#if you think this is about feminism

[queen-paladin]

I love you "boring" female characters. I love you ingenues. I love you female characters who aren't "modern" enough. I love you female characters who aren't "badass" enough. iI love you female characters who aren't "empowering" enough. I love you quiet female characters. I love you unappreciated female characters. I love you polite female characters. I love you female characters who "can't appeal to modern audiences." I love you frightened female characters. I love you female characters labeled as not complex just for being nice. I love you female characters who get criticism just for not being their tomboy or femme fatale counterpart. I love you silk hiding steel trope.

[avicecaro]

“The abusive man learns early in life, from his surrounding society and beyond, that when he becomes an adult he has the right to swallow a female whole, and that in this way he will fill the vast emptiness inside of him and feel empty no more. He learns that the female of his choosing owes him her life entire in this fashion, that it would be wrong of her to fail to sacrifice her life and herself in this way. Not only that, but he learns that this self-erasure will be her greatest joy.

He gets these messages all over the place, from his own unhealthy relatives all the way up to police responses, courts, and Disney movies.

All of what he learns is a lie. It is a moral lie, meaning it’s a lie about what’s right and what’s wrong; no woman’s life should ever by martyred to fill a man’s (or anyone’s) emptiness. But not only should this not be done, it also cannot be done. Thus it is not only a moral lie but also a lie about the nature of reality. A human being cannot be vacuumed into the inside of another person and become part of that person, in some kind of twisted reversal of the birth process. It’s absurd that it’s even necessary for me to state this.

The abusive man hates the woman for continuing to exist outside of him. No matter how hard she may try, in her terror and in her trauma, to disappear inside of him, she simply cannot do it. (And if she gets some support in her life, she may even attempt to refuse to continue trying.) He hates her for this, for still being there, because he was taught that to disappear inside of him is her unlimited obligation and will make him whole.

When you find yourself wondering why the abuser hates you – as most abused women do at one point or another – this is why: because you continue to breathe, because you have skin, because you eat food and then move with the energy of that food, because by getting out of bed and standing up in the morning you have once again demonstrated your failure to become him.”

Ever Wonder Why Your Abusive Partner Hates You? blog post from Lundy Bancroft, on his website lundybancroft.com

[gothra]

I’ll never forget when I was arguing with a person in favor of total prison abolition and I asked them “what about violent offenders?” And they said “Well, in a world where prisons have been abolished, we’ll have leveled the playing field and everyone will have their basic needs met, and crime won’t be as much of an issue.” And then I was like “okay. But…no. Because rich people also rape and murder, so it isn’t just a poor person thing. So what will we do about that?” And I don’t think they answered me after that. I’m ashamed to say I continued to think that the problem was that I simply didn’t understand prison abolitionists enough and that their point was right in front of me, and it would click once I finally let myself understand it. It took me a long time to realize that if something is going to make sense, it needs to make sense. If you want to turn theory into Praxis (I’m using that word right don’t correct me I’ll vomit) everyone needs to be on board, which mean it all needs to click and it needs to click fast and fucking clear. You need to turn a complex idea into something both digestible and flexible enough to be expanded upon. Every time I ask a prison abolitionist what they actually intend to do about violent crime, I get directed to a summer reading list and a BreadTuber. It’s like a sleight-of-hand trick. Where’s the answer to my question. There it is. No wait, there it is. It’s under this cup. No it isn’t. “There’s theory that can explain this better than I can.” As if most theory isn’t just a collection of essays meant to be absorbed and discussed by academics, not the average skeptic. “Read this book.” And the book won’t even answer the question. The book tells you to go ask someone else. “Oh, watch this so-and-so, she totally explains it better than me.” Why can’t you explain it at all? Why did you even bring it up if you were going to point me to someone else to give me the basics that you should probably already know? Maybe I’m just one of those crazy people who thinks that some people need to be kept away from the public for everyone’s good. Maybe that just makes me insane. Maybe not believing that pervasive systemic misogyny could be solved with a UBI and a prayer circle makes me a bad guy. But it’s not like women’s safety is a priority anyway. It’s not like there is an objective claim to be made that re-releasing violent offenders or simply not locking them up is deadly.

