#Power harassment
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Otome Prompt 2
Someone with no idea that they reincarnated into the world of an Otome game is reborn into the body of a young jester in training.
Using the jester's privilege to speak and mock people of power freely, they soundly dismantle the lovesick Capture Target's logic and behaviors as they fawn over the Heroine while neglecting their own fiancées.
#writing inspiration#writing prompt#Otome Prompt#isekai#psychronia#jester#Jester's Privilege#Power harassment
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Male self-identified ‘women’ ignore the purpose of having a women-only space,” Orita said. “The desire not to have physical men in women-only spaces is not prejudice or a discriminatory attitude, but comes from evidence-based reality.”
Japan’s longest-running rape crisis center has been declared ineligible to receive public funding following statements made by the facility’s director which were deemed by government officials to be discriminatory against males who identify as transgender.
Tokyo’s Rape Crisis Center was founded in 1983 by six women, half of whom were survivors of sexual assault. Michiko Orita, one of the founders, first confirmed the punitive measure during a meeting held last year in Mayorganized by women’s rights campaign group Save Women’s Spaces, which was primarily concerned with the potential ramifications should gender identity policies be adopted in the nation.
“There have been various attacks and obstructions against our association [Tokyo Rape Crisis Center] throughout the last year. In one specific example, the director of the Minato City Center for Gender Equality carried out a speech suppression and power harassment attack against us for more than an hour, based on criticism that not referring to ‘transgender women’ as ‘women’ is detrimental to the promotion of gender equality and diversity in the Minato Ward,” Orita said during her 2022 presentation.
Under Japanese law, “power harassment” is considered a serious charge. The legal code was updated in 2019 to address “remarks and behavior of people taking advantage of their superior positions in the workplace that exceed what is necessary and appropriate for the conduct of business, thereby harming the working environment of employees.”
It was after this altercation, Orita said, that the Rape Crisis Center (RCC) was removed from a list of projects subsidized by the government. Since that time, the RCC has received threats sent to their email address.
“There is an increase in trans-discriminatory and trans-hate labeling and suppression of speech in a situation where most citizens have no knowledge of gender identity. Currently, victims of sexual violence are the target of criticism as trans-discriminatory, and the harmful effects of this are to silence and attack women victims who are suffering from sexual harm,” Orita said last May.
The issue was again brought to light during an emergency press conference held in Tokyo on May 1 to address concerns about a proposed LGBT bill that would codify “gender identity” into law while banning “unfair discrimination” on that basis, without clearly defining either term.
“Male self-identified ‘women’ ignore the purpose of having a women-only space,” Orita said. “The desire not to have physical men in women-only spaces is not prejudice or a discriminatory attitude, but comes from evidence-based reality.”
Orita revealed that she had heard complaints from survivors of abuse, and explained that men in women’s spaces can be re-traumatizing for victims. “Two years ago, when our organization was selected by the Tokyo Metropolitan government’s Minato Ward to organize a lecture on ‘Considering Equality from the Perspective of Sexual Violence,’ a participant said, ‘A woman I know was victimized by a man dressed as a woman in the women’s bathroom. I don’t want transvestite men and trans women to go into women’s toilets.”
Orita described how the attacks against her, and her establishment more broadly, began in response to views she published in a newsletter put out by the Rape Crisis Center in 2021. In the newsletter, Orita questioned the slander directed at renowned author J.K. Rowling after she publicly threw her support behind Maya Forstater, a woman who had her employment contract terminated for questioning gender identity ideology.
“J. K. Rowling was once a victim of domestic and sexual violence, so she came to believe that people should be distinguished by their biological sex, rather than their gender identity. She said that spaces segregated on the basis of biological sex, such as women-only restrooms, public baths, domestic violence shelters, and sometimes women-only train carriages, are a necessity. It is the right of women, discriminated against from birth on the basis of the physical sex, to have a space free from male violence,” the RCC newsletter read.
Orita said that she was told her newsletter amounted to discrimination because she had referred to trans-identified males as “trans women” instead of women.
“To write ‘trans women’ is apparently ‘discrimination’ and goes to the very heart of the Minato Ward’s selection process for grant aid projects. Since then, we have continued to be excluded from the other women’s projects that have been selected [for funding] all these years.”
Orita continued: “In addition, a seven-page letter was sent by an associate professor at Hiroshima University, and a self-described ‘trans ally’ regarding the article, saying that we should apologize to all transgender people or he would launch a protest action.”
Another topic of concern addressed by the newsletter was a lawsuit being heard in the Supreme Court which has the potential to set a legal precedent allowing sex self-identification. The suit was brought forward by a man who has self-declared his sex as female and is seeking unrestricted access to women’s restrooms.
