#Why Lit

[sungod7-fuckyoupearl]

you look worse as a god btw.

i feel like someone hasnt told you that in a while.

/@reaperofmenlit

What the fuck, man. Why me? Why is it always me?!

[problemnyatic]

the steven universe hate is insane bc people are (or at least were) more upset that fictional war criminals got fictional hugs than they recognize that it singlehandedly advanced queer rep in children's media by lightyears and then straight up ate heavy retaliation for the nerve.

It does have real flaws that are worth discussing, but it also put their male protagonist in dresses and skirts and played it straight and even empowering, they aired a lesbian wedding on television, it was a genuinely queer, genuinely diverse piece of media through and through. It did a lot of real good for the real world.

But also the fictional characters caused fictional harm to other fictional characters, and didn't get an onscreen firing squad sentence. So, you know, it's basically ontologically evil in real life.

[missinyouiskillingme]

maybe I deserved better but I wanted you.

[stone-stars]

she revived the rats. do you understand? you have to, just... her party got strong off of stepping on the little guy. and lucy went back and said no, and brought them back. rats! no one cares about rats. her party members have a joke about how many rats they've killed. lucy went back and healed them.

[soracities]

Edna St. Vincent Millay, from "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why", Collected Poems [ID'd]

[pemberlaey]

nobody does chapter titles like charles dickens

[langernameohnebedeutung]

ngl, I'm beginning to take issue with how in conversations about anti-intellectualism almost automatically, the face of girls and women will be slapped on the problem.

[shisasan]

𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟷, 𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟹 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝙾𝚏 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚣 𝙺𝚊𝚏𝚔𝚊, 𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟶 -𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟹

[ID: July 21. Miserable creature that I am. END ID]

[mournfulroses]

Mahmoud Darwish, from The Adam of two Edens: Selected Poems; "Why Have You Left the Horse Alone?,"

[inkskinned]

you have to be sexy but you have to be sexy in a way that's kind of bloody. you learn this early because you are wearing a ruffled skirt and the snow around your ankles kicks little sand particles against your calves. baby's first catcall. welcome to sexiness! welcome to the eyesore of your own body!

you have to be sexy like high heels. like sculpted eyebrows. like lean stomach and highly treated hair. you have to be sexy like youth is sexy, which means you have to be sexy like boxtox and plastic. a 30 year old can be sexy but she's not going to be bloody, and they like the bloodiness of it. a 30 year old is sexy when she is a whiskey glass and a wooden desk.

but you need to be sexy like an open mouth. you need to be sexy like a bitten apple. like plucked skin and white-knuckling the waxing kit.

so sex is a performance, not an enjoyment. for a while, you just assumed everyone else was also in on the joke - nobody actually likes sex that much, right? like, some men probably do, but why would you? it is like a gender - your gender is sexy. your gender is the performance of sex. you are thigh highs and garter belts. which, to be fair, do make you feel sexy.

part of what does make sex good is that you can tell that other people want you, which means the performance of sexiness is both bloody and wanted, which is good, which means you are winning at having a body. being wanted is the prize. being wanted is the thing you are searching for, not hope. you think you are looking for a soft grave in easy loam, but that is bloody but not sexy. to be sexy you must be bloody like a red open sign. bloody like a handprint. this will make you wanted.

any wanted or unwanted body is subject to supply and demand, which is to say that the more demand, the better you are valued. you must be highly demanded to be valued. this is stated in matter-of-fact by some men. sometimes it is a priest that says it, and sometimes it is a podcaster, and sometimes it is the 45th president of the united states of america.

(if you do not have any experience with being told your value, i want you to grab the nearest bird to you and i want you to crush it into a thin paste in your hand. spit into the center, and then hold your fingers closed tight around it for days and days, long after the rot has set in. feel bones itch inside of your fist. this is only a fraction of what it actually feels like, but it will suffice for a moment.)

good sex feels like you have earned their desperation. you have earned your own value. for a while you operated under the understanding that everyone knew about the power structure, even him. that their desire to take you - the violence of it - means that you must desire to be caught. little prince, guardian fox - you would rather have cut your own arm off. you liked the secret, cunning little voice you keep tucked into a box. you think you are fucking me. i am not even here right now. you are fucking what i conned you into perceiving. this is a painting, not a person. dominion over the body before all things.

so you bend your body like a wheat shaft and learn the steps so perfectly that it almost seems graceful. (if you do not have experience faking your own connection to your body and sexuality, cut each of your articles of clothing just a little bit incorrectly. pour fishbones into each of your meals. this way, you will experience the average noon on a tuesday.)

you have to be sexy like light spilled over a desk, but not desperate. not a noose. you can't be sexy like an electric guitar, you are the acoustic. you have to be on top of the bull but you can't have control over the animal.

okay, okay. the little rabbit of your heart went to sleep so long ago that winter has ravaged your concept of the human soul. there's something very-bad inside you, something that has taken over, a little fetid and rabid animal, angry and hurting and willing to bite first.

oh but even that's a pain that's sexy. open your mouth. be careful not to let the canines show.

[official-english-major]

Truly no other fictional couple can match each other's freak like Odysseus and Penelope, because a normal couple reuniting after years apart would be hugging and crying, meanwhile odysseus is spying on her in disguise and she's gaslighting him to see if he knows about their marriage secrets

Like for a while there they were literally just both eyeballing each other distrustfully like:

[thatsnotahoodjason]

imagine tim drake passing his english lit classes purely because of his stalkerish obsession with jason todd leading to him hacking into jason's laptop and reading all his old lit essays and book blog

[zolanort]

so i had a stressful time with fire today

[missinyouiskillingme]

Can you hate someone for what they have done, but still love them for whom they had been?

Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes

[stagefoureddiediaz]

The fact that the Eddie we saw this episode was seen almost entirely from bucks perspective and he had this heightened full of life joy about him - that that is how Buck sees Eddie. As this light in his life - full of joy energy and life - even when viewed through his jealous not fully understanding eyes.

[lets-get-lit]

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. 

- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings