#hanged women tag

[theodysseyofhomer]

i've noticed that when people attempt to handle the horror of the hanged women in the odyssey with care, there is an impulse to make penelope sympathetic to them. one problem with this is that i've read the odyssey, and she clearly isn't, but more tellingly: we know that she used to favor melantho, but any care she had for her has been shoved firmly into the past tense since melantho put a toe out of line. because melantho isn't a real daughter, she's a slave. because this is an issue of class, not female solidarity.

whatever penelope may believe about herself, she is not capable of caring for enslaved women in any meaningful way. this also goes for the rest of the slave-owning class in homer, and probably homer himself (if for the sake of brevity you want to call "homer" a "self"), which i bring up because i think you have to understand the perspective of the text to challenge it. but i notice this problem particularly with penelope because i find her complex and fascinating and i want other people to find her complex and fascinating and give her her dues, but i simply do not think you can do so by making her care about women she owns.

[somethingaboutmint]

Quick ugly doodle of cassidy contemplating her sexuality at some dump somewhere

[nicht-alles-gold]

idk why I was like the only way to portray this is (poor) chibis

[st-dionysus]

.

[radellama]

I wanna talk about Ryuusui cause I've been thinking about him. He's kind of an invert of (or somewhat adjacent to) the trope of living up to expectations. You become the monster because that's how people see you anyway...

He's greedy he's selfish he's self centred he's a bit of a brat and whatever other thing you can think to call a hedonist and privileged rich kid. These generally aren't seen as positive things to be, but Ryuusui takes these in stride and is proud to be all of them!

He's the greediest because he wants it all, so he can share it all. You'll have to pay for it, of course - but the option to buy it will be there. If HE'S having a good time, that means EVERYONE is capable of having a good time.

It's a funny way to turn such a negative connotation on its head.

No one will in the village will worry about starvation ever again! Why? Because I'm greedy enough to want more delicious food!

I just find it amusing and quite endearing that a character that could've so easily been annoying and grating based on the cores of his personality type, is instead a refreshing remix of those cores.

He's a rich kid, everyone was going to look at him and call him spoilt and greedy anyway. Why not take it in stride and use the power that comes with money to be greedy in the best possible way?

This also ties into what I like about Francois so much - their understanding of Ryuusui complements his more outlandish behaviour by recontextualising it.

Mild spoilers for the manga, but further on Francois acts as a translator quite often to ensure that people near them won't suffer because of a language barrier. They're able to translate and make sure concepts are understood so everyone is on the same page

Francois is incredibly perceptive (almost supernaturally so!) They are not only able to anticipate, but problem solve and create solutions based on those observations.

What we've already started to see in the anime with Francois in this one episode is how they're able to recontextualise Ryuusui! They understand that he's greedy to such a point of sincerity, and that's what keeps him moving forward.

And as it's been said, greed isn't necessarily a bad thing in this stone world. It's helping to motivate quick advancements that are going to be beneficial to everyone ;)

He's been super fun to read about and I hope he becomes even more fun as we get to see him animated. There's so many great moments coming up that will be really exciting >:)

[steeltwigz]

Saw a post abt the Sonic movies that was like "plz filter negativity posts better" which is GOOD AND TRUE you should be doing that. Ok. But then they kept going to imply that the criticisms of the Sonic movies are all entirely Personal and Ignorable and not like. Usually abt the horrific copaganda, misogynistic writing, and Paramount's disgusting zionism.... Guys a lot of ppls problem w the Knuckles show wasn't JUST a bastardization of Knuckles' character or thinking Wade was annoying or whatever, but like was focused on the grotesque Zionist message from that one episode 😭😭😭 you can enjoy something and still recognize that it has intrinsic and huge glaring flaws and talk abt them. I think actually you Should be speaking up abt the misogyny, zionism and propaganda the SCU supports and discusses, ESPECIALLY if you like the movies! Its important to be able to recognize these things in media and admit that even media you personally enjoy can be deeply problematic, instead of hiding it away and pretending those HUGE FLAWS aren't issues actually....

[grenadineghost]

trick or treat!

happy halloween!!! this year i am giving out spooky short stories :3

looks like you unwrapped Six Hangings In The Land of Unkillable Women by Theodore McCombs! This story explores an alternate world where, at the start of the 20th century, women became impossible to kill. Rather than using this as a feel-good uplifting pop feminism story, however, McCombs's story is filled with anxiety about patriarchy, what it means to be a woman, and the horror of a world where women worry about being killed.

