Hey the common age of legal adulthood in the West is not an arbitrary “cultural” thing, it’s ideally 18 at a minimum because that is when the human brain has gotten past its most intense emotional and hormonal development hurdles.
The difference in judgment is staggering even between someone who just turned 16 vs. someone 16.5; we do a MASSIVE amount of mental growing and changing crammed into those first two decades at a pace unrivaled by any other species.
And then even after your psychological state has calmed the fuck down around 18, we now know the effects of adolescent development continue until about age 25. You got over the worst of it, but 25 is when the parts of your brain responsible for the bulk of your reasoning skills actually wrap up their growth process.
Some further maturation seems to continue between 25 and 40, but some countries now recognize 25 as the official end of “adolescence” as far as psychologists are concerned.
This is why someone 20 should not be dating someone 16 even where it’s legal, why a 14 year old boy shot by police should not be described as a “man,” why we should be raising the age of military and police enlistment by a couple of years, and people probably shouldn’t start driving cars until at least 18-20 either.
If you’re under 18 you actually are mentally and physically a child in the most objective possible sense. That’s not an insult to any of you 17 and under, just try to have a nice childhood while you still can and don’t sneak into bars and join the air force and shit, you’ve got like up to 80 years ahead of you for that.
…..so raise the age of majority to 25 lmao
this is….SO MUCH bullshit in one post.
the age of adulthood is a social construct. this is such a basic, well understood fact nowadays that it is the foundational concept of entire branches of sociology, anthropology, social psychology, and other disciplines, as well as the whole interdisciplinary field of childhood studies (which I happen to have recently finished my PhD in).
adolescence itself is a product of culture at least as much as biology. the entire existence of it. the concept didn’t exist two hundred years ago. there was no such thing as a teenager. and it’s not because people who lived before the age of global industrial capitalism were stupid, it’s because social change over time (and specifically under that global industrial capitalist system) continually pushed back the age at which people were considered “adults”, as well as increasing the number and complexity of things they were expected to accomplish before being perceived as adults. this is still happening and is why we now see this push to conceptualize 18- to 25-year-olds as “not adults”. not because of revelations in psychology.
your brain changes in those years, sure. (it changes throughout the lifespan, but yeah, it changes more before you’re 25.) but two things: first, that change isn’t what you think it is. the brain is – physically – a product of experience. even if you could somehow quantify young people being shit at making decisions because the Decision-Making Brain Section is all weird in the MRIs (which you can’t, and every pop science article with the words “teen brain” in the title is at least somewhat lying to you), the cause of a great deal of that would be the way we treat young people – ie, not letting them ever make a single fucking decision for themselves, and reciting sciency-sounding crap about the prefrontal cortex at them whenever they start to think they might be proper humans.
second, the differences between young brains and older brains that do actually exist and are actually biologically determined are interpreted through such a beyond-bullshit cultural lens it’s all but impossible to see them for what they are. there’s this idea that judgment and reason are “impaired” during this time of life, but that’s a perception based on the ideology that middle-aged adults have the “good” brains, and that anything that deviates from them is “bad” instead of “different”. teens and young adults aren’t wired to be reckless idiots with no capacity for rational thought. how exactly would that have evolved? what fucking selection advantage would that have? what young people’s brains do tend to be wired for is tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty – which is necessary for young members of a highly social, highly adaptable species finding their place in the world! can it lead to bad decisions? sure! at the same time as it helps prevent choice paralysis and mitigates fear of change and enables divergent thinking and experimentation leading to personal growth!
(also, there are plenty of cognitive skills that peak before 25, but conveniently adults never seem to have to be worried about being told that makes them stupid and incompetent and untrustworthy.)
all of this is why the arguments of the “psychologists” you name – developmental psychologists, in the tradition of people like Piaget, whose credibility is not much higher than Freud’s – are meaningless. developmental psych is a discipline with huge systemic problems arising from an insulting, dehumanizing deficit model of the people they study, and from a major ignorance of sociocultural factors involved in their work. Piaget thought he’d discovered the universal formula for child development by talking to a dozen middle-class French families, for fuck’s sake, and his intellectual descendants are not much better. (note: there are people trying to change this and redeem the discipline, but it’s happening slowly, because once theoretical approaches reach the status of orthodoxy they’re hard to shift.)
to put it simply: there is nothing “objective” about whether or not someone is a child. like every other identity binary, the child/adult one is a socially constructed crapshoot where almost no one fully matches up to what any ideology says one or the other is supposed to look like.
