#which includes not being raped and tortured and murdered for being a woman

[jewishbarbies]

the people on my feed who bring up internalized misogyny when you criticize and/or dislike a female celebrity are actually laughable because you go to their blog to see what else they believe and there’s alllll these posts about how the raped and tortured women of oct 7th deserved it acktually because of where they were born and i think that tells me all i need to know about their performative feminism

[runawaysiren940]

Here's the full script for the most recent video, minus where I ad libbed:

Dr. Moumita Debnath, a 31 year old doctor trainee, was found dead on August 9th, 2024. After taking a break half-way through a 36 hour shift, her corpse was found on a blood stained mattress. Her body bore the wounds of torture, from the wounds to her eyes, her pelvis, genitals, arms and legs. As noted in The Publica’s report, “The post-mortem report also noted that over 150 mg of semen was recovered from the doctor’s body, indicating that up to 30 men could have been involved in the violation of Debath’s body. The normal volume of semen produced by a male upon ejaculation typically varies from 1.5 to 5.0 mg, according to the online medical encyclopedia MedlinePlus” (Biase). Her family was told that she died via suicide, though her wounds made it obvious that this was not the case; however, this claim allowed the principal of the school to avoid filing a police report. The attempts to hide the crime did not succeed, and have resulted in protests across India and the medical industry, both in response to the lack of protections for medical staff, and because of the attempt to hide the crime. 

In the aftermath, searches for footage of Debnath’s gang rape have trended, as “According to Google Trends, queries such as “Moumita Debnath porn” and “Dr. Moumita Debnath video” have experienced surges across India, with “Moumita Debnath rap[e] video” experiencing a 110% increase in searches. As of the time of this writing, of all the queries associated with her name, “Moumita Debnath photo video” is the 5th most searched in India, while “Moumita Debath last video” is the 12th most searched overall” (Biase).

This isn’t the only horrific case of gang rape, torture, or extreme violence against women. In fact, back in 2023, Vidya Krishnan wrote an opinion piece published in the New York times on the topic titled, “In India’s Gang Rape Culture, All Women Are Victims”, where she writes: 

It is the specific horror of gang rape that weighs most heavily on Indian women that I know. You may have heard of the many gruesome cases of women being gang-raped, disemboweled and left for dead. When an incident rises to national attention, the kettle of outrage boils over, and women sometimes stage protests, but it passes quickly. All Indian women are victims, each one traumatized, angry, betrayed, exhausted. Many of us think about gang rape more than we care to admit.

In 2011 a woman was raped every 20 minutes in India, according to government data. The pace quickened to about every 16 minutes by 2021, when more than 31,000 rapes were reported, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. In 2021, 2,200 gang rapes were reported to authorities.

But those grotesque numbers tell only part of the story: 77 percent of Indian women who have experienced physical or sexual violence never tell anyone, according to one study. Prosecutions are rare.

Indian men may face persecution because they are Muslims, Dalits (untouchables) or ethnic minorities or for daring to challenge the corrupt powers that be. Indian women suffer because they are women. Soldiers need to believe that war won’t kill them, that only bad luck will; Indian women need to believe the same about rape, to trust that we will come back to the barracks safe each night, to be able to function at all. (Krishnan)

Just from recent memory, I can recall several other horrifying cases. 

In a rare case of justice, in May 2024, a pair of brothers were sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12 year old girl. To hide the crime, they then burned her alive in a coal furnace. (The Hindu Bureau)

In 2012, 22 year old Jyoti Singh was “beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend, Avnindra Pratap Pandey. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend.” She later succumbed to her wombs, while her friend supposedly committed suicide. (Khan)

Many rape cases end with the woman dead. It is horrifying to me, from across the globe, to know that women live under constant threat of sexual assault, and while all assaults are horrific, the cases which break into the international news sphere from India are especially cruel and disturbing. It is the culmination of a deeply traditional and patriarchal society, wherein the devaluation of women is compounded with caste and religious issues, along with the rise of pornography. Porn is the instruction, and rape is the practice; though clearly, there was no need for instruction. 

Famous cases include:

The Suryanelli rape case, where in 1996, a sixteen year old was lured with a marriage promise, kidnapped, and was raped by 37 men during her forty day captivity. Although initially 35 of 39 accused were found guilty, in 2005, all 35 convicted were acquitted of charges. 

The Pararia mass rape, where in 1988, at least 14 women were gang raped by the police force, and had their homes looted after they protested against being removed to make way for a damn being built. “India Today reported Sinha's concluding statements were: "It cannot be ruled out that these ladies might speak falsehood to get a sum of Rs 1,000, which was a huge sum for them." (Bonner)

In many caste altercations, women are targeted because to rape a woman is not done just to her, but is meant to be an insult to the community and the community’s honor. In an environment where religious and social conflict occurs, women are especially vulnerable as targets of sexual violence. 

However, what the internet has provided is an avenue to share the debasement and horror of gang rape with other men. It prolongs the suffering and harm to the victim and her family; but also serves as a warning to other women, and as an enticement to other men. Come, they say. Look at what we did. See how we were despicable and got away with it? You can too. 

A 28 year old tourist and her husband were robbed, then man beaten, and the woman, raped by seven men in March of 2024. Since they have taken down the video detailing the event from their social media, I will not show that here, or go deeply into detail. However, in the reactions to the incident, one can note a pattern of behavior, not just from Indian men, but also women. 

The BBC reported: 

“The chief of India's National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma, also sparked criticism after she responded to a post from a US journalist who wrote that while India was one of his favourite places, "the level of sexual aggression" he witnessed while living in the country was "unlike anywhere else I have ever been". He also gave a couple of examples of sexual assault faced by women he knew.

"Did you ever report the incident to police?" Ms Sharma wrote. "If not then you are totally an irresponsible person. Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is not good choice."” (Sebastian)

Victim blaming is constant, and serves as a deterrent from seeking help, reporting incidents, or enacting change. In the aftermath of the 2019 gang rape and murder of 27 year old Priyanka Reddy, Indian filmmaker Daniel Shravan ranted on social media that  “The government should encourage and legalize rape without violence,” and, “Girls above 18 should be educated on rapes and not deny the sexual desires of men.” He also went on to say that, “Rapists are not finding a way to get their bodily sexual desires [met],” which is compelling them to kill.” (“After a Woman in India was Raped and Murdered, Her Name Trended on Porn Sites”). Because assault and violence against women is so common in India, it makes sense that victim blaming, from both sexes remains so strong, as “according to Inside Southern, the reason for victim blaming is: “People may blame a victim in order to remove themselves from an unpleasant event and therefore confirm their own invulnerability to the risk. Others may perceive the victim as different from themselves if they label or accuse the victim. People console themselves by saying, “Because I’m not like her, and I don’t do that, this would never happen to me.”” (Ram).  In other words, it a pacifier, a way to manage the dread that comes with realizing the ubiquitousness and unpredictability of sexual assault. If there is something you can do to avoid being assaulted, then it must be her fault. And you must be safe, because you don’t make those choices. 

