I’d first like to point out that I have less personal expirience to add to this post, but i do have a submissive person’s perspective on dominance. So- I can look at Dean’s perspective as a submissive as well. (Though Cas is dominant with anyone, really)
While dominance can often involve power, power and dominance are not the same thing. Castiel hold a lot of power, being an angel and all, but his angelic power is not the same as his dominance. (Though it does help) Just like with Dean, we have to look at body language.
Cas looks down at people instead of up at people as Dean does. Again, it’s not a huge thing to look at, but it matters. Even though both the Winchesters (and plenty of antagonists) are taller than Castiel, he doesn’t do the “I’m looking up at you for instruction” type of acknowledgement Dean does. You see the little head tilted back thing he does so he can look down on people.
(Disregard Misha’s adorable face doing that h movement at the corner of his mouth) He actually does the head tilt back a lot? But regardless he maintains eye contact which is a dominant trait. Unlike Dean “shifty eyes” Winchester like seriously.
Dean obviously can make eye contact but he easily gets shifty eyed and nervous. Usually Cas initiates the true deep eye contact.
Cas has power and confidence in a way that his glaring in someone’s direction can have SO MANY different meanings.
One of the legit best examples of Castiel’s dominant body language is this gif. Dean is not always affected by people attempting to intimidate/flirt/get in his space, but he is 100% affected by Cas being in his space. Because the stare is coming from someone with power, it has such impact. And Cas is not one to falter in his gaze, he keeps on staring. He easily asserts dominance with the way he looks at people.
Along with that, he is not afraid to lay a hand down when he’s not being listened too, especially when it involves people he loves. He has a great sense of loyalty.
Yes, Castiel rebels but it is for Dean, and for the Winchesters. He once saw the angels as his brothers and as his family, but now Dean and anyone he cares about- that’s priority. Castiel is protective. And when the person he is protecting fucks up he gets PISSED.
I do not want to turn the above moment sexual- because it is not- I’m looking at it in other terms. Castiel gives what he has and expects respect, he wants obedience.
From the beginning all he wants is respect, respect for giving so much to someone. But in the end…he’s always fighting to protect Dean or make Dean happy. He feels that keeping the Winchesters safe and happy is his job.
Being dominant in this situation makes sense. When being a dominant, one takes on a responsibility to make a submissive safe and happy. This often translates into life with Castiel.
He feels that his purpose, quite literally, is to protect Dean Winchester. Perfect Dom material. He also feels that failing Dean is one of the worst things he can do and that he must make it up to him. He protects people he cares about and feels horrible when he loses their trust.
As for…the sexual aspect of dominance we don’t have much to go off of. But what we do know is that sex is a power exchange.
So we can take power exchange into real life situations.
This is a great example. In this scene, Dean’s first reaction is a “what the fuck” but as soon as he sees Cas, as soon as Cas gives him that look that says “shut your fucking mouth and stay still” Dean is handing over his power to Cas in no time. They share this dynamic a lot, simple looks from Castiel communicating large things.
Alright, early, early gif. Cas READS people. And yeah, he’s an angel, but this is when he doesn’t know Dean, has no reason to tell him what to do. But Cas tells him he knows he wanted to stay dead, he knows he enjoyed torturing while he was in hell, he knows that Dean thinks that he is unworthy and worthless in general. He tells people what they think and what they deserve. Any more explanation needed?
This here hahaha, its a real good one. One of my favorites. Cas looks so confused that Dean is doing something for him, telling him what to do. Dean is tying his tie, Dean is explaining how things are gonna go, Dean is walking him through something and it’s fucking WEIRD. This is the power exchange in reverse and it’s weirding Cas out.
This here, invasive touch. Cas is not the best at personal space, and he certainly get told by Dean, but most of that is angel awkwardness. To get to this one we’re going to Misha. That’s right, even more meta.
Misha is where all the touchy-feely that Cas lacks is stored. Handshakes, gestures, invasive touches, that is Misha’s middle name. He’s especially touchy around his costars *cough* Jensen.
