#it was about misogynoir all along

[thegetdownrebooter]

The whites are turning on Caitlyn Clark for possibly being a democrat.

[bohemian-nights]

HOTD has a misogynoir problem and it’s the reason why the fandom refuses to see Rhaenyra as a “villain” in Nettles story

The HOTD fandom has divided itself along the lines of the two factions of the Dance, team black vs. team green as if they themselves are actual members of the teams they root for. The inability to see nuance has resulted in major disagreements between the two camps. However, there is something seemingly that the majority of fans irrespective of their chosen team will agree on.

When it comes to the Rhaenyra, Nettles, and Daemon situation, Rhaenyra is viewed as an unquestionable victim of equal, near equal, or in some cases greater status to Nettles.

Despite the fact that she is the one that orders Nettles to be executed in her sleep, she’s somehow a woman we should all feel sorry for and take pity upon because she just had a little “breakdown.” It’s really Mysaria’s fault because she told a “lie” that Daemon and Nettles were sleeping(according to Team Black). Or it’s Daemon’s fault because he “groomed” Nettles like Rhaenyra(according to Team Green).

To put it plainly, Rhaenyra’s victimhood is due to the fact that the fandom will not view a “white” woman as the antagonist of the situation when a “black” woman is involved. It does not matter that she orders the death of an innocent young woman for merely sleeping with her husband. It does not matter that she used classism and racism(before you say “Rhaenyra isn’t a racist,” go ahead and replace “low creature” with the “n-word” then get back to me) to justify murdering said innocent woman.

Her actions are labeled as a result of stress brought about by the loss of her children. Pinning or rather passing the blame upon others who are less sympathetic. Mysaria(who though white in the books is now half Asian in the show and book(s) she is both a foreigner and a prostitute) and Daemon(who’s a white man). The HOTD fandom will not see Rhaenyra as being in the wrong because they view her as an innocent white woman. This article details this assumption, particularly in this paragraph:

In the case of Nettles, who is a brown-skinned black woman, while Rhaenyra does not cry she does have a strong emotional outburst that fans sympathize with. Nettles is seen as a victim, but the woman who tries to perpetuate racially motivated violence against her is also seen as an equal(and depending on who you ask greater) victim. Thus her own victimhood and innocence is lessened.

As far as the “lie” and the “grooming” accusations go, that too can be blamed upon fans' inability to see past their own innate racial bias.

To these fans, Nettles is only an acceptable and likable character when they can put her into a specific box of characterization. That box being that she is unquestionably a child.

She could not have slept with Daemon because she’s a child(she’s his child or he sees her like his child). Or she was groomed by Daemon because she’s a child. She can not be competition, sexual or otherwise, to Rhaenyra because she’s a child. If Nettles is a child she is not a threat because who is threatened by a child?

(Note, this is the whole reason why fans will “fawn” over Rhaena and Baela, when they don’t ignore that they exist or when they are trying to prop up a dead deformed fully white baby, because they aren’t “competition” in that way since they are Rhaenyra’s stepdaughters. Plus they are “white” in the books).

Nettles is a child in their eyes even though by Westeros standards she is an adult:

She did not sleep with Daemon even though the text explicitly frames their relationships as being romantic and sexual(unless you consider it normal for a father to bathe with his daughter).

She was groomed like Rhaenyra(again bringing in Rhaenyra’s victimhood so as to take away from her crimes) even though she’s an adult and her relationship with Daemon is described in a different manner than Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship beginnings.

This:

Versus this:

The only similarities are the gift giving and even then the gifts are of a completely different nature with a different motivation attached to them.

Nettles literally was homeless prior to the Dance so Daemon gifting her clothes, a hairbrush, and a mirror was actually what she needed. Daemon gifts these items and his affection without getting anything in return besides her company.

Daemon’s most selfless acts are done for Nettles. When it comes down to it, he is even willing to lay down his life for her. He sends her away to save her life, the life of a bastard girl who is looked down upon by even her defenders (like Corlys who calls her dirty and ill-favored) at the expense of his own. Disobeying his wife and queen's orders in the process, thus if he is grooming her, he sure is going about it the wrong way.

Unlike Nettles, Rhaenyra was actually underage(14 seeing how she was born in 97AC and the events detailed here happen in 111AC) by Westeros standards when Daemon begins his “courting” of her.

(The last little tidbit also proves that Daemon can not be Nettles' biological father seeing how he was in the Stepstones from late 111 AC until 115 AC and since Nettles turns 17 in 130 AC she was born on Driftmark in 113 AC).

Keep in mind that many of these fans who call Daemon and Nettles relationship abusive, label it as grooming, or deny it exists will gleefully ship Daemyra or Alysmond while saying that they are #toxic couple goals in an approving manner, that they are an epic romance and are or are going to be the OTP of the show, or wanting to see them be a #power couple.

Daemyra is straight-up grooming and as established earlier, even by Westeros standards Rhaenyra was actually a minor.

As far as Team Greens ship goes, Alysmond has the same power dynamic problems Dattles(Daemon x Nettles). Alys is a 40+ year(s) old woman(she’s described as being at least twice Aemond’s age). While Aemond is 19 or 20 in the books and 16-18 in the show.

Aemond is a prince while Alys is a bastard and a wet nurse. When Aemond takes Harrenhal he kills her entire family while sparing her and taking her as his mistress or rather a spoil of war. The stuff of romance novels people. (Note, I do like Alysmond, but to say it’s somehow better than Dattles is a huge stretch).

What do Daemyra and Alysmond have that Dattles does not? All parties involved are white. Fans don’t mind or are willing to overlook and ship emotionally manipulative incestuous based relationships or questionable power dynamic relationships, as long as both partners are white.

Both sides of the fandom infantilize Nettles to give her a sense of innocence, of blamelessness to the circumstances that befall upon her, while at the same time protecting Rhaenyra’s innocence by giving them a shared “villain.” Usually Daemon(and in some cases Mysaria).

The fandom can only sympathize with her when they view her as a child because a black woman who is a victim of racial violence at the hands of a white woman isn’t relatable. It just shouldn’t be because Rhaenyra is innocent.

Ultimately Nettles is not viewed as a dynamic character who is worthy of a complete arc that includes a heterosexual (I imagine fans would cheer on Rhaenyra and Nettles being together a la “Rhaenyra and Laena” which many fans cared more about than Laena’s relationship that she had with her husband, the father of her two girls who she had a loving marriage with in the books) romantic relationship. Especially with someone like Daemon.

