#TW: Antisemitism

[galaxymagitech]

Just bear with me a bit…

Apparently my youngest brother is now known as “the Jewish kid” in his Boy Scout troop. Which is funny, because our family is more Christian than Jewish and his own beliefs are probably pagan, but…

After said little brother asked a bunch of questions to the chaplain—including why an omnipotent, omniscient, good deity would create wars and how Pandora’s Box relates to the story of Adam and Eve—the chaplain asked who celebrates Hanukkah.

And he was the only one who raised his hand. Because we…do celebrate Hanukkah. Normally only when my Dad’s not present, and normally only one or two nights, but we do technically do a Hanukkah celebration. So, he was told to get up in front of everyone and explain to everyone what the story behind the menorah is.

So now he’s known as the Jewish kid and the one who asks weird questions.

My brother took it all in stride, but I’m just reminded of this one conversation I had with my mom about why she converted (to Christianity) and she mentioned how she was “the Jewish kid” in her school and was always forced to come up to the front of the class to explain Hanukkah. And she hated it. She was bullied, and she didn’t want to be the Jewish kid.

So now we’ve come full circle, and my youngest brother is now “the Jewish kid.” And according to my mom, he just liked explaining something to his friends. He wasn’t upset at being singled out or anything. But I just can’t help but be worried about how this was the very thing my mom was afraid of, and I just—

I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be fine. Probably it’ll be fine. I’m happy that he was comfortable just going up in front of all the Boy Scouts in our area and telling the story of Hanukkah. I’m hopeful that it means he can feel accepted in the way my mother wasn’t. But I’m also worried for him and sad that my mother couldn’t do that.

I have way more emotions about this than I thought I would when my mom texted me this story.

[princesssarisa]

The hiatus is over: I've finally restarted my read-through of Heidi Anne Heiner's Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the World. Having finished all the Sleeping Beauty tales, I'm ready to start on the different versions of Snow White.

*Of course the place to start is with the classic German tale of Snow White (Schneewittchen) by the Brothers Grimm. I won't summarize that tale, because I think we all know it very well. But Heiner includes not only the familiar tale in her book, but the Grimms' notes on other German variants that they collected. There are also some notable differences between the version found in the original 1812 edition of the Grimms' Children's and Household Tales and the "standard" version from the final 1857 edition of their collection.

**In the Grimms' first edition of 1812, the wicked queen is Snow White's own mother. She's the queen who wishes for a child as white as snow, red as blood, and black as ebony at the beginning, only to bitterly regret her wish when Snow White grows to be more beautiful than she is. Only in later editions, to make the story more "moral" and more family-friendly, did the Grimms change the beginning so that Snow White's real mother dies and the wicked queen is a stepmother. Critics have sometimes argued that this change robs the story of its power; that at heart, the tale is about motherhood, and the envy that all mothers feel as their daughters blossom into young womanhood while they themselves age. I don't necessarily agree, however. As the Grimms noted themselves, there are other versions of the tale that predate theirs where the villainess is a stepmother, or where she has some other connection to the heroine. I'd say that the tale is more inherently about competition between women in general, and especially between older women and younger women, than it is between mothers and daughters, per se.

**Another difference between the first edition and later ones is how the piece of poisoned apple is dislodged from Snow White's throat. The 1812 edition has the prince take Snow White's glass coffin back to his castle and insist on having it near him always. One of the servants forced to carry it finally becomes so annoyed by the task that he opens the coffin and hits Snow White on the back: this is what shakes loose the piece of apple and revives her. In later editions, of course, this is softened to the servants accidentally stumbling as they start to carry the coffin away from the mountainside.

**In some oral versions, instead of sewing and pricking her finger with the needle, Snow White's mother peels an apple at the beginning and cuts her finger with the knife, like the mother in The Juniper Tree. This would be an interesting foreshadowing of Snow White's near-doom by apple later in the story.

**In another variant, a count and countess are riding in their carriage in winter, when they see three piles of snow, three pits of blood, and three ravens. The count wishes for "a girl" (it's not clear if he means a daughter or a lover) with skin white as snow, cheeks red as blood, and hair black as a raven. Soon afterward, they come across a young homeless girl who fits this description. The count takes her in and loves her (again, it's not clear if he loves her as an adopted daughter or a mistress), but his wife is jealous and resolves to be rid of her. From there, the story continues more-or-less like the Grimms' tale.

**In several oral versions, including the one above, there is no huntsman character. Instead, the queen or countess takes Snow White riding into the forest, makes an excuse for Snow White to get out of the carriage (e.g. to fetch a dropped glove or to pick flowers), then drives away, abandoning her.

**In one version, the dwarfs don't place the "dead" Snow White in a glass coffin, but are about to cremate her on a pyre when the prince fortunately happens along.

**In another version, the queen is Snow White's stepmother, has three daughters of her own, and hates Snow White for their sake. So she sends Snow White to a cave where, unbeknownst to the girl, there live seven woman-hating dwarfs who kill every maiden who comes across them. But when the dwarfs see Snow White, her entrancing beauty makes them not only spare her life, but take her in. Also in this version, the queen's magical source of information isn't a mirror, but a talking dog named Mirror. Nor does she disguise herself in her three attempts to kill Snow White, but comes to the dwarfs' cave as herself, lying that her own daughters were kidnapped by robbers and that she now wants to embrace Snow White as her child. Each time, Snow White is moved by her pleas to trust her.

*After the Grimms' overview of all the oral German variants they found, Heiner shares a German literary version of the tale that predates the Grimms' collection: Richilda by Johann Karl August Musäus, which was published in 1782.

