Persephone's (Gothic) Insights

Back by (un)popular demand, here's a short review of Doom: the Dark Ages (2025); i.e., from a trans woman's perspective, but also that of a Gothic ludologist, sex worker/pornographic historian, art director, author and activist: someone raised on Doom (1993) who grew to increasingly dislike Doom Eternal (2020) as and after she came out of the closet (re: " No Girls or Trans People Allowed "). In short, "fuck id, free Palestine." But if you need more information than that , please keep reading! Note: This piece explores bigotry in games, which I've gotten back into researching now that my book series is completed . For a current example of said research, read " Karl Jobst: Still Racist (and Fash), in 2025 "; the same arguments therein also apply to id Studios and Hugo Martin, et al . Also, I recorded myself reading this review and giving additional context ahead of time; click here to see that . The shooter as we know it is tied to Capitalism an...

Volume Three/the sixth book for my book,  Sex Positivity , is officially live!  Go to my website's 1-page promo  and pick up a copy for free (it's non-profit)! While you're there, you can also learn about the other three volumes, project history and logo design. Volume Three was the final book volume in my book series, which means that Sex Positivity is now officially live in its entirety ! Note: A SFW version of the series promo is on this blog . (model and artist: Harmony Corrupted and Persephone van der Waard ) Please note, this is only the book announcement; i.e., I'll have a separate full announcement for  Sex Positivity  (and new editions uploaded for the other five books*) slated for June 1st! Until then, give Volume Three a read and share it with your friends! *Update 5/10/2025: I released the final editions for all of the book volumes today. (model and artist: Maybel & Jackie and Persephone van der Waard ) ***   Persephone van der Waard is th...

This interview is for "Hailing Hellions," a Q&A series where I interview sex workers (or ex-sex workers) who have modeled for me and my  Sex Positivity*  book project. Today's guest is Tyler and Husband ! This is the SFW version;  click here  for the SFW-version interview compendium! *The longer title being  Sex Positivity versus Sex Coercion, or Gothic Communism: Liberating Sex Work under Capitalism through Iconoclastic Art  (2023). Part of an overarching movement that connects sex positivity to what I call "Gothic (gay-anarcho) Communism,"  Sex Positivity  essentially provides a hybrid; i.e., one established between academic (Gothic, queer, game and Marxist) theories, and wherein  applied  theory towards  universal  liberation is achieved by challenging Capitalist Realism (the inability to imagine a world beyond Capitalism) at a grassroots level. To it, Gothic Communism specifically occurs through direct mutual worker act...

This page is dedicated to Persephone van der Waard's research on Karl Jobst , specifically her research document, "Hot Karl: Karl Jobst Still Racist (and Fash), in 2025; or, a Study of Fascism in the Gaming Community." It investigates Karl, himself, but also other members of said community who claim to investigate Karl's antics. We'll being doing it, here, warts and all! Note: This work ties to Persephone's Sex Positivity book series and her 2025 Metroidvania Corpus . (artist, left: Persephone van der Waard ; right [from left-to-right, top to bottom]: Billy Mitchell , LUS , RWhiteGoose , Gen-X , Smash JT , Potion Sword Run , RazörFist , Apollo Legends , and Karl Jobst) Regarding NSFW Content: This version is SFW. Apart from several images, however, both it and my NSFW website version are completely identical; i.e., the latter's contents are mostly SFW, meaning no explicit nudity except for Bay Ryan's naked body at the end, and the "BACKSTABBER...