#female anatomy is not my specialty either

[niziye]

After seeing an incredibly adorable post by @istan-idraw, I wanted to draw them by all means (my smartphone screen didn't help today, to no one's surprise)

Drawing on paper is not really my specialty tho

[sweetestgirlintown111]

henry winter x reader

authors note: I decided to write for Henry Winter as way to get him out of my system, and this is the byproduct. While reading this please keep in mind that it's my first time publishing my work and that English isn't my first language that said of course, feedback is always appreciated so if you have any notes feel free to point them out in the notes or in my asks box. about the story, this won't be following the exact plot or timeline of the book, it's an academic rivals to lovers trope, I have 5 chapters written already and I think it safe to say that it is more of a slow burn, somethings id like to point out is that this fic handles the themes of Catholicism directly and child sexual abuse within it in an indirect manner so if you are uncomfortable with these topics I'd advise you to refrain from reading, of course, content warnings will be present to individual chapters including these topics, also there will be swearing, and I haven't yet decided if there will be smut in this piece, also in this fic I wont be using (Y/N) or any names for my character I also try to refrain from physical descriptions although female pronouns and anatomy are used. lastly, if you think this piece isn't for you please feel free to reach out and send prompts for one-shots or if you would like scenarios or ideas to include in this series, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!

prologue |

Henry, stoic, cold, luring Henry. like a fire luring in moths, we were all ready to do as he pleased, convinced that in some way he always knew better. Maybe he did, maybe that's why all seven of us were so complaint, but me -I was so beyond them in that aspect I was fascinated with Henry Winter I would've gone happily to my demise if he ordered me to if it meant that he would be pleased with me.

I first saw Henry at Julian's office, before lessons had started I was there to ask for a schedule since I hadn't got one -the process of signing in to his class was very hard in itself but Julian was an old friend of my mom which was the main reason I got accepted- he was sitting on a couch listening to something Julian was saying that I unknowingly interrupted. he seemed huge at first glance tall with broad shoulders and hair so dark in contrast to the paleness of his skin and the shine of his blue eyes framed with a pair of old-fashioned round thick glasses, he was beautiful that much could be said. but he was also uninterested his glance almost dismissive that look he gave me the same look he’d give me plenty of times after that- a look that made me feel tiny which in comparison to him I was, and so naturally I made him the center of my life at the time. it wasn't so estranged of me to pick the one thing that I couldn't have easily and dig my claws into it, after all, I loved a challenge except this time I wouldn't be able to decide who won if either.

Ancient Greek, this dead language, so esoteric, so elite that naturally I gravitated towards it. at ten its hard to stand out -especially when going to an elite boarding school in the middle of Sweden, everyone's daddy was crazy rich, all the kids had ponies, and all the girls went to the best ballet academies thus nothing materialistic could make you special, so developing an obsessive interest in ancient and dead languages was not only sure to make you stand out but also get you the praise of your teachers, all the while being hard enough that any competition would give up on their own. so it became my niche, my specialty- and by the time I finished high school, it was an easy choice to go to Hampden, seeking an exclusive course of studies with a class of six other students.

although I always strove to stand out academically, I was never as bright socially, usually feeling more fitted with my translations, and maybe in my younger teens, it saddened me, to watch my classmates playing and having so much fun together, and not being able to join- not because they wouldn't let me but because I couldn't let myself. but that envy quickly faded, when plying around turned into partying, sex, heartbreak, and filthy drugs. not that I didn't indulge in substances from time to time, but it was never the cheap stuff and never on school grounds. and so that's how my teens came and were spent, books during school and books -with a little bit of drugs- during whatever break that would send me home.

Back to Hampden, our first class Julian gave us the time to get to know each other and get familiar with one another, going in i'd figured that Henry was the guy I had met earlier- and he had a friend that came with him, Edmund everyone called him Bunny, very chatty which was a striking difference to henry. Two other students were twins a boy, Charles, quite handsome, and the female version, Camilla, they were both boyish and had the same mannerisms they also both had slight southern accents. And then there was Francis, redheaded, tall scrawny, and very stylish indeed and seemed very friendly and inviting and lastly, there was Richard a Californian, quiet and shy. meeting with them was easy enough that it didn't feel dreadful and I quite enjoyed their company, being a bunch of weirdos I felt welcomed in a way, the time was spent discussing literature, ancient scriptures, and civilizations. they all seemed to know enough about the Greeks, Henry, in particular, made it clear that he was above them all when it came to knowing the ancient culture, for the first time in my life I felt like I was on par with someone in knowledge and for the first time as well I didn't feel threatened.