The man, whose name has not been released to the public, has not undergone any surgery and retains male genitalia. He has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder and has been taking female hormones, and began publicly presenting himself as a woman since 2010. In 2013, he filed a petition with the National Personnel Authority to remove restrictions on his use of women’s restrooms at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s (METI) office, but it was rejected.
However, in 2015, unnamed fellow employees filed a lawsuit demanding that the decision be overturned. in December 2019, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the response was illegal, citing that “it constitutes a restriction on the important legal interest of leading a social life that conforms to one’s self-identified gender.” The ruling acknowledged responsibility for compensation and ordered the payment of 1.32 million yen ($9,600 USD). The case is ongoing, and a hearing in the Supreme Court is scheduled for June 16.
“Attacks and threats were made because we wrote an article about the trial of trans woman A, who works for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, who wants to use the women’s restroom alongside his colleagues, and we have since been targeted from all sides,” Orita said in her presentation.
In the newsletter, Orita questioned how a man can feel like a woman on the inside, and stated that she objected to reducing women to external appearances, which she emphasized reinforced stereotypes, and challenged the belief that the plaintiff in the suit had a right to women’s spaces.
“The attitude of Mr. A, who concludes that there is no problem because there were complaints, is the same as when, in a male-dominated society where, if the woman does not say ‘no,’ she is thought to accept it. Mr. A does not recognize the anxieties of women, which even men can imagine, and uses the power of the court to pressure women. What does it men to be a ‘woman at heart?'”
A Twitter account belonging to the anonymous man involved in the lawsuit was discovered to have been making sexually suggestive posts. Women who oppose men entering female-only facilities drew attention to several instances where he had joked about his penis in a sexualized context.
Orita more recently discussed the issue of the RCC being denied funding during an emergency press conference held at the beginning of the month. Four organizations gathered to expressed their opposition to a proposed LGBT Discrimination Bill which includes a stipulation designating a self-declared “gender identity” as a protected characteristic.
Representatives from the Association for Gender Non-Conforming People, a group made up of those who have been diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and the Association to Protect Women’s Spaces, spoke alongside LGB activists to share their concerns about the legislation.
The meeting was assembled in response to mounting pressure from foreign powers to adopt measures enshrining the subjective term “gender identity” into law before the upcoming G-7 Summit, scheduled to begin on May 19. Concerns presented at the press conference included the expanding of women-only spaces to men, which speakers said placed women at risk of assault or harassment, and the treatment of the lesbian community by men who claim to be women.
In recent months, several representatives from both the United States and Australia have met with Japanese officials to discuss the topic of “gender equality,” particularly in how it relates to gender identity under the umbrella of the LGBT movement. The foreign influence in domestic affairs has drawn widespread criticism from Japanese citizens.
Last month, Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, Stephanie Copus Campbell, spoke with members of the national Diet to “discuss how Australia and Japan can work together to promote gender equality.” In February, Copus Campbell announced her appointment to the new role as “Australia’s lead international advocate” for “persons of diverse gender identites” in a video that was met with sharp criticism on social media.
On May 12, the U. S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, shared a video featuring fifteen foreign representatives pressuring the government of Japan to pass the LGBT bill. “When my closest friends give me the same advice, I pay attention,” he said.
Ambassadors from Argentina, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Finland, Norway, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, among others, reiterated the message that Japan ought to pass the bill ahead of the G7 summit. The majority of the speakers focused on the same-sex marriage aspect of the bill rather than the more controversial “gender identity” portion.
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sponsored the LGBT bill and is aiming to pass the legislation before the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima begins on May 19. The term “gender identity” was not included in the LDP’s initial outline of the bill, but was added due to pressure from lobbyists during revision talks in 2021.
Several lawmakers have expressed opposition to the “gender identity” aspect of the bill by pointing out how this infringes on women’s rights and privacy. However, Former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, who supports the bill, told the press that “the issue of men violating women’s rights by falsely claiming to be women is a problem that has nothing to do with the legislation.”
As previously reported by Reduxx, a Japanese trans-identified male YouTuber prompted backlash last December after boasting of using the women’s sauna at a hotel and describing seeing women naked in highly sexual terms. Nao Wasada, who also uses the name Suzanne Misaki, uploaded a video to his YouTube channelon December 5 titled “What Happened After a Former Man Took Off His Clothes and Entered the Women’s Bath.” He called the experience “paradise,” saying he was in “boob heaven,” and stated that it was not his first time entering a women’s public bath.
International rankings, including those from the World Economic Forum, consistently place Japan as one of the most unequal countries in the developed world in terms of political representation and economic opportunities for women. Sexual harassment involving groping, up-skirting, and the illicit recording of women, known as voyeur pornography, are rampant in the nation. Authorities have designated certain train carriages as women-only and placed public service announcements in response.
