#feminism essay

[claraameliapond]

Violence against women is a MENS ISSUE.

We will never be able to stop this and live in peace and safety unless the underlying cause is identified, addressed and fixed : it is a valuing issue. Cultural, institutional. While institutions are slowly changing, cultural value systems that circulate about women in men's circles are not catching up.

We can't solve this.

You have to.

It is a human rights issue.

If you do understand that women are human beings equal to you and treat them as such, please understand it is your duty to circulate and normalise that, and culturally correct misogyny in any form it presents itself among your fellow males.

I'm really sick of this. All women are.

We can see who these people who do not see us equally are. Often it's people who think it isn't them.

It's everywhere.

Culturally males are fed particular messaging about genders that present in their unconscious and conscious behaviour, bias, subjectivity. Please work on yourselves. Even if you think you don't need to. Check your privilege. And when and where you see it in others - CALL IT OUT. THEN AND THERE.

We can't fix a culture we aren't part of. Only you can.

[libratalks]

The (absent) demise of the "Riot Grrrl" genre!

Disclaimer: this text was created for an essay submission, so the prose may not be similar to my other blog posts. Nonetheless, it is still incredibly important to me, along with being one of the best pieces of work I have ever had the honour of constructing. Thank you for reading.

What essentially birthed the genre of 'Riot Grrrl' music was the exclusion of women in musical spaces regarding the punk-rock persuasion and punk movement throughout the 1970s. Although the involvement of women began to become prevalent during the second wave of feminism, with bands like X-Ray Spex and The Slits being formed, punk-rock was still seen as ‘cock rock’, a loud and predominantly male genre. It seemed as if there was no room for the inclusion of female artists within the genre of punk-rock. That is, until the start of the 1990s and the third wave of feminism, where the formation of a specific band called Bikini Kill began the rise of the Riot Grrrl movement, dedicated to tackling feminist issues and providing a focus on the political, social, and economic disenfranchisement faced by women. These weren't bands consisting of heavily skilled musicians, for half of Bikini Kill's members played their instruments without any prior experience or knowledge. This wasn't entirely unspoken of, for there were many boy bands who were getting up on stage without knowing how to really play a note. The difference is, Bikini Kill believed possessing musical talent within skill wasn't important; the true talent lied in using their music as a tool for activism. This is why one of the most influential aspects of the Riot Grrrl movement was the usage of zines to spread the feminist manifesto and the rise of these upcoming bands, for zines were the perfect tool of visual art that best emphasised the 'do it yourself' persona attached to the Riot Grrrl and punk movements. By creating sources of media that highlighted issues of sexism, patriarchy, abuse, sexuality and rape, especially through the female gaze, the Riot Grrrl movement was further strengthened by the formation of bands such as Bratmobile and Heavens to Betsy along with Bikini Kill. Although incredibly influential for women's liberation and shining a light on the issues they face, Riot Grrrl is infamously known for its exclusion of intersectionality within visual representation: there were issues of racism disclosed and explored in Riot Grrrl zines, however Emmanuelle Mphuthi reiterates that 'none of the revered figures of (the) movement were Black or women of color.' Despite this, there is a huge question surrounding whether the movement has died or if there is a resurgence occurring in contemporary society for the 'Riot Grrrls' of this generation.

Replacing the "i" with three r's, allowing a growl paired with "girl", "Grrrl" is a forceful reclamation of girlhood, by reiterating it in the stance of female anger perfectly paired with the genre's howling vocals in a bid to reject female subordination and accept female animosity. Along with this, it is the re-establishment of the naughty, confident and curious personalities young girls possess before they begin their venture in society as young women, demonised and degraded by the patriarchy to stop being loud and to stop playing with boys and to concentrate on learning how to girl. Due to the genre's innate rejection of gender stereotypes, it is no surprise that it is filled with aggressive displays of women empowerment and girl power. Arriving at the end of the second wave of feminism, where the debate regarding the legalisation of pornography was existent due to anti-pornography feminists wanting to limit the porn industry as it catered only to men and encouraged violence towards women, some feminists deemed this as repressive as there were women who chose sex work, and to limit the porn industry would be to limit their work. Already, before the start of the third wave of feminism, there is debate regarding a woman's choice. With the third wave of feminism beginning with the 1991 Anita Hill testimony, a sense of liberation is tied with intersectionality for the first time, this new wave of feminism focusing on race and gender and political representation and equality for women.

This only helped prompt an emphasis on reproductive rights for women, much like the second wave, hence the brutal honesty surrounding female empowerment through punk rock to begin discussions of patriarchy and body image for the female youth. Thus, the Riot Grrrl movement is constructed and strengthened, paving a way for the female youth to be involved within the punk movement; for youth has always been a motif in the punk milieu because its attitude naturally rebels against authority. Best depicted in the genre's lyrics, there is an obvious distinction between the male perspective and the female perspective: Blink-182 writes 'I want a girl that I can train' in one of their songs; the Ramones write 'well, you're a loudmouth, baby / you better shut it up! / I'm gonna beat you up', perpetuating elements of physical violence and harmful hegemonic-masculine attitude towards female subordination. In contrast with this, Bikini Kill writes 'Just cause my world, sweet sister / Is so fucking goddamn full of rape, / Does that mean my body / Must always be a source of pain?', highlighting the normalisation of rape culture and the issues regarding the female body. In doing so, along with the use of the word "sister" to address their female audience and the brutally explicit drop of the word "rape", Bikini Kill emphasises the fact that Riot Grrrl is all about being raw and not being afraid to have those conversations. It is this unfiltered, gritty and brave attitude of Riot Grrrl bands that allows the movement to be influential and inspiring for (young) generations of women.

In accordance with themes of feminism and girl power, the usage of zines in the nineties helped convey a tinge of individuality to the Riot Grrrl movement. In its entirety, the movement was a personal and brutally honest conception, best depicted in zines' manifesto-like nature, emphasising the youthful framework attached to what these zines were highlighting with their messy hand-written font and eccentric colours, such as hot pink paired with black. One of the zines published by Bikini Kill featured a hand-written flier, acting as a feminist manifesto, with lines such as 'Resist the temptation to view those around you as objects and use them' and 'Burn down the walls that say you can't' - the latter underlined aggressively in black marker juxtaposed with a crimson red background. This further highlights Riot Grrrl's ambition to focus on the individual's responsibility not to perpetuate the system of oppression and how to tackle the personal in political terms. With the use of a crimson red paired with black, there is a sense of feminine urgency attached, depicting the nature of a woman celebrated through her menstruation.