That men make up a large contingent of the judges and lawmakers that in turn pass the laws which allow rapists to walk free iillustrates the universal truth that Anna Maria Mozzoni, a popular Italian feminist theorist, wrote about in 1895, “You will find that the priest who damns you is a man; that the legislator who oppresses you is a man, that the husband who reduces you to an object is a man; that the libertine [anarchist] who harasses you is a man; that the capitalist who enriches himself with your ill- paid work and the speculator who calmly pockets the price of your body, are men.”

It’s easy to forget when the violence is not happening in front of you, when you can excuse it, or look away, or claim that there are forces at play that you don’t understand. It’s easy to say that the problem is with a people or a religion- 

But the truth is that woman hating is universal. A passing interest in anthropology will only show the manifestations of this hatred in creative ways throughout space and time.

Works Cited

“After a Woman in India was Raped and Murdered, Her Name Trended on Porn Sites.” Fight The New Drug, December 2019, https://fightthenewdrug.org/woman-in-india-raped-and-murdered-her-name-trended-on-porn/. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Biase, Natasha. “Name Of Female Doctor Who Was Gang Raped And Murdered In Indian Hospital Appears On Porn Sites As Men Seek Out Footage Of The Assault.” The Publica, 19 August 2024, https://www.thepublica.com/female-doctor-who-was-gang-raped-and-murdered-in-indian-hospital-appears-on-porn-sites-as-indian-men-search-for-footage-of-crime/. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Bonner, Arthur. “Pararia mass rape (1988).” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pararia_mass_rape_(1988). Accessed 21 August 2024.

The Hindu Bureau. “Two get death for raping, burning alive minor girl in Bhilwara.” The Hindu, 20 May 2024, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/rajasthan/two-sentenced-to-death-by-pocso-court-in-rajasthan-court-for-raping-burning-alive-minor-girl/article68195867.ece. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Khan, Aamir. “2012 Delhi gang rape and murder.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Delhi_gang_rape_and_murder. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Krishnan, Vidya. “Opinion | In India's Gang Rape Culture, All Women Are Victims (Published 2023).” The New York Times, 2 June 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/india-women-rape.html. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Ram, Anjali. “Never Ending Tales Of Victim Blaming And Shaming.” Feminism in India, 12 December 2022, https://feminisminindia.com/2022/12/12/never-ending-tales-of-victim-blaming-and-shaming/. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Sebastian, Meryl. “Outrage over Brazilian tourist's gang rape in India.” BBC, 3 March 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-68444993. Accessed 21 August 2024.

[racefortheironthrone]

Was the Comics Code as bad as the Hays Code?

That's a really good question!

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "as bad" - are we talking about the overall impact of the Code on American pop culture or are we talking about the actual content of the Code and what it banned and/or mandated in terms of artistic expression?

I've written a little bit about the Hays Code here, but my main focus was on subtextual judaism in Hollywood generally rather than what the Code was and what its impact on American cinema was.

So what did the Hays Code actually include?

One of the few positive things you can say about it is that the men who devised it were quite clear and forthright about what would and wouldn't be allowed, in comparison to the vagueness and inconsistency of the modern MPAA. So here's the list of what couldn't be shown:

Pointed profanity—by either title or lip—this includes the words God, Lord, Jesus, Christ (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd, and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled; (You'll notice that the Code is very much a snapshot of the transition from silent movies to "talkies," with the discussion of how profanity is spelled as well as produced via "lip.")

Any licentious or suggestive nudity—in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture;

The illegal traffic in drugs;

Any inference of sex perversion; (i.e anything having to do with LGBT+ people and culture. For more on the impact of the Hays Code on the LGBT+ community, see the excellent documentary the Celluloid Closet.)

White slavery; (the 1920s version of sex trafficking, but with added racism!)

Miscegenation;

Sex hygiene and venereal diseases;

Scenes of actual childbirth—in fact or in silhouette;

Children's sex organs;

Ridicule of the clergy;

Willful offense to any nation, race or creed; and (this one was really honored in the breach more than the observance when it came to nations, races, and creeds of non-dominant groups in society.)

The following things could be shown, but "special care be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized:"

The use of the Flag;

International Relations (avoid picturizing in an unfavorable light another country's religion, history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry); (again, depended a lot on what country you're talking about.)

Arson;

The use of firearms;

Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, et cetera (having in mind the effect which a too-detailed description of these may have upon the moron); (I guess the idea was that the MPPDA believed very strongly in the idea that media could affect people's behavior through imitation, but the use of the word "moron" gives me eugenics vibes.)

Brutality and possible gruesomeness;

Technique of committing murder by whatever method;

Methods of smuggling;

Third-Degree methods; (i.e, torture)

Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishment for crime; Sympathy for criminals; (this was a big one; Hollywood had done very well from gangster films, so a lot of creators had to do some careful threading of the needle to keep the genre alive. One dodge that they came up with was that they would have a duplicate "final reel" in which the gangster would have their inevitable comeuppance, and then remove the final reel when the censors had left the theater. Very popular with white rural teens.) Attitude toward public characters and institutions; (again, Hollywood shifting from being anti- to pro-establishment.)

Sedition;

Apparent cruelty to children and animals;

Branding of people or animals;

The sale of women, or of a woman selling her virtue;

Rape or attempted rape;

First-night scenes; (i.e, wedding nights)

Man and woman in bed together; (hence the eventual TV practice of showing married couples in separate beds in the 50s)

Deliberate seduction of girls;

The institution of marriage;

Surgical operations;

The use of drugs;

Titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law-enforcing officers;

Excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a "heavy".

So in general, we can say that the Hays Code was extremely sex-negative, very concerned about crime and anti-establishment thinking, sexist, racist, and homophobic, and in general afraid of offending anybody.

So what about the Comics Code Authority?

So this is what the Comics Code looked like in 1954:

Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals. If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.

Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.

Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation. In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.

Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay, physical agony, the gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.

No comic magazine shall use the words "horror" or "terror" in its title.

All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.

All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated. Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.

Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.

Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden.

Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure. Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable.

Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.

Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Rape scenes, as well as sexual abnormalities, are unacceptable.

Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested.

Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden.

Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals.[16]

You'll notice the similarities when it comes to the Codes' attitude to sex, sexuality, crime, and symbols of authority - so to answer the first part of your question, I would say the CCA was pretty similar to the Hays Code (in part because Charles F. Murphy, who drew it up, was deeply unoriginal and basically cribbed off the Hays Code throughout).

However, there are also some significant areas of difference that have a lot to do with the unique circumstances of the 1950s moral panic over comics. See, in the 1950s, superhero comics were considered deeply uncool and old hat - they had been huge in the 40s during the war, but by the 50s the biggest genre in comics were horror, crime, and romance comics (with cowboy comics bringing up the rear). To quote myself from another post:

"This gave rise to a moral panic in the 1950s, although more accurately it was part of the larger moral panic over juvenile delinquency. The U.S Senate established a Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee in 1953 to investigate the causes of juvenile delinquency and comics became a major target. While Wertham’s book is best known today for its assertions that Batman and Robin were teaching young boys to be gay and Wonder Woman was teaching young girls to be lesbians, the main focus of the Subcommittee [edit mine: and Wertham's academic work] was on horror and crime comics for their depiction of sex, violence, and “subversive” attitudes to law and order."

