L.J. Writes

I know the subject of asexuality and sex acceptance can be a fraught subject because aces are already stereotyped as inherently slut-shaming and homophobic for their orientation. This is, of course, textbook aphobia: Being slut-shaming or homophobic is a matter of choices and beliefs, not a sexual orientation.

With that in mind I think it's still important to discuss that some people on the asexual spectrum do go through or went through a slut-shaming phase, myself included. Some determined jerks never leave that phase, but again, I'll let you use the fact against all aces if you can show me ONE marginalized group that does not have its share of jerks. Just one. I'll wait.

Here's another reason slut-shaming is no ace in the hole (hah) for aphobes: Far from being slut-shaming being inherent to asexuality, slut-shaming for aces is often a reaction to aphobia, not to mention an example of the utterly messed up way a lot of us are taught to engage with sex.

( Discussions of aphobia, sex, slut-shaming, exclusionism )

I spent Monday afternoon last week researching clothing from the time period I'm writing in, that is 1st century B.C. mostly to the north of the Korean peninsula. The dudes' feathered hats came up again, but I went through more comprehensive treatments of fashion in that era that were not focused exclusively on noblemen's hats. One of the books I took copious notes on agrees with me that the feathers were definitely real bird feathers early on but that feather-shaped or deer ear-shaped decorations also came into use later on.

All the books that I took a look at on this subject seem to discuss the Xiongnu(1) clothing uncovered at the Noin-Ula burial site in Mongolia, pointing out the similarities to Korean clothing in the basic structure of articles like form-fitting pants, wraparound tunic bound with a belt, and outer coat. A red tunic found in Noin-Ula shows traces of being trimmed with fur, which is a great distinctive look I could use since the ancient connection between the Xiongnu and Koreans seems inescapable.

( More ancient Korean fashion, plus pictures! )

I've been spending the past couple of days trying to set up a DW queue from my local machine and it's been a lot of fun, though hard because I knew practically nothing about the Mac OS X shell going in. Now I think I know even less--like why is it so hard to set up a variable lol. I've been documenting the process as I went along and will post it when I get it working. If all goes well this post should be posted with that script. Update: It worked! It's showing unexpected behavior that I need to figure out, but so far it's not affecting anything visible.

Two days of this week were taken up in an INTENSIVE deadline that got me some much-needed dough but took a physical toll. I have the beginning of a head cold and a persistent lower-back ache that I am trying to relieve with rest and stretching. My tot has a runny nose, too, a recurring occurrence for him: Poor kid never stood a chance with both his parents' history of sinus infections.

I've been listening to The Queen's Thief audiobooks and am almost done with the second book The Queen of Attolia. The audiobooks are well-acted and enjoyable in their own right. I'll have more to say about the books later on, but for now here are my Mastodon threads from Book 1 The Thief and from Book 2, with rampant spoilers obviously.

Writing has fallen by the wayside while I was distracted, but I'm hoping to get back on that wagon this weekend. At this point I don't think I'll meet my goal of completing a first draft (well, third first draft) of the WIP by my birthday this June. :( Oh well, at least the goal will push me to keep writing.

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