#as well as men going on about how they'd oppressed for not being able to “express themselves with makeup” of sorts

[left-the-room]

the way radblr mocks non-binary identification as some "I'm better than you women" is a huge lack of empathy to gnc people.

There's this idea that it must come from a place of disdain for women and by expressing a bit of differentiation from the stereotype, one thinks themselves a different category. I think that erases the experience of growing up gnc and standing out for being different even unintentionally. It erases the isolation and the reprimand that may come with deviating for deviating from gender roles. And the fact most women around you may never appear to be burndened by the roles you don't obey.

I think radblr has a more general hard time grasping not all women are born gnc and hating the patriarchy. We do know these women exist it's just I see people really not getting what the internal experience of that is like. And I get that. I can't understand what's like to never have hated dresses or to want to look "pretty" and want to date a man. We've got to acknowledge we all come from different places when it comes to feminism. It's easy for me to hate the beauty industry and heterosexual marriage bc I was born hating it. It's different for a woman who's attracted to men and to whom makeup is an important part of life. It's also different to have conformed to gender roles and then find freedom in not doing so. Just... try to have some empathy and see where people are coming from to try and create actual dialogue.

radblr hot takes? 🔥

what nuanced take do you feel easily shamed for on radblr?

[canichangemyblogname]

Actually, no. The shippers in the 911 fandom who primarily complain about Tommy and his past don't actually care about Tommy's past or his actions that contributed to the previous toxic workplace environment and harassment at the 118. Not everything is about a fucking ship, believe it or not, yet the only time they bring up his behavior is in relation to shipping. And because the only time they bring up a valid critique of Tommy's character is during shipping "discourse," I'm convinced it's not brought forth in good faith. Finding a way to tie everything to a ship—especially things like racism and misogyny—is cheap and tasteless. Not everything is about "shipping;" shut up about the shipping.

I don't think they actually want to discuss how white queers contribute to the marginalization of others, including other queer people, by weaponizing the patriarchy and/or white supremacy in their favor because so many of them are fellow white queers themselves. They don't care about how Tommy inadvertently, because of his past, provides a realistic portrayal of how white queers divide or hurt the larger community because of an inability to find solidarity with people of a different background, culture, or race (especially if it would "inconvenience" them or if it does not directly benefit them, like Chim saving Tommy's life). White people would rather choose misery and isolation over standing with or up for non-white people. White people are generally not willing to put in the work to build community; they'd rather contribute to the system or fly under the radar to avoid being shunned by the structures they, and the Ol' Boys Club, benefit from, like white supremacy or the patriarchy. Most white queers would rather be complaisant, complacent, and complicit. It's the white queer's adherence to oppressive systems that divide the community, not people's calls to tear those systems down. And it's only the white queer who can change their perspective on this.

Tommy only has himself to blame for his jealousy and alienation from a supportive and familial community, and only he can take the steps to ameliorate the situation. Tommy was an absolute fucking dick to Chim and Hen, and that has had long-term consequences on his life. Only he can correct for his behavior. He contributed to a toxic work environment, referring to Chim as a Chinese takeout delivery man, actively participating in Chim's hazing, and telling Chim that he did not like the man (mostly because he didn't know him). He would later call Hen "bitchy," and the men of the 118 would leave the "domestic work" to her as they did Chim, actively contributing to her hazing. He did not (verbally) stand up for her, iced her out, and also contributed to a homophobic work culture that made same-sex attraction the butt of jokes. He contributed to this toxic culture to fly under the radar, and that directly hurt people he should have extended a hand to.

Unfortunately for most of the fandom, this is, ultimately, a show that loves stories about redemption and resolution. And there is actual, explicit (meaning, non-subtextual) evidence that Tommy has put in some work to remedy what he did and who he was (including being able to 1.] own up to his past actions, 2.] understand how he hurt others, 3.] recognize why he did what he did and how that it is an explanation, not an excuse, and 4.] begin to make amends or rectify the situation, like reporting Gerrard and changing his mind about Hen and Chim). Hen and Chim would not have invited him for drinks regularly if they thought he was "irredeemable." The 118 would not have thrown him a going away party if they disliked him. Chim would not call in favors from Tommy on more than one occasion or even describe him as "so cool" if they weren't—well—cool. Eddie wouldn't enjoy ring-side fights and basketball games with Tommy if he didn't enjoy the man's company. Tommy also clearly refers to the type of man he was in the past tense, implying change over time. It can be argued that he has not put in enough work, but that's not what's being argued. We're getting bad faith arguments that Hen, Chim, and Eddie hate Tommy or bad faith arguments where Tommy's past actions are only brought forth as some sort of "gotcha" when a fan prefers canon representation over homophobic fan fiction tropes. You don't have to like Tommy, but making up non-textual reasons to dislike him is absurd.

Tommy, as a character in a narrative, provides a lesson for the general audience (GA), the majority of whom are white. It's not just important to see queer people on screen; it's important to see white people learn and change and admit they were wrong. It's also important that the show—well—shows the GA that whiteness and man-ness affect people's perception, position, and treatment. Tommy isn't just a gay man; he is a white gay man, and this has had a direct impact on how he navigates the world and how the world interacts with him. Gerrard treats men like Sal and Tommy differently than men like Chim or women like Hen, and staying in Gerrard's good graces—like the good graces of oppressive power structures—requires one to conform to a very narrow definition of a "real man," like being straight, white, palatable (like... not kinky, not risqué, not queer, all the things the fandom seems to actually hate Tommy for), and not helping oust regressive figures from positions of authority for the way they treat your coworkers. The audience got to see how Tommy went from being the prodigal son to being openly mocked by men like Gerrard. And it's important to show the GA that someone can and will be happier if they go against the grain and that admiration from men like Gerrard means very little in the grand scheme. Tommy is happier now after having been "rebuked" by men like Gerrard than he was when he strove for their praise and acceptance.

It's also important to show that men like Gerrard and his beliefs belong in the past, even though they exist in the present. This is a network TV show. A non-zero number of men like Gerrard catch this show weekly. It is still important to show that Gerrard is not the "type" of man anyone should aspire to be. His beliefs and actions are not commendable, and the show is very heavy-handed about this. The show is going to once again compare Gerrard ("bad captain") and Bobby ("good captain") to show how Bobby has created a good legacy at the 118. It began this parallel with Bobby Begins Again, continued to reinforce Bobby's good legacy in Buck's coma arc, and then revisited how Bobby has had a positive influence on the lives of the 118 in his season 7 montage. Now, the show is going to compare and contrast him and Gerrard to reinforce how important Bobby is to those around him. The show will also continue its inadvertent parallels between Buck and Tommy, showing how Buck is a different man under similar circumstances because he has had good influences (re: Bobby, Hen, and Chim) in his life. Buck and Eddie's relationship was shaping up to be very similar to Tommy and Chim's relationship: oppositional because of one-sided disregard and dislike, but it didn't because they had a good influence: Bobby (given the rather... fucked timeline, Tommy was likely newer to the 118 when Chim joined and, like Buck, his hostility and posturing were also likely influenced by insecurity and a desire to secure his position at the table).