[kxrta]

and now some famous onna-musha (or female warriors)

- Tomoe Gozen (1157 – 1247 assumedly)

While Tomoe Gozen* was mentioned in the Tale of Heike, she may have only been a character, as she doesn't appear in any primary sources on the Genpei War.

*'Gozen' is not a name, but rather an honorific title, thpically translated to Lady

- Niijima Yae (1 Dec 1845 – 14 June 1932)

Born Yamamoto Yae to Yamamoto Gonpachi, a samurai and official gunnery instructor in Aizu Domain. Her family claimed descent from Takeda clan's retainer Yamamoto Kansuke, also known by his formal name Haruyuki, who was a brilliant strategist.

Yaeko was skilled in gunnery having been taught by her father, which is fucking sick. A legend is told of her dressing in her brothers garb in order to fight, though I couldn't find much on that.

After divorcing her first husband in 1871 due to him becoming a prisoner of war, she moved to Kyoto in search of her brother, and became a sub. teacher at Kyoto Women's School, acquired her tea master qualification in 1894 and became a tea master.

She re-married to Rev. Joseph Hardy Neesima [in 1875], a former samurai who lived in the US to seek higher education and promoted for women's rights. Neesima was in the motions of building a Western School that promoted Christianity (which was not appreciated by Buddhists and Shintoists). After the marriage, Yaeko was dismissed from her teaching position, and she volunteered to assist running the new school.

Yaeko played an integral part in the founding of the Doshisha English School. The couple (alongside help from Alice J. Starkweather) later opened a Joshijuku (small girl's school) named Doshisha Branch School for Girls and then Doshisha Girls' School.

After the death of Neesima (1890) shifted her focus to nursing and became a member of the Japanese Red Cross later that same year. Yaeko joined the army and was stationed as a nurse in Hiroshima during the First Sino-Japanese War. Her efforts in improving the social status of trained nurses was recognised in being awarded her first Order of the Precious Crown in 1896.

After the war, Yaeko became an instructor in nursing schools. Then she rejoined the army for the Russo-Japanese War (1904) and as a volunteer nurse in Osaka. This earned her her second Order of the Precious Crown and was further awarded a silver cup at the inauguration of the Shōwa Emperor in 1928.

This diva girl-bossed her way through history right up until her death. Hell yeah.

- Nakano Takeko (Apr 1847 – Oct 1868)

Nakano was born [in Edo] to Nakano Heinai, an official of Aizu, and Nakano Kōkō, daughter of Oinuma Kinai, a samurai in service of Toda of the Ashikaga domain. She was well educated and from a powerful samurai family.

She recieved training in martial arts, in literary arts on Chinese Confucian classics and calligraphy, and was later adopted by her teacher Akaoka Daisuke. Nakano also taught students younger than her, including her younger sister.

Nanako's certification, or menkyo (teaching license) was in Hasso-Shoken, a branch in the major of Itto-ryu*. She both served as the secretary for and taught naginata to the wife of lord Niwase, whom she was employed under at Itakura estate.

She left her position in 1863 when she was adopted by her master, but later reunited with her Edo family.

In 1868 she was in Aizu for the first time, and spent time teaching women and children naginata in Aizuwakamatsu Castle, as well as capturing voyeurs in the women's bathrooms.

At 21, Nakano participated in the Boshin War where she, alongside other women, took the front line without permission, as the senior Aizu retainers disallowed their participation as an unofficial part of the domain's army. This unit was later called the Jōshitai (Girls' Army). This ad hoc group included her 40 year old mother and 16 year old sister, and was lead by Nakano under Furuya Sakuzaemon.