The CCA made it impossible to publish two of the most popular genres in the industry for a generation (the CCA relaxed its stance on horror stuff a bit in the 70s, which is why Marvel trend-chased werewolves and vampires the moment they could get away with it), which not only scrambled the medium (and potentially created space for the Silver Age of superhero comics to flourish) but drove the former titan EC Comics practically out of business. (Indeed, William Gaines of EC Comics believed that the CCA had been specifically worded to drive him out of business.)

So in some ways, the CCA was worse.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Another one that I start with news of a terrorist attack. -_- This morning, a terrorist started shooting at several vehicles driving down the Jordan Valley, one of which was a school bus. The driver of this bus confirmed that the terrorist was wearing what looked like an IDF uniform. According to Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) there are at least 3 people injured, one is a 13 years old kid, another is in serious condition. The terrorist has not yet been neutralized.

After Amit Soussana's testimony about being raped by Hamas, we also have a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist admitting during an interrogation that he had raped a woman in her home in an Israeli kibbutz. It's not the first such testimony, but these are important enough that when they're published, they ALL must be heard.

The prosecution against the terrorists responsible for the massacre of October 7 has been expanded to include clauses which could end with the death penalty (I found a link to a journalistic source online, then I accidentally closed that tab, and can't find it again, but it's been reported on TV. The following tweet recounts the indictments, though the headline is misleading. A death sentence has not been approved, it's just now approved that it's a possible outcome of the trials, once they take place).

For those unfamiliar with the Eurovision Song Contest, it's an event that has been run since 1956, with the intent to help heal a post-war Europe, by allowing countries to have a friendly competition (instead of a bloody conflict), and also have a chance to get to know each other better through music. It's meant to be a unifying, and therefore also a-political fun music fest. This contest has since been expanded to include all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union, which means Israel also gets to compete since 1973, and has even won 4 times. I wrote this post about our entry this year, if anyone's curious. In recent years, the ESC has been used for annual anti-Israel propaganda, way before the war in Gaza. This year, a senior official in Israel's National Security Office had to issue a warning for any Israelis going to the competition in Sweden, to be careful and hide their identity as much as possible. I am passing along the warning, because wherever Israelis are in danger, so are Jews in general.

After Canada, Sweden, Australia and Finland, now France is also declaring that it will fund UNRWA again, proving that no amount of complicity in anti-Jewish terrorism will stop some European countries from passing along money to those who have raped, maimed, tortured and murdered us. But no worries! France promises it will ensure that their money won't go to terrorism. I will just remind everyone that France brokered a "deal" to pass along medications to Israeli hostages with chronic illnesses in Gaza, in exchange for an additional 1,000 packages of meds for Gazans. It then said they got reassurance that the meds got to those hostages (meaning, France quoted Qatar, which quoted Hamas, so this is the international diplomacy version of, "Trust me, bro. I'm a highly reliable antisemitic terrorist"). When Israeli soldiers got to a hospital in Gaza, they found some of the med packages for the Israeli hostages in its pharmacy, unopened and clearly not delivered to the rightful address. So... IDK about you, but I'm pretty sure even the French know their assurances about the UNRWA funding are just empty words.

This is 40 years old Mohammad Alatrash.

He's an Israeli Bedouin Muslim Arab, and father of 13, including a one month old baby. He was kidnapped on Oct 7, and has been held captive in Gaza since. Mohammad's uncle said the whole family's life has not been normal since he was taken hostage. Despite that, today several families of hostages had a tour of the attacked communities in the south, with Israel's and Belgium's Foreign Ministers, his brother Salem said that they're okay with Mohammad being released later, as long as Hamas frees the female hostages. "It's hell what they're made to go through there." Just a reminder that Mohammad is one of the Israeli Muslim hostages that Hamas could have and chose not to release even during the month holy to all muslims, Ramadan.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[misshorrorotaku]

I am not one to put myself into discourse but I really need to explain something to you,

As a Palestinian you need to understand that Hamas aren't killing babies, those 40 Israeli babies were made up, this had been confirmed over and over again. Palestine is older then Israel, Isreal only started existing after WW2, Palestinian's welcomed them but we're faced with Starvation,genocide, rape and bombing in return.

It is currently Ramadan, a time of fasting from sunrise till sundown, yet they have no food nor water to have before this period.

13,000 innocent children have died. Over 300+ not even making it to their first birthday. Girls and woman are experiencing periods and pregnancy without proper supplies. Isreal is not struggling, they have received over 300+ billion dollars in support from the U.S.A alone. You're ignorance isn't some "I'm better and different" stunt. You are actively supporting the death of entire bloodlines and families.

Don't you dare pull "Well, what if their Hamas" Isreal has proved they can bomb a specific room to kill them. This isn't about Hamas, Isreal is wiping out entire families, lives, homes, etc.

They're killing innocent animals too.

To put this in your shoes, imagine if you were bombed, raped and tortured, not knowing if you were going to make it to the next day, you're being starved. Whilst media is actively supporting your nightmare, funding it, even.

Before you pull the Hamas card on me, I have been raised with Western media and in America. I find myself lucky for this even though my people are struggling.

Please, scroll through pro-Palestine tags without bringing your opinion into the matter to see what is going on. I beg.

No, honey, actually it wasn't disproven. The people who tried said "yeah, babies were beheaded, but it wasn't 40 of them." XD

Palestine is not older than Israel. There are references to Israel in the Torah, which is older than Islam. And no, the Palestinians did not "welcome Israel". XD that is blatantly false.

And really? So tell me, why do they know for sure these 13k kids have died but can't name how many of their hostages are alive? Please explain that to me. How is that possible?

Okay? Israel not struggling doesn't mean anything. XD Being weak and having your government steal the billions in foreign aid to make themselves rich does not make a war against you a genocide.

I'm not supporting the deaths of anybody, and It is 100% about Hamas, Israel literally sends warnings in an effort to avoid civilian casualties. Even if Hamas isn't lying (incredibly unlikely) they have killed less than most wars have in the modern era.

Even if I was in their shoes, honey, I wouldn't want people siding with my oppressors because westerners decided the terrorists who'd murder me for speaking against them and consider everyone I know and love to be martyrs they're happy to sacrifice are resistance fighters. And hell, there are Palestinians who hold this very stance, who knows that Hamas is the fucking problem not Israel, westerners like you just ignore them.

You were raised in America and with western media? Cool. Doesn't change that you're falling for propaganda. XD being raised in the West does not make you immune to propaganda.

And no, I will not let idiots spread misinformation, and I will not let them villainize the Jews because Israel is actually defending itself when terrorists attack them and kidnap their people instead of laying down and dying.

I have paid plenty of attention to what's happening, including from the Pro-Pal side, I just happen to know terrorists aren't the good guys just cuz they play to people's sympathy and use their own people as human shields to make Israel look like the villain.

Just cuz it didn't lead me to agree with you doesn't mean I haven't been exposing myself to Pro-Pal talking points and "evidence."