Most unfortunately for many, the show is also going to show how Tommy has changed due to the same influences (re: Bobby, Hen, and Chim). They wouldn't have re-introduced both Tommy and Gerrard and mentioned their dynamic on more than one occasion if they weren't going to do something with that. Season 7 set up Tommy's upcoming arc very nicely. He knows the man he was, he knows the man who shaped him into that, and he knows how and why that was wrong. We'll get Tommy confronting his obvious daddy issues, jealousy, and desire for community (and why he didn't get a family-like dynamic at the 118, re: Gerrard *and* Tommy's own behavior). Tommy has been explicit about this, literally telling Buck that he envies the relationship the people at the 118 have and mentioning that he was not a good person, and this played a part in why he didn't have the same rapport.

9-1-1 is not a perfect show, but it does reflect some of the positive changes of our time. It's important to see representations of comp-het—like Buck, Tommy, and Michael—and how it negatively impacts people's character or relationships, and then how they—the character—can amend that. It's important to see stories that depict how silence is complicity and how refusing to be silent—as Hen refused to be—makes change and changes minds. It's important that the show reminds the audience that Hen is a black lesbian and that this has impacted how people see her and treat her, but that she is just as capable, if not more so. This includes men like Chim. Because I see nearly none of the people who "critique" Tommy in the name of "shipping" ever bring up how Chim has leaned on the patriarchy for support and a position at the table. He may have been the kindest to Hen, but he was by no means normal about women. And it is important to see how non-white men benefit from the patriarchy even as they are victimized by white supremacy. It's also important that the show shows the GA that non-white men are not affected by white supremacy equally, as Michael and Harry have had discussions about blackness and police brutality, a conversation that Chim is never going to have to have with his children, but that doesn't mean that Chim won't have to one day have a discussion with Jee-Yun about how and why some people treat her differently.

But the fandom approaches everything in a very... Catholic way. They don't approach this from the view that people can change and should be pushed to change; rather, they shun people like they've been marked by original sin. The structures we live under have deeply affected each and every one of our worldviews. "You are not immune to the propaganda" includes your personal philosophies and ideologies as well as the things you were taught since you were a child, consciously and "subconsciously." But, people would rather condemn everyone else as "irredeemable" than look critically at their own behavior out of fear of being "one of the bad ones." They'd rather *not* accept the fact that everyone has learning and changing to do as that would reflect upon them, too. This leads to being very resistant to being told that you're mistaken, you've hurt others, or that your behavior and beliefs contribute to repressive, dangerous, or toxic ideas (and we've seen a lot of that; y'all do not create safe online spaces). This leads to a lack of personal change as well as a lack of change at the interpersonal level because rather than teach or challenge, they stick up their nose and turn the other way. "Their barbaric bigotry; my enlightened neglect."

So, really, they've learned nothing from a character like Tommy.

[ashcatnicole]

Don’t keep updating! We hope men like you are having a bad time, no need to read about it :)

well if you don't like people being themselves and wanting to share how things do get better, just, like, ignore it?

Also there are no men like me, technically, for 1 I'm a woman, and 2 we're all unique, but I know that second one is not how you meant it. but that's what my first one is for :3

you know I have all the time in the world to argue with you, and I won't shy away from doing so.

hating on people for being able to be themselves and for getting better is a realy bitchy move.

is that what you are? a bitch? Little bitch girl?

what, don't like it if I call you a girl? well too bad, because I don't like you wanting to be a man so why should I talk to you like you are?

You'll always be a girl, no amount of beard and toxic masculinity can change that uwu

feel bad, doesn't it?

and completely unnecessary

are you scared of people having the pride and bravery to be themselves? why? can you not? because the people around you won't let you? well tell you what, buddy, you're those people. You are why people are scared to express themselves, be their individual self, scared to fucking exist.

Is that what you want? People who got taught to hate themself killing themselves because of you?

That's honestly embarrassing, and that's a big understatement.

Also you know oppression of freedom and expression is how a lot of bad, really bad stuff happened, right?

Sure, there are rules, but what you want aren't rules, that's just hate.

And you can't defend yourself with "well, that's just my opinion, stfu". Hate is not an opinion.

It's an emotion, in cases like this often resulting from fear, envy, misunderstanding, etc.

Of course just because you got raised like this, doesn't mean I will not blame you. I Am blaming you. You have to learn to be yourself, to learn new things, also about things you don't like.

Do you know what queer and neurodivergent people are going through?

Do you know what those things even mean?

If you know that, and still hate it, then I will allow it. Just don't pull other people in who are already struggling. There are communities for people who think like you, and I'm sure they'd love to listen to your takes and they'd agree with you and add to it. But out here, nothing good will come from it.

Don't think you hit me with that btw, darling. I've heard much worse stuff. I only write so much because I assume the autism, also im bored and have a lot to say uwu

Anyway, it's dinner time, so I'll leave you with that :3

Maybe you will think about it, get into it, form an actual opinion on it, maybe not. In that second case, keep it to yourself and the people that think alike though.

Also I might add: Aksing this anonymously is the first sign you're a fucking pussy

[radkindoffeminist]

Ahhhh sorry for the little rant/vent I'm going to go on I just kind of wanted to share my thoughts with someone sorry for the mass of text imma bout to go on🙏

to the anonymous trans man that told you to give him a blow job with the results of hissurgry, thats gross and you didnt deserve that and the dick complications are inevitable but it was also the most female way to send that?? Like any male would've sent a violent rape threat but look at that ppl born women just don't

2. did you read inauthentic selves? If you didnt, its some investigative journalism taken down when originally posted for transphobia but it's been saved by other and can still be found. And its really everything every radfem tries express. Didn't fact check it myself though but when I'm free I really do wanna

3. did you hear about self id in Scotland right now? Sorry for the questions I'm just curious about your thoughts I like how you write

4. everyone wants to call it the "bathroom debate" when talking about letting trans women in women's restrooms and honestly that's smart of tras bc they know talking about the changing rooms/lockers is harder to argue so just boil it down to bathrooms. You're in and out for restrooms- yet men still assault ppl- but they can't quite argue why it's totally okay for ppl with penises to be able to strip to their underwear in front of women