now, this does NOT mean there’s no problem with a 16-year-old dating a 30-year-old. but the reason those people shouldn’t be dating isn’t because that young person is biologically programmed to be stupid and can’t be trusted to make decisions with their life and body. it’s because of the enormous, socially-constructed power dynamic between those two people. you can’t have an equal relationship with someone who belongs to a class of people considered above you in every sense. you just can’t. but you know what fuels that power imbalance? shit like this post. this is the exact rhetoric adults use to disempower and dehumanize youth. it’s the rhetoric that’s used to take the right of self-ownership away from young people, and it contributes to abuse. you cannot protect people by taking away their rights, especially on the basis of telling them they’re incapable of making decisions for themselves and they should leave that to the exact category of people most likely to abuse them – the only thing you can accomplish by doing that is to make them more vulnerable.
the problem with a 14-year-old boy being described as a “man” is likewise not that he’s biologically incapable of any form of responsibility, it’s that in a society that views adolescents basically as universally cognitively incompetent and adults as individually responsible for everything that happens to them (both of which are ludicrously wrong), choosing to define someone as a “man” implies that he had a level of responsibility and opportunity that is, in fact, systematically denied to a 14-year-old. this is someone living under all the bullshit systems described in the first half of this rant, and being portrayed as a member of a more privileged category who’s not being socially, economically, and psychologically affected by all that every day. that’s the issue.
as for driving, there’s no reason for the driving age to exist at all, let alone to be higher than it is now. skipping right over the part where teenagers have faster reaction times and better vision, on average, than older adults, we have a damn test to tell us if people are capable of driving safely. we have training for new drivers, and mandatory periods of supervised driving practice. (it’s not a perfect system, but we seem to be okay with the compromise of letting a certain number of incompetent adults through it.) the only reason to not allow people under a certain age to take that test or go through that training – to forbid them to even make the attempt to prove that they are capable or take steps to become more capable – is to keep driving as a privilege for adults. to enforce the binary, enforce young people’s lack of responsibility and competence. there’s this whole concept about how the display of knowledge or skill becomes a “status offense” (something that’s only “wrong” for certain categories of people) if the privileged class wants to believe only they could possibly possess that knowledge or skill. that’s what the driving age is.
So, we once did a gifset on jump identification, in slow-mo. But it’s time for an ambitious upgrade — now, identify jumps in real time, without slowing down or pausing.
All skaters land (clean) jumps in the same way: on the outside edge of one foot, gliding backwards. Skaters who rotate counterclockwise during their jump will land on their rightfoot while skaters who rotate clockwise will land on their left. All the examples below feature skaters who rotate counterclockwise.
Therefore, the first and most important thing in jump identification is to scrutinize the takeoff instead of anything else. Look carefully at what the skater does with their feet before they jump, anything else is not particularly relevant in naming a jump.
Toe Jumps
If the skater strikes the ice with their toe pick, it’s either a Toeloop, FliporLutz. These jumps are known as Toe Jumps because of the skater’s use of their toe pick.
The Flip
Skaters usually do a turn immediately before this jump. Notice how Zhenya swings her right foot while doing the turn; this is very characteristic of flip jumps. This is a very common entry into the flip, but it’s not a necessary one, skaters can opt to perform a flip with a different entry.
Zhenya rotatestowards the foot that is placed on the ice during her takeoff. Her own torso and leg are “blocking” the direction of her rotation, such that she is assuming a closed body position just before takeoff.
Take note of how the foot that is placed on the ice is on an inside edge. If a skater uses an outside edge instead, they will be penalized for incorrect technique.
The Toeloop
Skaters usually do a turn immediatelybefore this jump. Again, while this is a very common entry to the toeloop, skaters don’t necessarily have to do it.
Yuzuru rotates away from the foot that is placed on the ice during his takeoff. His torso and leg are not “blocking” the direction of his rotation, such that he is assuming an open body position just before takeoff.
The Lutz
Skaters don’t usually do any turn immediately before this jump. Instead, they do a long backwards glide. Notice how Yuna gradually deepens the outside edge on her gliding foot as she goes backwards; this is one distinct indication of a lutz jump. Once again, this is just a very common entry to the lutz but skaters can use other entries too.
Yuna rotatestowards the foot that is placed on the ice during her takeoff. Her own torso and leg are “blocking” the direction of her rotation, such that she is assuming a closed body position just before takeoff.
Take note of how the foot that is placed on the ice is on an outside edge. If a skater uses an inside edge instead, they will be penalized for incorrect technique. Skaters who make this mistake often switch to the inside edge at the very last second, just before takeoff.
Edge jumps
If the skater does not strike the ice with their toe pick, it’s either a Salchow, Loopor Axel. These jumps are known as Edge Jumps because the skater takes off from the edges of their blades.
The Salchow
The skater’s legs assume a “/ ” shape.
After that, the skater sweeps his right foot forward and takes off.
The Loop
The skater’s legs assume an “X” shape.
After that, the skater briefly “sits” down before launching into the jump.
The Axel
Skaters typically do a long glide backwards before this jump. This is common but not necessary.