**Richilda is the wicked queen figure, although she's not a queen, but the Countess of Brabant. Despite her villainy, she's presented as the story's protagonist: the story begins with her birth, which occurs after her mother's barrenness is cured by advice from Saint Albertus Magnus (a real medieval German bishop, scientist, and philosopher who was canonized by the Catholic Church). St. Albertus uses his mystical and scientific skills to create a magic mirror as a gift for the baby, which when she grows up will show her visions of anything she requests to see. Of course the primary thing the mirror shows her is that she is the most beautiful maiden in all of Brabant.

**Countless suitors compete and die for Richilda's hand, until finally her governess convinces her to choose a husband. Richilda consults the magic mirror and discovers the handsomest knight in Brabant... who unfortunately, is already married. But Richilda lies that she had a dream telling her that this man has been chosen by heaven as her husband, and this, combined with her renowned beauty, drives him to divorce his pregnant wife and marry her. Soon afterward, his ex-wife dies giving birth to a daughter, Blanca, whom he has raised by a governess and dwarf servants in another castle. (Presumably, Musäus took the forest-dwelling dwarfs from the oral Snow White tales and reimagined them as court dwarfs for his more "realistic" courtly version.)

*Fifteen years later, Richilda's husband dies and Richilda is eager to have suitors again. But when she consults her magic mirror to see if she's still the fairest in the land, she of course learns that she isn't: Blanca is now the fairest. She then commands her court physician, a Jew named Sambul, to make a poisoned pomegranate for her to give to Blanca. The plan apparently succeeds and Blanca dies: the grieving court dwarfs entomb her in a chapel vault, with a glass window in her coffin so they can still see her face when they visit her. But a few days later, miraculously, Blanca revives.

*At the news of this, Richilda has Sambul create poisoned soap to send to Blanca. But again, the same thing happens: she "dies," the dwarfs entomb her, but a few days later she revives again. This time – after having Sambul's beard plucked out and his ears cut off for failing her – Richilda has Sambul send Blanca a poisoned letter.

*Now we learn that Sambul isn't really the villainous antisemitic caricature he seemed to be. He's a righteous man, and though he gave into Richilda's demands out of fear (and desire for money – his portrayal isn't entirely free of antisemitism), he secretly used a temporary death-simulating potion, like those seen in certain Shakespeare plays, instead of real poison.

*Blanca doesn't revive as soon after the poisoned letter as she did the first two times, because Sambul strengthened the drug's dose. So her servants (and Richilda) think she's truly dead. But one day, a young knight named Godfrey of Ardenne stops at the castle while on a pilgrimage. He has with him a splinter from the staff of Elisha, which will allegedly break any enchantment. He places the splinter on Blanca's heart, and whether as a result or by coincidence, she instantly revives.

*Godfrey secretly takes Blanca home to his castle, letting no one else except her dwarfs know that she's alive. Then he visits Richilda, who becomes infatuated with him and makes every effort to seduce him. Godfrey pretends to give in and takes her home with him, allegedly to be his bride. But then he claims that twelve maidens and their lovers were to be married along with them, but one of the maidens has been murdered by her mother. In a twist that evokes The Goose Girl, he asks Richilda what should be done with the mother, and Richilda says she should be forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes. Thus she pronounces her own doom... although unlike the Grimms' wicked queen, she isn't forced to dance to death, but just until she's in extreme pain, and then is condemned to the dungeon. Blanca and Godfrey are married, live happily ever after, and richly reward Sambul, whose heroism in protecting Blanca (the narrator claims) is the reason why God has let the Jewish people survive against all odds.

Next come the versions of the tale from France and Italy...

@ariel-seagull-wings, @adarkrainbow, @themousefromfantasyland

[roamwithahungryheart]

The Broadway revival of Parade debuted last night at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Alfred Uhry's musical tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man lynched by antisemites in 1915.

As patrons stood in line, Neo-Nazi protesters gathered outside the theatre, harassing the crowd, holding signs scrawled with slurs and handing out flyers full of antisemitic propaganda. Some were identified as members of the 'Goyim Defense League'. No-one was arrested.

After the show, Ben Platt (who plays Leo Frank) took to social media to address the situation, which he called 'ugly and scary but a wonderful reminder of why we're telling this particular story and how special and powerful art and, particularly, theater can be.'

The continuing cycle of art imitating life shows us why it's important to keep telling these stories. It serves as a reminder to listen to Jewish voices. To stand against hate in all its ugly forms.

Antisemitism cannot - must not - be normalized. It cannot be overlooked. Be a part of the fight against it. If not for a friend or loved one, at the very least as an act of kindness, compassion and basic human decency.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

hey! I was going through ur tag for the grishaverse and I was wondering if ur thoughts changed at all?

tl;dr No not really lol

Long answer: see I think the problems boil down to Le!gh Bardug0... starting this series during the Obama administration and her just essentially being a white liberal/center-left lady.

Like I see so many people dismissing any criticism of this series as "lololol shadow daddy apologists" but like. There is a basis for that "apology". I'll tell the truth and say that I don't think book!Darkling is super interesting (not talking about the TV show in this ask at all for several reasons), because he's essentially a) a cautionary tale on two legs; b) an aesthetic. One of his inspirations is Raistlin Majere, and Raistlin runs MILES around him, because he's allowed to SERIOUSLY mess up, the narrative acknowledges it, and the narrative still manages to make you kinda root for him because the narrative is allowed to be **complex**, and guess what, NOBODY DIED IN REAL LIFE

And when I say cautionary tale, it's that I REALLY hate that somehow women need to be told that rooting for Shadow Daddy makes them a dumb bitch, especially when the other option is Mal, who could honestly be based on the lady from Ballerina Farm's husband and quite frankly? Shadow Daddy ain't real. Guys like Mal sure are lmao.

