Knives and Scalpels

      Referring to Natalie Wynn as "ContraPoints" feels weirdly alienating, and calling her Natalie feels too familiar.  I don't know her, and if I did I wouldn't cop to it.  She deserves her privacy at the very least.  In true academic style, I'll be referring to her as Wynn, which hopefully won't confuse anyone.  I think it's essential for us, and by us I mean the girls, to exercise a certain amount of restraint when talking about her.  This is sort of an extension of last week's theme, since I think Wynn has unfortunately become a lightning rod for some of the resentments that exist between trans people, resentments we often displace.  We do this primarily because we love each other and because we need each other.  At least that's why I do it.  I also think that Wynn invites so much ire because she attempts to project her insecurities back onto other trans women, and because, to be frank, much of what she believes and has experie...

      Since it's my job as a gay person to make definitive statements about the rest of you, this week I'm going to be extra judgy.  One of the worst parts of being a homosexual, apart from all of the institutional discrimination and the fact that straight people want nothing more than to torture me to death and then cum on my body, is that I am unwillingly exposed to other people's opinions about children's TV.  I have no data to back this up, but it's pretty obvious from a cursory survey of my college friends that more grown adults than ever are obsessed with media ostensibly made for children.  I say ostensibly because many of them are marketed towards adults.  Their existence on streaming services is a testament to this.  No child with homework is going to binge watch three seasons of She-Ra, but a woman in her 20s probably will.     One of the main selling points of modern kids' TV is that it features characters who are, to varying ...

My waifu.      A "waifu," in anime fan parlance, is a fictional character that fans feel romantic attached to.  Waifus are usually female, with male variants being referred to as "husbandos," which are generally not as common.  Ironic or not, a person's waifu is the subject of much adoration, usually expressed through massive expenditure on merchandise depicting said waifu's likeness.  This phenomenon is more common in Japan than the US (or so I've been told), but Americans have their own parasocial attractions to contend with.  There are many sociological reasons for the rise of waifu culture, the main one being increased male loneliness in the developed world.  As with everything under capitalism, different mediums have adapted to cater to the desires (but not the needs!)  of people who crave a waifu to love and adore.  What interests me, however, is how other parallel mediums have begun to cultivate their own versions of waifu culture...

      "Subtle" is not a word I would use to describe Mortal Kombat.  Neither is "feminist," although recent efforts to diversify the game's, *ahem*, female costumes have drawn attention to that uniquely American hypocrisy, that we may bear witness to endless violence but never to sexuality.  Blood, guts, brains, bones--but no skin.  Speaking of skin, this entry is the first in a series where I will try to express my feelings on video game character design from an audience perspective: the hidden parts, the exposed parts, and how the interplay between the two makes me feel.  This week: what does the way the women of Mortal Kombat look say about the developers?  What kinds of messages does it send?  And, finally, why do I relate to them so much despite their shallowness as characters?     First, a disclaimer: much has been said about sex and violence in video games, most of it shallow.  I won't be making pronouncements about whet...