Misha is also a very caring person, the person that people can trust and look to for help when they most need it. He is very calming and gentle towards his friends as seen above. This is a moment where Jensen was struggling HARDCORE, on the verge of an anxiety attack or stress breakdown and Misha swooped in to save the day. He cares about people he has mutual trust with and that’s a very important part of being a dom.
But seriously the touching gets ridiculous. Get your hand off of Jensen’s cock you are in p u b l i c.
He even has the fucking cocky dom eyebrow to bring it all together.
Anyway we can all agree that Misha’s dominant personality is half of Cas’ dominance, but what about other characters?
Lucifer. He is power hungry, uses his power to create an illusion of dominance. He keeps Crowley on a leash, talks like he is hot shit, uses some dominant body language but he has no empathy. Misha is an amazing actor. There is a difference between playing an asshole dominant character and a genuine dominant but Misha brings his dominant body language to both.
As we near the end we can certainly see that Misha contibutes to the angel’s dom nature, but the way he’s written does as well. You take Misha body language, add Winchester passion, and angelic powers and you get a great dominant character.
A dominant character that could easily get Dean on his knees.
shitty friesians are not dream horses i repeat SHITTY FRIESIANS ARE NOT DREAM HORSES
DO NOT BREED THEM
I disagree, they are dream horses:)
They can be, but the point of my post is to discourage irresponsible breeding. They can be wonderful horses but most of them are conformational disasters with a long, flowing mane, like the one shown above.
Not to mention they have weak immune systems and die randomly.
^Is it all Friesians that are like that? There’s a lady we met at the vet who breeds Friesians and she said she’s lost a good few this year…..
I do believe so but there may be a few out there with better health, when the breed was dying out a long time ago they began inbreeding them to save the breed and it lead to several complications. They are prone to pulmonary hemorrhages, and dwarfism also isn’t uncommon. There’s a shit ton wrong with these horses. I found an article that explains a lot of it.
“Studies have found excessive laxity of tendons and ligaments in dwarf Friesians compared to other pony breeds. Normal Friesians have tendon and ligament stretch properties in between those of dwarfs and normal ponies. It has been suggested that the high-stepping gaits of the Friesian are caused by this increased laxity which affects weight-bearing in the limb joints. Thus, the collagen-linked disorders common to these horses may actually be the factor that produces their showy way of going. ”
“Another malformation seen in about 2.5 foals per 1,000 births is hydrocephalus, an abnormal and usually fatal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid within the skull. This may be related to another collagen-linked defect that allows a malformation of the jugular foramen, leading to compression of the jugular vein and disturbing fluid movement.”
“Megaesophagus, a chronic dilation of the esophagus, is directly related to the collagen abnormality found in Friesian horses. The condition is related to weak muscle tone and low contractile ability in the wall of the esophagus. Affected horses show loss of appetite, salivation, muscle wasting, mild colic, and esophageal obstruction that may lead to aspiration and pneumonia. Records of horses seen because of megaesophagus at a veterinary clinic showed that of 45 cases, 41 were in Friesians. Researchers studying the cases noted a familial predisposition among affected horses, strongly suggesting that this condition may be hereditary.”
“Weakened immune systems have been blamed for the higher occurrence of some problems that do not show up as often in other breeds. Retained placentas are reported in more than half of Friesian broodmares compared to 2 to 10% in the general equine population. Insect bite hypersensitivity is seen in twice as many Friesians as Shetland ponies in the Netherlands. This condition, which causes intense itching, skin damage, and hair loss on the mane, tail, head, and midline of the abdomen, may be so severe that affected horses may be unusable for weeks or months during the summer fly season. Treatment with antihistamines, anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and insect repellents can relieve discomfort but does not cure the condition.”
“Many Friesians suffer from chronic dermatitis that causes thickened and ulcerated skin on the pasterns. The lesions are often unresponsive to treatment. Though other draft breeds also have this problem, Friesians are overrepresented, and a genetic cause is suspected but has not been proven.”
