Rumours and Being Called Autistic

Recently at college there have rumours within a certain group of people I know. These rumours concerned me and my love life (which doesn't actually exist, hence why these are no more than rumours.)

Firstly, there were rumours that one of my friends liked me. I knew full well that this was not the case. We share a mutual feeling of "You're a bit of a prick but we're friends nonetheless so let's just keep you in the friendzone." This was a rumour I could cope with on it's own.

The second rumour I heard was along similar lines only with a different person who I was not (at least at the time) quite as close with. I heard this once and then later on that day, I heard it again. Only the second time it was more developed and made to sound like something that had spread more widely and the other person involved was aware of. This set me off in a panic as it made me think he had confirmed some sort of truth to this, to which there was none. However, when I confronted him on the matter, he had no idea what was going on and this was the first he had heard of it.

This first person I started hearing rumours from has started being even more annoying though. On Monday, I was in a room with him when I threw some sellotape at his water bottle. Not him, his water bottle. I hot the target but he still turned round and called me autistic because "autistic people throw things." Now, I have nothing against autistic people. I do, however, find it rather offensive both to myself and people who do suffer from autism that this be said. He then went on to tell me I have anger issues to which I thought "no shit, you just called me autistic." and then he told me I must have some form of mental illness.

I'm sorry, what!?

As if he hadn't already been offensive enough, he then told me I must have a mental illness. For all he knows, I do. I really found this offensive. As somebody who may or may not suffer anxiety/a panic disorder, depression, a sleeping disorder and has previously had an eating disorder... I found this seriously offensive.

Today, I told two mutual friends about what had happened. They told me that I shouldn't take it seriously as this guy had clearly been joking. This has only further pissed me off. I have talked to this guy and explained that I am annoyed and laid out my reasons as to why.

Lesson here: Don't call people autistic or tell them they have anger issues or a mental illness. These are serious things and it may well result in upsetting/annoying a person.

Rant over.

Pepper Spray

Seeing as it's been all over Twitter, I'm guessing you all know I'm not talking about ACTUAL pepper spray...

Yes! That guy. Sam Pepper, the infamous YouTube vlogger who has finally been called out on his sexual harassment of women. His newest 3 part video series was supposedly a social experiment to highlight the serious issue of abuse towards both men and women. However, the first video was titled a "prank" and the women who were sexually harassed, in the form of having their rear ends pinched/grabbed by the vlogger, all seemed a little too uncomfortable for what Sam said on Twitter to be:

Sam PepperVerified account‏@sampepper

and just to let anyone who is confused know, ALL PEOPLE in the video gave PRIOR CONSENT to ACTING in the experiment.

This clearly seems to have come off as a lie. What I personally don't understand is why he waited so long to say anything about it. The video "Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank" was uploaded Saturday 20th September 2014 to Sam Pepper's YouTube channel though has been removed since. On Tuesday 23rd September 2014, Sam uploaded Part Two in which he had a female friend do exactly the same to guys. However, this all seemed a little rushed, especially with Part Three: The Reveal being uploaded later that same day. This is the only video in the trilogy to have remained on YouTube. The other videos were taken down for their sexual content.













Many other YouTubers have stood up and had their say on the subject.

Hank Green and TheFineBros 

Jack Howard from OMFGIt'sJackandDean

SprinkleOfGlitter

LukeIsNotSexy

However, I think the most shocking YouTuber reactions have to be from Dottie Martin (thisbedottie) and Laci Green (sex+)

Laci Green's Tumblr post: An Open Letter To Same Pepper

Laci has also posted about threatening emails she has received from Sam, warning her not to say anything.

Mental Illness and Psychosomatic Aggravation

Anxiety and depression are possibly the most common mental illnesses and I do believe you can make them worse for yourself.

Now, I was criticised for saying: If you have anxiety, that's fine. Just don't exaggerate how bad it is. You will legitimately make it worse.