After that, they turn their head and take off in aforward direction.
And that’s all you need to know! It also helps if you watch videos of many, many skaters, so you can practice identifying jumps with these common indicators from various camera angles. 🙂
As a challenge, try identifying all the jumps in these programs (x, x, x, x, x) and let us know if these tips were useful! (Not all the takeoffs in those videos are the typical ones, but we’re sure you’ll get the hang of it eventually if you watch enough skating). ^^;;;
• interrupt a line of thought with a sudden new one
• say ‘uh’ between words when unsure
• accidentally blend multiple words together, and may start the sentence over again
• repeat filler words such as ‘like’ ‘literally’ ‘really’ ‘anyways’ and ‘i think’
• begin and/or end sentences with phrases such as ‘eh’ and ‘you know’, and may make those phrases into question form to get another’s input
• repeat words/phrases when in an excited state
• words fizzle out upon realizing no one is listening
• repeat themselves when others don’t understand what they’re saying, as well as to get their point across
• reply nonverbally such as hand gestures, facial expressions, random noises, movement, and even silence
Excellent sticky note for dialogue writing in fiction.
All of this. I get a lot of compliments on my dialogue and this list pretty much covers what I do (but some of it, I didn’t even realize I did, lol). I highly recommend reading your dialogue aloud (or imagining it in realtime like a movie scene) to see if it feels natural, which is what I do when editing.
a character’s favorite vehicle, technology, coat, etc.
a pleasant night
hair, skin tone, clothing, etc. of a good person
undisturbed water of a lake
the case/container of something important
valued wood, furniture, art
velvet
Think to burn, to infect, to bleach vs. to enrich, to protect, to be of substance.
*slams reblog like the fist of an angry god*
the politics of light and dark are everywhere in our vocabulary…psa to writers: subvert this, reveal whiteness and lightness as sometimes artificial and violent, and darkness as healing, the unknown as natural
they get fogged up when we drink hot beverages.
they get smudged for no reason.
we will push them up using anything in our area (i.e shoulder, whatever is in my hand, scrunching my nose up so they get pushed up, etc.).
they get knocked off our faces all. the. fucking. time.
when we change clothes we either take them off or they fall off when we pull our shirts off.
we have to clean them after being in the rain.
we own multiple pairs of them, not just one lone pair for our whole lives.
most people don’t wear them in the pool, but some have extra old pairs for the pool (like me).
some people take them off during sex, that’s fine! but some people keep them on.
they don’t get squished into your face when you kiss (most of the time. at least from what i’ve experienced and i’ve got some mf big glasses).
if we look down and look back up while you talk/to peek up at something, we will just peek blindly over the top of them.
we clean them on whatever item of clothing is closest.
some of us have prescription sunglasses and some of us wear contacts when we need to wear sunglasses.
please keep some of these in mind when you write characters with glasses cause y’all who have 20/20 vision keep telling me all characters sleep in their glasses and own the same singular pair from age 6-25 and they never clean them.
( there’s this but you missed a few iconic glasses traits – “where’d I put my glasses” (is wearing them) – new glasses getting scratched on basically nothing. where’d the nick come from? we just don’t know. – forgetting you’re wearing synthetic material and just smudge the junk on your glasses around – after doing so, proceeding to hunt down any friend who is wearing a more cottony material – getting eyelashes on your glasses – stabbing yourself in the face with the arm of your glasses – “woah are you blind?” – “how many fingers am I holding up??” – walking into a warm room from the cold and suddenly being unable to see because your glasses fogged up – going outside and everything is Super Crisp 1080p – having three pairs of glasses and putting all of them at once – “aw dude you have transition lenses? lucky.” – the non-glasses scrutinising squint – taking off your glasses and suddenly you’re a different entity entirely – if you’re too good for taking off your glasses when dressing/undressing, realising you didn’t pull the collar of a shirt out enough and subjecting to your fate )
-For female characters wearing eye makeup is pretty much useless
– the reason why is because no matter what we do, the mascara will smear on our glasses
– thinking “Oh, there’s a little smudge. I’ll just clean it quickly”, then taking the glasses off and wondering how the hell you could see with what looks like three layers of dirt on them
– giving your loved one a little kiss but in the wrong angle so their nose touches your glasses
– the look™ when you’re in your bed lying on the side with your glasses on (aka the glasses are skewed)
-sleeping in glasses fucking hurts… well, not anymore, but it used too
-if you have long eyelashes, having to push your glasses down your nose so they dont constantly rub each other, then having to push them up cuz you cant see
-WHY WONT YOU STAY ON MY FACE?!?!?!
-*they tilt crooked slightly* oh wow, And… now Im falling over
-having transitions and right after walking into a building you can’t see because they’re still dark
-forgetting where you put them then having to either ask for help or judge your entire surroundings
-dont like contacts? like cosplaying? guess what! you’re blind now!