5. everyone talks about trans women in women's prisons- bc fair- but ignore trans men in male prisons. First, beginning to see a pattern of poor trans women trying to say they're oppressed for women nor trusting them in their spaces bc they're "trans" and not bc they're literally born men. But nobody wants to let trans men in male prisons. Bc they'd die/get raped. Bc men can't be trusted with anyone with a vagina. Trans man in a male prison walks into the shower room/uses the unsanitary restroom where others can see and have a vagina/clear evidence of phallioplasty? Just straight dead. So both trans women and trans men are safer in women's prison? Shit I thought no sex was inherently better/kinder/safer than the other

6. nothing big but I had some trans men talk about the "gender euphoria" of being able to walk around the beach without a shirt after a double masectomy- which I like to call it instead of top surgery bc doesn't sound quite nice now. And like bestie???? Of course it makes you happy????? A natural part of you isn't being sexualixed by society?? Going barechested with no chance of harassment is like a dream to me? I know that's sounds a bit dramatic but I'm a person I like the sun too I like rolling about in the sand too. It's just such a personal big deal to me. You know that one post about hiw some girls get the "luxury" of spending girlhood as a sexless little thing. And thats not true youve still got gender roles to be forced to but at least youre a little protected from sexualizatuon. Well amyways I'm an immigrant american and got to swim barechested like the boys when little and now that I'm grown in America I can't and i had another point but I lost it now. It's just, those little things that bother me. The big things too of course

7. I had an eating disorder starting in middle school, 6th grade. I was a little 12 year old starving and I won't share specific numbers but it was bad. I just kinda wanted to thank you and radfem tumblr for being a major part in moving me into a better mind set. Those posts of how "you're pretty as you are" never worked. Being able to look into why society/patriarchy is the root cause and not a natural state of my mind gave me control, learning to empathize more with women got me to realize my mother my aunts my mother's women friends my female teachers and all the rest of the women in my life I regularly look up to or emulate are all ppl I emulate not bc of their looks, and that focus on women being women no matter the differences in our bodies was all so so so freeing and solidifying and grounding and eyeopening. Anyways, thank you. But I'm really horrified to find my stomach really has shrunk. I've been nauseous for a while now trying to eat enough again and grow it. And I think about it now with the feminist perspective you've helped me develop and I'm just horrified what I did to myself. I can see I shrunk my stomach, what else did I do? What else to my body or organs? What else to my development? My mind? I firmly believe eating disorders stunt growth in puberty- the last largest developmental stage- for women so much, call it intuition. But I guess that's the point

8. Something I've heard from male Healthcare practitionars is that women don't really develop more after periods become constant(not skipping around playing truant like when you first get it) and I just think that's absolute bias bc just being a women looking at my friends grow they're change so much. I got my friends together and we estimated between the 20 of us we've grown 1.8 inches average after our periods got regular. We've all felt our bodies change. We hold fat differently. Just that constant bias in everywhere even Healthcare

-drag queens suck but remember vine? Remember those long videos of men with shirts/towels on their heads being "funny" but videos of women with fake mustaches/wearing flannel shirts being called embarrassing? And now how on tik tok men get to do the same thing while women don't really do the opposite anymore to get any views. There's the beard filter but it tisnt the same and isn't as mocking

10) I feel like terms like fat phobia, ageism and similar words that have been brought up are just to disconnect from seismic. Like it's just sexism, or at least mainly sexism. Like fat men will pretend to be oppressed when fat women are the ones most effected. Old men I don't even wanna defend myself for, it's just Old women getting a raw deal

11) I was never comfortable around trans women like I am around regular women. I use their pronouns bc path kf least resistance and i dont really care. And tras always act like that's bias I need to "unpack". Well they got me to push down my intuition and think I'm bad for thinking it but all it took for me to peak was to freely think about why that is. Answer: they're born men, stupid you literally know better

12) well actually it'd be more accurate to say I really peaked when saying lesbians aren't attracted to penis became bigotry. Like mf leave those ladies alone and "unpack" your cognitive dissonance

13) I don't hate trans people. I think they suffer mentally and should be supported. But everyone's just being nice calling them a man/woman. Like it's not your true identity stfu. Like using the wrong pronouns will make them kill themselves? Bruh chill if words hurt you that much it's sign a mental illness. But of course, saying that's unhealthy is also bigotry

14) apparently lgbtq+ being together is for the betterment of us all but like. Lgb ppl would literally have such an easier time without trans ppl in everything? Sexual orientation and gender identity are two seperate things like damn

15) want to again thank you for opening my eyes into why I always kinda knew gender identity is stupid. You're right gender doesn't exist and gender stereotypes are literally so strong despite ppl acting like misogyny is over. A explanation for gender I could finally accept without cognitive dissonance and this one post about the amount of glaad focus on trans ppl versus other opened my eyes right open

16) I tried to accept trans ideology so hard bc the way they try and make it is is either their stance or violent conservative stances that don't even belive women are ppl. They make a fake dichotomy and boom, I accepted their thoughts bc between the two choicespresented, knew the better one. Anyways, all those term blocklists and misinformation are totally bc you ruin the dichotomy they love. Like, they'll always talk about conservative men. Trans youtubers pull up conservative tweets and shit all the time. But for you, suddenly we don't engage. Suddenly, it's a block. It's a dni, it's a weird ass shinigami eye. Bc engaging with you is mentally satisfying. And then when nobody intervals with you, lump them with conservative men to preserve the dichotomy. Actually seeing what you have to say and your understanding and your actually putting women first was like something clicking in my mind.b

16) trans ppl literally nake life hell if you're gender nonconforming. Ppl start saying your an "egg" for just fucking being an unshaved woman. Like oh my god shut up I'm tired of you. And then other ppl against gender non conformity? They were calling ppl a boy/girl for stupid stuff like which toys you play with when i was a kid and now? They also call you trans man/ trans woman. Tras talk about how terfs side with conservatives but both them and tradition gender roles ppl act like a girl is a boy for not liking skirts they can't run in. Like somethings wrong if a girl wants short hair that won't tangle and won't have their moms brushing it out in the most painful way possible with little care

17) I've had more ideas but I've lost them 😭. Just know that im really changing the way i livs my life with the radical feminism ive intercated with on this site. Sometimes I'm sure it might not feel great posting here, but you've helped me a lot. Anyways have a good day and a happy new year!

1. Yeah, I get that. While it was fucking disgusting and it’s normally men talking about forcing their dicks into lesbians, you’re right that she was much more polite than typical men. Really reads like a woman playing at a male power fantasy -disgusting and horrible, but nearly as violent as men normally are.

2. I remember seeing it at some point and I can’t remember if I ended up reading it or not? If I did then it was long enough ago that I’ve forgotten it but I should probably check it out again.