I don't think this is an unfair comment. If you overplay anxiety and pretend it's affecting an aspect of your life which it isn't, it's probably going to start affecting that aspect of your life. Other examples of similar situations can be found in the TV shows House and Sherlock. Dr House gives a patient mints instead of tablets and they magically work aka the placebo effect. In Sherlock, the great detective proves Watson's limp is psychosomatic. Now let's define psychosomatic:

psychosomatic

ˌsʌɪkə(ʊ)səˈmatɪk/

adjective

1. 1.

   (of a physical illness or other condition) caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.

   "her doctor was convinced that most of Edith's problems were psychosomatic"

   synonyms:

   (all) in the mind, psychological, irrational, stress-related, stress-induced, subjective, subconscious, unconscious "a diagnosis of psychosomatic illness should not be made lightly"

Now doesn't that sound like it might apply to mental illnesses too? "Or other condition." Because, whilst you might have a mental illness, it can be aggravated by a mental factor. In fact, one of the main issues thought to be prone to aggravation is in fact anxiety.

Let's come up with an example. I get anxious when it comes to relationships. If I stay clear of guys I like and guys who like me and anything to do with it... I'm not going to learn to deal with it. In fact, I'll probably start imagining it's worse than it realistically is. HOWEVER, if I keep working towards building up the courage to ask out a guy I like... Am I not working to overcome that one thing that makes me anxious?

Now I have been working on that and I'm not quite there yet. I've also been doing this with trampolines and I very rarely have panic attacks on them anymore. Now I'm not saying I'm going to start going to my college's trampolining club... But sure, I'll go on the one in my back garden with my brothers and not freak out. I can even do seat drops again now.

However, if you start making up situations in your mind (which lets be honest we all do sometimes) and you have anxiety... Isn't it possible you'll be having a panic or anxiety attack over nothing?

So maybe, just maybe, I have a point in saying that exaggerating a mental illness will make it worse. Now I know I've used anxiety as my main example here, but I'm sure you can apply it to depression. "School will be awful and I will get bullied." Will not help you. "Today will be better and I'm going to force a smile." Might. It's not certain. But to me, it's a risk worth taking.




I am not a health expert. 

Get it Right

I think people get me wrong when I say I'm not a feminist.

Saying I'm not a feminist, girls often confuse me for a misogynistic, homophobic, racist person (and I have actually been called this.) When in reality, I don't like some of the extremes feminism has caused and some of it's more hypocritical actions. These lead me to refuse to identify as a feminist. I'm just not one.

I do, contrary to popular belief, support equality for all... At least as far as is biologically possible. Obviously homosexual couples can't have children that belong to both of them. This is a biological inequality. Just as girls are naturally less strong than boys but more observant. Now, these gender differences don't always apply, but in most cases, this is how biology works.

So what exactly are my views?

Gay marriage is a must. In fact, lets just call it marriage, who cares who the fuck it is, lets all get stuck with one person for all eternity.

Girls in education. The kidnapping of girls just to stop them getting educated is wrong. FUCKING WRONG.

Also, who even gives a fuck anymore what your skin colour is. Black kids can be scholars and asians drop outs. Whats with the stereotypes. Yes, it's based on statistics. But from my perspective on the world, those statistics seem to be shifting.

So what encouraged me to write this after my massive break from blogging? (oops for that by the way.)

Racially motivated crimes. They're appaling.

How about Brendon Urie and all he's done for the Human Rights Campaign and gay pride yet it's got ruined somewhat by feminists saying that the directors cut was sexist because there were 2 women kissing but not 2 men. It's called girls/girls/boys and is based on man's experience of being in love with a bisexual woman. That is why.

Or how about those girls who were kidnapped from school because of a bunch of fucking pricks being afraid of women getting an education. Worse, the story seems to have dropped from the media because, apparently, we as humans in other countries don't care.

So maybe you should get it right what you say about me. 

Who To See Live: My Hitlist

All Time Low
Seen once, were amazing. Want to see again.

Panic! At The Disco
I sit on YouTube loads watching live performances. Brendon's voice is perfection.

Daughtry
My friend saw them live, apparently are good. Love their music, it's so chill. Also, Chris has a nice voice live in videos.

