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A Hierarchy of Tops
What the actual hell, yāall? Nothing to see here, except Katherine Hepburn giving us all the look that makes our collective gay insides instantly clench up then immediately liquefy. Ā
What is that gut incinerating reaction? I canāt say for sure, but I have been thinking about it a lot, andĀ Iām going to offer 3 possible suggestions:
Attraction (obviously).Ā
But there are many levels to attraction. Thereās like a woman walks by and turns your head attraction, or A-list celebrity beautiful-person attraction, and then thereās THIS. This feeling Iām talking about goes so far beyond theĀ āyouāre attractiveā sort of attraction to like ālaws of physicsā sort of attraction. The kind of attraction that registers not just inside your core but also psyche.Ā
It messes with my head in ways that have turned me around ever since I was old enough to be aware of such things, and Iāve come to sum it up asĀ āThe great queer question.ā
Do I want to beĀ withĀ you, or do I want to be you?
Itās hard when youāre young (or even not so young) and youāre hungry for role models, but also thirsty for something else. And the whole issue gets complicated by the way those two feelings register in similar places of your body. The first time you see a woman step into full ownership of her God-given gift of giving zero fucks for conformity it lights a fire in the deepest regions of your gut. And as the warmth spreads outward from that low guttural place it can cause things to heat up in areas right below your core, too. You know the ones I mean, right? Those body parts are very close together, sometimes itās hard to separate the two types of attraction.Ā
And Iāve made peace with that, the not always knowing which came first, or which takes precedent, because ultimately it doesnāt matter. Ā As fun as it can be (and by fun, I clearly mean disorienting) to try to figure out if I want to be with someone or be like someone, I am non-binary enough to realize the answer can be, and often is:
Attraction and aspiration are both cool, theyāre both fluid, and they totally intersect. Iām comfortable with that. Iām more than comfortable with it. I dig it.Ā
So if thereās no great conflict around attraction, why should that photo of ole K. Hep and her butchly furrowed brow still make my tummy so. damn. squimbly? Could it be something deeper than attraction? Something more complex? Something more elemental? Something like...
Recognition.Ā
You see, over the last few years Iāve gotten into the concept of ancestral echoes, or the idea that memories and the knowledge that comes from them can be passed down through our DNA. That you can, on some level, know Ā about things youāve never experienced for yourself, and you can recognize the same sort of knowledge in other people.
Example: Folks way back up my family tree were sea-faring explorers. Itās been like 15 generations andĀ I am super susceptible to sea sickness, but I am still so drawn to boats and the ocean. Not just like I find them pretty, but like Iām freaking Moana or something. Ā Thereās a pull there that goes beyond all reason and logic. I know that if I get on a sailboat thereās decent chance I am going to lose my lunch, but I canāt stay away. Ā Even as I go green in the gills and my stomach does summersaults a part of me is still like:
I feel the same inexplicable connection when I look at that picture of Katherine Hepburn. There is a gay DNA level kind of recognition. A big queer ancestral echo. Whatever part of me that makes me gay senses its mirror in her.
Now I donāt know what part of me that is, nor what part of her trips that recognition trigger for me.Ā The insolent stare? The turn of the mouth? Those gay AF eyebrows?Ā
Iām not sure, but I feel certain it would exist even if I didnāt know the words gay or DNA.Ā Something queer in me honors something queer in her.Ā Itās inborn, liike gaydar on steroids boiled down to its most primal level. It runs through the generations on double helix rainbows. It vibrates across my chromosomes humming through the lowest, most animal regions of my brain.Ā
I know you.Ā
We are the same. Whatever this thing is, it builds an unbreakable bond. A shared ..something. Brotherhood is too gendered. Personhood too vague. Ā A queersterhood. A ... wait for it ... Listerhood?
You didnāt really think Iād make it through this gay ass therapy session without her did you?
Well I didnāt, because I canāt. I am physically incapable of looking away from this paragon of queer top perfection. Ā And while I get that this is exactly the point where I should be able to tie this post up neatly on some note about our Ā foremothers of the past living on through our legacy, thatās not going to happen.
As much as I would like to have some spiritual or academic conclusion for the things I feel when I see this, I donāt.
Nothing about my reaction is academic, or hypothetical or high minded.Ā
Iāve looked these photos it so many times, trying to figure out what is bigger than attraction and deeper than recognition, and thereās only one word that comes close to capturing the experience for me:
Reckoning.
