have, but we're probably 0.1% of the population.
Also I've had FFS, done voicework, done laser hair removal. I'm totally cis passing, even at 6'4. I can't imagine what this would be like if I was still early transition. All I can change is getting more feminine clothes, and doing more makeup.
TLDR: I've been depressed and dysphoric since a date last weekend where I was treated like a boyfriend. I'm struggling to express my sexuality amidst a sea of people who can't look past my height and genitals. I'm genuinely so torn up and its been so hard getting out of bed knowing that nobody wants me to feel pretty.
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My aunt and uncle went to Lebanon to visit his extended family. They were extremely lovely hospitable people to my Aunt and Uncle. They were also visibly disturbed that my aunt and uncle pronounced words like a Syrian, the Arabic tapes they were learning from were Syrian. Also apparently it is very bad to buy Syrian Za'atar. Based on the way my Aunt told the story they'd absolutely be willing to throw hands over who makes the best Za'atar. So, I think feuding over niche inconsequential things is pretty universal.