#once again thinking about the rampant misogyny of it all

[pruneunfair]

Ranking all the OI and manhwa I've read part 2: the moderate.

The decent stories. Just a little better than average

The tyrants only perfumer

My favorite fast food webcomic to this very day. It's characters are tolerable and there's just something some satisfying looking at the perfume bottles, the little bottles remind me of those DIY kits they'd sell at target. That being said it's still a fast food manhwa, the characters are flat, the plot goes too quick and the villains are easily defeated so as much as I enjoy it when I just want to read something quick and light, it's not a good option for something more serious.

The empress wants to avoid the Emperor.

This was actually one of my very first manhwas I've ever read. I thought it was one of the greatest stories ever told when I was still in my revenge phase and it's definitely not terrible when I reread but it's not the greatest piece of literature either. Still for a basic revenge story at least Louise actually gets away her fuckass husband.

Tears of a withered flower

I like it, just not as much as everyone else likes it. I've already made a few posts on it and my current opinions still stay the same but besides all the self insert this and the predictable that the dialog definitely improves from cartoony to poetic. I'm just hoping the rampant misogyny problem in TOAWF is only a fandom problem and not something the author is planning on incorporating into every other woman that isn't Hae Soo

I will divorce the female leads brother

Okay I won't lie this one is kinda funny given how it calls out the absurdity of protagonist centered morality in a better way. Ethel as a protagonist is okay as protagonists go and while the villains are played off as stupid thats because the story actually plays into how idiotic they are instead of claiming they are the smartest around when they aren't, specifically the brothers and father. Also the Og fl of this one has by far the ugliest designs I've ever seen. It's the kind of design where you can tell the artist did not like her at all and gave her the Miku special with those unflattering color combos. I think the weirdest part is the implied incestuous feelings the family has for Reina but once again, it's meant to be seen as vile so it gets a little pass.

Into the light once again

The pain I went through when I realized the 14 year old Aisha was being paired up with guys way to old her with this one because it was so good before it just ruined what could've been 😔. Outside of the obvious I adore both Aisha and Marianne as polar opposites and characters that aren't immediately nice or honesty to Aisha aren't put to death, for the most part at least, they are allowed to grow as better people and get character development. The magic system is pretty easy to remember though I think Aisha can sometimes get too deep in her "super powerful nice girl" archetype but it's not to the point of being awful.

The empresses lipstick

more of a comedy than a traditional rofan but it works, it's one of the first I've seen to get the rococo style a little bit better than others. (It's still not the greatest accuracy but since it's meant to be silly it has more leeway) however it sadly is brought down by the fact that Jane is heavily implied to be on the younger side when her mom bugs her about school and implies that she'll be going INTO high-school implying she's 15-16 based on Korean school systems and she's already being paired up to marry male leads older than her.. damn you age gap trope and damn you 18th century for reminding me of gross yet true history. If it weren't for the fact that I can't remember anything about the ML's age this would be lower.

The villainess turns the hourglass.

What I think of when someone asks me to think of the OG era for manhwa. The concept of the hourglass is easy to follow and it actually comes with a drawback so Aria can't be too overpowered, the bright colors make it all pop and having an actual villain for the FL in a villainess story ties it all in, people can complain about how awful she is but villainess is literally in the title so..you get what you bargained for. There are still cons though about it I don't care for, first of all I wish Mielle could be an actual threat so there would be a fun ongoing mental battle between two evil women, Isis and Mielle could've been smarter as a duo, Asher could've had a little more personality and the twist that Aria was actually of noble descent all along really killed the charm of her being a commoner who could prove she was just as smart as the aristocracy.

Perks of being the villainess

Deborah's already climbing up the ranks of one of the prettiest FL in my opinion because that shade of purple is DIVINE! The plots rather basic as most villainess manhwa tend to go. Deborah is hated by everyone except instead of a backstory claiming she's misunderstood, the og Deborah was actually an asshole to everyone she met except for Pilav so it gave her an actual obstacle. I do think some of them went too fast but I'm just glad we actually got to see the effort being done at all. I'll admit this was better then I thought so it moved up on my tier list. My only complaints are that the chapters can sometimes drag on and on to the point of being bottle episodes.

I shall master this family

I would like this so much more but it drags on so much! Florentia was nice at first but as the chapters went on and on I was less impressed and just thinking "yeah this is just getting boring" with how many times you know she's gonna best her opponents, don't hate her but shes becoming a little too meh right now. That said I like reading it, definitely suffering from a overpowered MC that could use some work but when it comes to politics it's so much more interesting if you can get past that one major issue.

Pretty good: almost better then average but I either haven't read all of it to place it higher or if there's just better

I will become the villains poison taster

I love my underrated girlie's ✊️ the plot is certainly unique, Giselle has the strange of ability of being not only immune to poison but the poison also tastes like fruity snacks/drinks. It deserves a little more traction then what it gets, the ML Reniel actually has emotions instead of stoicism plus actual critical thinking skills because the FL acts nothing like the OG villainess and Giselle, despite how it may seem, isn't the born sexy yesterday trope, she's just allowed to be a sweet heart while still being a person. It's not much but it's still pretty good.

Serena

Fashion and character designs are absolute peak but plot comes before art. At first I was pretty harsh on Serena but when I actually read more of it to form a more concrete opinion I realized it's not the worst and actually got a little entertaining. As a FL Serena isn't bad, I like that she comes across as a nepo baby who needs to work hard to uphold her predecessors legacy so we have flaws to work with here and at the very least the story seems to be kinda self aware that Serena isn't a terrific person. It's also a drama not a romance so while I don't like either Eiser or Frederick as love interests at least Serena can say the romance isn't supposed to be the center of the plot.

Your throne

After so many people telling me how good it was I finally caved in and began reading last week but I already got spoiled so I know most of what happens. Obviously I like the fact that Medea and Psyche actually team up instead of hating eachother and even though it's through spoilers Psyche is my favorite. It's so dang long though it's probably gonna be a while before I make any your throne related posts. Only cons is it can sometimes get too boring to follow.

Seducing the villains father

Proof you can make a stereotypical rofan and it can still work. Yerenica is the perfect balance of girl failure and likeability where her flaws are very common for most people and yes while she is kinda dumb she's not so dumb it makes me wanna slam my head against the wall. Erudian is pretty good as ML's are concerned, just a tad basic and the villain Soleia isn't dumbed down either. Love the second half of the story which gives a little more focus on Yenis family instead of just her love life and while it does get cringe inducing and the plot tracks off from time to time, I still like it.

The crownless queen

The FL is a recently retired history expert who transmigrated in her daughters inaccurate novel and because of those inaccuracies, there are new problems to face while Delia has to survive in a world where Barons and Dukes are switched and she has to climb to social latter. There's little things that really prove how much thought was put into it (such as Delia not knowing the exact date in time shes set in since she's in a different world)

Beware of the villainess.

A little similar to your throne but it keeps my attention longer then the former. Once again women working together instead of being forced into enemies! Really like that! The Yuri baiting though? Boo 👎, don't tease the audience like that (especially considering the og fl is literally called Yuri) can be over the top but I think that's what makes it stand out, it means to be funny and in your face with Melissa's antics but the best character by far is Yona, home girl just wants that check and I can understand that feeling.

Another typical fantasy romance

I gotta stop procrastinating and finish this one!! 😭 first off, Pellus is my 2nd favorite ML with his design being my number 1 favorite in terms of character design. For once we have an actual cold duke who accurately looks intimidating instead of basic BTS member. Best part though: it is one of the greenest of green flag relationships to the point where Lithera and Pellus are worthy candidates to face off Pereshati and Therdeo in terms of who's the best manhwa couple. Actual communication instead of miscommunication that goes on for chapters, relationship actually has steady progression that's just in the middle of how they get to together and Lithera is a great FL. Then I found a bunch of other manhwa and forgot about this one until it came up in my head while I made my first tier list. It'll probably go up once I complete the story.

This one took longer then I expected but part 2 is finally out and now I have to start rereading for part 3.

[lurkingshan]

Theory of Love Episode 7: Flipped

Welp, I knew the streak couldn't last. We are once again being subjected to a terrible romcom in Flipped--this one Third's actual favorite film, and don't think I am not judging him hard for that--but at least this one has some really strong thematic ties to the episode. It's clear why we needed to watch it (and why Third is such a mess).

Bryce moves into a new neighborhood and immediately meets Juli, the neighbor girl that he dislikes on sight because she *checks notes* is friendly and interested in him while being poor. Bryce hails from an upper middle class family of snobs with a bigoted father, while Juli's family is working class and looked down on by their neighbors. The film flips back and forth between their perspectives as they grow up in proximity to each other. Juli has a hopeless crush on Bryce and Bryce is dismissive of her attention until she finally stops giving it to him, at which point he realizes he actually does like her and tries to win her back. The film tracks Bryce through this evolution as well as the realization that his father is a POS, while Juli gains confidence and learns to thrive despite her family's struggles, though not enough to ditch this horrible boy.

This movie was not good. It is based in an idyllic fake nostalgic fantasy version of 1950s/60s America in which everyone is white and says things like "gee whiz," and misogyny and ableism run rampant through every moment of the film. I dislike this genre of American films as a rule, and this was a particularly noxious version of it. The structure of the film is frustrating, with constant intrusive voiceovers that flip between the lead characters to explain every obvious detail of their very easy to interpret emotions, and circular returns back in time to go over every moment of the plot twice from both POVs. To top it off, the romance was gross, with a kind, smart, and interesting girl fixated on a mean little turd of a boy for no discernible reason.