She has to be a child because otherwise if Nettles is seen as a fully sexual being capable of making her own decisions, capable of consenting to a romantic relationship with a man who wants her in turn, a man who is willing to choose her over his white Valyrian(Aryan) wife, a wife who in her anger and jealousy seeks to enact violence upon her as a result of said consensual impossible relationship, she disrupts the natural order of things.

This phenomenon of desexualizing Black women characters who are love interests isn’t new or unique to HOTD. In fact, it’s pretty common in fandoms and is born as a result of misogynoir. This article is on the character Nyota Uhura from Star Trek, but it mirrors what is happening to Nettles right now:

The whole blog is a goldmine on fandom racism, particularly fandom misogynoir. I urge you to check it out especially if you are going to “speak out” on Black female characters when you yourself aren’t Black(this includes other “WOC”).

And before you say, “But Bohemian people ship Nettles with Daeron or Jace so they aren’t trying to completely desexualize her nor do they care about her being with white men because both Daeron and Jace are white,” hold onto that.

While there are some genuine fans of these crackships(neither have any basis in canon and Nettles never even meets Daeron) most of these “fans” are doing so because they know that it looks racist to desexualize Nettles, the only in-canon black character, to the point where she’s the only one without a love interest.

Yes, both Daeron and Jace are white, but you need to look at who their characters are. Daeron has no love interest in book canon so Nettles doesn’t threaten any white woman’s desirability since there is none to threaten.

Jace does have an in-canon love interest(s), Baela. and Sara Snow. They might change it up in the show, but in the books, Jace and Baela aren’t really a couple for long since he goes to the North and meets Sara Snow who he may have married. Sara Snow is a controversial character.

Most fans either don’t believe she exists(and they think she’s Cregan) or they don’t want her to exist(the fandom has a classism and a bastard problem in addition to racism, but again I’m not getting into that today).

Daeron hasn’t even shown up on the show yet(so mostly book fans are invested in him)and while he’ll probably be popular I doubt he’ll reach Daemon let alone Aemond’s popularity.

Jace dies soon into the narrative(he might die this upcoming season). He’s pretty boring in the show and outside of him being one of Rhaenyra’s baseborn sons I don’t think too many people actually care about him.

People are comfortable with putting Nettles with characters like Daeron and Jace solving many birds with one stone while not really stepping on any toes(especially the toes of white women who they actually care about).

It stops people from shipping Nettles with Daemon, because he is too desirable to be with a black woman especially when it would impact his Valyrian queen, it gives Daeron a love interest, keeps Sara Snow from showing up, and keeps the racist allegations off fans back. They are the comfortable choices. They are the non-threatening choices.

So to wrap this commentary up, the HOTD fandom has finally found something which to unite both the Greens and the Blacks. Trying to pidgin hole black female characters into narrow boxes of “acceptable” characterization that desexualizes them which serves to protect white female characters, who they sympathize with, innocence and desirability. As always, nothing brings together a fandom like good old-fashioned racism repackaged as “caring.”

[mcufandomhatespeopleofcolor]

i hate how there was plans for a monica rambeau centric series only for it to get cancelled cause of the marvels not doing well at the box office. We deserve more Monica and I hate how she'll continue to be a supporting character in other projects and not get to be the main lead in her own solo film/series like how Natasha, Wanda and Peggy got their solo projects. Those fucking mcu incels are the reason we can't have nice things

So here's the thing though we shouldn't give up. We can still advocate for Monica Rambeau and her storyline. Like white ppl were excited for Deadpool and wolverine but we can apply pressure to the white people in our lives to pay attention to Monica Rambeau. Because its plain misogynoir/racialized misogyny that yt ppl don't care about the Marvels movie and only celebrate Dp/Wolverine. Like not only did Wanda get her own show and now potentially a movie but also it launched another white woman show in Agatha all along. its white supremacy!!!

mod ali

[twelvemartha]

the doctor's dynamic with his companions is like the beating hearts of the show, yet for some reason the doctor is so tightlipped about his feelings for martha in particular. it's maddening. sure, the narrative will give us tiny moments of the doctor showing his appreciation of her and acknowledging her presence. martha jones i like you. martha jones you're a star. but what does he think about her? how does he view her? what is her significance to him?

we learn a lot about what martha thinks the doctor thinks about her. he's not seeing me he's just remembering. sometimes i think he likes me but sometimes i just think he needs someone. he doesn't even look at me but i don't care. it's never outright confirmed, but so many signs point to this being the case. the doctor is constantly putting up walls between the two of them, which martha tries so hard to break through. and there are times where it seems like she manages to, where the two of them have genuine moments of connection! only for the next episode to come along and destroy that progress, as if it never happened, and the doctor goes back to being distant and overlooking her.

this wouldn't be as big a deal as it is if there was some sort of comeuppance or catharsis at the end of s3. but in the final speech martha gives to the doctor before she goes, the focus is put on her unrequited love. again. the issue, rtd wants us to believe, is that the doctor doesn't reciprocate martha's romantic feelings for him. but that's not it. the real issue is that the doctor doesn't even treat martha as a proper person, a companion in her own right, a friend who he cherishes and wants to travel with because she's martha jones. instead, he acts as if she's just someone to keep around because he gets lonely on his own.

and so instead of the doctor rightly being called out for his callous treatment of martha, we just have the show brush this under the rug and act like the matter is resolved come s4. because at the end of the day, neither martha nor her relationship to the doctor matter. they never did to the show or its writers. they were just a vehicle to tell the true story, which has nothing to do with martha at all. (this is absolutely rooted in misogynoir btw.)

[creatingblackcharacters]

I was so glad to find your blog, because it’s given me the opportunity to find some awesome resources for my writing, but there was one thing in particular that I think I should send an ask about, so here goes:

I’m writing a story that focuses on teenagers trying to get revenge for different tragedies that they know we’re all caused by the same person. It has a pretty big cast, but there’s one character who I really feel like I need to talk about so I make sure I tell her story the right way. This character is a Black girl who sets out to find her missing younger sister, but there’s some details I’d really like to get peer reviewed first to make sure they aren’t offensive, or see if there’s anything I can do to make them better.

