#but just because there is no way for a woman to win under the patriarchy does not mean there is no way for a man to lose

[yeetntve]

One time my Mum drove over a kerb and got her car stuck at a hardware store, and three different men just came over to help unprompted. The only thing they said about it was directly related to solving the problem, and in the end all three of them just seamlessly worked together to physically lift the front of the car so my Mum could reverse out. They succeeded, saving us tow truck fees and ensuring the nice afternoon we had planned was able to go on. They asked for nothing and we never saw them again. All it took was my Mum calling them her heroes, and those men were walking on air all the way into the hardware store.

I just think that maybe, just maybe, blaming the pain and suffering caused by our patriarchal system on men's individual nature is uhhhh, some bullshit.

I see the radfems out there saying that every man who's ever been born is a psychopath who's constantly looking for an opportunity to commit a felony and then I remember this one time I was really struggling to get a shopping cart out of another shopping cart and a dude came over to help me, but he couldn't do it, and then another dude came over to help him, and then another came over because it was a challenge he wanted in on, and then I had 3 guys all tearing at a stuck shopping cart, and literally none of them even needed a cart.

And when they got it out, they fist pumped and I said thanks so much and one of them said "easy." And then they left.

And it's like.

I don't think radfems go outside.

[pico-farad]

Asuka's problematic trait is that she's a Not Like Other Girls girl.

I love her so much.

This is how I interpret her beef with Rei — it's not jealousy over Rei having a crush on Judai, it's a very typical stage of teenage internalized misogyny where she blames other girls for the way she's been treated under patriarchy.

Rei: *winks at Judai*

Asuka: *malding internally* This is why people think girls only play Duel Monsters to find boyfriends—

girl calm down she's 13

Asuka has a very consistent storyline of having femininity — and by extension heteronormativity — forced upon her by the school, her brother, and even her friends. This is a classic Not Like Other Girls origin story; it's a frustration response from young girls facing insane pressure to conform to traditional femininity, which results in contempt for the feminine altogether. The frustration is displaced on Other Girls, because they're a representation of the traditionally feminine, and they contribute to the pressure to conform, whether directly or indirectly.

A huge part of Asuka's character is how she copes with the systemic pressure that girls face by putting up like five different layers of defense mechanisms, including distancing herself from femininity or even being perceived as a girl at all. Because she just wants to be taken seriously as a duelist in a male-dominated, misogynistic industry.

(the manga canon isn't the same as the anime canon, but I wanted to include it)

She has side-eyed EVERY other female character in GX for being obsessed with a boy — Junko, Momoe, Rei, Tania, that bug girl, the frog princess (I put a whole aside about her relationship with Junko and Momoe below)

Asuka, you're bombing the Bechdel Test.

I know it's bad that GX caricaturized all of its female characters other than Asuka to be boy-obsessed, but, well... it's a narrative that does resonate with the audience of young girls who were playing a card game made for boys in 2004. You can cringe at the bad feminism now, but I think that's the part that's charming and nuanced about Asuka.

Teenage girls mostly grow out of their Not Like Others Girls phase and look back at it with embarrassment (maybe because we turned Not Like Other Girls into another way to shame girls), but it is something that's worth exploring. Asuka is a genuinely kind person, and I think she too will grow up and realize how stupid and reductive she was being.

"a real woman" Asuka sweetie you're going to cringe over this in five years.

THE JUNKO MOMOE ASIDE:

Asuka is nominally friends with Junko and Momoe, but as the series progresses, she spends more and more time instead with her group of male friends. A significant portion of her interactions with them are her showing veiled judgment towards them for fangirling over boys, from tennis guy to Edo Phoenix to her brother.

And when she joins the Society of Light, that veiled judgment becomes unveiled.

Junko and Momoe are in the middle of losing to a sexist wine dude, and Asuka is so furious, her Not Like Other Girls instincts override the Society of Light brainwashing and she takes over the duel for them. ASUKA'S INTERNALIZED MISOGYNY IS STRONGER THAN BRAINWASHING.

Sommelier: Goodness me, I had high hopes for the ladies of Obelisk Blue. But I suppose to you, duels are like making tea or arranging flowers. Just one more skill you learn to land a husband. Just surrender, why don't you? Asuka: Wait! Junko & Momoe: Asuka! Asuka: If you two lose, there won't be any more students in the tournament representing the long-respected Obelisk Blue girls' dorm. I will carry on the duel. Naturally, I will carry on with their life points.

Even though Asuka would win if she used White Veil, the signature card of the Society of Light, she discards it in order to activate Hallowed Life Barrier. Because this is all her, not the Light.

Asuka: (I won't rely on the Society of Light's power. I'll win with my power from my days as a girl of the Blue dorm.) Asuka: Let me show you the power of Obelisk Blue girls. My turn, draw!

Neither of these scenes are girl-power-girl-solidarity moments. It's the opposite. Asuka takes over the duel because she doesn't want their loss to reflect on the entire Obelisk Blue girls' dorm, and all female duelists (therefore her).

When the duel is over, she contemptuously rejects Junko and Momoe, shaming them for being so bad at dueling and victim-blaming them for the sexist attacks they receive. Asuka spent the whole duel defending the Blue girls, but she is NOT one of them.

Junko: Asuka! Come back to the Blue girls! The way you dueled just now was just like old times! Asuka: You're so naive. This is why you get told that you only "practice." Protect your own pride next time. I am a member of the Society of Light.

Everyone who ships Asuka/Junko/Momoe as a default lesbian best girlfriends uwu ship get outta here, those three have BAGGAGE to unpack before any lesbianism can be achieved.

(I have more to say about these three and how it parallels Judai's relationship with Shou and Kenzan, but that's outside the scope of this post)

Anyway, that's why Manjoume is a better feminist than Asuka

[spacerockfloater]

"He thinks it's shocking to her. But she doesn't just get shocked, she gets excited by it. …I think what it's saying there is that young women want sex as much as young men." — Clare Kilner, House of the Dragon, S1 E4 "King of the Narrow Sea" Director on Daemyra’s sex scene in the brothel

I feel the need to address this statement because the liberal feminist undertones it contains upset me.

Like, what? Rhaenyra is obviously his victim. The fact that the director said this scene is meant to show us that young women want sex is so insane, because 1. Daemon is no fucking young man, he’s 34 and 2. this is the same fucked up rhetoric rapists have been using since the dawn of time, the “she wanted this officer!” card if you will. Daemon is not trying to teach Rhaenyra about bodily autonomy and agency, he’s using her and shaping her to what he wants. Removing the blame from Daemon, the known killmonger and abuser who is coercing this young girl and wants to damage her reputation so he can get the throne, and promoting it as empowerment and freedom for the young woman, is peak liberal feminism.

We came such a long way and fought so fucking hard for women to claim their positions in society as leaders and to become emancipated, only for patriarchy to use our own thirst for liberation against us and lure us beneath the boots of men again under the pretence that sex/ sex work/ plastic surgery and every other activity that benefits mostly men will set us free, when in fact it is slowly ruining us and guiding us back to our own prisons, just like it ruined Rhaenyra and the chances she was given. And we’re not even batting an eye! In fact, 90% of the fandom is wholeheartedly applauding her for it and this is so embarrassing!

I personally find it really important to recognise manipulation when we see it. Hollywood is a patriarchal construction. There is nothing liberating about sleeping around with men and this is not to slut-shame anyone. As women, we simply can’t thrive in a society that men run by giving them everything they want, while knowing that we are still not gonna be respected afterwards, even if this act is as pleasurable for us as it is for them. You do not become powerful by riding a dick while feeling that you do it for yourself, because frankly, men do not care about your feelings, they only care that you’re riding their dick. The idea that sex with men can be empowering for women is wrong. You can never gain power in a situation where you have to sacrifice something or satisfy someone else, because this means that your power is granted to you by the person who receives the pleasure and therefore goes as far as that person is willing to allow it to go. We can’t win that way. Rhaenyra didn’t win that way.

Rhaenyra being introduced to a world of carnal lust, infidelity and selfishness is neither empowering nor liberating. She is Daemon’s victim who is manipulating her so that he can get everything she has. This relationship is not consensual because the imbalanced power dynamic between them does not allow it to be. Rhaenyra is just a young impressionable woman, wooed by a much older man who is manipulating her, so she follows the path he’s showing her in hopes that he’ll love her back, only to find him years later waiting for her to die in childbirth while she calls out his name, pressuring her to go to war even if she doesn’t want to and grabbing her by the throat when she tells him that the fate of the world is more important than what Daemon really desires: power.

[horizon-verizon]

I don’t think Rhaenyra went into this war with “I’m fighting the patriarchy” in mind, but that’s what she’s inadvertently doing nevertheless. She’s not feminist in the sense that she fights for women’s rights and liberation, but in a medieval setting and male dominated culture her very decision to fight for her throne is a subversive action. I think it’s pretty ridiculous to expect Rhaenyra to be a perfect figurehead of modern feminism because that’s not conceivable in her world. Her usurpation and her goal to fight for her claim is enough.

Anon's responding to this post.

Yes, and as I mentioned it's misleading purposefully (often) and its rationale is forced: if Rhaenyra is not a feminist, nothing of what she does really should matter to feminists or feminism or to study how/why women behave to gain more power; all that matters is that she plunged the whole country into war for her greed, ambition, and that she was part of the ruling class and had a dragon that enabled her to continue her Targaryen mad colonizer trip in the long installments of Targaryen madness and evil; everyone hated her, so all this must be true; why we care about feminism when it was never about or really centered on how women are collectively and generationally disempowered or abused when Targ power/survival OR human survival doesn't even depend on women having power and being treated as humans, flaws and all; the Targs were never "normal", so it's futile to really think about how they, too, have been affected by systematic and personal abuses, one of them sexism; women have to be feminist for anyone to care about anything that, somehow, mostly or only and disproportionately ever seems to bring them the most harm...funny that...