(And again, I love stories where the lady gets to tell Shadow Daddy/the villain to stuff it, AND she doesn't lose her integrity. See: Christine Daaé, Liz Sharp in the Miss Sharp's Monsters series, Galadriel in the Rings of Power TV series. Heck, in some cases, they're even allowed to show compassion, they can be deceived, but it's never, EVER put on them as a mistake that puts their intelligence into question.)

But even then, if I had to be honest, I don't think Alina and the Darkling are well-suited to each other anyway, because what Alina really needs are a) hobbies; b) friends who are not Mal and who are removed from the political situation; c) self-esteem classes. And at the end of the day, Darkl!ina is more of an aesthetic. People who go all "BUT THE AGE GAP BECKY" are missing the point, and Alina is such a nothing of a character it's easy to self-insert as her, and it's easy to use the Darkling as a Ken doll, as he's also a) an aesthetic; b) a very flat cautionary tale on two legs, making it pretty easy to turn that aspect of him on its head. And mind you, I don't *actually* have a problem with that (that's what fanfic and transformative fandoms are for), and my general answer for age gaps in stories is usually the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKZX23fHL64

(And I know I'm going to have people replying to this video: "BUT IRINA! THE GRISHAVERSE BOOKS ARE YA!!!" Ding ding ding, correct! But YA is mostly read by adults nowadays and publishing houses are knowingly appealing to that demographic! That is also the reason why New Adult became a thing! I hate capitalism :) )

*

But like, I spent so much time talking about Darkl!ina when I don't think it's really the problem with the series, and it's more that... Le!gh Bardug0 doesn't seem to understand that she wrote about an oppressed minority, that we are not meant to see as an oppressed minority, and that aspect of her books has aged like milk in light of... pretty much everything that has happened since the end of the Obama administration.

If I had to be honest I'm honestly concerned people don't realize she wrote about an entire people that are meant to be Jewish-coded, and their leader is the... shadowy advisor who manipulates the King, and personally that makes my antisemitic alarm bells go all Kill Bill but what do I know Brenda. (And if you want to sit down with me and calmly explain to me why I'm actually wrong about this, please do, because sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy with that realization and I don't understand how no one talks about it)

And I'm honestly not mad if you decide to have your book series end with a) the monarchy still firmly in place; b) the Grisha still being an oppressed minority, because such is life and people are shitty. The issue I have is that the basic message of it seems to be: "Well the Grisha should have kept asking nicely instead of rebelling and causing havoc xox. Look at Alina, she's the Token Good Minority, her boyfriend is a Real Strong Ravkan Man and she knows her place xox". And I'm writing this as of January 2025, and to anyone reading this, all I'm gonna say is: kings and health insurance company CEOs don't give a shit if you ask nicely.

You will not convince me, not in a thousand years, that the Grisha somehow had privileges in Ravka. Because no, being recruited into the army because of who you are, no matter how well you are treated, is a violent act. It is a violation of your human rights. It is a clear statement that your life belongs to your country, and that your country can see fit to use you as cannon fodder if it is so inclined. Yes, I am aware that Ravka is a crapsack place, but seeing people IRL use the good treatment of the Grisha as an army as an argument against their grievances is ignorant AT BEST. I will also kindly point out the U.S. Army tends to recruit and target marginalized communities.

If anything, you could say that the Grishaverse books are about violent authoritarian regimes forcing more and more of a violent response from the oppressed, leading to moral compasses being thrown away, only for the oppressors to come out of it victorious because they have the privilege of foregoing moral compasses, but of still being upheld as a moral center as they present attributes of "morality". You can get away with anything as long as you keep reminding people at every turn you're a husband and father, right? RIGHT?

Like, this book series is essentially about how the ENTIRE SYSTEM is inherently violent, we have a heroine who basically caves in and upholds said system, sees those who had the nerve of rebelling against it punished one way or another (no seriously WHAT DOES LE!GH BARDUG0 HAVE AGAINST GENYA), and then she basically buzzes off to her cottagecore dream life with her shitty boyfriend who got a personality transplant, so she can be a housewife and take care of orphans (something she did not show any interest in doing prior - remember what I said about Ballerina Farm?)

But yeah sure Shadow Daddy and the BookTok girlies are the problem, I guess

ETA: Look I don't think Le!gh Bardug0 is the devil or anything, at the end of the day, she's one fantasy author, but I think that a) attitudes like hers towards fandom have made the next few generations conservative in ways that they don't even realize, with extremely poor media literacy skills - she's not THE problem, but she's part of it whether she likes it or not; b) given how Rule of Wolves turned out, I'm not really inclined to give her much grace because lecturing your readers because of themes you fumbled yourself is not a good trait to have.

Full offense but it's not normal for someone like Chappell Roan to get the backlash she got for saying that politicians are failing their voters and need to step up their game. When you're in politics, you're serving your people. You are not supposed to be dangling a carrot you can snatch away at every moment. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are conservative, partisan and lack critical thinking skills and it's honestly concerning. Whatever the girlies on BookTok are into should be at the bottom of your list of concerns.

