Amanda Cook
@amandacook627.bsky.social
Writer, artist, cosplayer. Fiction at Apex, Etherea, Apparition Lit, Wyngraf. Poetry at The Future Fire & Kaleidotrope.
Pinned
Nobody bought any of my stories or poems this year (probably because I stopped submitting a lot of them a while ago). Anyway, here's a poem I published on my blog that will win no awards, but that still resonates with me all these months later.
acooksbooks.com/2025/02/11/a...
acooksbooks.com/2025/02/11/a...
Reposted by Amanda Cook
Every time Covid and learning loss hits the news, people act like the only factor is folk staying home and learning online, rather than… Living through a global mass death event.
November 14, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Every time Covid and learning loss hits the news, people act like the only factor is folk staying home and learning online, rather than… Living through a global mass death event.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
france notoriously didn't have an age of consent until *googles to double check*........ TWENTY TWENTY ONE?????? jesus, get your shit together france. oh and they set it at 15. so.
www.npr.org/2021/05/28/1...
www.npr.org/2021/05/28/1...
French Activists Push For Better Consent Laws
Activists in France say the lack of a clear definition of consent means few rapes are reported, and few prosecutions for the offense are successful.
www.npr.org
November 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
france notoriously didn't have an age of consent until *googles to double check*........ TWENTY TWENTY ONE?????? jesus, get your shit together france. oh and they set it at 15. so.
www.npr.org/2021/05/28/1...
www.npr.org/2021/05/28/1...
Reposted by Amanda Cook
in some cases, a child can be legally forcibly married with their parents' and then LEGALLY BARRED FROM GETTING A DIVORCE. so not only is sexual abuse *literally legal* with parental permission via marriage, but it can become ILLEGAL for a child to flee their abuser.
![Between 2000 and 2018, some 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States.[23] The vast majority of child marriages (reliable sources vary between 78% and 95%) were between a minor girl and an adult man.[23][24][25] In many cases, minors in the U.S. may be married when they are under the age of sexual consent, which varies from 16 to 18 depending on the state.[26] In some states, minors cannot legally divorce or leave their spouse, and domestic violence shelters typically do not accept minors.[27][28][29]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:id5ixjksqzvjflthg7pd45ni/bafkreiexp7j4azaaim6lg3r5lqx2bxwwcbrnb4lhtnrc3gjtgrpu76nqaq@jpeg)
November 14, 2025 at 8:56 PM
in some cases, a child can be legally forcibly married with their parents' and then LEGALLY BARRED FROM GETTING A DIVORCE. so not only is sexual abuse *literally legal* with parental permission via marriage, but it can become ILLEGAL for a child to flee their abuser.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
> either within the united states (where it sometimes is 16 instead of 18) or across the world (i.e., "it's 13 in japan!!!" although i don't think that's actually true? but is often cited by weebs) as a justification for why csa isn't actually inherently bad.
November 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
> either within the united states (where it sometimes is 16 instead of 18) or across the world (i.e., "it's 13 in japan!!!" although i don't think that's actually true? but is often cited by weebs) as a justification for why csa isn't actually inherently bad.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
so yes the "non-marriage" age of consent is 18, but realistically if a marriage contract is involved sexual contact between a child as young as 12 can in fact be totally legal--because republicans keep striking down laws banning child marriage. abuse apologists even cite variation in consent laws>
November 14, 2025 at 8:53 PM
so yes the "non-marriage" age of consent is 18, but realistically if a marriage contract is involved sexual contact between a child as young as 12 can in fact be totally legal--because republicans keep striking down laws banning child marriage. abuse apologists even cite variation in consent laws>
Reposted by Amanda Cook
> permission from a parent or judge, and... what's this, did someone make a thread about how conservatives view CSA as a matter of property rights and thus permissible with the approval of the child's "owner"?
bsky.app/profile/riot...
bsky.app/profile/riot...
when you understand that patriarchy views children as sexual property it all makes sense. there's no hypocrisy. exposure to queerness & transness threatens to "corrupt" the father's property, to "lead them astray" into self-determination, to taint their future sexual value. CSA is permissible as >
Thatcher's government did this with Section 28, banned the "promotion of homosexuality" as a danger to children, while actively protecting Jimmy Savile and who knows how many other pedophiles. It's the same damn playbook.
November 14, 2025 at 8:49 PM
> permission from a parent or judge, and... what's this, did someone make a thread about how conservatives view CSA as a matter of property rights and thus permissible with the approval of the child's "owner"?
bsky.app/profile/riot...
bsky.app/profile/riot...