Another reason why zines were the perfect tool for the Riot Grrrl movement is because when analysing the movement now, there is a sense of nostalgia attached: in the age of no advanced internet or technology, zines were the best tool for quickly and locally disseminating information beyond and before web content, especially in youth culture. Along with this, zines had a unique way of portraying a confrontational style of in-your-face politics, which was perfect for the third wave of feminism, portraying a sense of belonging for the individual as anyone could make a zine about anything. The entire essence of the Riot Grrrl movement was that it was an opposition of the mainstream, best conveyed with the use of zines as they helped capture a culture in a way that mainstream, conventional and often exclusionary models of publishing couldn’t.

As influential as Riot Grrrl was for advocating for women’s liberation and sexual freedom, one of the strongest criticisms of the movement was that it lacked the emphasis on women of colour entirely. Highlighting female anger, it is no coincidence that the movement gained a large fanbase after the 1991 Anita Hill testimony, for female thought was provoked and encouraged by the case’s emergence; a movement that was kick-started by the abuse of a Black woman possessed so few Black representatives at its helm. Furthermore, the punk-rock genre was deemed a predominantly white, male genre - a common misconception due to the silencing of many Black musicians. Dating back to the early 1900s, music composed and released by Black individuals was categorised as 'race music' in order to profit off communities of color whilst also restricting the music played on white radio stations.

In terms of the punk-rock genre, however, many believe it has become whitewashed; there were Black punk bands pioneering the punk movement with their fresh new ideas long before The Clash and the Sex Pistols, such as Death, a band composed of three young black brothers who have gained a large cult following today. Retrieving attention back to the Riot Grrrl movement, there is also X-Ray Spex, with the frontrunner being a young Black woman, refusing to adhere to society's objectification of her body. Yet, despite this, it is a sad fact that although X-Ray Spex paved the way for the Riot Grrrl movement long before it was constructed, Bikini Kill is the band connected to the movement the most. In addition to this, there is the inclusion of Courtney Love’s band Hole as one of the most influential bands within the Riot Grrrl Movement, with a discography full of songs that advocated for badass and unapologetic feminists. Despite this, Love has been heavily criticised by many intersectional feminists for her racist comments, where she previously demanded the crowd at one of her concerts to 'scream the n-word', along with asking a Black woman whether she really does enjoy rock music, for she is Black and that would be synonymous with Love, a white woman, 'being into Lil Wayne.' Highly detrimental to the nature of the Riot Grrrl movement, Love has also been criticised for her victim-blaming comments, where she asked a woman who had been raped why she didn’t expect it to happen. It is often a shock for many Hole fans when reminded of this altercation, for Love wrote the feminist anthem ‘Asking for It’, a song highlighting the brutal nature of rape and the long-term effects of assault on victim-survivors; many victim-survivors refuse to acknowledge Love as a feminist icon, for her comments surrounding victimhood and victim-blaming remain harmful.

Further supported by Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hannah, Love was called out by the queen of the Riot Grrrl movement, only to be met with physical violence by the hands of Courtney Love. This best highlights the damaging notion the Riot Grrrl movement advertised that if a woman is strong and opinionated then she is, by default, the poster girl of feminism even if her so-called feminism ignores racism, transphobia, ableism, classism and so on. On the other hand, what frustrates many women of colour who are consumers of the Riot Grrrl genre is the lack of representation within the movement for themselves. Described as a movement for the 'young, white, suburban and middle class' women in society, many feminists would wholeheartedly disagree, for that is only what the media focused on. The real riot Grrrls were those of all ethnicities, especially the black women that participated in (and out of) the movement. These black women carved their own feminist pathways into the hard core scene solely because they were rendered invisible by the movement itself, such as Ramdasha Bikceem, a young Black woman who constructed a Riot Grrrl zine in the perspective of a black Riot Grrrl. It is an inspiring and influential notion tied to the nature of Riot Grrrl, yet it is also heart-breaking, for no woman of colour's contributions to the movement should be swept under a rug of whiteness and should instead, be at the forefront of the movement along with their white peers.

Embedded within the celebration of all women and unapologetic female anger, the Riot Grrrl genre would thrive in contemporary society – or would it? The movement itself is as relevant today as it was back when it was formed, especially tied with the #MeToo movement, however the entire essence of the Riot Grrrl movement is an opposition to the mainstream, and with the rise of pop music towards the end of the nineties, therein occurs the loss of interest by the media and the 'death of Riot Grrrl' in 1995 and 1996. Yet, despite this, many believe that Riot Grrrl never truly met her demise, visiting a resurgence within the music of Alanis Morissette, igniting a celebration for angry women, along with the brutal lyrics of 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks, and the ‘howling vocals' of Fiona Apple. This label of ‘angry woman rocker’ attached to the aforementioned female artists within pop music originated with the Riot Grrrl movement, especially as their songs helped espouse feminist values and protest violence against women.

Along with this, female rage was selling music and magazines, which coincides with the obsession contemporary society has with celebrating the rejection of female subordination and the right to rage. Gone are the days of asking women to be gentle and kind, to avoid overt displays of negative feelings such as rage and aggression in fear of appearing “unfeminine”, for there is now a rejection of this societal conception that women who defend themselves, hold strong opinions and are competitive and verbally self-assured are “rude” or “belligerent”. The themes circulating why the Riot Grrrl movement was made are still present today, hence why the movement is still very much alive. What’s perhaps the most exciting aspect of this is that there are now women of colour at the forefront, such as Olivia Rodrigo, Willow Smith, and the band The Linda Lindas, conveying Riot Grrrl's uniform 'over-it attitude' and the 'howling vocals' aforementioned. The best example of Riot Grrrl being present today is through The Linda Lindas’ song ‘Vote!’, written and released as a public expression of the young women's dissatisfaction with the Trump administration.