Reckoning involves looking something in the eye and taking stock of it and you at the same time. It involves taking weight and measures, taking inventory of your totality, and checking receipts on the things both utterly unquantifiable and yet indisputable.Ā
And when I look at those women, I am forced to reckon with a fundamental truth:
They are better tops than me.
Katherine Hepburn is a better top than me. Ā Ann Lister (as played by Suranne Jones) is a better top than me. Ā Thereās no way around it.
No matter how much I like to think I have some natural predication for topness, they have more. Clearly.
Sometimes you look at someone and you just know they know things. Things you are desperate to know. They possess a command and understanding you do not possess. They have skills you can only, and probably only ever will, aspire to.
I am not ashamed to admit it. Itās just the natural order of things.Ā Did Joe DiMaggio feel shame at not being Babe Ruth? Or for you non-sportsball people, does Lizzo feel ashamed for not being Aretha Franklin? I hope not. Thereās no shame in having your greatness fall just below that of divine master. Not everyone can be the GOAT. Iām okay with that.Ā Itās not a competition.Ā I donāt need to best anyone.
But I do need to make peace with that reckoning in other ways. Like a wolf who just met the new pack leader, or pirate captain whose ship just got overrun, thereās a new world older that must be acknowledged in those moments. There is a hierarchy of tops and topness, and itās just been indisputably altered.
I am not the top top, not even in my own mind. I canāt ignore it, I am the one who acknowledged it in the first place. I could run from it. At least in theory. I could look away, close my eyes, or banish those understandings to vast reaches of the unfollowed internet, but I am not a coward.Ā
As fluid as I am, and as secure as I am in who I am, I can feel gratitude at the the opportunity to look upon greatness. Ā To indulge my awe. To relish my vast appreciation of the most transcendent of beings. Ā
And then, of course, as is only right, I feel compelled to roll over. Honestly, I donāt know how anyone could feel compelled to do anything other than roll over when they look at that picture. Ā That is the great tremble in my gut: it is all the scripts being flipped.Ā
Does that make me a lesser top? Maybe. Does that make me a bottom? Perhaps sometimes. Does that bother me?
Not at all.
Cause really, whatās the use of recognizing a hierarchy to tops, if you donāt intend to enjoy every possible aspect of your own position on that spectrum?
#tops and bottoms#pitch and catch#suranne jones#katherine hepburn#queer#gay#lesbian#wlw#wlw yearning#wlw concepts#butch#androgynous#lesbian desire#law of attraction#attraction#gentlman jack#so gay#gaydar#gay af#lesbian af#queer af#gay stuff#queer stuff#lesbian stuff#genderqueer#fluid#genderfluid#reckoning#moana#daisy ridley
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Sophie Rundle
#sophie rundle#beautiful women#gentlman jack#ann walker#bodyguard#happy valley#pc kirsten mcaskill#the bletchley circle#peaky blinders#ada shelby#dickensian#elizabeth is missing
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āfrom then on, their letters concerned only chemical gases and armenian grammarā (107).Ā
āthe amateur of pictures who has closed his grand tour without a visit to the hermitage palace, ought to die of the spleen forthwithā (262).Ā
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Anne Lister, New Year, 31.12.1838
"Another year is just expiring - another year is just commencing - may it be less anxious, and more happy..."
She read Tom Telescope on the Newtonian Philosophy & helped bleed Captain, the poorly horse. HAPPY New Year! Anne Choma
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Mariana Lawton: "If and when you do find someone, someone who will defy the lot of them and make a conspicuous commitment to you. Sheāll be a very special and particular kind of person.I worry that person just doesnāt exist."
Ann Walker: *married Anne and resides at Shibden*
"Sorry, Mrs. Lawton but I am different."
Me:
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Had to make this
#anne lister#Ann Walker#suranne jones#sophie rundle#gentlman jack#hbo gentleman jack#period drama#period drama lesbians#lesbian#lesbians#bbc#opening credits
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Ann Walker: š
Anne Lister:
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[tender music]
#guess what i waaaaatched#god i cried#such a beautiful show#i owe sally wainwright my life#this screenshot had me so emotional i had to redraw it#im so happy to be alive when this can be on TV#it makes me hopeful for the future#it replenishes my butch lesbian soul#gentlman jack#anne lister#ann walker#anne lister's journal is so fucking cool#fanart#wlw#lesbian#this hairstyle is a bitch to draw tho like damn#worth it tho
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I just canāt even tell you what this series has meant to me. Itās the first piece of sophisticated artwork regarding a real life persona that I consider to be truly inspiring. I loved that it was not over sexualized to make the soft porn lovers tune in. This was more than the L Word and Blue is the Warmest Color. This was a story. Well written and well imagined. I love work like this.