So, this character starts off as a “gifted kid,” kind of— she gets good grades, she plays an instrument, she has tons of friends, all the stuff parents want their kids to hav in school. Until she witnesses an incident that ends up scarring her, that is. (The incident is just a catalyst and not as important to this character, so I’m skipping the details. Someone died.) She suspects something’s going wrong in her town, and that people’s lives are in danger, but no one listens until it’s too late, and her little sister has gone missing. Now, here’s where things get to a point where I want to ask for help. The little sister was killed, and the older sister suspects that she could’ve been saved if the police paid more attention to her, and their ignorance when it came to the situation might’ve been rooted in racism. She develops a distrust of authority, including her own parents, and decides if no one else is going to destroy this evil, it might as well be her. The older sister then goes on a journey to try and solve the mystery for herself and ever silly come to terms with her sister’s death, all the while believing that she can’t go to the adults because they won’t take her seriously. Even if she’s a straight A student, even if they say she’s a bright kid, she worries it isn’t enough. Because when it matters most, they didn’t take her seriously. By the end of her arc in the story, the older sister has faced down the villain, accepted her sibling’s death and helped her spirit move on, while also making sure nothing like that will happen again— at least under those same circumstances. She comes clean to her parents about everything, and she actually has one of the best relationships with her family out of any other character in this story. But that’s pretty sensitive stuff. I feel like I can’t just wing it, I need to talk to people and see where I could go wrong, and where I could go right with this. I’ve noticed there aren’t a lot of stories where Black girls get to go on adventures and face down evil, so I wanted to try writing one myself, but I really want to do this character justice. If there are any tips you have for making this character authentic, any places where I should be particularly aware of the subject material, and any additional resources for writing horror with characters of color, I would love to hear them.

It all sounds interesting to me! But as always, the prompt versus the actual writing can always diverge. This is yet another situation where I'd find a Black sensitivity reader to follow along with your work so that you don't get sidetracked, especially with a topic as complex as misogynoir (there are people on my recent post who have volunteered!) I'm not sure if you read my latest lesson on horror, but there are resources there, plus lessons on stereotypes. I would also suggest finding those books and visual media with Black girl protagonists and watching them, studying how they are done and how the story is told. I'm sure there are lists on Google of media to start with.

[writer-kermit]

Cognitive Bias in the Mortal Kombat Fandom

❥ GENRE: EXPLORATORY ESSAY

❥ COMMISSIONED OR SELF MADE: SELF MADE

❥ W/C: 1,314 (W/O SOURCES)

ঞ SUMMARY: The world is changing, and so is our perception of media. So why are we against these changes? What if everything remained the same from the beginning?

ᰔ KERMIT'S NOTE: I haven't made an exploratory essay since 2022. Mostly because I was afraid of what people might perceive me as. But for a while, I gathered the confidence to start writing more essays based on my personal views. Maybe that will help my writing skills. If you wish for more content like this, feel free to ask! Thanks for reading!

ʚ TAG LIST: @fsfghgee @laismoura-art @loiola00 Thank you for giving me the courage to write again 🫶

ʚ WARNING: Spoilers (maybe???) Racism, Misogyny/Misogynoir, and other graphic content.

Before I start, I just want to say that I only know Mortal Kombat through NetherRealm Studios, so I will be referring to them more than Midway. Now, I’ve only been a fan of Mortal Kombat for two years. I first started getting into it when my friend showed me a video of the Mortal Kombat 9 gameplay in 2022. Since then, I’ve been consuming so much of the MK media. From video games, to animations, to fanfiction, you name it! However, as I delved deeper into the Mortal Kombat rabbit hole, I noticed that there is a strong “bias” within the fandom. Now don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything bad about having biases. In fact, some biases can improve problem solving skills by identifying different patterns and thinking accordingly to solve the problem. But since I’m talking about Mortal Kombat here, there won’t be as much problem solving. When it comes to NetherRealm Studio's interpretation of Mortal Kombat, fans and critics are quick to have some sort of cognitive bias. 

So why specifically cognitive bias? What even is a cognitive bias? Well, cognitive bias is a systematic thought process caused by the tendency to simplify (or fully reject) information through a filter of personal experience and preferences. But if cognitive bias helps with problem solving, how can it be harmful? In most cases, cognitive bias can contribute to poor and unfair judgment, especially when that judgment can affect the way we consume media. From my experience in Mortal Kombat, fans have the most bias between different characterizations; whether that’d be race, gender, or sexuality, plot, and even the companies itself.

Race/Ethnicity: Black female characters such as Jacqui Briggs, Tanya, Cyrax (MK1) are more prominent to be discriminated against based on their appearance, motives, and depiction throughout the MK series. Unfortunately, this isn’t just a Mortal Kombat problem. In fact, black women in different media are heavily underrepresented and often looked down upon. In the scholar work “Art Imitates Life: The Representation (Or Lack Thereof) of Black Women in Video Games” by Bug Gadson, the author makes an important claim that because of the systematic racism built on white supremacy and misogynoir (racism and misogyny), the ��historical evolution of Black feminism in the United States not only developed through [black stereotypes],” but also how the media consume these types of harmful portrayal and use it to characterize all black women (Gadson, 2021). This is almost ironic because Mortal Kombat is known for its diverse characters. As a black non-binary student, it’s very painful to see racist comments of these black characters on Reddit, YouTube, and even Tumblr.

Gender: Along with racism, misogyny in the Mortal Kombat fanbase is no secret. As Mortal Kombat progressed over to NetherRealm Studios, women have grown to be less sexualized and played more dominant roles throughout the series. Because of this change, most fans complained that the women were ‘unattractive’ and threatened the NRS developers to revert to their revealing attire. One example of this outrage is when YouTube commenter, TrueUnderDawg made a petition on his Twitter and YouTube community post to enforce “cyber-swimsuits” for female Cyrax and Sektor, further engaging with the sexualization of female characters in video games. With Sektor and Cyrax being gender-swapped in MK1’s DLC: Khaos Reigns, fans believed that the gender swap was only implemented to add more relationships within the new timeline. While it’s true that Sektor and Cyrax were intended to pursue romantic relationships, I believe that it doesn’t overall deter their characterization. In fact, any form of relationship can build up motives and create a sense of agency for that character. For Sektor and Bi-Han's relationship, both share goals and concepts of building the Lin Kuei, so even if there is a gender swap, their relationship does make sense to a point (it’s also hypocritical to criticize Bi-Han/Sektor to justify Bi-Han/Sareena as both ships have their flaws). Tumblr user @fsfghgee made some pretty good points on Bi-Han and Sektor, so I recommend looking at them for more information.