Stripping the movement of its white-feminism and retrieving all art that was pushed under the rug of whiteness, the Riot Grrrl movement is essentially at the strongest it has ever been in today's age, due to the easy-access of the internet, along with the fact that there is now an inclusion of women of colour: Alice Bag, a Mexican-American punk singer, being one of the opening gigs for Bikini Kill's recent tour, along with Shamir, a black indie-rock musician. These artists have one thing in common: the hunger to defeat oppressive powers, highlighting the essence of Riot Grrrl. As society progresses, we see a shift in the Riot Grrrl movement - it isn't as explicitly referenced as it was in the nineties, but the mentality remains because feminism remains, in all its layers of intersectionality.

Although the Riot Grrrl movement possesses its criticisms embedded within racist connotations, the sudden shift into intersectional feminism in contemporary society allows a resurgence of the genre. First constructed to allow a space for women to essentially rock out and meet the horrors of girlhood in brutally explicit lyricism, by reconstructing the label of 'SLUT' in a female gaze to allow sexual liberation and autonomy after decades of being stripped the choice to, Riot Grrrl helped highlight the importance of placing taboo subjects like rape out in the open. Essentially, the movement celebrated the idea of women loving women, warning one another about dangerous people and providing community and support to survivors. To take part in the movement, there is the acquisition of being vocal about other important issues that were once rare or invisible such as gender variance and racism, issues that are visited today.

Although the movement is seen through a new lens with today’s digital age, there is still the usage of zines in terms of blogging and creating graphics on Pinterest and Tumblr, especially using the app Shuffles, which takes your pins from Pinterest, cuts them out, and clips them together. Along with this, there is also the use of zines on Instagram, paired with online activism and blogging – further implemented by feminist scholars and blogs. This new age of zine culture can be traced back to the pandemic, where it has been an outlet for those dealing with boredom and extra free time in quarantine. With zine culture being reborn in the age of intersectional feminism, there is a fresh new face for the Riot Grrrl movement, one that tackles the many criticisms it first faced during the nineties. Due to possessing similarities to how it was first conveyed in the nineties in contrast with today, there is an inclusive space for women of all ages and all ethnicities to erase the “i” in “girl”, and replace it with three r’s, as a celebratory growl within their liberation. With the rise of upcoming girl bands and women artists who are unapologetically unafraid of being raw and brutal, the Riot Grrrl genre (and movement) experiences an absent death, in the sense that it never truly died.

[myopicry]

lurking in radfem spaces has really changed my entire view of most mainstream internet spaces because once you realize just how censored women's voices and feminist thought are on these sites, and how much porn and misogynistic values are defended, you can't unsee it.

how anyone can bear to participate in an online space where porn, of all things, is lauded as the bastion of "self-expression" and yet any woman slightly critical of popular cultural opinions is demonized is wild, especially when a lot of that porn is a) violent and misogynistic b) often accessible by minors c) gross and shallow d) myriad of other reasons far better writers have probably described

fuck I'm just so tired. seeking rationality online is just opening a pandora's box of garbage and seeing the reflection of how bleak the social hegemony has become.

[feuillesmortes]

Lifestyle feminism ushered in the notion that there could be as many versions of feminism as there were women. Suddenly the politics was being slowly removed from feminism. And the assumption prevailed that no matter what a woman's politics, be she conservative or liberal, she too could fit feminism into her existing lifestyle. Obviously this way of thinking has made feminism more acceptable because its underlying assumption is that women can be feminists without fundamentally challenging and changing themselves or the culture.

— bell hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

[trans-androgyne]

TERFs feel ownership over transmasc bodies. We already know they think we don’t deserve to make our own decisions about what to do with them, that we’re mentally ill or delusional or autistic or just trying to escape misogyny. But I also think they look at us and see nothing but themselves. They see their pain, their trauma, what they could have become if only things were different. And they conclude that, therefore, they know better than us. They know what we really need: to be converted to TERFism and detransitioned. After all, we’re ruining our poor, beautiful, fertile “female” bodies that they so covet.

This happens a hundredfold when the transmasc in question is their own kid. My transphobic mother would tell me my body is hers and therefore she could do whatever she wanted with it. She was joking until she wasn’t. TERF moms act as though it’s their own breasts being “cut off,” testosterone being put in their own bodies, their own uterus being removed, without their consent. They’ll tell you to your face they know you better than you know yourself, their words dripping with manufactured sympathy, because after all we’re the same: we’re both “female.”

If you haven’t already, please familiarize yourself with how radical feminism looks and how to spot a TERF beyond them saying they hate trans women. You don’t want to see these people around for any longer than it takes to block them.

[amarguerite]

honestly I think there's a huge generation of readers who read 'the song of the lioness' at an impressionable age and it rewired their brains

[guulabii]

susan sontag, on women

[ladycharles]

Occasionally JK Rowling says or does something so offensive to my sensibilities that I must speak. Sadly, today is one of those days.

This post, and the "male" she is referring to is a cis woman boxer from Algeria. There is an unconfirmed report that she might have an intersex condition in which one's chromosomes are XY. She may not even have this condition, but even if she does, it does not mean anything but that she has an unusual DNA quirk. We do not call Tom Cruise a woman for having an extra X chromosome, for example (nor would I expect Rowling to accept it if he decided to compete as a woman in the Olympics).

Now Rowling, upon being pointed out that she essentially pulled the twitter equivalent of Austin Powers punching that old lady because she "looks rather mannish", moves the goalpost. She claims, against evidence, that she an unfair advantage, going so far as to imply that simply by competing with a rare condition this woman has cheated.

This might seem bizarre coming from a self professed FEMINIST. It is the contention of anti trans "feminists" like Rowling that womanhood is being erased and destroyed by "trans ideology"; Yet here a cis woman achieves a olympic victory and they accuse her of being a man, of cheating. They erase her achievement, they erase her womanhood.

The subtext is racist and misogynistic - a strong Algerian woman with features that do not reflect Western beauty standards is being denied the very womanhood that TERFs claim to protect. She has lost to women before, she has no clear advantage... Yet by virtue of her looks and a possible rare genetic condition, she is now a "man" and a fraud.

