#this might have a part 2

[juniperpyre]

lily evans potter: womanhood, motherhood & morality

lily as the dream girl in canon and fan spaces

i want to talk about this while there isn't a current upsurge in the discourse

Lily Evans Potter is introduced to us as Lily Potter, the dead mother of Harry Potter. Lily and James potter, dead, leaving their poor, miraculous son to live with the dull, horrible Durselys. We only ever see her through, with the exception of her sister, the memory of men.

I've said before that I believe James and Lily are the ideal masculine and ideal feminine, both to Harry and in a metatextual way. parents are our introduction into gender roles, the "correct" way to be a man and woman. since Lily is dead she cannot disappoint Harry. she can be imagined as the perfect woman, which is, of course, a wife and mother. the dream girl!

Lily's death makes her a silent, ever-loving, beautiful young mother, for both Harry and the reader. James is slightly deconstructed in SWM, but Lily is not. She is a fierce protector, brave, clever, and only emotional (angry) once James, her future husband, provokes her enough.

in the text Lily is not truly presented as flawed in a meaningful way. the moral choices she makes: to build a relationship with Severus, to defend Severus, to break their relationship when he refuses to reject bigotry, to join the Order, to die for her child, are all the correct moral choices. these are the choices the narrative is telling us to respect.

women have, for the past 200 years or so, been conceived of as the moral center of the family.* Lily Evans Potter is the moral center of the series. her choice to die is mirrored by the main character, Harry, and sparks the beginning of victory. Harry's sacrifice is enabled by another mother, Narcissa, making the correct moral choice because the power of her maternal love urges her to this choice. finally, Voldemort's most powerful follower, Bellatrix, is killed by a housewife and mother, Molly, in a maternal rage at the idea of her daughter being murdered.

Lily's sacrifice and the emotions behind it are mirrored multiple times in the final battle because it and she are the moral center of the series.

that Harry is frequently told he has his mother's eyes, and that Dumbledore points out how his essential nature mirrors his mother's, further highlights Lily's character and her choices as implicitly good.

women, especially mothers, as our moral authorities, is an unconscious cultural belief we can see play out in the fandom and subfandoms that Lily is discussed in. we can all recall the characterization of Lily as the goody-two shoes that James has to change for, the characterization of Lily as "not like other girls", the BAMF characterization, the current near mommy dom to James characterization.

the characterization of Lily changes with our view of the best kind of woman. but she is, always, demonstrating a most "correct" way to be. maybe it's 2007 and she's telling James off—not fun, but right. or it's 2012 and she's not preoccupied with boys like her classmates. or it's 2019 and she always knows the right thing to say to Remus when he's down on himself. or it's 2025 and James is trailing after her like a puppy while she contemplates what size strap to use on him after she beats up a bigot.

We don't see a lot of moderate views on Lily. Above, I've discussed how Lily lovers tend to portray her. Lily haters, a smaller group from what I can tell, do not utilize these common fanon characterizations. They disparage her as an immoral, selfish, bad woman. The wholesale rejection of Lily as the moral center based on her perceived immorality is the other side of the coin.

I'll refer to people with this perspective as "Lily haters" though I am aware there are people who dislike her outside of the topics I'm discussing.

I rarely engage with Lily haters, though I am aware of their arguments that Lily was a bad friend to Severus, a social climber, a gold digger, or boring. All grave sins for the woman who's supposed to save everyone.

This perspective doesn't reject Lily as the moral center or the perfect woman, it is an argument that she's not fulfilling her role correctly. Her unwillingness to give Severus more chances is selfish, stuck-up, classist. Her desire for James is an further betrayal of Severus.

She's supposed to be the Madonna, why is she being a whore?

I believe Lily hate comes from a belief she failed at being the perfect woman/mother, and therefore she is worthless. A bitch. Weak willed. Oversexed. even by haters her role as the moral center is not questioned.

in both the og text and in the fandom supertext Lily is the moral center because of her role as mother. her status as the moral center is inextricably tied to her motherhood. since Lily being a mother is the point of her character, divorcing her from her motherhood often changes the foundation of her character.**

when her literal motherhood is removed from a depiction of her character, her metaphorical status as the perfect woman/mother is often still intact. this is seen in the characterizations I described earlier, and, I argue, in the belief that she's too good for James when it is used as a "justification" for shipping James with someone else.*** thereby, she is further purified, not even having been touched by a man. she's put on a pedestal, where she can't be touched, and is rarely noticed.

it is also frequently seen when she is written as a side character in a relationship with James, and the pair become the dual moral guides for the main couple.

this reflects James and Lily as the ideal masculine and feminine, as they are a perfectly harmonious couple when a side pairing. their implicit canonical roles are subconsciously reflected in fanon with little critique or commentary on the canon text.