Reposted by Amanda Cook
imo this kind of rhetorical slippage--describing 15 as "barely legal" when the legal age of consent is in fact 18--is a little bit of a freudian slip about where they would *prefer* the age of consent to be. also don't forget that a 15yo CAN legally *marry* an adult in most of the US, with >
Also: 15 is not "barely legal [adult]."
It is actually legally a child.
It is actually legally a child.
November 14, 2025 at 8:47 PM
imo this kind of rhetorical slippage--describing 15 as "barely legal" when the legal age of consent is in fact 18--is a little bit of a freudian slip about where they would *prefer* the age of consent to be. also don't forget that a 15yo CAN legally *marry* an adult in most of the US, with >
Reposted by Amanda Cook
Yes, homelessness is even more deadly and dangerous for children because no one protects homeless children.
I remember learning that rapists’ first victims are often whomever they think society won’t protect — homeless or a prostitute — before they move to more risky targets who may be protected by
I remember learning that rapists’ first victims are often whomever they think society won’t protect — homeless or a prostitute — before they move to more risky targets who may be protected by
November 14, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Yes, homelessness is even more deadly and dangerous for children because no one protects homeless children.
I remember learning that rapists’ first victims are often whomever they think society won’t protect — homeless or a prostitute — before they move to more risky targets who may be protected by
I remember learning that rapists’ first victims are often whomever they think society won’t protect — homeless or a prostitute — before they move to more risky targets who may be protected by
Reposted by Amanda Cook
ngl i am pretty exhausted with repeating this again and again, every single time there's another republican outed as a sex pest, another youth pastor charged with csam, etc etc etc. i really strongly wanted to just not bother this time because i'm a broken record and i'm tired. but it HAS to click.
November 14, 2025 at 5:25 AM
ngl i am pretty exhausted with repeating this again and again, every single time there's another republican outed as a sex pest, another youth pastor charged with csam, etc etc etc. i really strongly wanted to just not bother this time because i'm a broken record and i'm tired. but it HAS to click.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
sexual violence is THE patriarchal technology of oppression. wherever there is any kind of oppression--colonialism, genocide, capitalism, the state, the police--there is sexual violence as its frontline operative mechanism. the child is THE archetypal object of legitimate disciplinary violence.
November 14, 2025 at 5:07 AM
sexual violence is THE patriarchal technology of oppression. wherever there is any kind of oppression--colonialism, genocide, capitalism, the state, the police--there is sexual violence as its frontline operative mechanism. the child is THE archetypal object of legitimate disciplinary violence.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
we have GOT to stop thinking about this in terms of hypocrisy because that's not what's going on! we NEED to understand why pedo apologia is so rampant in anti-trans pseudoscience, why abuse is so rampant in the home, why child marriage is still legal across the country etc.
November 14, 2025 at 5:05 AM
we have GOT to stop thinking about this in terms of hypocrisy because that's not what's going on! we NEED to understand why pedo apologia is so rampant in anti-trans pseudoscience, why abuse is so rampant in the home, why child marriage is still legal across the country etc.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
when RWers say "grooming" they mean "threatening my patriarchal sexual authority, corrupting my property, damaging my goods." they don't actually mean anything to do with sexual abuse, which they see as perfectly permissible under the right circumstances.
November 14, 2025 at 5:02 AM
when RWers say "grooming" they mean "threatening my patriarchal sexual authority, corrupting my property, damaging my goods." they don't actually mean anything to do with sexual abuse, which they see as perfectly permissible under the right circumstances.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
> not considered to be inside any "fence" of anyone's private patriarchal property. in other words, free game, there is no violation, there is no infringement on anyone's property to claim what no one else properly owns.
November 14, 2025 at 5:01 AM
> not considered to be inside any "fence" of anyone's private patriarchal property. in other words, free game, there is no violation, there is no infringement on anyone's property to claim what no one else properly owns.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
> are frequently kicked out of the house and MADE homeless by their parents is a way of punishing "tainted, corrupted" property by throwing it away, it's lost its value and is now publicly accessible for abuse. epstein recruited homeless girls, gaetz abused a homeless girl etc--these are children >
November 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM
> are frequently kicked out of the house and MADE homeless by their parents is a way of punishing "tainted, corrupted" property by throwing it away, it's lost its value and is now publicly accessible for abuse. epstein recruited homeless girls, gaetz abused a homeless girl etc--these are children >
Reposted by Amanda Cook
> long as it is either with the blessing of the father/husband/master (ed child marriage, which republicans have long fought to protect) or done to a child who is sorted into the category of "public" instead of "private" property--homeless, racialized, etc children. the fact that queer & trans kids>
November 14, 2025 at 4:58 AM
> long as it is either with the blessing of the father/husband/master (ed child marriage, which republicans have long fought to protect) or done to a child who is sorted into the category of "public" instead of "private" property--homeless, racialized, etc children. the fact that queer & trans kids>
Reposted by Amanda Cook
when you understand that patriarchy views children as sexual property it all makes sense. there's no hypocrisy. exposure to queerness & transness threatens to "corrupt" the father's property, to "lead them astray" into self-determination, to taint their future sexual value. CSA is permissible as >
Thatcher's government did this with Section 28, banned the "promotion of homosexuality" as a danger to children, while actively protecting Jimmy Savile and who knows how many other pedophiles. It's the same damn playbook.