In October of 1868 Nakano led these women to face enemy forces at Yanagi Bridge equipped only with their naginata while Meiji troops had firearms. When the men realised their targets were women, the commander ordered them not to be killed. This allowed to the Jōshitai to kill many enemies before the attack continued. She was downed by a bullet to the chest.

Instead of allowing imperial forces to mutilate her corpse, Nakano had her sister cut off her head to avoid the humiliation, to which she agreed. She passed with her dignity and her head was buried at the family temple where a monument was eventually erected.

*one-sword school, ancestor school of several japanese koryū kenjutsu styles.

further reading

japan's warrior women, Chris Kincaid, Aug 9 2015

a long history of japanese women warriors, Kallie Szczepanski, Jan 22 2020

samurai warrior queens, a drama documentary based on the life of nakano takeko (imdb)

nakano clan, Sumiko Nakano

in conclusion

Sure. I would have loved to continue the narrative of Jin Sakai, as it felt for me as though the end of the game was not the end of the story of the Ghost of Tsushima.

In saying that, Ghost of Yotei shouldn't be blacklisted just because it features a woman. If you don't wanna play the game due to a feminist movement that only might have something to do with the choice of a female lead, then don't play it. Simple. No one is making you buy it. No one is telling you you have to enjoy it. There is no gun to your head.

There is nothing that I have seen so far that makes me think this game should be thrown to the side. The trailer visuals look just as stunning as Ghost of Tsushima and two swords sounds mad. Just because I'm excited about a new story, does not mean that I enjoyed Jin's journey any less.

Also, eat rocks. Onna-musha are fucking awesome.

Ghost of Yotei Summary

They made her a female samurai, which did not exist. At all. It's not like Northern Europe that had rare but extent shield maidens.

And they hired a Feminist cunt to play her. While Disney is still reshooting Snow White, because they hired a Feminist cunt to talk about how terrible the original was, and are regretting it.

Some people say to give it the benefit of the doubt, but nowadays, games do NOT get the benefit of the doubt. They have to prove they are not girlbossing.

They also have her dual-wield, because of course she has to be better than Jin Sakai.

Addendum: And "if you don't like it, don't buy it" does not work in convincing us it will be good. Especially after all of the other times it's been done, and then we're called -ist for not buying it.

[tributary]

i think if you can’t see women — including trans women! — talking about misogyny for five seconds without going “sounds TERFy”, maybe you’ve got something else going on

[0atm11k]

"Lia Thomas is not banned from swimming. Lia Thomas is banned from a category Lia Thomas doesn't qualify for. I'm banned from swimming in the under 12's, because I'm not under 12. You know, we have heavyweight boxers that are banned from the bantamweight category. We have numerous categories in the Paralympics to create fair opportunity across society. That is the whole point of categories. Nobody is banned [from competing], you're just banned from a category you don't qualify for." - Sharron Davies

[bugbuoyx]

One manifestation of anti-transmasculinity I see again and again, primarily in discussions about the existence/denial of anti-transmasculinity is the treatment of transmascs in the same way cis men treat feminists as hysterical women and rad/feminists treat men as ignorant beasts. Of course these really just echo each other in that the other is deemed lesser but it's really in the wording.

You do not, can not ever understand misogyny, you are just ignorant sluts vieing for attention, what happened to you wasn't that bad, you're exaggerating, it was just a joke, it doesn't matter, you deserved it, you're being dramatic, who cares, who cares, who cares. Just shut up already.

[arliedraws]

Hey, why don’t we ever see ultra-feminized James, Remus, or Peter?

Why is the guy who canonically takes absolutely no care with his appearance the one who wears eyeliner/nail polish/lipstick in so many fanon interpretations? Like…if y’all agree with me that girl Sirius is butch…why would that change for guy Sirius…?

Sirius doesn’t want to attract attention. But James??? Come on. James would totally be into turning heads. Let’s be honest here.