3. Yes, I did. I live in Scotland, lol. I honestly don’t know what effects it’s going to have as it’s about the changing of legal documents, though I can’t imagine any of them are going to be good. Self-ID is pretty much respected here by most places already (I went to a bar a couple of weeks back where the bathrooms were labelled as ‘2 stalls’ and ‘1 stall, 1 urinal’) so it’s not going to be the day to day things which are going to change but any statistical recordings: crime reports, % of job applications by women, etc.

4. Yep, and even then they show complete misunderstanding of all their arguments. I’ve seen things like ‘I don’t care who’s in the stall next to me’ which is true, but I do care if they’re going to peer over to watch me or put on a spy cam to make porn of me or sexually assault me when I’m out of the stall? They put it down to being weirded out that a male might be pissing next to you.

Then they argue that the bathroom in your own home is gender neutral, ignoring the fact that the bathroom in your own home is shared between you and the people that you live with or any guests that you have over. It is not shared with dozens upon dozens of strangers who may or may not have the intention to just pee and get on with their lives.

And yeah, it’s literally always the bathrooms in which they argue this stuff. They don’t discuss changing rooms. They don’t discuss shelters/rape crisis centres. They don’t discuss wards on hospitals. They don’t discuss care homes. They don’t discuss prisons. All these places where women are much more vulnerable than in a bathroom and which will also be affected by self-ID laws but which they could never argue aside from saying that it’s wrong for trans women to be excluded and that there’s no way men will abuse self-ID laws in these spaces.

5) Because everything TRAs say ends in contradictions. Trans men should, by all accounts, end up in male prisons. But actually they’re safer in female prisons so let’s just leave them there? Suddenly, safety matters when discussing trans prisoners but almost no other prisoners - especially the female prisoners who are forced to be housed with TIMs!

6) That’s one of the things which is so difficult to explain to TRAs and get people to understand: women are so heavily sexualised and constantly being watched, so being able to just feel free must be so good! I understand why they feel the way they do but doesn’t make it gender euphoria.

7) I’m sorry to hear that your struggled with an ED but glad to hear that you found something which helped. I also always hated the ‘you’re pretty as you are’ rhetoric because while I understand why it was common and supported, it still lent into that misogynistic view that women exist to be eye-candy for men rather than accepting that women are people who deserve to just exist in peace.

8) I hadn’t heard the regular thing before. I heard something about how you supposedly stop growing something like 18 months after starting periods? Which sort of worked out for me. Either way, the female body is so understudied that it’s difficult to know what’s true and what’s old wives tales these days.

9) Yep. Hundreds upon hundreds of videos of men just mocking women. Though I have to say that I’ve been lucky and TikTok has also had some really feminist trends. #womeninmalefields is probably one of my favourite trends. Weaponised incompetence has picked up. I know ‘married single mother’ is a term which picked up a lot and women resonate with it. It’s good to see so many women jumping on these feminist trends and getting the word out because I’m sure it’s helped women, even if many don’t think it applies to them.

10) There’s something to be said about ageism existing, not just because older women are erased from media but also because of active discrimination against ‘Gen Z’ employees as they are considered to be inherently lazy as well as laws like minimum wages which discriminate against younger employees. BUT I do agree that there is a heavy cross over with misogyny specifically, especially something like medical misogyny/fat-phobia has a high cross over.

11) It’s always the ‘unpack this’ and ‘unpack that’ as if you are not within your right to just be uncomfortable with a whole ass man in a women’s space. This is why I hate that they’ve attached themselves to LGB and use terms which oppressed classes used: they can continue to act like other people’s discomfort is that person’s problem because, as the cis oppressor, they are the one with the privilege and the progressive people around them have to accept it because they support trans people as an oppressed class.

12) ‘Lesbians can like dick and it’s actually bigoted of them to not’ is probably the most common reason for people peaking. When I ran peaktransstories (before it got banned and when I used to borrow the stories from r/GenderCritical in the good old days), it was by FAR the most common reason which caused people to either peak or at least look into these things.

13) Same as me. I don’t hate trans people for ‘being trans’. I think many of them are struggling with their identities, especially where their identity is rooted in internalised homophobia and/or misogyny. For those who are struggling with dysphoria, I think they need a lot of mental health help. I hate some trans people/allies for spreading misogyny, homophobia, and other hate, but I do not believe that all trans people are like that./

14) I hate how much trans people have become a parasite to LGB people. Like, it’s not even the being in the movement together, it’s the wanting to centre themselves into every conversation and acting like because trans people from decades ago fought for LGB rights that it’s then their turn (even though said trans people were LGB and ignoring all the actual LGB people who fought for LGB rights?)

15) Aww, I’m glad my blog was helpful for you!

16-1) Same! I really did try to accept it and put it down to one of these things which I was never going to fully understand because I am not trans, but the inconsistencies and gender stereotypes really got to me! And then you come online and it’s suddenly very culty. Like I don’t know any other group who openly says like ‘don’t follow these people, don’t read their posts, don’t understand their points’ and tries to convince people that they’re consistently actively lying and manipulating you! Healthy groups encourage viewing the opinions of the opposing side, understanding their views, and then disagreeing with their actual views.

16-2) ‘Egg’ stuff is always so annoying because it’s almost always something like ‘I liked something which is seen as typically really girly/masculine’. You can just like a thing? What happened to trying to break gender stereotypes?

17. You had 16 ideas and you still had others that you forgot?

[magiclwritings]

"Stop."

The word stood on it's own and Cesare felt the room come to a stand still. With three pairs of eyes on him the unease he'd felt was damn near oppressive at this point. He looked down at Quintus' hand on his thigh and prayed to the Gods that had been enough to keep him quiet but he'd seen how things turned out when he asserted himself. He'd managed to save a hell of a lot of people under this castle's roof and he'd be damned if he was going to allow the one he'd saved the most to go back up for the grabbing.

"I can't let you keep throwing yourself to the fire for everyone." His own hand slid over Quin's and he squeezed tightly. He wasn't about to like the admission and he'd wished so badly they'd had time together before this meeting but there it was. "It's my fault the knife was left behind." He sat up straight and looked his father right in his eyes. He could see the doubt coming to cover his features but the prince pushed forward knowing that by the time he'd reached his story's end, then maybe he'd have the grace to see there were no other choices he could see. "I gave it to Quin's ... likeness." The bile swelled in his jowls but he kept pushing. "Well, not exactly gave but threatened him with. I saw when they'd ridden in to the grounds and I thought that it was Quintus on horseback with their uncle."