-trading glasses with other glasses wearers to see how blind your friends are
-when there’s a smudge that just. Won’t. Go. Away.
-“hey do you have lens cleaner?”
-your old glasses become your back up pair in case your current ones break
-metal and plastic frames are very different and most people have a preference
All of this omg
Oh also I forgot to mention the nOSE PAD THINGIES
I HATE THOSE WITH A BURNING PASSION
OH MY GOD SAME, I HAD A PAIR OF METAL FRAMES AND THE NOSE PAD THINGIES THAT CUSHIONED THE ACTUAL THINGS FELL OFF
THAT AMIGOS IS WHY I WEAR PLASTIC FRAMES
some long hair-specific glasses nonsense:
if you have metal frames with nose pads that’re attached with wire, you Will get your hair tangled around those wires eventually. it’s inevitable
this usually happens if i put my glasses on my head but sometimes it just… happens
you can also get hair caught in the hinges and then pull it out of your head when you try to take them off
just in general, long hair is gonna tangle around your glasses (some frames are worse than others but it’s gonna happen eventually no matter what)
if you have your hair done up super tight, it might be hard to get your glasses on, since you usually want the arms to go right next to your skin and that’s Hard bc your hair is In The Way
if you have your hair done up at all and you try to take your glasses off, you’re probably gonna pull it loose a bit around your ears. whoops
please imagine having your hair in a ponytail but having two stupid looking loops of hair sticking out the sides of your head right above your ears. that’s my life
getting your hair inside your glasses instead of outside them is the worst!! this is probably less likely to happen if you have bangs but i don’t and i keep getting hair between my glasses and my eyes and having to take off my glasses to fix em
also:
if you’re like me and you don’t care about looking dumb or buying contacts, you can just get some smaller glasses and some Big sunglasses and wear sunglasses over the glasses. fashion
if you’re like my mom you can just buy funky sunglass lenses that clip over your glasses. same concept, just slightly less ridiculous
some people (like me) who have Less Terrible eyesight don’t wear their glasses all the time – and i don’t just mean like reading glasses, i wear mine when i go out because otherwise i have to squint to make out signage, but when i’m at home i leave em off!
if you don’t wear your glasses all the time, you can and will forget to bring them with you when you might need them (or think you forgot them and panic for 5 minutes until you find them)
doing stuff with your hands as your glasses slowly slide down your nose and just… watching them go
i have on at least one occasion had someone else push my glasses back up for me bc my hands were full and i couldn’t do it myself
Getting a new pair of glasses with a stronger prescription and putting them on and WOW DID SOMEBODY TURN UP THE RESOLUTION
I CAN SEE INDIVIDUAL LEAVES ON THE TREES
THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER
Alternately, I was trying not to think about it because it’s the source of like 10% of my day-to-day stress, needing a stronger prescription than you’ve got and suffering constant headaches and eyestrain but tough, there’s no insurance to cover an update for another year, if ever.
The soul-crushing terror when your glasses try to fall off your face into for example the ocean. This is probably less true for affluent glasses-wearers and those with weak prescriptions.
— needing a strong enough RX that you literally can not afford to lose your glasses. you develop a sense for knowing where they are whenever you sleep; losing them stirs a panic and nothing else can happen until they’re found.
—not all hats (beanies and ball caps) work? they put pressure on the arms in weird ways and hurt your ears or throw the frames off-balance on your face and it’s just a hassle
—taking them off to do microscopic tasks if nearsighted
– trying to find characters to cosplay who have glasses…like…just one?
– don’t have contacts and going without your glasses for cosplay? Time to play ‘how long can I take this headache before I HAVE to put my glasses on’!
– telling yourself you’ll just take them off for pictures and forgetting EVERY TIME.
metal frames in winter… the metal get freezing cold and it hurts (I used to get a headache)
having prescription sunglasses that are weaker than your regular glasses.
also, you literally wear the sunglasses non stop you don’t take them off.
Once I was on a bus going through border control, they check your passport photo and then they look at you and the lady was just staring at me I was staring back at her for like solid 5 minutes and she did like weird motion with her hand and I was very confused wtf she wants, turns out she wanted from me to take off my sunglasses – I had to be told that by my classmates because I forgot that I am wearing them..
when you kiss in an awkward angle and part of their face end up smashed on your glasses and leaving oily stains.
OVER THE EAR HEADPHONES INSTEAD OF BUDS. Fuck you, you want to see your tv and hear the game?? You want to be on mic?? The headphones crush the glasses to your face painfully after a while. Choose.
Dancing around the room or just moving fast? Whip your head round the wrong way and watch them sail across the room. Then have a panic while you check for cracks or scratches
wupacing 