Sexual Orientation: Since 2015, there has been a new splurge of canon and implied relationships in Mortal Kombat. In addition, there have been a handful of LGBTQ+ characters. Examples being Sindel, Mileena, Tanya, and Kung Jin. However, it didn’t stop fans from creating their own LGBTQ+ ships; with the most well-known ships being SubScorp (Scorpion x Sub Zero), Johnshi (Johnny x Kenshi), JadeTana (Jade x Kitana), and many others. With the new changes in MK1 (and Khaos Rain and Tanya’s relationship), most fans were claiming that NRS were erasing queer characters and relationships. For reference, I am pansexual. So, my personal view on ‘cis relationships’ might be different. While I do believe that NRS’s interpretation of relationships can be improved, it does have greater potential than Midway (sorry older fans). What really pisses me off is when fans were so quick to call “queer erasure” when non-canon ships weren’t implemented in the game. I’m not trying to say that NRS shouldn’t have more LGBTQ+ representation, but being blatantly cisphobic to the already canon ships within the series takes away actual queer erasure that purposefully diminishes the existence of the queer community throughout any other media platforms.

Writer’s Perspective: Ed Boon and Dominic Cianciolo are the main writers and directors for Mortal Kombat in NetherRealm Studios. As of 2023, they released a reboot of Mortal Kombat named Mortal 1 Kombat. After the dissolvement of the previous timeline (MK11), newly demigod Liu Kang resets the universe to create a more peaceful timeline. With the significant changes in the story, it’s almost difficult to adjust to the new storyline. Personally, I don’t like all the changes either. And I think it’s even more difficult to find someone who does like all the changes. Nevertheless, I believe that providing different perspectives can accommodate and even further regulate the story. It’s important to take note that the earlier timeline is nearly irrelevant to MK1. So rather than trying to implement older lore, why not use what is already canon and interpret our own theories? For example, let’s take Hanzo, who is a child in MK1. Hanzo’s survivor guilt could parallel Tomas (Smoke). Rather than accepting the death of his clan, Hanzo’s emotions could turn him to be vengeful and become more irrational and radicalized. Another example could be Bi-Han/Noob Saibot (The corrupted version of Bi-Han). His irredeemable actions and hatred towards his family could symbolize the corruption of leadership and foreshadow his ultimate downfall. Now here’s a side note: I know some fans believed that Bi-Han should’ve gotten a redemption arc, but this man openly claimed that he is willing to kill his OWN FAMILY to remain in power. So, like... I don’t know if he could redeem himself if tried. That being said, there is nothing inherently wrong with ‘maliciously evil’ characters if written correctly. However, there is a difference between ‘bad’ characters and ‘bad character writing’ (AHEM AHEM KOTAL KAHN AHEM).   

Overall Thoughts: I want to make it clear that there is nothing wrong with criticizing Boon and Cianciolo and giving them feedback to help them improve future games. However, there is a difference between constructive criticism and harassment. The NRS developers aren’t blocking people in different media because they can’t handle criticism, they’re blocking people because they are continuously being harassed and receiving death threats. Regardless of these changes, Mortal Kombat is still an enjoyable game and shouldn’t be torn apart by its own hypocrisy. There is nothing wrong with having bias. Sometimes, biases can help us interpret different information in a nuanced way. But know that change is necessary for the world to function, even if some of the changes can kind of stink. 

[danggirlronpa]

I have a question in regard to the whitewashing tw tag: do you think Aoi and the rest are...African-Asian? Because I always just thought they (apart from Angie of course) just had tans

Having tans is the canonical explanation from Aoi, Akane, and Sakura; Yasuhiro (doesn't have a talent that would reasonably require lots of exercise) and Angie (canon Polynesian) are the only characters who are technically canonically dark-skinned.

However. Danganronpa has a terrible colorism problem. And because dark-skinned characters rely on racist and colorist tropes, it seems obvious that they relied on the implication that the characters were blasian in order to communicate them. (We could also get into Gonta here, but since he isn't usually considered by fandom to be a dark-skinned character despite having a darker skintone, we'll set it aside for now. Just know the "dumb gentle giant" look isn't good.)

Firstly: Akane comes from a low-income area with gang violence and prostitution, with a lot of siblings, and is poor enough to not be able to afford a gymnastics uniform. She is portrayed as being unintelligent and caring only about food and fighting. In her crossover art, such as with Sanrio, she is alongside a monkey character (as is Yasuhiro). She has her boobs on constant display to indicate she is Sexy TM. This is a series of very blatant stereotypes about black people.

Sakura is constantly mistaken for a man and called "ogre." She is physically enormous, has bulging muscles, and is one of the only female characters to have a face that isn't condensable to "anime girl face" (primarily, she has a defined nose). Her talent involves beating the shit out of people. And one of her beta designs has her as a straight-up black woman with an afro. She suffers from the (once famous, though I don't know if tumblr still talks about this one) trope of a dark-skinned character with light-colored white person hair for seemingly no reason. This is another series of stereotypes.

Aoi is sexualized. She's constantly sexualized. Her big solo art is her in her underwear with her boobs smushed together. Toko/Syo bring up her boobs constantly. The only character on her level is Miu, who is a very different kind of sexualization; Miu is a character who expresses her sexuality herself, whereas Aoi is viewed as a sexual object by other characters and the audience. This is a very basic aspect of misogynoir - the black woman as a sexual object.

Whether or not these characters were intended to be blasian, these tropes applied to dark-skinned women conveys some very clear and disturbing implications. To make the characters not even canonically dark skinned is such a huge kick in the face - to convey all of these stereotypes and not even give the representation that goes along with them. It is an extra layer of cruelty.

So, yes: this blog agrees with the fandom-wide adoption of "they're dark-skinned." Really, the tag should be "colorism cw," but it has way too many posts for me to go back and change it now. You don't necessarily have to believe they're black; the characters could be Indian, or Polynesian, or any other number of nationalities. But they are dark-skinned, at least as far as I'm concerned.