This doesn't surprise me, and I suspect that anyone who has had to deal with TERFs will agree. But in case anyone is shocked here's my take:

TERFism has always been a reactionary movement. While it draws from second and third wave feminists and has an ideology on paper, any space with TERFs will tend to feature mad crusades accusing cis women of being trans on looks, attacks against sex workers that are harsher than those on the men who make that industry dangerous, few towards actual men, and a sense of outrage that trumps any real ideology.

It is feminism much like how "National Socialism" was socialist. And like the Nazis did with socialism, it uses the idea of feminism to legitimize attacks on perceived enemies while preserving the status quo. For TERFs that's traditional gender roles, which they have twisted into something that protects women rather than subjugates them. (This is not to say TERFs are Nazis, but it is a decent comparison because fascism is the ultimate reactionary ideology; full of symbolism and mythology yet devoid of any substance but machismo and hate.)

In a nuanced, good faith society, we might discuss trans women in sports using science to determine whether there are unfair advantages, and consult stakeholders and experts in sport and biology. We might study if chromosomes do impart an advantage, and weigh that against the other myriad genetic advantages like long reach or faster muscle gain to determine if there is any problem with current regulations. We might not do these things too, considering we have gone the entire history of sport without a single women's league collapsing from secret "male" invasion.

In Rowling's world, we first attack the winning woman as a "man in disguise" and rail against her without evidence. We have people replying "just look at HIM, he is clearly male". We have people writing violent revenge fantasies in which the Algerian woman gets beaten by a man or a gang of women to "teach her a lesson"... and JK does not once jump in to say any of it is inappropriate or hurtful to women who happen to have androgynous features, like some less fanatic people sharing the story have done.

When this is how their "ideology" reacts to an apparently "male looking" woman winning, we have to ask whether the liberation of women was ever the goal.

And the one thing that makes it all make sense, IMO, is that it's the lashing out that's the point. These people seem to enjoy calling a cis woman a man in much the same way they enjoy calling a trans woman a man. They enjoy the feeling of power as together they act cruel towards a woman who had the audacity to beat a white European. They seem to relish the ability to present themselves as feminists in one breath while brutally harrassing and demeaning women. Unlike ordinary bigots, they constantly bring up their crusade, as if they're growing dependent on the thrill. The cruelty, as they say, seems to be the point.

The danger of these ideologies is really becoming obvious ahead of the US election. Years of social media bubbles and astroturfing have made people like Rowling convinced that they are a silent majority, ironic for people who can't shut up.

Times like this I think are important reminders of where this can really lead. They may spin about being gender critical or concerned about women when the pressure is on; This is what these people do when they think they can get away with it.

This is the dark heart of their movement, beating loud enough to hear.

[longreads]

Fresh Meat

"The resistance to women in butchery goes further: we associate butchery with blood and gore, and dealing with blood and gore is not a place for a woman.”

Regular #longreads food writer Olivia Potts is back! Explore how women are breaking into the male-dominated world of butchery in our new feature.

Blood, craft, and sexism. Read it here. 

[vaspider]

Feisty Lady Anger and other things about me you hate

My mother prizes her anger, for all that she doesn't express it openly. I tell stories about her spiteful, steel-spined responses to people who told her, "You can't do that," and I point to them as Why I Am How I Am. Her father told her he wouldn't pay for her college because "women only go to earn the MRS degree," and she could "get married and have babies" without college. In response, Mom got her bachelor's in Mathematics in 1970 on her own dime, back in the days when in-state students didn't pay tuition at state schools (just another thing Reagan ruined). She worked and paid for her books and housing, got her degree, paid for her own wedding because he wouldn't do that either. Taught school, got her Master's, had three kids, started her Ph.D. with 3 under 6 and became a professor when the youngest was 5.

Tell me I can't, my mom told the world, and I'll show you that I can. I won't just do it, I'll become a department head and a Distinguished Professor and retire after 30 years of teaching other math teachers with a list of achievements as long as my arm.

There is an anger that runs deep in the women in my family. Tell me I can't, and I'll show you I can. Show me injustice and I'll tear at it with my teeth and hands, staring you down while I do. Backwards and in heels.

I can't tell you the moment I crossed out of Feisty Lady Anger in the eyes of the people close to me, but I can tell you the moment I noticed. Maybe it was when my voice started dropping or the growing muscles on my shoulders pulled my stance more square and upright. Maybe it was when I moved from they/them to he/they, and somehow I stepped from Diet Woman to Too Close To Man in their eyes.

It's a funny thing when all of a sudden your anger becomes real enough to be startling to people. Your anger is no longer feisty, charming, and attractive. This thing that people liked about you, that people who say they love you said they loved about you, suddenly becomes frightening, upsetting, and terrible. The way you didn't let people mow over you and fought back used to be a thing that people admired. It was actively attractive. It was one of your best qualities.

Now? It's ugly. It's disgusting. It's scary. The thing you were is gone, and now your anger is real to them.

It's in that moment that the blade cuts back towards you. You realize the reason your squared shoulders and set jaw drew people in couldn't be squared with the stubble on that jaw or the newfound strength in your arms. Feisty Lady Anger isn't real, not in the way a man's anger is real. Feisty Lady Anger is admirable, sure, but it is admirable because of its essential ineffectual nature. At most, Feisty Lady Anger fixes minor problems for the kids at school, gets the principal to back down from scolding your child when she politely asks the kid calling her a faggot on the bus if he knows what that really means, pushes a woman to achieve for her family, in appropriately neutered ways.

When you stop pretending to be a woman and become who you really are, when your anger becomes real, you realize both that the thing about you that people loved is gone and that this thing was attractive in the first place because of its ineffectiveness. Your anger wasn't scary because it wasn't real enough to be threatening.

Now you have Man Anger, and, you're told, you should apologize for that. It doesn't matter if it's the same anger you've always had, or that you're angry about the same things. It comes now in baritone, with belly hair and bellowing, and now it's both real and disgusting.