Lily's entire character is crafted to be The Perfect Mother™️. whether she is literally a mother in her fanon depiction or not, she is still The Perfect Woman™️—and is still affected by the biases our culture has towards women and mothers.

thus, Lily is the dream girl in the text, the moral center only seen through a nostalgic veil, and a dream girl in fan spaces, as the moral guide for the men in her life who pegs her husband or is too pure for the touch of a man.

for more on gender in the wizarding world, based on gender in early modern england (pre the cult of domesticity) see this post

*see the cult of domesticity if you'd rather not read the article

**please like fucking do not fucking act like I'm saying you cannot do this. I swear to fucking god

***you don't need to justify your ships

[hinamie]

10 years later

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[scintillatingshortgirl19]

i think im having a stroke

[tiger-grace]

Once again, I bring up how it would be funny if there were Gotham-ized colloquialisms or phrases. Just imagine the opportunities

Police Officer: if we’re efficient we can get these both done, two bats one explosion-

Dick Grayson, neck creaking as he turns around: so help me superman…

—

Red Hood’s Goon to another: it’s time to move on from this topic. let’s not beat a dead robin here

Jason: let’s not what a what

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Learning to celebrate the little wins!

[cubbihue]

Chimmy! Mr Turner, sir, your tie is loose. It’s always a bit loose. Hm. Not very professional…

Haha, oh Timmy! Always so sloppy!!! It’s a good thing his parents are there to help shape him up again! What a shame that he’s moving away from them. Who’ll keep Timmy Turner in line now??

Ah, well. I'm sure someone else will fill in that role. We can't let our changeling go about without supervision after all!

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[cherie-doll]

Royalty AU with Reader being royalty and COD men being your knight

Price trusts that you're cautious but can't help but worry about you when you're not in his sight. In a room full of people he always locates you; you're his priority. And when something goes wrong he gently tugs on your hand and holds you close so you can feel a little comforted as he walks you to your room. And before you close the door he prevents it from closing with his hand to reassure you in a soft whisper that if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call for him because he'll always answer to your voice.

And what can Simon say when you reprimand him for being too strict with you? Well, he can't help it that he gets the smallest fire igniting within him when that duke got too close, he doesn't know any better. All people are dangerous, and he'd never be able to go on living if something happened to you. It's his duty to serve and protect you.

Johnny never fails to make you laugh with his charming smile and wit. Someone like him ought to be more than a knight and you constantly tell him this. All he does is shoot you a grin, indicating that if he wanted to he could be something more to you. Moments with him consist of flashes of knowing gazes and fleeting touches towards you. Always making it seem as if there was a possibility.

Kyle's hands that tremble slightly when he has to touch you. His fingers always come close but never touch your skin, only hovering above as if afraid to touch you. A look of admiration and awe in his eyes as he watches you descend the staircase and extend a hand to him. He tenderly takes your hand in his and with trembling lips places a kiss, all done with reverence for he worships the very ground you walk on and vows to protect you until the day he dies.

Phillip's piercing gaze that holds you in place before his eyes soften has you entranced. The man has a way of slithering into your mind in the most unusual and least expected ways. Why must your mind keep recurring to early that morning when none of the servants were around and he had to help fasten a necklace. His calloused hands moving your hair aside, baring your neck to him as his fingers fluttered, hovering over your nape. Was the deliberate manner in which he fiddled with the clasp intentionally?

König who's silent and observing and it makes you uneasy. But that's only because he secretly holds a hint of affection for you. Even if he shouldn't. He prefers to stand at the back of the room, in the corner furthest away from you to have you in his view. You're flawless in his eyes. How would he ever come up to par with you?

[elliesproperty]

ELLIE IN EVERY SCENE 50/?

[thewickwheat]

Like a heartbeat,

warm and constant

-

guess who got sick this month and binged DD2 and then couldn't stop on and off again weeping for 2 days after beating it

[yesloulou]

Drive to Survive Season 2, Episode 5

[oneshotprincess]

its kinda crazy how the last episode of season 2 tries to paint viktor's fatal flaw as being a perfectionist and supposedly ableist towards himself when his fatal flaw was actually being a not-wanting-to-die-of-super-cancer-ist. 

[hinamie]

I don't want to regret the way I lived

[sochai13]

domestic dazai … <3

— dazai inviting you into the shower after a rather unforgiving day, immediately adjusting the water temperature to be soothingly warm as it runs on your skin. he’ll squirt a bit of your shampoo into his palm before massaging it into your scalp, lithe fingers working all the tension that lingers away. he’ll hum a calming melody while rinsing out the shampoo, pressing soft kisses against your shoulder and neck afterwards.