[aishabellasbigblogofeverything]

If i may hope into your inbox rq to rant,i think there's a special kind of masculinazation queer black women go through specifically.There's this weird thing white cis wlw have where they automatically assume 'black women with a queer gender/orientation=masculine presentation' even if the bw in question is blatantly femme(remember the tomboy Megan Thee Stallion allegations💀)and it's highkey insane how they can't wrap their heads around the fact that black women can be girlypops and softgirls as much as any other queer women and i can only imagine how much worse it is for femme black trans women

Like for me i'm bigender and genderfluid along with being bi so i understand why people would assume i want to be masc on first meeting but a quick look at my blog or talking with me will make it very obvious i'm a dude but not the slightest bit masculine and that's absolutely influenced by my black womanhood but white woman fragility makes the idea of unlearning misogynoir 'scary'🙄Ntm my white trans girl friends have been way more normal about me and guys like me than cis girls so that adds to my opinion that transfem and black woman friendships are almost inherent and the overlap between transmisogyny and misogynoir.They think it's 'allyship' but the thing is almost no black woman ever asks to be masculineized

All of this is so true!!!

And then there's the fact that whenever you see Black wlw rep in media, they are almost always butch/stud or on the androgynous/masculine side, and while that does deserve rep, you hardly see femme Black wlw nearly as much, especially when they're paired with a non-Black or lighter-skinned Black girl who will almost always be the femme to their butch, it feels like Black wlw almost never get to be the feminine one.

A lot of white wlw I've seen tend to assume that Black wlw must be masculine, often so that they can be the more feminine one and it's unfair. Plus I feel like Black femme lesbians in particular face a DOUBLE form of femme invisibility that other femmes do not, because while femmes in general are read as straight or seen as having straight-passing privilege(which we do not), Black femmes often face both where we are assumed to be straight feminine girls or we are seen as not being "lesbian" enough because we're femme when Black lesbians must be studs. And it's unfair. And also I wish there was a term specifically for Black femme lesbians the way Black masc lesbians have stud, that was common and widespread, but I also just know that if a term like that did exist, then it would just be co-opted by non-Black femmes anyway, just like non-Black mascs try to do with stud.

I feel too that my femmeness is def influenced by my Black womanhood as well so I see where you're coming from. And I also agree that Black girls and trans girls(esp Black trans girls) should be friends because our oppression, although not identical, has a lot in common on the grounds that we are both denied womanhood by the white gender binarist society.

I wish this was a thing people talked about more, a lot of people act like femmes don't have any unique problems or that we are privileged for being straight-"passing" or having "so much representation" in media, when that is not the case and especially ignores the reality of being a femme of color, especially a Black femme who has to fight to be allowed to embrace her femininity and not be seen as man-lite due to white supremacy. I feel like only other femmes and butch lesbians care about our struggles but that the wider non-lesbian/non-wlw society doesn't? Especially with a lot of lgbt men/male-aligned people saying that the lgbt community has a "fear of/aversion to" masculinity which is complete bullshit(unless you're referring to butch/masc/stud women of course). But we need to start having this conversation! So thank you for bringing it to my attention!

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Mabel Propaganda

"[insert "i am 12 years old" comic]"

"You probably already know about this but back when the series was airing people were really pissed at Mabel because she was supposedly selfish. Yeah ok guys asking for a fucking megaphone to help a merman find his family was TOTALLY unreasonable. Dipper giving up one (1) "date" with a girl way older than him to save Mabel's pet was SO not worth it. (This is sarcasm btw. Side note a lot of these have to do with Dipper's crush on Wendy which is a whole other discussion.) And then there's the big one. Mabel causing Weirdmageddon. What people fail to realize with this is that 1) she was extremely stressed when she handed Bill the rift 2) she was tricked by Bill, a being that is A MASTER AT TRICKING PEOPLE, into thinking that she was being handed a magic solution to what felt like the end of the world to her, and 3) she was TWELVE. Not to pull out the "she is literally neurodivergent and a minor" card but do you really expect a 12 year old who's just been told that she's gonna have to face a big and difficult transition WITHOUT her brother who's been there for her all her life to make a rational decision? Y'all seriously fell for Bill's empty words in Sock Opera. Absolute bufoons. You would not survive Weirdmageddon."

"Oh wow, a preteen girl under extreme distress acts like a preteen girl under extreme distress. Whoda thunk?"

Allison Propaganda

Receives classio fandom misogynoir. She did eventually go down a dark path and do some fucked up things in season 3 (which I have a lot of problems with) but it was met by reactions of "see I knew she was evil all along!" people saying she never changed and was always selfish and terrible: (at the start of her character arc in season 1, she's struggling with the consequences of her actions and trying to be a better person. Among other things, she used her powers of compulsion to force her daughter to behave, which is BAD but it's not inhumanly evil. Can you imagine being an exhausted mom dealing with a misbehaving child and knowing that you have the ability to make them be quiet and do what you want? You really wouldn't be tempted? Anyway, she REGRETS IT.) It was painful near the end of season 1 where her sibling (Viktor, but season 1 was before his transition) was being manipulated by his evil boyfriend into unleashing his powers (sealed because they were dangerous) and turning against his family. Allison tried to warn him and take him back with her. When talking didn't work, Allison felt her only option was to compell him (which works by her saying "I heard a rumor" and then whatever she wants the person to do), and when she tried that Viktor slit her throat. He felt guilty for it but his evil boyfriend led him away and Allison was left there bleeding. People watching BLAMED ALLISON FOR THIS. She was DESPERATE to get her sibling back & away from an evil guy that was leading him down a really destructive path (he caused the end of the world! because of it!) and only tried to use her power after asking didn't work. She did not deserve to be hurt like that. Allison unfortunately was a bad person in season 3. But she sure as hell wasn't always a bad person and I hated seeing so many people say she was, I stopped looking at fandom spaces because of it. She was trying her best and did a lot of good before that."

[blackfilmmakers]

Do you think gwen not liking black girls was intentional? Or do you think its a case of filmmakers imparting their biases onto the writing

Yes and yes

Misogynoir is so embedded into our mindsets, that plenty of us can’t comprehend the idea of Black girls having importance and agency to the plot. They are just narrative tools (which I need to expand more some day, because yes characters are already narrative tools, but black girls are like specifically used in a way that makes them stand apart)

I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers’ did unconsciously(or even fully aware) insert their biases into the film

Then again, so many Black fans on social media platforms have made entire threads about how annoyingly disconnected Gwen is from other communities of color, that it does feel the filmmakers made it intentional

Like the fact she be opening people’s stuff without permission be twisting my insides

If it wasn’t intentional, I think it would be kinda funny if the filmmakers read the room and just be like “yeah we totally planned this all along hehehe 😅”

[gotinterest]

idk man. trans men/masc people should be allowed to express the fact theres specific kinds of transphobia to them. while the poster is clearly in the wrong, that doesnt mean transmisandry doesnt exist. the trans community really needs to stop with the infighting

Ok let me break this down because the entire reason why "transandrophobia" and "transmisandry" as terms came into being is because there are a lot of trans men who are very poorly versed on intersectionality, yet feel as though they know enough to create a new term for the discourse.