classes with Julian were what any seasoned student would want, he was challenging and inspiring, but having Henry as a competitor wasn't easy, while I was excited about the competition he never held back and it felt like it wasn't just academics we were fighting over but rather something else, the praise of Julian mainly, and I wasn't going to hold back either. I couldn't, even if I wanted to, my whole life the only thing that inspired me to work harder and be smarter was the validation of my teachers, being that I went to boarding school and didn't have the strongest relationship with either of my parents, id turn to whichever adult that would spare me the attention and more often than not they were my teachers, so no I wasn't going to let him have the praise of Julian our only instructor, I wasn't going to make it easy for him.

at first, it started as banter in the middle of class -correcting each other's quotes, racing to answer Julian's questions faster- but later on in the semester as it was clear that we were academically equal, it would turn into pure unfiltered hate. And Henry Winter would make sure that I never forget any of my flaws, ever.

[22ayla21]

Teasing Kartein is Kayden's favorite activity, which you decided to kindly borrow. After that, Kartein regretted introducing you to Kayden.

You are an extraordinary person in yourself with an unruly character, which annoyed Kartein very much, and your jokes made him even more angry, but after a while he got so used to them that when you were calm, it seemed to Kartein that this was either the calm before the storm, or you had something it happened on the psychological front.

But let's go back to the present time, where you woke up in the morning and are trying to figure out what kind of situation you got into. To be more precise, to lie on the bare floor of the blanket, and next to the same naked Kartain slept.

“It seems like I didn’t drink yesterday, but I don’t know how I ended up in such a situation...”

[Last night]

Since you are Kartein's personal assistant, it is clear that you live in his residence. Perhaps it was confusing at first, but over time I got used to it.

The clock showed 09:00 pm. You were already going to sleep after taking a shower. You wrapped myself in a towel and was about to dry my hair when I heard a voice behind me.

- You would get dressed, at least for the sake of decency. There's no need to walk around here naked.

- You're a doctor, and you know all the charms of female anatomy, why do you react so much to a naked body?

- Maybe my specialty is not female anatomy after all?

- Or are you just shy?~

Pretending that you were supposedly taking off your towel, you could see how Kartein blushed very much from this and twitched. The next thing that was heard in the room was your loud laughter.

- Ah-ah-ah! Blushed like a virgin during puberty! - and again loud laughter throughout the room.

This time Kartein blushed with anger, but certainly not from embarrassment.

[Present]

Yeah, calling him a virgin during puberty was not the best idea, because he then proved the opposite to you all night. And the main thing in this whole situation is that you don't actually have any feelings for each other, at least that's what you thought.

- Good morning, sleeping beauty ~

While you remembered yesterday's events, Kartein managed to wake up and laugh about the whole situation.

- Well, you have a kind one, but I don't. My whole body is aching after last night ...

- And there was nothing to call me a virgin yesterday, maybe then I would have been more gentle ~

- It's hard to believe ...

An awkward silence has fallen over you. It seemed like both wanted to say something, but no one knew how to start this conversation. After all, you were braver than him and started a conversation.

- And what about our partnership relations?.. I don't think I will be able to pretend that this did not happen.

Kartein was silent for a couple of minutes until he answered the question:

- Believe it or not, but I've been sympathetic to you for a long time. Of course, you annoyed me at times and I even had time to regret introducing you to Kayden because of the frequent jokes, but you are the only one who understands me from half a word, knows how to find an approach when I'm not in the mood. You never needed my healing abilities and I am very comfortable with you, but over time I realized that I no longer sympathize with you, but really love...

- ...

- You don't have to say anything, I still didn't expect you to reciprocate.

Kartein got out of bed and was about to leave when you left him.

- Wait!

- What is it?

- I reciprocate your feelings. Maybe I don't fully love yet, but that doesn't mean that you can't give a chance. Maybe it will still work out if we try?

Kartein smiled at your words and kissed you on the forehead in response.

- Well, we have plenty of time to establish relations and learn more about ourselves.

[tommyboweinabowtie]

About Spencer's One Ball

okay first of all disclaimer: I know that for some people this post will seem too much and I'm aware, but to be clear, all I used was what Spencer talked about publicly in videos, mostly in the 2 truths 1 lie with Tommy, everything else is Medicine and Science and statistics. I did not have access to anything else like medical records or anything related.