Sleepless and humiliated, he broke into the house and strangled Mrs. Holcomb with her tin necklace, and when it snapped, with a pajama cord—and when that failed, he dragged a kitchen knife over her throat—and when the knife chipped, and the shard cut Mill’s eye, Mrs. Holcomb ran into the street calling for help, towing her bewildered daughter by the wrist.

happy hauntings!

[theodysseyofhomer]

odysseus and penelope's slaves: a primer.

eurycleia: odysseus' childhood nurse, as well as telemachus'. her backstory is briefly mentioned (book 1): she is the daughter of ops, bought by odysseus' father laertes when she was young. specific mention is made that laertes never slept with her, in order to keep peace with his wife anticleia. (her name has the opposite meaning of odysseus' mother's.) at the time of the odyssey she is old, and among named slaves has probably been with the family the longest. she is the only character who recognizes odysseus unprompted (and he threatens to kill her about it). they trust her heavily throughout the plot to kill the suitors; afterward, she handpicks the other enslaved women who have slept with the suitors, so that odysseus can execute them. if i were to beg for one thing, it would be that you consider what living in close proximity to her owners for so long might do to her psychologically, and how her experience with laertes might skew her view of the "disloyal" women.

eurynome: another older woman who attends penelope (and eventually odysseus).

hippodameia and autonoe: two younger slave girls who attend penelope.

actoris: a slave penelope mentions once (book 23) as the only person besides her and odysseus who knows the secret of the olive tree bed, because she used to guard their room. actoris was given to penelope by her father. it's possible that she's already dead by the time of the odyssey, as she never appears in person.

the unnamed traitors to penelope: three times in the odyssey, we hear the story of penelope unweaving a shroud for laertes at night to hold off the suitors. two of those times the suitors tell it, and say that a female slave told them the truth of what was going on. later penelope tells the beggar-who-is-odysseus, and she says that they caught her in the act with the help of her slave girls.

dolius, his unnamed sons, and their unnamed mother: dolius is another slave given to penelope by her father (book 4). now an old man, he seems to look after odysseus' father laertes, who no longer lives in the main house. father of melantho, melanthius, and six other sons by a sicilian woman who also cares for laertes. it is unclear whether she is the mother of all dolius' children, or only the six sons present in the farmhouse. dolius' first and last appearance on page is in book 24, when he greets and kisses odysseus; in the text, he never learns that odysseus has executed two of his children.

melantho: the daughter of dolius, who penelope raised "like a daughter" and pampered (book 18), though clearly only to a point. she is sleeping with the suitor eurymachus (also book 18). the text doesn't offer insight into how she actually feels about eurymachus. she has two scenes, and in both insults the beggar. both odysseus and penelope berate her and call her a dog. melantho is often assumed to be the one who betrayed penelope's weaving ruse to the suitors, but this is never stated in the odyssey.

melanthius: the son of dolius and brother of melantho, a goatherd who sides (vehemently) with the suitors. it is said the eurymachus is his favorite (book 17). he insults the beggar and eumaeus multiple times as well. he is present for the bow contest, helping the suitors, and when the slaughter begins, he brings them armor and weapons. odysseus orders the two herdsman on his side to tie him up, hoist him into the rafters, and torture him. they leave him tied until after the fighting, when "the men" (presumably odysseus, telemachus, eumaeus, and philoetius) cut off his nose, ears, and genitals to feed to the dogs, then chop off his hands and feet.

the unnamed hanged women: twelve (out of fifty) enslaved women whom eurycleia handpicks for death, because they were sleeping with the suitors (according to her, book 22). all the enslaved women are hiding during the slaughter; afterward, eurycleia goes to them, calls the twelve, and brings them to odysseus, who has them clean up the corpses and blood. odysseus means to execute them with swords when they're done, but telemachus decides to hang them instead, specifically to deny them a clean death. melantho is presumed to be one of these twelve. like with her, the text offers no insight into how they feel about the suitors.