That said, watching this was very illuminating for understanding Third's mindset, his silly romantic fantasies, and how exactly he got so off course in the way he approached his relationship with Khai. On the fundamentals of their personalities and the foundational relationship they developed, Khai and his treatment of Third is really not similar to Bryce and Juli. Khai was Third's friend, and he always cared about him. But it's easy to see how Third projected the idea of Bryce onto him and thus projected his wish for Khai to follow Bryce's trajectory in the film and suddenly realize he does love him after all.

And in some ways, that actually is starting to happen. We ended last week with Khai's realization that he may have feelings for Third just as Third is finally moving on from him, which closely echoes the plot of Flipped. This week, we are with Khai as he begins to sort out these feelings, trying out placing Third in a different context in his head and surprising himself by how much it doesn't trouble him. I like the way the show takes us through Khai's bisexual awakening and the messy way he tries to fit Third into a dating context. He starts out trying to just sub Third in for the girls he's dating, imagining him taking the place of girls in his memories, but he can feel that this is not quite right even as he doesn't know how to envision another way of being for him and Third in a romantic context. He knows he wants to be close to him again, and he knows his feelings are no longer platonic, but he doesn't know much else about how to go about this.

Watching Khai struggle with this is cathartic, and it was honestly a relief to be out of Third's perspective and see him from the outside as someone Khai is trying to understand. Khai attempts to flirt with him using the same tricks he uses on girls, which of course do not actually work on Third (though he's not completely immune; I was laughing at Third starting to swoon from Khai getting flirty up in his face and then snapping out of it and getting mad). Third is not a girl, and he's also Khai's best friend who is thoroughly sick of his shit, so Khai is not going to be able to win him over with some surface level nonsense. Khai is struggling to figure out what it means to try to be romantic with another man as well as trying to work through the mindset shift of moving Third out of the "friend" box and into the "faen" box that we know he keeps in his head. This is also the first time Khai has actually cared about the object of his affection; he can't just brush it off if Third doesn't respond to him. He is being forced to grow because if he doesn't, he will lose Third even more than he already has. (As a side note, I do think the way the show hovers over the bubble/not bubble line weakens this emotional arc. I will plan to unpack that more when we get to the end of the story.)

This episode has many references to Flipped, not just in the obvious reference to changing perspectives and Khai doing a heel turn on his feelings for Third, but also throughout the plot. We see Khai's initial confession that he likes Third denied and discouraged by his brother, similar to what Bryce experienced with his best friend in the film. The episode also includes Khai's brother offering him up to girls and a charity auction in which Third's copy of Flipped is auctioned off in a pointed rebuff of Khai, because Khai is the one who bought it for him. @bengiyo reminded me that in episode 4, we actually saw Khai pretend to like this movie as a way of getting in Third's good graces, though we know he does not actually like it (he is right and Third is very wrong). Flipped shares a flaw with a few of the other romcoms on this list, in that the male lead doesn't suffer any real consequences for treating the female lead like shit and is easily accepted once he has a change of heart. I continue to to think this show is in dialogue with that romance construct, and determined to dismantle it.

[rat-rosemary]

You asked for examples where Dream was being mysogenistic.

First I'm going to quickly point out the same thing Tubbo did. Every single accusation Dream slung at a guy that wasn't a strange "example" that he used Tubbo for was really well built up and based on actual things that happened or that Dream at least claimed certainly happened.

Every single accusation he aimed at a woman, that wasn't the case. He accused HannahxxRose of starting a rumour despite not being certain in the slightest. He claimed Aimsey was "behind" the Caiti thing despite having no proof or reason to believe that.

Then I'm just going to point out the fact that he never once addressed the rampant misogyny in the DSMP fandom, including when his own fans absolutely went insane insulting Niki Nihachu because she was frustrated with her own performance in MCC while she was on Dreams team. (I should note, both Tommy and Tubbo HAVE addressed the misogyny in the fandom multiple times)

But there's more you mentioned, for example that you don't believe he's manipulative. During his stream, Dream cut over every single time Tubbo gave him the benefit of the doubt, defended Dream, or said that he didn't agree with Tommy's words. He actively skipped all those segments and then lied about what Tubbo said there. He then only showed the moments where Tubbo was critical of Dream without the context of WHY Tubbo said Dream was in the wrong, and Dream played the victim. Then he continued to undermine all of Tubbo's points by saying he was sure Tubbo only thought that because he was mislead by "Tommy or the brighton friend group" (Tubbo assumed it was Harry at first Dream was aiming at, but considering the earlier mentioned accusations at Aimsey, I think it might've been them that Dream was blaming). These are the most basic manipulative framing tactics that exist; cutting people's words out of context, and then use that lack of context to make it seem like they have no basis and they don't know what they're talking about.

He also managed to perfectly skip every part where Tubbo did say he wasn't sure/it was speculation, and then showed those parts as if Tubbo was sure and was speaking with his full chest. Again; taking words out of context to spin a tale in which Dream was the only victim and Tubbo was attacking him.

Then on to the 3rd and final topic; the Cantu stuff. Tubbo actually specifically made a whole point about that it was not okay that Cantu did that stuff, (and gave corrections later where needed; he was unsure about how the video had gotten publicized but he immediately apologized for not fully understanding the situation once he got context and gave his revised opinion based on his new information) but how reclaiming slurs worked, and he also very specifically said something along the lines of "I don't think anyone in the brighton friend group celebrated Cantu saying a slur to you. I don't think that happened. If it did, and I missed it, it probably wasn't them celebrating that you got called a slur, but just that they hate you."

Dream once again pulled that out of context and only showed the "they hate you part" and not the entire section before that where Tubbo specifically said he was pretty sure that never happened, but he was just giving Dream the benefit of the doubt and that he could've missed something.

This all is why people consider him manipulative. He takes out context, talks around the context with irrelevant details for ages, and then barely addressed the actual point with completely misleading framing. The entire time. Every time.

Wow. Okay anon I'm not sure I want so answer that, but I am thinking about it. Let me just say first and foremost.

You are literally wrong about both of your first points. Dream brought up Hannah because he confused her with someone else, in the exact same way he confused Ludwig for someone else in the same stream.

What he says about Aimsey is very specifically that he had a call with Tubbo, and Tubbo said that he didn't like Dream because when Aimsey asked him about the accusations they were banned from the discord. This did not happen. Dream then says that he thought this meant Aimsey was the one spreading rumors, but he found out that wasn't the case when Aimsey later reached out to talk about it and told Dream they didn't know where the rumor had come from.

He calls out how he can also have misconceptions about other creators based on assumptions, and this is a problem that affects community at large, not just himself.

Caiti was not brought up at any moment during this stream. Please do not try to bring her up as a sacrificial lamb for your point, she deserves better then that.

Neither or these things are misogynistic. Even if he had accused Hannah with more then a passing mention it would not be misogynistic, it would just be wrong. Referencing a woman or and afab person is not misogynistic. Hannah and Aimsey were not referenced any different then any of the male creators that were mentioned in the same stream.

I cannot, physically, go back and scour every single live, video, tweet and interview to see if Dream ever mentioned the misogyny in the fandom or larger streaming community during the dsmp, because I do not remember whether or not it happened. I'll be honest, you comparing Tommy, who made jokes about drugging and raping women, as a good example is already enough.

I did not watch Tubbo's stream. I'm being completely honest when I say that, that's why I haven't commented on it, because at no point I opened this for a discussion or a moderation, I opened it as a check for anyone who couldn't or wouldn't watch Dream's original stream.

Manipulation is communication. There is no way to communicate with someone else without manipulating them. You can not like that Dream went through Tubbo's stream in clips instead of playing all of it and reacting to it on a more classic form. This does not make Dream evil or a mastermind who's trying to fool you, this makes it so you did not like the way he communicated. That is a fair criticism to have.

As a more lighthearted note, I will say that if we got a 3 hour stream out of those clips then Dream would still be streaming now if he had played the whole thing /j

What Tubbo said is equally fucked up, even he he says he's unsure whether or not his friends were celebrating it. Because the point Dream was making was not about them, but about how the internet at large cheered for him being assaulted. "They celebrated because they hate you" is still equally wrong.

Because what is being said is that the action doesn't matter. It does not matter if Cantu assaulted him because I do not like him. This is a bad thing to belive. That violence is righteous because it is against an other.

If I name absolutely any group or people who this has been used against we would get into hate crimes. I cannot be more serious when I say that "Violence against the Other is justified because they are Bad and we are Good" is just facism. This is what Tubbo is implying here, not against his friend group but about the wider internet who celebrated a hate crime. The longer context does not change what is being said.

I am sorry anon, but when we have the context that this is Dream speaking, it makes a lot of sense that he would try to give as much context as possible. It's not evil or manipulative of him to speak a certain way, trying to frame his explanations nothing but manipulation is disingenuous.