The worst part is watching it come from people you thought should know better, the people who should understand. You spent nearly 40 years being told to sit down and shut up because the men in your professional career were speaking, assured that if you just waited your turn, you'd be given a place to speak eventually, and now here you are being told within a community that claims to love and understand you, by people that claim to be in community with you and love who you are, that you actually don't have any real problems to speak about, also your Man Anger and Man Privilege (when do I get that, please?) are Scary and mean you should sit down and wait, and you'll be given a place to speak eventually.

It is the Transmasculine Catch-22: if you become Man Enough to no longer fit into Almost Lady, your anger becomes Real, which makes you realize that your anger wasn't Real before, but because it's Real now, you're not allowed to have it. And by the way, you're not allowed to be neither Man or Lady - now you're Man Enough, and that makes it all the more clear how you were simply Kirkland Signature Lady right up until the point you weren't.

There will be a few people who Fucking Get It, who don't see you as either a Failed Lady or a Broken Man, and you'll love those people all the more for their rarity. It won't take the sting out of realizing that the things people you love loved about you before now disgust and repel them, but it'll make it enough to keep going.

You couldn't stop, anyway. You've never felt more yourself, and the people who don't love you, the actual you, the real you... the loss of that hurts, but not nearly as much as the idea of pretending to be something else did.

[devoutvesta]

A Deep Dive Into Disney’s Most Underperforming Princess

Princess Aurora can’t even be described as controversial. To most, she’s simply boring, too passive, and a continuation of the bland cycle of white princesses who wait around for magic or a prince to save them. Although no one hates her, they find her irritating at the worst, uninteresting at best. In the fifties, they must have thought the same thing. Sleeping Beauty was a commercial failure, and led to company wide annual loss. Sleeping Beauty had followed several other financial flops, such as Bambi and Alice in Wonderland, the latter costing Disney around half a million dollars. Due to her lack of popularity, Aurora may be one of the most neglected Princesses. Many cling to her out of nostalgia, or because she has a nice design, and they find it hard to defend their love for the movie. But the movie’s turbulent history and the amount of detail that went into Aurora herself is what really makes her so incredibly fascinating.

Starting with her design, Disney hired Marc Davis as the supervising animator for Aurora. He also animated Maleficent. The intention was for them to be realistic enough to be placed against the heavily detailed backgrounds of the movie. Davis had embraced this artistic direction, while many of the animators found it, and especially Aurora, laborious and tiring to work on. Both Maleficent and Aurora had to be refined and dynamic. Davis was Disney’s go-to animator for ‘pretty girls’, examples being Tinkerbell and Alice. His knowledge of anatomy and the human body brought both Aurora and Cinderella to life, two of Disney’s most visually iconic characters. Davis had also incorporated Art Nouveau and Art Deco into Aurora’s design, while the tapestry-like art style of the movie was chosen by Eyvind Earle, who was inspired by pre-Renaissance European art. The score and songs were based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet.

Aurora alone required more effort and attention to detail than any princess before her. It took Walt Disney and his team three years to choose a voice actress. They nearly scrapped the project until they discovered Mary Costa, but Disney himself avoided interacting with her in person early on in the project, fearing that she’d influence his vision of the movie.

Aurora was loosely based on her voice actress. Her appearance and her habits (such as gesturing when speaking and singing) were both incorporated into Aurora’s animation. She was also drawn to resemble both her live action model, the same one as Cinderella’s, Helene Stanley, and actress Audrey Hepburn. Davis took inspiration from Audrey Hepburn’s slender physique and elegant demeanour.

In the book Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment, author Douglas Brode referred to Aurora as “a model of modern (50’s) female glamour” and compared her to Brigitte Bardot. He also compared her gown to the work of Christian Dior.

As a character, she was described by Nerve as being “the apex of women who made no choices for themselves.” Aurora is a member of the “Golden Era” of Disney heroines, the original Princess trifecta. Her dreams are the same as those before her. But it’s possible that Aurora’s dreams of true love derived from the need for companionship outside of her three fairy godmothers.

On their website, Disney describes her as, “graceful and kind. She knows that a wonderful future awaits, if you just have the courage to dream it. Aurora enjoys using her imagination and sharing stories with her forest friends. She is also loyal in her relationships -- to her animal friends, her fairies, and her kingdom. Aurora believes in a wish and remains hopeful that she will find the adventure she is looking for.”

Walt Disney himself described Aurora as being “a very layered character/different. She’s calm, yet playful. She has a sense of humour, and she has an imagination.” We can not argue that she was considered layered through the lens of the fifties, because many critics disliked all three of the original princesses for their passive personality, or lack thereof. But from the perspective of the team working on the show, they saw much more to her.

This was the film that Walt Disney worked his hardest on, it took ten years to complete. It was also the very last Princess film he was involved in. Her ‘layers’ were very much intentional. Disney tried to do the same thing with Cinderella.

With Cinderella, they attempted to make her less passive than Snow White, and they showed this through her rebelling against her abusive stepfamily. Maurice Rapf said, "My thinking was you can't have somebody who comes in and changes everything for you. It can't be delivered for you on a platter. You've got to earn it. So in my version, the Fairy Godmother said, 'It's okay till midnight but from then on it's up to you.' I made her earn it, and what she had to do to achieve it was to rebel against her stepmother and stepsisters, to stop being a slave in her own home. So I had a scene where they're ordering her around and she throws the stuff back at them. She revolts, so they lock her up in the attic. I don't think anyone took (my idea) very seriously."

The toned down version of Cinderella, although rebellious in her own way, is still toned down. That part of her character was written out. In comparison to what she would have been, she is passive. Aurora and Cinderella are both less passive than their predecessors, but passive nonetheless. All three of them are the staple damsels in distress.

However, Mary Costa described Aurora as “very strong”, citing her urge to defy her guardians as a display of independence and an example of her strength. Aurora was raised by three women, and had never met a man in her life. Costa believed that because of this, she was ‘innately romantic’ as opposed to lonely or depressed with her sheltered life. To quote, “there was a certain part of her that maybe she didn’t realise, that was just so romantic and maybe expecting something that–she didn’t even know what.”