Also important here: I am a certified doctor, I know I just be silly online but I studied medicine and I happen to be in pediatrics, one of the few specialties that would deal with said diagnosis, so since the first time I saw that video it got me wondering exactly what kind of "condition" it would be, I was curious, so I decided to research. And bring my research findings here.

Keep in mind english is not my first language, but I tried to be clear and simple.

"Having only one ball" medical term would be "monorchism", or "monorchidism". That means only one testicle in the scrotum. (Trivia no one asked for: everything related to testicles has "orchid" in its name, the plant is also called that because it has a scrotum-looking thing in its roots). Having only one ball later in life usually means surgery or injury, but as he said, not the case.

In the video he says he was born with only one testicle. So he didn't say he had any testis removed, or that it was somewhere else, just that he only had one. Okay keep that in mind. Let's understand first how normally a testicle develops. A healthy embrio is sexually indifferent at first, the Y chromosome has a gene that makes it develop testicles instead of ovaries. That happens inside the abdomen, below the kidneys, and when the testis cells are developed, they produce an hormone that will supress other "female" anatomy. This hormone is also responsible for the descend of the testis into the scrotum. This descend happens after the seventh month of gestation. So until then the testicles are inside the abdomen. About 3% of XY term babies are born without 1 or 2 testicles in their scrotum. That's calles cryptorchidism ("hidden testicle"). It is more common in premature babies and babies with conditions such as down syndrome. More than half is unilateral. So when a baby is born doctors examine it and see if the testicles are inside their ballsack, if not, usually (80%) within the first year it has a "delayed" descent. If it is not in the scrotum, maybe the doctor sees it somewhere else, close, right above it. Little image to show where it can be found:

So directly from the simplified words from wikipedia: A testis absent from the normal scrotal position may be:

Anywhere along the "path of descent" from high in the posterior abdomen to the inguinal ring

In the inguinal canal

Ectopic, having "wandered" from the path of descent, usually outside the inguinal canal and sometimes even under the skin of the thigh, the perineum, the opposite scrotum, or the femoral canal

Undeveloped (hypoplastic) or severely abnormal (dysgenetic)

Missing (also see anorchia).

So if we can't find the testicle in the first few months, we usually ask for an ultrasound, to see if it is inside the abdomen and to search if there's any intersex characteristics, or other conditions, associated. If it is found, usually there's a surgery, either to place the testicle where it is supposed to be, or to remove it. Why not just leave it inside, or forget about it? Well, undescended testicles have a higher chance of testicular cancer. So it either has to be in the scrotum to keep it in check with self-exam and ultrasounds, or completely removed.

Spencer never mentioned a surgery, and they talked about surgeries and procedures in that episode. He'd probably have talked about it. So I don't think he had ectopic or undescended testicle.

The abnormal testicle also rules out because he would have said it was deformed or something. Not that he was born without it.

So that leaves us with anorchia. Or in his case, monorchia. (He has one normal right testicle there, the left one is missing.)

If you look for this terms you will find mostly genetical disorders, or like intersex individuals with other health issues associated. I don't think that's his case.

So what I think it is, is a condition called "Vanishing testes syndrome" or "testicular regression syndrome". It results in anorchia or monorchia. It is kinda rare, less that 5% of those with cryptorchidism. To make it simple, the embrio develops the testicle, but something happend with it along the way before the baby is born, like a torsion, or ischemia, and it "dies" or stops developing, leading to a baby without the testicle. It is more common to happen to the left testicle. The individuals usually delevop a completelly tyical male phenotype, as seems to be Spencer's case as well. (Unless the regression is bilateral and happens too early in the pregnancy, leading to lack of testosterone, but thats less usual). Some doctors and scientists recommend a surgical approach to remove the small scar tissue and remnants (0-16% of studied cases have like a tiny amount of live testicular cells in the scar tissue wherever the testicle died) to avoid potential testicular cancer as well, but it was never documented, so it is not needed, it depends on the attending doctor.

Also some patients may want to have a prosthesis implanted, for cosmetic purposes, but also not needed.

Let's just trust that Spencer was cared for by good doctors that did whatever testing it was needed and got to the most likely diagnosis.

So that was my wild research You can officially read the paper about this condition here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3459158/

I have more commentary about smosh health conditions and stuff, this one just was more in my field and also spiked my curiosity, i just needed to. But like about Tommy CPR thing, Shayne drowning, probably more stuff i can't remember now. Let me know if any of you would like to see more lol.