I cannot begin to properly articulate how upsetting it is to have had people baselessly accuse trans people of being groomers and pedophiles only for it to come out that they were deliberately doing this as part of a project to provide cover to actual groomers and pedophiles in positions of power
November 14, 2025 at 4:56 AM
when you understand that patriarchy views children as sexual property it all makes sense. there's no hypocrisy. exposure to queerness & transness threatens to "corrupt" the father's property, to "lead them astray" into self-determination, to taint their future sexual value. CSA is permissible as >
Reposted by Amanda Cook
BREAKING: College football coach John Beam from the Netflix series "Last Chance U" dies a day after being shot on campus, police say.
Suspect arrested in shooting of ‘Last Chance U’ coach John Beam, Oakland police say
The Oakland Police Department says a suspect has been arrested in the shooting of college football coach John Beam, known from Netflix's “Last Chance U.”
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 8:45 PM
BREAKING: College football coach John Beam from the Netflix series "Last Chance U" dies a day after being shot on campus, police say.
Reposted by Amanda Cook
the day after winning the Seattle mayoral race Katie Wilson is joining a Starbucks picket line and loudly boycotting
I just think she’s neat
I just think she’s neat
November 14, 2025 at 8:29 PM
the day after winning the Seattle mayoral race Katie Wilson is joining a Starbucks picket line and loudly boycotting
I just think she’s neat
I just think she’s neat
Reposted by Amanda Cook
me waking up to see that Bluesky suspended Patton Oswalt @patton.oswalt.bsky.social for saying that it’s evil to sexually assault children:
November 14, 2025 at 2:49 PM
me waking up to see that Bluesky suspended Patton Oswalt @patton.oswalt.bsky.social for saying that it’s evil to sexually assault children:
Reposted by Amanda Cook
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
me waking up to see that Bluesky suspended Patton Oswalt @patton.oswalt.bsky.social for saying that it’s evil to sexually assault children:
November 14, 2025 at 8:19 PM
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
Reposted by Amanda Cook
Thanks, Gabino! I'm hoping people will support Ink Drinkers Anonymous, the woman-owned, Black-owned indie bookstore in my hometown of Muncie, Indiana, and buy my novel THAT OCTOBER from them. They're in a sales drive!
www.inkdrinkersanonymous.com/product/that...
www.inkdrinkersanonymous.com/product/that...
November 14, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Thanks, Gabino! I'm hoping people will support Ink Drinkers Anonymous, the woman-owned, Black-owned indie bookstore in my hometown of Muncie, Indiana, and buy my novel THAT OCTOBER from them. They're in a sales drive!
www.inkdrinkersanonymous.com/product/that...
www.inkdrinkersanonymous.com/product/that...
Reposted by Amanda Cook
Idk I just think it's not ideal for like half of Americans' state attorneys general to be the worst meanest most criminal pieces of shit but here we are
"[Rokita] specifically mentioned Amani Family Services and Catholic Charities, two nonprofits assisting immigrants in finding work in the area."
"[Rokita] specifically mentioned Amani Family Services and Catholic Charities, two nonprofits assisting immigrants in finding work in the area."
Rokita targets Fort Wayne groups in labor trafficking probe
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced a new crackdown on illegal labor trafficking during a visit to Fort Wayne. He named Catholic Charities, Amani Family Services, and Amazon as organization...
www.wfft.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Idk I just think it's not ideal for like half of Americans' state attorneys general to be the worst meanest most criminal pieces of shit but here we are
"[Rokita] specifically mentioned Amani Family Services and Catholic Charities, two nonprofits assisting immigrants in finding work in the area."
"[Rokita] specifically mentioned Amani Family Services and Catholic Charities, two nonprofits assisting immigrants in finding work in the area."
Reposted by Amanda Cook
November 14, 2025 at 3:08 AM