If Rhaenyra is not a "perfect" figurehead--aka, if she doesn't conform to some sort of ideal of femininity or womanhood (it's an attempt at such)--then she can only ever be in the wrong once she does something against any aspect of the status quo, even if it is just for herself or those closest to her. It's giving very Victorian-distillment of Goddess-Mother, Mother-is-Bastion-of-Respectability, and is thus "perfect". To be a valid (or valid enough) "human", the woman must be unreal and inhumanly Good. Very Angel in the House. (poem itself)

Ironic, bec only with feminism do you have people make remarks about how feminists/feminism is not valid of it doesn't consider the rights of male sex abuse victims in the way they don't scrutinize anti-racists don't necessarily advocate for poor white victims or white European immigrants' own experiences under the economic-racial system of the United States. Which is reflective of this idea that a woman is not a person until she considers how her actions will affect everyone else around her and to not position herself as an individual but more a perennial "source" and "well" to benefit others (until death or burnout or obscurity).

Because what if a woman like Rhaenyra (not exactly altruistic, ranging from completely self absorbed to just "average" self concerned human being) did somehow win "properly" against whatever aspect, institution, etc. of patriarchy? Women/people could learn from her tactics, journey, methods of acquiring certain resources, etc. We can't exactly have that, now can we if we want to preserve the status quo?

[blubushie]

i've seen some blogs i follow say that misandry isn't real and men aren't opressed for being men and honestly the former doesn't sit right with me. misandry is not systemic like misogyny but your answers about your experiences prove that it does indeed happen in queer spaces. masculine queer men have to prove that they aren't a threat by making themselves a walking gay caricature.

Hell men aren't just oppressed in female-dominant "cultures" (like queer spaces) but they're also oppressed by patriarchy and, in some ways, legally. They're just not oppressed in the same way women are.

Men are considered inherently stronger/better, which means women can't compete with us, which means any time a man is a victim of a woman it's automatically his fault for ALLOWING himself to be. How are you, a man, gonna let a woman hit you? (It's because even if you defend yourself, and you make the call the police, YOU'LL be arrested as the aggressor. It's your word against hers, and in domestic violence they will always favour hers.)

We are simultaneously shit on for defending ourselves, because how dare a man ever put his hands on a woman even in self defence, but at the same time if we DON'T do that, it's our fault for being abused because we didn't "resist" our abuser. This is the male version of being asked about what you were wearing when you were victimised. The only way men are ALLOWED to be recognised as victims is if you're a child and your abuser is an adult man. If it's an adult woman? Hell, kid, you're lucky.

A lot of people think men can't be raped—either because we "always want sex", or because we're expected to physically resist our rapist and win. Contrast this to women, who are told to piss themselves or scream, or just take it because maybe if you do your rapist won't kill you. (If you ask me a firearm makes a helluva equaliser, but that's a conversation for another day.) Legislation even reflects this—in the UK, for example, according to UK law, it isn't possible for a women to rape a man unless she penetrates him with an object. A woman violently raping a man, even a child, by restraining him or otherwise and forcing him into penetrating her, is merely considered sexual assault and carries a much lighter sentence than rape.

And that really sucks for someone like me, who was raped by two women while I was drunk. Who didn't even realise I was raped until a mate explained it to me, because it's normalised that women can have sex with a drunk man and that's not considered rape—not even if he blacks out and asks them to stop when he wakes up, and they keep going while he blacks out again. Like what happened to me. An even bigger kicker—a man is always considered responsible in sex. So if a drunk man and a drunk woman both agree to sex while both are intoxicated, legally HE is raping HER despite both being unable to actually consent.

This in addition to men being expected to be sole providers for a home by society—look at the current rise of women looking for a sugar daddy or red-flagging a man because he only has one car instead of two, or of men never being favoured in family court even when the mother is unable to care for the children or is abusive, or how women will weaponise visitation against fathers for spite because they know the court will side with her regardless of how good of a father he is, or the lack of men's shelters, or how DV shelters won't take women with minor children who are boys older than 12 so a woman has to either go back to her abuser with her children or leave her sons behind alone with an abusive father, of people laughing at the male loneliness epidemic and treating it like a good thing/deserved reckoning instead of recognising it as a warning sign for a flood of lost teens and young men drifting down the Andrew Tate or rapist incel misogyny pipeline, of people laughing at men's mental health month posts and outright encouraging men to commit suicide under them while men already statistically commit suicide at a higher rate than women...

Men are oppressed in some ways, I'd argue some of those ways are systemic, but no one talks or cares about it. There was a feminism wave in the 90s of "patriarchy harms everyone", which is true, but now we're on a different wave of "men are biologically evil", which is absolutely batshit fucking insane and helps no one. Bioessentialism helps no one. (Plus it's transphobic and intersexist.)

Anyway I'm gonna go back to working on my ute now.

[royalsnis]

i only heard about lb when rusty made her first transmisogynistic page and randomly remembered it and her while looking for sinfest criqtue/cringe posts. finding out she hates femmes makes all her accusations of misogyny and homo/lesbophobia disgustingly hypocritical. Should women (cis or trans) be limited to femininity? Hell no. Should they be shamed for actually enjoying it? Hell no and insisting that femininity is lesser than masculinity is the root of all misogyny. At its core hatred of woman is hatred for the feminine, yes it inherently hates all that refuse to conform to patriarchal gender roles but thats purely because acceptance of non-conformity in women specifically spits in the face of the patriarchy. Men "lowering" themselves (in the context of a sexist patriarchal hierarchy) is also an affront to the shitty order but it is far easier to shrug off a "fallen" man than a woman who attempts to raise herself up to be equally masculine if not just down right neutral.

It also pisses me off because like. If trans people are real, which we are as you already know being one as well, that means that all the patriarchy apologia based upon physical sex differences has zero weight in how equal the genders should be. Why insist on separating the genders on that arbitrary line when its not only incorrect and bigoted but nothing more than patriarchal alogia.

At least she doesnt have any butchphobia but insisting on only showing sapphic femmes as bisexuals and making all lesbians butch as a strict rule literally feeds into old lesbophobic stigmas! Not only is she disgustingly undereducated and willfully ignorant about trans people-its not a religon and if it was that would protect it under all countries w/ religous freedom laws so that arguement is always disgustingly stupid logic to try and ban it. Not only that but she repeatedly projects her ignorance and bigotory onto anyone who calls her out. Trans people receive the same discrimation as the rest of the LGBT+ community. Trans people has always been apart of the community. We have always been here and always will be. And we have always and always will be the strongest evidence that men arent somehow better than women.

Oh man I totally agree! Especially on the part about how Rusty treats fem women in general. It's like Rusty doesn't understand that Gender is a very clearly, social construct and what is considered Male today, is Female tomorrow. Throughout history the definition of masc and fem has changed dramatically and is also in this tug and pull. Trans and Enby folks want to disrupt and soem of us even want to dismantle it entirely.

People like Rusty try to tell us that actually we're upholding the binary by dressing how we do- but who's fault is that exactly? If trans people don't dress or act a certain way, then we're deemed as non passing, and therefore, our gender identity is completely denied. When there are trans pr enby folks that do dress how they please without a care for cis people, they're told they're not really trans! No matter what we do, we're not accepted into cis society and honestly never will be.

Rusty herself has made fun of both group types. If they try to pass, they still don't in her eyes and are deemed as gross and creepy and if they don't care to pass Rusty uses it as a "gotcha see trans people ARE faking it". You can't win with transphobes. If we in the future are able to even change our chromosomal structure then they'd claim that our souls are male or female.

They just want to be hateful because they don't understand how trans people work, and don't want to try.

I mean, if Rusty really was trying, she wouldn't be telling people who just disagree with her to "go fall down a flight of stairs." 😒

[princesssarisa]

Do you know why so many ignored judith barsi when she was begging for help? She deserved soo much better i wished I coulve saved her I will never get over her story i feel like she is the only celebrity death i cant get over

I think the problem was the patriarchy and people failing to take domestic abuse seriously.

According to Wikipedia, the police initially didn't help Maria Barsi because she didn't have any visible bruises, and later investigations were dropped because Maria assured the case worker that she was going to divorce Joszef. But she never did divorce him, or press charges against him: probably in part out of fear of what he would do to her and Judith if she did, and, according to Wikipedia, partly out of fear that he would win everything in the divorce proceedings and she would lose the house and all her belongings.

It's the classic scenario of a man having too much power – physical, emotional, and economic – over a woman, which makes her afraid to leave him even though he abuses both her and their child. And people didn't take it seriously because she and Judith weren't literally black and blue all over.

Too often, abuse is excused and not taken seriously. Just recently I wrote about how much I hate fictional abusive parents who are portrayed sympathetically. It's much too common, especially for fathers: "But he really does love her," "But she still loves him," "It wasn't abuse, it was just discipline," "She provoked him," "He was under stress," "It was only verbal, not physical," "We all say things we don't mean when we're angry," "He had to make her obey him for her own good,” “He just overreacted because he cares so much," etc. If people say these things about fictional fathers, they must about real fathers too: fathers like Joszef Barsi. These attitudes can literally kill.

I'm sure that people victim-blamed Maria too because she made the choice to stay. If a woman is ever less than 100% innocent in a bad situation with a man, too often people say "You made your bed, you have to lie in it" and do nothing to help her.

I can only hope that social attitudes are changing and will continue to change, and that support for women and children only increases, so that it's easier for women like Maria to take their children and escape from men like Joszef. I just hope that someday, no child or woman ever dies the way Judith and Maria died again.