[ausetkmt]

When Sorry Isn't Enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice (Critical American Series)

When Sorry Isn't Enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice (Critical American Series)

Leading scholars, activists, and political leaders on being victim's of the world's worst atrocities "How much compensation ought to be paid to a woman who was raped 7,500 times? What would the members of the Commission want for their daughters if their daughters had been raped even once?"—Karen Parker, speaking before the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Seemingly every week, a new question arises relative to the current worldwide ferment over human injustices. Why does the U.S. offer $20,000 atonement money to Japanese Americans relocated to concentration camps during World War II, while not even apologizing to African Americans for 250 years of human bondage and another century of institutionalized discrimination? How can the U.S. and Canada best grapple with the genocidal campaigns against Native Americans on which their countries were founded? How should Japan make amends to Korean "comfort women" sexually enslaved during World War II? Why does South Africa deem it necessary to grant amnesty to whites who tortured and murdered blacks under apartheid? Is Germany's highly praised redress program, which has paid billions of dollars to Jews worldwide, a success, and, as such, an example for others?More generally, is compensation for a historical wrong dangerous "blood money" that allows a nation to wash its hands forever of its responsibility to those it has injured? A rich collection of essays from leading scholars, pundits, activists, and political leaders the world over, many written expressly for this volume, When Sorry Isn't Enough also includes the voices of the victims of some of the world's worst atrocities, thereby providing a panoramic perspective on an international controversy often marked more by heat than reason.

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fiction, Adult, Fantasy, Humor

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Content Warning: Violence, Death, Suicide, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Genocide           

Summary: From bestselling author Django Wexler comes a laugh-out-loud fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides maybe the Dark Lord doesn’t have it all wrong after all, perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett and KJ Parker.

Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.

This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.

*Opinions*

I watch a lot of bookish content, which is why my TBR continues to grow and not shrink, but this is another read influenced by social media. It was a five-star read for the Booktalker (booksandlala) and the premise sounded interesting to me, so I requested it from the library. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was not what I got out of this novel. This was a satirical, fourth-wall-breaking romp through this fantasy world of Wexler’s creation. While I enjoyed my time in this world (though with a few critics) this novel will not be for everyone.

How to Become the Dark Lord or Die Trying follows Davi, a chosen one sent from Earth to a fantasy realm to save the Kingdom. The only problem? She keeps failing at this task and dying over and over and over again. The good news is that she always returns to where she started, a pool where she first emerged—the bad news, after a couple of thousand years that gets really old. Eventually, Davi decides that she wants to be on the winning team and tries not to save the kingdom, but become the Dark Lord that eventually destroys it. While there are a lot of false starts on this path as well, eventually Davi has a small horde of Wilders, and on her way to the meeting that will choose the next Dark Lord. However, without knowing how things work on this side of the world, Davi has to rely on her wits and a whole lot of luck to get the title she so dearly wants. Then again, if she dies, she can just try again, right?

The way that Wexler wrote this fantasy novel was reminiscent of a Mel Brooks movie, though I would not state that it is executed as well as one of those movies. Davi takes every well-worn fantasy trope and turns it on it’s head during her time attempting to become the Dark Lord, including murdering her quest giver multiple times. The issue I have is that near the end of the novel, is that Wexler attempts to go from a funny romp to serious questions about the world and Davi mentally manages the change in her understanding of how the world works. I understand that satirical novels need a plot, but the shift to serious lore and Davi losing her mind a little was a pretty serious shift, which is then forgotten after a couple of chapters.

The internal logic of this novel did not work at times well, which I didn’t get too hung up on given that this is a humorous novel, but I did catch it. The biggest one is that Davi does not remember anything about her life before coming to this fantasy world, she mentions this multiple times, yet she uses almost exclusively pop culture and known references from our world. You would think that after a couple of thousand years, she would forget movie lines along with what she used to do for a living. You would also think that she would catch on to the lore and myths of this world and use their slang. She is able to speak Wilder, but decides to confuse everyone around her constantly by continuing to talk in Earth references. I get that it is the humor of the novel, but it didn’t make sense within the logic of the world Wexler developed.

While I enjoyed my time with this novel, but most readers will know within the first twenty-five pages whether they like the narrative voice or if it is going to drive them insane. When describing the humor and overall narrative voice to a friend, I stated that it reminded me of Youtubers, especially in the gaming sphere, in the heyday of its popularity. Think like Smosh or early Markipler and Jacksepcticeye. If that is not the type of humor you enjoy, Davi is going to get on your nerves immediately. At times, I even found her a bit too much but I was enjoying the twist on a fantasy novel that I was able to push through those instances, which happened mostly at the beginning of the novel. Another writing aspect that did not really work for me was any time Davi was thinking about sex, which was a lot (see my comment about Youtuber humor). Now there were not the more egregious issues of a man writing a female main character, but there was something in the way that he wrote her horniess that made it clear the author was a man. I am not saying that women cannot be extremely horny, it is the way that it was written. I wish I had a better way to describe it. Again, I watched a lot of Youtube in my day so I was able to deal with it, but I can see it being an issue for other readers.

I personally did not like Davi a lot, but the surrounding characters were enough to push me through when she was extremely annoying. Still, even the primary romance didn’t hold my attention, mostly due to the issue I had with how Davi was written in terms of her thoughts on sex and her pursuing those needs. I did like her love interest, they were one of the few sincere characters in this novel.

I know this all makes it sound as if I didn’t enjoy the novel, but I had a good time while I was reading it. I just never found that I wanted to pick it back up. This is a story that I am interested in seeing where it is going, especially given the ending, but I will be picking it up from the library. This is a 3.5 read

[megamuscle885-blog]

My apologies to the Wormies following me, but I'm re-listening to the Wheel of Time audio book(s) and I just got to the Seanchan and I'm going to explode if I don't talk about how much I fucking hate them. Spoilers for Wheel of Time (but honestly it's 15 books I'm not going to force you to read all of them first.)

CW: Fascists. Sexual abuse/violence.

They're fascists. Unambiguously. They enslave just about everyone and everything they meet. They expect complete strangers to know their intricate ways under pain of death. Anyone they can't kill for convenience they torture in their every waking moment. They conquer people, then let them walk around armed because of their brutal arrogance that lets them murder anyone not cowed into submission.

Damane are enslaved, treated like animals, have their hands and tongues cut off if there is a risk to their owner's secrets, and despite the apparent Seanchan cultural shame of having sex with one, treated akin to bestiality, I seriously doubt that there aren't members of the Blood that have raped Damane. When women are under institutional power to the degree that the Seanchan have placed women who can channel under, women who are already treated like animals, or as it's said in the text; "Like a piece of furniture or a tool", women are victimized. Some of these women have been enslaved for hundreds of years, some have been captured as teenagers, and the ones holding their literal chains are also women who can channel that simply didn't have the initial spark that doomed the other women in the first place. By all technicality, each and every Suldam, including the Seanchan Heir apparent are Marath'damane themselves. The only fucking reason that Tuon doesn't get collared herself is because the text needs her to commit her forces to the Last Battle. It would only take a little thinking and her entire court could supplant her.

I hate every single facet of their existence. Their empire is under constant rebellion, but not a single fucking one of the Seanchan characters thinks it's at all odd that people are constantly rising up in defiance of a totalitarian state as merciless and cruel as theirs. It's treated as a bad thing that darkfriends cause the collapse of the mainland Seanchan Empire, the death of the Empress, and the complete anarchy that follows.