[andromedasummer]

Lockwood & Co liveblog tiiiime we're on The Hollow Boy now

Hey im back im doing these again now I have access to the audiobooks again and free time now cos no job yaaay get ready for me to ramble about internalized misogyny at the end because this is the Lucy Has Internalized Misogyny And Has To Get Over It Book

- OH LAVENDER LODGE LAVENDER LODGE

- I love this open its once of my favourite of the series. this fucked up old couple murdering people at their lodge using ghosts of previous murdered lodgers, also killed by ghosts

- oh its November. Ick. Low-light, ghosts coming out earlier in the afternoon and staying out later into the morning. Terrible weather. No wonder Lucy has such a miserable time this book. Girl should look into a SAD diagnosis

- OUGH this couple are so fucking slimy

- HOW FAST IS THIS OLD MAN HE FUCKIN LIKE LOCKKED THEM IN

- oh i like this case so much. the messy teamwork and action, the uneasy feeling the ghosts give me. good stuff

- the implication that skull routinely tells lucy the group they should stab their clients when theyre even slightly sus. or even when they arent. i would never let this guy in my d&d campaign

- OH CHELSEA... THE OUTBREAK... THAT'S RIGHT

- i forgot Lucy is the one who suggests they get an assistant and not an agent to help out. fucking hilarious. did this to herself. i am so excited for holly.

- OH RIGHT LOCKWOOD SHOWED THEM JESSICAS BEDROOM

- Jessica like.... comes back right.... like in the last book (that i havent finished)... theres no way with that much lavender that there isn't suppression of her ghost

- Skull teasing Lucy for going out with Lockwood.... youre jealous. youre jealous

- QUIIIILLL MY CRINGEFAIL BOYFAIL QUILLLLLLLL I LOVE YOUUUU

- ohhh the ghost in the mirror with the letter. the setup of Lucy relying too much on connecting with the ghosts and not focusing on the danger... lockwood masking his major disapproval for it in off comments... i remember why i love this book

- OH THE OLD MAN IN THE CHAIR CASE YES I REMEMBER THIS I THINK HE HAS CASH IN THE CHAIR FOR THE FAMILY

- The bit about Lucy actively putting the family at risk because of what shes doing.... again. foreshadowing why she ultimately leaves L&CO at the end of the book.

- I WAS RIGHT

- HOLLY TIME HOLLY TIME HOLLY TIME

- Hiring Holly while Lucy is away. Not telling her hes even hiring anyone. Not having Holly go through all the tests Lucy did. Jesus is this set up so well to have Lucy frothing with a mix of inadequacy and jealousy. No wonder the poor girl feels like shes being replaced, despite how ridiculously she acts throughout the rest of the book. She's 15.

- Lockwoods quick decision making makes sense as 1. This opportunity with Holly came out of the blue and she wouldbe been snatched up by another agency quick and 2. Hes 15 and dense and doesn't have the in depth understanding of a sour 15 yr old girl going through her "im not like other girls" phase. on the contrary this is smth i am intimately familiar with

- But FUCK does it set up for a NIGHTMARE situation. props to Stroud here. There's literally nothing more horrific than a 15 yr old. even scarier that theres multiple having interpersonal drama and conflict. and one of them is dealing with rampant internalized misogyny and has a sword. worse than any other ghosts in the series.

- Sidenote theres a lot to be said about the added fact that Holly is black and the way white girls and women, when seeing black girls and women outperform them, become downright Nasty. Whether they're actively aware of that or not.

- And I think, regardless of it being purposeful or not, it makes Holly's restrained acceptance of, and tone towards Lucy when Holly gets belittled by her that makes the situation much worse. Because it speaks to the way that black girls and women always have to "be the bigger person" or else they'll get picked apart for striking back or lashing out.

- It makes Hollys confrontation of Lucy and her awful behaviour near the end of the book and Lucys acceptance of Hollys words this very satisfying. Because Holly isn't overreacting or being awful or even particularly mean. Like, at all. shes COMPELTELY in the right and the narrative shows that. In fact it shows that Lucys behaviour is ridiculous at almost every point.

- Which 1. In context of Stroud writing it, puts it on a meta-aware level that i find fantastic, as the whole thing is told from Lucys perspective. Hes able to show an accurate inner dialogue from an insecure teenage girl while making it clear how ridiculous that internal logic often is. I vividly remember being 14/15(?) while reading this, and it made me reflect on my own behavior and was one of the many things that led me to breaking out of my own "Not Like Other Girls" phase. And 2. The series is written as if Lucy herself is retroactively looking back on these days as an adult. So it shows a level of self-awareness and is evidence that Lucy is aware of how ridiculous her behaviour was back then and that she doesn't want pull punches in her depiction of them. Which is a great way to show how shes grown, without yet showing what's happened between the current time of the book and however far forward in life she is writing this memoir.

- Im glad this is something Lucy manages to deconstruct later on in the book and is mostly solved. And how her descriptions of other girls and women become less harsh over the next two books. Its a realistic portrayal of a teenaged girl who has grown up with certain ideas of womanhood and feminism and how that evolves in kid/teens mind. (Women are specifically like this > Im not like this so im not like other women > Im better than other women and this is feminism > im not better than other women and this is misogyny. we have to work together > we all suffer from misogyny the same way and targeting one another makes it easier for misogyny to persist > all women are different and suffer different from misogyny in different ways i.e misogynoir, transmisogyny etc) and we need to deconstruct these things to achieve true equality

- Anyway all this to say that in pretty much 1/3 of the way through and these next few chapters are gonna be ROUGH.

[ladyaj-13]

Thank you @ronniebox for the tag!

Rules: List ten books that have stayed with you in some way, don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

1. 'Witches Abroad' by Terry Pratchett

My first Discworld. I was immediately sucked in and knew it would be a new love. My dad bought me the book, and I remember starting to read it on a gloomy beach, laughing out loud and getting weird looks from my family. "You mean everyone brought potato salad?!"

2. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

An assigned book in high school, but one of the only ones I've returned to multiple times. I say it's my fave when I want to sound intellectual.

3. 'Good Omens' by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Came for the Terry Pratchett, stayed (and re-read maybe 10? 11 times?) because it's utter perfection. My actual favourite book.

4. 'Take Six Puppies' by Bette Paul

I don't know how many times I read this as a young child. My copy was almost in pieces, and the dogs on the front were embossed so you could run your fingers over them. I actually can't remember it much now, except the cover, but my God. I loved this book.

5. 'Claudia and the Middle School Mystery' (Babysitters' Club #40) by Ann M. Martin

I must have had about fifty of this series. I absolutely adored them, and used to play 'Babysitter's Club' in the garden. This one was the first book I ever bought with my own money. I remember it very clearly, handing over a £5 note in Wetherly's bookshop and feeling incredibly grown-up.

6. 'Goodnight Mister Tom' by Michelle Magorian

A lot of kids books on this list...! Another that I read over and over again, so much that the cover fell off. I think it was actually my sister's, but I commandeered it early on and never gave it back, and last re-read only a couple of years ago. As I got old enough to cook, I would fry bacon and cut thick slices of white bread, with a mug of tea, to mirror Willie's first meal at Tom's.

7. 'All Creatures Great and Small' by James Herriot (the whole series)

As a child I gave up on the idea of wanting to be a vet pretty quickly (too many distressed animals), but still devoured book after book about animals (special mention for the 'Animal Ark' books by Lucy Daniels, which I would get off the shelf and mix-up so they could sit next to other 'friends' for a while... I was a weird kid 😄), and discovering this series hidden away in my family's garage was a goldmine. I later got an 'all volumes in one' massive hardback edition. It led on to reading Gervase Phinn's school series and Gerard Durrell's 'My Family and Other Animals' series.

8. 'Strange Weather in Tokyo' by Hiromo Kawakami

A bit of an outlier in that I've only read this once, but it seemed worth including as it really stuck with me. Not the story so much, not a whole lot happens, but the vibe. It inspired me to read much more Japanese literature.

9. 'Past Mistakes' by David Mountain

I'm a bit of a social history magpie (love a BBC documentary), and this book was so readable and full of titbits - all those things you think you know about history, turned on their head. Just what I want out of a non-fiction book.

10. 'Hogfather' by Terry Pratchett

Another Pratchett?! Yes. This one is seasonal.

Wow, wordy. I could have mentioned many others, such as Wild Horses by Dick Francis (see how I snuck this one in 😛). I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it was the first 'grown-up' book I read. (My mum gave it to me because it was about horses and I loved horses... possibly I was a bit too young for the sexual content and rampant misogyny she must have forgotten it contained, but there we go.) I'll tag @lemonistas, @londonfoginacup, @incognito-insomniac, @astridcontramundum and anyone else who wants to!

[rjalker]

anyways whatever here's the review I left for the review someone else wrote for The Cloud Roads.

February 17, 2023 at 8:02 pm

Oh my gosh this essay is like a breath of fresh air. I loved reading The Books of the Raksura series, but it has soo many blatant problems I’ve never seen anyone except my literal twin discuss, finding this article was the highlight of my day.

I think this article is just a review for The Cloud Roads, rather than the whole series, but another thing I want to add on that I noticed continuing in The Murderbot Diaries is that Martha Wells does not plan ahead very well at all, with the tail ends of her series contradicting the first installment, and once you read the whole rest of the series and then reread The Cloud Roads, it becomes nonsensical and absurd.

(This is less of an issue with The Murderbot Diaries because they’re so short, but it’s still noticeable. We’re shown later that people on Preservation casually treat robots like people,,,but then why did they all just treat Murderbot like less than any other robot?

Even if they’re thinking of it as “just a robot” and “not a person with a human-like face”….the society they come from means they should have been treating it like a person anyways. They shouldnt’ need to see its human-cloned tissue face to think of it like a person. This is a pretty drastic contradiction to what we’re shown later, but it never gets brought up again and most people don’t even notice it, even though it’s a pretty ridiculously big plot hole once you think about it, considering how short the stories are!)