[22degreehalo]

[Okay so this started as a reblogged addition to this previous post of mine but then it got long enough to stand alone sooooo]

Okay actually to narrow this down a bit, there's something incredibly fascinating about the way that despite Ashley being the driving force behind most of the story, it's almost always Andrew who actually commits the physical act of hurting someone.

Because, yes, despite what I said above, that particular aspect of their dynamic is deeply gendered: 'bad women' are usually the ones who manipulate and connive rather than get their hands dirty directly (with the unintended side effect that we tend to not take it seriously when women DO take physical action, because it just doesn't feel as 'real' or 'bad' as when men do it), while physical aggression is limited to men.

But there's so much more to it. There's the way Andrew feels a need to protect Ashley, which takes from the way he was parentified by his mother into having to take care of her as an authority and guardian rather than just another kid in his own right. The fact that Ashley really did need someone to protect her, because... she was kind of badly lacking in social skills and emotional regulation, to the point of exhibiting sadistic tendencies even from a young age. (Or, I suppose I should say, sadistic tendencies that she never grew out of, due to lacking the normal emotional development that sees young kids develop that kind of conscience?) All of which made her, realistically, pretty darn unpopular!!!

But also... that is a manipulation tactic. It's one of the classic signs of a cult: pressure/coerce a member to engage in some kind of morally reprehensible action, and once that's happened, it becomes far far harder for them to get out. Partially because they've now badly severed any other outside support systems; Renee knew what happened with Nina, and even if she had more hope for Andrew than she ever did Ashley even after that, it clearly framed how she saw those two and their relationship after that point. And, y'know, there's the fact that Andrew is seriously worried that they'll be thrown in jail, which means that he can't tell anyone else what happened, or even let them realise 'how bad' Ashley is, or they might start remembering that missing girl Ashley always used to hang out with...

But also partially because it complicates any internal sense of being a victim of another person's abuse. How can you act like you're some sweet little innocent baby, pushed around by the big old scary abuser, when you yourself have blood on your hands? (Part of why I find it a bit... unsettling? How many people in the TCOAAL fandom sincerely spread that his relenting to Ashley's manipulation makes him 'just as bad'.) It creates an internal sense of guilt and 'need' to be punished, or to be controlled by somebody who can make the 'right decisions'. And it furthers a sense that there's 'no going back' - that there's no point in even trying to escape this relationship, because it's gone too far, and the victim has already given up any hope of having or deserving a life outside of it.

And that's related to something I've had bouncing around in my mind for a lonnnnng time, but still even now don't have the brainspace to fully unpack it. People talk a lot about the inherent trauma of being a woman living under the patriarchy, but I think we don't discuss enough the inherent moral damage of being a man under the same circumstances.

Men are raised to see themselves as aggressive; hostile; killers; predators. They're taught that any sex they get from women is at her expense, a deal that can only be made good by their being Successful Enough to 'earn' it. That success, of course, is zero-sum; men must prove themselves over other men competitively to 'win', whether by earning more money, being more dominant, or (in attemptively progressive spaces) by being 'nicer' or 'better feminists' than other men. Men are expected to sacrifice; to war, to defending the women in their life, to working themselves to the bone under capitalism where women are 'supposed' to rely on men, instead. And that 'protecting' inherently implies violence against other men: men are expected by default to be able to throw themselves into the fray and get beat up and beat up somebody else in turn, and if they can't, they're viewed as lesser; pathetic and selfish. Men aren't given any support system to NOT be capable of inflicting violence. No matter how pacifist or anxious or disabled they are, they are in and of themselves viewed as 'acceptable targets' of violence, due to a perceived inherent ability to enact violence themselves.

Of course Andrew is the one to pull the trigger most of the time. Of course he takes it on as rote, as just his expected part in their messed-up relationship. Of course Ashley gladly lets him, even when she's the one who really wants to see the victim hurting. Of course Ashley encourages him into it, making him part of her decisions, binding him to her in blood over and over again, and of course she then throws it in his face as him 'choosing her', because what can he plausibly say to argue against that? And, then, of course his 'decay' involves turning his violence against both Ashley and himself, because he's too far gone to turn back now and become the monster Ashley was trying to turn him into.

AGAIN, I don't mean this as anti-Ashley; I think this is a super insightful display of both gender and abuser dynamics, and as I've said above, there are a whole heck of a lot of reasons why Ashley is the way she is. Also, fucked up and unjustifiably bad female characters are good sometimes!!

Just. Ashley does, canonically, encourage Andrew to engage in acts that his conscience rails against - actions that fill him with guilt and emotional pain - and then uses all of that to tie him to her ever stronger so he'll never leave. It says a lot that she gets so nervous when Andrew stops acting so guilty in the Burial route; because if she can't throw that moral damage back at him, how is she supposed to make sure he doesn't leave? If he's happy and well-adjusted and believes he deserves a decent life, why would he ever willingly stay with her?! (So she thinks.)(Not that she's entirely wrong, but.) She doesn't trust healthy relationship dynamics; she trusts guilt and trauma bonding.

(And it also means something hella big that Andrew seemingly doesn't get quite so many of those guilt-ridden nightmares as he pretends. Is he trying to pretend to himself he hasn't already slipped so far? Does he crave Ashley's loving reassurance just as much as she wants him to need it? It's like... speaking of intricate rituals, holy hell if this isn't fucking one of them: getting messed up in the head over committing cannibalism and murder, but then continuing to pretend that it's messing you up long after you're sorta getting over it, because that's the safest and easiest way to make your sister happy and nice to you.)

[ladymorghul]

They're basically turning this show into Rh*enicent vs the Patriarchy if all those rumors turn out to be true. So you've got these two women on two opposing sides fighting a civil war but instead of trying to win the war for their side all they want is to be with each other again but oh no they won't be able to succeed because all the evil men around them want to fight and will ruin their peace attempts. It's just nonsensical storytelling! Now of course like you've been pointing out Alicent is going to be the one to fully blame herself and her own side for everything and will be much, much more inclined to go to Rhaenyra and ask for forgiveness rather than the opposite but still. Even from Rhaenyra's POV it's just stupid is she's allowing Alicent to come and go to Dragonstone without taking her hostage so she can use her as a bargaining chip against the greens. And I can't imagine Rhaenyra asking for forgiveness at all, maybe except for B&C since she can fully blame Daemon for it by saying she never knew what he had intended to do.

Istg if they make Alicent throw Aemond under the bus…imagine if she tells Rhaenyra she will agree, in the name of peace, with whatever punishment she deems necessary for him as long as it does not involve his death? Maybe send him to the wall as punishment for kinslaying? I know it's stupid but surely Aemond and Alicent's relationship will deteriorate post Storm's End and B&C and with all this Rh*enicent bs I truly expect something like this from the writers because they can also use this as one of the excuses behind Aemond's future Riverlands arc & his madness, it will all hit him VERY hard if he knows his own mother is willing to sacrifice him for Rhaenyra in some half-assed attempt at peace.

You're also totally right about the Alicent poisoning Aegon theory. They're fully capable of doing it! I'm also thinking they're going to have Alicent at Dragonstone so she can witness, along with Aegon the Younger, when Aegon will order his dragon to burn and eat Rhaenyra so she'll be even more motivated to poison him in the future.

these writers are annoying because the actual first crack in aemond & alicent relationship should have been alicent toasting rhaenyra, saying she will make a fine queen despite still no consequences for what happened to him and even ewan underlined this, that a crime went unpunished and that aemond's world became unbalanced because of this and then you have alicent being like 'forget all that, rhaenyra you will make a fine queen'. and if the trouble was only between aemond and luke, you could make a case for it but rhaenyra further tried to gaslight everyone in the room, tried to make viserys hurt alicent and her kids for 'treason' and asked for aemond to be interrogated as he lay there, eye sitting on the goddamn table. i always said this, but if i was aemond... that would have not sat well with me at all.

and while we don't know exactly what will happen, i do agree that this rhaen*cent agenda will continue to be pushed in more stupid ways. i do hope it's nothing as ridiculous as you've described because i do not want to see that but who knows atp. they certainly have a different vision than me so what do i know?

i could understand much of alicent's actions from the pov of a woman who was wronged and who cares for her children and does what she can to protect them, (after all, she was fully aware a war will start the moment she crowns aegon, book page or not, because she knew neither rhaenyra nor daemon will publicly bend the knee to aegon). so to then turn on your own children like that? for what? that would be something i could not defend. especially for a woman who was only a bad friend to her.

[tea-with-cinnamontoast]

so, we’ve all at least heard of the iron fist, right? whether it’s from the comics or netflix show, i am 90% sure you’ve at least heard about him! well, i’m here to tell you that there’s more that meets the eye! :)

the netflix show doesn’t flesh out danny as a character that well and some of you probably despise him (...i do too) but his comic self is waaay different. if nmcu danny is whiny and all "because im the iron fist" every five minutes, then comics danny is a mix of a silly little guy, dumbass (affectionate), and a walking sunshine.

of course, there are some comics where he may act a lot different, but he is just a green flag—albeit traumatised—little guy!

the iron fist show itself MESSES UP the lore so badly that i literally do not know what’s so special about the iron fist. so here’s a (not so) deep dive into the lore of the iron fist mantle until lin lie! and some comic recommendations of danny :D

(open the cut for more 💖)

let’s start with the basics, shall we?

What is the Iron Fist? Who is the Iron Fist?

the iron fist is a power that comes from a dragon named shou-lao. this power is the dragon’s chi—or the soul, according to chinese belief. this chi allows them to access the dragon’s powers and unlock different ways of using said powers! the most common was is to turn their fists into "things of unto iron"!

however, the iron fist is not just a power, it’s a mantle given to those who can defeat the dragon themselves. these candidates are trained in k’un lun and if they do win, they will be named the champion of k’un lun. the first iron fist is quan yaozu.

