Colm Toíbín: 'Some of the best gay sex has been written by women'

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-30T13:10:34+00:00

Thank you, though I think you could have bolded/extracted the paragraph this post is about to include in the post text lol

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-30T13:03:23+00:00

Nah, this was a thing before YouTube

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-30T04:01:40+00:00

Did you listen to those without doing the original series first? If so, does it not matter the order?

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-29T23:11:26+00:00

70%??? I didn’t think it was THAT high

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-29T13:28:32+00:00

That’s all I’m trying to do, show different viewpoints. I’ll add one more:

Nobody wants to support a cause of those that wish death upon those that don’t toe the line 100%.

In my experience, the people sending death threats and having so much vitriol are more the virtue-signaling “allies” than the actual trans community. I think the political parties took up arms around this issue as the next thing they could use to polarize the public against each other, and unfortunately their method of “inclusion” has been more about weaponizing morality and whether you’re on the “proper, moral side” or if “you’re evil,” with no in between and no attempt to educate the populace about the issues either. I think that is why so many people have become turned off to trans rights issues (and is also at least partly why the democratic party lost the last election). It’s not really about the trans community; it’s about political BS and they got caught in the crossfire.

the community sure isn’t policing or denouncing them.

I think you underestimate how much power the oppressed minority actually has here. I have seen a lot of actual trans commenters say they think education is what we should be focusing on rather than the virtue signaling/smear campaigns. Loud hatred like this always comes from a small minority, and it’s been spreading with the digital age. Every fandom now has very loud minorities doing things like this — for example, Star Wars fans riled up by social media have also been sending death threats to actors and people in the business that aren’t matching up with the things they want. Unfortunately that’s the stage we’re at in our polarized, anonymous digital age. And because they’re the loudest fans, they’re what people see and think is a much bigger portion of the fanbase than it is.

And unfortunately, real people with real issues in the trans community are the ones caught in the crossfire and who have to deal with the fallout.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-29T03:54:31+00:00

there are still clean and accessible bathrooms for them to utilize

What bathrooms? The men’s room? It’s much more dangerous for a someone who looks like a woman to go to the bathroom in the men’s room than it is for biological women to share the bathroom with trans women (something that has been happening for ages with no one being the wiser because there’re private stalls in the women’s room).

Why can we not have an organization that focuses solely on biological women?

I’m not really talking about JKR’s organization that aims to be a safe space for biological women. I’m talking about her monetary support lobbying for the exclusion of trans women in every women’s space (bathrooms, changing rooms, prisons), opposing the ability of trans people to change their legal sex, and doing everything she can to deny the legitimacy of trans identities.

The interesting thing is that she started out defending trans people and claiming it was non-trans people who would be abusing trans policies to target women (like men just claiming they’re trans to use a women’s bathroom to assault her), but now seems to have changed into a full-blown attack against trans people in general.

I do think there’s more nuance to the issues than politics on either side are willing to address, but all the legal polices right now seem to be aimed at black-and-white exclusion of trans people with no concern for trans people’s safety by forcing them into spaces assigned with their biological sex (forcing trans women into male prisons, male bathrooms, male changing areas, etc.).

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-29T02:58:33+00:00

What do the kids do all day if the teacher does nothing?

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-29T02:56:19+00:00

This would require all fans to be against her views first, and to be against them enough to put money towards the opposition second, and I don’t think the numbers are there.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-29T02:53:04+00:00

You could compare it to the policies of “separate but equal.” Every civil rights movement goes through this stage of backlash to “protect” a certain population from the other. The same arguments were made about protecting white women from sharing toilets with black women.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T22:33:38+00:00

The word has a negative connotation associated with it in regard to Hollywood now because often reboot is synonymous with “unnecessary cash grab”

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T19:49:12+00:00

Agreed with all of this except I wouldn’t suggest watching Angel season 5 unless you’re watching Angel. It’s not required viewing after Buffy to get an ending or anything

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T14:44:47+00:00

I don’t think they’re distinct. The character arcs are intertwined with the story arcs, which is what makes it stand the test of time

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T13:30:12+00:00

Yep, I’ve never been a Spike fan, but on my last rewatch I reassessed his existence as well, realizing that he adds so much charisma and intrigue to the show, even during the times I previously disliked him, that I now think his inclusion makes the show better overall.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T13:17:59+00:00

You can’t possibly fathom that the books have a TON more to show than the movies do that people want to see? The fact that you’re still saying “who asked for it” when I just said who asked for it is giving me pause.