Reduxx attempted to contact Orita to provide comment for this article, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
By Genevieve Gluck
Genevieve is the Co-Founder of Reduxx, and the outlet's Chief Investigative Journalist with a focused interest in pornography, sexual predators, and fetish subcultures. She is the creator of the podcast Women's Voices, which features news commentary and interviews regarding women's rights.
If any ladies in Japan have more insight in this please comment.
#Japan#Tokyo’ Rape Crisis Center#Save Women’s Spaces#Power harassment#Trans identified men don’t want their working penis to be used as an excuse to keep them out of women’s spaces#Then make sexualized references to their penises on social media#Japan is listening to countries where the TQ+ have run amok and dragged women and the LGB with them
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❝Every morning, as soon as I wake up alone, the pain strikes me.❞
NAKAMURA YURIKA as HAYASHI FUYU and SUGAI YUUKA as HARUMOTO ITSUKI episode 1 of CHASER GAME W2
+ but it's all a dream because your bae is 1. living in another country and 2. she's still married:
#nakamura yurika#sugai yuuka#jp: chaser game w#chaser game w#chaser game w2#gamer chase w: power harassment boss is my ex-girlfriend#itsukifuyu#japanese gl#gl series#bibi gifs#let it be known that i will never complain about coloring gmm shows ever again#the toxic lesbians from japan are back and with a love triangle#yay...
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Let's make our boundaries clear. I'm the client and you're the subcontractor. And nothing else. Don't bring up the past into work.
Chaser Game W (2024) 1.01
#chaser game w#Chaser Game W: Power Harassment Boss is My Ex Girlfriend#Chaser Game W: Power Harassment Joshi wa Watashi no Moto Kano#chasergamewedit#jdramaedit#userdramas#jdrama#dailyasiandramas#asiandramanet#asianlgbtqdramas#asiancentral#dramasource#sugai yuuka#nakamura yurika#lextag#tobelle#tuserkinga#krystaljungs#subs: sars fansubs#mymymy#ep 1#I love themmmmmmmmmmmmmm#cant wait for these enemy exes to give me the goodiesss#messinesss is always funnnn lol#they got HISTORYYY and it def didnt end on a good note#they looked so cute in the past but cheating mannnn.. thatll ruin everythinggg#boss girliee is stilllll MAD MADD tho and its been yearsssssssssss#her feelings are still there and fresh like she is gonna be theeeee hardest client#AND EXcUSE mEE but our cheater girlieee legit had the worst bday everrrr#i woulda commited crimes if all this happened on my bday lol
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I'd like to think, in at least one modern AU, if Giordano was still associated with and manipulating Machete, Vasco would give him the public dressing down of the millennium, just a multiverse of "You never deserved the respect nor fondness my partner has ever given you, and you are an emotional leech who's only skill is traumatizing children" with a twinge of the AM rant just dropped on the man's shoulders.
.
#I think Vasco gets to exchange a few words with Giordano in the original setting actually#not publicly though just between them two#and the doesn't have a lot of nice things to say to the man#Vasco himself has had issues with authority figures#especially ones that misuse their power and status to harass people beneath them#so whereas Machete has the patience to maintain a mask of respectful professionalism when dealing with his former mentor#Vasco (who typically gets along with everyone) nearly loses his cool when put in the same room with him#answered#missoyashirou#Vaschete scenarios#sorry about the flood of asks I've been rotating the dogs in my head a lot today
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via Julianne Cerasoli
#this. everything from here on is just politics. theyre all just vying for power. Jos and Helmut and Christian & everyone in between.#people giving props to jos... lol. okay!#f1#Christian Horner#<- for the black list#tw workplace harassment
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chaser game W2: utsukushiki tennyotachi dir. sugioka tomoya (2024)
#chaser game w#chaser game w2#itsufuyu#Chaser Game W: Power Harassment Boss Is My Ex-Girlfriend#harumoto itsuki#hayashi fuyu#sugai yuuka#nakamura yurika#wlw#gl#japanese gl#JGL#lgbt series#lgbtq#asian lgbtq dramas#japanese#Chaser Game W2: Utsukushiki Tennyotachi#gl series#jdrama#film dialogue#dialogue
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somehow accidentally made an animatic(... ish.) so hey rain world downpour enjoyers come get your dubious neighborhood beverage if you want it. there's five pebbles in there.