What? What the hell is K’un Lun? What do you mean ‘champion’?

i’m glad you asked! k’un lun is one of the capital cities of heaven! there are 7 capital cities of heaven, according to iron fist lore, each with their own champions who possesses different abilities. they are also called the immortal weapons.

(note that the new weapon in this picture is davos, a long time nemesis of danny, because of circumstances. the actual weapon is the crane mother’s child.)

the fat cobra is from peng lai, a child of a pig farmer raised in abandonment. he was an opera singer as a child and fought in both sides of the world war.

the bride of nine spiders is from the kingdom of spiders, yet her origins are unknown.

dog brother comes from the under city and used to be a poor street orphan with an adoptive brother to protect. he was a slave, too.

tiger’s beautiful daughter is a strong woman from tiger island, an island where women ruled over men. i’m not kidding, in the one chapter where her origins are introduced, she literally destroyed the patriarchy. we stan.

prince of orphans is from z’gambo. unfortunately, we do not know his origins, but he is powerful. like necromancer powerful.

read more about them in ‘the immortal weapons’! absolutely worth it.

Wait, wait, wait. The Immortal Weapons? Are they immortal or just the mantle? Is Danny immortal?

...yes and no.

they are immortal until they die in battle. in a sense where the immortality only applies to their age not their whole body. however, this is highly speculation, since we do not actually know if the term ‘immortal’ refers to them or their title. what we do know is that danny refused to eat the apple of immortality, making him more or less fully human. and he dies multiple times. sort of.

Ooookay... How do you become the Iron Fist?

to become the iron fist, you must be trained in k’un lun as a child of k’un lun. these trainings are watched under lei kung, the thunderer, who is immortal. those who want to challenge shou-lao has to fight each other and win before they are allowed to fight the dragon. these fights are a test of not only physical strength, but spiritual strength, too. chi is like... an inner power. a part of your soul.

then, they fight the dragon. if they figure out how to and win, they will be given the mark of the dragon (the iconic iron fist logo) and they must plunge their fists into the dragon’s molten heart. survive.

Wait, if only a child of K’un Lun is allowed to be the Iron Fist, why does Danny become one? Isn’t he American?

orientalism

well, he was raised there, i guess. dunno. in orson randall’s case, though, it works because he was born in k’un lun despite his parents being american.

Who’s Orson Randall?

orson randall is danny’s predecessor. he’s the iron fist of the 1900s. he had fought in both world wars and more. tired old man. also a mentor of danny’s dad (whoopee). really a fucking cool character to read about definitely check out the orson oneshots.

Who’s Danny’s successor, then?

a chinese kid named lin lie! formerly the sword master, lie was last seen in death of doctor strange: white fox. he sort of died in that comic but SIKE! he’s back as the iron fist babyyyy !!!!!

Who’s my favourite Iron Fist?

it’s danny rand, duh. 🙄 (it’s wu ao-shi. what a girlboss).

What the hell.

hey man you’re gonna love danny and his tragic but interesting backstories i swear it’s just weird to summarize/say out loud 😮‍💨

anyway! some recommendations:

the immortal iron fist - start with this one, basics and a rework of his older comics history !!!

the immortal weapons + orson randall oneshots - just fun as fuck

avengers volume 2 (i think it was 2012)

defenders (2018) - if you like the nmcu this one is for you!

iron fist: living weapon

iron fist: phantom limb - blood, gore, and body horror warning!

immortal iron fists - girl dad danny rand im not kidding he’s so silly here

heart of the dragon

iron fist (2020) - lin lie !!

that’s it thank you for listening to me autistic rambling

[rufflesandbows]

In the Den of Dragons (Part IV)

Aegon ii Targaryen X Reader

It's your last chance to change your fate. You have a last talk with those around you, knowing if by the next morning you haven't convinced one mind to help you, you will be married off and never see the Red Keep again. You can only hope you've been clever enough through your own flawed desires to keep your freedom. But one should always be careful what they wish for.

Warnings: NSFW 18+ sexual themes, one might say. First time intercourse, p in v, oral, touching, kissing, the patriarchy as a whole. Possessiveness, power imbalance. Word count: 6000

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

“What is this rumor that the prince defiled you?!” Your father gawked as soon as you closed the door. There was no holding back your disdain. The look you fixed him with was enough to take him back. The bewilderment in response aggravated you. 

“Defiled now, defiled later. What does it matter as long as you are compensated to the highest bidder?”

All the confusion ended with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. “I know it is not the best fit, but surely he will die soon-”

“Words uttered by his last wife, I am sure!” You snapped, not caring if anyone beyond the four walls heard. “And what if he were to die too soon?! What if I am accused of poisoning, and you are a thousand leagues away from saving me?!” Your father turned away from your wrath, wandering back to his seat and plopping into it. You followed him, hands on your hips as you seethed from above. “Not only am I to be raped by an old man, I am to be hung till death shortly after. Is that the future you designed for me!? What you dreamed about all this time?!”

He held his hands up in a gesture to calm you. “I understand why you’re upset. But Barston has promised a great exchange for your dowry. This will bring us a hefty sum of wealth, and when he passes, it will be inherited to you. You will be the Keeper of the Clay Fort and all it’s wealth. I promise, it’s not so bad a plan as it sounds.”

“From your end! I’d like to see you on your back and open your legs for Barston! See how much the wealth is worth then!” You father put a hand to his chest and gave a choked grimace. With a huff, you jabbed at his chest. “And you’re forgetting it is my son who would be Keeper! Not me! Not you!”

“The Lord is impotent!”

“Then it will go to his brother, his nephew, his cousins! You think no one will contest me and not win!? A young woman with little experience and no surrounding connections? I will be a laughing stock before I am sent to my grave!”

He tried to reach out to you, take your hands in his but you were livid and under all the fire, panicked. You ripped your hands free and crossed your arms over your chest. “But you are a very clever girl, and so very easy to love.” 

You rolled your eyes, heating in your frustration, glaring out the bright sunlit window. “Cleverness will only get me so far. There are some traps set that the only way to escape is to sever a limb.” 

“You’re being dramatic.” You took a step closer, looming above him as an inquisitor before their suspect. 

“Who have you been talking to, to brush me aside so easily?” It agitated him, bristling and finally showing a hint that he might take this seriously. “I have always done what is most beneficial to our house. Even as a girl I wanted to be just as important to you as my brothers.” 

He jumped up, “But you are! A daughter unifies houses-”

“Sons do that too. But sons get to be lords and knights. What is there for me to aspire to?”  

“Married, my darling. You should have been married years ago.” You bit your tongue. “You are getting to the age it may be too late and now there are rumors of your impurity. This is our last chance, do you understand that? You’ve refused all those before-”

“Because there were bigger and better deals to be made! I-”

“You’ve delayed. You did it because you didn’t want to be married.” There was a soft laughter from him as you looked away, pouting in shame. Perhaps there was some truth to that. “I get it. No one want to be told who they will spend the rest of their lives with. That’s just the way of things, and you should know that better than most as you imagine yourself as some great schemer.” 

“Not him. Please.” The tears welled up in your eyes. “Pick any other, but not him.”

For only a moment, he faltered. His eyes dodging from yours. But then he steeled himself and gripped your shoulders tightly. “You will be married at the end of the week. We will inherit a large sum of the Clay Keepers enterprise, and in a years time, you might even thank me.”

A weight dropped in your chest. The tears fell but you wiped them away and stifled the furious fire in your gut. Without a word, you dipped your head and walked for the door. As your hand fell on the handle, you heard him quietly ask, “The prince… did he hurt you?”

It was tempting to just walk out, but there was a rumor that needed to be squashed. Rumors were like cockroaches in that way. “He sees me as a confidant.” Something your father no longer saw you as. “I help him navigate the political climate.”

Giving you a look over, he pressed, his brow knitted with concern. “And that’s all?”

Lifting your chin, you clutched the doorknob. “The prince has wounded me far less than you have today.”

The knit of concern quickly turned to a whiplash of pain. You whipped away a last stray tear and left the guest room. Only to run into Barston a few steps down the hall. He himself headed for your father. There was a different air about him today. Not his usual sour irritable way. He stood tall but hunched above you, a down-tipped smile forming on his face. Victory. He could see the tears still in your eyes and it only brought him joy. 

You would kill him. By poison or slitting his throat in his sleep or burying him in a coffin of his own clay. If this man took you to be his bride, he would pay for it with his life, you swore it.

Barston sauntered up to you, looming beside as he smile down. “Keep giving me that evil eye and I’ll have both removed from your pretty head.”

You didn’t let up the glare, instead fixed him with a long look over. “I would consider that a great kindness, my lord.”

Barston scoffed, a wicked sneer forming on his yellowed and blackened teeth. “Spit venom all you like, willow witch. Enjoy it while you can.”

His rasping chuckle moved past you. Leaving you alone in the hall as you listened for the door of your fathers guest room to open and slam shut. You felt like a rat trapped in rising water, the roof of your enclosure creeping closer and closer. Such desperation kept spurring on dark thoughts. Violent thoughts. You could hope your father would see reason and free you from this bond now that you’ve gotten to talk to him. But you’d been hoping all month something would change. Perhaps you should have been doing more than fleeing to Aegon. You should have been wooing an unmarried lord all this time, your mind too muddled between fear and ecstasy to see it before. One that was not too bright and easily manipulated. As if that would make you any happier. It would be easier to live with than Barston. But not happy. 

“Roots spun thick as webs.”