The Midnight Beast
Maybe not the best singers live... But they can PLAY. Also, atmosphere always looks really good.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
No idea what they're like live, just want to know what the atmosphere would be like.

Evan Taubenfeld
Acoustic. I would love to see this guy do an acoustic session. His songs are fucking brilliant.

Paramore
I have their live album. Is amazing. Want the real thing.

Patty Walters
This guy rocks.

Bring Me The Horizon
Started getting into them and would love to go to a gig because it would be fucking insane!

Ghost Town
I want a legitimate excuse to yell "DRINKS IN THE AM, FUCKS IN THE PM, TREATS ALL THE BOYS LIKE SHE DON'T NEED 'EM!" at the top of my lungs. Also, being surrounded by people doing the same... Who wouldn't want that?

Metro Station
The reformed band is so much better now. Thank fuck we got rid of Trace Cyrus.

Papa Roach
More lyrics I'd love to scream.

Rise Against
I somewhat idolise these guys but don't actually listen to them that much... Still, certainly want to see them live.

The Rubberbandits
Just for the bragging rights really.

The Vamps
So different to the rest of this list... But I would like to go to see them once. They're good live (from videos I've seen) and it's probably quite different from those previously mentioned.

Sometimes, You Have To Take The Hints

• If she refuses to hug you, she's probably not into you.
• If she refuses to wear a necklace you bought her, she's probably not into you.
• If she looks unimpressed when you buy her a necklace, she's probably not into you.
• If she ignores your texts, she's probably not into you.
• If she hangs up/rejects your calls, she's probably not into you.
• If she won't accept alcohol from you, she's probably aware you're trying to get her into bed and she's probably not into you.
• If she refuses to sit next to you, she's probably not into you.
• If she tells you who she's into, she's probably not into you.
• If she catches you staring at her breasts and slaps you, she's probably not into you.
• If she has to drag along another friend to avoid spending 10 minutes alone with you, she's probably not into you.
• If she removes you from all her social medias, she's probably not into you.
• If she tries to avoid you, she's probably not into you.
• If she doesn't buy into your bullshit sob story, she's probably not into you.
• If she says she's a lesbian, she's probably not into you.

And yet, despite doing all of the above (okay, maybe not the last one), this guy still did not take the hint that I'm not into him. On top of this, I later discovered he was talking about me behind my back to other guys. I honestly don't know why he couldn't just take the hint. This guy made me feel very uncomfortable, he was very touchy-feely and was hellbent on getting me drunk off his 70% alcohol vodka. Somehow, this guy was absolutely adamant that he would succeed in getting me to sleep with him. As if this was a one up for him like losing his virginity would raise him above all his friends.

I know, I sound very confident like "ugh, this guy was hitting on me and I wasn't into him. Like, take a hint." but he was making it blatantly obvious and EVERYONE noticed his actions and asked if we were together. Maybe it sounds harsh to say "Never in a million years." But this guy made me feel so uncomfortable.

Anyway, I shall leave with an appropriate nightcore.

Gay Rights

Gay Rights Support Cake story

It's amazing to think that this is going to court as discrimination. It's nice to see that gay rights support is really picking up. Things like this and the legalisation of gay marriage is great to see as it shows how we are growing as a society to become more accepting. However the argument that this prevents the right to religious freedom...

I'm an atheist. Or as my English teacher said, I'm a "lapsed Catholic" (he then told me I'm going to hell) so it doesn't really affect me. But lets look at the bigger picture. I have friends who are Christian, Muslim and other religions. Surely they deserve the right to their religion too?

What I don't see is why the two things need to collide. Didn't God say to love everyone equally? If so, surely that requires not discriminating against people for gender, sexual orientation, skin colour, ethnic background, class... anything! However, taking it in a different light... Doesn't loving everyone equally relate to being pansexual?

Anyway, just a short blog because writers block and ARGH! Might have a couple of blogs soon with a bit more... thought behind them. For now... Have some YouTube videos, a key staple of my blog.