#we draw at times!#art#animatic#sort of...?#its really more like a pmv that sometimes wants to be an animatic i guess#but that's too many words#were doing 1 or less over here#anyway uhh. actual tags. i can make those#rain world#rain world downpour#rw iterator#five pebbles#looks to the moon#big sister moon#if anyone chooses to call her that. i think its fun#no significant harassment#seven red suns#sliver of straw#i almost forgot to tag sos Whoops#then theressss the slug cats. cant forget those#rw slugcat#rw artificer#rw spearmaster#rw rivulet#rw hunter#did i already tag hunter. no were good#theres music in this one. wowzers#this is actually the first animatic ive ever done#which is pretty cool. i uh. didnt MEAN to finish it but then i kinda powered through it within... 4 days? i think#embarrassing! oh well
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Wolffe pinches Fox's shebs. Fox just whines. Alpha-17: WHOA! Fox! Do you like when Wolffe touches you like that? Fox, sulking: No... Alpha-17: Then why are you letting him do that? Fox, after thinking for a minute: ...I don't know... Alpha-17: If you don't have a good reason to let him do that, what do you think you should do? Fox doesn't even hesitate, punching Wolffe square in the nose. Wolffe, stumbling back: What the kriff, Fox!? Fox: Stop pinching me! Wolffe: Ok! Alpha-17, patting Fox on the shoulder: Glad you found your power, ad. Don't let anyone take it away again. Fox, smiling: Thank you, Seventeen'buir.
#commander fox#commander wolffe#alpha 17#[ A very important lesson about a certain type of harassment.#He felt powerless. Seventeen let him decide how to feel powerful again. ]
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I love how whenever Galadriel says something hateful about Orcs, Adar shows up and immediately ruins her day.
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Unfriendly, very pointed reminder that people are allowed to mourn the total lack of Agathario backstory in the final episodes.
The people upset about it aren’t idiots- I’m very aware the work that must’ve gone into convincing Marvel to let Agatha have a canon, explicit, visible female love interest.
Seeing this woman-led, blatantly queer show exist where the main characters are queer and that’s simply accepted without conversation? It’s made me cry- genuinely- because it something that didn’t need to happen for the story to make sense, but still did.
Agatha being a canon LESBIAN is giant for us too- it’s always easier to convince networks to give us sapphic characters if it’s reasonable they’ll end up with men. There was never a chance in hell Agatha would- now for two reasons.
This is an undeniably huge win, and I adore this show for that (along with many, many other reasons).
But I’m also disappointed that we never got to see the positive half of the history that was clearly so integral to how Agatha and Rio interacted with each other. They had something much less complex once and I’m frustrated they basically told us this and then gave nothing.
People are allowed to criticize a show they love, whether it’s “valid” or not- and they’re allowed to feel disappointment while also acknowledging that all of this was an incredibly huge step.
#agatha all along#agathario#agatha harkness#agatha x rio#rio vidal#agatha spoilers#aaa#the disappointment is both narratively and very *very* personally#and that’s also okay!#people are allowed to be upset#it might be silly but media is extremely powerful#I’m not even a huge marvel person but this show#does genuinely mean a lot#I don’t get to see myself represented very often#to see it in such a unique and refreshing way? it’s important#and#I wish I could’ve gotten more#harassing Jac and/or Kathryn and Aubrey is obviously not what I mean either so don’t test me
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ITSUKI & FUYU OUTFITS EP. 1 - 4 :: WHITE CAT GF + BLACK CAT GF
+ BONUS
#chaser game w#chaser game w: power harassment joshi wa watashi no moto kano#チェイサーゲームW パワハラ上司は私の元カノ#asianlgbtqdramas#jdramaedit#chasergamewedit#sugai yuuka#nakamura yurika#dawn.gif#I LOVE WHITE CAT BLACK CAT GFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#ill make one when the show is over of the second half bc they are beginning to wear each other's colorsss <33#i love color coding to symbolize relationship growth phew
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❝What should I wear tomorrow?❞
NAKAMURA YURIKA as HAYASHI FUYU and SUGAI YUUKA as HARUMOTO ITSUKI episode 3 of CHASER GAME W2
#nakamura yurika#sugai yuuka#jp: chaser game w#chaser game w#chaser game w2#gamer chase w: power harassment boss is my ex-girlfriend#itsukifuyu#japanese gl#gl series#bibi gifs#one of the few times we get to see color in this black and white show#gotta take the chances they give us#also itsuki i know fuyu looks good but grow a spine you're melting
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Miss Harumoto, please tell us about your love interest. Well, I… You can't answer? Since you can't answer… Just a glass won't do.