Cesare could feel Max staring at him the hardest of all. Mostly because he thought him jealous, at least that's what Cesare was telling himself. He'd went on a Hail Mary of an adventure and this time he couldn't come. Or maybe not jealous but something else. A lot of big emotions were swirling around and it was nearly as dizzying as the actual events that happened. "When I found him in his chambers we had started talking and it took me a moment to realize it wasn't. The room was dark and ... I ... I think my emotions got the better of me." The flush on his cheeks was hot and fast. His father cleared his throat and the prince promptly continued. "After a small altercation I was able to get him to take me to where Quin was being held and ..." He trailed off looking over at him, knowing how furious he was with him that moment but needing this too much to spare any detail. "He was bad and Beau offered to switch him places. To save him. He took my dirk as some sort of protection." He sighed and glanced over at his father, shoulders slumping finally.

"I'm glad that you've told me son." His voice was gruff but warm and it made the chilled feeling leave Cesare's body if even for just the moment. "I don't suppose it matters how it happened though." He eyed Quin carefully and then his son before he turned to Max and sighed. "I suppose this comes down to you and I." He sat up straight and turned his full attention to him now. "If you believe you still hold sway over your court and country then maybe we could avoid this." He hadn't heard of any discourse aside from the random gossip he'd received from scouts here and there on their way through the countryside towards home. Nothing more than his own home would have.

"People can't actually think that your own brother would try to kill you. Not so soon after your parents and .." He'd stopped then realizing he was just talking to two young men that had in fact lost their parents and were working on losing their country as well. "Forgive me." He cleared his throat and instead took the three of them in as a whole, his son in particular. "We need to get them home. Maximus has to take his throne and we need to sway whatever public opinion for the better of you two." His hands rubbed his face, smoothing over his eyebrows as they slid back in. "Vivec needs it's rightful king. She needs guidance from someone that loves her and he people." He smiled warmly at Cesare and then to Max. "Do you think you'd be able to make the journey if we left in two days time?"

Everything happened very quickly once they approached the castle. 

Swarms of guards opened the gates, parting like the sea to reveal Maximus in the center of them. Quin had already been looking out the carriage window, his limbs restless from not only the hours upon hours of travel time but also from the drugs leaving his system. Returning to Adros and being in control of his mind and body was a relief. But nothing compared to seeing his older brother standing there, waiting for them. It was like breathing fresh air for the first time. He couldn’t help himself; before the carriage stopped, Quintus was opening the door and jumping to the ground.  He ran towards Max, who braced himself to embrace Quin, and then the brothers were hugging. 

Quin thought he’d never get to hug Maximus again. 

“Q,” Max said, squeezing him tightly against his body. Usually, Quin would protest this. Mumble something about Max messing up his hair or clothes, but he leaned into the hug this time. He didn’t let go. “I knew he would bring you back in one piece,” He whispered into Quin’s hair, and then the brothers finally did pull back, gazes meeting, but Max’s flickered over Quin’s head, and his brows furrowed. “Or…two?”

Quin turned around, rolling his eyes as Beau dramatically exited the carriage. He hated the way the boy clung to Cesare’s side like he was fucking helpless, but that was a problem Quin would have to solve later. “It’s a long story.” 

He knew there would be a lot of explaining to everyone, but he knew Cesare was antsy in informing his father of everything that had happened. “I only have enough energy to tell it once, so you’ll have to wait until we meet with the King.” Max slung his arm around Quin’s shoulder just as Cesare and Beau approached them. “Do you know where the King is, brother?” 

“When the scouts saw your carriage approaching, he instructed me to meet you all at the gates. He will be waiting for the three of us in his private quarters.” 

Quin nodded his understanding and then turned towards Xander. “Beau will be staying in the connecting quarters to mine. Please escort him there and help him get settled. Do not leave him until I’ve returned.” 

“Um,” Beau’s eyes narrowed, and he cocked his hip out. “This is my story to tell, too. I should be there with the King.”

Quin shook Max’s arm off his shoulders and stepped towards Beau, who stumbled back into Xander. Xander reached out to hold him steady, a hand on his shoulder. “You will go where I tell you to go to your room. No arguments. I will call for you when I have time for you.” 

Maximus shuffled closer to Cesare, the shock written all over his face. “This is my worst nightmare,” He whispered, nudging his best friend. 

__________________________

When they approached his quarters, the king prepared food and tea for them. Quin barely had more than five minutes to wash himself and be helped into clean clothes. He sat in the middle of Maximus and Cesare, feeling the king's heavy, exhausted stare on him. 

He hadn’t done his best to win his maybe future in-laws over. 

“Welcome back, Quintus,” The King spoke, eyes flickering between Quintus and Cesare. 

Maximus busied himself, loading food on a plate for Quin and himself. Quin didn’t touch it, his stomach uneasy and protesting. “Thank you, Your Majesty. If it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have left Adros. Regrettably, a foe captured me in a weak moment and forced the decision on me. I was dragged back to Vivec, where I was kept prisoner. When I attempted to escape, I managed to free Cesare’s men but could not journey back myself.” He touched the healing wound on his chest, flashes of that night replaying in his memory. 

“I want to thank you for promptly securing my return to Adros. I know the risk involved in sending Cesare to retrieve me. I would not have made it out if it wasn’t for him.” Quin dropped his hand into Cesare’s lap, squeezing his thigh affectionately. “It is a debt I cannot repay but one I am incredibly grateful for.” He turned to Cesare, shooting him a small, shy smile. “But I fear the retaliation from this will be drastic. Most details are hazy, but I can tell you there was an altercation with my uncle. I managed to find the dagger Cesare had gifted me, which my uncle had taken from me previously, and I subdued him. Unfortunately, I had to leave the dagger behind as I could barely get myself out of there in time. I fear he will use that against us.”

Quintus looked down at his hands in his lap, looking naive and innocent and playing to the King’s softer side. “I wasn’t in my right mind. I…he...-since I was returned to him, he’d been drugging me to keep me contained. I wasn’t in my right mind most of the time. All I could think about was getting away from him, trying to survive. Every physical blow between him and me was done by me and me alone. No one else was in the room. Xander and Cesare will vouch for that. If I have to pay the consequences, I will, but no one else should have to except for me."

[vampish-glamour]

The ask about radfems being right made me want to rant. The sheer vitriol against TERFs (including graphic rape threats which automatically makes them look sympathetic) made people forget some important points

1) radfems, and people who believe in radical ideologies, are very good at presenting the milder points of their philosophy. No radfem is dumb enough to go to someone like "men should be castrated before puberty for the safety of women", they'd start with something much milder like "I hate how teen boys get sex ed from porn at a young age" or something like that

2) the same line can have different meanings depending on the person. "We must protect vulnerable ethnicities at risk of genocide": a normal person might mean, I don't know, indigenous people being erased, and you might agree. But what if it's a white supremacist saying that, and he meant white people being replaced by mixed race people and immigrants? Very different context. Radfems employ similar strategies: "a dress doesn't make you a woman" can mean "gender is not tied to gender expression" or "trans women aren't women"

3) a broken clock is right twice a day. Just because a radfem says that the sky is blue, doesn't mean it's actually green. Just because she denounces Jessica Yaniv (because no one else does), doesn't mean you have to defend that person. Just because she says that the number of AFAB enbies who say "I'm nonbinary because I hate common women experiences like pregnancies" is worrying and might hint at internalized misogyny, doesn't mean she isn't right about that. Again, it's the entire context that makes radfeminism repugnant, but you can agree on some points for very different reasons.