My sole consolation is the knowledge that every empire falls, that my headcanon for the aftermath of Wheel of Time means that the Seanchan collapse entirely. Their mainland is embroiled in a total civil war, armed with rampaging, angry magical nukes, scouring everything of life. Their new empire is headed by a woman who can channel, and every enslaved and conquered person in their invader empire can theoretically flee into the free lands of the east, including any women who can channel. If anyone figures out that the A'dam would work on Tuon, she's fucked and so is Matt and the Seanchan settler empire. There is no way that the Seanchan can keep hunting Marath'damane with the entire rest of the world has organizations of channelers that they can flee to, and the Dragon's Peace to keep the nations from killing each-other.

The worst part about listening to the Seanchan chapters is having to pause every ten minutes or so and get angry about something new being so cartoonishly evil, while the Seanchan shrug off criticism as if it's somehow natural to murder and enslave everything you can see and people who don't just don't understand their ways, which are better than everyone else.

And we're supposed to accept that Tuon is somehow gentler with her Damane. As if that's a fucking high bar to clear. Hypocritical bitch. Fuck you.

Maybe they'll tone it down for the TV show, but I already have so many problems with the show that I probably won't watch it. Amazon will not do the books justice, and they've abbreviated and changed so much it's barely the same tone or characters. That can be another rant for another day.

[bigskydreaming]

Hi, I read your post about the 10 misconceptions concerning Dick Grayson…if you don’t mind, who was the person who sexually assaulted him the “first” time? You said he worked with them in a superhero/crimefighting capacity…I’m just asking because I’ve never heard of that & sometimes I do want to know canon instead of just fanon. It’s cool if you want to answer this privately (in case others feel uncomfortable with the topic). I know you probably have more important stuff to do, so if you just want to give me the name of the character & the arc, I can look up the rest.

Anyway, thanks for the informative post. Hope you’re well.

No worries! The character/event I was referring to prior to Tarantula was Mirage, a teammate on the New Teen Titans briefly, and there's a looooooot of fanon to wade through about this, much of which I don't personally agree with. Including (and in some cases especially) in regards to a lot of the fanon that uses this to woobify Dick at the express expense of Kory, which I personally hate. (It really needs to be talked about more that Kory is a sexual assault survivor herself, IMO).

Furthermore, there's a tendency fandoms in general have - which I hate - that thinks anti-rape activism looks like focusing explicitly just on the rapists and vilifying them while leaving their actual survivors to be treated as focal afterthoughts, all of which I find to be SUPREMELY counter productive. And there's not a lot of nuance paid to how both Mirage & Tarantula - much like Morrison's take on Talia - feeds into & perpetuates racist tropes like 'the exoticized predatory woman of color,' which leads to a lot of pro-Dick Grayson/'men can be raped too' sentiments being used just as a justification for writers & readers to have an excuse to write characters like Jason torturing and murdering women of color in the name of defending Dick's honor or whatever. And I really can't express how much I hate that either.

All of this is just to say......be very careful with fanon takes & interactions with BOTH the Tarantula and Mirage storylines, and please always be mindful of the lens through which you scrutinize these stories and takes on these stories.

I've written about both storylines and my takes on fanon tropes about them many times over the years (full disclosure, I'm a male rape survivor so my stances on this subject are very much biased and not remotely inclined to pretend otherwise, lol) and you can probably find a lot of posts about them by searching my blog for the relevant character names, but here's my big go-to post on the Mirage situation and fallout, in which I tried to back up all my viewpoints with canon sourcing. Its definitely long, but aimed at being as thorough as I could make it.

[mightyflamethrower]

Hamas terrorists, father and son, admit raping before murdering women on Oct. 7 - Daily Mail

The father described how he raped a crying woman at gunpoint, and the son described how his father murdered the woman "after we finished raping her." The father admitted to raping multiple women.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMAY 23, 2024 17:49Updated: MAY 25, 2024 10:27

 

 

 

Two Hamas terrorists, a father and son, confessed to raping innocent Israeli civilians before killing them on October 7, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Jamal Hussein Ahmad Radi, a 47-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, was described as shameless, and his 18-year-old son, Abdallah, was called evil in the report.

The report focused on a video in which the two terrorists described murdering civilians in their homes, kidnapping victims, and raping women before murdering them.

The report described how the two terrorists confessed to invading Israel and infiltrating Kibbutz Nir Oz, where “in each house where [they] found someone, [they] either killed them or kidnapped them.”

According to the son’s confession, however, his father did not provide the investigators with the entire truth. The son said his father had killed the woman after she was raped by multiple people, including himself, the report said.

“My father raped her, then I did, and then my cousin did, and then we left,” he was quoted as saying. “But my father killed the woman after we finished raping her.”

Another woman was raped by the two terrorists, as well as two more people who were raped by the father, the report said, saying he had confessed to having “raped another girl as well,” and that he “broke into five houses.”

Father and son are both in custody

According to the IDF, both the father and son are in custody in Israel and awaiting trial.

The testimonies arrived two months after a report concerning sexual-violence incidents on October 7 delivered by Pramila Patten, special representative of the UN secretary-general, the report said.

Patten’s report was based on interviews with multiple October 7 victims and survivors, as well as investigating the bodies of victims at different morgues.

“It was a catalog of the most extreme and inhumane forms of killing, torture, and other horrors,” the Daily Mail quoted Patten as saying.

Some women who were at the Supernova music festival on October 7 were also victims of Hamas’s use of sexual violence as a weapon, the report said.

The report ended with an IDF spokesperson being quoted as saying in a video: “Over the past months, we’ve seen countless evidence of the brutal violence used by Hamas on October 7, including harrowing acts of gender-based and sexual violence. These confessions further prove that any attempt to deny the horrors of October 7, and discredit the testimonies of witnesses, survivors, and freed hostages, is part of a campaign to delegitimize Israel and to promote the justification of terrorism.”

Wow....!!!! Such courage. (sarcasm) Gang raping a poor woman with her hands tied behind her back. You can't get any braver than that.

At this point anyone who supports the Hamas Terrorist has to admit they are as fascist as any SS trooper in 1941.

[ellen729]

So, I was reading something where someone was saying David was SO MEAN to Hook in their earlier episodes even though he had NO REASON (what with not knowing Hook had sadistically murdered his dad).

Uhh. . . .

Some of the little, itty-bitty things David might hold against Hook at this point.

For starters, it seems safe to assume David had heard what Hook had been doing in the Enchanted Forest.

1. After earning their trust and living among them for two months, Hook helped murder a village full of innocent people.

2. One of those people was a friend of David’s, Lancelot.

3. Hook had been Cora’s willing minion for close to 30 years (whether that involved massacres and murders is unclear).

4. When given a chance to stop working with Cora after at least one massacre, Hook quickly signed on again.

5. Hook tore out Aurora’s heart and forced her to betray her friends (there is speculation that he sexually assaulted Aurora after taking her heart as well).

6. Left four women to die of hunger and thirst in a small, dark cave.

7. Made crude statements to David’s daughter.

8. Behaved like a sexist abuser. Hook makes it quite clear that he considered Emma finding a way to leave him behind without having to kill him to protect herself and her family and friends was a personal betrayal. Apparently, he felt she was supposed to have fallen for his charms, making her his, making her leaving him behind an unforgivable dumping by a woman he already treated as his property.