[i-did]

hi hello i couldn't sleep last night so i was scrolling thru all ur asks and stuff and ur opinions and analyses are so interesting!!! and then afterwards i was thinking about what u were saying about mlm smut and i'd also been thinking about such things a little bit recently bc like.....at a certain point it becomes quite clear that the vast majority of smut-writing is just imitation. like there's the sex noise verb list and all and the whole general mechanics of the sex and those things just .... replicate over and over. and the whole thing w people writing mlm vs wlw smut regardless of their own sexual orientation..... like i feel like a big part of that is just a self-perpetuating thing. like if u have not had sex and u r getting all ur (pleasure-related) sex ed from fandom (even if u do watch porn, that doesn't rlly tell u how to describe stuff? idk) regardless of What fandom , the majority is going to be mlm smut. which is itself majority imitation of other mlm smut, imitating and imitating back to whoever knows what the first smut fanfic was etc. there's just way More to mimic than there is on the women side of things. which then becomes a self-perpetuating thing, bc the mimicry continues and generates more and more. and---if there are fundamental misunderstandings of anatomy involved---those self-perpetuate as well. and maybe even exaggerate. and yeah. does this all make sense? idk i was just thinking about it. like all the stereotypes and stuff continue bc writers are getting their inspo from other writers rather than their own brains. or something. idk!!!!! it's just all... divorced from reality? bc words. or something!! i hope u get what i'm trying to say. just thoughts i've been thinking. anyway i think ur thoughts are cool. and ur writing. ok bye have a good day!!

Okay yeah this is kinda messy but hope u see this, uhh yeah I think you're right about the echo chamber effect fr about stuff. I think it's a mix of projecting too sometimes. talk more under the cut and also link to a video essay since I love video essays.

Here’s a video that sort of touches on this topic: 

“Gay fanfiction” by Sarah Z. (has CC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8E_C00dKwI

This video begins to talk about fetishization at the end, but also… not really. The words “gay fanfiction” is used as a catchall, when really gay fanfiction is largely mlm written by non-mlm.

Fandom is a largely women's space dominated by the female gaze in a media industry world that is dominated by men and the male gaze. I'm really glad women have this space to explore creativity and queerness, and I don't expect the female gaze to go away, but I am still ultimately bummed out I can’t read most fanfic or interact with most fandom spaces without having fetishization in my face. 

So about 80% of fandom is women, and most of those women aren't straight, but 90% of those women prefer mlm ships. Why don’t they prefer wlw ships? Well definitely part of it is the fact that queerbaiting is centered around white straight men, and then there is also the fact that women tend not to be written as well charcter wise. But the fact still remains that you get jerjean getting priority over Layla and Alvarez who are in canon just as much and are a canon wlw couple who actually interact as well as Alvarez could likely be a woc because of her Hispanic last name. Korasami doesn’t get nearly as much hype as zuko and saka, despite the fact that they are 2 fully dimensional characters who canonly kiss and hold hands, something the creators fought for and ended up having to sacrifice another reboot for. 

I do believe the fandom echo-chamber is largely responsible for… a lot of things, like you're saying. But what's interesting is that the complaints I've heard about visual porn from non mlm in the fandom space is that they can’t get off to it because its for the male gaze and misogynistic usually. But they also don't seem to notice how the mlm smut circles has the female gaze and is also… almost always mlm. If it was a pure anatomical not knowing thing, I get that, but I also think that leads to the question of “then why the male body for porn, and not your own? The one you know and are familiar with?” 

I know some people want to get outside of their own body for porn and don’t want to think of their own anatomy at all, but overall I'm still uncomfortable. If an anglo said “well I watch porn of only Mexicans so I don't self insert” I'm gonna be like … hhhh in a similar way. I understand people “like what they like” but I wish they also noticed said patterns in the first place. I understand the t4t tumblr porn circle, and how it's different from cis people who only watch trans porn. 

I actually wished that instead of fandom focusing on mlm ships where some asshole guy hits on bottom troupe charcter for top troupe character to save, was instead… a wlw character experiencing said shitty getting hit on and other wlw swooping in. what's interesting is fandom writes a lot about misogynistic experiences without often realizing it. Ive read fanfic where guys get called sluts for sleeping with people or called bitch for speaking their mind, these arent things men usually experience, but rather women. Fandom has a lot of internalized misogyny and also queerphobia imo. Women characters often get pushed to the sidelines and men become the canvas for female fans to project onto. 