Chaser Game W (2024) 1.01
#chaser game w#Chaser Game W Power Harassment Boss is My Ex Girlfriend#chaser game#chasergamewedit#jdramaedit#userdramas#jdrama#asiandramanet#dailyasiandramas#dramasource#asianlgbtqdramas#sugai yuuka#nakamura yurika#lextag#tobelle#krystaljungs#subs: sars-fansubs#mymymy#ep 1#EXESSSSSSSSS AND AND TEHY GOTTA WORK TOGETHER#LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO#and one 'cheated' SO ITS EXTRA DELICIOUSNESSSSSS#ohhhh goodnessssss i enjoyed this first ep and this endddd#my mouth dropped open like wowwwwww girliee is stillll hurt and just Ruthlesssss#she really poured that whole bottle on her head yoooooooooooooo not coool#her lil 'you gotta accpt the drink from the client.. remember this' girlllllllll we would be brawling on the floor right there FK that job#girliee shocked me tho she is not that weak like nawwww she wasnt gonna take that. SLAPPPP#the way she turned back.... looooook call me a freak but they shoulda just made out right there in front of everyone#relieve all that anger and tension uh huh problem solved#...well not really tho cause we got a husband and child in this mix so this about to be a wholeeee MESSSSSSSSSS
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Episode one of Chaser Game, and these two got beef.
Like beef beef.
Expensive-ass-steak beef.
They did this in front of God and all their coworkers.
They did not give one fuck!
And this was AFTER they kissed!
They were in love!
Like gay rainbows love.
But this one is hella pissed now!
AND MARRIED WITH A KID!
It's color coded in the present.
So even though we are getting shots of the past.
I think we are also getting some of the future.
I love when I have to go sail the high seas as a pirate to get good stuff like this.
Let's see how long it takes me to find next week!
#chaser game w#chaser game#my power harassment boss is my ex girlfriend#Chaser Game W: Power Harassment Joshi wa Watashi no Moto Kano#japanese gl#gl series#color coded girls in love#color coded people in love#the colors mean things#I think
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Why do we still have in 2024 stupid takes like Rhea created and enforces the crest system?
Bcs Rhea BaD anon.
More seriously,
FE Fodlan is one of one of the most divorced FE verses from its fantasy elements (see : Nabateans being as important as Ignatz's leather shoes) : Tellius has the Laguz existing, Archanea/Ylisse has manaketes hanging around and being a core point in FE Archanea, Elibe has its entire history involving dragons and the best ending finally be about acceptance between the two races, Magvel has zombies, Valentia has terrors and in SoV we have dragons and magic dragon blood, Fates has dragons (and laguz-like!) and even Jugdral have people with magic dragon blood.
(i ranted and ranted and ranted under the cut, so it's a bit long)
Unlike Fodlan, Jugdral's "people with magic dragon blood" are a key element to the story told at large, and it bleeds through the mechanics used to tell that story. FE4 wise, toddler!Seliph has a S rank in swords when Beowulf, even if he trains his entire life, will never achieve A rank in swords. Base!Julia with her holy weapon can smack Loptyr, when max!invested (at least lore wise) Forseti!Ced will never be able to kill him.
It's unfair for Beo and Ced, but that is how the verse works because, in that verse, some people are mc guffins or "the only ones" who are able to do something, or even, straight out, stronger/have more talent than others.
In traditional fantasy settings we have the "same" sort of rules, you have elves who do X and Y, humans won't can't, dwarves who can't either but they can do W, orc who can do J, etc etc.
Even for all of the "deconstruction of the genre!" gimmick ASOIAF has, according to some people, Dany is fire-proof and Jon most likely survives after being assassinated because he is a Stark and can use his doggo as a back up save, both things Edmure Tully will never be able to achieve.
Tolkien has Numenoreans being straight up blessed by the Valar/stronger/longer lived/etc etc than middle-earth humans, on top of also having elves, dwarves and ents.
Ergo : power inbalance is baked in the fantasy genre.
And yet, the writers often manage to tell some version of "the ones who have less power are no less important", like with Tolkien, it's a bunch of hobbits who manage to take down the greatest "evil" of their era, or some message like "having more power/being more important means you are bound to help the ones who have none" thingie.
In Fodlan, the "beings who have more power" than humans are the Nabateans (+ Sothis herself!). Sothis can create life, her daughter - through unknown means - can create artifical beings, one her children can control weather (the one who was turned in a milkshake for Charon!), one of them has monstruous strength (the one turned in a milkshake for Blaiddyd), one of them could communicate with animals (Timotheos iirc - if we assume he was a Nabatean or got his powers from his crest), her granddaughter can set up an AOE to heal what would otherwise be fatal wounds (it's heavily implied this is what Flayn did when she overused her power and went comatose) etc etc.
This is the original power inbalance in Fodlan.
Then some humans "stole" this power from Nabateans, and got a share of it themselves, which is what is later called "crest" : aka, some humans got a part of the super/magic powers that Nabateans originally had and thus, because, for all intents and purposes, "super-humans".
Now, Fodlan discourse started with FE16 being released in 2019, not that long after GoT's ending - which was trash - and in an era where fandom turned from "harmless fun" to "something that looks like activism and earns you point if you manage to use it to express your real life opinions".