She believed that her being raised by three older women rather than her parents made her “a little bit older, and yet, she…had this young, outreaching spirit.” Author Douglas Brode points out that the fairies’ independent raising of Aurora mirrors “precisely that sort of women’s commune numerous feminists experimented with throughout the seventies.” Aurora living in an isolated, female-only space, with female authority, is reminiscent of the bold and liberating radical feminist movement. In her own way, as a peasant, she was independent. And that independence and autonomy was taken from her upon discovering that she was royalty and betrothed to a prince. She was leaving her home and the presumed man of her dreams behind, and not of her own free will.

Aurora had enjoyed her simple life, it had fulfilled her, even if she desired more. She had dreams of finding romantic love, which she talks about in the movie’s song ‘I Wonder’. Additionally, her close relationship with animals demonstrates her loving and kind personality. She has a whimsical imagination, and it’s scenes like the ones from Disney’s Enchanted Tales series and ‘Once Upon a Dream’, that would support Costa’s claim of her being a romantic. Where she’s changing in and out of pretty gowns with a magical wand, and giggling to herself. Or dancing happily with the forest animals, thinking about her imaginary prince. In ‘Keys to the Kingdom’, she proudly sings about wishing to make decisions with her heart.

Her independence is demonstrated on multiple occasions in Disney’s discontinued Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams. Aurora graciously accepts responsibility of her kingdom while both her and Philip’s parents travel away for a business trip. All on her own, she is determined to get all of her Princess duties finished on time, the hard way. She refuses to take the easy way out, time and time again, even when she doubts herself. She works harder than even her father, who would take the easy way out by signing royal documents without reading them. Even when Meriwether gives her a magic wand to help her out, she reads and fills out every royal form diligently, and helps out all of her subjects. She manages to complete her tasks on time and throw a banquet for her family and Philip by the time they return. The lesson here is to ‘stick to it’ and to ‘persevere’. But her insistence on doing everything on her own is shown once again in A Kingdom of Kindness, where she must plan a surprise party for Philip. The three fairies attempt to help her, but she continues to tell them that she wants to do it on her own. This series was cancelled, and it is difficult to find any clips of it online. But this short-series gives us some insight into Aurora’s character.

She is assumed to be the protagonist by most, but many consider the three fairies to be the protagonists. They help move the story along, they protect Aurora, and they have distinct, in-your-face personalities. Many consider Aurora authentic, or the title character, but whether she is the protagonist or not has never been agreed upon. Her lack of role in the story has been criticized by many. But some take it as an allegory for the lack of control

The most lengthy debate surrounding Aurora has to do with how feminist her character is. She may have been an improvement from the previous princesses, but she is not regarded as a particularly feminist character.

The three original princesses, all being pale-skinned European princesses with a naive and endlessly forgiving (an unrealistic standard), sends a message to their viewers that this is what princesses should look like, how they should behave. All three classic princesses are deeply intertwined with Disney’s long history of racism and bigotry. In an attempt to amend this, Disney has released back to back live action remakes of their movies, all receiving mixed reviews. Maleficent was Sleeping Beauty’s remake, focused on a maternal relationship between Maleficent and Aurora. Many people interpreted the scene where Maleficent’s wings get cut off in her sleep as sexual assault. This inclusion made many survivors of sexual assault feel represented by the character.

From my perspective, the original Sleeping Beauty is technically a movie centred around women. A teenage girl lives with her three surrogate mothers, who end up saving her in the end from the female antagonist. Although Prince Philip’s role in the story is still a large part of what moves the plot along. It is Philip who is captured, as Maleficent knew that he would go looking for her. He courted Aurora, defeated Maleficent with the help of the three fairies, and kissed the princess awake. But he still doesn’t get as large of a role, or nearly as much screen time, as the three fairies.

In short, both the movie and the princess fascinate me. And although there is depth if you squint, a character does not need to be fleshed out to be lovable, or at least endearing. Aurora is my favourite Disney Princess, and I find the history behind her and the film to be more interesting than what meets the eye.

[hairtusk]

Andrea Dworkin, 'Pornography', from Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981)

[f1ghtsoftly]

While, I don’t hate the women that express “doomer” ideology, I do think it’s Really Bad for a wide range of reasons. One of the most important of which is the all or nothing type of valuation it places on resistance, we either destroy all patriarchy, or we’re all doomed, and the way it negates our power as living breathing adult women to do anything at all the change our circumstances, because I can’t change all of it-I change nothing instead.

There are thousands of women on this website that are alive right now who want a better world-do you seriously believe none of our efforts, do you believe the efforts of all the women who’ve ever lived amount to nothing just because we haven’t achieved a post-patriarchal society? Think about all the ways women’s resistance, big and small, has nurtured you-even before feminism was a thought in your head. Did that not matter to you? Did it not help protect you? To warn you? To feed your soul? Not enough of course, but all of that effort was enough to make you brave enough to dig for answers, to not immediately give in to all that was expected of you, to find a place here on this website, surely. It did matter, even just hearing or seeing something that made you feel seen for the first time in your life-that does matter.

I think one of patriarchy’s most pernicious effects is the way it corrupts intimacy between women. We are trained to play act images of women that men create through media and social control we end up worrying if we’re successful in our impersonation of this being we call “woman” always trying to be nice enough, tidy enough, small enough etc…and disrupts our images of woman’s actual humanity and personhood. Remember how crazy you felt before you discovered feminism, imagine all the other women and girls who already do and will one day feel like you. You thought no other woman was like you, until one day you went to a secret place, somewhere men didn’t control, and discovered, it wasn’t true.

Women’s ability to resist patriarchy is a gift to us, it lets us know, even hundreds of years into the future, that we have never really been alone. Women who acted out to the point of being disciplined via religious, psychiatric or state institutions. Women who worked in secret as men to be able to write, create, make and live independently. Women who pushed politically for their rights. Even just women who survived and gained power for themselves in environments that were hostile to it. They all gave us a gift and that gift is the knowledge that they were alive, they mattered and they didn’t like it-they weren’t these images of women that men created-they were human, just like us. More than just giving us comfort, these big and small acts of resistance allow us to more fully understand not only the totality of what we’re up against-but also to appreciate the incredible fortitude of women who persisted against incredible odds. They didn’t know what their fates were going to be either and it probably felt as bleak, if not more, than it does right now. We can find women like this in the historical record, even if Big Patriarchy is still around.

