Sometimes life at least on Tumblr can seem odd but on a sadly deactivated account there belonging to "H" aka "olderboyshortshorts" there were a few pictures by him that actually did touch me .
They were from a actual boy who I inferred went to school where longs ruled and for whatever was looking at wearing shorts instead which is something I can understand as in my era I felt the same way, sometimes getting my way for trips out and the like.
He looks great in them judging by his pictures although I'm not so keen on sports socks but hey having played the hide your stuff bit myself when I resumed wearing shorts and that around his age you use what you can.
What upset me and may of caused his first deactivation was how a person responded sexually toward him - a child- which isn't just inappropriate but against the law to wholly innocuous posts by him.
There appears to be a number of gay males who want sexual contact and relations on Tumblr with minors as a matter of course.
Our ASB/ALB world is NOT about any or all of this, he should of felt safe on Tumblr talking about how he wanted to present and he wasn't.
He was a boy who I felt proud of.
This week two of my Tumblrs have celebrated 2,600 and 1,400 entries respectively which is interest as both came about after this blog was conceived and created as a place to share interests and concerns as well as obviously to share links to this blog with as in general it has less constraints around what the host considers acceptable.
This despite attempts by me and others to establish other places to do just that remains so rather like although many do moan about Facebook few seem prepared to jump from its orbit.
One thing that comes up and is likely to with events unfolding here is discussion around politics with a small and big 'P' and attitudes around identity and gender politics and male rights.
I generally avoid any sort of Party Politics having voted for all the main English parties because not unlike a certain other person I have seen positions change radically in recent years so that what might of seemed "radical politics" a few years back is in the mainstream of the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties and even elements of Conservative policy aren't things I can agree with.
To me it is more to do with the attitude that doesn't stand up believing your country accepting such faults that may exist, perpetually wishing it was as a part of another, following different norms even if it isn't what most people want to change.
It's an attitude that thinks defending it isn't a priority or even the priority, that would sooner surrender to China, Russia or whoever than countenance defence even if no one in the right mind would ever willing choose war. War happens when politics and diplomacy fail to resolve differences while standing up for your own country. Nobody wants it but it is necessary sometimes.
It's also an attitude that buys into such notions that the narrow interest of women should come over above all especially the child-less, that would cause all overtime to stop lest it 'discriminate' against working women in careers with children, that pushes for typically two times salary to be taken from tax payers to fund child care meaning we are paying more to employ people than they are earning.
It's an attitude encourages the marginalization of males by favouring women and ethnic minorities by quotas and "positive discrimination" rather than selection on the basis of skills, qualities and abilities where men are turned down for...being men.
It's a set of attitudes that encourages women to give birth with no consideration to the many advantages of having a father around activity engaged in his children's life and playing a vital part in raising boys because feminist theory doesn't believe in gender playing any part even though studies clearly show boys thrive with the support of men in their lives.
The same theory denies the differences in boys needs, interests, strengths and weakness as much as we accept individual variance and why that should be addressed by parents, teachers and educators who instead prefer to prioritize girls learning and then regard Boys as being a problem. The wellbeing of every child matters meeting each child's own unique needs.
It's almost article of faith in liberal circles that gender and sex are the same and believing that the gender you feel regardless of any physical changes trumps the rights of those of that actual sex to the point that Tampax cannot be sold "for Women" as transgenders and NonBinaries would be excluded even if actually they do not menstruate and so they lobbied to change it and a transgender person without any so-called corrective surgery can demand to use spaces such as toilets, swimming pool facilities and single sex camps even if they still have 'male bits'.
Five years ago even saying why this wasn't acceptable would not be considered necessary today it'll get your facebook and tumblr shut down as they're so pro this and tossed out of meetings run by liberals.
It's kind of obvious like in the Nude they look...male and the reverse for those women who think they're male the same and none of us truthfully can say we'd feel comfortable in those situations especially when it involves children.
So as you can they're not party political things just traits in society I find objectionable.
This week apart from nursing an achy hip and sorting out they when and at point my footie magazines subscription kicks in as it wasn't clear, I have been thinking a bit about play.
At one time, perhaps when you were younger generally play specifically play for boys was something that you didn't think much over and responsible adults would step in if things were getting out of hand with risk of injury or actual fighting breaking out.
The accept thing was children came up with ideas for playing together perhaps using purpose built play things and adults oversaw it.