“Rupture of the aorta is found in many breeds, but in most horses, the rupture occurs at the aortic root where the aorta leaves the heart. Affected horses spill blood into the pericardial sac, the tissue layer that surrounds the heart, and pressure rapidly compresses the heart so that it cannot continue to beat. Death usually occurs very quickly after the rupture occurs. In Friesians, however, the site of aortic rupture is almost always at the aortic arch where the artery turns to descend through the body. This unique location suggests a genetic or breed-specific factor. The tear is often fairly small and blood leaks into the tissue surrounding the aorta. Swelling produces pressure that reduces the bleeding, allowing the horse to remain stable for long periods. Examination of affected horses shows an increased resting and working heart beat, poor performance, intermittent lameness, and swelling through the chest and ventral abdomen. After some time, the rupture usually becomes larger and the horse will die. “
“In other Friesians, aortic rupture leads to an aortopulmonary fistula that allows blood to leak from the aorta to the lungs. Blood slowly accumulates from the increased flow over a period of weeks or months, and affected horses may develop a dry cough, poor performance, swelling of the chest and legs, and intermittent fever, colic, and lameness. The signs may be mistaken for other problems, especially because they often occur in young (average age of aortic rupture is four years) and otherwise healthy horses. Owners and veterinarians should be aware that, in Friesians, aortic rupture is a possible cause. These horses should be eliminated from the breeding population to help in decreasing the number of affected animals.”
So there you have it, that’s why Friesian horses are not horses you really want. But people think they are just so pretty and keep breeding them even though they probably have more issues than any other breed.
My cats understand and will obey a number of verbal commands, one of which is “go away”. I don’t use it often, but if they’re bugging me and I’m trying to work or doing something that could be dangerous for cats, I can tell them to go away, and off they go – they’ll only keep pestering me if there’s a serious problem they need me to look at.
That said, their idea of a serious problem that requires my attention is somewhat eccentric. Previous instances have included:
There was an unfamiliar car parked across the street
Their water bowl was four inches to the left of its usual position
One of them had puked on the stairs and they didn’t want to walk past it
It was raining
One of them saw a weird bug
These are all very important things that required your attention. They’re doing a good job.
Dogs really aren’t much better. I teach all my dogs the command “show me”. How it works is if the dog needs something but I’m having trouble understanding what exactly they’re trying to tell me, I say “show me” and they lead me to whatever the problem is. Usually they lead me to a real problem (like a toy that got stuck under the couch, their water bowl is empty, etc). But sometimes they want me to fix things like this-
They pulled the covers off my bed and now they want me to put the covers back
They put their ball on top of the ottoman but the ottoman won’t throw it for them
The cat is sleeping and won’t chase them
A flower fell off the potted plant
The cat is sitting in a box and they don’t like it
One of them lost their bandana
The cat won’t take the toy they’re trying to give her
The cat DID take the toy they gave her and now they want it back
like, i’m not saying that adults don’t have a place in fandom. they can and they do, and many are perfectly great people.
but if you’re an adult, say, in your mid to late 20s or older, especially if you’re in a fandom that’s filled mostly with teenagers, you do need to be careful about how you interact with young people in fandom.
you need to be careful about the content you produce or share, and if you do something that people take issue with, you need to be prepared to address that in an honest and meaningful way, instead of blocking the young people who are telling you you’ve done something wrong and going on a rant about how “it’s just fiction” and “ship and let ship” and “do whatever you want” and “i’m too old for this.”
if you’re an adult in fandom, you need to be able to recognize how the content you produce might affect young people, and honestly, you should be able to show maturity when dealing with it, because you are still an adult talking to many people who are literal children.
many of those young people will, by default, view you as a sort of authority figure based on your age alone, as that’s what they’re used to. be careful of the lessons you teach them.
Hm. Okay. Here’s the thing.
We all know who you’re talking about and which situations you’re talking about. What you really have an issue with isn’t anything to do with anyone’s age, it’s about people producing things that other people find hurtful, then not responding the way the hurt people would like them to when called out on it. That can and does happen anywhere, regardless of the ages of the people involved. It’s a separate issue that should be discussed and dealt with.
And yes, in some of those recent situations, the ages of the offenders or the offended were brought into the discussion, by both sides at different times. The age difference does complicate things, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the main issue.
You may be thinking “why do you care if I focus on age, it was a salient part of the argument for me, you’re trying to defend adults who don’t care how their words hurt children!” But here’s the thing.