— dazai whining as the two of you made your way back home from a little walk, coming across a street cat that he insisted was ‘too cute not to pet’. the man didn’t give it a second thought as he let her love on his hand, scratching behind her ear while the little feline purred. even as you advised him with furrowed brows about diseases or parasites he could be getting, dazai could care less as he looked back and forth between you and the cat with adoring eyes.

— dazai noticing how sleepy you were while out, the insomnia undoubtedly catching up to you. of course despite how much he hated the act, he offered to drive home almost immediately after seeing the half lidded, drowsy look in your eyes. when you arrived home, he quietly opened the car door, scooping up your sleeping body bridal style as gently as possible. dazai carried you to your shared bed, careful not to disturb that peaceful expression on your face while setting you down and sliding the warm comforter over you before coming to join you a few minutes later.

— dazai in the kitchen with you during the later months of the year, a sugary aroma filling the air as you stirred the cookie batter you were making. he insisted on helping you bake, brushing his intentions off as ‘emotional support’ when you questioned his lack of pastry skills. dazai’s arms wrapped around your waist from behind, chin resting on your shoulder as he watched you simply stir with an attentive look in his eyes only your darling could have.

[min-imum]

hi welcome to tumblr !! 💋 so, what if yn hugging gyu from the back while he wash the dishes and she decided to be 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂..

part 2 (afab!reader)

nsfw, mdni

content warnings: this was NOT as good as the first draft WHICH TUMBLR DELETED 😡, gn!reader, oral sex (m receiving & implied f receiving at the end), kitchen sex??, also i got too lazy to edit everything into the tiny text bcs im on my phone so erm. um. sorry. let me know if u prefer that layout AND ALSO if any kind soul could help me out with this i’ll love you forever

thank you 😋😋😋 and i agree, that would be so hot. you know mingyu works hard to take care of you — you’re his baby, and he’ll work forever if it means you get to buy all the things you want and live comfortably.

you’d planned to wash the dishes after dinner — after all, mingyu had gotten home and started making dinner right away, still wearing his work clothes — but as soon as you had gotten up, mingyu led you back to your seat with a “let me do it, baby, you sit and relax, yeah?” that you couldn’t refuse.

so, now, you sit at the dining table and watch mingyu scrub at the dishes diligently. the sleeves of his white button-up are rolled to his elbows. he grips the sponge in his left hand and a plate in his right, scrubbing at what seems to be an annoying stain.

you make your way to the kitchen and hug mingyu from behind.

“hi, baby,” he greets fondly, pausing his scrubbing as you wrap your arms around his waist.

“hi,” you mumble. “you take such good care of me. i’m so lucky to have you.”

“yeah?” he replies, amused.

you lean on his wide, warm back, and your hands start exploring. they slide under his shirt, tracing his abs, then make their way up higher to squeeze his pecs. he shudders when you brush his nipple with a thumb, nearly dropping the plate he was washing.

“baby, what are you doing?”

“thanking you,” you murmur. “it’s my turn to take care of you now.”

you feel up his chest for the first button of his shirt, then the next, and soon his shirt is falling open. with your newfound freedom, you run your hands all over his torso again, pinching at his nipples and groping his pecs shamelessly. the muscles on his back contract against your cheek.

he squirms, clutching the sponge tightly enough for the bubbles to overflow onto his hand. your hand snakes down, lower, to palm at his cock through his slacks.

he hisses, hips jerking forward, trapping your hand between him and the counter. “shit, babe,” he grunts.

“turn around f’me, please, gyu?”

he drops the sponge and plate into the sink and dries his hand on a towel, and then he turns around. “hi,” he breathes.

“hey,” you reply, smiling. he leans down to kiss you, once, twice, and then you drop to your knees and start unzipping his slacks.

the view from below is magnificent — his white shirt, open and hanging on his shoulders, frames his shaking body, abs contracting and big chest heaving. his eyes are dark, full of want and desire. his precum stains his grey underwear and leaves a dark spot that’s gradually getting bigger.

you mouth wetly at the spot, then up the length of his shaft, making him whimper.

finally, you decide to stop teasing. you pull his underwear down and his cock springs up, slapping against his stomach. he hisses when you lick and kiss the tip, wrapping your hands around the base.

then his hands fly to grip the edge of counter, white-knuckled, when you swallow his cock down as far as you can go.

you slurp and lick as much as you can, bobbing messily on his big cock, and he grunts and moans, spurring you on.

“shit, fuck,” he curses. “you’re— you’re gonna make me come so fast.”

you look up at him with wet eyes as you choke yourself on his cock. one hand strokes the rest of his cock that you can’t fit in your mouth; the other hand fondles his balls.

you love the view. on your knees with his warm cock stretching your throat open, you look up to see your muscled boyfriend covered in a thin sheen of sweat, mouth open as he pants, chest heaving almost painfully. his bangs fall into his eyes, which he struggles to keep open. his hold on the counter is unforgiving, like he’s worried his knees will give out, and it makes his biceps bulge in the sleeves of his shirt.