eumaeus: a swineherd with an extensive backstory told in book 15. his father ctesius was the king of syria, but his enslaved nurse ran away and took him with her, intending to sell him, when he was too young to know better. she died on the ship, and laertes bought him in ithaca. like melantho, he was brought up there by the queen, in proximity to odysseus' younger sister ctimene. when they were older, ctimene was married and eumaeus sent to the country. he is well-off enough to own a slave of his own. in the odyssey, eumaeus personally takes care of the beggar, tells him all about the situation in the palace, and tries to protect him from the suitors, though he is openly skeptical of anything the beggar has to say about odysseus. when telemachus returns to ithaca, it's eumaeus he goes to first, greeting him like a family member. odysseus finally trusts his identity to eumaeus right before he wins the bow contest. he promises to give him a wife, wealth, and a house near the palace (and freedom, implicitly? unsure). eumaeus participates in the slaughter, the torture of melanthius, and possibly the executions. if i were to beg for one thing regarding eumaeus, it would be to consider how often in ancient literature, the only enslaved characters who are portrayed with dignity or sympathy are those who were, at one point, nobility.

mesaulius: a slave who serves and cleans up after eumaeus. eumaeus traded for him while odysseus was away, with his own money (book 14).

philoetius: a cowherd and overseer. like eumaeus, he is kind to the beggar and expresses loyalty to odysseus. he says that he would have run away, except that he still holds out hope for odysseus' return. odysseus reveals himself to philoetius along with eumaeus and promises him the same things (wife, wealth, a house). also participates in the slaughter, torture, and executions.

medon: house slave who has become a favorite of the suitors, but reports on them to penelope (book 4). telemachus tells odysseus to spare him (along with phemius, the bard) due to medon caring for him when he was young. medon then comes out of hiding to corroborate this and profess his loyalty. toward the end, medon hears the people of ithaca assembling to avenge the suitors and tries to discourage them, saying that he personally saw a god helping odysseus.

-

a lot of other unnamed slaves are mentioned in passing. i love the passage in book 20 when odysseus overhears an enslaved woman grinding grain as she prays to zeus for relief from the suitors. to odysseus, this is an omen, but it's also a very human moment which has nothing to do with him. there are more like this; i couldn't include all of them.

i wrote this up because i see a lot of people who are more familiar with retellings of the odyssey than the epic itself getting interested in these characters, often without really understanding a) that they are enslaved and b) how they function in the odyssey. both those things are important to grasp, if you're going to question both the assumptions of the cultural world of the poem and many knee-jerk modern responses to it—including what is, or isn't, deemed suitable in a retelling.

[nervoustragedyluminary]

Some antisemite barely keeping the mask on/ someone absorbed in their propaganda being pipeline into neonazi shit without realising : "I'm not antisemitic look here's a link to a blog proving he's a Zionist! "

Person In the link :

"this guy is spreading Zionist propaganda and says that Palestinians are Arab colonialists and says to put 'support Israel in your bio

I'm not calling him a Zionist though , also don't trust Jewish people when they talk about antisemitism because that's how the Zionists get you with their propaganda you can't trust Jewish people talking about antisemitism because of the existence of people who say its antisemitic to not support Israels crimes against Palestine "

The screenshots:

don't show that just a collection of Jewish people talking about " wow people are using the I/P" war"as an excuse to be antisemitic and goym are eagerly jumping in and claiming Jewish people are Zionists as an excuse for their antisemitic shit "

Like you're not immune to antisemitic propaganda, nor islamophobic propaganda claiming that Jewish and Palestinians have no mutual goals and are all hivemind enemies of each other and that no Jewish Palestinians exist and that no Jewish non Palestinians have empathy or care for the Palestinian people when a lot of the loudest longest advocates against the apartheid have been Jewish people

"the reason Zionists have gotten as far as they have is that they can use antisemitism as a defence" is pretty antisemitic and erasing the christofacists who want their prophecy to be fulfilled by Palestine being eliminated and are a much larger more powerful majority the world over than Jewish people

"focusing on Jewish suffering alone" is also blatantly false but antisemites never let the truth get in the way of their lies

"Calling out antisemitism is bad and means you support genocide" as the use of these screenshots the op has taken as "evidence of Zionist propaganda" suggest sure is a choice

I mean yeah "pro Israel" looks sus if you divorce it from "it is a call and a reminder that Jews will always survive" context like you can not like the tone but I fail to see"pro Bibi we love genocide" in a message that's basically "hey a bunch of people in the only Jewish country were murdered and taken hostage and we can condemn that and mourn for those lost while also condemning the apartied and genocide of Palestine and mourning for those lost..... but antisemites are using this as an excuse to celebrate and call for all Jewish people in Israel to be genocided and many people seem to be throwing aside their leftism to join in where they see antisemitism as justified"

