#watch the Barbie film and see just how maligned

[waydowntheriver]

WHAT WORLD IS THIS WOMAN LIVING IN?!?

Where in America is there proof of “the patriarchy” purposely suppressing information about safe sex, or contraception? There are Planned Parenthood and other clinics all over the country that give out condoms and said information for free. And if I might add, said clinics often terribly pressure women to have abortions, not because they are medically necessary, but because Planned Parenthood profits immensely off these procedures and even the selling on fetal organs; P.S. Millions of those aborted babies, those fetal organs are from women yet to be in the world. How the hell can anyone deny the hypocrisy of that fact- that so called women’s advocates are killing millions of very small, very innocent women every year?!?

what amazes me about the “pro-abortion only for rape” argument is that it’s so tone-deaf and flat out ridiculous. the context of an unwanted pregnancy is nearly ALWAYS occurring under coercion. why else would teenage girls be pregnant if they were not already failed by a patriarchal system that withheld information for safe sex, products for safe sex, or access to healthcare? if girls were not groomed, pressured, bullied into “losing their virginity” by entertainment, peers and culture? if girls were not groomed from day one to be feminine, that is, submissive and passive? what child willfully got out of their way to get pregnant without being thoroughly brainwashed? or forced?

do you honestly believe that sally, 14, raised in the Bible Belt, forced into frilly dresses by age two, fed “how to be a good, subservient woman” from age four, is going to understand or value her own consent?

everyone who has ever deliberately wanted to have a child ends up at an abortion clinic because it risks their fucking life.

unwanted pregnancies, however, are occurring under an inherently coercive system. one that herds women and girls into abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

people who use this argument sound like pro-prostitution propagandists. most women and girls are not in that situation by choice. even if they say so. like do y’all not understand anything about what living in a patriarchal regime means? or a capitalistic economy?

in what world does someone who didn't want/was afraid of pregnancy, deliberately and willfully get pregnant????!

be so fr right now

TLDR: The context of unwanted pregnancies is always coercive. Whether systemically, or interpersonally. Usually both.

[bitch-butter]

not to be weird or anything but "three hour long montage of men talking about Important Things in rooms" is so you. Like, I was nodding along because it made so much sense haha

What's your fav movies you had seen so far this year, and why?

w o o f that's hard because i feel like this year has been so slow to start movie-wise! i'm really happy it's summer now, because this is typically when all the movies i'm really excited for start opening, but things won't get really crazy until fall so a lot of the movies i've actively sought out this year have been horror lol so for my own piece of mind i'll back it up to Exactly a year to highlight some movies that i really, really responded to so it doesn't seem like i Just consume darkness lol

being really annoying about movies under the cut

oppenheimer (2023) - see prev Showing Ass post

reality (2023) - a Very scary movie that if you live in america you should watch, because not only is it told impeccably but it's actually shocking how few people actually remember Reality Winner given the fact that this story is only a few years old. sydney sweeney is incredible in this.

skinamarink (2022) - a Divisive horror movie that truly did get so much shit but the way it scared the hell out of me remembering being a kid left alone in a house with just a TV cannot be described.

renfield (2023) - me and my gf dressed as vampires to go to this movie, it was a laugh riot from beginning to end and nic cage deserves 77 awards, best dracula since gary oldman.

nope (2022) - 100% more scared of monkeys than i am of aliens, jordan peele call me to talk to me about our national fixation on spectacle and also Westerns.

tár (2022) - what a f u c k i n g movie this was, i saw it with my best friend on a visit to Omaha and we screamed the entire time. i love a Complicated film that wants to explore the intersections of bad people making good art, the gender studies major that still lives within me was losing it watching this movie.

pamela, a love story (2023) - this is your typical Netflix documentary, meaning there isn't a whole lot of New information that they give, but any opportunity given to us to reexamine a woman that was unfairly maligned i think is a very, very good opportunity. and pamela is a great writer, and seems like a very lovely (again, complicated) person, so i enjoyed getting to see her overcome some bullshit.

women talking (2022) - i really think i cried the entire movie when i first saw it, and i watched it again recently and did the same thing so i think it holds up. really excellent performances, even if its a very talky movie it also has a really potent atmosphere and it So effectively builds horror into hope by the end.

AND nothing compares (2022) - this is timely, because we lost shuhada sadaqat aka sinéad o'connor yesterday, and i was just recently thinking about this documentary and how much i loved it and how i should rewatch it. it's so sensitive to her, and takes her thoughts and feelings Seriously, and that made me very emotional to see as someone who remembers her being made into a fucking joke my entire childhood. it isn't a Perfect doc, but i value it very much, especially now.

really really pumped for: Dune Part II, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Killers of the Flower Moon (funny story: this past weekend my best friend ran into lily gladstone at the grocery store and apparently she was So nice lol) and Barbie (seeing it this weekend for my birthday, very , very, very excited).

thank you for asking ~ 🖤

[classygreydove]

feeling seen in fic and fandom

there's just something deeply vulnerable and visceral about experiencing the POV of a character like you, doing or thinking or saying things you would do.