And besides, we all know the woke left loves almost every radfeminist points except "trans bad" and "queer is a slur", so they don't get to complain :V

Mad agree (also I want to clarify that the ask wasn’t about radfems being right—it was about their base level claims often being right and easy to agree with, as well as easy to understand where those claims come from. And that’s how people go down the road of getting into the radical stuff, and ending up being batshit crazy radical feminists/terfs).

Your point about starting with milder takes is exactly what I was trying to get at with my response to the ask—and you gave a great example. On the surface, the take “I hate that teen boys get sex ed from porn” is an overall agreeable one. Porn is a terrible place to get sex education, in the same way medical shows are terrible places to learn what it’s like to be a surgeon, and cop shows are terrible places to learn what it’s like to be a cop. It’s all incredibly unrealistic.

So arguably, radfems are right when they make that surface basic claim, as it’s not a radical feminist exclusive claim. But then they manage to twist “teen boys are getting sex ed from porn and that’s bad” into “we should just castrate teen boys because men are inherently rapists and porn makes you a rapist”. And I would hope most rational people would go “holy shit wtf” to that claim.

And with the flexibility of lines, I see that a lot. I mean… it even happens with far right vs far left. Remember that post that said “white people shouldn’t adopt non white kids”, and a bunch of far leftists were agreeing because they believed white people adopting non white kids was racist… and it turned out the post had actually been made by a far right white supremacist, who believed that non whites were inferior to whites.

Terfs definitely take that into consideration. To myself, “a dress doesn’t make you a woman” means that dresses aren’t necessary to womanhood, and the lack of dresses isn’t necessary to manhood. To a terf, “a dress doesn’t make you a woman” means “trans women are men in dresses”.

And yes, thank you for pointing out the broken clock thing. Because obviously a radfem can say something sensical. Not everything that comes out of a radfem is necessarily radfem beliefs… so trying to act like anything a radfem ever says must be terf rhetoric is ridiculous. It’s just that most of the stuff radfems are “right” about are those surface level claims (again, like “a dress doesn’t make you a woman”) that aren’t actually radfem belief. It’s when you put that statement into the context they see it in, when it becomes radfem belief. That still doesn’t make the base claim wrong or radfem, though. Just the context radical feminism gives it.

Even “queer is a slur”… that’s not radfem belief. Do a lot of radfems believe queer is a slur? Yes. But something tells me that’s less about them being radfems, and more about many radfems being wlw (or at least claim to be wlw). The ones who aren’t claim to be allies (despite likely supporting political lesbianism). So is it really that surprising that a group largely filled with wlw, people who think they’re wlw, and people who think they support wlw, is against a homophobic slur being treated as if it’s not a homophobic slur???

I also agree that terfs are able to rack up a lot of sympathy from the constant hatred thrown their way. I know we all dislike terfs. But aggressively hating them is exactly what they want!!! Because then they can say things like “they’re silencing us because they don’t want to hear the truth”, or claim victimhood because clearly everyone hates them because something something patriarchy misogyny sexism. I’ve seen so many terfs take pride in the hatred they get, and it only solidifies their beliefs and turns others towards them. So no, constant “fuck terfs” posts don’t do any good. They just fuel the fire of the radfem oppression complex.

And it’s completely true that a lot of progressives actually would agree with radfem beliefs in full context, as long as it didn’t have “radfem/terf” attached onto it. And as long as it had nothing to do with trans people. Mainly anything talking about how evil men are.

Anyways, great points!!

[thehollowprince]

The way Mason Hewitt gets utterly erased by fandom, replaced by Theo to be Liam's friend and anchor. And I think one reason he's left out of fic so much is because as we've discussed he is basically Fanon!Stiles. And to have him around in a story with Fanon!Stiles would look suspicious because... they're the same, except Stiles is actually nothing like fanon. And they'd rather *die* than portray intimate scenes with Mason because they find Black people disgusting to be frank (pt. 1)

and I've seen it in every fandom. They gush about loving ~the gays~ but ignore canon gay/bi boys, esp if they're PoC. And it's all about straight yt boys boning, and what they get off on. And because they don't find Black or Brown ppl attractive, they get no love scenes. Mason was openly thirsting for Brett, but fandom was silent because "eww, canon Black gay expressing lust healthily?" And this is what we mean when white fangirls fetishize gay/bi male ships/dynamics (pt. 2)

And I touched on that yt fangirls will misappropriate progressive language when it suits their agenda. Like dismissing Scott as a "cishet yt boy" yet worshipping Stiles + Derek. And they often try to make that worship seem progressive by claiming Stiles or Derek are nonwhite/Jewish, or claiming werewolves are a allegorical oppressed group (no) yet ignore Scott is Brown *PLUS* he's a werewolf too, so they claim he's an intruder on ~werewolf culture~ and a colonizer (final)

You are not wrong in any aspect.

We've talked ad nauseam about the appropriation of mlm sexuality and giving it to the straight, white characters. And as you said, its almost exclusively the white fangirls who get off to two guys together rather in the same way that straight men get odd to lesbian porn. The fact that they don't see that they're just doing the very same thing that they hate men for doing is... well, sad is the first word that pops into my mind.

I know you don't watch any of the SKAM shows, but I experienced a similar problem over there. By far the most popular storyline across any of the remakes is the season three story, that being a closeted gay man coming to terms with his sexuality and embracing it rather than trying to suppress it. But the thing is, if you actually go through the tags, that's not the sense you get at all. Most of the people that watch these shows, or at the very least the ones who are the most vocal in the tags, are only focused on the romance in the story.

They didn't care the actual struggles of being in the closet and the journey that character has to go on to accept themselves. They just wanted to see two boys kissing. That became very apparent during the last remake to do that story, WTFOCK. They changed up the timeline and didn't introduce the love interest until the third episode, and those three weeks were just filled with constant complaints. This was further compounded when we saw the main character, Robbe, do what a lot of closeted young people do, and he tried to have a relationship with a girl, hoping that it would "make him normal". The tags were littered with homophobic jokes about how Robbe was "secretly straight" and it was extremely disheartening, especially from the fandom of a show that preached acceptance.

