“Queerness, to me, is about far more than homosexual attraction. It’s about a willingness to see all other taboos broken down. Sure, many of us start on this path when we first feel “same sex” or “same gender” attraction (though what is sex? And what is gender? And does anyone really have the same sex or gender as anyone else?). But queerness doesn’t stop there.
This is a somewhat controversial stance, but to me queer means something completely different than “gay” or “lesbian” or “bisexual.” A queer person is usually someone who has come to a non-binary view of gender, who recognizes the validity of all trans identities, and who, given this understanding of infinite gender possibilities, finds it hard to define their sexuality any longer in a gender-based way. Queer people understand and support non-monogamy even if they do not engage in it themselves. They can grok being asexual or aromantic. (What does sex have to do with love, or love with sex, necessarily?) A queer can view promiscuous (protected) public bathhouse sex with strangers and complete abstinence as equally healthy.
Queers understand that people have different relationships to their bodies. We get what it means to be stone. We know what body dysphoria is about. We understand that not everyone likes to get touched the same way or to get touched at all. We realize that people with disabilities may have different sexual needs, and that people with survivor histories often have sexual triggers. We can negotiate safe and creative ways to be intimate with people with HIV/AIDs and other STIs.
Queers understand the range of power and sensation and the diversity of sexual dynamics. We are tops and bottoms, doms and subs, sadists and masochists and sadomasochists, versatiles and switches. We know what we like and don’t like in bed.
We embrace a wide range of relationship types. We can be partners, lovers, friends with benefits, platonic sweethearts, chosen family. We can have very different dynamics with different people, often all at once. We don’t expect one person to be able to fulfill all our diverse needs, fantasies and ideals indefinitely.
Because our views on relationships, sex, gender, love, bodies, and family are so unconventional, we are of necessity anti-assimilationist. Because under the kyriarchy we suffer, and watch the people we love suffering, we are political. Because we want to survive, we fight. We only want the freedom to be ourselves, love ourselves, love each other, and live together. Because we are routinely denied that, we are pissed.
Queer doesn’t mean “don’t label me,” it means “I am naming myself.” It means “ask me more questions if you’re curious…“”
OR, maybe, just maybe, and hear me out here, MAYBE the actual reason is that not as many people in this day and age feel a pressing urge to spend money on mediocre food at an exploitative business just because some boobs are under a t-shirt in the same room?
This promise was an exciting novelty only to a pre-internet and wealthier generation which simultaneously felt far less shame in leering at or catcalling women but far more shame in looking at porn. Hooters was softcore pseudo burlesque for married Christian men and the culture permitting its success will likely never be repeated and shouldn’t be.
Hooters always seemed really weird for me for this exact reason. It’s like this bizarre fusion of strip club and family restaurant that no one asked for. The food isnt great, everyone is fully clothed, even the staff exists in a creepy limbo where they’re not actually strippers, but they’re only there because of their tits. Its like if someone decided to turn exploitation into a chain restaurant.
Millennials go to an actual strip club or burlesque show if that’s what they’re into, and then to a good wings bar after. There’s no need for a completely mediocre combination of the two
How dare they accuse us of not liking boobs. How dare
I know Tumblr tends to be very US-centric, but there is something happening in my country that I absolutely have to share.
Soon, Brazil will host presidential elections. These are the first elections since the impeachment of our last president Dilma Rouseff.
The leading candidate is currently Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is a man who has made racist, sexist, and homophobic claims such as, “I would rather my son die in a car accident than be gay,” and, “my sons would not date black women as they were well educated.” He even said to a woman that she was, “so ugly” that she, “didn’t even deserve to get raped.”
A few decades ago, when Brazil was under a military dictatorship, the government tortured many people for speaking out against the regime. Bolsonaro has said that, “their only mistake was not killing those people.”
However, something incredible has been happening.
A movement called Mulheres Unidas Contra Bolsonaro (Women United Against Bolsonaro) has been surfacing. The hashtag #EleNão (#NotHim) has been getting popular and gaining international attention.
Yesterday, women all over Brazil (and the world!) protested against Bolsonaro.
Here are some pictures.
São Paulo, Brazil:
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
Ilhéus, Brazil:
Cuiabá, Brazil:
Porto Alegre, Brazil:
Brazilians living abroad also joined the protests!
