#That's how unimportant girls and women are to men

[scentedluminarysoul]

Watching One Piece ep 910

So uh. The boy gets to go into the future and be saved, while his faceless mother decides that she and her equally faceless daughter just sit there and burn to death?

Uuuuh. Not super cool?

[nightlyrequiem]

Basically when Valeria is getting questioned, she mocks Alejandro by bringing up the fact that right after she left the Mexican special forces, she took his girlfriend with her and made her into her wife. (A fem reader request with reader being the ex girlfriend of Alejandro who used to visit the base but ended up up getting charmed by Valeria and is now her wife.)

Oh I love this. Valeria would totally be able to steal his girl. She's just so suave

Might incorporate this idea into a future series. Or maybe just make a part two or something. I live for the drama tbh I want to write more of Alejandro being upset. I don't even hate his character but I've developed a dislike for him because people ship him with Valeria. That sounds a little pathetic though...

Tags/Warnings: Violence, Valeria and Alejandro Scuffle, TF141 Cameo, Reader Is Only mentioned

Under New Ownership

Phillip Graves keeps one firm hand on Valeria's shoulder as he leads her through Alejandro's base. So many memories flaring up at the familiar sights and smells. His touch is agitating her. Heavy, warm, masculine. She shrugs him off as she's sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair. The interrogation room is nothing more than a shipping container. The others join them. Men of Taskforce 141, and Alejandro and Rudolfo. Valeria regrets nothing. Not betraying and turning her back on her brothers in arms, and not all the damage she's done as El Sin Nombre. Valeria Garza is a woman with many achievements under her belt. Why should she apologize for being successful?

"Have a seat." The blond man says. He turns his attention to Alejandro, who is already glowering at her. "So, how do you two know each other?" He asks.

"Know is a strong word." Alejandro responds. Hatred frosting his voice. Just his voice is enough to alight Valeria's nerves with disgust.

"Strong words are important. Our word is our worth, right?" She taunts. using one of his past proverbs against him. That's all it takes to set him off. To send him storming towards her cursing in Spanish. The others are quick to intercept him. Grabbing ahold of him, like an out-of-control dog, Valeria thinks. Should put him down like one. She was always more of a cat person.

"Yeah? Yeah." Alejandro growls, pulling away and reigning in his temper. He turns back to Valeria, drowning her in his distaste. "Go on, tell them."

Valeria leans back and gets comfortable. As comfortable as a person can be while sitting on a hard chair surrounded by hostiles.

"We served together." She explains with boredom. Nothing but unimportant history. Files collecting dust in a backroom kind of history. "Same squads different units. You were the wild ones. Los Vaqueros." She sneers at him. "We had a common... interest."

Alejandro stiffens. It's barely enough to be perceived but Valeria perceives it nonetheless.

"What might that be?" Graves inquires. Raising a light brow. Valeria angles her head towards the man but keeps her gaze locked onto Alejandro's.

"We have... quite the similar taste in women." She remarks. Picturing your soft face. The angle of your eyebrows. The delicate lines of your lips. The column of your throat. Something once belonging to him now under her ownership.

You always used to visit the base. All soft angles and colours amongst the gray and violence. Valeria felt compelled by you the first time she saw you, a rare flower amidst the barren desert. Such a thing would wilt under Alejandro's possession. Valeria made haste in befriending you. An act she knew would grate on Alejandro, but she didn't care. He felt threatened by her.

"Don't bring her into this." Alejandro demands. Jabbing a thick, angry finger at her.

"This lovely little thing used to visit him every week." She continues anyway. "But he wasn't the only one she sought out. She always liked me better."

"Okay, enough of this." Price sighs. Trying to redirect the conversation. In due time. Alejandro scowls and breathes heavily like a bull.

"You poisoned her mind with lies." He says, voice cracking with hurt. "She's a good woman, she wouldn't have left if you hadn't fed her your bullshit about me."

Valeria laughs in his face. Mocking and cruel.

"I didn't have to do anything besides show her attention." She scoffs. "You were always so high-strung and busy because of work. You had something so beautiful within your grasp and you chose your little Vaqueros."

"Lying bitch." He barks. Taking an aggressive step forward. "Are you hurting her? Threatening her?" 

Valeria scowls at the accusation. She's wicked and vile but she'd never hurt you. Not even unintentionally like Alejandro has. "I haven't." She snaps. "She's at home - our home, probably curled up in bed. Maybe she's baking something." Valeria shrugs, putting on a show of casualty. "She loves to cook for me. After a long day I get to return home to a warm meal, not something you can relate to."

Rudolfo shakes his head. This isn't going where they want it to. Time is ticking, much like the three bombs she's sent to Chicago.

"I'm going to kill you." Alejandro promises. Eyes wide with anger. "After they've gotten their use out of you, I'm going to put a fucking bullet through your head, Valeria."

"Alejandro-"

"You're not a very good leader if you couldn't even keep your own girlfriend." Valeria sneers. Goading him on. She's not scared of him at all. She leans against her chair, lips curled into a smirk. "You weren't very good at leading in bed either." She coos. "You won't believe the sounds she makes, I have her screaming my name every fucking night-"

Faster than anyone can react Alejandro is on her. Not holding back as he punches her hard in the jaw. The force sends her and the chair toppling over. Blinding her with pain. Not enough for her to not fight back. She slams her fist into his nose, feeling a spray of blood and hearing a satisfying crunch. 

Valeria's blood is fizzing with adrenaline and excitement. Unfortunately, the fight is cut short as the two are pulled apart. Alejandro left struggling and yelling in the grips of Ghost and Rudolfo.

"You're over." Alejandro hisses viscerally. 'Do you hear me? I'm going to get you. I'm going to fucking get you."

Valeria can feel a bruise forming in her jaw. You'll ask what happened and kiss it better when you see it. Alejandro has no one to worry over his injuries but himself. Valeria wants to keep fighting until only one of them is left standing but that will have to come another day. She rubs her jaw. Another day.

"You hit like a pussy." She growls, angry and wound up. Valeria is forced back into the chair. The time for games is over. Valeria hands over the information they seek with as much contempt as she can produce in her five-foot-six body. A storm is steadily rumbling in the distance. Its growls audible through the walls. An omen of what's to come.