One thing I’ve never seen anyone else discuss is the transmisia–

(a different term for transphobia that’s not antagonistic towards people with genuine anxiety-induced phobias like agoraphobia, ecetera. The suffix “-misia” comes from the Latin word for hatred, which is also the prefix in “misogyny”)

–in the way Chime and River were treated by that narrative, as well as the inherently classism in the way River specifically was punished for “getting above his station”.

Chime and River are both very heavily trans-coded, not identifying with the genders and gender roles their society forces upon them, and both of them receive nothing but mistreatment and abuse for this fact.

We’re not supposed to think River’s a bad person because he went around abusing Arbora, supposedly the ones the Aeriat are meant to protect, we’re supposed to think he’s a bad person who deserves to be shunted to the bottom of the social ladder because he………..wants to be a consort? Meaning he’s basically transgender???? And this is why he’s punished and hated afterward by the whole colony, but not a single person had any problem with his behavior when he was going around beating the crap out of Arbora????

And then Chime, who’s literally magically forced to change sexes, who does not identify with the new sex and gender roles he’s been forced into, is treated like a whiny annoyance whenever he expresses discomfort with what’s happened or wants to find out if he can change back. Everyone, including Moon, just tells him he needs to stop complaining and get over it because his complaining is annoying everyone else.

I remember in one of the last two books of the series–and this ties in with the biological essentialism and gender essentialism rampant in this series—he’s not even allowed to do something as simple as help pitch a tent without literally being chased away by a snarling, “Real” Arbora.

Which A is just transmisia, he’s being excluded from activities he did before just because his physical sex no longer matches his gender identity, and also just drives home the problem between the Arbora and the Warriors that we’re just supposed to think is pefectly fine.

Warriors are constantly insulted and called useless and stupid because they don’t do anything to help out around the colony, but then literally they are not allowed to help. (And again, this is Martha Wells not planning things out properly. Why do the warriors even exist if they don’t actually protect the colony? 90% of the time it’s Moon, Stone, and Jade fighting, with the warriors not really actually helping in fights at all. Except of course for when, later in the series, Balm somehow manages to take down a Ruler all on her own with no problem despite the fact that we keep being told Fell are terrifying and deadly)

Anyways I’m getting off track.

The Arbora refuse to teach the warriors how to dress kills properly, then get mad when they don’t do it right. They call them lazy, then literally chase them away with LITERAL snarling when they try to help out. And Chime isn’t even a warrior, he’s a damn mentor, he didn’t ask to be magically changed into a warrior for no logical biological or storytelling reason!

Chime isn’t even trusted to visit other colonies libraries because of the stigma against “warriors”, and no one ever even aknowledges that he’s not a warrior. It’s biological essentialism and Martha Wells equating sex with gender and gender rolls, and we’re just supposed to be fine with it.

This is also a problem in The Murderbot Diaries that I hardly ever see anyone address – Martha Wells is still equating sex with gender, which is why literally every single robot character uses it/its pronouns and is genderless. Because she thinks that since they don’t have a sex, they can’t have a gender either.

All robots are assigned genderless upon construction, and this is just. How it is, apparently. Murderbot gets praised as being awesome trans representation, but it’s not even trans (unless Martha Wells retconns and changes its backstory), it’s literally a cis robot, whose gender is determined by its lack of sex, along with its sexuality of being aroace.

And I say this as someone who is aroace, and nonbinary, and uses it/its pronouns!

This would be fine if there were other robot characters who used pronouns other than it/its, who had orientations and genders that weren’t just “no”, and humans who were explcitly trans and nonbinary who get more than a few pages of “screentime” before being shoved out of the story forever, never to be mentioned again (Like Rami, the one human character who was explicitly nonbinary and used neopronouns, was!). It’s just a bunch of stereotypes and nothing else to makes it anything more!

This has lead to people who read these books to legitimately think that only fictional characters use it/its pronouns, so it’s okay for them to misgender Murderbot and me, the real person who uses it/its pronouns who’s trying to correct them.

Martha Wells definitely has a problem with bioessentialism, and with the rest of The Books of the Raksura, it becomes even more painfully obvious and racist. The fact that the Fell are portrayed as iredeemably evil….until the magical mixed-race kids, who have Good And Moral Raksuran Blood, teach them to not be evil….

Like, one of the well-respected and wise characters literally offers straight up eugenics as a solution to the problem of the Fell being so Inherently Evil, and we’re supposed to think it’s an awesome idea and nod along in excitement rather than be horrified. This same scene also confirms that the Raksura are practicing eugenics, strictly controlling who is allowed to have kids with who.

There is so much stuff I have to criticize about this series, this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg! And I loved reading them! Apparently being able to enjoy something for what it does right, and criticize it for what it does wrong, is an almost impossible feat, according to 90% of Martha Wells fans.

But anyways, thank you so much for writing this essay, this is everything I’ve been looking for and not finding since I read these books. Unfortunately the fandom on tumblr and the few other sites I’ve checked is absolutely terrible, people are just reducing the polayamory to a jealous love triangle, and whitewash the characters :| And The Murderbot Diaries fandom is even worse, oh my gods.

Please keep up the good work, and if you have read the rest of The Books of the Raksura, (It seems like this review is just for the first book, but I’m not sure) I look forward to any other essays you write about it! This is my first time visiting this site but I’m definitely going to check out the other stuff you’ve written!

[nsk96]

Rant:

It sickens me whenever my mom talks about kids basically owing their parents for taking care of them. She brought it up again, complaining about how she knows of someone who sacrificed so much for their kids, and then their kids grew up and only cared about getting her money and house, and promised to take care of her in her old age...but then when she fell ill, they sent her to a home (they're greedy, yes and that was a shitty thing to do to go back on a promise but promises aside, I don't agree that they're obligated to take care of her) and I couldn't hold in my thoughts anymore. I told her that doing your job as a parent doesn't entitle you to having your kids become your caretaker. I even said "no one asked to be born".

She had to bring in social media lmao, and said I was being confused by social media. No, ma'am I had these thoughts long before today's social media. Of course speaking to others who felt the same on social media more recently helped me find the words to describe what I was feeling but that's just about it. I've felt this way since I was like 10 years old in like the early 2000's.

Then she had to bring in religion (Hinduism) and talk about how our religion teaches that parents have a duty to their kids and the kids have a duty to their parents. That it's "the laws of the universe". Then she said "it's not their duty to love their kids" as some gotcha in this conversation and I was so taken aback, I was fucking speechless. Does she mean actually loving your kids? or does she mean making your kids feel loved, because last I checked, making your kids feel loved is important to their overall health...which is still your job as a parent no matter whether or not you feel any love towards them. She went on to say that kids should be grateful for their parents loving them and "doing the best they could". Weird that she's conflating "duty" with appreciation/being grateful; but then again she always finds some way to contradict herself in these types of conversations. She's had the similar issues when my brother learned to question her. Contradictions nonstop.

So back to the religion talk, and saying it's kids' duty to take care of their parents...so you decided to have kids, knowing that by bringing them into this world, you're placing this spiritual burden on them (because if they don't fulfill this duty that you forced on them, there's karma to pay). Tell me how that is something I want to follow? Tell me that's not selfish...umm, if that's our religion ("our culture" as she so put it), then I don't think I want any part of that. I thought this was a religion of love, that everything you do is supposed to be from a place of love (as she once said a while back) but yet from what she's saying, this religion is actually about obligation apparently.

Then she wanna talk about our religious texts and saying that these rules were written in our books, and I asked "written by who?" Then she was like by the yogis thousands of years ago. And I said, "the same men who said that wives need to obey their husbands?" and I brought up how misogyny has always been rampant in "our culture". She said that's not in our books, and I asked "you read them?" and she replied yes. "All of them? Tell me the names of the books" then she finally admitted that she's never read them all because they're written in Sanskrit and she's only learned what she knows from religious leaders teaching all the stories at specific events, and the movies they made depicting these stories. Ah, so you only know what you've been told (and admitted that you have to interpret the stories) and you only know their interpretation of the meaning/lessons of these stories. And then you want to accuse me of not making the time to learn my religion, but quite frankly I'm starting to feel like I know more about it than you do and the fact that there are also different variations of the stories. The lessons taught by these stories are also going to vary depending on the version.

Just because I don't go to temple anymore doesn't mean I haven't learned anything and it kills me that she keeps saying that I haven't watched those religious movies with her, when I actually did. She forgot I guess. I stopped though after that part of the Ramayana where Sita had to prove her purity by trial of fire (kinda reminds me of the witch trials tbh) because lord Rama got insecure because of rumors spread about her. Why does she gotta keep proving herself...she was fuckin kidnapped by a demon, what makes you think that she would actually willingly sleep with him. But why would I expect better from a culture that places the blame on women for getting r**ed and has labeled women in these situations as unpure so much so that they can't get married. I'm glad things are starting to finally change culture-wise though, but it's clear my mom doesn't understand what culture is. Saying "our culture is Hinduism because it's a way of life" doesn't erase the reality. Maybe you want it to be according to the religious teachings, but the fact of the matter is that people create the culture and so there are aspects of our culture that contradict the religious teachings. The same applies with other religions as well, again because not enough people can or are willing to read their religious texts, or actually apply any critical thinking to it.

The whole conversation made me sick to my stomach and honestly, after hearing her speak about all this, makes me feel more disconnected from my religion. I've always considered myself more of a spiritual person and Hinduism is just a vehicle to my spiritual destination...but as with any other vehicle I should be able to choose what features apply to my life and needs. In other words, leave the toxic parts behind and only follow the lessons that relate to my spiritual goals. I should be able to question the things that are open to interpretation, without someone forcing their own interpretation down my throat as if it's the only correct way.

