#(i am a smol thing with no upperbody strength lololol)

[serenagaywaterford]

the weirdest/dumbest criticism of serena joy i’ve ever seen:

“ew she likes riesling”

OF ALL THE THINGS! 

HOW DARE SHE?!!!

see, when i say female villains (or characters) get an excessively hard time for bullshit reasons whilst male characters (good, bad, or grey) get a pass on basically everything -- THIS IS THE SHIT I’M TALKING ABOUT.

i get serena is a horrible person. she has done downright repulsive, reprehensible, arguably irredeemable shit. she is Not Good. she is possibly Pure Evil*. there are plenty of totally legitimate problems and issues people can take with her. fair play. i’m down with that discourse cos it’s the goddamn truth.

what am i totally not here for is PICKING APART WOMEN for absolutely every single little fucking thing-- WHILE giving bad men a magic wand and ignoring every shitty little thing they ALSO do.

it’s like people are going over serena with a magnifying glass looking for absolutely any dumbass fucking trivial piece of shit thing to bring her down. and you know what, i probably wouldn’t even be sensitive to this if this bullshit nitpicking extended to ANY OTHER CHARACTER. (the only other one i see criticised with nearly the same detail is june. yeah. the fucking female protagonist for all her “bad” decisions and “annoying” and “stupid” behaviour.) do i see this towards nick? hell no. nick does and says a lot of little shitty things too. but hey, at least he doesn’t drink riesling.

now, just about this particular comment.

i have seen it in multiple places. (tumblr, twitter, and i believe reddit iirc. it was almost a year ago i think). 

maybe it’s just the same fan on different sites and they really really hate serena and award-winning german wines. 

but maybe it’s not. or even if it is, maybe it’s just one example of the insane standard that female characters have to hit, whereas their male counterparts are absolved of their shitty taste in alcoholic drinks lol, amongst everything else. 

i haven’t once seen anybody complain that fred drinks his whiskey neat. how evil. doesn’t he know you need a splash of water or ice to open the flavour?? and plus. what kind of whiskey? is it whisky or scotch? like is a 15-yr speyside single malt or some shitty jameson? 

like cmon, fred! what kind of villain are you if you aren’t drinking a dalmore 45-yr old highland single malt?! fucking ridiculous!!! what an arrogant asshole!

now, as a side note, fuck you and your wine snobbery. how it relates to serena is bonkers anyway. because a person (you, whoever you are) doesn’t like riesling, apparently serena liking it is evidence that she is an Evil Bitch, Spawn of the Devil............?

???????????????

can i get serious for a second?

i am going to address this on its merits cos, well, i’m pretending this is an actual argument and not just some trivial bullshit to bring a female character down for zero reason.

riesling is a good varietal. if you can’t appreciate it, that’s on you. serena choosing a Riesling over a more pedestrian pinot grigio or sauv blanc is CLASS. it actually shows GOOD taste. and let’s be totally honest: gilead is not importing wines from europe, canada, or australia. so why not grab a wine from abroad when ya can? it’s smart thinking. california produces loads of other wines, but the only good american rieslings come from washington (and finger lakes) and let’s assume that with all the climate change, war, etc, wine in america isn’t the healthiest crop yield anymore.

bitch just wants some good fucking wine ok.

don’t believe me, wine snots?

“It has been said before, but if there is one thing that marks out a wine professional, it is a love of Riesling. While consumers will often declare a preference for a particular grape, very few outside the trade tend to pick Riesling as their favourite variety – and this is something the wine industry has found puzzling for decades.

What is it that the sommelier or wine writer adores that the consumer doesn’t – or has yet to discover? Following our Riesling Masters tasting this year, this grape’s traits could be summed up by a combination of two key aspects: it has both personality and precision.

Riesling, when made well, is instantly identifiable, bursting with aromas of lime zest, white peach, sliced apple, and fresh flowers. It may be pale to look at, but it has an intense and distinct character. And it also has a sharp edge – Riesling cuts, rather than covers the palate. It provides a tangy, taut and recognisable sensation. One wonders whether such features may be alienating consumers? Riesling may simply have too much personality and an overload of cold precision. Perhaps.”

(strangely fitting for serena, no? a little meta, isn’t it? it’s fucking brilliant to choose a riesling for serena, especially when considering her reputation in fandom as well.)

“These great wines may not be cheap, but they are certainly affordable, leading one to safely believe that Riesling offers the most accessible fine white wine experience available today.” [x]

“From its beginnings it seems the wine was the preferred elixir of German nobility, and they transported the wine with them throughout their conquests and business dealings across Europe.”

not all riesling has to be that gross overly sweet dessert-type wine. dry rieslings are fucking great ok.

but enough about that.

when are we gonna start criticizing nick for having his elbows on the table when he’s eating?!!

fred for putting sugar in his tea!?! 

commander lawrence for pouring an ale into a brandy snifter? (HOW DARE HE! beer is not armagnac!!!!)

huh?

radio silence???

no? nothing?

interesting.

if you wanna go after serena, fine. do it. she has PLENTY of shit to criticise her for. like, you could write a whole book about how awful she is. but do it for legitimate reasons and also hold the men in the universe to this unbearable standard that female characters are held to. if you wanna go full hog on serena and pick apart every tiny fucking minuscule trivial thing she does, that’s up to you. but make sure you’re doing it for everyone else as well. especially the men who are equally if not MORE evil and complicit than she is.

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[*I do not have membership in the “Serena is Pure Evil Incarnate” club, sorry. but I know some people do and whatever. that’s their opinion. we’re not here to argue about that rn]