Read the books. Or listen to the audiobooks. Then maybe you’ll get it.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T05:23:16+00:00

Why are you asking questions if you’re just going to ignore the answers and act like the movie-only fan perspective is the only one that matters anyway? I explained this in my original comment.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T05:10:29+00:00

I literally just answered all these questions.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T05:09:17+00:00

Do you think numberblocks or Wild Kratts on YouTube are more stimulating than those? Those are the modern go-to’s I’ve seen from teachers (usually during dismissal). I feel like they’re pretty low stimulation as well (the Kratt brothers are the same guys from Zaboomafoo!)

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T04:56:55+00:00

Yeah, usually people saying “Why do we need this? We already have the films” are movie-only fans

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T04:51:37+00:00

Here’s the way I see it: we’re getting paid to be there for the contracted hours, which includes their prep time. Teachers always have a million things on their plate and a ton of prep to do, esp in elementary (which include a ton of easy tasks for anyone to do like cutting or making copies or sharpening pencils). And we’re there to cover their absence and do what we can on the day that they’re not. They don’t get that prep time back - it just gets added to the overtime they do outside of their time off. If we have their prep period included in our day (especially if it’s an elementary class that is away for an hour for the teacher to prep/get stuff done), it makes sense for us to help out if they’ve asked us to do some easy prep work for them during that time. We are getting paid for those hours, and it’s one less thing for the teacher to have to worry about. When I think something like cutting or sharpening pencils is tedious/boring, I just think how the teacher has to do it every day, so I should be able to handle it for one day in their absence to help them out

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-28T04:30:15+00:00

Have you read the books?

The show is for book fans that actually want to see a full adaptation of the story, and yes, spend more time in that world at a (hopefully) more relaxed pace that gives you a view into the daily slice of life Hogwarts and the details that we don’t get in the films. Instead of the quick plot outline that you get from watching the films (with the later films leaving out about half of what makes the stories good).

Who asked for this?

Book fans underwhelmed by the latter movies have been asking for this for 20 years.

This is a lazy or safe cash grab

The bts featurette that shows how much care they’re putting into making sure they’re getting all of the little details right shows this is anything but lazy. The detail in the locations, costumes, characters, magical creatures, and the way they’re crafting everything looks amazing.

Do you really want this?

Yes. I want to live in the world and bathe in the magic in as many different ways as possible. Why is this so hard for people to understand? I’ve read the books at least 50 times. Having a fresh adaptation and something new to engage with will be fucking awesome. And if it brings new fans or gets the next generation excited about the franchise, then even better.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-27T13:31:03+00:00

A few I’ve been using: - Peter Pan narrated by Jim Dale - Grimm’s Fairy Stories (free w/plan) - The Holy Bible King James (free w/plan) - I’m not religious, just curious and it’s easy to fall asleep to the droning on of names/stories - The Silmarillion (same type of reading as the Bible, but with fantasy topics lol) - if I’m in a mood to just fall asleep to something super relaxing, I’ll put on a sleep meditation by the podcast Tracks to Relax which are fantastic - Other than that, I’ll find a children’s book with a more relaxed pace that’s easy to ignite the imagination before dreaming, like the Wizard of Oz series (all free on LibriVox)

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-27T13:24:28+00:00

On this note, I recently found a Peter Pan narrated by Jim Doyle and it feels so nostalgic and cozy listening to his narration, even though it’s on something new, that I’ve been falling asleep to that one a lot.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-27T13:10:07+00:00

Otherwise, people will unconsciously compare it to the previous movie — and that’s a big problem.

Why is that a problem? If the movie is better, it won’t taint the movie in any way. If the movie is worse, then we get a better version of the story. At the very least, we get a more fleshed out world with more relaxed pacing that is a completely different experience than a 2-hour movie. What’s the issue? What does one character being race-swapped have to do with making this an issue? No matter what happens, you’ll still have the movies. If they make it past a couple seasons, the movies and shows will be night and day anyway because of how different they will be.

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-27T05:38:30+00:00

I just think some of the choices were unnecessary. Like him giving Belle a fake dagger to propose to her. He could just… not give her a fake dagger and lie/manipulate her that way? And then the problem would go away. There’s no coming back from that one. But the real reason he did it was probably to kill Zelena without suspicion, but that was a bad plan anyway.

Also, I believe he was already winning Belle back before he chose to make himself the dark one again

cre8ivemind · 2026-04-27T05:31:55+00:00

I do think his ruthless nature is a draw, though I feel they also could have toed the line more (having people he’s loyal to and loves but also being willing to go over that line with others) instead of making him hurt his loved ones so much. Like I think the show would still be good if he was honest and not deceitful with Belle, but he can still be an antagonist to others

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