I Think We Are All Forgetting Something When We Talk About How Toxic Patrick, Tashi, And Art Are —

i think we are all forgetting something when we talk about how toxic patrick, tashi, and art are — or when we decide one is “worse” than the other. they all have moments of seeing right through it, seeing each other’s toxic behavior for what it is, and STILL want and need each other in this possessive, envious, visceral way.

1. in the way beginning, tashi is clearly flirting more with art than patrick, and patrick is visibly annoyed. art sees right through it and even challenges him like “okay, let’s leave”, and has this little smirk on his face because he knows patrick won’t give up on tashi.

2. tashi immediately sees the visible tension and love between art and patrick, and literally orchestrates their first kiss. she sees right through their repression, and even calls herself a “home-wrecker” but still entangles herself with them, especially patrick because he’s clearly the better tennis player at that point and that is tash’s ONLY true love. tennis. that’s what she desires most in him, and patrick knows that. he even calls her out on it in the dorm room scene. but they have this mirroring fire in each other that neither of them can give up, not until patrick breaks the balance and bails — tashi’s injury is literally a metaphor for the balance shattering between all three of them when patrick leaves her.

3. before this, patrick sees right through art trying to break them up, and even admires that quality — maybe even feels smug and flattered because art is jealous and feels left out from both tashi and patrick. patrick has known this all along, we saw it in the “tick-serve” scene, where he even swears to tashi he won’t tell anyone but he still tells art, who is desperate to feel a part of them and patrick wants that, too — even keeps that close intimacy with art that we see in the churro scene (swoon swoon swoon).

4. haven’t you noticed that arts desire to be great is only ever tied up in patrick and tashi? how he needs to beat patrick to win tashis affection, how he needs to win in tennis so that tashi can live through him, how he lives up to his potential in the ending only because tashi and patrick push him to it, in their little fucked up ways? he knows this — he even admits that he’s playing for tashi, that he knows she’s living through him. he even admits he’s playing a fucked up little game with patrick when they’re in the sauna. yet he still does it. again, he knows what’s happening, sees right through them — still does it, still loves them.

5. when tashi calls patrick to come pick her up he knows it’s not just to tell him to throw the match — and despite how she battles him about it, they still have sex in the car, because he already knows. he’s so fully aware of her and her game and he’s so willing to be caught up in it, the same as art.

just some examples of how they all have moments of clarity and agency and yet they still choose to be entangled in one another because they’re all fucked up in their own, individual ways, and they’re all living through each other for their own specific needs. arts is to be seen as worthy, as great, but only through their gaze. tashis is to have the career that was stolen from her. patricks is truly to be in love and in lust with both of them, because we even see that from the beginning that tashis love alone will never satiate him; it has to be arts love, too. that scene in the sauna when he thinks he’s lost it from art is the most sad and fucked up we ever even see patrick. on top of tashi asking him to throw the game — he’s so defensive of arts feelings.

in short this is an actual love triangle (and i would go as far as to see it as a polyship). you can’t erase one without the whole thing unraveling, and you can’t say one character was the “worst” without picking apart the motivations and pointing to the fact that their bad behavior was never a secret or left unchecked.

even at the end, patrick signals to art that he slept with tashi — art knows and they still have that intimate completion at the end, all three of them. art living up to his potential and embracing patrick fully (id argue this could even be a metaphor for embracing his bisexuality), patrick having both tashi and arts affection again, and tashi playing a phenomenal tennis match through her little white boys — in such a visceral, emotional way that she cries out like she did in the beginning and the last frame is her smiling.

in a fucked up way, they all get what they wanted out of each other.

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that's why adoption is always the answer. Don't want life long physical pain for having a child? Adoption. Do you believe we fucked up the Earth too much and the resources are running low? Adoption. Don't want to deal with people not treating you like an actual human being for 9 months? ADOPTION.

the thing is like. i get that it's scary and makes people who do desire to get pregnant uncomfortable when we talk about the brutality and violence of pregnancy and the damage that pregnancy can do to your body

but you deserve to give informed consent to that process.

the lies around pregnancy - that it's inherently safe, that it doesn't do you permanent damage, that it's only extremely rare for people to die of pregnancy complications, etc like

all of these are lies constructed so that more people will get pregnant w/o knowing all that

there needs to be more talk about the impact of miscarriages and how common they are, how different abortion processes are and how accessible they are

but also like. talking about how pregnancy fucks your body up should not be taboo

this is a process that permanently changes most people's bodies, and that's even if the pregnancy doesn't do them like. severe illness or injury

and i just think everybody should have a right to KNOW that

bc to live in a society that intentionally obscures and hides facts about a completely optional and dangerous process does so for a reason, and that reason is based in a very sinister ideology that does not value bodily autonomy or informed consent

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I can't read that legally blonde post one more goddamn time but I can read this book and encourage others to also read a fucking book

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3 months ago

A woman: So I recently developed ovarian cancer & I could sure use someone to talk to about it

Trancels on Tumblr: Um this is kinda problematic sweetie. Trans women dont have ovaries & ur sure being cissexist when u bring them up. Bringing up the cancer u have in an organ that’s exclusive to females is transphobic & by trying to discuss a womens’ issue youre basically saying you want all trans women to DIE, so uh…

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lookingforsomeoneto-foliadeux

2 months ago

Sorry, but the whole “Hector is wearing Achilles’ own armor, taken from my corpse. It looks, almost, as if Achilles is chasing himself.” part just has me thinking… Who is Achilles truly hunting down on that battlefield? The man who killed Patroclus, or the man who let Patroclus walk into his demise? Who is Achilles trying to punish? Who is he truly trying to kill? Hector or himself?

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lookingforsomeoneto-foliadeux

1 year ago

Is there a way to be critical of gender without denying that trans men are men etc? Let me explain.

Gender dysphoria is real and trans and nonbinary people have to be respected - that's what I believe. However, I see that a lot of discource about gender and identities is focused on stereotypes - like afab people saying thay they knew they weren't a woman because of their interests, personal style and being gnc in general, while all those things can be done while being a woman. Also what I've seen get called woman vibes are mostly stuff like nail polish or a caring nature, which are stuff I actually love seing in men (and everyone tbh, we need more nice people but that's unrelated). Everyone has their own mind and autonomy and freedom to identify as they wish, and it's not my business to inquire why they choose to identify the way they do, I acknowledge that because it's just called being respectful. So if a fem presenting person told me their pronouns are he/they, I'd use that since it's not really something I should dig about. I'll use that and prob see them as transmasc or wtv label they wish to use, and I'd also be normal about that. But I'm also kinda critical of the root of this - like me thinking I was a demi girl or nb because I felt uncomfortable in my body during puberty and tiktok told me it was a sign, but I still identify as a cis girl and I feel fine. I don't think trans women are just porn addicted men or that trans men are confused women, I'm just wondering why it's so based in stereotypes, you know??

TL;DR I don't want to come off as a transphobe, I want to articulate that despite criticising the concept of gender and its stereotypes, people's choices and pronouns should be respected and acknowledged. Is it still gender critical, or is it called something else? I want to find people who think similar as me.

English isn't my first language sorry if I was unclear or used weird words or repeated myself lol

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