It’s true that individually we don’t have a lot of control over the Really Big Historical Picture, but the good news is we don’t have to-we just need to control our slice of it. There are so many women just waiting to find women like us, there are girls growing up who need to see us to know that they’re not alone and that there is a community of women who feel like them and who are worth fighting for. Focus on making yourself visible as a human being to the women around you, on trying to make a mark big enough so that women in the future can find you. We are alive and we matter-and I really think this is enough. It’s a very worthy effort to live by and for other women and usefully it’s also a really critical step in building solidarity, so even if some of us get crazy ideas about doing something to change the Big Historical Picture, they’ll have a much better chance of achieving it.

[fictionaltrvlr]

Roman Empire this, Roman Empire that. I don’t really think I have a Roman Empire-

The Overwhelming Hatred of Rachel Zegler

This rising star of a 22 year old woman is being torn apart by men and women alike and I’m so tired of it.

I’m disgusted by the amount of hate she’s getting and you best believe I’m gonna lay it out. I’ve tried to organize this but I’m really tired so bear with me.

Main Controversy

Her saying that it’s no longer 1937 and Snow White doesn’t need to be saved by the prince is not her saying that women can’t want to have a husband or a family. Simply that they don’t need a man to give them value.

And to be clear, yes, okay? Yes. Women should be allowed to soft, they can want families, they don’t need to be badass to be happy. They can fit “traditional” roles. Women can want different things. Meg March, the icon that she is, “just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.” 100% yes. But Rachel wasn’t saying otherwise.

She said the prince was a bit of a stalker so they’re not doing that this time… and yes? The prince was weird. I thought we agreed on that. Snow White was 14 in the original and got kissed while she was unconscious by an adult man… but sure, ✨iconic✨.

And it’s fine if you don’t like the *apparent* girlbossification of Snow White, but people are acting like Rachel wrote the movie?? Did it ever occur to people that maybe Disney wants the “girlboss independent woman who doesn’t need a man” picture presented?

She’s doing press for the movie, is she maybe taking the direction Disney gave her?? Also… we. haven’t. seen. the. movie. The teaser only just came out!

Strike Comments

Her comments being popularized during the strike is already suspicious enough. Is it not in the studio’s interests to portray the strike and those taking part in it as unreasonable?

Her saying she deserves to be paid fairly for the hours she spends in a dress playing an iconic Disney character is completely valid. She wasn’t saying she’s the most amazing actress ever or that she plays the hardest roles or does the most complicated stunts. Just that she deserves fair pay… like every other striking actor and writer??

Childhood Relationship With The Character

Her saying that Snow White scared her as a child and she didn’t revisit it until she got cast. Why does that matter so much?? There were scary things in that movie! The witch, the poison apple, the forest coming to life and trying to grab her.

Tastes change as we grow and Rachel has shared her excitement about getting to play the character now.

She was a child. *screaming*

The Extremely Different Treatment Men Receive in The Same Situations

May I present, Robert Pattinson?? Mr I hate these books and felt like I shouldn’t be reading them?? Mr Edward is creepy?

He mocked and joked about the Twilight series every chance he got and people ate it up. They loved it and still do. He’s funny, he’s confident, he’s so real for that.

Harrison Ford wanted his character to die off and said it had run its course. He was praised for his humour and honesty.

Oh but Rachel is ungrateful. She’s rude, she’s cringe, she’s mean, she’s annoying. She’s irredeemable, she’s overbearing, she’s smug, off putting. There’s just something about her that we don’t like…

She’s pitted against other successful women, like Halle Bailey. She’s pitted against Kristen Stewart. Against Elle Fanning, Jenna Ortega. Ignoring, may I point out, how hated so many of these women have been at the different points in their careers?

This is how Brie Larson is being treated and now she wants to leave Marvel too.

Women can be sarcastic. They can joke and speak their minds. They don’t have to package every thought with a pretty little bow so it’s palatable to you.

Rachel’s statements are being misinterpreted and twisted. But on top of that, even if she was what people are saying, have we forgotten about Tom Cruise? Leonardo DeCaprio?

These men are insufferable and problematic and yet some of the biggest names in the industry and, again, confident. Boss. In charge. Charismatic. Not annoying, not petty, not “oh you should be grateful you have anything!!”

Let me pull out Taylor Swift for a hot second because she does a wonderful job of describing the different ways we talk about men and women.

A man does something and it’s strategic. A woman does the same thing and it’s calculated. A man is allowed to react, a woman can only overreact. […] A man shares his experience in writing and he’s brave. A woman does the same thing and she’s over sharing, she’s over emotional, watch out!

America Ferrera when she said that the only difference between being bossy and being a boss is that one is a woman.

People need to listen to “All American Bitch” again -

I know my place, I know my place, and this is it! I don't get angry when I'm pissed I'm the eternal optimist I scream inside to deal with it All the time I'm grateful all the time I'm sexy, and I'm kind I'm pretty when I cry Oh, all the time I'm grateful all the time

And not that women need to be grateful because they don’t, but just to be clear, she is grateful.

She has expressed how lucky she was to get Shazam and how much she enjoyed it and made amazing friends. She was excited to play her version of Snow White. She shared pictures of herself as a child dressed as Snow White. She’s thrown herself into it.

Conclusions

Hate trains fun, I get it. But let’s not pile on young women when they’ve not even done anything wrong. Question why all of a sudden everyone hates this person, what are the facts, what else is going on, what confirmation bias do we have?

There is something so much worse to me about seeing other women tear her down. Like yeah, men will be pigs, but what are you doing? It’s so sad.

And women like hunting witches too, doing your dirtiest work for you, it’s obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together… (Mad Woman, Taylor Swift)

Rachel seems like such a joyful person and people are out here bullying her like she kicks puppies on the weekends.

Claiming to be a feminist because you want a wide variety of princesses (ie, ones that get saved by their prince), and then sending death threats to another woman for possibly appearing as though she holds a different opinion about one princess - is not only a contradiction, it’s just baffling.

Anyway stan Rachel Zegler

That’s my speech, please do contribute collaboratively if you want :).