You may not realize this, but in other fandoms adults have been doxxed, have been threatened, have been outed because they were creating things that someone, somewhere deemed “dangerous for minors.”
Adults who were creating things that were not meant for minors, that were openly and blatantly tagged as being NSFW, explicit, as containing triggering material. I’ve even seen people who weren’t even creating the offending material being harassed, bullied, and threatened, for daring to stand up for the people who were. Not even just online, but in person. I’ve been a victim of it myself, though not to the extent that I’ve seen many others go through.
All because a segment of the fandom decided that because certain content could be dangerous for minors, it should never, ever be posted anywhere a minor might possibly read it. Adults who do post it are responsible for every bad effect it could possibly have on anyone who reads it and are horrible people for not willingly taking on that responsibility.
I know the situations you’re talking about are different. In many of those situations, adults chose to interact with the minors who were complaining about them, and yeah, when you’re choosing to directly interact with a minor you need to tread carefully.
But once you go down the “adults in fandom are responsible for the minors in fandom” road, if lots of people start clinging to that mindset, that is where it can lead. And that is an extremely serious issue. It can literally destroy careers and ruin lives.
I am not in this or any other fandom to produce content for minors. I have asked many times for minors not to follow me; I don’t block them, but I know quite a few people who block any minor who follows them. I produce enough SFW content that I don’t mind minors being able to, say, reblog it from others on their dash, but I do not want them following me and getting explicit content directly from me, full stop. If it becomes an issue, I will start blocking people.
If you’re a minor, I’m old enough to be your mother. But I’ve got my own kid, and I’m not in fandom to babysit anyone else. When I create or reblog content, I do not and will not take the presence of minors into account when doing so. Because that is not my job.
Now, right now I’m choosing to get involved in this discussion, which will involve people much younger than me, including minors. So yeah, I’m being careful about what I say and how I say it. And I agree that any adult who willingly engages in conversation with minors needs to do the same.
But I simply can’t agree with your last two paragraphs. Those “literal children” already have parents. If their own parents aren’t monitoring what media they consume, aren’t having conversations with them about problematic messages in media, it certainly isn’t my job to do so. Period.
This is an excellent time for teens in fandom (and in general) to stop seeing every adult they come in contact with as an “authority figure” and start viewing us as human beings who are living our own lives with our own motivations, problems, desires, and inclinations that have nothing to do with them. That’s something that will serve them well in life.
How people interact with oppressed groups they aren’t a part of who complain about their representation of those oppressed groups is an entirely separate issue that is not about the age of the people on either side. Age can complicate it, especially in that it can be difficult to communicate across a generation gap when people on either side have such enormously different experiences. I think that that has caused some problems.
But any adult who is not willingly choosing to interact with a minor is not responsible for minors who consume their content, and conflating the two issues is downright dangerous.
@porcupine-girl nailed it 100% but this especially bears repeating:
This is an excellent time for teens in fandom (and in general) to stopseeing every adult they come in contact with as an “authority figure” and start viewing us as human beings who are living our own lives with our own motivations, problems, desires, and inclinations that have nothing to do with them. That’s something that will serve them well in life.
Fandom is a good way for teenagers to learn how to interact with people in different age groups as peers. Because that’s what we are, we are fandom peers posting on the same web sites and obsessing over the same shows and no one in fandom has any authority over anyone else (no matter how much some people might try to claim it). I am not your teacher, your parent, your babysitter, or anyone in any position of authority over you or anyone with a responsibility for taking care of you. Nor am I willing to take on that role. The vast majority of the billions of adults in the world fit that description. Only a very few, ones you know in real life, are responsible for you personally – and soon that number will be none as you become an adult yourself.
I block anyone with an age under 18 listed in their profile if they try to follow me – not with any animosity, I’m just not interested in interacting with kids on a fandom level. This is a completely valid option and I think it’s a wise one.
Man, thanks for that @vulgarweed and @porcupine-girl.
I don’t bother to look at profiles to block folks if they’re under 18, because they are responsible for their own Internet goings-on. It was something I could fathom at 13, it’s something they better learn to fathom. The moment you sign up for an account under your own power, you are responsible for what you do and see on that account. Did you put a checkmark in that box? That’s you. All you.