9. Made rape jokes while trying to kill David’s daughter.

Then, we get into things Hook did once he was in Storybrooke:

1. Murdered people.

2. Kidnapped and tortured a friend of David’s.

3. Having kidnapped and imprisoned the giant who spared his life, Hook convinced him David was really his brother James and set things up so a giant was going on a rampage in a small town with many noncombatants, including children.

4. Used crude language to sexually harass women, including David’s wife (which he did in front of David).

5. Shot a woman in the back and erased all her memories after she’d saved his life. Stated that he did this to get back at the man who loved her (because he sees women as things whose value exists only in terms of the men the “belong” to).

6.  Tried to murder Gold.

7. Helped get the failsafe that could kill everyone in Storybrooke and then gave it to people trying to kill everyone in Storybrooke.

8. Helped destroy nearly all the magic beans.

9. Worked with Regina when she was trying to kill everyone.

10. Worked with Greg and Tamara when they were trying to kill everyone.

11. Handed Regina over to Greg and Tamara and stood around watching while Regina was being tortured.

12. Helped Greg and Tamara kidnap Henry.

13. Stole the last magic bean and ran off with it, leaving everyone to die.

14. Apparently sat safely outside the town limits and only came back after the failsafe had been disarmed and everyone wasn’t going to die.

15. Assaulted David, knocking him out when making a jailbreak.

16. Made it clear that, despite David’s daughter showing no interest in him, he intended to get David’s daughter.

17. Considered letting David die as part of his plan to get David’s daughter.

18. Found out Hook had gotten large numbers of the men who worked for him killed in Neverland. It’s unclear if David knew that Hook made some kind of deal with Pan that let him leave and return, during which he apparently hired new crew, many of whom also got killed in Neverland.

19. Learned Hook had killed children in Neverland (given conditions in Neverland, some of that may have been self-defence. Again, it’s unclear if David knew Hook frequently left and returned, implying he didn’t have to keep going back to participate in Pan’s games and kill kids).

20. Trafficked children. It’s known that Hook sold Baelfire to Pan, though it’s unclear if anyone ever learns this. It’s also unclear if Hook, doing whatever he did for Pan, didn’t pick up new children for him as well as crew for himself.

And, yet, David was a bit chilly towards him. How unforgivable.

[theory-of-art]

4.1 Gender Differences

Both Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio created oil on canvas pieces depicting the moment when Judith assassinates Holofernes from the “Book of Judith,” a text included in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox bible, defined as apocryphal by Protestants, and excluded by the Hebrew canon. In the story, Judith uses her beauty and charm to kill the Assyrian general Holofernes who had besieged her city. The story is meant to represent the paradox of a “good” sin (murdering one man but saving an entire city). 

The obvious difference between Gentileschi and Caravaggio’s pieces are the orientation, Caravaggio’s piece is oriented horizontally which allows for a lot of negative space that emphasizes the chariscuro but doesn’t add to the portrayal of the scene. The horizontal orientation creates a clear delineation between the feminine “softness” of Judith and her maid and the masculine gore of Holofernes. Judith’s form is depicted as leaning away from Holofernes and the sword she is using to decapitate him. Her grip is partially obscured behind Holofernes’ head and it is angled in a way that would not have allowed a fraction of the strength she would have needed to sever his head from his body. She is also depicted as wearing a pure white bodice, unstained by the spurting blood which was so kind as to spray away from her form. Her expression shows a pitying practicality, knowing she must do this grizzly deed but seemingly contrite about the murder. By depicting Judith in this way, Caravaggio emphasizes the male gaze of the early modern period, the feminine daintiness necessitated by the patriarchal culture of the time. Despite Judith being forced to make this morally gray decision, she is visibly recoiling from the violence and thus unstained by its execution, remaining non-threatening to the established norms. 

In contrast, Gentileschi’s piece is oriented vertically and the scene fills the canvas not allowing for more than fifteen percent of the image to be negative space. In this piece, Holofernes is supine on a stack of mattresses, actively trying to fight off Judith’s maid servant who is pinning his arms to his chest. The maid servant is exerting obvious effort to pin Holofernes, it is clear she is using gravity and her body weight to give her that slight advantage to overpower him. Judith occupies the right of the frame, gripping Holofernes by the hair and forcing his face away from her with her left hand while her right hand holds the sword she is using to cut his head off of his body. Her face shows a calm practicality, similar to Caravaggio’s Judith, but Gentileschi’s Judith is depicted with straining muscles, tendons standing out on her arms as she clearly saws the sword through Holofernes’ neck. Below Holofernes’ head, the sheets are stained with blood and gore, depicted by a deeper red than Caravaggio’s vivid, unrealistic red. Ultimately, Gentileschi’s work depicts a harsher reality of early modern women, capable of seduction and femininity but also capable of taking care of problems by any means necessary. 

Understanding Gentileschi and Caravaggio’s biographies color the interpretation of both of their pieces. Caravaggio’s depiction of bloody gore is antithetical to the fact that he murdered a man in a brawl which caused him to flee from Rome to Naples. Knowing that he had first hand experience in violent, masculine struggles emphasizes the idea of femininity he is presenting in his work. Artemisia Gentileschi on the other hand, was the daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, another baroque artist, and was the first woman accepted to the Florentine Academy. According to court records, around the time this piece was created Gentileschi was raped by one of her father’s assistants and her testimony in the court case was only admissable if given under torture. Knowing the reality of Gentileschi’s life around the time of creation, the vengeful practicality of the violence depicted against Holofernes can be seen as a cathartic expression for Gentileschi, though primary documentation is lacking to provide a full psychoanalytic analysis. Whether it was auto-biographical or not, Gentileschi allows her depiction of femininity to contain the typical signs associated with masculine rationality and violence, highlighting the nuance of gender. 

Pointon, Marcia. “Artemesia Gentileschi’s ‘The Murder of Holofernes.’” American Imago, vol. 38, no. 4, 1981, pp. 343–67. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26303770.

[matan4il]

I'm so disappointed in Susan Sarandon right now. How about never ever have a sentence in any context that includes "Jews getting a taste of".

Especially as a woman. Like how do all these women just dismiss the rape of moms. Murdering of children. Putting babies in ovens!!! Ignoring the hostages living in Hell right now. Just I need a sign of humanity right now.

What they did October 7th wasn't warfare. It wasn't against a military. It was barbaric, animal style torture. Anyone not talking about what they did that day is just a soulless monster to me.

Hi Nonnie!

I couldn't agree more. Her antisemitism really jumped out of her there, didn't it? If your response to the Jews of your country being persecuted and scared is, "Good!" I don't care what excuses you use, you're just an antisemite.

Also, saying that "Jews are getting a taste of what Muslims are in this country," like Jews had it coming, only makes sense if you're saying that Jews are somehow responsible for islamophobia in the US? Which is literally the opposite of the truth. An islamophobia Index study found Jews were the least prejudiced in the US against Muslims. But even if it were true, do two wrongs make a right? The very idea that she's using American Islamophobia to justify American antisemitism is also evidence of her just being an antisemite.

But there were many headlines saying she was fired for being pro-Palestinian. Here's a few examples:

Even many of the headlines who didn't call her comment "pro-Palestinian," stated that she was dumped by her agency for comments "at a pro-Palestinian rally" instead of just saying she was dropped for making antisemitic remarks.