You startled at the soft voice beside you. She as well startled. Blinking back your welled tears, you gave her a bow. “My lady, forgive me, I didn’t catch what you said.”

Her big eyes looked behind you, to your fathers door where the mens jovial talking could be heard as murmurs. Laughter echoing past. “Was that your husband?”

You had a week. But a lot could happen in a week. Bitterly you stood firm. “Maybe. We shall see.” 

She nodded, “I was having lunch with mother. She says it is a great shame to be in such a poor match.”

You hadn’t expected the Queen to still be thinking of your predicament. She certainly made no indication. “She… wouldn’t by chance be interested in helping me?”

Helaena shyly bowed her head, “Um, she said it wouldn’t be wise to interfere.”

You conceded. It would have been quite the reach. “That is true. It would upset many if she interfered in the marital affairs of other lords.” 

“Perhaps he will leave you be once the wedding is over.” She had said it so hopefully, and you couldn’t help but feel it was a shame her and Aegon had been married. The two had no interest in the other, and you doubted she would even if he’d been faithful to her. They were two very different people with very different needs. They saw one another as siblings before husband and wife. It really was a shock the Faith allowed the old Valyrian tradition to go on. 

“One can only be so lucky.” You mused. The way she smiled softly at you, it made you appreciate how she always allowed you to speak freely. That Helaena enjoyed you talking about your home and was so genuinely entertained by your anecdotes despite not even being a lady-in-waiting. You wondered if she’d really even be disappointed in your affair with Aegon. If maybe she had her own kept secret. 

“I will miss serving under you, my lady.” She gave you a curious look. “You are very kind and humble for one born of such a high station. It was truly a privilege.”

Your compliments flustered her as much as they made her smile, anxiously playing with a strand of her long hair. “You don’t have to say that.”

“I mean it.” You assured her. “I’m going to miss you, Helaena.”

Your affirmation only warmed her more before a harrowed look came to her eyes. “If there was something I could do-”

You shook your head. You hadn’t meant to burden her with that sort of weight. “I’ll figure something out. Don’t you worry about me.” To distract her, you glanced down the direction she was facing. “Would you like me to escort you?” 

She thought a moment before nodding. It took a little while before she revealed where she was going, to the gardens, where a few ladies were already waiting for her. Seeing Helaena off, wishing you could forgo all these chores and make flower crowns and find bugs with the princess, you continued on with your day as any other. No one else mentioned the development, seeing it all too plainly on your face. 

Maybe you could make something out of it. You were hardly the first woman to be married off to old and wicked men for wealth. The first to taste bitter bile in her throat when touched by their husbands. In a year you’d made a home in Kings Landing. You could make one in the Clay Fort. Talk to those around him. Make friends with his enemies. It would be a slow process, but he was old. Surrounded by a youthful council ready to take his place. Those brothers and nephews and cousins. 

The constant thinking of the day left you exhausted by nightfall. You dropped onto your bed with a long sigh, rubbing at your burning eyes. Tomorrow morning, you’d have your fathers answer. If you were to be given a second chance or be forced to make due. 

“Um, sorry to bother you.” Lydia loomed over you, “Aegon has requested wine.”

You grumbled, making her chuckle. She went by her bed and began to dress down to her plain white chemise. “It’s a shame you can’t stick around. Aegon’s really calmed down since you two became such close friends. Who knew, all he needed was someone to talk to.”

“Yes. I do wonder what might happen once I’m gone. If he’ll go back to his old ways.” You were only his plaything. A favored one to be sure, but you made sure not to give yourself any delusions through all this. No doubt as soon as you left he’d be right back in the brothels, looking for another. A small sting nestled in your chest. Lydia gave a shrug, half muttering to herself. "I'm sure someone else might be around to talk to him."

The sting inflamed as you glared at her back. Wild thoughts nipped at you, feeling like your efforts of bonding with Aegon would go to waste now. That you deserved some reward for giving him your attention. That he was yours, not someone else's. Then you rolled your eyes at yourself, ignored her and headed for the kitchens. 

When you entered his room, Aegon rushed from his balcony, making strides across the room. You set the cup down and began pouring. Aegon came up to you but stopped a few feet away, not saying anything. He was standing awkwardly with his hands behind his back and having a stiff time meeting your eyes. You raised a brow to him as you poured a second cup. “Is something wrong?”

“I uh… got you something.”

You stopped pouring, surprised. He pulled around his hand, a slim golden chain dangling from his fingers. At the bottom hung a small and simple gold pendant of a bird in fight. It reminded you of the little wrens of your home, though it wasn’t as plump as one. The many round little brown birds chittering their sweet songs in the boughs of the willows. You often talked of them when you talked of home. He must have noticed. You smiled warmly as you took it and brought it closer, admiring his gift. 

“I remember you saying not to get you anything too expensive looking because someone might claim you stole it.” 

Feeling a warmth flooding your veins, you smiled at him. “This is very sweet, Aegon. Thank you.”

He reached out and took it, offering to put it on you. With a soft giggle, you turned around, your hair already done up in the coif. Patiently holding still as he draped the necklace before you and locked it behind. It was the perfect length to hide just under the collar of your uniform, and the chain thin enough to be easy to miss. You toyed with the bird between your fingers. Arms came around you then, holding you, easing away all your stress as Aegon rested against you, his chin on your shoulder. “I heard the talk with your father didn’t go well.”

You sighed, clutching onto him. “It’s hard to say. I can only hope my words sink in. I really wish he hadn’t delayed. I have half a mind to think he did on purpose so I couldn’t talk him out of it.” You shook your head, admitting bitterly, “I hate all those people out there who get to choose.”

“Marriage isn’t about love or happiness. It’s about serving your duty to the Realm and to the Gods.” His arms held you tighter, his hand gently caressing your arm, forming a barrier between you and the harsh world beyond his embrace. “That’s how I heard it anyway.”

It made you think of Helaena. Wondering if she heard the same thing. If that was what they reminded each other when forced to bed. From what you heard, Helaena didn’t protest as Aegon had. Helaena followed the wishes of her elders without a word of disagreement. And here you were spending the entire day thinking of all the “accidents” Barston might have in the future. Aegon should be grateful to be married off to Helaena and not someone like you, who had a mind in seeing enemies in every shadow.

“Do you know any noble lords in need of a deal?” Aegon suddenly went very rigid. He began pulling from you but you insisted. “Do you know of anyone who might make a bid for my dowry?”

When you turned to look at him, there was such a darkness in his gaze. His jaw was set and he spoke firmly. “No. I don’t know anyone like that.”

Trying to ease him, you stepped forward, placing your hands on his waist, but he didn’t hold you back, instead glaring behind you. What difference did it really make? You were to be married to Barston if not a different lord. “Aegon, please. If there is any other option, I don’t have much time. A recommendation from royalty would entice those wanting a good relationship with the crown.” 

You didn’t like the way he had gone cold. The way he wouldn’t even look at you now when you'd been surviving off his generous attention all this time. “It can’t be him.” You pleaded, as if he had any power to change what was happening. Some of Aegon’s anger ebbed, falling into shame as he realized that too. Your hands caressed up his sides, pulling him a little closer to you as you whispered, “If I had my way, it would be you. I would choose you.” 

He hesitated a moment, the ice shedding away when he reached up and touched the gift he’d gotten you. With a sigh he caved entirely and cupped your neck, trailing his thumb along your jaw. You keened into his touch, the heat infecting your eyes. The words slipped from you in a hush, slipping past all sense. “I want you, Aegon. Please, I want it to be you.”

When it dawned on him what you were asking, his eyes went wide. “Are you saying that-”

“Yes, yes I want you to take me.” You pulled up flush against him, hands craving more of his heat. A striking heat aching low in your core, readying. The tears welled higher, desperation guiding you. “I can’t have my first time be with him. I want it to be you. It has to be you.” 

His eyes danced between yours, taking in how serious you were, brushing away a tear that had fallen. Aegon swallowed thickly, nodding. In a fluid instant your breath and all other sound around you stopped. He pressed a kiss, soft as silk to your lips. The gentle heat on your face lifted the heavy weight off your chest, filling it with the sensation of fluttering. 

He parted your lips and tasted you with a hum, wrapping around your waist and shoulders, pressing you flush against him. So often now you associated his embrace with safety. All the energy of the day twisted into relief, into a pure wet heat. One of your hands drug up his back and tangled in his hair, tightly to give a small tug in the way you knew he liked. A moan rumbled in his chest and sent a thrill through yours.

Aegon broke the kiss to pepper more across your jaw, bury his face in the crook of your neck were he lavished lazy wet kisses, each giving your spine a tight jolt.

Hands slid down your body. A hot sigh left you as he gripped you tight, grinding your hips against his. A shudder went through you, his hands sprawled on your back until they found the ties of your dress and began to undo them with ease. He took a step back and you followed the lead forward, pleaded against his mouth, “Oh Aegon, I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave you.”

“Don’t worry about that now.” He pulled open your top gown, slipping it over your shoulders and it dropped to the ground. You stepped out, melting against him as you took his lips again, savoring the slick feel of running your tongue against his, the jolt of pleasure that jumped up your spine, your skin alight with the soft lick of heat. As he gripped the thin chemise, he murmured, “I’ll make you happy again.”

The last dress was raised over head and dropped to the floor, and Aegon dropped back onto the bed. Before, he’d only ever gotten to see glimpses and parts of you at a time. Your liaisons together were always rushed affairs, always on the cusp of getting caught and needing to return to your duties before anyone caught wise. For the first time he got to see you in your full form. His lips parted in awe, running his hands up your body, and down your chest, his fingertips tickling your stomach before moving out and rounding your hips. With a sigh, he rested his head against your front, pulling you closer enough your knees tapped against his length already beginning to firm, the brush of his breath ghosting down your legs. 