Can you imagine sapphic Prongsfoot? For a fancy event, James is dressed spectacularly in something really striking, and Sirius is there at her side, with little to no makeup, dressed immaculately but quietly refined, her hand on James’s waist and smirking because she knows she’s got the hottest date in the room.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Results from the ‘Who is the tallest MDZS Character poll! Thank you all for voting!

[ofpd]

what I need everyone to understand is that men and women are the same

[magpie-trove]

Actually I don’t think you are actually fr an adult author if you can’t write something without a s*x scene in it

[ecoterrorist-katara]

The only stereotypically masculine thing about Aang…is his romantic arc

There’s a really popular post on Tumblr called “Avatar Aang, Feminist Icon.” The thesis is basically that Aang, unlike his female teachers and friends, is actually not a badass. He listens, he defers, and he respects women. He seemed to have no problem with Katara’s crush on Jet, despite his own crush on her. He chooses love and kindness and friendship and pacifism. He’s not tall and handsome as hell or buff. He wears flower crowns!

And I agree! This is Aang for most of the series and I love those qualities (though I do think the bar is in hell if those traits make a character a feminist icon, as opposed to a person who simply sees women as human beings). Anyway, I just think there’s a glaring omission. And that’s Aang’s romantic arc in season 3.

Bryke managed to take the worst of both worlds: Aang’s romantic arc retains the male-centricity that make most romances so problematic, while retaining none of the characteristics that make problematic romances compelling to women.

Aang falls in love at first sight with a beautiful girl. For the majority of their friendship, he remains respectful and supportive. As his crush hits an all time high, however, it gets distinctly more stereotypical: he kisses Katara at the invasion, and when she didn’t want to talk about that kiss, he firebends at her (the fact that this comic is canon, and was published years after ATLA’s conclusion, only demonstrates that the creators still don’t understand critiques of their romance). Aang considers Katara “his girl” and becomes furious (“I would be in the Avatar state right now!”) when the actress version of Katara didn’t like him romantically, and then he kisses her again — this time explicitly against her wishes. Throughout the show, people reassure him that she will come around, continuously reinforcing the idea that Katara is “his” and he just has to be patient. And even though Ka/taang is supposed to be endgame, we never hear directly from Katara how she feels, even though we’re no strangers to her opinions and feelings on other topics. It’s almost like the creators wanted Katara’s feelings to be a mystery because we’re meant to resonate with Aang. That’s…a male-centric, action hero romance.

In addition, the friendship dynamics between Katara and Aang feel pretty gendered. The distribution of emotional labour between Aang and Katara is quite skewed: Katara takes care of Aang much more than he takes care of her. She’s the one responsible for calming him down from the Avatar State. She’s the one who cooks for him and performs a whole lot of domestic chores. Post-canon, Katara’s storyline revolves around Aang, and she’s treated as his accessory and the keeper of his legacy instead of her own person, to the degree that she’s not even recognizable in LOK anymore. A beautiful, badass, independent woman who dedicates her energy and intelligence to a man’s needs? Wow, that is definitely something I’ve never seen in media geared towards men!

A lot of gushing about Aang’s lack of stereotypical masculinity seems to also hinge on how Aang is not conventionally attractive, but that’s…not true. Aang may not behave like James Bond, but he has plenty of admirers. Meng and On Ji liked him even without knowing that he’s the Avatar. Post-series, Acolytes descend en masse to steal Katara’s man. And of course he grows into a tall, buff dude. Aang’s romantic arc is not about becoming attractive to women, or finding a woman who loves him despite his looks. His romantic arc is about getting the girl who’s hard to get, because she only sees him as a friend or a little brother / babysitting charge.

Bryke do not deserve the credit for creating a “feminist icon,” not when the only stereotypically masculine traits they gave him are in relation to his romance arc. It honestly feels more insidious this way, because it’s like, “see? You don’t have to be masculine to reap the benefits of performing masculinity” — the benefits being, of course, “getting” the girl you want.