[muzaktomyears]

what the genuine fuck @ this cartoon from National Lampoon magazine's 1977 Beatles issue

basically Brian is an evil ex-Nazi who kidnaps the Beatles in Hamburg to turn them into his sex slaves via Dr. Frankenstein operations. (John and Paul are the sex slaves, George is just... there??, and Ringo is an unholy amalgam of bits of Stu and Pete.) They later escape but he wins them back by getting them a recording contract. In the last panel they're shown plotting to kill him.

putting it under a cut because yeah, antisemitism and homophobia

[flower-boi16]

the thing is that viv is blatantly lying about mimzy being a chicken- because while a lot of people say she sucks at designing so bad they could believe it, someone else here on the critical tag has a post that talks about it and has a screenshot from the pilot where mimzy is literally next to a chicken demon with a beak and feathers. she is trying to save her face so bad it's sad. even then- always listen to jewish voices. if jewish people say something is antisemitic- it is. same for racism & queerphobia. but its viv so she'll make up another thousand excuses to save herself from being held accountable sadly.

Honestly, it feels like Viv either designed Mimzy around being Jewish and panicked after people were calling her out or she just. Forgot to make Mimzy specifically look like a chicken for...some reason.

....wait, is the chicken demon that Mimzy was right next to skinny? Because if so then...ya...

[shinyruby]

Also, let’s not act like JKR didn’t know what she was doing when she said that books on trans healthcare weren’t burned in the Holocaust.

She said this on Twitter, and multiple people were telling her she was wrong… and sending her links from THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM and the Smithsonian… and she called them liars.

Idk about you, but if I was caught spreading misinformation about the Holocaust and was sent reliable sources on the Holocaust proving me wrong… my first instinct wouldn’t be to call these sources liars.

But I have a feeling that miss Joanne cares about not being a Holocaust denier. She cares more about being CALLED one… oh, and being anti-trans.

[phantomram-b00]

Why is Harry Potter trending (or was)? Can it not? Like deadass I’m being fr can it plz not. Especially that J.K Rowling is a massive TERF, a raging antisemite, and disgustingly try to deny that trans people were not affected by the Holocaust (which she was ratio’d by George Takei).

“Proof?”

Way ahead of you: (Tw: transphobia, racism, antisemitism, holocaust, Harry Potter)

Oh and don’t get me started how Hogwart Legacy, you know that game that was sworn Jk Rowling wasn’t apart of (yeah sure-) is blood libel story. Not to mention that trans people have told you not to especially since there is a canonical transgender character named Sirona. (People said Sirona is a Celtic goddess for healing. but- come on. You can’t bullshit out of this one. There are OTHER NAMES TO NAME A TRANSGENDER CHARACTER— it make those joke with how Jk Rowling naming not far off. Because it like naming a nonbinary character “NoGendora” or smth (before you say, I’m nonbinary myself—) so idc if it already have a meaning, it still is tone deaf to name a transgender women Sirona).

“But but- you can separate the art from the artist?”

Yes. You can separate art from the artist. HOWEVER before you celebrate thinking you had a gotcha moment. You can only separate if the art itself isn’t problematic or is bigotry itself. Harry Potter is as mention in the links. Not to mention, Harry Potter himself become a cop despite the cop in that world didn’t do jack shit. And don’t get me started on how they handle the whole elf slavery. Also there is heavy fatphobia in this story, proof, look at how they would talk about Harry’s abusive aunt and uncle from his mother’s side. Don’t get me started how she would describe Rita Skeeter. There even a black character who’s last names is Shacklebolt— do I need to say more (if I’m missing any other examples please tell me)

Not to mention she benefits off of it and uses her money to donate to transphobia and just don’t give a flying fuck if she offend people (which seem to usually be the case for trans/homophobia but moving on). like, this is who you wanna support? You still want to read this wizard book when there are other that don’t have transphobia, racist, antisemitic, or any problematic rhetoric and are objectively better than Harry Potter? Really? You wanna die on this hill?

Look. I used to like Harry Potter. but that was before I knew what a dirtbag of a fucking human she is (I didn’t really have social media at the time), and I cringe as I wish I learn sooner that she was a deplorable person who hates trans people like myself (nonbinary respectfully). But, I can happily say Fuck Harry Potter that series can burn in a trash for all I care and I hope the hbo series flops on its ass. And also fuck Jk Rowling, she can fuck off for all I care. That being said, If you support Harry Potter/Jk Rowling, unfollow me. Block me. Because I do not support Harry Potter/Jk Rowling. Because Trans rights/Gender Equality, Human rights are infinitely more important than a basic ass wizard book/movie with a even basic ass magic system when there are objectively better wizard/magic books that are respectful.

Anyway, that being said, Trans and basic human rights matter 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵 🤭

Click here before liking the post

[zooptseyt]

I once got a warning for saying british people talked funny but this shit always comes back "we did not find a problem" instagram is the worst with this shit

[i-aint-even-bovvered]

Gt my first antisemitic comment on my convert positivity post! Is this a Jumblr achievement?

[67chevyimpala67]

I don't have my religion public on hinge. There is one photo where I'm wearing a magan David. Someone decided to like this and write the message "oi vey. Please don't air strike my house".

It's just blatant antisemitism at this point

[koboldkatalyst]

Soooooo.....