[wild-walking]

Despite detesting love is blind, I’ve been thinking of a steddie au set within the show with a lot of extra pairings:

Steve and Robin are platonic soulmates who both decide to apply despite Robin being a lesbian. They mainly just want a vacation and figure why not get lavender married at the end of it. Though, of course, if Steve does fall in love with someone he should follow his heart.

They are both chosen for an Indianapolis season (or maybe Chicago, I don’t necessarily want to force them to stay in Indiana) along with Eddie, Jonathan, Argyle, Dustin, Lucas, Tommy, Jason, Dan on the men’s side and Nancy, Barb, Chrissy, Vickie, Suzie, Max, El, Tammy, Carol on the women’s side. Plus whichever unimportant extra characters to just fill however many pods they start out with.

Steve immediately thinks Nancy is the one. He’s still seeing Robin regularly but they do a lot of talking about how hard his decision is between the two of them and the producers think they’re really strange.

Steve is also often chatting with Dustin and Lucas who he has taken under his wing and Eddie who the other boys really like but Steve just doesn’t understand.

Robin is struggling quite a bit with her decision to enter this. Sure, any of these ladies could be bi or secretly a lesbian, like her, but she can’t outright ask them when they’re supposed to be here to find their male soulmate. She’s often in groups chatting with Vickie, Barb, Nancy, and Chrissy, pining as Vickie starts to fall for Dan.

The producers expect Nancy and Robin to be really catty, but Robin just keeps talking about what an amazing guys Steve is to Nancy and how any girl would be lucky to have him.

Nancy is struggling between Steve and Jonathan. Steve is definitely a solid choice, but would he challenge her, would he excite her? She isn’t sure. Jonathan feels different. Like he gets the parts of her she has to hide.

When Steve proposes to Nancy, she ends up saying maybe a tad more of what’s on her mind than she would’ve said if she could actually see Steve’s face, basically coming to the conclusion that she’s rather be with Jonathan directly in front of him.

Steve comes back to the men’s living area and Dustin and Lucas are both on dates. Eddie is sitting there and can clearly tell something has gone wrong. He makes Steve sit with him and tell him everything and is very supportive of Steve, making it clear that he shouldn’t let what Nancy say get to his head. Something in this just clicks for Steve and he gets why Dustin and Lucas both like hanging around with Eddie.

Eddie meanwhile has been dating Chrissy, who has also been dating Jason. Jason is an ass though which is slowly revealed and Chrissy decides she wants to go for the guy who makes her laugh but maybe isn’t who her parents pictured her with based on everything she’s learned about Eddie.

Eddie also hangs out quite often with Jonathan and Argyle and he thinks Steve got screwed over by the show’s premise. Who in their right mind would pick Jonathan over Steve? Like Jonathan is a good guy, but Steve is so nice and a complete smoke show.

The couples who end up moving to the next stage are Steve & Robin, Eddie & Chrissy, Jonathan & Nancy, Dan & Vickie, Dustin & Suzie, Lucas & Max, and Tommy & Carol.

When Steve and Robin are revealed to each other, Robin puts on her most theater club energy performance to give Steve a huge stage kiss. Steve can’t help but laugh through it, glad to be reunited with Robin in person.

Okay there’s more to this, but I didn’t realize how long this would get. Part 2 coming soon!

[centrally-unplanned]

On a recent trip home I picked up my dog-eared childhood copy of The Crystal Shard, the first-ever appearance of trope-defining dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden:

As my partner remarked on seeing the cover, "do you really need the whole wolf? The pelt ain't enough?" Darn right it ain't, when I was ~10 and playing basement D&D every weekend with my friend circle I fucking loved Drizzt, like all nerd kids back then did. Even better, this book was one of those things where he isn't even the main character, no one thought this would become the "IP" that it did. It is pure Early Installment Weirdness. So I was curious how cruelly the passage of time would affect this 1988 fantasy pulp novel.

Anyway we are 112 pages in and our first named female character has finally appeared. I am not exaggerating or even ignoring bit characters for that point. Women as a concept do not appear in the first 30 pages, until this line:

"Fetch the wenches!" he commanded.

And you occasionally get some mind-dominated sex slaves who are, again, unnamed, until Catti-brie (the named girl) shows up. As barbarian boy Wulfgar's romantic interest by the by.

This isn't, like, a gigantic bash or anything - Catti-brie herself is a primary character and well-realized and all that, and as always you can tell a story about a group of guys if you want. But back then the pulp fantasy landscape was just fucking rough my dude; this book spends a lot of time on the "societies" of Icewind Dale, governance & trade and war, and women just do not contribute to that society, in any way, beyond token references to mothers-and-lovers as a concept.

There is a line Wulfgar, someone from the "barbarian" nomadic tribes, makes - as a comparison to Catti-brie - about women in his society:

Barbarian girls were raised to keep their thoughts and opinions, unimportant by the standards of men, to themselves.

And I get it, like Catti-brie is headstrong and wilful and Wulfgar is Learning to Respect Women. I grok that this is an arc moment and depiction is not endorsement. But I think that idea works a little better if the author had put a single female character from the barbarian society on the page to help with that point! The book shouldn't agree that they are unimportant, right? I'm looking at George R.R. Martin's portrayal of the Dothraki in A Game of Thrones - published in 1996! - and seeing it for the progressive act it is now lol, that is a low bar. I have read later R. A. Salvatore books and he would never do this today of course; it was just how the genre worked back then.

Progress is just good sometimes I guess!

[antimony-medusa]

"They're honestly so sibling-coded."

I grew up in a conservative, rural area where people got married young. It was not uncommon to see marraiges happen when the people involved were 19, 20, 21, and there was this sort of expectation that any relationship you were in in your teen years had like a 70% chance of leading to marriage. More, if you were especially religious. This attitude was so pervasive that if a woman was friends with a man, or even hung out together, there was this automatic societal assumption that you were early relationship, which led into late relationship, which led into where you were going to get married, which led into babies and a family.