I have blocked at least one minor on this site, because I am not comfortable debating whether telling children about the possibility of asexuality is somehow bad, with an actual teenager. I’m twice their age, and I came of age in an internet culture where the first step was to cover your own ass.
By the same token, I am uncomfortable with minors following me. My blog is typically SFW, but not always. This is my space to speak frankly about my shows, ships, and things that are important to me. I won’t have that possibly ruined for me because someone/their parents decided to start a witch hunt.
PEOPLE ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT THIS DOGS MASCULINITY
HES A DOG
no you don’t understand. People freak the fuck out if you don’t enforce human gender roles on dogs. They get fucking belligerent. I work in a pet store and the number of times people have gotten LIVID with me for not just automatically assuming their dog not only required but personally wanted the most stringent enforcement of human gender norms is mindblowing.
People demand dog shampoos that smell “masculine” because “He’s a boy he doesn’t want to smell like flowers” even though he’s a dog and if he had his way he would smell like duck poop. And those shampoos exist! That’s the worst part! There’s enough demand for dog shampoo that smells like Axe body spray that they exist and they sell well.
Or the seemingly nice old lady that shouted “PINK! OBVIOUSLY! SHE’S GIRL SHE HATES OTHER COLORS!” at me when i asked what color harness she wanted for her lapdog. Even though her dog can’t actually see the color pink and does not now and will not ever give a single flying dog fart what color her harness is.
Even our pets have to deal with our gender socialization bullshit.
I work in a pet store. Can confirm. If I don’t know the sex of the dog, and say, I pick up a blue lead to show the customer it’s different uses, I’ll get “well she’s a girl, so” and I’m like? Um? I’m just showing you it’s functions, there’s like 20 different colours here you can choose from?
And my manager wants us to separate boys coats/accessories and girl coats/accessories for accessibility for the customers……. like…….?
??????? They’re dogs.
This. Is. BULLSHIT.
Also, when I worked at a grooming salon, one groomer would bring in her family’s dogs. Poms, the lot of them. They all got bows. Even the boy. He was a goddamn beautiful dog.
Customers got mad. About a boy dog wearing bows. A boy dog THAT WAS NOT THEIR DOG wearing bows. Let that sink in.
Actually just like a week ago someone got testy with me because I put my female chihuahua in a blue polo shirt and they were like “she’s a girl she looks like a boy in that” and I was just like… She’s a dog.
A was talking to a friend of mine at work once about how my friend and I had put her male dog in my dog’s dress. I had made a comment about how he didn’t like it (or clothes in general) and my guy friend at work made a comment along the lines of “well of course he didn’t like it” which started a back and forth about how the dog would know it’s a dress and that he’d know because of the frills
And it was just the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard
People do this about cats too it’s??? My cat likes wearing clothes sometimes and if I can take him to the pet store I let him pick something, and like I mean I have him on a leash and we go through the clothes aisle and he picks something up in his mouth and that’s what we get. Who cares, it’s a shirt or whatever. So he has like 3 dresses and they look cute on him, and every time I’m buying them the cashiers are like “Aw she’s so pretty what’s her name she’s gonna look so cute in this dress” and I say “Thank you! His name is Mew” and they just go ?????????????????? at me. “But he’s a boy, you can’t buy him a dress.” He’s a cat, lady, he doesn’t care he just likes wearing clothes and getting attention.
the weirdest thing about being ace is the not-actually-sexual sexual frustration. I get all fluttery about people’s faces and bodies the same way I get fluttery about great art. No I absolutely do not want to do the frickle frackle with them but it still feels like my lungs are being compressed what the fuck man
Your face is gorgeous. I want to look at it all day. I don’t know what to do with this information.
theres a new product by verzion called “hum” that allows your parents to track your car and places you go, if your parents are controlling like mine please check under your steering wheel to make sure that they havent installed this
here is what it looks like installed:
you can read more about it here, and here– this excerpt sums up what information Hum will send:
“a car’s owner will be able to get notified on their phone when the vehicle leaves a pre-determined area or drives faster than a set speed… [Hum] will enable location tracking and a driving log, which measures travel times, engine idle times, and average speeds.”
People in abusive relationships, please check your cars.
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