inactivepirateblog

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This is what I was talking about earlier. This is a show in many ways about misogyny—Jack and Izzy's use of slurs especially related to women, the British Navy mistaking Stede for a woman, Chauncey's attack on Stede as a monstrosity. There is a direct line between misogyny and homophobia—how Jack can have sex with men but also be homophobic, how Izzy is more concerned about who is doing the penetrating than the fact of anyone being penetrated. Both are concerned about "men who act as women" and are obviously specifically offended by Stede and, in Izzy's case, by Lucius because they are more feminine. They are "lesser men" because they are closely allied to women, and women are lesser.

Stede is a disruption (as is Lucius—he refuses to be ashamed of himself, and this is what defeats Izzy): he is effeminate yet he has authority, he fails the tests of patriarchy yet keeps besting patriarchal characters. He challenges all those notions of patriarchy and power and strength by being unclassifiable. He offends the misogynist characters by his existence, by being a man who does not deny and even embraces the feminine within himself, and is in turn desired by the pinnacle of masculinity, Ed (whom he "ruins," according to Izzy, Jack, and Chauncey).

To them, Stede is a woman with a phallus. He's a liminal figure who can't be classified in a gender or sexual category and so is dangerous to their misogynist construction of the world, where masculinity adheres to a strict hierarchy and men like Stede are dominated by men like them. The form his queerness takes is seen as monstrosity, a perversion of the settled order of things.

Of course, Stede is a source of liberation. He asks why things are as they are, and what if they don't have to be. He upends gender and sexual norms simply by existing as himself. He cannot be anything than what he is. And that's why all the representations of patriarchy want him dead: if Stede can exist, if he can change the world around him through his existence, their power collapses.

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The piece I drew for the gorgeous Auxiliary Wardrobe Zine , which raised an amazing $1,418 for Care for Gaza 🥰💕

And you can now download both of the zines (SFW and NSFW) for free and see all of the beautiful art and fics 💕

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Loved this article by Kellie Stiles in the Northern Iowan— especially felt seen when I read this statement:

The cancellation of “Our Flag Means Death” is proof that it’s not a question about the bar being too high for diverse art, but rather the bar is constantly being moved just out of reach. When diverse and interesting art surpasses every expectation of success, the bar is shoved even higher so no level of success will ever be good enough.

Give the article a read here.

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she's got a point, you know

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love that character. would hate to go into their tag.

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It's a unique type of frustration when you agree that a character is deeply flawed but other people keep missing what's actually wrong with them and assigning them new flaws that they don't even have it's like free my man he did none of that. He did a bunch of other shit tho.

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nothing pisses me off more than when i see a fic on ao3 talking about reach. "this ship isn't here but i added them for reach" "this fandom tag isn't necessary but i'm adding it for reach" "reposting for reach" STOP IT!!!! this is not tiktok this is not twitter this is an ARCHIVE this is not how it works!!!

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The fact that we KNOW that the tv landscape is dire, we KNOW that popular series are being cancelled at the drop of a hat to make way for safe easily franchisable options that they think they can milk forever and ever (and that HBO has LITERALLY said this is their focus), we KNOW that art (and the creatives that make it happen) doesn't matter to these companies, we KNOW that these big corporations are literally evil and will randomly drop a 'hello here's the absolute worst decision you've ever seen in your life' every other week, and yet some of you STILL decided to automatically blame Taika Waititi for OFMD being cancelled rather than HBO/WB. Give your heads a wobble.

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I believe authors should be cryptic and unhelpful in the interpretation of their own work or even act like they’re dead and never comment on it ever

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Stede Bonnet's Hierachy of Needs

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chewing on this moment from this interview from Jes Tom

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I think the most realistic thing about Ed's suicidal behavior at the beginning of s2 is how much he wants to live.

Even as Ed is planning his suicide, he's longing so desperately for a life and a love he thinks he cannot have. It's not that he wants to die, necessarily, it's that he wants to live a life that is full of love and where he can feel more like himself.

And in the gravy basket? After Ed has already goaded his friends into beating him to death? Ed can STILL think of reasons he wants to live.

And they're not complex things! Warmth, good food, good sex. Ed loves the little pleasures that make every day more enjoyable. And, yeah, his mind immediately shuts him down and reminds him he doesn't think there's anyone waiting for him, but Ed is still hesitant. "I feel like I'm supposed to choose to live," he says. He's trying so hard to find reasons to stay alive.

I love so much that Ed had to be thrown off that cliff. He's fighting the whole way down. He's just committed suicide but he doesn't fucking want to die.

It's such a lovely depiction of someone coming back from suicidal ideation. All Ed needed was anything he could hold onto to give him hope that there's something worth sticking around for. And when he has something to hold onto? He grabs it so fucking tight.

And now? He knows there are plenty of people looking out for him. His days are full of warmth, good food, and orgasms. He's getting to actually plan that fantasy he was crying his eyes out about at the start of the season because he thought he could never have it. He's getting to believe he can have the life he wanted.

It's so hopeful and lovely. No one else is doing it like OFMD

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I can’t believe Zheng Yi Sao was the first woman ever… she is just such an inspiration..

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Me sittin’ here, seriously concerned for all the young kids who are gonna’ grow up in this fandom environment thinking they’re secretly evil monsters because their sex fantasies aren’t strictly pure or vanilla or because they ship something with an unhealthy dynamic. Soooooo many people must hate/be terrified of themselves.

Hey…….hey kids…….

You’re fuckin’ fine.

The human brain is weird. Sex fantasies ≠ actual desires. If you ask yourself, “would I want to act out this thing in real life” and the answer is “fuck no,” then you’re fine. Shipping is also not an indicator of what you would condone in real life. You are not secretly a monster. You are a human being. Human beings are complicated. Please calm down and treat yourself to a smoothie or something.

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I will never get over how much I love Anne and Mary. These messy drama-loving lesbians are amazing. I love that you can see, despite how their relationship is currently in a frustrating place, how well they get each other - you can literally see the second their plan to fuck with Ed and Stede clicks and they're obviously both on the exact same page.

They work as such a great parallel for Ed and Stede, because they're so obviously two people who love each other deeply and get each other so well. And it's such a great cautionary story for them because it allows Ed and Stede to see what could happen if they don't talk to each other, if they fail to build their relationship in an actual adult way (which, notably, Anne and Mary are not, despite teasing Ed and Stede for the same thing). In terms of the narrative of the season their inclusion is wonderfully thoughtful.

But most of all I love that they saw our gay disaster boys and immediately chose violence

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"The Pearl" inspired by Dulcinea del Toboso

Ed's really feeling himself after spending the morning making his boyfriend blush.

Inspired by a painting found at the V&A museum during MCM weekend.

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Uhhh sooooo NYC 80’s punk scene AU where ed used to play in bands when younger but not anymore & runs a popular venue and is totally burned out on the scene. Until a blonde weirdo wearing pastels started coming to shows there and he had to understand what is going on with this guy?? And the guy wants to learn more about this world and Ed confused but ends up having more fun than he has in ages??