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

@undianosedd 's tags

Transcript: ohh you're so right! like people praise women for taking semi nude photos all the time now (as they should)/ at every age even/ where's this kinda energy with men tho? It's really scary tbh how some people took dans photos because/ yes he is 32 but he genuinely looked good! like what fucked up standards you need to meet in order to post thirst traps on the internet/ then/ be underage?

Yeah the standard does seem to be "super skinny, very young to the point of passing as a teenager." I will say that older women (32 is not "older" but I am speaking more generally here) also get horrible treatment for posting anything like this unless they have managed to remain super skinny or get aesthetic surgeries (not shaming that btw, I am 100% pro aesthetic surgeries if you want them.) Like Dolly Parton trending the other day for the football half time show. Yes she is still a gorgeous woman, she looks phenomenal, but if she were to have a less flat stomach or more wrinkles, she would have gotten horrible comments about how she shouldn't be wearing that costume and how she's past her prime. Even Margot Robbie, one of the prettiest women ever, got called "mid," "chubby," and "too old" for the Barbie role.

This is partially why I brought up the possible homophobia actually. When it comes to women getting these comments, its 9 times out of 10 due to misogyny. Dan and Phil are men, but they are gay men and we all know how weird people get about gay sex, especially gay men. (Lesbophobic sexual bigotry manifests a little different from gay men's and its actually something I'm considering pursuing for research once I get to grad school). Dan started his career as a pretty androgynous, twig thin, emo twink. This isn't a bad thing, its who he was at the time. This also, imo, made people more "okay" with his more "risky" posts. He could be put into a more effeminate role due to his more androgynous look (think the "Tall Lesbian" memes). Again, this is not a bad thing and obviously people who look like that get hit with rampant homophobia (and transphobia) as well, but I think in a way his more androgynous look from 2009-2013 could protect him on a certain level. Those who found him attractive in his thirst traps could get away slightly from the fact that they are attracted to a man because he was an androgynous man - they're not /actually/ attracted to him, just his feminine aspects.

We actually saw a lot of this when Dan began gaining weight in 2013. The comments on so many of the old radio show videos are about how he's gaining weight, how he's bulking out more, how broad his shoulders are looking, etc. Its said a lot, but the internet really did watch Dan go through puberty (his voice cracks in 2010/2011 videos my beloved <3). By 2013-2014, he had mostly lost his androgynous look. Other than the sexy end screen dance and some videos' "unbelievably censored" bits, he also wasn't posting nearly as many thirst traps (like, I hate to bring them up because he has buried them, but the nakedbooths of 2009 are actually relevant here as they have more skin showing than the catboy photos but aren't met with the same vitriol) during this period. In this time, we were also fully in "no homo howell" mode to the point that there were genuinely people who thought he might be homophobic. Its important to remember that promiscuous photos are associated with femininity. When a guy posts a shirtless gym photo that is clearly supposed to be sexually arousing, that is "masculine" because he isn't posing in a way that is clearly sexually submissive and is a more subtle form of thirst trap. The subtle thirst trap is "masculine" while the more explicit thirst trap is associated with femininity.

This all compiles for the modern time where, when Dan - who is now much more masculine looking than he was in his late teens/early 20s - posts a thirst trap as a cat boy (a clearly submissive role), well that's blatantly "gay." If promiscuous photos on their own are already considered "feminine" (and as such flamboyant for a man), then one where he is posed with a collar on a bed with a bar implying the "submissive" role is going to get Way More Shit. Dan looks like society's idea of a man now, he is no longer forcing down flamboyancy, and is posed in a submissive manner in photos taken by his long term partner. The hatred is almost certainly not that he's 32 now, but that he's openly queer. People see queerness as something grown out of. If Dan at 21 with a naturally genderless figure wants to dress up as a woman for a skit, then that's fine because he still looks young and Kids Are Like That. But if Dan at 32, who looks 32, posts in the "womanly role" on the bed of he and his "actual soulmate," then that's him still being flamboyant and queer, and that's deemed wrong.

TLDR, I fully believe the issue isn't that he's 32, but instead that now they're faced with his queerness head on.

More serious response to people getting genuinely annoyed or insulting Dan for the photoshoot: if you had no issue with him as a 25 year old gyrating his hips for subscriptions (25 being an age which many would call "too old to still be thirst trapping" by many of the same people complaining about the catboy photos), but suddenly have an issue with a 32 year old Dan doing catboy thirst traps, then I think your issue is just that he's not an emo twink anymore so you aren't personally attracted to it and therefore it is "bad" in your mind.

Like, honestly Dan has done shit like this since Day 1, lest we forget the period where he was shirtless in literally every video, but if you only have an issue with it now that he's fully come into his adult body then maybe the issue isn't that he's "too old for it" but that he no longer fits what you personally are attracted to. Because, let's be honest here, 32 is not "too old" to be having sex or being sexually open. I'm probably asexual based on the everything about me and how I am regarding sex, but even I know the importance of not expecting sex to be reserved for people only aged 18-27 (which, btw, if you are one of those people, you're a creep!)

It's also really telling how people will be cool with guys in their 50s posting bikini shots of their 23 year old girlfriend but the moment two gay guys post photos from their bed that are promiscuous, everyone is suddenly worried about what age it becomes inappropriate to thirst trap on the Internet. Like, maybe you're just homophobic?

[eroticcannibal]

I’ll just get this out of the way: I believe in transandrophobia or whatever people want to call it, I believe in listening to trans mens experiences.

BUT. I cannot stand most of the big people on here who discuss it for reasons similar to the recent post you made about how privileged women still experience violence.

I once saw a thread of trans men all saying that cis white women who fear violence and being kidnapped murdered, shouldn’t fear that, and that any cis white woman who is scared of misogynistic violence has just been brainwashed by mainstream true crime and crime shows, and a couple people said “lol they don’t want you why are you scared”.

I am a white cis girl (I’m also a trans guy but that’s not super relevant rn lol). I fully know my privilege and frequently have discussions along the subject of white privilege with friends of color. I don’t shy away from the topic.

but I have almost been kidnapped twice in the short 18 years I’ve been on this planet. One of my earliest memories is that experience in a shopping mall. Every cis girl I know, white or not, has had real life experience at least once with this kind of thing.

and when I saw that thread, it made me feel ill. To me it feels like so many other trans guys on here decided that the “being a man doesn’t make you bad” doesn’t apply to any other privileged group because they didn’t want to be seen as deniers of other forms of privilege. I also saw an entire thread where a shit ton of trans guys were literally saying that, because white cis women are the physical “vessels of the white race”, then apparently we are not at risk of domestic violence because cis white men need us to keep their dream of a white supremacist world alive. and many people responded with righteous outrage just to be dismissed as “well they are just trying to defend white women”.

the fucking rampant misogyny in these spaces is so fucking hard to deal with, and they complain all day about how people ignore issues men have, then turn around and act like one form of privilege means your other experiences of oppression don’t matter.

so long story short thank you for those posts I’ve been so ducking exhausted lately trying to find a balance between discussing transandrophobia with other transmascs, and protecting my mental health from all the misogyny in those spaces. it’s so fucking tiring.

U get it. U get it. And yeah this sickening attitude towards women is rampant in spaces that support the idea of transandrophobia (and honestly I think this most recent wave of "progressive" misogyny is squarely on trans men who believe in transadrophobia, and insay that as one of them) I wasn't sure if I was gonna call out that group specifically myself but since u bring it up!

Also I think we saw the same post cus that sounds like one of a few that set me off lol

Like im not even shocked at ur experiences there. I have experienced and seen some SHIT while playing the role of a white cis woman. And it was all normal. The women who raised me to always be on guard did that for a reason. The distrust of men among white women isnt from brainwashing, its from knowing half your friends were molested by their male relatives and seeing their mothers get beat every evening.

But also that other example you discuss... now I've not seen it in these spaces specifically but I have seen *some* people dismissing violence against white women due to something something white supremacy and just. Its truly sickening. Its evil. (And shows a fundamental misunderstanding of white supremacy, female subjugation is an intrinsic part of it).

And yeah like you say. Any time someone brings attention to any of this shit its "how dare you defend WHITE women". As if they arent still women.

And especially when the social space i occupy still overlaps with the experiences considered that of white women, when I'm facing these justified fears of violence (again) in my day to day life.... yeah. Its fucking exhausting. When the spaces that claim to support my experiences as a man dismiss my experiences and fears because those are the experiences and fears of icky white women. (When they arent even mutually exclusive categories, and even people like me and the most cis of cis women have more in common than difference)

[mossmanismoss]

I agree that misogyny and blatant bias runs rampant in LO spaces (critical spaces included), but I see several areas that are just not true or are misinformed. Mainly regarding Hera.

1. Zeus's affairs.

Zeus constantly sleeps around because he has a severe sex addiction. Not just because he feels like it. He also feels guilt for doing it as shown in ep 94 and is also restated in recent chapters, in the episodes revolving the birth of Dionysus.

2. Heras affair.

Heras affair lasted from the end of the titanomachy all the way to Persephone's internship. It was on and off, and to say it was " just once" is blatantly false. She attempted to continue it in present time (ep 77). She has no remorse for any of this.

Even if it was only one time it wouldn't matter. It's still cheating. It doesn't make it any better than what Zeus is doing. Two wrongs don't make a right.