And you can't call them out on this behavior. I did and half the fandom blocked me because I, an actual gay man, wouldn't let a bunch of horny fangirls be the voice of a gay man's struggle. I was also bugged down with anons (similar to the one that's haunting my inbox right now) claiming that the reason they were so keen on the love interest showing up was because he was a "healthy representation of mental illness". Of course, they then went about proving how much they didn't actually care about that by spending the entire season trying to diagnose Sander at every opportunity, but the romanticizing of mental illness is another matter entirely.

To circle back to the point, we were given actual, healthy mlm representation on Teen Wolf, but fandom outright ignores it in favor of focusing on a non-existent relationship that was based entirely on negative stereotypes. But that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? They don't care how their behavior actually affects gay and bisexual men, so long as they get their own sexual satisfaction. You point out how having an adult and a minor in a relationship just reinforces the predatory gay pedophile stereotype that the Christian Far Right have tried to categorize us as for decades (if not longer) and they cry "it's just fiction!" But these same people talk about the stigma of unhealthy body types for women because the girls of these shows are skinny and petite while able to run marathons and fight of almost anything.

This is never more prominent than when they continously call for more LGBT representation, always mlm and never wlw, and then go out of their way to ignore that representation because it wasn't what they wanted (ie. completely thowing out their stories for Stiles and Derek and devoting everything to making them a couple, often at the expense of everything else.)

The term double-standards clearly means nothing to them.

And we could shout until our voices are gone about the racism in this fandom, but those who perpetuate it don't care enough to listen. They don't want to hear how them going out of their way to erase or put down Scott, the Latino lead of the show, at every opportunity is racist. They don't want to hear how them taking all of Scott's most prominent attributes (his compassion and loyalty and persistence) and giving them to Stiles to make him more palatable is racist. They don't want to hear how them completely ignoring the canon gay characters, who are also characters of color, in favor of taking straight characters and "turning them gay" is not only racist but homophobic.

They don't want to hear any of that. They want to live in their little fantasy world where everyone recognizes their genius and that they right all along. The real kicker is that I'd be more than happy to leave them alone in their own little world, but they refuse to be put out to pasture, hence the reason Athena is still jumping on pro-Scott posts, or that someone posted anti Scott content in the Scott McCall tag, or the ever present anon. They refuse to leave us alone so we have to rehash these same arguments over and over in the futile hopes that maybe this time it'll stick.

[loopylivy]

I think what I need is to be able to be "rotten" without pulling away from someone. Maybe I'm too selfish as well. I have no capacity to handle someone else's problems right now. No space I mean. I feel so troubled by my own troubles but I also feel like no one else would be able to support them. And I can't support someone else deeply if they aren't supporting me. Tbh just thinking aloud I think part of why I'm so discouraged about men is that I think I could take care of him and be loving and understanding but I doubt I could earnestly receive that. Or that he would even understand me. I know like.. one? two?? men in this town who are as close to not sexist as they can be. I think another thing I wanted to express is that I will almost certainly be in a hetero relationship, cause I'm barely queer?? or it's like in a gray area idk?? But I wish men and women could love each other the way gay couples do, without the power dynamics of a history of oppression and submission. And I've got these opposing feelings because part of me kinda wants to please men and feels validated by doing so, but another part of me doesn't even forgive them for being born with advantages... partly because it feels like they don't want to know. They'd rather not look under the curtain. They'd rather not understand how sucky it is. I can't keep the fantasy alive for them. I wish I could go back to some long ago age maybe a fantasy maybe not, where I would be loved for myself not for being a woman. For my wisdom or gentleness, not for submissiveness or flattery. For my humor, not for my outfits. Not saying this can't happen but I miss a time where it wasn't tainted. Even as I am part of it.

I'm so into men sometimes. I like being beautiful and gentle in their eyes. I like when they are gentle too. I like the way they look in dress clothes.

I want to take care of them. I like being taken care of by them.

But this is only a piece.

I also need to be rotten. Disheveled, unhelpful, existing in my own capacity. Unforced.

I'd like to love a man like walking on a slice of the moonlight. Beautiful and delicate and quiet and kind.

When I go away he'd understand. We could hold each other in our separation. Across the lake he'd see me and blink with gentle thoughts.

And I'd lie my cheek against my pillow and blush and smile wet tears of gratitude.

[itspatsy]

Part of me thinks JJS2 didn't want to acknowledge they'd majorly dropped the ball on race in S1, so in S2 they amped up the "Jessica is a part of a minority group" aspect, had a black woman say "you people," to turn the narrative even further away from Jessica's own white privilege, and destroyed Trish, who was a viable target because she wasn't a traumatized white woman like Jessica - she was a RICH white woman. And they were desperate to avoid their fuck-ups so they made Patsy a patsy.

okay, so this turned into a long, generally incoherent rant that starts with “this show absolutely fails at dealing with race” and ends with “wtf were they even trying to do with trish’s story,” and it should probably be separate posts or better yet just not posted at all, but it’s all generally related to this ask, so whatever. it’s a mess, i have a lot of confusing thoughts, ignore me.

rather than acknowledging the mistakes of s1 regarding race and trying to course correct, the show definitely seemed like it decided to double down. before the season started, as it was becoming clear they were going to do this “prejudice against powered people” thing, i was really weary about how they would handle it, and apparently my instinct was right. 

to start with, it felt kind of pulled out of nowhere. realistically, sure, people would be weary of powered individuals, but it hasn’t really been fully built into the fabric of the mcu or the netflix mcu as a realized form of bigotry. it was also really only a thematic element in the first half of the season, and they made no effort to really explore it and its implications before they tossed it out and changed gears. it was just there to be used as a device for conflict and drama. 

and it’s such a ridiculous thing when you only have one powered person in the show that’s experiencing that bigotry and she’s a skinny white heterosexual cis woman? like, the most direct parallel for this wasn’t misogyny or homophobia, but racism, and they didn’t try to tell multiple perspectives about it. having a black woman say “you people” at jessica was the most tone deaf bullshit, like, i could not fucking believe it (and then they later killed her off in the most disposable way, which is a whole other issue, and something this show has done repeatedly). they had oscar, a moc that had been in prison (of course), start out the same way, seemingly expressing bigotry and getting “righteously” called out for it by jessica. then there was pryce, another moc, aggressively going after jessica, trying to steal her business, calling her an animal because of her anger and powers, and he “never takes no for an answer” and jessica gets to be like “how rape-y of you” in what was supposed to be a moment of #femaleempowerment. but it just feels like white lady empowerment at the expense of poc. 