The first time that I can remember watching a movie that made me feel undeniably seen as a girl, as a woman, as a sister, was Little Women (2019). Before watching that film, I hadn't understood how growing up in a patriarchal society had limited my ability to find media that helped me connect with my experience of girlhood. I hadn't understood what it meant that I felt disconnected from so many female characters in my favorite movies or books as a teenager.

I felt so strongly about this that I expressed this opinion to an adult. They assumed it was internalized misogyny on my part. I felt very hurt by this assumption, even as I wondered if they were right. At the time, I was most interested in action and adventure genres, and many of the female characters could only be described as "attractive love interest" "attractive strong independent woman" and "loving tired caregiver." It was also the era of mediocre dystopian books and the rise of generic self-insert female protagonists (reading them felt a bit like how it feels to look at a character design to a generic power-fantasy isekai shounen protagonist. Soulless.) It was no wonder I felt so disconnected from these characters! How could I connect with just a trope?

And so often female characters would be written through a lens of misogyny, whether internalized or not. I think of Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour, Sakura Haruno, and more. A lens of demeaning or making fun of common behaviors and traits in women.

Hermione was "nerdy" and "ugly" and a "know-it-all." Her activism, rooted in her strong sense of right and wrong, was "annoying" and "weird." She had to go through a "glow-up" to be beautiful. She was often made fun of by the other characters. Fleur was "shallow" and "rude" and "proud" because she was conventionally pretty but said no to unwanted advances, didn't like being objectified.

Sakura was a "immature" because she was a fangirl and "weak" because she didn't immediately attack when grown killers attacked them on their first mission, instead taking a defensive position (Sakura was a child). Sakura was "weak" because she wasn't as strong as her teammates. It didn't matter how strong she was, she was never strong enough. So much of her story revolved around her "feelings" towards a boy. It wasn't Sakura's story. It was "Sakura, who liked Sasuke" 's story.

This misogynistic lens made it harder for me to connect with these characters, and also alienated me from my own femininity, giving rise to the feeling "I'm not like other girls." Is it any wonder, then, that so many of us teen girls disliked or "bashed" these characters? We subconsciously picked up on this demeaning of their characters, and criticized and maligned these characters to feel better about our own selves.

I am lucky to have grown up in a time where media has grown to have more focus on stories centered around well-written female characters and female relationships. I am lucky to have been able to watch Barbie (2023), Black Widow (2021), and Wicked (2024), and On the Basis of Sex (2018). I am lucky to read Courtney Peppernell, Nikita Gill, and listen to Paris Paloma. I am lucky to benefit from the hard work the women before me have done to have their stories be shared so widely. I am lucky to live in a time where I can cheer on and celebrate with others as they begin to see better representation of themselves and their identities. We still have a long way to go, but there's been so much amazing progress as well.

And of course, this goes for sexuality as well. The first time I deeply connected to the queer experience of a character in film was while watching The Half of It (2020). I remember crying watching that film. I remember growing more connected with my own queerness, watching that film.

So when I say I wish there were more sapphic ships in my favorite fandoms, or good POV from female characters, or agree that representation and diversity in media is important, that feeling of being seen is always what I'm wishing for. That feeling of a good story with a part of myself in it that I haven't seen before or don't see as often.

Of course, sometimes we write or read characters or relationships different from us to distance ourselves from the experience or the emotion. It creates this safe barrier to explore or enjoy a story without it hitting quite so deeply. Certainly there's nothing wrong with this. In fact I believe it is very important to connect with characters unlike ourselves beyond our shared humanity. But nothing can replace the feeling of a story in which we see so much of our own self reflected in it.

Sometimes, when I express the want to see more good female character POVs or sapphic pairings in my favorite fandoms, the response seems to almost always be "if you don't like it, then go somewhere else." I see the same response towards POC, LGBTQ+, or disabled fans who want to see their experiences in fandom. The response "go somewhere else" is really unhelpful, hurtful, and disappointing. It implies "we don't want you here. We don't have room for you here. Either conform, settle for less, or leave." If i didn't like the story to begin with, if I didn't love that story, then I wouldn't care about feeling seen in that fandom or in that media. Everyone wants to see more of themself in the stories they love. And everyone's story deserves to be told.

If you have had a similar experience in your fandom, then know that I want you here. We want your story here. Your experiences are worth being created, being shared, being loved.