In 2019, after Dumb and Dumber tanked GoT and removed most of ASOIAF fantasy parts to deliver "sex that sells" with a moldy plot, some part of the fandom started to conflate and harass people over what they like, and how it, apparently, reflected on their real life opinions ("if you hate this female character it means you hate women!"/"if you think X becoming king is a good ending, you don't value democracy!").
So, we have this fantasy setting with its inherent power inbalance... that quickly became something that is/was unacceptable, because IRL, power inbalance is based on bullshit and something everyone decries - so if your beloved media reflects on what you like IRL, you can't like a setting with an objective power inbalance, even if is justified by magic which doesn't exist irl like shooting eyebeams or some people being more "special than others" who can live up to 1500 years old.
Fodlan's power inbalance, for some parts of the fandom 2019, cannot be justified by traditional fantasy settings so, those settings/fantasy elements are straight out ignored.
Thus the "crests"' magic effects/powers are ignored, and dumbed down to, roughly, what a middle school student would think "nobility" is/was in the Middle Ages/Renaissance.
Jean-François Marie Pierre de Bourbon isn't inherently better at smashing things with a sword than Bob, or at healing than Roger, any "advantage" Jean-François Marie Pierre de Bourbon has over them is, maybe, that he started training earlier.
In Fodlan?
If Jean-François Marie Pierre de Charon has a major Charon crest, he can dance and clap in his hands to summon rain. Bob and Roger, no matter how hard they train, will never be able to do that. Jean-François Marie Pierre de Charon will thus be seen as having higher "value" or being straight up "better" than Bob or Roger, because as long as he is here, your crops will never suffer from drought.
But... we can't have that, because if you confuse fandom and real life opinions and aspirations, you cannot admit that some people in Fodlan are inherently "better" at something, only because of their blood, otherwise, what would it translate to IRL?
This is why, imo, part of the fandom (and the game sure doesn't help! Fodlan is no Jugdral and its gameplay lacks coherence regarding the in-game lore! Remember how Raphael can use a relic and only loses 10HP, when Miklan, plot wise, was turned in a demonic beast?) that loves this take, arguably, reduces crests to a title and family name.
Why should the Bourbon family rule over us, when they're no better than Roger or Bob? Isn't it unfair the Bourbons are still valued nowadays when the only thing to their fame is their name, and not what they are actually doing?
The game plays coy about crests - we know each of them has a specific power - but it never reveals what are those powers (lore wise!) save for 2 of them. So are crests superpowers, or just a family name with a particle, or both? Is the "system" (a friend made a post debunking any idea of "systemic" application of this notion in the three countries) based on bullshit, or on, objective superpowers?
Dimitri tries to tackle the issue, but only around relic usage : the Gautiers are valued if they have a crest because they can use their superweapon to protect the border. But what about valuing House Charon's ability to bring rain and guarantee good harvests? What is the other superpower tied to the crest of Gautier that isn't "use a femur and wreck havoc with it"?
If Marianne's ability to talk to animals is tied to her crest, why isn't it more developed? Instead of having useless shit like talking and befriending horses like a Disney princess, we could have Maurice-blooded people be masters of counter-intelligence, imagine if they can talk to birds/rodents and ask them to scout various areas or spy/ask them what they saw ! Hell, we could have had a situation where in a fog of war map, where Marianne, if, idk, through Billy fed enough animals in the monastery, would have a better field of vision than anyone else, with some blurb/one-line about her relying on the animals around to know and see what is going on! Alas, it wasn't meant to be.
FE16 eludes the question, because the character who "questions" a world centered around "crests" is the marketable asset of the game, and cannot be challenged in any meaningful capacity v- she feels it's unfair that her crest seemingly dictate her life, and only in the gacha game with ery serious writing like the Heavy Plate Corps or Sniddies, does she get a modicum of self-reflection - or at least someone challenging her - where she is told that she could use the superpowers she has to help people instead of blaming the world for getting one.
In a traditional FE setting, where some Lords question why they were born with power/or are in powerful positions, the answer is always that no matter what they were born with (or without in Leif's case!) what is more important is what they decide to do with that power. Elincia never wanted to become Queen? She will still fight and protect Crimea and its people. Marth is the last hope of Altea, even if it means leaving Elice behind. Seliph doesn't want to fight in Thracia anymore or feels like he's a fraud? He can turn tail and return home, while the world around him falls apart. Leif also feels like a fraud because he doesn't have superpowers like his cousin? Does that mean he should turn his thumbs and watch as his people are being caught/enslaved/sacrificed?
In Fodlan you have no reflection like this : Linhardt is, imo, the best example.