[uncanny-tranny]

I'm going to be real, I've been on testosterone for multiple years and my levels have been very consistently high and whatnot, and yet I haven't gotten to the point where my testosterone "makes" me act in possessive, creepy ways toward women. Not even the women who are drop-dead gorgeous to me!

And that's because it's not about testosterone. It's about the way you choose to interact with women. When you devalue them already, no amount of testosterone is going to influence you further.

[crazykuroneko]

Love love Delainey's answer, because just in case anyone forgets, Lestat is not the only person we haven't seen their "real self" so far; there's Claudia. And *spoiler warning just in case* unlike Lestat who will have his chance to speak for himself later, Claudia won't. Yet these men (derogatory) keep violating her privacy, editorializing it, or even put words into her mouth, to fit their narrative or perspective or whatever. and THAT is Claudia's biggest tragedy imo. Even in her (second) death, she never gets the respect she deserves.

[myimaginationplain]

It kind of fucks me up to see some people come out of watching RGU having absorbed absolutely nothing of what the show has to say about patriarchy, misogyny, & queerphobia, outside of "men bad, lesbian good." Which like.....sure, I guess? in the absolute barest sense, I suppose RGU is partially about that.

But if this show's thesis were really as simple as "lesbian good," then Juri & her role as an antagonist on the mini patriarchy that is the Student Council would simply not exist at all. Juri would've won all the duels, kicked Akio in the nuts, freed Anthy, & ridden away into the sunset with Shiori in her arms before Utena even showed up if that were the case. But she obviously didn't do any of that despite being a lesbian, so there must be something more complicated at work here.

A lot of RGU's narrative is dedicated to deconstructing binary social systems & the ways in which they harm those trying to and/or being forced to fit within one of two narrow boxes; man vs woman, adult vs child, princess vs witch, prince vs devil, special vs not special, romantic vs platonic, etc. So for someone to watch all of that beautiful complexity, only to filter it through yet another essentialist binary...sucks, to say the least.

[bilboyagathechickenfootedhobbit]

The whole public sex discourse is insane. But what goes beyond insane into heart-dropping, what the fuck where did we go wrong territory is this attitude of ‘who cares if kids see? They’ll be having sex one day eventually.’ Like???? Yeah, most likely they will. My six year old kid will one day drive an automobile. Does that mean I should just give him the keys this morning and let him drive himself to school? I mean, he’s going to drive EVENTUALLY, right? By that same token, I should also just give him a tumbler of whiskey and let him take a drag off a cigarette; I mean, he’ll probably try these things one day ANYWAY, may as well be today, right? And since he’s going to learn what sex is, why not invite one of his little friends over and show them how to fuck one another?

Oh wait, does that make you uncomfortable now? The idea of two six year olds being encouraged to have sexual intercourse? DOES THAT SEEM WEIRD??? Why?? I mean, they’re going to do it one day anyway, WHY NOT NOW??? Why NOT get your six year old wasted and zooted and teach them how to properly fuck?? Does that make you feel weird? What are you? Some lame-o virgin who doesn’t know how to party? Weak sauce. See, I happen to be a super cool edge-lord sex god who has had ALL THE SEX and therefore don’t care if anyone sees anyone having sex. Since I, the ultimate Sex Lord, have definitely already had sex it is now appropriate for every single human on earth, regardless of age or anything, to witness anyone else having sex. I mean, I’M okay with it, so therefore everyone else has to be okay with it.

I cannot believe that at the exact same time on this hell site, we have a post going around threatening to kill adults for listening to TikTok’s on full volume in public and a post going around saying everyone is SUPES COOL with people just fucking wherever they feel like in public. So this site is more offended by auditory disruption than literal sex crimes being perpetrated against them.

Make it make sense.