You combed your fingers through his hair, closing your eyes as his hands ran back up your sides, peppering wet kisses and licking down your front. His mouth wandered lower and lower, the tight heat making your hips shift to relieve the pressure, making you wait impatiently until you felt that first hot slick lick.

With a whimper, your fingers tightened and you pressed him snug between your thighs. Aegon was quick to relax, burying himself deeper to better latch onto you, his tongue working up a thirsty rhythm you began following, chasing the pleasure that lifted you high out of your own head. Normally you cared very deeply how loud you allowed either of you to be, but the cries and whines that dripped from your lips were unrestrained. Aegon seemed to catch on to your free voice, moaning in an echo of your voice, palming himself with one hand while the other gripped you, kept you tight against his feasting.

It burned you with delight seeing him so aroused, so determined to have you. Lifting a foot onto the mattress, you opened up for him, everything in you hot with tension, craving more and more as if you'd never be satisfied. On the cusp of the overwhelming flood threatening to consume you, Aegon broke away a moment, giving noisy quick breathes and you caught him, cupped his face in both your hands and crashed your mouth to his. Tasting the mix of you and him, savoring his many little noises.

His hands, trembling as they were, ran down your thighs and gripped them, pulling you onto his lap, your legs instinctively clutching his waist. With hunger you rolled your hips on his, your body knowing before you how to get what you wanted, Aegon whimpering between your suffocating kisses as you pushed him back.

His skin, even through his clothes was burning hot, making you start to sweat as you wrapped your body all around him, a tug on your spine urging you to take more. Finding the rim of his loose shirt, the moment your palms felt bare hot flesh they roamed hungrily. Feeling the expanse of his chest, mapping him out and dearly wanting to follow your touch with your lips. 

In your exploration, you led the shirt up over his head, leaving his bare chest to press against yours and it felt so right. The way two pieces of a puzzle fit together. You felt his hips move against yours, felt his cock, freed and slick smooth between your soaked thighs, felt it jump eagerly. You were eager to finally know, to get the proper consummation you'd been craving all this time.

You parted just to look at him. Take in his flushed face, his glistening lips, curling white hair framing him as a halo, a beauty in his own right, the only movement you made was parting your legs wider and grounding yourself down. The sharp take of his gasp as you felt the dull head of his tip press at your hot entry, it didn’t ease your desire but enhanced it.

You leaned over him, “Aegon, help me with the next part.”

Surprisingly, a chuckle came from him. “You sure you’re ready for that?”

You nodded. “I’m ready.” You ran your hand down his chest, low down his front. “I’ve thought of taking you in me for awhile now.”

It dazed him, One hand bringing you back to his lips when the other dived between you. You moaned as his fingers ran along your open seam. Your hips followed his fingers as he touched you, finding the small peak and spinning circles until you began to whine and whimper above him. Until your were soaking his fingers. He pressed two fingers inside you with ease. And as he slipped out, he gripped and lined himself properly.  

Testingly, a little too eager for your own good, you sank down. Your entire body flinched, stopping as the stretch surprisingly burned. You whimpered a few times having gone rigid, Aegon brushed your body as he soothed you despite his quick breaths and his eyes trained low, “Don’t rush it. Take your time.”

Call it stubbornness, but you didn't want to. Despite the bit of pain, there was something about the whole thing, the stretch, the heat, the thought that it was him slipping inside, it made you determined to take him entirely. You sank down in small rocking, a little in and a little out, going deeper every round. Until he was deep enough your lungs spasmed, panting gasps ripping from you. You sat down that little bit of way, finally feeling his skin under you. You sat there, catching your breath and savoring the way he filled you. Letting the muscles get comfortable. 

Aegon rolled his hips and the motion drug against something damn good, sparking a new pleasure you’d never experienced before. You felt it low and up your front, jumping up your spine and swimming in your head. It was such a shock you clutched and gave a small cry. 

“Sorry-”

“No, it felt good.” You said, emphasizing your words with a roll of your own hips, mimicking his action. Again it was such a strange pleasure, the heat numbing the pain. You started rocking harder, taking him deep. Dropping a hand onto the mattress, just above his shoulder just to stabilize yourself, you chased the waves of pleasure that came with every hit, chasing them faster and faster. 

“That’s it.” He praised, “No so bad, is it?”

You couldn’t think clear enough to talk, merely looked at him through misty lashes. Aegon moaned, running a thumb down your lips and chin. His words were choked, but he got them out in bursts, “I’ve wanted- to see you like this- for so long.” His eyes nearly rolled back, his brow knit as you only rode him faster and harder. “We could have been doing this all year, if you’d just let me.”

There was a clutch deep inside you. It was warped. It was wrong to remember that time and forget that you’d been afraid when he tried to force himself on you. That even if you had given in, even if you had liked it, you would have been stressed endlessly for your reputation. As pleasure pulsed in time with your thrusts, flitting away the memory, numb to reality. That’s why you were here, wasn’t it? Why you’d began seeing him? “Mm, Aegon-”

Aegon sat up on his elbow, the other hand on your hind, feeling your desperate thrusts. As he spoke, his voice, breathing heavy next to your ear, he spoke as a siren, “You like that thought? You want more of this?”

You nodded desperately, rocking your hips harder and faster to show how much you wanted more, chasing the glow building up inside, starting from low in your core and climbing up. Liquid heat burning through your system, making you shudder, a string of cries spilling from your lips.

Suddenly the world spun and your back was pressed into the mattress, Aegon above you as he gave a dragging reach, snapping his hips against you, smacking deep inside, making you arch your back to accommodate him. A great tightening suddenly took over. You placed your hands on his chest as you were mercilessly pounded into, feeling like you were taking him completely, pushing your mind higher in the clouds, your body as bright and hot as sunlight.

Aegon rode you through your climax, continuing to hit that place that had you rolling your eyes back, gasping for air. You felt him lean closer to you and you relaxed your arms, wrapping them around him instead as he laid himself on top of you, kissing you, filling you. His strides became long and savoringly slow, messaging the walls inside. You could have an entire session this way. Dragging it out, spending a long time just feeling him all around you, in you.

With a shudder Aegon pulled himself back, your chest in his face as gripped himself, whimpering against your breast as he reached his own climax, bucking over you and you were almost disappointed he'd not finished in you, as you finished on him. 

You let out a long breath, letting him drop down and you soon following, relaxing beneath him, trailing your nails down his back. There was a dull ache between your legs, but you figured that would fade.

Your mind still buzzing with the remnants of ecstasy, and something more as you held him in your arms and he brushed down your side. You began to worry you might fall asleep and mumbled lazily, “I should probably get dressed-”

“Stay.” He said. Aegon lifted enough to look you in the eye. He was uncharacteristically serious. “Just for a little while. Until I fall asleep.”

You nodded and settled up on the pillows. Curling up into his arms as he laid the blankets over the both of you. You hadn’t anticipated how tired you’d be from all the activities.  

By the time you cracked open your eyes, the sun was coming through the windows. You jolted up in the bed, only to find you were the only one in it. Since when was Aegon awake before you? You looked around the room, tilting enough to see around the divider and the tub. “Aegon?”

He didn’t appear to be in the room at all. Unsure what to do and in a full blown panic, you found your clothes on the ground and rushed putting them back on. You straightened out the wrinkles, tried your best to tidy up your hair, and before you were thinking of leaving, the door swung open, startling you before you sighed in relief.

“There you are. Where did you go-” Aegon briskly crossed the room, wrapped you up in his arms and kissed you, long and brimming with excitement. The door wide open. 

When he parted, he was all smiles. “I had a little talk with your father and Lord Barston. You’re not going anywhere.” 

An ice cold dread fell all around you. “What- what did you say? Aegon, what did you do?”

“I told them I’ve taken you as my mistress.” You firmly pulled his hands from you and backed up, stared at him with horrified eyes. He returned them with bewilderment. “What?”

“Do you remember all those little talks of my reputation? That it was important to me?” 

Aegon scoffed, taking your chin between his fingers, looming before you. “Be honest, would you really rather go to some marshland, getting mounting but an old ugly lord in a cold ugly old fort, or stay here with me?”

“I-I’m going to be seen as a whore for the rest of my life!” Aegon rolled his eyes, dropping his hand and dropping on his bed. Clearly he’d only gotten up early to ruin any foreseeable future of yours. How could he be so flippant? “Don’t you understand what you’ve done?”

“I’ll make you happy. You have nothing to worry about.” He said, kicking off his shoes and flopping up higher on the bed, closing his eyes. “Breakfast will be here shortly. Afterwards we’ll take a trip into the city. I want to buy you a dress befitting the mistress of a prince.”

But for how long would that last? What should happen to you when he gets bored? And Aegon grows bored so very easily. Frenzied horror was shaking through you. “My father, what did he say?”

“He just nodded and said whatever I wished.”

You nervously scratched at your scalp, brushing it back and breaking in a cold sweat thinking of what your father and lord Barston must think of you. What they might tell everyone. What everyone might tell everyone. You sighed, feeling as if you might throw up at any moment. 

Someone walked in but it wasn’t the maids with breakfast. It was Alicent. There was a furiousness to her step and for a moment in the way she looked at you. But the drained fear on your face was evidently painting a clearer picture for her. Your voice distant and dazed, you announced very blandly, “Your mother is here.”

Alicent looked to him. Aegon gave a tired sigh, sitting up in bed to give her his attention. No one said a thing, merely looking between on another. You were feeling cold, couldn’t feel your fingertips anymore even as they cupped your burning face, now your steps clumsy as you moved toward the small table. 

“Do one of you care to explain yourselves?” She asked.