Zurich, Switzerland:
Madrid, Spain:
Melbourne, Australia:
New York City, US:
Protests occurred in over 62 cities around the world.
Even if you’re not Brazilian, please share this post! Show your support and raise awareness of the movement!
When you go to a haunted house, it may seem like you’re being funny by trying to scare the actors or jump out at them when you go through a second time, but guess what? ITS NOT FUNNY.
You pay us to scare you. It is your choice to go, so don’t fucking go through if you’re going to ignore the rules and get too close to the actors as a ‘joke’.
These bruises happened because over the course of 4 hours, several people ignored the instructions that CLEARLY stated that they were to wait in the front room until told otherwise. Rather than listen, they ran into the next room and slammed into me- effectively throwing me into the wall. This didn’t only happen once. It happened ten times at LEAST.
Then we had this asshole who thought that once I ‘died’ for the haunt, he could pretend to kick me to see if I’d moved. I, being used to people abusing me- jumped back and slammed my head into the concrete wall.
YOU ARE NOT FUNNY BY BEING RUDE AT A HAUNTED HOUSE. WE ARE PAID ACTORS THAT YOU CHOOSE TO COME AND SEE PERFORM. YOU PAY US TO SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF YOU, SO DONT HIT US WHEN WE DO
I feel that this is relevant considering it is October and more Haunted Houses are opening up. I know it seems funny to scare the ‘monsters’ but all you do is hurt real people. So stop.
It’s not even October but I’m still spreading this
SIGNAL BOOOOOOOOSSSSSTTTTT!!!!!!! Now
Yeah…your director may want to consider reblocking
We don’t have a director? Or blocking??? It’s a haunted house bro, not a play
Reblogging for relevance-
I work at a Haunted House every October, and have been for the past few years. Our house in particular is staffed by Volunteer workers who are either earning credits for Graduation, or people who know the Family that owns the haunted attraction. In our City, we’re one of two Haunted Houses, so while we open in late September, we tend to get incredibly busy during the month of October and often work from 6pm until 2, 3am on weekends.
We do not get paid to help out. Due to our location, we get a lot of drunk guys coming through, and a lot of ‘funny’ teenagers. In my several years working there, I’ve seen Actors get grabbed and thrown, stomped on, kicked, bitten, everything. A lot of the Actors at this attraction are young teenagers, Middle and Secondary School students, so this kind of abuse is terrifying and potentially emotionally scarring.
There’s a position half-way through the house we call ‘Psych Ward’, and it’s essentially a jump scare. The scare is a corner-room, boxed in with walls and broken windows, that the Actor pops out of and shouts and taunts the people going through. October, 2012, a couple were going through the Psych Ward corner and the scare went off as per usual. The girlfriend of this couple got very startled but laughed it off and continued on. The boyfriend, however, back-tracked and went up to the broken window and punched the Actor in the face for scaring his girlfriend. The Actor, who I’m going to call Tracy, had a black eye for a good two weeks solid and the couple had to be escorted out of the house and were banned from the property. Ever since we’ve ruled that Veteran Actors (someone who’s been there for 3+ years) are the only ones allowed in this particular Scaring Spot.
He paid to get scared and then got violent when we delivered.
There are so many stories I can tell of ignorant customers banging back on scares and injuring the Actors inside, grabbing props from the actors and hurting them with it, destroying props because they thought it would be ‘funny’.
I just want to raise awareness that the ACTORS ARE STILL PEOPLE. We’re instructed to get the best kind of scare out of you, sometimes with no pay at all (like this particular attraction), so please respect our work.
We wouldn’t come to your job, mock you, and push you around trying to be ‘funny’. Don’t come to our job and do that to us!
I literally cannot believe people are angry over this post saying “don’t fucking beat up actors”
I work at a haunted hayride and a guy tried to dropkick me in the chest and knee me in the face because he thought it was funny.
I got in trouble for breaking character to tell him to fucking stop.
Ive been hit so many times this season it has left cuts and bruises. Back in 2015 I was fucking choked and dragged behind a wagon because a lady was drunk and her son had to pry her hands off me because IM NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH YOU OR FIGHT BACK.
Most recently, a customer groped my breasts and twisted my fucking nipples. Apparently, she did it to AT LEAST twenty other actors.