Dude hates blood and has a crest (aka magic powers) geared towards healing, you could make a case that for someone who has hematophobia, being a healer is difficult and this would be the reason why he refuses to heal/use his powers to help people around him... but no. Lin's laziness is played for laughs, and his refusal to do anything not related to his topic of interest is never questioned/analysed under the angle of, say, a head nurse who has no crest and laments that she couldn't save everyone who was hurt during an assault, who snaps at him for having the "gift" he has and not using it for the sake of people around him.
"What Lin decides to do with his power?" : Well, nothing.
Instead we have a reflection on his bright mind going to waste if he lazes all day long, culminating in his Supreme support where an Imperial facility is created specifically to cater to his tastes, that will enable him to research crests as much as he wants...
But still, nothing about his innate "healing" power!
In the end, it's no surprise that part of the fandom latched on that "crest = nobility title" because the Fodlan verse refuses to develop anything about its fantasy elements (hell, iirc Nopes swaps "crests" for "blood" and "titles" in its Supreme route ?).
"Sure, but where does Rhea fit in this nonsense?"
Rhea is, in this vision, the ultimate target !
For all of the "I ignore fantasy elements", Rhea is always (in FE16 at least!) turning into a dragon : no matter how hard you want to ignore fantasy, she's here to remind you tht, in this verse, dragons exist.
But most importantly, as Fodlan must be analysed through an IRL lens otherwise modern fandom cannot engage with it, Rhea, by virtue of being the lady in charge of a religious organisation called "Church", is also seen through a lens : Rhea BaD bcs Religion BaD and Catholic Church BaD.
FWIW, thanks to the five years of discourse we had, I learnt more about cultural values and differences existings between, here and the rest of the world - especially a place that is overepresented on fandom spaces - on organised religions especially the catholic church. Of course this bled on fandom takes and analysis, which projected some users' irl bias against the Catholic Church on the fandom organisation and entity that is the Church of Seiros. Combine this with secularism being now weaponised and used to ridicule people in spaces like r/atheism and you have a perfect recipe for "Religion BaD = Catholic Church BaD = fictional organised religion with a catholic flair BaD".
Granted, given how a certain loLcalisation team also originates from this place, it's no surprise that some "creative liberties" they took tried to hammer even more, let it be in the script or the fucking "what is this game about?" page on their website, how this fictional organisation is basically a squenix trope of "evil cult manipulating everything in the shadows and sekritly controlling the world".
Besides, the main heroine of the game (even if that comes with a twist!) opposes this faction (CoS and especially its leader!) and, by the way those games are built, as seen earlier, they cannot disavow her too much, else the entire gut-punch the devs were gunning for (you are betrayed by your beloved character! But unlike what happens in Baten Kaitos, you only are attached to her because she is your avatar's simp) will fall apart. So she must be, somehow, right and not motivated by more personal and heinous reasons, like not accepting "non-humans" to have powers over humans, or thinking the world is not a place for them (this was carefully scrubbed out in Nopes, btw!).
If Supreme Leader, who we are supposed to root for and whom the game ultimately rewards because "reforms" happen in the endings, says that the CoS is the reason why humans value superpowers, she must be right, or at least, not completely wrong???
Which raises the final point on this topic : FE16 came in 2019, which was election year in the US, and we all know that election time in the US means the rest of the world is also affected, even if the rest of the world, well, isn't the US. As I mentionned, the US is over-represented in fandom spaces, and fandom is far from being a safehaven from all the mayhem and passion that always boil during election time and its immediate following.
Coupled with the "my fandom faves define my real life opinions" thingie I already wrote about, and we had an explosive cocktail for bad takes, needless aggressivity, ridiculing people with dissident opinions because they are seen as "wrong", etc etc. And let it be something trendy or not, especially when (young?) people are arguing about "politics" in online spaces, but it always boils down to gross simplification of various complex issues and/or using catchphrases or "shock-value" words to win over whoever is reading/listening.
(et je ne dis pas ça parce que certains de nos politiques font des "immigrés clandestins ou pas" la source de tous les maux, ou le fait que nos députés font la même chose en ce moment, Jonluk et Marine main dans la main, pour paralyser l'Etat afin de pousser Manu à la démission et éviter la case prison pour Marine)
I always thought the "CEO of racism" was a meme, but through Fodlan discourse, I started to wonder if it was something started seriously by someone who really thought that "racism" is caused by one person.
And we finally get to the point : somehow, somewhat, Rhea is supposed to be responsible for people/humans valuing superpowers.
Forget that the same "quest to obtain those superpowers" led to the extermination of her kin, or how the devs themselves explained that people - at least in their setting - always want more power :
As a result, what would happen to humans who gained power... they would want even more power, and find a dragon much stronger to beat in order to collect materials forcefully, in order to make even more powerful weapons... and so that was the cycle that was born. And that was the birth of Fodlan's Ten Elites
Wait, kill that, those superpowers don't exist since the game and the characters (bar Catherine, but I agree with @9thwither here, Cat is one of the most overlooked characters in this fandom!) never talk about them, so they don't exist...