3. Heras racism towards nymphs.

Heras racism extends far. It wasn't just her "being rude to one nymph", as if that'd make it any better. Even in the first episode she expresses her hate for nymphs in a non specific way that could either mean Amphrite or Minthe. And this idea of nymphs being "trash" or inferior is restated over and over again by her.

That isn't even mentioning that nymphs and saytrs in LO are canonically a representation of Poc. Hell, don't even get me started on her whole thing with Echo. Where she discarded her like...trash, after using her. She actively finds nymphs to be nothing than individuals that she can ridicule, bully, and use before discarding them like nothing. Her racism is blatant and to ignore it is just erasing a large part of her character.

All of this isn't to say that I don't agree. Demeter is often hated for being a overprotective mother. I don't really agree on your bit about Aphrodite because she's hated by people because she had Eros drug Persephone and put her into Hades's car and also for her own racism towards nymphs, while being more hated by the narrative than anything.

But Hera is not a good example of this and neither is Zeus.

I think a better example you could have used is Hermes and Demeter. Both having done the same actions in the AOW. And despite preying on a young Persephone, Is given a pass in fandom spaces and it court.

Also I got more rants;

Why is Zeus(LO) held to this stupid standard of 'he isn't that bad' he can do no wrong bullshit while Hera, Demeter and Aphrodite are condemned for..idk being a little fucking mean and in Demeters case..BEING A GENIUNELY GOOD MOTHER???

Come the fuck on!

Let's go down the line shall we? So we can remember that Zeus fucking sucks and you people can get it together.

Zeus did a lot of good things, he helped his siblings escape Kronos, fought in the world etc.

But!!!! He constantly cheats on his wife, constantly lowballs her and talks down to her (season 1) , he doesn't give a shit about Ares (his legitimate son) but favors his bastard (Apollo) so much so that he IGNORED Heras warning about him! He ignored it.

He abuses his power constantly and continues to go out of his way with sleeping with women and barely tries to hide it (So much so that Thetis got it in her damn head to disrespect the literal Queen of the God's cuz Zeus let her.)

Oh Hera slept with Hades?? ONCE, compared to Zeus sleeping with..Metis (her mother) Thetis, Semele and DEMETER (Her sister) and Leto (Her best fucking friend.) And the nymphs in Demeters realm that came to her. Who geniunely cares?? Was it wrong, yes, would it ever actually happen? NO, actual Hera wouldn't do that dumb shit.

But she should be allowed one moment of respite when her husband continues to do the same damn thing!!

"Shes racist to nymphs"

..No, she was rude toONE nymph cuz to her that nymph was disrespectful and when you're a powerful goddess, beings below you (nymphs literally are, sorry. They are not as powerful and can die, unfortunately.) Get an attitude..the goddess while be just as harsh and rude and that's terrible but.

Yall think Zeus isn't the same?? Yall forgot the nymphs he screws off constantly? Leaving them in Demeters care cuz he doesn't care about them, how he just tossed Thetis aside after a while (..Lowkey deserved, she was a terrible friend and annoying as shit.)

But no Zeus has a reason for this right?? Nit like..Hera justifiably isn't a fan of some nymphs cuz most constantly disrespect her by SLEEPING WITH HER HUSBAND and then blatantly disrespecting her in general like she isn't the literal queen.

Where Zeus..just wants to get his dick wet.

And this is ONLY referring to Lore Olympus Zeus, not even touching on all the evil shit the Actual Zeus did.

As someone who loves Zeus and finds him to be interesting, ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HES A PIECE OF SHIT!! (that's just not all he is, he has nuance) like if you're gonna hate Hera for some shit, why praise Zeus for the bare minimum??

Zeus LOVES Hera but he still treats her like shit, LO has fucked up people's brains cuz too many people are just fine with Zeus being a whole serial cheater cuz Hera slept with Hades once. Shameful.

(HE cheated first, he started this whole nonsense. If you're gonna be a hater, do it right!!!)

[newsfromstolenland]

I don't think I can fully put into words the irreparable harm that the psychiatric system in canada has done to me and many others

I want to talk about this, so for the purpose of organizing my thoughts I'm going to sort this into three parts: psych wards, substances, and the concept of functioning

Psych wards: I've known people who have had positive experiences in psych wards. but for the most part, I have heard of many negative experiences. in the interest of privacy for others, I will be basing this off of my own negative experience.

psych wards remove a significant amount of people's autonomy. most people can't leave without clearance from a doctor. there are cameras everywhere. rooms and bathrooms are often strictly gendered. phones, computers, and tablets are usually not allowed. personal items are limited and highly scrutinized, as is personal clothing. transphobia, racism, ableism, homophobia, and misogyny are rampant.

I was in a psych ward when I was 15. at the time I was a trans boy. because I refused to stay in a "girls" room, and they refused to put me in a "boys" room, they instead put me in the psychiatric intensive care unit with the adults because the rooms weren't gendered there.

In the psychiatric intensive care unit, there are cameras in the common area, bedrooms, and bathroom. every time you change or use the bathroom, you are monitored and recorded.

the staff regularly misgendered me, and refused to let me keep even an mp3 player.

the result is being imprisoned, having your privacy invaded, being misgendered and disrespected, losing your autonomy, being isolated from the world, and being stripped of any comfort items.

Substances: there's a lot to be said about the way substances are viewed in psychiatry. first of all, the use of non prescribed substances is vilified. even smoking weed is stigmatized, let alone using other substances. self-medication is treated as reckless behaviour, rather than an impact of a failed medical system. recreational substance use is treated as a moral failing. I once had a psychiatrist threaten to take me off of my medications unless I stopped smoking weed (and no, it was not because my meds interacted badly with weed). of course, all this meant was that I never told her the truth about my substance use again.

second, prescriptions are not given in an adequate way. there is a combination of over prescribing and under prescribing, neither of which are safe. for example, people are denied necessary prescriptions if doctors identify so-called "drug seeking behaviour". people are denied medical marijuana due to stigma. medical marijuana is also denied by places like CAMH, and instead significantly more dangerous drugs are prescribed. not so coincidentally, CAMH receives lots of funding from pharma companies, and not from medical marijuana companies. when I was in a psych ward, I had a prescription for a medication taken as needed when I had panic attacks. rather than giving it to me accordingly, I was given double the dose regularly three times a day. unsurprisingly, I became addicted to it and only recently (7 years later) managed to stop using it beyond when it was needed. on the other hand, when my ex was in a psych ward, they were denied their medical marijuana.

The concept of functioning: I've been a patient/client of quite a few psychiatrists and therapists over the years, and something that has come up a lot has been the concept of functioning. Being considered a functioning member of society is extremely arbitrary, but under a colonial capitalist system it typically comes down to working full time and building/maintaining a nuclear family. Obviously this is inherently harmful as a goal to set for mentally ill people, and creates feelings of self-loathing when we are unable to achieve it.

the mental health field's focus on neurodivergent people becoming "functioning" is not done for our benefit, the goal is not for us the function how we want to. the goal is for us to be able to work all our lives and contribute to capitalism.

I'm not trying to say that the mental health system never does any good. I now have the necessary medications to not struggle for every second of my life. my point is that many parts of our psychiatric system are harmful, exploitative, and dehumanizing.

something needs to change, and fast, or more people are going to be hurt by this

[booksandabeer]

Daisy Jones & The Six - First impressions

I'm still sick in bed, so I just watched the first three episodes of Daisy Jones & The Six in one go. I'm also cranky and tired and bored, so here have some unfiltered opinions.

Overall, it's a fun watch, very entertaining, beautifully filmed with great production design and set dressing, some intriguing performances (Camila Morrone, who would've thought?), and way-better-than-expected original music. It's also a very safe show. Now, I haven't read the book, so I don't know if the show merely works with what's on the page or if they toned things down considerably, but everything here seems so carefully designed to not offend anyone. Every once in a while the show will gesture towards issues like drug abuse/addiction, racism, or the absolutely rampant sexism and misogyny of the Rock'n'Roll & Groupie culture of the era, but every time they're getting close to actually saying something about it, they back down again.

The thing is, I can't even really focus on the actual contents of the show because I'm so hung up on some of the visual aspects of it (also I'm on a lot of antibiotics and pain medication right now, so you know, please feel free to disregard anything I'm saying here). I said this back when I saw the first teaser for this, and having watched three episodes now, I maintain that everybody here looks too clean, too healthy, too put together--especially for people who are supposed to be drunk/high 24/7--and everybody's teeth and hair are just way too nice. Well, except for when they put certain actors in wigs... and then it's even worse. Like, really Amazon? ALL that money and you couldn't find Timothy Olyphant a wig that doesn't look like glued-together shavings of an old Chewbacca costume?

Also, and I'm very sorry but it needs to be said, Sam Claflin is all kinds of wrong for the role of Billy and should've never been cast in it. For one thing, he's visibly too old for the part; at one point, he's supposed to be around 21 years old, I think? Sam Claflin is a very handsome man, but he cannot pass as a guy that only *just* left his teenage years behind. And that's not on him. I like Claflin and I don't fault him for wanting to take this part (which actor wouldn't?), but I don't understand how seemingly no one with any pull in this multi-million dollar production looked at that casting choice and said "Uhm, guys? Maybe we should reconsider?" There are other problems with the performance, but I'm not here to bash one actor, especially one that I've generally enjoyed watching in other parts.

