@Jitensha that’s a really good point! And it reminds me of fiberglass insulation, that is made of microscopic threads of glass. Touch it and it can seriously irritate the skin, making it red and itchy. A giant might itch a little afterwards if anything 
@Mrgoblinging7 I’ve thought of that - I always justify it by thinking the giant also has a cock and ball torture kink In the story I wrote of it, the giant was just too focused on the humiliation and domination of his rival to let the pain stop him. He decided afterwards, though, once the adrenaline wore off, (and my narrator stopped telling the story), that it was a one -time event.
@i-am-insane oh, dude. Cuddling would be the best. Hands down!
Being lifted in his iron-strong yet gentle hands, put on a shoulder, kept in a chest pocket. Snuggling against his ear, or just resting on his chest as we’re falling asleep, his heart beat hammering beneath me, like absolutely nothing else - as loud and as strong a vibration as a huge animal pushing against the edges of its enclosure, but as comforting and ambient as the sound of an old house settling.
His breathing, a sound like wind but with the rhythm Nd movement of a sea shore crashing.
His warmth, no heater needed for me on the coldest nights.
I write wild, sexy and evil stories on here, but the average fantasy I think of in my day to day is more about this.
@kondo I’m enough of a nature nerd to know: in my neighborhood, a bird would get her during the day. A bluejay, crow, or hawk. At night, a raccoon, or a cat.
Remember, indoor tinies have way longer lifespans. If you’re afraid of the outdoors, so is she. Don’t let her leave! A platform for them to watch the outdoors from a window is a much safer alternative.
@bigcuddlygiant oh fantastic, and this could be a funny short story. Great work!
@olo I would not be able to stay angry at him. He’d get a free place to live. 
@mrgoblinging7 There are three instinctual reactions to a threat, but people usually just learn about two. There’s fight, flight, and then there’s freeze. The time I was attacked IRL, freeze was my response. It’s a very common one.
I was thinking tho. Her reaction once he leaves: “PLEASE just put a sock on the door next time. I’ll go out!”
@kisupure I finally had time to come back to this today. And I’m so happy I got to. This is a real gem.
@kisupure Oh my goodness, this is wonderful so far. The sweetness, the descriptions, the details, I’m invested!
(Enjoying the pre-2000’s Brooklyn setting, too! My personal nostalgia is a sucker for that.)
@i-am-insane thank you for your perspective.
It’s strange, the way individual men are socialized in the private sphere by most parents and peers really is destructive and dehumanizing to them as people. The private sphere being how we get along with others and ourselves. Our relationships and emotions, that only we and our friends and family see…
But then there’s How men are traditionally seen in the public sphere, in business and politics. Men still are trusted more as business leaders and political leaders. Even today. Just imagine another woman running for president. That probably won’t happen for a while.
Traits associated with masculinity like logic and assertiveness are still positively viewed by most people for leaders, while traits associated with femininity like emotion and collaboration are still seen as negative for leaders.
No wonder so many men are so obsessed with status. Running a company or being a senator seem to be the only ways to be valued as a man. Whereas women, who are taught from birth to gain their value in the private sphere, from friends and loved ones, can just live happier lives, even if they don’t become as financially successful.
What a fucking mess. As annoyed as I get by my female body sometimes, I really feel like I dodged a bullet by not going through masculine puberty and male socialization as a kid. It looks hellish in an even worse way than what I went through as a “female”. The only way I would feel comfortable getting past a role like that would be shedding gender norms like, well, like a nonbinary person.
The straight male role looks like a collar buttoned so tight it cuts off circulation at your neck, but without the possibility of taking it off at the end of the work day. You slip for one moment, and you’re mocked and put down, even as an adult. I hope you guys can take that too-tight shirt off, one’s masculinity is one’s own to invent. Whatever you like about yourself is your positive side - traditionally masculine or not.
@i-am-insane said in Sex Objects:
@kisupure
shrug
There’s a reason it’s called toxic masculinity, after all. Men aren’t supposed to have ‘feelings’, only pride.
Oh, dear. That phrase never should have escaped the sociology courses it was invented in.
Academic rant incoming…
Sorry if I am misinterpreting your post, but it sounds like you’re saying that masculinity is called toxic by that phrase.
Toxic masculinity is supposed to be a subset of masculinity. The phrase isn’t supposed to suggest that men are toxic. It’s about how men are a victim of the patriarchy, too, just in different ways than women.
Toxic masculinity is, indeed, the traits you’re taught by the patriarchy (including by traditional culture and traditional religions) that reduce you to nothing more than status, violence, and sex. “Boys will be boys.” “Boys don’t cry.” “Suck it up.” “Stop talking about your feelings, what are you, a girl?”
That bullshit. Locker room crap. Dehumanizing to all men.
It was described by sociologists as a thing that men can get past, for their own good, and for everybody’s good, because men more in touch with their feelings, and more confident about themselves as caregivers, would make themselves much happier, and, in theory also reduce the amount of destructive interactions they would have with each other and with women.
It’s really sad that men’s rights activists nowadays are just scumbags who hate women. There was a brief moment in the '80s, around the time this phrase was invented, when men started a men’s liberation movement to try to teach each other to get over this harmful cultural programming. But then the internet came around and ruined that.
What would be an alternative masculinity? A positive masculinity? Great question. I’m sure you have ideas there.
There is a self-help group of men who focus on this a lot, called the Mankind Project. I have a friend who swears by it. There are also some mainstream authors like Michael Ian Black who explore this.
Wow, we get deep here, in the forum about science fiction fetishes.
@bigcuddlygiant You’re so great at these! Aaah, such a sweet and relatable fantasy.
@giant-keith Samhain is the more serious holiday, and it’s mostly about talking to the dead, so no, as a neopagan myself, I don’t look forward to it the way a Christian looks forward to Christmas.
I also completely love Halloween though, because I adore wearing costumes. It’s transformation in real life for a night, and unlike cosplay, it’s something an entire city is doing at once. Love the wildness, the Bacchanal. That’s Halloween, though, it’s not Samhain.
I looked forward to Christmas as a kid because my family celebrated that, but Yule is more serious than Christmas, it’s more about life coming back to the land, slowly.
What the Christians are really missing out on is Beltaine. Maypoles are fun, and that holiday is all about the screwing. There’s nothing like that on the Christian calendar. Easter is kinda close to the same time, but it doesn’t have a giant phallic symbol in the middle.