THAT IS SEXUAL ASSAULT YOU ASSHOLES. ITS NOT OKAY.
Most recently a customer fucking kicked me and sent me to the goddamned hospital.
WHEN YOU GO TO A HAUNTED HAYRIDE / HAUNTED HOUSE, REMEMBER YOU LITERALLY PAID US TO SCARE YOU.
THE ACTORS ARE REAL PEOPLE.
DO NOT FUCKING HIT US.
Why the fuck would you even do this holy shit
Hey guys i know this is out of theme but that comment from @witchcryptid was me and my old url. I plan on working this job again this year if at all possible, so here’s an added psa:
If your family or friend(s) force you into a haunting, be upfront as best you can and tell actors as they come up “please do not scare me i am too anxious / scared” and 9.99/10 times we will listen and leave you alone. just communicate with us even though we most often cannot communicate back.
We may be playing monsters, but we are NOT monsters.
Also, please remember to keep your hands off of us during your haunting, and also please try to step in or speak up if you see people trying to touch us, assault us, or talking about planning to touch or hurt a staff member.
We cannot do anything and will most likely get in legal trouble for touching you in defense.
Thank you and have a spooky fall 🌻🍁🍂🍃
I…I feel really upset that this has to be a reminder ._.
I mean they should know you’re…justacting.
jesus christ…
I don’t even do haunted houses (I’m one of those aforementioned anxious people) but boosting the signal because this is seriously not cool.
Hey guys it’s that time!!
You paid for a ticket which means you consented to be scared!
As an ex haunt monster please for fucks sake if you KNOW your reflex is to strike when scared DO NOT GO TO THESE.
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE NO ONE GOES TO DISNEYLAND AND PUNCHES DONALD DUCK WHY WOULD YOU DO THE SAME TO HAUNTED HOUSE WORKERS?!?!?!?!
Fun fact, people absolutely go to Disneyland and punch Donald Duck, and yank Tigger’s tail so hard a vertebrae pops out, and pick Minnie up off the ground and drop her, and ram into workers’ backs with their electric wheelchairs, and trip Goofy when he needs to leave also that he head hits the ground. People are horrible everywhere, but at least at Disney we can press charges.
As a former amusement park employee, I vouch that characters get beat up on a daily basis. If you look around, they have bodyguards, because people will outright attempt to murder Mickey Mouse… who, by the way, is between 4’8" and 5’2". Imagine a group of large teen boys suddenly kicking the shit out of a 4’8" teenage girl, just for laughs. A girl in my class was Mickey, and three times in just one school year she came to class limping or bruised up. I worked Knott’s Scary Farm one year. I wasn’t a scare actor, but we operators were taught what to do when an actor gets assaulted, who to contact and how to diffuse the situation without harm coming to the guest. Every single day, someone got beat up for scarring guests… as they’re meant to do.
One time when one of my friend’s sisters was… oh, maybe nine? an actor jumped her at a scary house in an amusement park not far from my house, and she slapped him on the arm as a reflex. I’m positive she didn’t hurt him. She was this skinny little thing. But, she was with her brother and the rest of us, the friend group, who I’m ashamed to say, laughed at her when she apologized to him and even harder when at the end of the tour, she went to the person on the exit door and told them what had happened and to tell the actor she was really really sorry. She was mortified that she had hit the actor, even more mortified that she was been made fun of for having been scared and apologizing to someone who ‘Probably got it all the time’.
So, jump to a couple of months later when I went to the fast food area outside the park with a friend (I’m… actually just now realizing maybe it was something like a date. Go me) and the table next to us has people who I notice have paint over their faces, but I think nothing of it because halloween is near. My friend goes to the bathroom and while I’m waiting I hear them talking about how teenage kids go into the house and think it’s cool to act all tough against them. Threaten to hit them, actually hit them, push them. And then one of them tells a story I recognize: One little girl who hit him as a reflex and then apologized and was being made fun of by a group of older kids for apologizing to the person she’d hit. She hadn’t actually hurt him, but it stuck with him because she was so mortified that she could have hurt some poor guy who was just doing his job.
What I mean to say is, imagine how bad this poor guy had it all of the time that he’d been so touched with one little girl who reacted on instinct and then apologized.