u/ElectronicForm4935

This ask probably won’t be difficult, because these books were pretty popular when I (2005 baby) was around I would say probably 10-14 years of age, possibly earlier though. They were frequently checked out at our library, alongside books like A Series of Unfortunate Events and Mr Lemoncello’s Library. I was very entertained by these books at that age, but the problem is, I can’t remember much about them. Not all of the following memories may be correct:

I think there were 4-5 books in the series total. I believe the protagonists were a boy and a girl. One of them, or perhaps a side character, may have played the guitar. I do remember the plot involved a cabal of villains who had discovered the magic secret to eternal youth, and it had something to do with consuming children to keep their skin youthful. I believe there was a character called Cassandra. One of the covers was blue and may have had some sort of creature like a dragon. I’m pretty sure the author was a man. Unfortunately, some of these details may be mixed up with other books I enjoyed at that age, so you can leave room for some of these things to be red herrings.

As the title says, I do remember these books had interactive elements to them, similar to the Mr. Lemoncello books where you can go back once you’ve read the series and search for hidden clues. Maybe it wasn’t exactly that, but there were little details hidden throughout. One of those details were a series of written notes/letters which all tied together to one piece of lore.

The last detail I can add which I definitely do remember: the books had a pretty irreverent sense of humor. Fart jokes and the like, very targeted towards like a 12-17 year old audience. I remember being grossed out by one of the passages that was a bodily fluids joke, but I can’t remember its contents.

I would like to revisit this series to chase some of those childhood memories, even if I am no longer the target age range. Your help is greatly appreciated!

What the title says. I’m seeing way too many people uncritically repeat that lesbians commonly love “turning” straight women, that we get gratification out of “chasing” someone who doesn’t want us, that we are no better than men who fetishize us. All of this is lesbiphobia.

For over a century this has been a trope used to put us down: “They’re coming for your heterosexual daughters!” And women have gone to prison over accusations that they were abusing other women or young girls, just for existing as a lesbian. (Look up the San Antonio four as an example of this.) They see us as predators because the way we love is unnatural to them. And it’s not just quack psychologists who believe in this.

Recently (as in, the past several years increasingly) I’ve seen an uptick in this kind of rhetoric, and the worst part about this is that it often comes from people we expect to be safe with. Many of us can relate to the experience of coming out to someone we judged to be safe, only to get an uncomfortable laugh and “You better not have a crush on me, though.” There’s also the common experience of being isolated in the locker room environment because every girl in there thinks you’re going to perv on them. So many straight women don’t know how to act normally around lesbians because they’ve been primed to believe we’re obsessed with them.

The most hurtful part to me, though? Seeing other sapphics repeat this rhetoric to our faces. Recently, a bisexual woman told me very flippantly “How come lesbians refuse to date bisexuals but love chasing straight women so much? Very creepy…” and acted as if she had just made an extremely insightful point. No, you’re not a genius for recycling lesbiphobia from straight people. And it’s not just nonlesbian sapphics, I’ve also seen other lesbians act this way. “Am I really the only lesbian who isn’t obsessed with straight women?” No, no you are not. You’ve absorbed this language from nonlesbians and now erroneously believe this to be a widespread issue when it’s not and never has been.

(Standard disclaimer for that last part: where a stereotype of a marginalized group exists, there will sometimes be people who do happen to fit that stereotype. Just because we’re pushing back on the perception that this is a widespread issue doesn’t mean that lesbians who are rapists and predators do not exist, and that all of us are angels. Of course not. And if you know someone personally who fits this archetype, that doesn’t make them a representative of us. Has a lesbian ever coerced a straight woman into sex she didn’t want? Sure. Is this widespread enough to warrant this reaction? Absolutely not.)

Having made my point, I’m going to shift gears a bit for the end of this vent. Because guess what? Women are attractive, and most women are straight, so most lesbians will inevitably experience attraction to a straight woman. And many of us will feel intuitively that this attraction of ours is dirty and wrong, that even when we act respectfully, we are still perverted by nature. That is WRONG. I’m writing this because right now, there is a young woman out there who is too afraid and ashamed to put herself out there and meet new people, because she is a lesbian and lesbians are predators. If you are a lesbian and attracted to/crushing on a straight woman, you are not a bad person or a pervert. The experience of wanting your straight best friend does not make you a predator or rapist. These stereotypes were created to bring us down, and we have to reject them collectively, not simply accept the presence of a nonexistent widespread issue.

And finally, say it with me everyone: If a lesbian turned your straight girl gay, she was never straight to begin with!

What the title says. Since getting my period at 13, I’ve almost never gotten the abdominal/uterine cramps everyone talks about. According to my mom, the women in my family don’t really get them. I have other symptoms, but not those.

However, what I do get are cramps inside my vagina closer to my vulva, especially on heavy flow days, and those can range from slight soreness to painful pulsations. Yesterday at my standing job, I was struggling to stand and take orders even after Advil because the pain was so bad. Which is relatable to a lot of women, but the location of the cramps is different. I’ve described it to my friends before as feeling like someone kicked me really hard in between my legs and now I feel bruised and vulnerable. My vulva is also slightly tender to the touch and it hurts a little to insert any kind of product until it’s situated correctly where I can’t feel it anymore.

Can anyone else relate to this? I’ve tried googling these symptoms and I can’t find anything that sounds like my experience. My sex ed and period help books never prepared me for these kinds of cramps and none of my friends can relate. I just need to know I’m not alone and that this is a normal, albeit uncommon, part of having a period.