The terms "transandrophobia" and "transmisandry" were created as companion terms to "transmisogyny". The logic being, "well, trans women have unique experiences with transphobia so that's what transmisogny is. Likewise, trans men also have their own experiences with transphobia... so let's call that 'transandrophobia' or 'transmisandry'"

The problem is that transmisogyny is NOT "a unique form of transphobia that trans women face". Transmisogyny is a unique form of misogyny that trans women face as a result of being both trans and women (just as, for example, misogynoir describes the unique form of misogyny that black women face as a result of the intersection between their race and gender).

Misandry does not exist as a systemic force. Our society is set up in a way that benefits men as a gender, despite the fact that sometimes those benefits entail a form of masculinity that many men find constricting, it still materially and socially benefits them with more opportunities, higher paying jobs, more respect, etc.

Trans men may have unique experiences as being men who are also trans, but they are not oppressed for being men as terms like "transandrophobia" and "transmisandry" would suggest. In fact, a lot of trans men BENEFIT from being men, especially as they transition (with many trans men reporting that they were taken more seriously, felt they were more listened to, got better paying jobs, etc as they transitioned).

Men- even men who are oppressed along other axis- benefit from being men within their oppressed communities. Women of color have talked about this at length- even as men in their communities are oppressed for their race, they still benefit materially over the women in their racial group.

The same exact thing happens in the trans community. Trans men on average make more money than trans women. They face less violence than trans women. They are not the ones primarily targeted in the most virulent transphobia campaigns. The image of the trans predator is of the trans WOMAN in "your daughter's team, in the women's restroom, in the girl's locker rooms". Conservatives don't fearmonger about "our sons being exposed to trans men, being outcompeted by trans men, being assaulted by trans men". The only time I've ever seen a transphobe bring up trans men being a problem in a men's room was to bolster their point about why trans women don't belong in women's restrooms.

And all of this is still as trans men are undoubtedly being oppressed for being trans. Trans men face impediments to important medical services due to being trans- including services that trans women don't have to worry about (such as getting an abortion). We face housing and job discrimination. But we don't face those issues because we are men... we face them because we are trans. Those are examples of transphobia that trans men face and it is very important to talk about them... but they do not require a separate term. Our maleness is not the influencing factor, our transness is.

We could talk about the uniqueness of trans men being the only men who are capable of experiencing sexist discrimination. That's a unique experience to trans men that cis men don't really experience outside of very specific circumstances. But that also does not need a new term. It's literally just sexism and misogyny.

The thing that is the most frustrating about "transandrophobia" and "transmisandry" is that those terms are the products, themselves, of transmisogyny and infighting. I have again and again seen cases that are ACTUALLY TRANSMISOGYNY get relabeled as "transandrophobia" and twisted to make trans men the victims at the expense of trans women getting the chance to talk about their own issues (such as the high visibility of trans women- which makes them a target- getting presented as "everybody only talks about trans women and nobody says anything about trans men").

The most common thing I see get labelled as "transandrophobia" are trans women pointing out a trans man being misogynistic. Or merely trans women talking about transmisogyny instead of specifically setting aside time to talk about "trans men's problems" (which is the exact same rhetoric that MRAs use to talk about how "feminists don't care about male loneliness!" or "feminists don't talk about men's issues like biases towards mom's in custody battles!" etc etc).

I would absolutely LOVE to talk about trans guy stuff! Like I'd love it if us guys could talk about trans guy stuff. Too bad almost every trans man online community gets infested with guys who keep wanting to complain about trans women instead of like. Regular guy stuff like feelings of inadequacy with your partner due to cis-centric ideals of masculinity or like pros and cons of hysterectomy vs tubal ligation or like best places to get a pelvic exam or like better tdick jerk off technique. But noooooooooo.

[klapollo]

ok look. maybe i'm wrong here but. as a Morrisonhead i really get the sense that coquettes have absorbed her into the Tortured Female Writer meme pantheon along with plath and didion etc in the name of not having it all be white writers. like toni morrison IS a female writer who writes a lot about female pain but it's.......very distinct from girlblogger sylvia plath tortured poets department type shit lol? like her lens is very specifically about the lens of living under misogynoir in america. when i see a wojak of a white girl in 2024 america going "she's literally me!" at a collage of white women writers and then toni morrison im just like..............have you actually read her books

she's certainly the kind of writer who can make you feel related through an entirely different character through empathy but i dont think that's what they mean. what about sula or the bluest eye or recitatif is directly relatable to a white woman in the 21st century. idk maybe they mean her nonfiction essays and im just cynical

[bohemian-nights]

Fuck Rhaenyra, fuck the writers with this sapphic plotline they invented, it's simply pathetic, and fuck Emma D'Arcy who is the cause of that. Im sorry but why trans/LGBTQ agenda should be included, but then they don't care about racism? Cause Laena has bee treated awfully, next is Nettles, reduced to Daemon's new distraction/whim to cheat on Nyra and shows how bad husband he is, or even cut out to redeem him (?) This Show sucks. Fuck white privilegies. Fuck HBO and all the people who's supporting this trash. To all the people who kiss Emma D'Arcy's ugly ass, am i transphobic cause i hate what they did to Rhaenyra and to the story? Ok, and you're racist for using Laena as an excuse of made up ship (Laenyra) to shit on Daemon X Laena in order to praise your incest ship and for not wanting Nettles in the series cause could ruin it. Whatever happens it seems is always the black characters who gets sacrificed for the sake of white characters. I said what i said.

Um, this has the energy of this:

Oh God you really let it all out there. Minus calling Emma ugly(again guys can we please not call the actors/actresses ugly), I don’t think you are wrong and I get your frustrations.

It’s pretty clear this show has an agenda, is biased towards one character in particular at the expense of basically everyone else, and has a misogynoir problem.

Now to be clear, even though Emma is going along with what is being pushed, I think it’s inaccurate to blame any of the actors or actresses on this show for what is happening. Because at the end of the day it’s the show runners and the execs at HBO who are calling the shots. Emma is just a mascot for their agenda(take that as you will).