[cinnamoontopography]

I think not being overly nice to regressive women in comfy, first world countries is the way to go tbh. Like, they are not going to listen to common sense advice, nor are they going to react well to you trying to save them. When they complain about feminism keeping them from being SAHMs and putting them in the workplace, you actually need to remind them that the reason they don't have the life they want is because a rich, generous man does not want them. If they desperately want to be at home they need to lower their standards, learn to coupon, and live a more humble life or clock in to afford the salon treatments/Sephora/Target/Amazon shopping sprees. I don't particularly care to tell women to lower their standards, but it is the truth for if they want to leave the workforce like they claim they want to sooo badly. It is not a tragedy that they won't be like rich socialite women who become content creators and show off their overconsumption. There is not a time and place on the planet before this where the people lower on the pyramid could do a nothing-ass office job in air-conditioning and get such a buffet of instant gratification everywhere, and this has caused some women to lose their sense of perspective and reality.

[musings-and-overanalyses]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Why This is My Favourite Ghibli Movie

CW: Major high-school English teacher vibes ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

Nausicaä of the valley of wind is a story of the titular character Nausicaä and her being a bridge between the world of humans and nature to bring peace, thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy.

Nausicaa is the princess of the Valley of the Wind. The film begins with her walking and exploring the Sea of Decay, an area with toxic air, plants and fungal spores. She collects some spores and finds the hard molten shell of an Ohmu (gigantic blue-blooded trilobite-looking creatures), which her people use to make weapons and tools. As the name suggests, the Valley of the Wind is a civilisation that depends on and bases their culture around wind, which one can see through an abundance of windmills and gliders, including the one that Nausicaä rides. They are shown to be peaceful people who do not interfere with the politics of the warring human kingdoms or disturb nature. Nausicaä in particular is shown to have a special gift with animals—from calming Ohmus to having a pet fox-squirrel. As the existence of the kingdom depends on the sea wind that shields them from the effects of the sea of decay, there is a general reverence towards nature and its other members such as the Ohmus, that are often referred to with honorifics.

This was an element I liked: the symbolism goes deep in this film; for example, with the nature of wind—it being the very breath necessary for life is contrasted with its other face, through toxic spores in the sea of decay capable of killing anyone who inhales it.

It is revealed that humans had built The Giant Men, weapons so dangerous—not unlike our atomic bombs as shown through the characteristic mushroom cloud—that the destruction caused by the war had unleashed the fury of the Ohmus, an otherwise gentle species. They wiped out entire civilisations and where they died, the Sea of Decay grew on their decomposing corpses, showing how all life is interconnected and that even in death the rage of the Ohmus, and through them the rage of nature, wouldn't subside. It is then that the viewers find out that this is not some far-off planet, but a post-apocalyptic future on earth.

New species of plants and fungi made the Sea of Decay their habitat—nature and life always find a way. It is implied that the humans lost the war referred to as the Seven days of Fire, but the truth is that it is not a war that can ever be won. Even if you win the war against nature you lose. As the story progresses, we see that the plants and fungi that Nausicaä collected from the Sea of Decay are actually trying to purify the soil and water—nature holds no grudges but only seeks balance.

The seventh of the Giant Men, a sentient atomic bomb if you will, apparently hid underground for a thousand years until the kingdom of Pejite found it for use against their enemy, the Tolmekians. They both remain oblivious to the sheer destruction that can be caused by this Giant Man and they don't care either. Despite the balance between humans and nature being a delicate one, instead of trying to rebuild together, they justify to themselves that the war is necessary for self-preservation and to put humans back on top of the food chain.

In their hubris, the Tolmekians and their princess Kushana believe that with the help of their superweapon they can destroy the Sea of Decay despite knowing that it will trigger the wrath of the Ohmus. The Giant Man however is not complete and hence, though the devastation is great, the final giant man dies and all that is remains to be done is to calm the wrath of the Ohmus.

Nausicaä saves an Ohmu child who was injured by Tolmekian soldiers to lure the Ohmus into a war. She saves the baby Ohmu and sacrifices her own life to calm the sea of maddened Ohmus. The now-calm Ohmu then revive Nausicaä, symbolising the mystical healing power of nature and its ability to support and create life.

Nausicaä is an excellent protagonist, and how the trope of the chosen one is utilised is beautiful and full of symbolism. Right from the get-go, we see her being inquisitive and brave. She is willing to defend her people but not through violence. And it is made abundantly clear that her avoidance of violence is not due to any lack of strength; when she strikes down the soldiers who killed her father, rather than feeling any sense of pride (as one might expect from a character not used to strength), it sickens her. She shows understanding even towards Kushana, whose men took over her kingdom. She sincerely loves and respects animals and plants.

There was a prophecy among the people of the valley of wind that a person clad in blue over golden fields will save their kingdom and bring peace. And towards the end of the film, Nausicaä's clothes becoming blue with the blood of the baby Ohmu she saved and the golden fields being the tendrils of the Ohmus healing her is poetic to say the least.

In addition to a good female protagonist, we also get a powerful female antagonist in Kushana, who starts out as a one-note expansionist ruler, but it is revealed that she lost her limbs and got severely maimed by the sea of decay, motivating her to destroy it once and for all. Proud and arrogant, sure, but she has a motive beyond just wanting power and possesses some form of a moral code. In another story she could be the protagonist bravely defending humanity against the evil, alien-esque trilobites and spores.

It was a unique and meaningful choice on Miyazaki's part to symbolise nature through the Ohmus—alien-looking giant insects—instead of something cute and fluffy. Oftentimes humans care more about the conservation of animals that they find cute (pandas over, say, Panamanian golden frogs), but an animal doesn't have to appeal to human aesthetics to be worth conserving.

Absolutely not to be missed is the breathtaking soundtrack by Hisaishi. There are symphonies, techno music, sitar-like instruments and a child's humming, all elevating every scene to give a moving experience.

Ultimately it is an ambitious story that aims to deal with themes of coexisting with nature, the futility and dangers of war, and of how innocent children who should live carefree lives are dragged into it and made heroes. This film is often categorised as falling into the genre of Solarpunk: a literary and artistic movement that centres around building a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community. Although this film does depict violence and wars, it ultimately shows a peaceful future is possible.

Truly a masterpiece. 9/10.