Aegon shrugged, “She said she didn’t want to leave.”

Your ears were ringing, the nausea welling up your throat. You grabbed the untouched wine cup from last night. Drinking it down then dropping into a chair. You couldn’t see Alicent look at you, but you could feel it. “Is this true?”

“I…” Well, yes in the most technical way. However you didn’t ask for your entire life to be ruined without even talking to you about it. Everytime you thought how you needed to say something clever, something to get you out of this, no words came to you. “I don’t know what to say.”

Staring into the floor, you could hear the mattress shift, and soon Aegon came into view, dropping to his knees before you. His face was heavenly and innocent as he looked up to you, resting his hands on your waist. “Hey, everything is going to be alright. I promised I’d make you happy and I will. You’ll see.”

What came out was the only sentence playing in your head over and over. “Everyone is going to call me a whore.”

Still with that look of summer sweetness, “If anyone does, I’ll have their tongue cut out.” He thought that would be a helpful thing and not make people hate you and him more. You rested a hand on his shoulder, meaning to explain that but words simply wouldn’t form on your tongue anymore. So you just patted him.

“Aegon, why don’t you get some rest?” Aegon looked up to his mother who moved in closer. She rested a hand on your back, though you wondered what she really wished to do to you. “She and I will have a talk about your arrangement.”

You reached over and grabbed the other untouched cup, drinking that down as well, hoping it would prevent you from fainting. As you went to stand, Aegon’s grip suddenly hardened to stone, locking you down into the seat. His jaw was tense, his glare furious on his mother. “She’s not going anywhere.”

Both you and her took back. You looked up at Alicent as she tried to challenge him, “Aegon, there isn’t-”

He jumped to a stand, looming over you as he seethed, at the Queen. “I’ve made my decision. She stays.”

You looked between them, wondering if this was just some terrible nightmare, hoping and praying to the Gods it was. Alicent looked down at you, as bewildered as you were shocked. 

“We will talk about this.” She quietly assured, leaving you in the room alone with him. 

A touch came to your cheek and you flinched, coming face to face with Aegon as he lowered himself before you again. “Relax. The marriage is a thing of the past and my mother won’t do anything to you.”

He leaned in and kissed you, but you were far too stunned to kiss back. Still when he pulled back, he smiled, satisfied as he turned back to his bed and dropped on it. Shortly after the maids came with trays, one of them Lydia. You recognized the stunned mortification in her, as you knew it in yourself. They cleaned up and reset the table. Before she turned to leave, she reached out and rested her hand on your wrist. You desperately turned your hand and held hers, silently trying to assure both of you things would be alright.

Hey hope you guys enjoyed the run so far! I was thinking of ending things here, felt like it sort of rounded itself out with the final deed done. Let me know what you think! If you enjoyed it or would like to see more!

[chaoticstateofaffairs]

Ok, Alicent Hightower. (Show version)

Now, with young Alicent we see the abused, the shoved around, the victim of the patriarchy, the lost. We see her so confused over what to do, what to say, how to say it, when to say it. We see Alicent become a young mother, if we are being honest here, against her will. She's suffering from postpartum depression, which some people don't realize that or choose to look over it and continue to bash her. It's an awful thing, postpartum is. You see her with her children, acting robotic, not knowing what to do, desperate for someone to hear her, someone to see how she's begging for help, someone to free her from the shackles she was placed in.

Adult Alicent, we see she's still being abused & in her shackles, but she's embracing those shackles because she knows not what to do any longer, but now while also being the abuser. She gives what she gets but always to the wrong person. Her relationship with Aegon, her first born, is complicated, he's a Targaryen man through and through... alcoholic, abuser in many ways, a lousy father, and many more. He was the 3rd shackle put on her by her father in a way, along with the help of Viserys. Her relationship with Helena, non existent because her daughter sees what her mother has become, but I'm afraid she knows not why her mother has become the way she has. Aemond, her second born son, her 3rd child. That relationship is there, it's loving in a way, but as you see she fears him, fears what he has become all because of that faithful night, that horrible night when she realized how alone she really was. Not even the boys own father would stand up for him, he'd rather support his bastard grandson, the child of who he sees as his only child. She is alone, completely. She's trapped in a never ending maze of being used, being abused...being forever alone.

We see her stand against the obvious wrongs, what would be considered wrong at the time. The fact that Rhaenyra has birthed not 1, but 3 bastards, and would have them claim the throne under the false pretense of being a Velaryon. Making her way as she pleases, while yes shes in shackles as well but she has the freedom of being the kings daughter. All of the Targaryens being backed by a dragon...oh wait, no...being shielded by their dragons. If they had no dragons they would not last a day, but look at the woman who has birthed not only 1 but 4 dragons, who has stood alone in the midst of everything. LOOK AT HER! Look how powerful she is, she may be depressed, she may have no hope left after that crowning, she may be lost but she's still standing...for now. She may be a mother who knows not how to love right but will stand in front of the horrible man who is her child to save him from a dragon, she will still protect her children even though she sees them not only as her children but as her shackles. That woman stood in front of a dragon even though she knew not what was going to happen.

Maybe she was hoping Meleys would end her suffering, would free her from her shackles that she wears. Maybe Alicent would have been free of the pain from the relationship she has lost with Rhaenyra, for whom she clearly hold a great amount of love for. Maybe she was just being a mother who would protect her child, no matter how much pain having that said child caused her. Alicent loves her children in her own twisted way. Alicent is trying to stay safe as best she can in this Game of Thrones.

Alicent wants to fly on dragon back and cake, she wants what once was before this damn game started. Alicent wants her childhood back, wants her love and her friend back, but most importantly... Alicent wants to be free of the shackles she was placed in.

#1 tasked to win the game

The shackles that where first placed upon her young wrists:

#2 wed Viserys

#3 birth heirs

(I'm a firm believer in Alicent & Rhaenyra, you can't convince me otherwise)

[lesbiankrem]

i am about to make everyone so regretful you followed me ...

tmi history thoughts confession time... sometimes i wonder if pants being associated with men and some kind of skirt being associated with women, unless both sexes wear skirts... is because in the past women were just going out and squatting to pee. Outside or over a chamber pot or something similar. And yeah it's easier in a skirt. Not impossible in pants or shorts at all, but there is still always that piss on your clothes risk unless you step all the way out.

it seems trivial at first but then you go to live your life day in day out without bathroom facilities and it suddenly becomes an issue enough to totally re-design your clothes around it

For certain kinds of dresses/skirts especially I think it for sure was about it being a patriarchal culture where women were meant to look like they were more decorative if they wanted to look richer/more womanly/feminine... but so many lower class women DID work. And worked manual labor too, plenty of times more or equal to the men. From paintings I can see they did shit like tie up their skirts up the middle to make pants effectively, but still wore skirts. Maybe it was just about ease of peeing while female, without modern bathroom set ups.

I have no idea what they were wearing under the skirts though. If it involved undergarment shorts or something then that blows up my theory. Only for women in the real early days of sex-differentiated clothing though -- once something gets going for a practical purpose, it can really easily spin out to be a cultural thing to emphasize difference between the sexes to emphasize different cultural ideas about them, social roles, and that kind of thing.

big argument against what i just said is that i can imagine a garment where it's like pants, but unbuttons like those pjs with the flaps (u know what i mean hopefully) giving free access to squat pee without risk with a simple unbuttoning process. Perhaps the ancestors didn't go for that without covering it up with a skirt, though, because it looks so fucking stupid. Universal truth. So skirt as solution to the issue for women still wins out.

disclaimer: i never went to college and I don't really know what i am talking about with history or sociology or whatever this is

i am just a humble lesbian feminist who kept trying to find records of some culture out there without any sexism

sometimes i think on our own planet, with our own species, patriarchy was just too old. it probably developed while other hominids were still around. before we were even homo sapien maybe ourselves.

and the ability and motive for men to create it over and over was just too high because of how human pregnancies are so risky and debilitating.... and because it is just so easy to look at the one who gives birth as having more to do with raising the children. And its also easy to look at rate of death and pain in childbirth, pain with menstruation and say, hm maybe women are cursed somehow. I don't think it's right but I see why people kept drawing the conclusions they did.

so any "matriarchy" is at best a patriarchy that swung egalitarian but still have cultural artifacts from some far older patriarchy... and still has separated roles for men and women where the women do usually get the "child care" end of the deal

it gets difficult to even say what we mean when we say matriarchy

i might measure matriarchy with the following

level of woman-positive stories/beliefs common to the people, and lack of woman-negative stories

possible presence of negative stories/beliefs warning against men taking power over women, promoting men acting right

leadership is either all-woman or culturally understood to be typically a woman thing. leadership means making decisions, having property ownership in her name if any and bloodlines traced through her, and access (possibly exclusive access) to the right to use violence and means to use violence, with women in these roles directly or as the order-giver

women get to have whatever role they want. men maybe can have whatever role they want but maybe are expected to do something specific like fish or something i don't know... basically it still counts as a matriarchy to me even if they have some amount of sexism (gender) in roles as long as the penalty of lost role-mobility/flexibility is paid by the men, not women

Ok update i forgot about some factors such as horses and also about togas. see notes for more confusion by me.

[thewhiskersonkittens]

It's been over a week since I saw it and I still can't stop thinking about the Barbie movie. It's like I'm still in shock. No one cares but I will write out my full thoughts here under the cut.

PROS

Like everyone says, I 100% agree on the set design of Barbie Land and the costumes. They did a fantastic job! I expect they will win some awards for those categories.

I like most of the soundtrack although there's probably about three artists on it I actually know. (I feel old.)