And I hated it. I hated it because I was aroace and didn't know it yet, but even just as a baby feminist feeling out what it meant to be a woman and how I was perceived in the world, I hated the assumption that all my m/f relationships were only worth something if they were leading to romance and marriage (and babies). The idea that men and women couldn't be friends, because men only thought about women in a romantic/sexual way, was actively taught me by everyone from pastors to helpful older coworkers. I even got told that f/f friendships were basically killing time until you got into a romantic m/f relationship, which is where you'd find actual fullfilment and happiness. It sucked.

And then I moved away, and I got out of the conservative religious circles, and then in my 20s, people kept saying the same thing. At least it wasn't saying "god made you for relationships (and babies)," but it was still saying that y'know, men are only interested in one thing, and it's cruel to lead them on, and so on, and so forth. Half of the world is going to only think of you in terms of what you're good for in relation to their relationship status, and the other half of the world is going to tell you to suck it up and deal with it.

This is still the background radiation of much of the world, still. I am getting this less in my 20s because many of my male friends are married, (or gay), but still, as soon as I meet someone new the interested looks start to pile in. As a person who doesn't plan on getting into a romantic relationship, I do not love this.

Immediately seeing a m/f friendship and going "ooooo they're KISSING" is not respectful of the guy's ability to have friendships with people he's not having sex with, but let's look at what it messages about the girl in this scenario.

A) women are only worth talking about in terms of what they can do to for men, what they are in connection with men B) friendship is unimportant and not real, women only exist to be romance options

So I feel strongly about allowing women to be percieved as their own beings and have cross-gender friendships without turning it into romance.

This is not an uncommon take on the internet! I see a lot of people talking about allowing people to be friends without defaulting to shipping.

But I don't know how to tell you that seeing a m/f relationship and saying "Oh they're siblings", when we're talking about celebrities/streamers is still sending a lot of the same messages. The core thing you're communicating is still the same. It's falling into the same traps.

I get the sense that a lot of people see a relationship they want to sort of celebrate and enjoy, and they know that shipping is bad, so they just shunt the "oh they're special to each other" to the left into a family dynamic. I will just say they're siblings, that way nobody can accuse me of shipping, and I'm good!

But what this does is still messages a) woman are reduced down to their relationship with a man, into what they can do for the man, and b) friendship is unimportant and not real, women only exist to be non-romanceable family and the rest of them, the romance options.

If the only way you can conceive of a woman as being important to a man is either being romantic/sexual with him or by saying that they're related, that's still bad. If you literally have to put one of the strongest relationship taboos in our culture in the way or you'll just default into kissing I guess, that's still messaging some really concerning things about how you're portrating women.

And once inside the family dynamics, jesus fuck, you guys. Family dynamics have such a trend to slot women into nurturing and protective roles, where the "older sister" "is the one with the brain cell" and "will take care of him" and will be there suborned to his story to be a surrogate mother figure that takes care of him. This, frankly, sucks.

I am an older sister as a fairly important part of my identity. I love being an older sister. But the way this fandom treats older sisters as tiny non-sexual mothering machines with no interiority or autonomy is not good at all, when it comes to actively respecting women as people.

Honestly, I don't like either option, but when you look at how women get treated when sisterified in fanon (older responsible figure who will take care of our precious baby boy) and how women get treated when shipped (mothering options still exist here but also sometimes they dom him), I might prefer the shipping. And I just did a whole multi paragraph about how much the shipping sucks!

I'm not even going to get into what happens when women get actively assigned mom in a family dynamic. All the worst parts of shipping with none of the fun smut.

I am aware I am talking about the worst excesses of family dynamic here, because this fandom offers lots to choose from, and there are ways to do family dynamic in a good way. Some of the most important relationships in my life are familial, and when actually delved into, you can absolutely still portray a full and nuanced portrayal within a family dynamic. This is a possibility. But god, when I look at the fandom trends and what rises to the top of my dash, oof.

And like, there's a larger trend in this fandom where people seem to be incapable of thinking of friendships as valuable and worthy, if you see them as important to each other it must be familial, but when you do it with women, damn.

Can we give seeing women as full autonomous being who are capable of their own opinions and desires a shot? See them as more than just romance options or [illegal to romance] options? Just let them be friends? Please?

[calliesmemes]

PERIOD DRAMA QUOTES

ASSORTED ASKBOX PROMPTS featuring the dialogue of films and literature in the PERIOD DRAMA genre, including the works of Jane Austen, Little Women (2019), The Great (2020), Anne With An E (2017), Enola Holmes, and more!

CHANGE gendered words and in-universe phrases as needed

SPECIFY muse for multimuses.

❛ A young woman should be free to follow her heart. ❜

❛ Either we escape tonight or we say goodbye forever. ❜

❛ Your life is still in danger. ❜

❛ You bewitched me from the very first moment we met. ❜

❛ I too have known heartache and betrayal. ❜

❛ My dear girl, don’t you know that I’m in love with you? ❜

❛ You don’t know what it is to be without power. ❜

❛ Actually, for once, I think that there is some small value in what you say. ❜

❛ If I changed at all, it was because of you. ❜

❛ Sometimes, I think you couldn’t possibly be real. ❜

❛ I just can’t live without you. ❜

❛ Just because my dreams are different than yours does not mean that they’re unimportant. ❜

❛ I cannot stop thinking of you. ❜

❛ I am yours; I have always been yours. ❜

❛ A man with charm is an entertaining thing. ❜

❛ It’s alright to have anger, but you can’t let that be the ruling factor over your life. ❜

❛ You deserve everything your heart desires. ❜

❛ Night and day, I dream of you. ❜

❛ Dancing is a trust; it is a union. ❜

❛ Did you admire me for my impertinence? ❜

❛ It is you I cannot sacrifice. ❜

❛ I love crying over a good book, don’t you? ❜

❛ I love you. Most ardently. ❜

❛ There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart. ❜

❛ When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I don’t have an excellent library. ❜

❛ Caring deeply will always be the right thing. ❜

❛ I don’t need friends. I have my own company. ❜

❛ Evil to some is always good to others. ❜

❛ Have a little compassion on my nerves! You tear them to pieces! ❜

❛ No man on earth cares for me. ❜

❛ I forgive what you have done to me. ❜

❛ I do not find it easy to talk to people I don’t know. ❜

❛ Men of sense do not want silly wives. ❜

❛ I have crossed oceans of time to find you. ❜

❛ How I love being a woman. ❜

❛ You are a wish come true I never knew I was making. ❜

❛ Sometimes, you just have to let people love you. ❜

❛ If you want to be heard, you have to make some noise. ❜

❛ I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all that a woman is meant for. ❜