Rhea is thus the reason why people value bloodlines - especially since those bloodlines don't come out with superpowers.
It sounds better and closer to what you could "hear" irl, from someone who's discoursing on the internet to explain "why" some people are more valued than other, it's because of religion and the Pope! It cannot be because of, well, human greed or just the need to have more power (for good or wrong reasons), no.
"But random, the Church most likely promotes a "divine right to rule" doctrine and let the 10 Elites' families rule over their clans in Faerghus thus gain nobility!"
Sure, but everything is moot if you consider this : to make this take viable, we ignore the game and consider that crests are just bloodlines, and not, objective sources of superpowers.
So why are we, discussing about this hypothesis/theory, even arguing about what the game says and/or does?
Bob Blaiddyd can kill a giant lion/wolf with his fists at base level, is it because of a supposed doctrine that people rally and want to be in Bob's graces, or because Bob has the power to protect them all? Karen Charon can summon rain, are people siding with her because Rhea told them to, or because Karen can make crops grow?
In conclusion : why people are still, in 2024, sprouting those takes?
1- Because they refuse to engage with the game and realise that it is a fantasy game belonging to a very specific genre
2- Because fandom opinions reflect on your real life opinions and likes : so they must find a reason to oppose what their perceive as an unacceptable power inbalance otherwise it means that they support the various inequalities that exist IRL
3- Because Religion BaD and bar the "projected takes from transposing feelings about an IRL church on a fantasy one" more and more people tend to prefer an "easy to proceed" solution than think about multi-causal issues and find solutions that might not.
Of course, I can already guess that some people might argue that they don't "refuse to engage with the game" since this take is more a less a condensed version of the Supreme spiel, and as developed above, the game does - willingly - a shit job at demonstrating that her spiel is nonsense (they had to add the "greed" part in an interview released after the game and its only and final DLC!), just like her sockpuppet who supposedly learns how misguided he was in certain routes... only to end with the same ice cream, albeit with a different topping.
However, Dimitri and Sylvain mention how crestless children are disowned in Faerghus... when Dimitri's own uncle is ruling over a domain himself, Ingrid's brothers exist in the background and Gustave is still Baron Dominic's brother, on top of having been the royal master at arms for at least, depending on the route, 3 generations of Faerghan kings.
In a game where Dorothea can blame the Goddess for fighting in a war her bestie started - without anyone pointing this out - it's obvious this verse has unreliable narrators, but after 5 years and having played all routes in both games + a DLC + a dev interview explaining how and why some humans acquired crests...
Tl;Dr :
Reason 1- is most likely the most prevalent why this take exists anon, "because some people refuse to engage with the game" with the added topping of "save for what Supreme Leader and her sockpuppet say that I can use to demonise the characters I don't like".
#anon#replies#fandom woes#trying to sum up the reasons of why the 5 years of discourse happened is... complex lol#this takes encompasses everything#Fodlan and some parts of the fandom's refusal to engage with Nabateans aka the fantasy part of the game#treating crests like a glorified family name or worse a hereditry proof#takes only being meant as gotchas against fellow fans and deriding them for being 'wrong' to the point of harassment#sure the game is as consistent as a marshmallow#but the refusal over 5 long years to engage with what you can chew out from this marshmallow is just#what is even the point of any discussion?#sure lolcalisers lolcalised a lot making some muddled messages even more muddled but#explaining that people value super-powers because someone told them to? Instead of just#people loving Superman because he can protect them and do nifty things?#never underestimate the influence of Church BaD in this fandom anon or in online spaces#not saying we don't have our own edgy r/atheist people here but this is basically taking it to another level#and let's not forget the “my fave is better than yours because he can solve poverty in 2 easy steps” nonsense#and it's fightening how sometimes this can apply to both fandom or real life#'you can cure greed racism and xenophobia by killing this one person'#remember the “CoS is BaD because it instaured a CASTE system????”#top ten of the takes in those fives years lol it wins the “i'm using words i don't know” trophy#Imagine a situation where we could have had Lin refusing to go to the warfront because of his hematophobia#and his superior either Supreme Leader or maybe Billy themselves telling them it's okay to stay behind if they don't want to participate#as long as he doesn't have any regrets if some of his allies who don't return might have been saved by his powers#sure it's assholish but it looks like what F!Lewyn told Seliph#Much like Elincia who breaks down saying she never wanted to be queen#sure she never wanted but now she's there what is she going to do?#blame her father for having been the king ?#FE16
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