They more than likely purposely picked Emma because they wanted to make Rhaenyra into some feminist warrior queen who has a rainbow coalition of supporters against the conservative greens.

It’s corny, but with another character like say Rhaena the Black Bride(who’s already a lesbian) or even Visenya(who’s a warrior queen) it could work.

However the problem with choosing to make Rhaenyra into a revolutionary type figure/girl boss/feminist is that she’s the complete opposite of that.

Rhaenyra in canon is a racist to the point where she’s willing to use it to explain away murder, she mocks Laenor for being gay(says her half-brothers who are children are his type), looks down on and underestimates the small folk, and doesn’t even bother to help advance other women(Stokeworth and Rosby) in her class much less women like Nettles.

Her and Alicent have a completely different relationship dynamic in the books than in the show.

She’s selfish and self-focused. She’s malicious bordering on sadistic. She even puts her own children in danger for her own wants.

And before her followers go moaning she’s done too many things to claim that she’s been wrongly framed by the narrative. No sane person is chopping off heads and feeding it to dragons or trying to murder innocent women in their sleep. That’s not maester propaganda. She’s objectively awful.

She may be a woman, but she’s no better than her brother. Women can be just as awful as men(for Christ’s sakes look at real life not everyone is wrongly accused because of sexism). Rhaenyra shows that. Even at the last moments of her life she pretty much has zero remorse IMO.

For those reasons, I absolutely hate that the show is trying to redeem her. I hate how they cast Black actors to use them as human shields to make her look progressive, to lessen her atrocities, and even to make her something like her death look less atrocious.

Fans see Black people(the characters) supporting her vs. the mostly white greens they go that’s the progressive team(that ideology is so f*cked up). They even have Black fans supporting Rhaenyra because of all the Black secondary characters.

Never mind that these characters(who are race-bent) are being screwed over by the narrative, haven’t been presented in the best light, and have had their stories be rewritten to better serve Rhaenyra and make her look sympathetic/noble/just. The best who are treated way worse than their white book counterparts.

They added Ser Vaemond calling Rhaenyra a whore to justify Daemon killing him when in the books he rightfully calls her out and gets unjustly beheaded and feed to a dragon as a result on Rhaenyra’s orders. Then his sons and cousins get reprimanded by with some getting their tongues cut out, but that’s all been cut out.

Instead of showing that was loved or at least cared for by Daemon like in the books show Laena has been regulated to sorta second best(third best if you factor in the Viserys situation). She’s unloved and unwanted. Her suicide is made into a girlboss/empowering moment instead of being criticized for what it is away to make Rhaenyra’s death look better. Laena’s character is a walking stereotype(disposable Black girlfriend, look it up).

The audience eats it up of course and instead of calling out making her into a stereotype they are upset that the show did not make the non-canon throuple situation happen so they could get more brownie points for their I love Black people, I'm not a racist, I just don't want that Black person who isn't a plot device on the show act.

(I’m calling it non-canon cause you can’t only use the word fond to support a relationship, especially when you claim that word means nothing when it comes to Dettles which has more evidence than a single word).

Even Laenor has been made into a deadbeat dad. Corlys looks stupid. The girls have been given nothing to do. Addam’s whole purpose is to scarifice himself for Rhaenyra which is why they are highlighting him so much.

It’s absolutely disgusting.

I have no idea what they are going to do with Nettles, a character who doesn’t need to be race-bent cause she’s already Black, but based on their track record it could be terrible(I’m holding out hope though). She shouldn’t be treated like she’s just some whore or Daemon's mistress. She has her own plot, she’s loved by, and she’s one of the few survivors of the dance(and one of two dragonriders).

If the show was decent at all they’d do the right thing and show her as the multifaceted character she is and not regulate her into another stereotype(I guess they’d go the Jezebel route).

I totally get where you are coming from on the racism aspect. This is obviously lost by most though. Hell, most in the fandom are racist themselves, but skirt by because they like this show using the Black characters as human shields. It's a circus.

And no one is going to take this rant seriously since you went a little too far. All they are going to focus on is you calling Emma ugly, which again was uncalled for, but I get the essence of it.

[kutputli]

sex work (prostitution) is based on sexual exploitation of young people. Sex work wouldn't work without young girl (I was a victim who thought it was empowering bc of shitty people like you spreading lies)You are a monster. Aside from your shitty view, I don't care about your study or whatever. black men often exploits black women, your post on Louis is at best laughable. Do you know why? Because Louis admitted in the church exploiting young black girl. He's not a nice pimp. Nice pimp aren't real. You don't care because Louis exploited young black girl. I'm sure, if white women were pictured in his brothel, it wouldn't be the same reaction. Louis and his fandom are awful with black women, that's why the white audience can cling with this character. People have far less empathy for black women. And Louis is creole, he was mad to not be part of the white patriarchy. He never cared for other black people.

Is it possible to call out shitty black men? People like you make it very hard.

Your post about sex work make me want to vomit.

I'm very sorry for your experience of being victimised. It is never acceptable to harm anyone, sexually, economically or in any other way. I'm sorry it happened to you, and I do not condone the actions of the people who harmed you.

I do care, very much, about Black women and how they are disproportionately coerced and abused into various forms of economic harm, including sexualised labour. Just as I care about Dalit and Bahujan women, who, as I stated in the post you are referencing, have been subjected to generational sexualised enslavement systems.

I will, however, continue to support the dignity and freedom of sex workers who have consistently unionised and self-advocated for more safe and equitable labour conditions for their profession. I will not support any argument that seeks to shame or berate sex workers or those third party labourers involved in the sex work industries such as pimps.

Coming specifically to Louis de Pointe du Lac, a fictional character - if your reading of his character is that he is a shitty Black man, then by all means, you should feel able to post your critiques of him in your spaces. I have seen many critiques of Louis, though relatively few of them from Black-identifying fans.

In case you missed this while reading my previous post, I myself am not white - I am brown and a South Asian living in India. One of the reasons I love the character of Louis is because of his Blackness, and what I see him bringing to his relationships because of it. As I referenced in that post, it is Louis's relationship with both his own Black employees, as well as with Miss Lily, that contextualises my reading of him as a fair, non-predatory employer and client.