❛ You’re being emotional. It’s understandable, but unnecessary. ❜

❛ I want things to go back to the way they used to be! ❜

❛ Wait, they didn’t teach you that in finishing school? ❜

❛ Whatever society may claim, they can’t control you. ❜

❛ You’re not rid of me yet. ❜

❛ You have no interest in changing a world that suits you so well. ❜

❛ I’ve always known that I would marry you. Why should I feel ashamed of that? ❜

❛ I don’t want to leave you. ❜

❛ No one should be alone all the time. ❜

❛ Marriage is both a joy and a place where you will be dealt unbearable griefs. ❜

❛ I can’t risk losing anyone else I love. ❜

❛ You don’t believe in me. I’ve spent my whole life trying to get you to … and you just don’t! ❜

❛ You are a befuddling, strange creature. Everything you are saying is ridiculous. ❜

❛ Have you been hiding from me? ❜

❛ If anything were to happen to you, I would never be able to live with myself. ❜

❛ It’s pretty obvious now that for us to stay sane, we have to stay together. ❜

❛ The world is hard on ambitious girls. ❜

❛ Do you truly have feelings for me? ❜

❛ I don’t think there’s any place for me in this world. ❜

❛ How do I look? Do I look alright? ❜

❛ I want a home. And a family. ❜

❛ An I talking too much? People are always telling me that I do, and it seems to cause no end of aggravation. ❜

❛ Oh, isn’t it a beautiful morning? ❜

❛ It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of they day. ❜

❛ You don’t annoy me; you make me nervous. ❜

❛ You are an unexpectedly dark character. ❜

❛ I have been unpardonably vain and insufferably arrogant. ❜

❛ You have to watch your tongue. ❜

❛ I’m so sorry; I don’t understand what you are saying. ❜

❛ I don’t understand why you’re being so kind to me. ❜

❛ Don’t be defeatist, dear. It’s very middle class. ❜

❛ What is a weekend? ❜

❛ We should see more of each other. ❜

❛ I look like a prized calf trussed up for auction. ❜

❛ Your reputation precedes you. ❜

❛ Ever since I was a child, I felt like greatness was in store for me. ❜

❛ You don’t look as though you’re struggling. You look … radiant. ❜

❛ I will love you until time has lost all meaning. ❜

❛ There are many versions of you, and you know that I’m the only one who sees them all. ❜

❛ You aim to rile me. I like it. ❜

❛ Will you join me for dinner? ❜

[shaunamilfman]

It’s been so long since I’ve sent an ask in, i fear the kids will think we’re in a divorce. So today I came to offer up a situation I believe in 1000%.

Jackie Taylor in college not knowing how to flirt with women, so whenever she meets you for the first time she doesn’t know how to talk to you. She ends up buying those stupid men’s pickup artist CDs, the like late 2000s type. She believes it completely and thinks that this is how you get girls and buys like the whole box set. It comes with douche clothes, a small notebook of pickup lines and a huge textbook along with like 10 CDs. Literally any normal person would know these lines and tactics would absolutely not work, but she’s convinced herself. So she tries approaching you in a bar and when you don’t follow the script that the pickup artist said you’d respond with, she gets nervous. She pulls out and skims through the pages of a huge book that in VERY bold letters on the front reads, ‘HOW TO GET WOMEN’

She eventually gives up on the textbook after she sees the weird look you gave her upon seeing it. Just ends up taking a bar napkin and writing “Do you like me?” With 2 options below that read “Yes” and “YES”. She’s looking at you like she’s so proud of herself that you cant help but circle the option in all caps. (She thinks that means you’re dating, immediately)

excellent ask as always bro. feels like we haven't spoken in soooo long. waiting by the window for my husband to come home from war. checking the post office every day for one mere letter from the front lines 😔

the way that little book is the only thing jackie's taking notes on before she got to college. she bombed her first exam and is like "omg how do you study in college???" and then looked at her 10 pages of notes from "chicks 101" and a lightbulb lit up

jackie has the best pickup lines written down and her phone and keeps checking the notes app as shes walking towards you (walks into a pole). forgets them immediately the second she starts talking to you (you talked first and she forgot what she crammed) but refuses to admit it and tries it anyways. completely flips the line around. like "you're the only ten i see, are you from tennessee?" and immediately winces.

screams into her pillow atleast once a week. did not realize that flirting with girls would be so fucking hard. no one tells you this thing. she almost misses when she thought she was straight. the shit was soooo easy. she's so good at flirting with boys that she's still pulling them without even trying.

also jackie for fucking sure memorizes how she wants conversations to go in general when she's nervous about something i feel and the second someone goes off script she's like "hold on now". has to schedule a doctors appointment for the first time and they ask her a question she didn't have written down and she hangs up (they needed her middle name. she makes shauna call them from rhode island lmaoo.).

peering over jackie's shoulder and she's got 20 tabs open all along the lines of "how to kiss", "how to tell her i like her", "how to flirt with women when you look straight", "how to be her friend in a gay way", "lesbian. girl pretty. help"

jackie does NOT believe in situationships. what do you mean you're not in love with her??? you went on three dates?? she secretly sprayed her perfume on your pillow when you were in the bathroom and everything. yahoo answers swore it would make you fall in love with her

side note jackie immediately hard launches you after one date. queen. writing mrs jackie taylor in all her notebooks for sure. calling shauna up like "i found the one" and shaunas like "...where is she from?". "unimportant. anyways so on our date..."

you see a no faintly written under a shit ton of eraser marks before she changed her mind and wrote another yes. (was nervous about giving you the option lmaooo)

[writingraccoon]

tagging @origami-butterfly bc i think you'll be interested at least

So some posts about women in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and it's adaptations have been going around, so I thought I'd give my two cents that no one asked for.

In the original novella there is one important female character I can think of- The girl Hyde tramples. I have not seen any J&H movies or adaptations, unless you count the four episodes of Once Upon a Time that had a (bad) J&H plotline, but i have a decent impression of how most adaptations treat the women they add in.