It demonstrates exactly how this new antisemitism works. She can say anything antisemitic, no matter how morally wrong, no matter how factually inaccurate, and it just gets cloaked as being "pro-Palestinian." Will American Jews being scared in the US free a single Palestinian in Gaza? No. Did Sarandon speak for Palestinian protesters a few months ago, when they were being killed by Hamas? Also no. Because she doesn't really care about them, they're just a tool for her to be gleeful over Jews being persecuted.

I'm not even gonna talk about her circulating false information about the Jewish state (that Israeli soldiers are the ones responsible for killing Israeli civilians, not Hamas), and that to do so, she retweeted a right wing, white supremacist antisemite. Sarandon, supposedly a human rights, far left activist, amplified the voice of a right wing, white supremacist antisemite. There really is no end to what antisemites are willing to do, or what they think they can get away with under the guise of "just" being anti-Israel, not antisemitic.

I'm glad she got her comeuppance, I'm glad her talent agency dropped her. Not that her acting career has been relevant for decades. She had two iconic roles, which is two more than many actors, but I was looking at her acting credits, and the last time she had an acting role that really made waves at the time is a 1999 movie. And maybe that also explains why she's suddenly so vocally anti-Israeli since 2021, because that's the only way she's made headlines in recent years. IDK to what a degree this also plays a role, but I do think people like Sarandon and Roger Waters are, at least in part, also feeding their own ego, when suddenly their anti-Israel (and antisemitic) comments get them attention, and from certain factions, even praise.

That's a long winded way to say, I totally agree with you. About Sarandon, and about anyone dismissing, ignoring, and especially justifying Oct 7. It was barbaric on levels that are hard to comprehend. I think it's especially telling when hearing forensic examiners, first responders and morgue workers saying that Oct 7 was like none of the other horrors they had witnessed over decades of gruesome work.

I hope you're doing good, lovely, despite how infuriating all of this is. Sending you hugs! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[kdnss77]

Girl Hell 1999/Shojo jigoku ichi kyu kyu kyu (1999)

basic info: directed and written by Daisuke Yamanouchi (also known as the executive of such titles as "Red Room" or "Celluloid Nightmares" from the same year). it's classified under the genre of horror, for the sake of including acts of slight gore, violence and a broad range of sexual abuse performances.

overall ratings: imdb: 5,1/10 letterboxd: 2,5/5

plot summary: the movie sets off with a melancholic shot featuring the protagonist, 17-year old Misaki, which turns out to be a leap into the future in the latter take (and, probably, captures the rather suicidal state of her mind - as the events unfold, we're gradually familiarized with all that the girl had dealt with and what has left her almost completely callous to the matter of her own existence). subsequently, we learn that Misaki actively supports a homeless woman living near the bridge in the town, bringing her leftover food and keeping her company. however, it turns out she's in the center of attention of both a young, although extremely short-tempered and abusive worker and an individual standing behind the repetitive thefts of her biking seat (which, to me, at first seemed more of a cruel joke made by her classmates, so as to bully her. but it comes down to a gross piss kink later on). its also revealed that the schoolgirl parts her daily life with an unpredictable father and a heavily wounded sister, who constantly needs to be taken care of. her sibling's immobility is unfortunately taken advantage of by the parent, him imposing becoming an object destined for rape only on her. more into the movie, when Misaki resigns on meeting the guy interested in her, he and his loyal friend run for a vigorous killing spree in revenge - first, they brutally deal with the oblivious woman from under the bridge, then knock Misaki's father off and end up torturing her sister until she's become completely lifeless. in the meantime, Misaki herself is captured by the pervert, who has been the initial cause for her bike seat to magically disappear (this sequence includes a picture of the man drinking her urine from a tube). then we're finally brought to the point, with which the whole movie began - Misaki's out of any emotions, becomes completely soulless and simply gives herself in to the two previously mentioned friends, who have just murdered her only family. the ending scene is rather unexpected - while walking off, the protagonist encounters the beaten up, homeless woman, holding a different doll (the previous one and therefore the one woman has been taking care of so thoroughly ever since - Haruko - had been destroyed by the workers). this sight causes the girl to snap and proceed to continuously hurt the terrified woman with a bat.

my thoughts: this one, no matter from what angle you look at it, is plainly pointless. just a story about a schoolgirl who somehow happens to have everything and everyone against her, suffering non-culpably for being too pure and kind-hearted for this world. having oversimplified what my reflections on this have morphed into so far, of course. nevertheless, the movie has some remarkable bits, that make it live up to my expectations in a way. in terms of the production it's, however, way below those - it's clearly a low-budget one, what emerges in inadequate cuts or sudden lightning changes (on the contrary, one could state that this was purely intentional - personally i liked the random alternations between first colored and then black-white canvas in the meantime of all the dramatic shots. it points to some further vision and potential, that - unfortunately - wasn't entirely fulfilled). what i find valuable about "Girl Hell" is the aftermath of its story. the plot alone is rather senseless, but taking into consideration the burden protagonist has to deal with, it makes her a pretty complex character. firstly, she seems to live in constant fear - the moments, in which she contemplates on entering her own house are filled with unspeakable tension. deep inside she'd rather be anywhere else, far away from the hell she has to deal with every day after school. she never knows what to expect from her perverted and aggressive father, of whom she's afraid of and can't do much to stop him from sexually abusing her disabled sibling. her sister on the other hand, loathes her, even though Misaki is the one to treat her unhealed wounds. what's more, she's convinced Misaki's glad she ended up like this, prompting her to spiral down her own helplessness even deeper. in a hazardous confrontation with her father, after pointing a knife at him, she's also obstinately defending her mother, who had abandoned their family some time ago. however, it seems that - somewhere, under the surface of self-indulged guilt - she pities her parent for leaving her, not receiving this motherly kind of love. this lack emerges, among others, in the scene where Misaki starts to drink milk from a breast of the homeless woman - sucking on it just like a newborn child, almost wistfully. then, again, in the ending scene of the movie - when Misako realizes, that a new doll has already found its place in the arms of the lady, she rages on her with a blood-covered bat, granting her with numerous hits. to me, it seems that she might have seen herself in this particular piece of plastic - she's been simply thrown away by her mother (who, taking into account the words of Misaki's father, has probably run away with an another man), despite being nothing more than a child. it's symbolic in a way - it's the first and only time in the whole movie that Misaki lets her frustrations out instead of obediently cramming them inside. this scene, in fact, literally rescues the production as a whole. but it still doesn't contribute to exceeding the norms of mediocre watch. i just wish Yamanouchi contented himself on releasing a rather poorly made, although self-sufficient movie. and not something aspiring to be a high-budget crap, screaming with potential yet too proudly exhibited. and it's exactly what killed it.

my rating (on a scale from 1 to 5): 2,5/5

favorite quote: "I bet you feel real good, now that i've ended up like this." (these words come from Misaki's sister. i find them crucial in a way, as the point of the protagonist's story is the exaggerated focus her inability to prove anyone or anything wrong - including the self-loathing she most probably experienced too in the face of it. her family life is a torture, she's surrounded by perverts and abusive individuals, basically drowning in all sorts of depravation. it seems as if she was sentenced for them, the one to be blamed for everything that ever happens. just like you could imagine the generalized perception of hell, a never ending torture).