However, I think the even bigger problem is that I don't get the character of Billy at all, or more specifically, why everyone thinks that this guy of all people is some sort of hypermagnetic, genius Jim Morrison/Lindsey Buckingham hybrid? Because what I've seen so far looks more like a moderately ambitious, moderately talented guy who's simply in over his head and doesn't really care either way whether he makes it as a big Rock'n'Roll Star or not. Where's the drive? Where's the fire? I don't see it, which is kind of a problem when your whole show hinges on your two main characters being charisma machines that the audience is supposed to be absolutely enthralled by.

I would be really interested to know what people who have read the book think of this adaptation. Is it successful and true to the text? Am I'm just wildly off the mark here? Is it good, bad, or just okay? And most importantly, should I read this book?

Ok, going back to sleep now.

[bluejaybytes]

Your tag a few posts back, why do you hate the cat books?

Okay so to preface: I genuinely adore warrior cats. I do. It's been my "main" special interest since I was around 9. I have thought abour warrior cats daily since then. However these books straight up fuckin SUUUUCK. This isn't a matter of "Why aren't these childrens book for children appealing to me as an adult?", they are bad AS CHILDRENS BOOKS. I can forgive shitty writing, but warriors tries its HARDEST to make itself as unappealing and godawful as possible through bland worldbuilding and characters, and the absolute RAMPANT myraid of issues, with misogyny and ableism as the two most frequently discussed. Female characters are CONSISTENTLY written as being "unreasonable" when compared to their male counterparts, who may be on their level OR WORSE in terms of bad actions, but get excuses for their actions BY THE NARRATIVE ITSELF whereas the women don't. Disabled characters are treated as less than, once again, not just by the characters, but by the narrative. Firestar literally tells Cloudtail that Brightheart, his MATE and AN ADULT, is going to be his apprentice and responsibility because she's disabled, and that Firestar "knows" she'll never be a "real" warrior. This entire conversation happens with Brightheart present in the scene, yet she is never spoken to by either character. She is an object given zero agency in her own life because she is both disabled and a woman. Fuck, the ENTIRE FIRST ARC ends with the concept of "Our religion makes us moral", as Firestar is DIRECTLY TOLD by Barley that Scourge and BloodClan don't believe in StarClan and therefore don't feed or take care of the sick, young, or elderly. As it stands I refuse to read or engage with the current arc, as it's extreme misogyny is too much for me to tolerate without just pissing myself off.

From a story perspective, and putting aside the actual real problematic elements, the worst part of warrior cats is the lack of follow through on genuinely interesting concepts. We are consistently told StarClan is a perfect utopia and is never wrong (Which is a problem within itself), and then are given an entire arc abou StarClan making a mistake. Instead of an actually interesting discussion of how dead cats are just that, dead cats, and not mystical paragons, the books end with "Well that was sure a weird one-off occurance! Nothing about this system will change." Warrior cats has SO MANY good concepts and ideas and does NOTHING WITH THEM.

Now, the question is, why do I still enjoy warrior cats if I hate it so much? Well, frankly, that's because 90% of my engagement is taking the skeleton that is warriors worldbuilding and make 5,000 OCs. That and, there are genuinely really good aspects of warriors. Yellowfangs death scene, I feel, is actually an emotional and well written scene, and the forest fire directly beforehand is legitimately tense. Squirrelflight is a fantastic character! While I'm not a huge fan of her character in general, I think basically every concept behind Hollyleaf is incredibly interesting. There IS a lot there, its just gritting your teeth and sitting through a million pages ranging from "mediocre" to "ungodly boring" to "downright rage inducing".

Unfortunately all of my favorite OCs are also warrior cats and I own the official Squirrelflight plushie so uh. I'm not going anywhere!

[okaylikeiknowiramble]

Magical Girl Raising Project sucks so I’m gonna change it.

When I first heard the title, I thought the show would be about a project where girls with magical powers would be raised in some kind of environment, I was thinking a slice-of-school-life kind of thing. So here I go:

In my Magical Girl Raising Project Rewrite the story is exactly that, girls with magical abilities are selected by the show’s mascot, Fav, to take place studying and harnessing their magical abilities and potential before graduating, where then they’ll be granted their own magical uniform, weapon, and mascot all of their own choosing (it’ll work in a Tinkerbell sense, they may not seem to know it on the outside, but something in their soul can sense exactly what they want… maybe, I haven’t watched the first Tinkerbell movie in years.)

The main antagonist of the series are an anti-witch organization who view the magical girls as unholy creatures, looking to take control of the academy to… lessen the girls numbers (this is a decision I made purely to spite the show’s plotline of the girls culling each other in a death battle) just like in the show, they believe that too many women having power could destroy the world (once again, another decision I made to spite the show and also because the magic power is being given to women, which makes the anti-witch organization believe that it’s evil and satanic because it doesn’t require the influence of a man.)

Because of the rampant misogyny and danger the girls face, they’re magically transported to a far off school that’s as well guarded as Alcatraz Prison to keep the organization from entering, though that doesn’t stop them, as there are 4 magical girls that sneak in, “rouge magis” as they’re called (the rouges obviously being Swim Swim, the angel twins, and the dog magical girl with the big twist being that they’re close to the organization’s leader who was once a magical girl.)

The usual monsters of the week seem to come from the organization, usually monsters of dark matter brought to life by the organization’s propaganda and fear-mongering or just a member trying to kidnap one of the girls. Also, there’s a redemption arc for the robot magical girl and the dog magical girl. The robot was a product of the organization built specifically to follow orders and shut down the project, however their time within the school is slowly changing them and making them realize that they want to become a real girl just like their new friends. The dog one was just a really shy girl kidnapped by the organization and forced to play along until she was defended by Snow White and her friends, who officially welcomed her with open arms.

I wanna think of a name for it, but one thar I have come up with is “Mahou Shoujo Student Initiative”.

This all the ideas I have, but more is surely to come as think this through.

[abbatoirablaze]

Bringing Home The Gold, Chapter 3

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings:  mentions of smut, more misogyny from Lance

“Fucking pathetic,” you grumbled, looking to Andretti.  You shook your head as you tried to apologize to the gorgeous Russian man in front of you, “I-I’m sorry about this.  Had I known that he wa-“

“It’s fine,” he replied softly.  He took your hand in his own and kissed your fingertips and you melted.  You know, until you heard the relentless pounding that was going on in the room beside you once more.  You rolled your eyes at the actions of your teammates, “We should have stayed in your room.”

“My teammates would not have done this,” he admitted while agreeing with you.  You sighed as he was pointing to the wall where Lance was making Hope scream his name, “this Tucker guy, he is not a mature one…is he?  He has been very childish since I started to approach you.”

“I don’t think mature is a word that Lance Tucker knows the meaning of.”

“I think he likes you, little doll.”

“Gross,” you cringed, “Andretti, stop.”

He laughed, jokingly probing your stomach with his hands, “I think the Lance Tucker has a very large crush on you.”

“Well, I have a crush on someone else.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm!” you nodded.  He smiled as you bit your lip, “he’s in this very room with me.”

“I think he likes you as well, little doll,” he said with a wink.  You smiled and playfully pushed him away from you.  He let himself fall dramatically to the floor and both of you heard the rampant sex in the other room stop, the noise ceasing to exist.  Andretti raised a brow, “I think he’s listening to us.”

“Such an immature weirdo.”

He got a devilish smile on his face, “would you like to be a little immature then too?”

You blushed, your eyes going wide as you immediately thought he was referring to having sex, “A-Andretti-I-“

“Relax moya kukla,” he said sweetly as he cut you off.  Your blush deepened as he crawled back up onto the bed, his calloused hand stroking your cheek, “how you say, we mess with him back.  Pretend to be having the sex to throw his mind off of it.  He will be a mess tomorrow for the events.”

“Are you trying to get the edge in the pommel horse?”

He laughed, shaking his head, “so you do know my weakness.”

“You didn’t even place last Olympics for the pommel horse,” you said, reminding him of his last stint in the Olympics, “do you really think he’ll become distracted hearing us ‘going at it,’ the night before the event?”

“Only one way to find out,” he smirked, offering you, his hand.  You bit your lip as you took it and he let out a throaty groan, pulling you to his chest.  The second time he did it, you heard the noise from the room beside yours cease once more, “Oh, JESSI!”

“Andretti,” you moaned, trying to stifle your giggles right after by burying your face in his chest.  He smiled and nodded forward, urging you to do it again, “OH GOD!  Right there!”

He stifled his own laughter as he helped you stand up onto the bed and the two of you began to jump on it, making it creak, “so perfect.”  

He continued to moan, and you lowered your voice, “say this next.  Say ‘say it!  Tell me what I am!’ He’ll lose his mind.”

Andretti quirked his brow at you, but moaned regardless, “Say it, moya kukla.  Tell me what I am!  Right now!”

“God,” you said loudly, whimpering, “God.  Of.  Gymnastics.  AHHHH!  Andretti!”

Jessi:  2

Lance:  1

Lance had been glaring at you all morning.  Andretti had stayed over, and the two of you messed with Lance all night, on and off pretending to have sex until the two of you actually fell asleep tucked into one another’s arms. 

Andretti was amazing. 

He was sweet, and encouraged you messing with Lance, especially after he found out about Casey and just what kind of person he really was. He said that a real man would never do that to a woman, and offered his services, however you may choose to use him.  

In the morning, when the two of you left your room, Lance was waiting there, stating simply that he wanted to ‘make sure you were okay.’

But you could see it in his eyes.  You noticed the jealousy as he watched Andretti press a simple kiss to your lips, wishing you good luck for the day. 

“You know he’s just using you, right?”