First of all, I don't think adding women to Jekyll & Hyde is necessary. It speaks to the attitudes of the time that more women are not in the original book, but the book as a whole is inextricably linked with the attitudes of the time, and separating the culture from the novel serves to strip away much of its meaning. Perhaps casting the butler Poole as a woman, or even making Lanyon a woman could be reasonable ways of putting a little more diversity into screen/stage adaptations, but the novel does not even pass the 'two men talk to each other about something that isn't a man' test.

A piece of media does not need to pass the Bechdel test to be good, or interesting. Frankenstein, J&H, Les Mis, Dracula (iirc), and the Christian Bible are all, to my knowledge, things that do not pass the Bechdel test. They are not less valuable for that.

Many J&H adaptations add a love interest to be killed or spurned by Hyde, or a sex worker to be raped or killed to display how evil he is. I hope I need not say that adding a woman to your story just for her to be fridged to say something about a male character is FAR more sexist and hard to watch than a piece of media that just happens to have a lack of women.

At it's heart, Jekyll and Hyde is a story that needs few characters to be told. There is, of course, Dr Jekyll himself, his alter ego Hyde, Utterson, the lawyer turned detective, Lanyon, and Poole. Any other people that show up in the story are unimportant except for what they say about the main characters (pretty common in fiction. the family that dies at the beginning of the hero's journey is not important in and of themselves). The girl that is trampled by Hyde is there to set up how Enfield met him, and tell the audience how evil he is. The old man who is trampled is there to shock the audience and Utterson, and reveal a new depth to Hyde's cruelty. Now, there's something to be said for the fact that the old man is named while the little girl is not.

While pieces that are less adaptations and more inspired by J&H have far more freedom in what they add and what they omit- The Glass Scientists comic, for instance- adaptations that aim to bring the book to stage or screen should actually read the book before deciding what should take place. I would say that adding a love interest not only is unnecessary, but in fact actively harms the effectiveness of any J&H adaptations. Jekyll and Hyde is simply not about that. It is not a love story, (except, you could argue, the love for Jekyll that drives Utterson to become more invested in his hunt for Hyde) and trying to make it a romance interferes with the point and themes of the story, just like switching the perspective from Utterson to Jekyll messes up the story.

The reason why so many adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde fail to capture the essence of the original novel, is that none of the people in charge of them seem to understand the novel at all. They don't understand why Gabriel Utterson is not only not boring, but why he is the lens through with Stevenson chose to tell the story. They don't understand that Hyde is not a separate person, or an evil second personality, or anything else, but that he IS Jekyll, and Jekyll is him (which is an interesting point about humanity's unwillingness to accept the presence of evil inside of ourselves but i don't think most screenwriters are doing that on purpose). And they don't understand why, to put it simply, the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does not need the addition of a love interest, and in fact is better for the lack of one.

[golden-letters]

8 billion days happened today. 8 billion people experienced today differently. a couple of 5 years finally got engaged. a tired mother filed for divorce. a father got custody of his kids. a group of teenagers died in a war. men and women were dehumanised in concentration camps. then a girl went out with her boyfriend. and a girl was mocked for having a girlfriend. 8 billion lives were lived today. you’re just one of them. so take that how you will— whether you want to be depressed over your unimportance and misery, or be glad you’re here to experience life, although only as a fleck of dust.

[no-passaran]

It annoys me very much how every so often again all the popular leftist blogs on this site regurgitate the same "we should not make space for feminism in leftist spaces" discourse. Usually it's some post saying that feminism is bourgeois, that it's a distraction from class analysis, that it promotes capitalism, or that it's simply unimportant because the elimination of social class will eliminate any problem that might exist related to gender. Today, the post I've seen was making fun of a hypothetical woman who gives money to NGOs working for women's economic development, and contraposing it to a hypothetical "male organizer who doesn't know what feminism or a pronoun is" because his work in labour rights for "all workers" has improved the lives of women, followed by a long tirade against liberal feminism refusing to mention that most feminism isn't like that. Sure, good job for the male organizer, but if he's refusing to understand how gender interacts with labour issues, his work will always fall short and find problems. Class, gender, race/ethnicity, migration status, being trans, and other elements are deeply interconnected, and working class women have specific needs that also need to be taken into account. And I don't even want to imagine what he must treat his female comrades like if he cares that little. Actually, I don't need to imagine because I've been seeing it for years.

Every time I see these posts it makes me loose my respect for the poster, because it shows that they don't know what they're talking about and that their leftism will be a self-centred "making things good for me and not looking at how my behaviour impacts and harms others, plus I still want a servant at home who works for me without getting paid", but also this is the reason many women quit leftist activism. Not only our needs for everyday life are ignored and called unimportant, but women in many leftist spaces often get treated like secretaries who should be silent and obedient, and humiliated when we bring up problems that we face.

None of these are problems unique to the left, this happens because the left is part of society, and society is patriarchal. But it's a leftism problem because many men in the left use specifically leftist-sounding wording to humiliate women and force them into submission, and it's also a leftism problem because so many girls and women who do so much work in our organizations have to end up leaving because their necessities aren't met and because the organisation keeps proving that it doesn't care about putting them in danger, excuses the behaviour of our male comrades who humiliate, sexually harass, and sometimes even rape their female comrades. I've seen all of this happen for years in offline activism, it's a well-known (and constant) problem for most girls and women who are organized. And it's annoying and painful to see this harmful and sexist behaviour be promoted in the name of "haha aren't women stupid complaining about things that affect over half of the human population every single day, that makes them the same as a capitalist" like ????? Do you think before you post????

Please, I'm begging everyone to read the article "Why misogynists make great informants: how gender violence on the left enables state violence in radical movements" by Courtney Desiree Morris. Read it paying full attention to it, and rethink how you behave and what you allow in your organisations.