but hey, gotta pile on to show how very oppressed jessica is in every aspect of her life, right? which, yes, she has absolutely been oppressed and violated and traumatized, and that is so important and real and should never be diminished, but the show didn’t attempt to contend with the ways she’s also privileged and the ways she’s been able to use it to her advantage and having her acknowledge it (including the fact that having powers, being able to protect herself, is an incredible privilege instead of only the awful burden it’s been portrayed as and she’s always interpreted it as). i probably wouldn’t have even said they’d need to explicitly deal with this under other circumstances, if they were focused on telling a different story, but they’re the ones that decided to make analogies to racist prejudice and have poc express it towards a white woman, so they put the expectation on themselves to tell a nuanced story about oppression and privilege and intersectionality, and they didn’t do that at all. they clearly weren’t actually interested in talking about prejudice in a serious, meaningful way. 

but here’s the even bigger issue: the show tries to present itself as being feminist, but it can’t be feminist when there are no women of color in main roles or even supporting roles. it makes no effort to tell the stories and perspectives and experiences of woc, and that is an absolute failure. it’s inexcusable that they made no effort to fix this. it absolutely doesn’t help that the woc that are actually present in small roles keep getting killed off unceremoniously. i had some hopes when i saw that they had females directors that actually included some woc, but i don’t think they have any in the writing room, and that matters SO MUCH. it makes such a difference, and they could’ve probably avoided so many of these missteps if they just had other voices represented in the creative process. i just saw a headline with melissa rosenberg where she says, “oh yeah, i totally agree with the criticism we don’t have enough women of color,” okay, except this is not a new criticism, people were saying the same thing after s1, so if she agrees with it and cares about it, why didn’t she do anything about it while they were making s2?

the show has sort of attempted with men of color, in that they actually exist in the cast, but it doesn’t handle them well at all, some of which i mentioned before. then you’ve got malcolm. the only lead character of color in s2. he was set up to be the moral center of the show, but there was no real follow through. he was ultimately treated like an afterthought in most situations. he just? disappeared? constantly? when shit went down? i lost count of the number of times i was like, “umm, where the fuck did malcolm go? is he all right?” and the characters around him were pretty consistently awful to him. jessica almost always treated him like shit. his relationship with trish was a train wreck they both kind of contributed to, but trish turned on him pretty epically, and the emotional fallout for him wasn’t really dealt with. and the writers told his “proxy addiction” story in the laziest, grossest way possible (sex? really? that’s all they could think up? and then to use it as excuse to have him treat women like they’re disposable and faceless?). they just clearly have no respect for him. 

it’s such a mess, and s2 was probably worse than s1 in this regard, and there’s no reason it needed to be. this isn’t an impossible thing. when people tell you, “hey, you fucked up. this is how,” you don’t double down or pretend it didn’t happen, you listen and you do better. this should be a show for everyone, not just white women. 

turning to trish, since you mentioned her: i’ve mostly tried to avoid post-s2 reviews, but one of the few i read described her character arc as a critique of the white savior mindset. i highly doubt that’s what the show had in mind. as we established above, careful thoughtful commentary about race is not this show’s strong suit, and writing a critique of the white savior mold wouldn’t even occur to them. i could kind of see where the reviewer was coming from, there were some flavors of white savior-ism in trish’s behavior, but they had to pretend she had never experienced an ounce of hardship in order to make it fit. this was basically the conclusion: “trish is rich and has a family and could never under poor traumatized orphaned jessica’s life.” nevermind that money doesn’t stop you from being abused and traumatized, that a family member was her primary abuser, and that living in poverty and wanting money was the motivation for her abuser to sell her out. this take also ignores the thing driving trish the most. it wasn’t “i want to help people, and they should listen to me because i know best” or even “i want to be special, i want to matter.” it was “nobody touches me anymore unless i want them to.” she was tired of being the victim, of never feeling safe. that’s why she wanted powers. it was muddied by the writing, but it really is as straight-forward as that.

i think trish being rich has likely had some influence in the audience diminishing how she was violated and abused in most every kind of way (physically, emotionally, sexually, financially), but i definitely don’t think the show went after her for being a rich famous white lady as a cover for its various racial fuck-ups. i don’t think the show even really tried to contend with or acknowledge her rich white privilege anymore than it tried to contend with jessica’s privilege. if anything, it tried to do the opposite by showing her to be belittled and demeaned and disrespected by everyone around her, similar to how they were upping the ante on jessica’s oppression by having her face bigotry about her powers. granted, it’s clear the audience had an easier time relating to jessica (probably partly due to the money and fame aspect again; also partly because the narrative backed her up more: for instance, the dynamic of having trish envy the privilege of jessica’s power, but the show seeming to say “oh, gosh, trish just doesn’t understand it’s not a privilege at all, it’s a terrible burden” even though that’s kind of ridiculous, as i mentioned earlier). the execution was shitty, but they were definitely still trying to show that trish’s life was not good and people treated her like she was nothing and worthless in a way that paralleled jessica’s treatment.

tbh, rather than punishing trish for being rich or whatever, i sometimes got the vibe they were actually punishing her for daring to have ambition, but that probably wasn’t on purpose, just an unfortunate implication of the way they treated her in general. at first, i’d assumed they were trying to tell a story about addiction and the ways it can destroy your life, and they just sucked at handling it with any kind of thoughtfulness, but now i think that’s being too generous. they didn’t even really try to grapple with the reality of her addiction and mental illness, so much as use it as an excuse to make her more unstable and put her in a position where she’d keep escalating things. 

i read an interview before the season dropped where melissa rosenberg talked about female anger (or, as the reality of the show is, white female anger), and anger definitely was a theme for all the female characters. if you recognize trish’s main motivator as mentioned above (protecting herself from further abuses), you can see where it fits into this theme, and that it wasn’t just senseless anger and was driven by vulnerabilities and never feeling safe. so, i don’t know, i guess trish’s story was maybe intended to be about an abused woman finally being so goddamn fed up with victimhood and disrespect and belittlement that she decided to take what she needed instead of quietly waiting for other people to acknowledge her humanity and treat her accordingly. that she finally said “fuck it” and tried to find her own power and become her own hero. except, if that was the story, the way it was executed was, wow… exceptionally awful and not remotely clear and not at all done in a positive way. a storyline like that could’ve had the potential to be powerful and affirming and perhaps empowering (once again, for white women at least), but that’s not the story they ended up telling. 

like, i honestly don’t get what i’m supposed to take away from it. they seemingly gave her what she was after, but they spent the entirety of the season shitting on her and had her destroy everything good in her life to get what she believed she needed, which was really just to feel safe. what’s the point here exactly? you do you boo and fuck everybody else because it’ll pay off? don’t have dreams and ambitions for yourself because they’ll make you heartless and selfish and you’ll hurt other people? the desire for power always corrupts even when you’ve been a victim and just want the power to protect yourself? trauma doesn’t go away and can make you do terrible self-destructive shit that you think is helping you but actually isn’t? drug addicts are awful, amirite? what. are. they. trying. to. say?