You turned around to see an angry looking Lance glaring at you.  You crossed your arms, “that’s rich…you know, coming from you…the king of using people.”

“It is my forte, isn’t it?” he asked sarcastically.  He leaned against his door and crossed his arms over his chest, “and I’ll tell you this right now.  The second that he gets what he wants his going to be over you.  And you probably just gave it to him last night.  Matter of fact, I can tell you gave it to him.”

“Oh really,” You reply with a glare, knowing what really happened between the two of you, “tell me, Lance…since you saw our interaction, did he get what he wanted from me?”

He scoffed, “to think you gave up your virginity for that Russian trash.  You know, he didn’t even place in the pommel horse last Olympics.  I doubt he’ll be able to accomplish it this year.  The pommel horse is my event.”

“Jealous, Lance?”

“What do I have to be jealous of?” he asked with a shrug, “so far, he’s nothing but a silver medal athlete.  Is that what you’re settling for, Jessi?  Silver medals?  Why not go for the gold medalist athlete?”

“Rich thing for you to say…this is your first Olympics...so far you have no gold, silver, or even bronze medals under your belt.”

“By the end of the day I will, and you’ll be begging to fuck me, just to get that Russian garbage out of your system,” he said with a smirk.  He leaned towards you and you felt the urge to cringe as he brushed some of the hair from your face, “if your nice enough like a good little girl, maybe I’ll even agree to it.  But I’m telling you right now…I want you on your knees when you beg for my cock, Jessi.”

“Dream on, Tucker.”

“Did you at least make him wear a condom? He asked as he backed away, looking at his nails in an uninterested manner, “don’t need an Olympic bastard being born nine months later…or is that what you’re really after?”

“Why don’t you mind you own business, Lance!”

You used it. 

You used the rage from the conversation with him and poured it into your routine. 

And it. 

Was. 

Flawless. 

Hope’s performance, however, was less than stellar. 

And it was proven when the scores came around.  As suspected, you dominated the floor routine, getting the gold.  And Hope, well, she ended up walking away with the bronze.  You wanted to feel bad for her, especially with all of the bragging that this was her event, you really did, but when the first thing she did was run to Lance, your stomach turned. 

You had warned her.

Hell, all of the girls on the team had warned her.  Everyone made her very aware of what he did to Casey and how he’d fucked the previous women’s coach which is why Adam was a man, and yet, she was running to him like a lost little puppy.   But once he saw the bronze medal around her neck, she no longer mattered.  He simply brushed her off saying that he ‘had to prepare,’ for the event. 

But all he’d done was stare at you, up until it was his turn.  Unfortunately, his ego was fed when he won the gold.  But you were proud when Andretti was right beside him, having taken the silver in that.  He taunted you as he passed, making sure you saw the gold medal around his neck. 

“Thought you said that I wouldn’t get it, sweetheart?”

“Go die in a hole, Tucker.”

“Your little boyfriend got the silver,” he scoffed, “pathetic…you know…gold medalists should be together, Jessi.”

“I am not interested in you, Tucker.”

“Shame,” he shrugged, “that Romanian girl that got the silver is pretty interested in me, and I’d hate to leave my bed open for the night when I could take her…you know since you’re still being an uptight cunt.”

“Go fuck her then, Lance,” you grumbled.  Andretti raced up to you after he finished one of his interviews, and you giggled as he swept you up in his arms, “you got the silver!”

“You got the gold!” he reminded you sweetly, “I told you that you would get it!  The routine was immaculate.”

“That extra stretching last night got rid of all the knots I had,” you playfully giggled, exaggerating what had actually happened.  He smirked, knowing that Lance thought the two of you had sex, “maybe we go celebrate my gold and your silver for the night?”

“I’d like that.”

That night Lance did end up pulling the Romanian girl that won the silver into his room.  Meanwhile, you spent the night in Andretti’s room, the two of you talking strategy over the following morning’s events, which for you was the balance beam, while he’d had the parallel bars and rings.  Both of you were excited, because they were things that you loved. 

The following morning, proved to be a good one when you won the gold in the balance beam, bringing your gold medal count up to two.  None of the other girls on the team so much as placed and Amanda had ended up breaking her ankle, making the small team of four even smaller, as both of the alternates had sustained injuries during training. 

By the afternoon, you were grateful to be off a podium and watching the men compete.  They were competing in the parallel bars and the rings today.  And you were excited, knowing that those were two of Andretti’s specialties.

“You came,” he called happily.  He had left his teammates, instead choosing to come over to you, where you stood with the rest of Team USA.  You looked excitedly to Andretti and nodded, “I’m not going to lie, I’m feeling nervous.  China has an intense competitor for the rings in Wei. 

“You’re going to do amazing, Andretti.”

“Congratulations on your second gold by the way,” he smiled, “hopefully by the end of the day I can match you.”

“These are your events,” you pointed out, as you stuck you tongue out at him, “you better beat my medal count and get two golds today to match your silver.”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged playfully, “I’m not feeling very lucky today.”

You playfully pushed his shoulder and he smiled, so you wrapped your arms around him and pulled him into a hug, “you’re going to be amazing, Andretti.”

“I hope so.”

He looked down into your eyes and you felt your breath hitch.  Feeling bold, you leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.  Both of you melted into one another’s touch and your heart leapt as you felt his lips on yours. 

“If I win, I will be asking for a good luck kiss for every even after this,” he pointed out when the two of you broke away, “and if I lose, I am asking for a consolation kiss after.”

You smiled, a blush forming across your cheeks, “good…because I planned on giving you another kiss either way. “

Chapter 4

Tag List:  @lohnes16, @elbell20-blog

[dhaaruni]

So... in the end, America is just as bigoted as it was in Reagan's day? Or Nixon's? (Not a rhetorical question; personally I've always feared that what Obama et al. did was never really *progress*, so much as just keeping marginalized people from suffering even worse treatment from an inherently conservative system that's getting better resources every year. Running twice as fast to stay where they were, so to speak)

I don't know if this logic helps but nowhere else in the world is much better unless you're a white person from Scandinavia who lives in Scandinavia lol. The way Europe treats immigrants, including legal immigrants, is much, much worse than how the United States does, misogyny is omnipresent all around the world (including in non-white countries cough cough), antisemitism and Islamophobia run rampant everywhere, and at least in the US, there are some pockets of liberalism. Sure, I may not feel super safe walking around at night in rural West Texas but in my corner of the Seattle suburbs or honestly even in my bit of Northwest DC, I feel extremely safe running to CVS at 10pm to grab allergy medication.

As for Barack Obama, I think his biggest theoretical flaw as president (not in terms of individual actions) was expecting this country to be something different than it is, and Hillary Clinton for one has always been very clear-eyed over what was and wasn't possible based on the country as it is and not as it could be. On the night Obama got elected, while people were lynching and burning scarecrow Obamas in large swathes of the country, he was all like "Whether or not you voted for me, we're all Americans, and there's so much hope for this country going forward!!!" Fast forward 8 years and the same country elected an outright fascist because it couldn't stand that a Black man had been president for eight years, and the concept of a woman becoming president as well was just too much to handle.

Was Obama perfect? No. I think he meant well but he did underestimate the repercussions of his actions on the Democratic Party. For instance, quipping about how (non-college) white people in those rural Ohio and Pennsylvania coal and natural gas towns (that he broke even in but HRC and Biden lost by 75) cling to guns and religion was actively bad given how badly Democrats began to lose that group in the 2010s when they're the group that decides the electoral college and makeup of the Senate. It doesn't matter whether or not that quip is true, it was sort of like the straw that broke the camel's back, and pissed off a whole lot of people off enough to stop voting Democrat altogether. As a result, we're now stuck with a 50-50 Senate and winning anything more is a massively uphill battle because at this point, non-college educated white people hate Democrats even more than they love their guns and religion. We can't make up that deficit with college-educated suburbanites simply because there aren't enough of them.

And, once again, American voters suck lol. Obama pushed the Affordable Care Act through without a single Republican vote, and we absolutely paid the price for that moving forward given how many Senate and House seats Democrats lost in the next decade. Is it fair that Americans punished Democrats for trying to give the country universal healthcare? No, but they absolutely did: Americans decided that Democrats were being mean to Republicans, and they didn't appreciate that because the majority of American voters don't think Republicans are inherently bad. And, demonizing the ACA as "Obamacare" worked because Obama's like the devil to these people, whether or not that's justified. If you look at how "Affordable Care Act" polls among normie voters in comparison to "Obamacare," you'll see what I mean.

Also, this screenshot is very telling:

Bernie Sanders was wrong, the majority of Americans don't actually care if Biden gives them free stuff if he's also giving free stuff to Black and brown people and especially if he's not being openly racist and misogynistic at the same time. These voters are just really annoyed our president doesn't constantly say degrading things to female reporters and doesn't embarrass the country on a national scale daily, and doesn't provide them sufficient entertainment, and they're egged on by our esteemed media superiors. Anyways, #DefundTheBeltwayMedia.

Like, sheer idea of Republican voters supporting Medicare for All, especially with birth control and abortion access included, is laughable since do these kinds of voters really seem like they want gender equality and racial justice? Like, Hillary Clinton was right; you really can't work with these people, and her mistake was saying that quiet part out loud and calling them deplorables (while being a woman that the media's had it in for since the 1970s obviously). All that we can do is triangulate them and get enough votes to pass legislation and make them deal with the changing world. Is that really condescending? Absolutely, but otherwise, the alternative is constantly negotiating with people that think that saying the n-word as a white person is totally fine so take your pick.