[nyxreads]

I see alot of Elain stans wanting to read about soft female characters and that is why they love Elain as the next lead of the acotar book. I get it. Please don't misinterpret what I'm about to ask but soft girls are way too overrated. This is why men easily step on women, because women are too soft and can become a doormat. Elain is "too kind", "too forgiving", and some stans hate "girlboss" but did one of you pause and think that maybe the reason why some people like girls like Gwyn or Nesta is because they are the representation of women who stood up after centuries of patriarchy? Women aren't lesser. We love to read more girlboss characters in fantasy books because they empower us. Just some food for thoughts but I love Elain too, she can show more flavor in the next books

Hi anon,

First, I want to clarify to you that (imo, I can't speak for all) but Elain stans don't really hate badass characters. There's that. And I don't really think feminine women are overrated considering how characters like Elide, Yrene, Elain (at least in this fandom) are overlooked because well, they don't wield sword or isn't bitchy enough.

The thing here anon is, instead of women empowering women (may it be fictional or real) it became a competition. Of who's better, who can wield sword better, who can kill, who can say the last word, who's fit to have a love interest. It comes to the point where some women especially in this fandom look at characters like Elain and decides they are weak because they aren't the kind of women (as per to your own words) who stood up after centuries of patriarchy. Instead of uplifting every female characters, women started tearing female characters down that they deemed boring or unimportant in the series.

Anon, there is strength in gentleness. There is strength in forgiveness, in fact according to research people who forgives tend to live longer and their hearts healthier. Just because women are feminine doesn't mean we are lesser. We have a vital role in the society, and whoever sees feminine women as lesser, are the real lesser one. Because looking down at somebody because they don't meet your standard of strength shows insecurity.

Most women are feminine anon, I think it's time for us to stop demonizing femininity. Hollywood fooled us hard, let's open our eyes, this is why it's very important to also see characters such as Elain take the lead and have her own book.

There's enough representation of girlboss character in fantasy series, and I have no complaint in that. But there's also nothing wrong in embracing your feminine side and wanting to see a representation of it on fantasy books.

And let me tell you, irl, it's not women who held guns that helped on the war, it's the women most people sees as doormat. In fact, during the WWII, men underestimated these type of women and thought of them as fragile and helpless but they are spies, anon. They became a big weapon in war. Women are capable of anything despite of their trait. It's 2023 anon, let's stop underestimating women because of their gentleness or because of their hobbies and desires in life.

Stop tearing down women (fic or not). Just because you don't relate to them doesn't mean no one does. Every kind of women can be a main character.

And this is long enough but OMG (I am trying to be calm, really) stop looking down at my sweet girl! Lol okay bye.

[non-fantasy]

!!!!! tell me!!

OKAY SO

i couldn't sleep until 1:30 am for unimportant reasons but . at 1:30 am, i was suddenly haunted by a question, right. there are these events in tokimeki memorial girls side 3 and 4 called ADV events, where you get to see a short story from the point of view of one of the main love interests. but like. why the hell was it called adv. is it an acronym for something? what does it mean

so at 1:30 in the morning, i went to look up what tokimeki memorial girls side adv means

i do not receive an answer from search engines

instead, somehow, google heard me ask "tokimeki memorial girls side adv meaning" and gave me THIS.

it's insane, right. it's really insane. this is a 27 page essay claiming that tokimeki memorial girls side (2002), beloved romance simulator, is responsible for teaching girls to view themselves in terms of real-life stats, that rejection from anime guys will give gamers self-esteem issues, and how to view yourself through the male gaze to win love.

i look at this 27 page paper and pass out for the next 5 hours, because it is 1:30 am.

BUT. when i wake up. i am READING. i liveblogged it all to my friend in discord dms (HI @nenestansunsthings) and here are. some INCREDIBLE highlights

"the game teaches you that men expect women to change their clothes from time to time"

the author has cited japanese 123 website, livejournal, and tumblr

"japanese players are more receptive to the series' lessons on femininity than overseas players because of the constant affirmations of the japanese cultural setting" the daily affirmations of being in japan

"players are encouraged to save before making choices and reload if they do not satisfy the object of their affections, teaching women to discard their desires and preferences to please men" HAVE YOU NOT PLAYED A VIDEO GAME BEFORE?!

the author can't make up their mind over whether the game has 7 or 9 love interests

they are basing their analysis on the first game specifically but they bring up the second and third game if it supports their point. but information from the second and third games is ignored if it undermines their point

example 1: they complain about rivals mode portraying women as jealous and willing to throw away their friendships for the sake of a man's love, ignoring that game 2 allows you to calmly talk things out with your friend and game 3 entirely does away with girls being rivals entirely, the game 3 girls are always on your side 100%

example 2: they bring up tumblr posts of fans talking about how they'd date the girls to point out how heteronormative the games are. they are talking about the first game. the tumblr posts are talking about a girl from the third game

weird racism

"this game MAY cause players to develop self-worth issues" "this game MIGHT cause players to see themselves in real-life stats" THESE WORDS ARE DOING A LOT OF HEAVY LIFTING.....

the author is WRONG???? ABOUT THE GAME MECHANICS????

they claim that a guy rejected their invitation for a date because they weren't smart enough but once they were smart enough they launched themselves into a monologue about how this is PROBABLY a guy wanting a girl who is smart enough not to embarrass him but not smart enough to surpass him

THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. IT'S RNG. THERE'S NO MINIMUM STAT REQUIREMENT TO ASK SOMEONE OUT HE JUST FLIPPED A COIN AND SAID NO

out of the four love interests they mention by name in this, THREE OF THEM HAVE THEIR NAME SPELLED WRONG

look at this fucking bibliography

they have cited, in order.

a shitpost

someone's entire blog

and all of tumblr's search results for tokimeki memorial girls side 3.

which is not even the game they're talking about.

[rose-and-thorn-fanfics]

The Mysterious Salvatore Brother (The Vampire Diaries Fanfic) Part 2: Damon x Plus Size Fem!Reader

When Y/n got home, she quickly ran up the stairs to her bedroom, tossing her backpack on the floor and getting changed into something nicer. Slipping on her favorite heeled boots, she took one last glance at herself in the mirror. The dark purple dress with mid length sleeves and a sun and moon belt highlighted her fuller figure. Satisfied with how she looked, she headed back downstairs, flip-phone in hand. She made her way towards the door, only to stop dead in her tracks as she heard her mother's stern voice.