There is this natural inclination to mlm. When people are talking about “gay shipping” or “gay books” or “gay feels” or even just “gay” mlm is what’s largely in mind. I honestly am kinda saddened by this because if gay fanfiction was really solely about writing more to feel represented, then you would see a lot of bi and ace and lesbian rep, but this isn't the case. Queer women are seriously underrepresented, and I want to hear their stories and read them in fanfiction as well as published. 50% of lgbt literature is mlm, and of that its largely written by women. Becky Albertalli, Rainbow Rowell, Maggie Stiefvater, are the YA big names and are all women writing mlm. Red white and royal blue is written by Casey McQuiston and Captive prince (which is not YA) is written by C. S. Pacat, who is non-binary, but is also TME and not mlm. These are all the big names in mlm lit, behind them is some gay men, but honestly their stories aren't preferred, they're not the right “flavor” for the consumers usually, who are largely women. In general YA consumers and authors are women, but I wish that they… just wrote about women too. I think there is a certain… snowball effect to the overrepresentation of mlm representing the whole LGBT community that leads to fetishization, as well as misogyny playing a factor in: less women characters being written well to write fanfic on, when they are written well they're taken less seriously or the audience struggles to relate to them, they're less marketable then men. 

Idk I never feel “seen” or “represented” by any of the books above, which don't address boyhood and manhood and queerness intersecting really, and AFTG doesn’t either. I relate to AFTG as a trauma victim who has experienced a lot of what many of the characters go through and have gone through in the EC as well as them just overall being very well written characters, but I don't relate to it as a mlm really. I've never seen like.. gay voice or being straight passing or femphobia or how boyhood can be affected from a young age by those around you sensing you're ‘other’ or if you didn't experience this you feel outside the mlm community. Let alone sub cultures like bear and leather and pup, at most you see the word “he's such a twink” in fandom which... i fr hate non mlm using that word because it's usually used to replace the f-slur essentially, used derogatorily or to call him “such a bottom” and stuff like that. It’s like a joke or an insult.

Long story short, idk mang this was a ramble and I think I'm coning down with something. I wanna see more queer women rep and women authors writing about being a queer woman too. I think it's a complex web of fetishization and a bit of forbidden love yaoi culture (or it used to be in the BOYXBOY days) as well as misogyny on an industry level, creator level, as well as reader/consumer and fandom level. I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to explore other peoples stories and what we read has to be segregated, “only mlm are allowed to read and write mlm, only wlw are allowed to read and write wlw,” but I also think author’s intent and audience and background is telling, as well as overall statistics. Like about an hour ago I was looking for cookbooks in spanish or in english, and I was looking for some mexican food cook books, but I had to look for them using words in spanish because otherwise what came up was a bunch of “fiesta party, easy as uno dos tres authentic cooking!” and I was like… hm. Since I could tell they were marketing to anglos. (also the author’s last names were like michelle smith, james cooper, and this could be for a variety of reasons, but I trust Hispanic names more tbh and deadass would look at the authors pictures and if they had other books in Spanish or what their specialties were.)

anyways. not sure how to end this. uhm if anyone has any book recs (my to read list is like 500 books tho no joke) preferably not YA white mlm written by a white lady, hopefully queer women written by queer woman, LMK, I need more wlw and queer women stories on my list. I have a decent amount but always looking for more. I kinda wanna link my goodreads or my storygraph but I also don't want to get doxxed and it has my legal name on it so.

Also, I'm dyslexic and using spell check but if there's like some wild typos my b.

[aplusblogging]

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: The Female Gaze in Film A video essay by Ella Boers and Ella Walken 

This is two of my classmates’ joint final project for Sociology. I loved it so much I asked for their permission to share it here. Hope you enjoy it too!

Transcript under the cut, since the auto-generated captions are mostly accurate but punctuation is good for comprehension.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Boers: In 2019, French screenwriter and director Céline Sciamma released her fourth feature film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Following the narrative of two lesbian women, the movie highlights their story of love and art, and explores a woman's place in the society of 18th-century France. Sciamma's presence is a rarity in the heterosexual male-dominated film industry, as she is an out lesbian making films about her lived experience regarding sexuality. Her knowledge of queer womanhood manifests in quiet ways; a soft smile or longing gaze quietly and authentically conveys the depth of the love and respect women have for one another. While each of her films highlights stories which explore gender and sexuality, we will be focusing on Portrait of a Lady on Fire, where Sciamma portrays her characters as complex and multi-dimensional women.