I'm a jumble because I would've loved everything about the Christmas Special except the central deeply antisemitic plot of baby eating Goblins basically ruins it all. I had been warned the goblins were pretty antisemitic but I didn't know exaclty what that would entail, since Goblins historically exist as antisemitic caricatures of Jews anyway. It was so much worse and more blatant than I could have imagined. I was sick to my stomach for most of the episode. And I bet you - I BET YOU that the writers and producers and whoever checks this shit at BBC and I guess Disney now- I BET YOU they didn't even know what they were doing. I BET YOU that they are just that ignorant to the antisemitism baked into so much of western folklore and they didn't even think twice about GOBLINS WHO FUCKING KIDNAP AND EAT BABIES it makes me want to scream. And then the KING of the Goblins is murdered BY THE SPIRE OF A CHURCH! What in the superseccesionist HELL was THAT?

I just- I love 15. I love Ruby. I love her family. I'm so glad Cherry finally got her tea. Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson alone make me excited for this next season, never mind everyone else, but fuck if I never watch this episode again it'll be too soon and that is an absolute travesty because it is all the writer's and the producers fault for greenlighting this plot. The actors and the crew my God y'all were amazing, but I can't even put into words what a disgusting choice the Goblins were. Absolutely shameful.

[princesssarisa]

The next set of Donkeyskin tales in Cinderella Tales from Around the World take us first to Turkey and Syria, then down to South and East Africa, and then back into Asia through Sri Lanka, India, and finally Japan.

*There are two versions from Turkey in this collection (@faintingheroine). In one, the king resolves to marry his daughter because she fits her dead mother's clothes; she requests gowns that resemble "the sky with stars," "the ground with flowers," and "the sea with fishes," and as in the Italian versions, she disguises herself in a suit made of wood and calls herself "Wooden Mary." In the other, her finger fits her mother's ring; at the advice of a fairy, she requests gowns of gold, silver, and pearls, and then a long fur coat, all of which the devil supplies; after she runs away, she lives alone in a cave for six years before the prince finds her and brings her to the palace. In both versions, the events to which she follows the prince in her finery are three royal weddings in other kingdoms; at the weddings, the prince either gives her three valuable trinkets (version #2), or else she steals them from him (version #1). Then when the prince falls ill with longing for her, she bakes cakes or pastries for him and slips the three trinkets inside, leading to her discovery.

*The Syrian variant is a "heroine hides inside a hollow object" version, in this case a chest. It also portrays the father as "a rich Jew." While this means the heroine herself is also Jewish, which could be good representation, I doubt it was meant that way; since her Jewishness is only mentioned once in the text, while her father is constantly called "the Jew," I'm afraid it's antisemitism, implying that only a Jew would try to marry his own daughter. Especially because in the end, his daughter refuses to forgive him and the prince has him executed.

*The two South African tales aren't exactly Donkeyskin tales as Europe knows them, but they do feature a persecuted heroine dressed in animal skin. In both of these tales, a king or a chief has two wives, each with a daughter.

**In Nya-Nya Bulembu, the king favors one wife and daughter but scorns and abuses the other wife and daughter, and he forces the unfavored daughter to wear the mossy green skin of a water monster so everyone will despise her. But one day she meets an old fairy man who gives her a magic stick that will temporarily restore her human form and bring her food each day. One day a prince comes to visit, sees her during this time, and knowing her true appearance, asks to marry the "monster." When she bathes before the wedding, the green skin floats away on the river, revealing her beauty to all. Meanwhile, her stepsister – a kind girl and a friend to her, in contrast to her cruel mother – is carried away by pigeons, which serves as her wicked parents' punishment as they assume she's dead. But really she's taken to another kingdom where she marries the king and lives happily ever after too.

**In Baboon-Skins, the heroine's stepmother and stepsister are jealous of her beauty, so to protect herself and her mother from their abuse, the girl dresses herself in baboon skins to hide her beauty. Still, she remains graceful and charming, and when a young chief's servants come looking for two brides for their master, her demeanor charms them just as her stepsister's beauty does, and they choose them both. At first the chief is angry, thinking a girl who hides her appearance must be ugly, but her demeanor wins him over too, and on the wedding day, she finally discards the skins.

*A French-language version from Mauritius is called Donkeyskin and basically a transplant of Perrault's version, except for a twist at the end: the prince doesn't get sick, but secretly meets with Donkeyskin after seeing her undisguised and falling in love with her, and urges her to put a ring in a cake that his mother the queen has already ordered her to bake. When she does and he eats the cake, he holds the ring at the back of his throat, pretending it's stuck, and no maiden but Donkeyskin can pull it out.

*The tale from Sri Lanka is called The Scab Girl and is only vaguely a Donkeyskin tale. A baby girl is abandoned by her parents because they wanted a son, but two cranes find her and raise her in a cave. When she grows up, a wicked "Rakshi" discovers her and tries to eat her, so the cranes dress her in cloth covered with scabs to make her look disgusting and inedible, then send her out into the world. She becomes a scullery maid at the king's palace, but secretly takes off her scab cloth to bathe, and eventually her beauty is discovered by the king, who marries her.

*There are three Indian variants, which also bear only a slight resemblance to the European versions, and none of which include attempted incest:

**In The Disguised Princess, the heroine is the eldest of three sisters and betrothed to a prince. But on her wedding day, her jealous younger sisters put sugar in her palanquin, it attracts flies, the prince thinks the flies are attracted to her, and in disgust he has his servants abandon her in the jungle. There she meets a carpenter and has him build her a wooden suit that disguises her as a man. She journeys to the prince's palace, where she wins the prince's favor and becomes a head servant. Meanwhile, the prince is about to marry another princess, but "by accident," when the "man of wood" meets the bride, "he" knocks out her eye with his wooden hand, making her repulsive to the prince. Soon afterward, a washerman tells the prince that every day, the "man of wood" takes off his wooden shell to bathe and reveals a beautiful human form. The Prince sends for "him" and demands to see "his" beauty, and so the princess reveals herself, and the prince marries her.