"Where are you going looking so fancy?" Her mom asked, standing arms crossed in the entryway to the living room.

Y/n's heart pounded, as she turned, doing her best to smile convincingly. "I'm just going to do some research for a paper Mr. Saltzman assigned." Technically that wasn't a lie.

"What type of research requires you to wear such a revealing dress?" Her mom said suspiciously. "Is there a boy or girl you like involved in this?"

"Look mom, we're meeting at a public place. Mystic Grill, alright? The bartender is Caroline's boyfriend. I'll be completely safe." Y/n explained, exasperated. "Any more questions or would you rather me be late?"

Y/n's mom opened her mouth threatening to ask more, but closed it after seeing the expression on her daughter's face. "Fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so harsh on you. You're more levelheaded than I was when I was your age. Just be careful hun, ok?"

"Thanks mom." Y/n said, waving and leaving in a hurry. She lived only a short walk away from Mystic Grill, so she didn't need anyone to drive her.

The sun had set over Mystic Falls, Virginia. Streetlamps and car lights sparkled in the crisp night air. Y/n turned the corner and crossed the street, heading for the glowing red sign of Mystic Grill. Opening the door, she entered, slipping through the crowd of men and women as muffled music played in the background.

The table where Damon Salvatore sat was warmly lit. He set down his glass of scotch and greeted Y/n with his usual charm. "Hello there, lovely."

Y/n rolled her eyes, faking irritation as Damon looked her up and down with great interest. "Its just a dress I got from one of my older cousins a while back, you don't have to stare like that."

Damon laughed lightly, his suave exterior softening for a split-second. "I'm glad you made it safely. Did you bring something to take notes with?" He inquired.

"Yeah!" Y/n replied, fishing a small notebook and pen out of her purse. "So what's the amazing information you have on Mystic Falls that the internet seems to overlook?"

Damon reached down beside his chair and pulled some newspaper article clippings out of a folder in a leather satchel. "Tell me what you think after you read some of these..."

Y/n scanned the different articles, taking note of the similarities between each one. "Wow... some of these articles are really old." She said, noticing the dates. "How'd you get your hands on these--"

"--Unimportant." Damon interjected quickly.

Y/n glanced up at him, but decided not to interrogate further. "It is really... weird." she commented. "All of these stories talk about people being brutally injured by some unidentifiable animal... Like, what in Mystic Falls could be that big and get away without being tracked down or documented."

Damon looked over his shoulder, then leaned in. "It is strange. Maybe we should consider the possibility of it not being an animal at all?"

"Whats your point? You're saying a human did this?" Y/n said skeptically. "A human that bites people... so...?"

An older man bumped into their table, knocking some of the papers off. "'Scuse me," the man said gruffly, turning around and noticing Y/n.

Damon's expression changed from irritation to disgust as he noticed the man staring at Y/n's cleavage. Y/n mumbled something too quiet to hear, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"See something you like?" Damon said, challengingly. He got up from his chair and stepped between the creepy man and Y/n.

The man attempted to shove Damon, but underestimated how fast Salvatores reflexes would be. Damon grabbed the creep's arm and twisted it behind his back at an excruciating angle, dragging the man towards the back door of Mystic Grill. Y/n waited at the table a few more seconds before curiosity consumed her and she grabbed her purse, heading for the back door and exiting it to make sure Damon was ok. She'd never had men fight over her before, and while she had faith in Damon's strength against the pervert, she still wanted to be there to call the ambulance if her new friend got injured at all. What she saw in the alleyway behind Mystic Grill was not what she had expected to see.

The creep was battered and bruised, slumped against the brick wall by the back door, and Damon, covered in the man's blood, was licking the crimson liquid off of his fingers with a kind of inhuman dark enthusiasm. He then pulled the man up by the collar of his shirt, his eyes turning red and the veins in his face turning dark. Damon began biting and drinking the man's blood from his neck.

Y/n stood, frozen, unsure of what to do in her state of shock. Her mind started to put together the information from the newspaper articles she had seen. Damon was the one harming all those people in Mystic Falls through the years. He was dangerous, beyond anything else Y/n knew. Damon Salvatore was a vampire. Yet Y/n couldn't look away. She didn't feel bad for the man as he lay on the ground, bleeding out. She walked towards Damon, almost in a trance.

Damon stopped feasting the second he noticed her approaching. "You shouldn't be here." Damon said, wiping the blood from his mouth on his sleeve.

Y/n kept approaching until she was only a few inches away from Damon, who was still panting from the thrill of his sanguine feast. She ran her fingers over his chest, leaning in and standing on the tips of her toes so she could plant a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Damon."

Damon looked confused and simultaneously pleased. "You're really pushing your luck, beautiful. Aren't you even slightly worried I'll do what I did to him, this time to you?" He said, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"You saved me." Y/n whispered, blushing.

"Not sure if you caught on, but I'm a--" Damon started.

"--Shhhh." Y/n interrupted gently. "I know. If you wanted to hurt me you would've done it already. Now, are you alright? This is all his blood, correct?"

Damon nodded, still confused, but not enough to stop from saying something smug. "I didn't think a shy girl like you would be so cool with this. You're either a masochist or have a death wish. Either way," he smirked, leaning in and kissing her passionately on the lips.

Y/n blushed deep red, knowing this was her first kiss, and possibly her last if Damon changed his mind about keeping her around. She felt extremely brave, and more than a little overwhelmed by how amazing it felt.

[cowboyjen68]

Hello, I’m sure you get comments like this all the time, but I’d like you to know that your blog means a lot to me. I am by no means the only queer person at my school, or even the only lesbian, but I am the only butch lesbian there. It can feel very isolating sometimes. Seeing butch women out and about is always a rare treat, and I’ve had the privilege to actually speak to one only once. So, the internet is where I find a lot of influence for my style and behavior.

I can’t express enough how grateful I am to have you as a role model, especially as I approach adulthood, it can be hard to picture what my life might look like going forward. Seeing the things that you post motivate me not only to dress how I want right now, but to continue to stick with it. Because I know that I’m not the only one.

Thank you for being here, sorry for the long ask!