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you wanna know what fucked me up???? remember in episode 3 when ann was upset and she told anne it was because she thought she would never see her again and she saysĀ ābecause i couldnāt give you what you wanted.āĀ yeah. well, now think about Ainsworth and what he did to her. because of that she has the idea that she is required to just give herself up like that in order to beĀ ālovedā. and thatās why she thought anne would never come back
#people have probably already put this all together but i just realized#and it actually broke my heart watching it the second time#and knowing why she feels that way#she deserves so much better#gentlman jack#ann walker#anne lister#beckaaay#my ramblings
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A truly underrated moment
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Limited release
So my new book came out today in limited release. Ā TL:DR limited release = Ā ebooks exclusively on my publisherās website. Ā
Itās the first of many releases in the total rollout. Weāll release the print books at Womenās Week, then the print books on the website for a week. Finally, weāll do a wide release where you can get all the formats at all the places. Ā So, thatās kind of 4 announcements Iād have to post.Ā I really felt like people might get tired of me talking about myself four whole times in one month.
And then I was like, isnāt that some sad bullshit? I worked on this book for a year. I poured my heart and soul into this thing, and here I am worried that four posts about it might be uncouth. Ā
Do you think your standard, run of the mill, cis/het/white dude minds talking about his accomplishments four times in a month? I mean I know a guy who Ā told me about that one time he shot par on some random golf course at least six times.Ā Do you think he sits around and wonders if he has too high an opinion of himself? I might be wrong, but Iām thinking probably not. Why do I think less of my accomplishments than that guy? Is it because I was born and raised female in a culture that devalues female contributions? Is it because I write romance, which is constantly put down by men? Is it because I write romances for and about lesbians and that makes some people uncomfortable?
āCause all those reasons suck.Ā
And Iāve always known they sucked, but Iāve also always been hesitant to do something about it until today. Ā Today, I didnāt just wring my hands in my living room and go back to work. This time I did my hand wringing while watching Gentleman Jack (which is an every day occurrence for me now). And I came across this scene...
And even though heās like āno I meant reasonable,ā he totally meant softer. Ā And it pisses Ann Lister right off. Ā And even though Iād been pissed off about this sort of thing before, some how seeing Ann Lister light up her feminist rage left me like...
It made me want to sayĀ āFuck it!ā Ā Itās my damn Tumblr. I do what I want. I like what I like. Iām proud of what Iām proud of, and I wrote my 16th, full-length, big, lesbian, romance novel! You donāt have to read it, you donāt have to like it. Ā You donāt have to follow me here or anywhere if I get on your nerves, but Iām going to talk about this 4 times!Ā
So, hereās Fire & Ice and you can currently get the eBooks exclusively at www.bywaterbooks.comĀ
A disgraced reporter and a rising curling star clash, but will the heat building between them melt the already thin ice they each are on?
Max Lauren made a mistake that shattered her pride, her heart, and her career in one fell swoop. Relegated to covering the lowly game of curling, she already resents the so-called āsport,ā and then she steps onto the ice, where things get infinitely worse. Sheās been knocked down before, and sheās always gotten back up, but a frosty resolve only goes so far in a world of people who thrive on ice.
Callie Mulligan is the amiable skipper of Americaās second-place curling team. Upbeat, optimistic, and with a fiery passion for an icy sport, she has both the mental and physical skills to become Team USAās top contender. What she doesnāt have is the fame or the funding. Coverage from a journalist of Maxās caliber could be the answer to both problems if only Max wasnāt so cold to the idea. As Callie tries to warm her to the sport, a little bit of heat grows into a fire neither of them can contain.
Passion, competition, ambition, redemption, and raw need collide as the bright lights of success and celebrity grow hotter, but can the fire between them be sustained when itās put on ice?
#lesfic#gentlemanjack#gentlman jack#feminist rage#wlw#booklr#ann lister#lesbian#queer#curling#women in sports#suranne jones#i like what i like#itme#bookstagram#books and libraries#womens curling
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currently tryna figure out if Iām Anne Lister or Ann Walker
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Season 2 Gentleman Jack š©š»š©ā¤ļø
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A Frenchwoman innocently kissed Anne Lister goodbye on both cheeks showing a European custom, Anne Lister replied a straightforward kissed on the woman's lips and proudly said "That is Yorkshire" .
What a move Anne.
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