**In The King and the Fairy, a beautiful golden-haired fairy is persecuted by a Deo (giant), who wants to kill her because she refused to marry him. So she disguises herself in a leather robe covered with treacle, which attracts flies. She becomes a lowly servant in an old woman's house, but one day as she bathes, one of her hairs floats downstream. A prince finds the beautiful golden hair strand and resolves to marry the girl whose head it came from. He invites all the people in the land to a feast; the fairy comes in her disguise, and an elephant approaches her and lifts her up three times, which means that she's the prince's destined bride. The prince is disgusted by her, until he learns from some watchmen that every night, four fairies come and remove her disguise to bathe and perfume her, revealing her true beauty. When she tells him her story, he devises a trick to kill the Deo, leaving the fairy free to resume her true form and marry the prince.

*In The Princess and the Cat, the princess has an enormous pet cat who becomes jealous of all her suitors and claws at them until they run for their lives. To escape from the cat's possessiveness, she runs away, disguises herself in a coat of smelly skins, and becomes known as Chamni ("skin-woman"). She becomes a servant at the prince's palace and is sent out each day to tend the elephants, and when she's alone, she takes off the skin coat. One day the prince sees her, falls in love with her, learns her story, and marries her. When the cat learns of her marriage he comes after the couple, but the prince kills him, and they live happily ever after.

*Last but not least is The Wooden Bowl from Japan, which isn't really a Donkeyskin story, but does share some of the same themes. A poor peasant girl's dying mother instructs her to always wear a wooden bowl over her head to hide her beautiful face and protect her from men's lust. She obeys, and lives by laboring in the fields, mocked and scorned by her fellow workers for the bowl, until a rich farmer takes pity on her and brings her to his house to be his wife's servant. There, the farmer's son manages to catch a glimpse of her face one day, falls in love with her, and resolves to marry her. His relatives object because of her low birth and her oddness, and though she loves him, she refuses his proposal so as not to cause discord. But in a dream, her mother's spirit urges her to accept. On their wedding day, she tries to remove the wooden bowl, only to find that it's stuck. But when the wedding ceremony is complete, the bowl shatters, releasing a shower of pearls, jewels, gold, and silver to serve as her dowry, as well as revealing her beauty.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @themousefromfantasyland, @adarkrainbow

[springcrafter]

Man, the Antisemites are getting bold.

Friendly reminder that "from the river to the sea" is a chant calling for the extermination of half the world's Jewish populace. Like. I cannot believe that in the Year of the Lord 2023 I have to risk being targeted only so I can come out here and explain this.

And mind you I live in this shithole, I speak Hebrew, I get to see the worst of the worst that Jewish Israelis are saying. I'm not gonna repeat it because it could be triggering, but I'm also not gonna sit here and pretend everyone here is a peace-loving hippy. The difference being that vile attitudes are called out and made into outliers in broader society.

(Notably, I saw this when I was taking shelter from rockets on the stairwell - I live in a predominantly center-right area and when someone said something vile they were reminded that the Palestinians in Gaza aren't all Hamas, have no control of their fate, and also have it 100% worse than we ever will)

Thing is, Israelis are not a monolith and a sizable majority are unflinchingly critical of our government. Netanyahu put us in this position and he has so much blood on his hands it's not even a point worth making. By dividing and conquering and pretending that senseless violence is a show of strength, he has made us weaker. We're terrified and traumatized and he continues to perpetuate that fear and trauma to capitalize on it. He was right when he said this was our darkest hour, and he was the one who brought us here. All because he wants to stay in power and avoid going to jail. Over here we loathe him and criticize him more than anyone outside of Israel ever could.

I'm not behind him. I condemn his use of extreme violence and his disregard for Palestinian lives. I know the warmongers from either side don't care about their civilians and are happy to get rich from our suffering but he could at least pretend.

Listen. Call me a hippy, but I believe that everyone who calls this sliver of land their home should have a right to live here in peace. I believe in the right of the Palestinian people to independence and self-determination. Thing is, in my experience, "Free Palestine" is a slogan so vague that it can mean different things and I'm rather wary of it. Do you mean "free Palestine from the tyranny of its leaders and the Israeli occupation" or "free Palestine from all the Jews and kick them all to the sea"? It has become enough of a dogwhistle that I stopped trusting it and by extension, anyone who holds these views while conveniently ignoring the atrocities of October 7 and the frankly appalling reporting around the al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion.

(It's the same with Zionism, and why I don't affiliate myself with the movement. I believe in the right of Jewish people to self-determination and a home in their ancestral homeland, and I think the unabashed Antisemitism I've seen lately justifies that position, but I cannot approve of the atrocities that have been done to get here or people who support and justify them)

My point is, if the (otherwise legitimate) Free Palestine movement is going to harbor, shelter and encourage Antisemitism - all I can say from here is, I see you. And while I would love to go elsewhere, alas, I'm stuck here, so that's not going to change.

(ETA: Thank you to the person in my replies for proving my point)

[nikkoliferous]

An Israeli film-maker who won one of the top prizes at the Berlin film festival has said German officials’ description of the awards ceremony as “antisemitic” has led to death threats and the physical intimidation of family members, causing him to hold off plans to return to Israel.

Yuval Abraham, 29, was on Saturday awarded the Berlinale’s best documentary award for No Other Land, which charts the eradication of Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank.