Ryan Gosling. To me, he had the best performance out of the whole cast. Ironically, in a movie literally called "Barbie", I found myself caring for Ken more. I think that is a testament to just how good of an actor Gosling is. They butchered Ken's character (just like they did Barbie's) and wrote a really half-ass script but Gosling STILL delivered.

Weird Barbie. I'm not much of a Kate McKinnon fan but I think she did really well. I love this concept of a "weird Barbie" because it's so true to life. Of course there would be a Barbie some little girl messed up! 😂

Speaking of "old", my favorite scene was the one with Barbie on the bench next to the elderly woman. I think this movie's message could have easily been about ageism more than tHe pAtRiaRcHy...

CONS

The biggest issue for me is what they did to Barbie and Ken's relationship. They are one of the most famous couples of all time, albeit a fictional one, but I just wanted them to be in love and kiss. 😭 I'm a hopeless romantic. I am tired of the idea that a Strong Female Character™ can't have a romantic relationship with a man because it makes her "weak" or "not as cool". One thing they could have done is say of course Barbie doesn't need Ken. But she chooses Ken because she loves him. She DOES love him. (IDC what Gerwig or Robbie says. They got it wrong.)

The plot(s) are all over the place! I can't remember but I don't even think the mother-daughter part of the story even got resolved or if it did it was done in like two seconds?! I don't remember, by then, I was getting bored and restless.

There was no point to Will Ferrell and the Mattel CEOs. After the chase scene, I completely forgot about them until they randomly reappeared at the end. I'm inclined to think they were only included to be a red herring for when they cut the trailers for the movie.

I didn't like how they named everyone else "Barbie" and "Ken" in Barbie Land (Aside from Alan and Midge). I get they are saying everyone can be a Barbie or a Ken no matter what you look like. But did they not know about all the characters in Barbie's world? Skipper, Courtney, Kelly (a.k.a. Chelsea), Stacie, Christie, Francie, etc? Just seems lazy IMO.

"The Message". Don't tell me "yOu jUsT diDn't GEt iT!!!" 😑 Oh, I got "the message", all right. IDK how anyone can watch this movie and not "get it" when they might as well beat you over the head with a goddamn sledgehammer. When I was a kid, I had a Life Size Barbie. Why don't you get one of those and write "FeMiNISm!!!" all over her body, take her by the heels, wind her up like a baseball bat and beat me to death for two hours?! In hindsight, it would have saved me time and money for sure.

If you liked this aspect of the movie, all the power to ya. You are allowed to like whatever you want to like. But everyone acting like this shit was so deep and profound... ??? I'm sorry, are you kidding me?! It's about as deep as a kiddie pool. I think there are rain puddles out there deeper than this.

They could have gone about the women's empowerment message in a much better way and a lot more subtle and a lot less hateful.

Which brings me to my next point about what I didn't like.

IDK what this movie was trying to be? It had some funny moments but most of the humour was corny and flat. I've been craving an unapologetically girlie, "chick-flick" movie for a long, long time now. The kind they used to make 15-20 years ago or so. Think "Legally Blonde", "Clueless" or "13 Going on 30". Or think even further back to the 80's with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" or "Teen Witch". What better movie to make a return to that kind of genre than with a live action ✨BARBIE✨ movie? She is the epitome of girlie-ness and femininity. But I guess that's too "problematic" now or something.

Why did only Ken sing? Don't get me wrong, he did great, but does it seem weird to anyone else why he was the only one? It seems kind of random IMO. Why didn't Barbie sing a solo? I have no idea if Robbie can sing or not but still. Again, what is this movie trying to be? It could have worked as a musical but it wasn't.... but they threw in a Ken song and dance number out of left field?

And lastly,

Margot Robbie. I HATE to say this, really I do. Because I really like her as an actress. I had so much faith and hope in her with this role. I thought she was a MUCH better choice for Barbie than Amy Schumer ever was!

Robbie looks the part of Barbie to a T. She's beautiful. But as the movie went on, I felt like she wasn't giving Barbie anymore. At least not Barbie in the way I imagine the character. It feels like she was playing a completely different character. Barbie in this movie never really helps anyone but herself. Barbie is not supposed to be an emotional manipulator but here, she is.

It's not Robbie's fault because Gerwig didn't write her character correctly. Same thing with Ken. He's a himbo, for sure, but he's not supposed to be some pathetic simp. I feel like both Robbie and Gosling were kind of wasted. They are both so talented but their characters were not written right.

So, all and all, if I had to rate the movie I'd give it a 5/10. I feel like they got some things right, some things they could have done much better, and some things they just shouldn't have done at all.

This is all just my honest thoughts and opinions. If you enjoyed the movie, I certainly don't want to take that away from you. I'm a huge fan of Barbie and I left the theater incredibly disappointed by the final product and I was SO excited for this.

[nothorses]

I’m having a shitty day and then I go on the transandrophobia tag cause ig I’m a masochist, and the top post is one calling us whiny losers. Yey, now my day is even worse.

Don’t feel the need to if you don’t want to, but the part they compare about us using transandrophobia as a word to white women making up a word for misogyny against them is bugging me. Can you like… idk. Refute that. I could do it myself but I’m just kinda wallowing rn, everything just hurts emotionally.

(It’s not mainly the transphobia getting me down, something really shitty happened today.)

Anyways, thanks for reading this, I appreciate everything you do, dude

I mean, the simplest refutation is that trans men do not gain privilege or power for being trans men. White women do.

This comparison is based on the idea that intersectionality is just addition and subtraction: racism + misogyny = misogynoir. Transphobia + misogyny = transmisogyny.

Therefore, transandrophobia must = transphobia + androphobia (or misandry), right?

And that's just as silly as claiming that misogyny against white women is a combination of misogyny + reverse racism. Right?

But the thing is that this isn't how intersectionality works. It's not just a combination of two separate experiences happening at once. "Misogynoir" is not When You Are Racist To A Woman, or When You Are Misogynistic To A Black Person. It's a unique axis of oppression with unique tactics that target black women specifically, not just for being black or being a woman individually, but for being black women, as a separate class of person.

Transmisogyny is not just When You Are Misogynistic To A Trans Person, or When You Are Transphobic To A Woman. It is, again, a system that singles out and targets trans women for being trans women, specifically.

Reality is more complicated than Pokemon damage types. Shocking, I know.

So: white women are uniquely privileged for being white women, in a way that is separate from the privilege white men gain for being white men. There are, for example, tactics they can employ to garner sympathy in any given situation; white women literally instruct each other to fake cry if they ever need to win an argument (source: I was one.) This is a really great article on the unique ways in which white women enact racism.

This is not +white privilege, -misogyny. It's a unique manifestation of white privilege that applies to white women for being white women- none of these things are true for every single white person, nor are they true for every single woman. These are not tactics that people who are not white women have access to.

How do trans men factor into this?

Well, for starters: society does not see us as men. It also does not see us as women.

That's true for all trans people. We inhabit unique spaces within the gender "binary" that cis people aren't typically aware of, and certainly won't acknowledge, but are taught to respond to anyway. We're "other". "Failed women" and "failed men", maybe, or "lost women", or just "wrong", or "monstrous". Whatever fits the particular bill.

Transmisogyny is an experience unique to trans women, constructed of tactics and marginalization targeted at and tailored to trans women, because trans women are viewed as a separate class of person. Not as women, not under patriarchy; as failed men, lying "women", wrong, monstrous, etc. As something other than "man" or "woman" the way patriarchy defines those categories.

Trans men are also viewed as a separate class of person. We are not Trans + Man, we are Trans Men. Failed women, lost women, wrong, monstrous- whatever fits the bill, but never Men.

We don't conform. We challenge the gender binary through existence alone. Patriarchy says that men must be awarded manhood, and women must fulfill their obligations as women, and trans men say no. We say that we can assert ourselves as men, and that we aren't obligated to do shit. And patriarchy fucking hates that.

What results is a unique form of oppression, composed of unique tactics targeted at and tailored specifically to trans men, because trans men are viewed as a separate class of person.

White women do not challenge whiteness nor patriarchy by being white women. They are not existing outside of any binaries; they are conforming (in at least some respects) to what patriarchy says a woman should be, and they are certainly not challenging what white supremacy says whiteness is.

White women were factored into whiteness from the start.

Trans men were never factored into manhood or womanhood.

[mckinlily]

Ok so…not to diss on any of this because that was a HILARIOUS narrator insert and I loved it—but I think the line works and has power because it’s Margot Robbie saying it.

Because here’s the thing: you can never be pretty enough under patriarchy. It doesn’t matter how perfect, how drop dead gorgeous, or how Stereotypical Barbie you are—as a woman in patriarchy, you are NEVER pretty enough. Yes, there is pretty privilege and you get some advantages for being beautiful, but none of that remotely translates to being treated and viewed as an equal and a human being worthy of respect.

And isn’t it telling that as soon as Barbie starts to feel self doubt and the pain of patriarchy, the way she finds to express that is that she isn’t pretty enough.

But of COURSE she does because pretty is how you determine a woman’s value under patriarchy. And a woman is NEVER pretty enough in patriarchy because no amount of pretty will erase a system BUILT on female inferiority. So of course, even Margot Robbie, even the most beautiful, perfect, stereotypically attractive Barbie, feels like she isn’t pretty. You can’t win as a woman under patriarchy no matter how beautiful you are.

Of course we’re told that’s not true. We’re told “if you’re just beautiful enough—” “just thin enough—” “just smart enough—” “YOU can be Special Enough to Win Patriarchy.” But it’s all a lie. A lie that pits women against each other and against their own interests.

And I loved that they called it out here. No, not even Barbie is pretty enough for the patriarchy. There is no good enough or pretty enough to win within patriarchy. The only solution is to break out of the system entirely.

Barbie (2023) dir. Greta Gerwig