In more recent years some adults have started to see things within play that do not fit in with their personal and political with a small 'p' agendas these things from what we'd call play fighting seeing it as encourage aggression rather than as some of us would argue teaching kids to learn self control and the need to hold back.
One area that unites pacifists, left liberals and feminists is objecting to playing with toy guns- guns that do not fire bullets-and are intended for use in say role playing such as cops and robbers or reenacting things from Westerns such as Cowboys and Indians.
They seem to feel it encourages the idea of using a gun to settle arguments, play at war and see at as not being gender inclusive (although is leaving things boys alone out like actually inclusive?).
Thus it is not uncommon in playgroups, nurseries and schools to find bans on using toy guns and campaigns to persuade stores not to stock them plus celebratory child rearing sorts preaching against.
The thing actually there is plenty of evidence that shows boys do gain a lot from such play and are no more violent than their peers that do not.
What actually matters is how you play because play is social activity that has a few rules in so we all feel good and are safe while doing so.
Thus good parents and educators put more store on teaching responsibility through play so they know what not to do (and why) and as you get a bit older to judge where it is okay to play with toy guns out of doors so you don't alarm and bring unwarranted attention upon yourself.
This was all stuff I and my generation learnt while having fun with our toy guns playing in the garden and in suburban streets.
Let's have childhood back and let boys be boys.
This week as we're well into Autumn I was outside in trademark grey shorts and socks taking a few pictures.
The local trees are a little late changing colour this year but this group looked just great having spotted one of few dry moments with sunshine to capture them.
At ground level good number of leaves have already fallen and in with them were bits of branches and pine cones.
I took back in the coat pocket of my red kagooul this Horse Chestnut aka a Conker, one a a good number and the least damaged of them which we played Conkers with when I was younger.
Berries are out and these were in a hedgerow nearby where I did spot a few finches scutting about.
These leaves bring back a lot of memories as they were near my first school, the building still surviving but repurposed for light engineering as even then I always followed the seasons.
It was a little late for inclusion in last Friday's blog entry and wasn't something I would of chosen to but I received an email from WSC (When Saturday Comes) who produced Kickaround to say it was closing and that there would be no more issues.
By rights I'd of received October's which would of been issue 14 on Friday or Saturday and normally they'd of worked on for around two to three weeks.
It launched in March of last year but took a hiatus in January for a couple of months returning as Subscription only which meant I needed to make one with WSC as previously I'd bought from the Newsagents.
I did get my copy of Scouted, the Roy of the Rovers fictional reboot and had been enjoying reading Kickaround every month taking it away with me too because it covered not just the men's Premiership action but the other leagues such as the English Conference, Women's football and had found a way to write about the game that could hold boys attention while interesting girls who love the game too.
The bias was on the writing which was genuinely inclusive open to any reader without getting bogged down with gender politics and related activism plus it covered disability football very well which isn't something that normal is and indeed was missing from my actual childhood sadly.
They chose to keep way from cheap plastic tat freebies and those sticker albums that I recall from boyhood that in theory you were supposed to swap with mates but you ended up buying lots (and still had gaps!) but had things like charts to fill out and a world map, which was good for leaning Geography in a fun way.
This was issue 13, September's, sadly the last, looking forward to the start of season proper with young English Premiership players and the Women's Super League plus Faintly Athletic. the comic strip antics of a football team.
I'm looking at what alternatives there are as I don't wish for a full on 'adult' football magazine either by content (cuss words and the like) nor writing style as with my disabilities my reading ability is restricted although Kick! magazine aimed at 6-12 year olds is a good substitute.
This is more traditional boys own although it has a few girl readers and I sampled the last copy - September's - that came out about three weeks ago from my newsagent having walked down in my grey school shorts and socks this week.
The writing isn't on a par with Kickabout which was exemplary being more like a mini essay with words that do stretch your vocabulary but is more text blocks set around images more akin to a comic strip, has a comic strip in which is boys only and a number of free gifts that includes a football card game you can play plus a Premiership chart with push out figures you move across the week charting the various teams progress.
The fact it makes no concessions to gender equality in coverage of either the Women's Soccer League nor talks about girls playing puts it at odds with much of more PC inclusive children's media but I feel has its place.
It is a better fit for me personally and for boys who love their own space within the manosphere whereas perhaps there is a place for a magazine or section with a magazine aimed at girls that covers girls and women's soccer than the junior equivalents of celebrity obsessed 'OK Magazine' all froth and sickly sugary.