Abraham’s acceptance speech, in which he decried a “situation of apartheid” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza, was one of several moments during the closing ceremony in which film-makers expressed solidarity with Palestine. It sparked an outcry in German media the following day, with several politicians alleging the speeches had been “antisemitic”.

“To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire – and to then be labelled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger,” Abraham told the Guardian.

“I don’t know what Germany is trying to do with us,” he added. “If this is Germany’s way of dealing with its guilt over the Holocaust, they are emptying it of all meaning.”

Abraham said he had planned to return to Israel the day after the closing ceremony, but that he changed his plans during a stop-off in Greece, when he learned that Israeli media outlets were describing his speech as antisemitic, with some citing German officials.

As well as receiving death threats on social media, Abraham said several individuals turned up at his family members’ home in Israeli, causing them to vacate the premises out of fear for their safety.

Abraham, whose grandmother was born in a concentration camp and most of whose father’s family was killed in the Holocaust, said: “You can criticise our acceptance speech, you can say that we should have mentioned the events of 7 October – all that is legitimate. But Germany is weaponising a term that was designed to protect Jews, not only to silence Palestinians but also to silence Jews and Israelis who are critical of the occupation and use the word apartheid. This is also dangerous because it devalues the term antisemitism.”

Abraham’s Palestinian film-making partner, Basel Adra, said during Saturday’s ceremony that he struggled to celebrate his film’s success while people in Gaza were “being slaughtered and massacred”, and urged Germany to cease arms exports to Israel. Abraham said he was concerned for the safety of Adra, who has since returned to his village in the West Bank, which is surrounded by Israeli settlements.

“Basel lives under occupation and the army or settlers can take revenge against him at any moment,” Abraham said. “He is in much greater danger than me.”

The backlash against the Berlinale ceremony in Germany also involved calls for the resignation of the minister of state for culture, Green party politician Claudia Roth, who was seen applauding Abraham and Adra’s speech in footage of the event.

Roth’s office tried to clarify that she had clapped at the Israeli but not the Palestinian half of the duo in a statement on X on Monday. Her applause “was directed at the Jewish-Israeli journalist and film-maker Yuval Abraham, who spoke out in favour of a political solution and a peaceful coexistence in the region”. Roth’s office also said that reports of death threats against Abraham were “alarming”.

Abraham said: “This tactic of divide and conquer feels more familiar from military occupations. We will stand united, because our film is about envisioning a future where we can live together with equal rights.”

[i-dont-know-nor-care-go-away]

Justice for Joost

usually I don't like to be political but this is fucking stupid. I did block the person who wrote this post but I need to break down this stupid ass argument

"So I think Joost's actions were either xenophobia, antisemitism or a mix of both though leaning to a mix of both.

For those who are not aware, Eden Golan was being interviewed in the big second semi final panel and a report asked her if her participation was putting other contestants at risk. The question was gross as it is not her fault people would want to risk harming other contestants to harm her and people wanting to harm her is also not her fault as she is literally just an israeli women who exists and went to eurovision. Eden's manager said "you don't have to answer that" in response to the question and Joost (who had been covering himself with his flag during her turn being interviewed) uncovered himself and said "why not?". Eden did answer the question elloquently.

The issue I have with Joost's actions is that they were not about whether or not Israel should participate as that decision had already been made and Eden was already at Eurovision, but instead they were just him being xenophobic and/or antisemitic.

Eden Golan, just like every other contestant, is not her government.

If we were to act like every contestant was their government, then why did Bambi Thug not recieve backlash for Ireland's treatment of refugees? Why did the Azerbaijan contest not recieve the same level of backlash for their government trying to ethnically cleanse Armenians? Why did Slimane not recieve any talk about the Mali Wedding Airstrike (which killed children) that France did back in 2021?"

No, he was just against a fucking genocide. The contest this year is funded by morroco oil (https://eurovision.moroccanoil.com/) which is not from morroco, but from (you guessed it) the genociders !(https://en.hespress.com/84896-how-moroccos-argan-fueled-a-62-million-israeli-business-and-became-a-scientific-experiment.html#google_vignette) standing against genocide is not xenophobia. Its the right fucking thing to do.

Yeah israiel is not gonna be banned but taking is stand against their participation because of their FUCKING GENOCIDE is not unhelpful. Showing support is good. She is not just a person from Isreal competeing in Eurovision. She is actively and willingly representing a genocidal and colonial government, and willingly doing that on a huge stage is more than endorsing that. if she is so fucking innocent and not complicit, she would not be on that stage. People refuse to join the IDF and suffer the extreme consequences, she could've just not joined. That question was so fucking relevant. Why are we coddling the feelings of an adult woman represneting a colonial power that is currently commiting warcrimes. She is a terrible fucking person.

The other issues this post brought up are terrible. we should call these out. But also, You can't just bring up other genocides or bad things and be like "hm if you don't care about every other bad thing in the world then you don't really care about this one" A fucking mass genocide with war crimes is a seperate issue than Ireland's treatment of refugees. Ireland should be better, mistreating refugees is bad. Armenians should also get support,(https://www.armeniafund.org/) but you can't just change the subject to a different genocide in order to defend someone WHO IS ACTIVELY REPRESENTING A COUNTRY COMMITING GENOCIDE. The Palestinian Genocide is so bad right now and they need all the help they can get, but someone being kinda mean to someone complicit in a genocide is this issue here? we should hold every government accountable, but the fact that we started with the one that is actively commiting genocide is a good thing. The energy should be "its good to support palestine and lets keep holding governmetns accountable" and not "why are you getting mad at isreal if everyone else is just as bad? seems like you're playing least favorites"

(disclaimer: I do not condone any of the bad things that happened. They are bad. I don't agree with them being used to defend someone who is complicit in a genocide)

"Why is it okay for Joost and other contestants to treat Eden Golan like she is the Israeli Government whilst not holding other contestants to the same standard?