Walken: Historically, women in film are portrayed as subordinate, less important, and one-dimensional in comparison to their male counterparts on screen. This unequal depiction of women in the media—called the "male gaze"—is everywhere in film, from more obvious movies such as Transformers and The Wolf of Wall Street portraying women as objects of pleasure for the heterosexual man, to Disney princess movies that more subtly objectify women through their sexy clothing and unrealistic body proportions. This is largely due to the movie industry being predominantly male-run, as producers continue to churn out the same material that has proved to be successful in the past. However, in recent years cinema has slowly been transitioning to a more accepting, equal, and diverse set of stories and characters.

Boers: Where the male gaze fixates on medium close-up shots of women from over a man's shoulder, shots of a woman's body, or scenes where a man is actively observing a passive woman, Sciamma directs the camera work in Portrait of a Lady on Fire so that it centers on her character's expressions and body language, revealing in them the complexity of the women's dreams and aspirations. In fact, Sciamma's execution of the female gaze encapsulates the women so well that when a man is shown on screen—an occurrence that only happens twice in the film's entirety—it comes as a shock to the viewer.

Walken: The main plot of Portrait of a Lady on Fire follows Marianne, a painter commissioned to do a portrait of bride-to-be Héloïse before she leaves for Milan to marry. As Marianne and Héloïse's relationship morphs into a passionate romance, the commentary on artist and subject becomes all the more apparent. Yet, as the relationship continues to blossom, it is still handled with the utmost care. Despite the fact that homosexuality was maligned in the setting of the film, Sciamma steers clear of any tired tropes in queer cinema, which often display and occasionally exploit trauma. Although the story is not unrealistic to its time period, the film chooses to take a caring route, never allowing a hint of the hate of the outside world to pervade into the relationship the couple shares. Even amidst a plot surrounding the painting of a woman's beauty, we as viewers experience with the characters what it means to be observed by a respectful female gaze rather than the aforementioned assertive male gaze, discovering a world where women can love and be loved for more than just their looks.

Boers: But beyond the directing and writing of camera work and plot, Sciamma's gaze extends—or rather, brings us back—to the 18th century, addressing limitations and societal norms that created obstacles for women, many of which still exist today. Marianne's profession as a painter was rather frowned upon for women of her time, and while girls of the middle and upper classes were encouraged to partake in the arts, taking it to a level past a leisurely hobby was viewed as losing sight of her priorities. Even women who did make the bold decision to pursue a career in art were restricted by their lack of access to art education. At the very simplest level, female painters were prohibited from studying live nude models, as it was considered indecent to do so. Their lack of education on the human anatomy limited the genres of which they could paint, and many, like Marianne, turn to portraiture for their primary specialty. On top of this, Portrait of a Lady on Fire touches on the life of an unmarried woman, challenging the common perception that a woman of that time is either married or to-be-married by instead portraying these women as content, having actively chosen their single lives.

Walken: A final important aspect of the female gaze in Sciamma's film is her attention to the complexity of women in all social classes. Similarly to Marianne and Héloïse, who fall into the higher classes of society, housekeeper Sophie is portrayed as complex and driven, despite her lower place on the social ladder. Towards the beginning of the film, Sophie finds out she is pregnant and enlists the help of Marianne and Héloïse in terminating her pregnancy. In addition to the abortion side-plot, all three women—no matter their economic status—are shown cooking, playing games, and enjoying the company of one another. In one particular scene, the two upper-class women work together to cook a meal while Sophie works on her art. Although a simple cinematic gesture, by including this small moment, Sciamma establishes Sophie as a character who is more than her work, and is allowed pleasure even by the women who she is working for.

Boers: Upcoming films such as Promising Young Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 continue to normalize the placement of women as main characters, centering the stories around the complexities of their lives and the depth of their potential. However, Sciamma's storytelling is unique in her ability to uplift women on screen without making a large gesture of it. Her film shows that the empowerment of women can be achieved through tender care, as she quietly explores the story of Marianne, Héloïse, and Sophie through the careful nuances of their friendship. Unknowingly, we are engulfed into a world where women have agency, where they can love, and where they have a depth to their character and dreams. Portrait of a Lady on Fire reflects the strength of the women in our modern world, and shows in its subtlety how to properly paint an image of a woman.”

End of transcript.