“i’m gonna cum,” he warns through gritted teeth.

you move your hands to grab his thick thighs, then force yourself to take him in deeper. you don’t manage to shove his entire cock into your throat — he’s just too big — but it only takes a few more thrusts for him to cum down your throat with a groan.

you swallow all of it, then open your mouth to show him.

“fuck, baby,” he curses. “you’re so filthy.”

he helps you onto your feet again, then sweeps you up in a passionate kiss. then, he lifts you onto the counter, helps you lean back, and spreads your thighs with a hand on each knee.

“your turn, baby.”

[penkura]

Zoro has come to want nothing more than for you and your children to be safe. He believes for the longest time that the three of you being on the Sunny, where he can protect you, is the safest place in the world, no village or city could be safer. Zoro believes that fully, up until your ship is attacked by enemy Pirates. No one is surprised when you take your children, who are barely two years old and nearly four months old, below deck for safety, even as they both cry from the sounds and you try to calm them down.

When it's all over and he goes to retrieve the three of you, there's a strange feeling in his chest and a thought in the back of his mind that hits him when he sees you coddling your toddler and infant, both of whom are still fussy and upset, but your son starts to relax when he sees Zoro there and knows everything is okay, quickly running to be held in his dad's arms. He lifts him easily, your two year old burying his face in his neck, still crying just a bit, and the face you give him tells Zoro you have the same thought.

This isn't a safe place for children.

The two of you have several discussions the days after, on what to do now that your two little ones have had to experience the reality of living on a pirate ship so early on. Eventually you decide that it's best if, at the next island you dock at, you take your children and leave for some time, to give them a chance to grow up without fearing for their lives. Most places you visit are receptive to your crew, they welcome you all happily, and you fully believe the next island will too, based on things you've heard about it. Zoro only agrees because he wants you to be safe, you and your babies, he doesn't want anything to happen to any of you, not now not ever.

He doesn't fully accept that idea until a few weeks later, when you've left the ship with Nami and Jinbei, and have Zoro stay with your napping babies. The thought has been nagging him ever since that last attack against your crew, since he's been watching your kids grow a little more. Your son has been attached to Zoro ever since, especially when he wakes in the night, calling for him like he's had a nightmare (he probably has, Zoro realizes), while your daughter has been fully calm ever since, sleeping and nursing normally, she doesn't understand what happened and won't for several more years.

When you get back later, you find Zoro still watching them sleep, like he hasn't moved at all, lost in thought as you sit beside him. You lean against his arm, and he acknowledges you with a slight grunt and nod, before you start talking.

"I found a place we can stay."

"Yeah?"

"A small house right inside the town, the landowner is willing to let us rent it."

"That's good..."

The rest of the crew helps you pack that night, Luffy has agreed to letting you and your children leave for a time, at least until they're old enough to defend themselves, though you aren't sure you'll return. He understands that too, saying they'll always come by no matter what, as often as they can, with a grin on his face that eases you. Zoro plans to stay with you a few days more, while the Sunny is docked, and even tells you he'll take leave until you're comfortable, but you don't want him to waste time. It's not fair to him, or the rest of your crew, so you promise him that you'll be fine, the three of you will be okay.

But when those few days are up and it's time for everyone to go, you're starting to regret your decision, especially as your son cries and holds onto Zoro's leg, telling him to stay. It breaks both your hearts, and your daughter starts to whine while in her carrier on your chest.

"No go! Dada stay!"

When he finally looks down at your son, Zoro gives him a small smile as the toddler looks up at him, tears and snot running down his red face, before he picks him up and starts to wipe the tears away.

"Now that's enough. I'll be back."

"No...no go!"

"Hey now, you're a big boy, aren't ya?" Your son starts to quiet, nodding just a little, before Zoro sets his forehead against your son’s, "I need you to do something for me, all right? I need you to take care of your mama and baby sister until I get back, okay?"

He sniffles but nods again, before hugging Zoro around the neck.

"Miss you..."

"Yeah...I'll miss you too, buddy."

Zoro sets your son back on the ground after a few more minutes, before leaning down to your daughter and kissing the top of her head.

"Gonna miss you too, princess, be good for mama," you've been trying not to cry, for your children really, but you almost join in the tears when Zoro hugs you next, "I'll miss you the most. Be safe, all right?"

Nodding, you smile just a bit, leaning up to give him one more kiss before he leaves.

"I love you, we'll see you when you get back."

"I love you, too. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"I know you will."

Your son waves the whole time he can see Zoro leaving, only stopping when he's no longer visible, then looking up to you.

"Dada back..."

"Yeah," you smile and take his hand, starting to lead him back inside your rented home, "Dada will come back, just like he said."