This goes even further once you bring in how after Russia invaded Ukraine, Joost collaborated with a Russian Artist CMH. Now, either CMH also represents the Russian government entirely and Joost supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine or, CMH does not represent the Russian government which makes his treatment towards Eden Golan even worse and reaffirms its antisemitic roots."

Little miss genocide is not the one being harrassed. The isreali officals are going around harrassing people and being dicks. She is in no way the vicitm here. (Allegedly) The isreali officals mocked Joost's DEAD PARENTS. As far as we know, Golan saw what her sad excuse for a country did and actively and willingly chose to represent that. Even if she was being harrassed, it would be because of her actions. But she really fucking isn't. she is not the one being kicked out of the contest. she can get the actual fuck over it. You cannot just ask "well what about the other contestents? their governments are also bad" Everyone is bad. No government has their hands clean. Bambi Thung representing Ireland (which needs to stop mistreating refugees) is not the same as someone representing Isreal (which is commiting genocide). Ireland is a country with a complex history and Bambi thug is not representing every single one of the many political opinions by representing her country. I think we can assume she would be against mistreating refugees. Isreal is a made up, totalitarian state in which every part of it's government is complicit in genocide. No one can seriously believe that little miss genocide supporter is not endorsing or ok with her country's actions. There is a huge difference if you actually think about it.

I looked up CMH. He doesn't seem to have ties to the russian government. CMH did not compete to represent his government. He makes music and is from russia. It is so different. the comparison doesn't even work. Maybe that supporting a Russian musican during the Ukraine thing was not like. a very good thing to do (sorry idk how to phrase it) but while it isn't great, it doesn't have the same effect as EUROVISION. Eurovision is international. I could barely find information on CMH. Yeah the morality of that collab is debateable, but why are you using it to defend the person representing a genocide??? CMH did not choose to go into a international competition to represent his country. He didn't go through mulitple competitions to represent russia. He is literally just russian. The collab was bad, fine, but representing GENOCIDE WILLINGLY is WORSE.

"Lastly, someone sent me an image of a Joost song (which is what I think spurred this current ask) where Joost has a hitler mustache. You can find that post and image here.

So lets put the evidence together, Joost treats Eden Golan as being the Israeli Government but doesn't hold anyone else to that standard,including a Russian artist right after Russia's invasion + he willingly took and the uploaded publically online, a picture of him with a Hitler mustache.

At the very best, he is just xenophobic, at worst he is antisemitic or a mix of both.

Am i sad that Joost is antisemitic? yes very. I really liked his song europapa and a few other songs of his. It always hits a bit harder when an artist you like turns out to be an antisemite. I was ready to get super into his music and then bam, i find out he is an antisemite."

I am gonna be honest, I am not really excited to address this. I'm not Jewish. I don't get to say what is offensive or not. I have seen the photo. It does look like hitler. It is antisemtic and yeah. I honestly even kinda took offense to it. But as the post below says, he took it down. It isn't playable. It's bad, and ignorant but it is also possibly just in poor taste. It could have been an attempt at a parody or just trying to get a rise out of people WHICH ARE BOTH BAD. He took it down. I can't find that image on any of his youtube. He doesn't have any other instances of something like this. He probably should apologise for it, but it seems like he grew. I THINK THAT IT WAS A BAD THING TO DO AND I DO NOT ENDORSE IT AT ALL. I THINK IT DESERVES AN APOLOGY.I AGREE IT IS ANTISEMTIC. It was taken down, and he hasn't done anything like it since. I think it is safe to saw that he grew (he should still like. apologize and address it though) I find it really weird that you're pulling out this isolated incident from what seems to be six years ago in order to defend someone representing an actual genocide. It's really weird. It is so dumb to imply Joost is speaking out against genocide only because he hates jewish people. I do not think that something from six years ago that he took down is indictive of his current views or his motivations for not supporting genocide.

"Yeah Joost fans is this your man?

Do you think his actions towards Eden Golan were purely anti israel still? Or are you finally willing to admit that he is not the innocent man yall think he is?

(btw i checked via reverse image search and the song which the picture is the album art for, feminist on da block, is taken down, but you can find the proof of it on spotify here, its just not playable)"

Yes he is still my man. His actions were probably purely anti Israel. He has not done anything wrong in his protest of a genocide. He was kicked out of a contest because of it. This weird "gotcha" thing where you point out all the problematic things he did pales in comparison to the people who were killed by isral. He has done bad things and he needs to address/apologize for them, but now he is trying to support those in need. People are facing genocide and because someone is being loudly against that, you want to point out all the reasons why he is bad? be so fucking for real right now. Children are dying. Babies are dying. Why the hell are you defending anyone that stands by that?

TDLR

yeah Joost is not an angel. He has done a couple problematic things in the past I DO NOT ENDORSE THEM, but Isreal is commiting genocide and the person representing that is far worse. We have more pressing issues

disclaimer

I support jewish people. I do not condone any antisemitism at all. People should not start attack jewish people for the actions of israle. The points I am attempting to make are (a) not everyone that supports palestine is anti semetic and (b) while antisemitism is bad, you cannot use that as an excuse for supporting a fucking genocide.