Like this isn't a sports team thing this is people's lives and families and there very much are antisemites who talk about "abolishing Israel" when what they mean is "kill all the Jewish people in Israel to keep all the Jewish people in the world in line because we've brought into antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish people having all the power and riches and controlling the media"

And you need to realise that and not treat this like it's a freaking soortsball "good team versus the evil jew-i mean ((Zionists))"

Like the OP is literally called fiteclub and seems to behave as if tumblr is a place for "fighting"\ harassment and takes glee in it which is why I had the OP blocked for a while because I got sick of seeing the constant harassing replies to @transmascpetewentz whenever he posted anything...like harassing people on Tumblr isn't activism and doesn't save lives let alone justifying harassment campaigns where people are being told to suicide and people are saying "this specific individual needs to be ended for the good of trans unity uwu but trust me I'm totes against transphobic dogpiles and hate campaigns based on misinfo" it's hypocritical as fuck and the antisemitism and transphobia are transparent as fuck

[jyou-no-sonoko19]

Seasons of Lilith is currently close to the end of its first arc, and I thought it would be fun to get it back in the tag, rather than reblogging the same post, which is stuck in its comfy orbit.

If you're feeling nostalgic for CAoS and if you read Answers for Mary, please consider picking up SoL, which I humbly believe to be a solid development of the style and themes of AfM. For a neat breakdown of the AfMverse timeline, as well as links to all the small fics that fall before AfM, between it and SoL, and after SoL, check out this post.

SEASONS OF LILITH CHAPTERS, ARC ONE:

Chapter One: A Path Obscured Chapter Two: Prevention is Better Chapter Three: Seals and Scaffolding Chapter Four: A Feeling That Persists Chapter Five: Atmospheric Pressure Chapter Six: To Converse, with Past and Future Chapter Seven: False Equivalence Chapter Eight: Expectations Chapter Nine: Prelude, in Reproach Sharp Chapter Ten: Onward and Inward Chapter Eleven: The Memory of Bones Chapter Twelve: Postpartum, fragment i Chapter Thirteen: Postpartum, fragment ii Chapter Fourteen: Postpartum, fragment iii Chapter Fifteen: Postpartum, abscedo  Chapter Sixteen: Creatures of Limbo Chapter Seventeen: Precarities of Trust Chapter Eighteen: Breathing Room Chapter Nineteen: Guilt by Omission Chapter Twenty: Outsiders Chapter Twenty-one: Conditional Release Chapter Twenty-two: Poco a poco Chapter Twenty-three: Abeyance of Vision Chapter Twenty-four: Confessions and Heresies (of the Heart)  Chapter Twenty-five: No Less Defiant in Knots Chapter Twenty-six: La Grande Trompeuse

[not-so-superheroine]

deseret book is more persistent than duolingo.

i ordered 2 books for a church research project on Black saints in the early Church and also in the Reorganization, on which the one book had a small section us and all had info from the our shared early church history, and it was an ebook too!

and i get physical mail from them once a month. i have no idea how to cancel.

herald house, the community of christ publishing house, contacts me much less, and i buy books from them all the time.

and oh their church book app reminds me to read my scriptures and the words of their prophets regularly if it's not in sleep mode.

i have to admire the effort behind it, ngl.

[tytoalbatross]

started watching toh! i have 3 episodes of s2 left... im . not ready

[luv-lee]

You can relax!!

[fictionallyinparadise]

Not to be gay on main but...........f/o body hair goobd

[theodysseyofhomer]

one thing about homer and greek tragedy is that most of it is about the ruling class of mythological characters, which means that all of them own slaves. it's assumed. it's also explicit.

there are people born into slavery and people sold into slavery. there are high status concubines, and low status enslaved women also being abused and assaulted. there are derogatory comments about the nature of slaves. there are enslaved people who are said to be more noble than others because they were literally, at one point, nobles. there are enslaved characters with tragic backstories and enslaved people with no stories at all. there's anxiety about fortunes overturning and making free people into slaves, and anxiety about slaves overturning their fortunes on their masters. slavery is a plot point and it's also wallpaper.

maybe if you don't want to engage with that, or with slave-owning characters in general, ancient literature is not ideal for you.

[ribombeee]

i DO think cassie should be short this is my most They hated jesus because he told them the truth opinion. she was like 5’1-5’2 at 15 and i dont see any reason why being given strength and flying powers would make her taller than she otherwise wouldve been. and i just like her being short and absolutely stacked its beautiful to me. she should be built like a tree trunk. pocket butch swag