I am happy your found me out in the interwebs. When I was young, high school age, I wore things that were adjacent to what I really felt confident and comfortable in because I didn't want to be see as "manly" or different from the other girls. Sweatshirts and t shirts, Jeans and cheap K Mart tennies were my go to. Middle of the road fashion that could be suitible for boys or girls my age. Casual.

I woudl day things like "dressing up is stupid" and I didn't "like it putting on nice clothes" but what I really meant was anything perceived as appropriate dress clothes for women my age made me highly uncomfortable. The dresses and skirts, no matter how plaid did the opposite of making me feel special or confident. I felt awkward and weird, ugly and outcast.

Time, age and the encouragement of my lesbians friends gave me the courage to wear what I thought I might look good in (with the help of my femme first girlfriend) and I started dressing for me not everyone else. I wanted to look good and attractive but only to those who were important. (other lesbians).

I didn't want to make a huge effort to be unattractive to men or the straight world. Their judgements became unimportant as I found a style I enjoyed seeing in my own mirror.

I have many butch friends (now) but it was not always so. And in general we are still a smaller population among all of my lesbian friends. But i have had 55 years (30 years out) to build and enhance my friend group. Don't give up. You are not alone or an anomoly. You are one of many kinds of lesbians and other women will come into your world who share your experiences or have an appreciation for how you experience the world.

[a-halfblood-named-coin]

“it feels like the adult women characters are only there to further the men's plot development”

yeah,  cause they’re side characters, that’s why they’re in the show AT ALL

There is totally a conversation to be had about women in anime, how they are not treated equally to male characters of a similar place in the story (think Uraraka vs Iida or Sakura to Sasuke). There is talk to be had of female characters existing as eye candy first, characters second or how even young girls in anime are not expect from perverted camera angles or disgusting jokes. BUT that does not mean it is wrong for a show to treat side characters AS side characters.

No one in Buddy Daddies is as relevant or gets as much screen time as Kazuki, Rei and Miri, because they’re the main characters. Why should a show treat it’s side characters with the same level of attention and detail as the main ones? I can agree that Misaki’s dismissal from the show was rushed, but that doesn’t mean the writers of Buddy Daddies are these, like, horrible sexists. And besides her, the only other relevant adult women is fucking Anna-chan, and she is honestly stellar for being an fairly unimportant side character. She's a strong, mid sized and very realistically written woman.

But then you could argue that Buddy Daddies should have had more important female characters, and I would argue back, why? Does a show have to include women to “prove” they are not sexist? BD as a show has a very slim cast as it is, adding more women just to add more women would be silly. I feel, that in BD’s case, all the side characters are equally as shallow and appear only when necessary. From Kyu, to Misaki, to Karin or Ogino, they only appear when the story needs them, because that’s their purpose. Giving Misaki more time to grow may have been nice, but it would have nothing to soften the blow of her dying right when she was trying to turn her life around. It would not have added anything to the shows messaging or themes, it would be filler in my opinion. This show is about three people, and them only, if you’re mad that a 12 episode story didn’t dedicate enough time to its side characters, I don’t know what to tell you. They didn’t have the run time to give Misaki a three act character arc, so she did her job in the story and nothing more. The women in buddy daddies are treated the same as the male characters of the same caliber, that’s equality not misogyny.

And before you say, “but only the women died” Miri’s dad is killed in the first episode, Rei watched a man fall to his death and Kazuki stabbed a guy through the throat. I am POSITIVE more men died in this series than women.

[neuvilyney]

Hi hi hi! I was wondering if I could get a HSR male character match up! 💕💕 Personality- I would like to think im more on the shyer side, however when im with my friends I get very extroverted. My friends would describe me as more childish, and joking alot. For my friends that are abit more different, they would say im an attention seeker and have a fake personality. (lmao im not saying its wrong I say most of the stuff I do for attention)

I’m good at managing things and bossing people around, I have big aspirations

Style- I would describe my style as girlish and croquette (without the vintage aspect) I love pink and my whole closet and bedroom is filled with it. My favorite animals are cats and frog (i have a frog plushie w me as im typing this 😭🫶) Im following more of a wonyoungism style (if you dont know what this is, its a lifestyle mainly around self care)

Type- I am more prone to dislike traditional men and traditional relationships as a whole. Id like a man who’s quieter or funny thats soft in the inside. I also like a man who’s protective.

Thank you so much!! Please take your time and remember to drink water and take care of yourself! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

for my "picture you" event!

Someone who's both as darling and as headstrong as you deserves someone who can match your energy and give you the lavish lifestyle you deserve. <33

𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵…

....𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦!

Aventurine presents himself as a very confident and sly individual, used to having women and men alike swoon at his feet with the drop of a coin. That's why you intrigued him so much. You, with your adorably feminine attire and reserved nature. Shy girls were nothing new to him, but shy girls who knew how to command a room in an instant, knew what they wanted and how they wanted it, someone with aspirations as grand as yours? Now that intrigued him. Everyone knows Aventurine likes a good challenge, and naturally, he'd be the first to pursue. It'd start with offering to buy you a drink, and then before you know it, your wardrobe would be filled with all sorts of rich attire that he knew caught your eye (and his).

He's used to flings, a good night in bed or a coffee and that's that. And yet, he found himself yearning to be by your side. In meetings, where you're frequently spoken over despite having better ideas and things to say. He's the first to shut down whatever unimportant things the other person was saying, gesturing for you to continue. Or in public, where he notices the way you act differently in certain situations for the reaction you want. He can't help but cater to you, especially if you're wearing something he bought you. Just makes him feel especially protective over what he thinks of as his.

Due to his past, he's carefully crafted this cunning facade as a man in charge, loud and proud of building his way to the top. You'll see a lot of that at first. But, if you manage to break down his walls, he finds that he enjoys the quiet moments with you. Letting his guard down for a change and simply basking in your presence.

And a bonus, Aventurine would for sure have a skincare routine. Alongside a favorite cologne and a picky color palette for his wardrobe. But if you come to him with your own products wanting to try them on him? Say less, he's down.

❝ -I'm sorry, what were you saying before our dear colleague so rudely interrupted? Yes, yes, about the budget cutbacks this month. Keep going. And you, if you open your mouth one more time before she's done speaking, I'll ensure it never opens again. Understood? ❞

- Ky ♡♡