And going beyond the professional, it is Louis' unabashed love and support of Claudia, along with his love for his sister and mother, that informs my reading of him as a Black man with a great deal of passion specifically for Black women. I understand his character to be one that is profoundly aware of the inequities of racism, and while he may not have a perfect feminist understanding of misogynoir and how intersectional patriarchy operates, I think that he has a sensitivity towards Black women that knows they are enduring and surviving forms of harm that he is not subject to.

It's fine if you disagree with my reading of a fictional character.

But please don't come to my blog expecting me to denounce actual, living sex workers, because I have too much respect for the conditions they survive to ever do so.

[pumpumdemsugah]

As black women who has always felt lost in black women's spaces due to their negligence of misogyny, your blog is really a bliss!

One of your recent responses about the curious tradition of the antifeminism from het black women was very on point and made me reflected once again the interconnection between race and sexuality but this topic is barely touched and when it's, it's usually approached in a way that places race above other systems of oppression or any other concerns towards misogyny, homophobia and capitalism is dismissed as “engaging in white supremacist theories” in some black activism circles.

However, as sad as it is, there are plenty of reactionary rhetoric among black women (and it doesn't really matter if they identify as feminists or if they're are openly antifeminists) and these untouchable topics don't get discussed. And the worst part is, we, Black women who do see these tendencies, sometimes even doubt what we're actually seeing. In some cases we even think we're in reality buying a white perspective for simply being able to see that a lot of black women can also reproduce the dominant culture like everyone does because we were all socialized into it.

But, imo, what makes sexuality really relevant when the topic about why so many black women dismiss misogyny, is because het feminists from all branches of feminism tend to equate womanhood to heterosexuality. In het black women's case it happens added to the notion that they are black women IN RELATION TO WHITE WOMEN! The race changes the flavor of the misogyny but it doesn't erase black womanhood neither downplay the importance of the misogyny for us. In reality, it makes our situation even more oppressive. All the talks about intersectionality but a lot of them fail to grasp that the concepts about white feminity/black masculinity don't exist in a vacuum neither separated, specially in western countries.

Race was used as a tool to divide women in deep hierarchies of power that even classes divisions alone couldn't do it. But this fact is just ignored. Instead, these het black women try to prove that misogyny isn't that bad because since they were left out of the specific ways the upper-class white women were oppressed, the oppression just don't exist. This vision ironically reinforce the idea that they claim to oppose, that only white women are “real women”, to the point of their oppressor race status canceling out misogyny not only for them but also for us. It's weird how somehow misogyny against white women become positive and something to aspire to have because if it happens to them, it's, in reality, white supremacy and in an equal society, the oppressed groups should have the same rights that used to be restricted to the oppressors. This is why a lot Black women will sell the myth of the romantic het love to their audience as a core part of black women's empowerment(ignoring lesbians and bi women experiences), but their whole talking about race/white supremacy usually just reinforce misogynoir.

!!!

It's so hard to get through to straight Black women and they love being wrong and strong. There are so many anti-feminist Black women that call themselves feminist and claim they empower Black women. They're just interested in benevolent sexism and want the rest of us to follow along even if our sexuality means it complicates this delusion

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KENDRA YOUNG (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL THE SERIES) (CW: Racism)

1.) Kendra was shafted due to a combination of misogyny and racism. She is a Jamaican young woman who enters the narrative to serve as a foil for Buffy, the main character. Her backstory is one-dimensional and her personality is one-note. (Rather than exploring what it might be like to be a teenager growing up in Jamaica, facing the same Chosen One fate as Buffy in a different setting, they just made her robotically devoted to the idea of being a slayer with no other traits.) She exists purely as a comparison for one issue that Buffy is encountering during this time in the story. As soon as Buffy worked through this issue to the writer’s satisfaction, Kendra was removed from the story (i.e., was killed by being outsmarted, hypnotized, and then executed by a villain). During her brief life, she was subjected to the trope that when two women are in the same story they have to hate each other and see each other as rivals, despite the fact that this makes so sense with either of their characterization. She is MUCH less fleshed out than the vast majority of other characters in the story and her narrative role is eventually replaced with a far more complexly written white woman (proving that they could have done all this interesting stuff with Kendra in the first place??? but chose to kill her off instead.)

2.) She was introduced as a foil to the protagonist and set up as being an important new addition to the cast whose very existence in the show completely altered the status quo and she had a really interesting dynamic with the protagonist and a compelling backstory and a lot of potential for some great character development and to provide a new point of view and there was just generally so much potential there AND THEN THEY KILLED HER OFF AFTER LIKE THREE EPISODES AND NEVER MENTIONED HER AGAIN. FUMING. (also she was like. the only major woman of colour on the show at least for the majority of the show’s run. so y'know that fucking sucks)

anyway I think this post really sums up how badly she got screwed over:

3.) Okay, so I had more been considering her a victim of racism, but let’s call it misogynoir. Aside from the sexist origin she shares with all the slayers - some men got together to imbue Woman with power against her will which they would then oversee and manage for their own purposes and according to their own interests- she has been trained for slaying from childhood and yet she is killed pretty quickly after entering the story for the purposes of a white girl’s angst and character development (and in fact her character only exists for this purpose)… by a fingernail. A powerful, well-trained, competent and bad-ass girl is killed because she didn’t lean back one inch further fast enough. IIRC there’s also sexism and racism in the way she is portrayed as kind of naive about the normal world and Buffy has to show her how to be a normal teenager.

KATHERINA MINOLA (THE TAMING OF THE SHREW) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) We had to read this for English my senior year. I got so mad at the way she’s treated. She’s the titular “shrew” of the play. She has to be married off before her younger sister can get married, because that makes sense.

Then the most dogshit man imaginable comes along, and everybody thinks they’re perfect. He literally gaslights her and denies her food and water.

Fuck Petruchio and Katherine Minola deserved better!

2.) Literally the whole play is about how she is so awful that the main guy needs to change her entire personality, which he does as a challenge not because he likes her, and then proceeds to her abuse her for the rest of the play. Yet, he is portrayed as the hero, not a villain and she is shown to have “improved” at the end. People will say, oh it’s open to interpretation, it can be played different ways, it’s satire, but i don’t find abuse funny and there is a distinct lack of commentary in the play to count as satire imo. Taming of the Shrew is a tragedy not a comedy, I will die on this hill. Kate deserves better!

3.) The title isn’t joking, ya’ll. She literally gets broken like a rebellious feral animal and it’s treated as a happy ending.