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (February 21)

Saint Robert Southwell, SJ (c. 1561 – 21 February 1595), an English Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, is one of the 40 martyrs of England & Wales murdered during the English anti-Catholic Reformation.

Robert was born in Norfolk, the youngest of eight children in a well-to-do family with Catholic sympathies in the midst of the anti-Catholic sentiment started by the Anglican reformation.

In 1576, he was sent to France to study with the Jesuits at the English college at Douai.

After completing his education, he requested to join the Society of Jesus but was rejected because he was too young.

Moreover, the Jesuit seminary was temporarily closed because of the growing confrontations between French and Spanish forces.

But in a show of his conviction, he set off on foot to Rome to make his case for becoming a Jesuit in 1578.

After being admitted to the probation house of Sant' Andrea on 17 October 1578, and after the completion of the novitiate, Southwell began studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit College in Rome.

He was then ordained in 1584.

That same year, Queen Elizabeth I had passed an edict establishing the death penalty for any British Catholic priest or religious who joined a religious order abroad to remain in England longer than forty days.

Two years later, Southwell requested to be sent back to England as a clandestine Jesuit missionary with Henry Garnet.

Southwell preached and ministered successfully for six years, publishing Catholic catechism and writing spiritual poetry that would make him one of the most important Baroque English poets.

But the Queen's chief priest-hunter, Richard Topcliffe, pressured a young Catholic woman he had raped to betray Southwell.

Once captured, he was initially jailed in Topcliffe's personal prison and tortured 13 different times, trying to get him to name Catholic families involved in the clandestine Catholic mission.

Fr. Robert did not betray a single name.

Transferred to the infamous Tower of London, Southwell endured cold and solitude for two and a half years, reading the Bible, the works of St. Bernard, and praying the Breviary.

During that time, he also wrote the most important portion of his poetry.

In 1595, Southwell was finally put on trial accused of treason.

During the trial, he admitted being a Jesuit to minister to Catholics but strongly denied ever being involved in “designs or plots against the queen or kingdom."

After the predictable guilty verdict, he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

On 21 February 1595, in Tyburn, the Jesuit was allowed to address the crowd about his mission as a Catholic priest.

He pronounced the words of Psalm 30 prayed in Complines: in manus tuas commendabo spiritum meum (Into your hands i commend my spirit) and made the sign of the cross.

After he was hanged and his severed head presented to the crowd, the traditional shout of “traitor” was replaced by utter silence.

Soon after his martyrdom, his body of poetry started to circulate in manuscripts among Catholics.

In 1595, his “St. Peter's Complaint” and other poems were printed.

By 1636, 14 editions had been printed and other collections of poems, including “Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears” and "Maeoniae."

He was beatified by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on 25 October 1970, as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Many critics believe that the poem that expresses the best of his dramatic message to his fellow persecuted Catholics in England is “Life is But Losse,” which he wrote in prison:

By force I live, in will I wish to dye;

In playnte I passe the length of lingring dayes;

Free would my soule from mortall body flye,

And tredd the track of death's desyred waies:

Life is but losse where death is deemed gaine,

And loathed pleasures breed displeasinge payne.

.....

Come, cruell death, why lingrest thou so longe?

What doth withould thy dynte from fatall stroke?

Nowe prest I am, alas! thou dost me wronge,

To lett me live, more anger to provoke:

Thy right is had when thou hast stopt my breathe,

Why shouldst thoue stay to worke my dooble deathe?

.....

Avaunt, O viper! I thy spite defye:

There is a God that overrules thy force,

Who can thy weapons to His will applie,

And shorten or prolonge our brittle course.

I on His mercy, not thy might, relye;

To Him I live, for Him I hope to die.

—

Full version

[whileiamdying]

Film-maker Mehran Tamadon tells stories of torture in Iran, yesterday and today

With his new documentary “Where God is Not”, French-Iranian film-maker Mehran Tamadon hopes that the testimonies of former detainees who say they were tortured in Iran will “unsettle” some of their persecutors.

Thursday 20/04/2023

Iranian director Mehran Tamadon speaks during an interview during the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin. (Reuters)

PARIS –

One man mimes his bones being broken, a woman recounts her surrender to religious brainwashing, while a third man replicates his confinement in a tiny prison cell.

With his new documentary “Where God is Not”, French-Iranian film-maker Mehran Tamadon hopes that the testimonies of former detainees who say they were tortured in Iran will “unsettle” some of their persecutors.

All recount abuse that occurred before the protests that are now shaking Iran, from the brutal repression of the 1980s in the immediate aftermath of the revolution up until the last decade.

But “everything I am filming speaks of today,” said the director who was born to communist parents in Iran in 1972, but fled to France with his mother as a child.

“Right now, there are people being tortured in prison in Iran.”

Iranian authorities have arrested thousands since nationwide protests broke out following the September 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress rules for women.

Security forces have also killed 537 people during the crackdown, Norway-based Iran Human Rights watchdog says.

“For 43 years,” since the 1979 revolution that installed an Islamic theocracy in the country, Iran has been in the grips of a “totalitarian system”, said Tamadon, an architect who turned to cinema in the first decade of the millennium when he lived in Tehran.

After 2009 documentary “Bassidji” (“Basij”) in which he interviewed members of the paramilitary volunteer force, the atheist engaged in conversation with four clerics for his 2014 work “Iranian”.

The authorities were so unhappy with him that they confiscated his passports.

‘Russian roulette’

After they returned them to him in 2012, he decided to leave Iran, where he says violence has become so ingrained that, “like a Russian roulette”, it can strike at any time.

In “Where God is Not”, which premiered at the Berlinale in February, 50-year-old Mazyar welds a metal bed frame like the one he was tortured on after being detained for alleged spying and murder.

It was there the once business manager was tied up and his torturers broke the bones of his feet with a metal rod, he says.

When he was no longer able to walk, he was dragged in front of a camera to confess to crimes he had never committed.

Also in the film, Homa, a Marxist woman who was detained in an overcrowded prison in the 1980s, breaks down in tears as she recounts being so blasted with endless religious chants that she woke up one day brainwashed and started to pray.

Taghi Rahmani, a political activist who was locked up for 15 years for his views, re-enacts his confinement in a tiny Parisian cellar.

“I spent six months like this,” he said, counting out the three steps between the two walls of a former cell.

Rights groups have long lambasted the use of torture in Iranian jails, with Amnesty International in a September 2020 report detailing methods including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, stress positions, mock executions, water-boarding and sexual violence.

The group said in March that in the crackdown on the protest movement child protesters as young as 12 were being subjected to torture that included electric shocks and rape.

‘A torturer’s conscience’

In a second film also due out this year, “Mon Pire Ennemi” (“My Worst Enemy”), Tamadon asks award-winning Iranian-French actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi to step into the shoes of her interrogators.

Becoming her victim, the film-maker allows her to subject him to the same humiliation she says she endured at the hands of regime agents after a sex tape featuring her and her boyfriend was leaked online in 2006.

In one scene, she forces him to strip down to his underwear.

“I enjoyed destroying you with the words I said,” she says towards the end of the film.

Tamadon says he hopes both works will be enough to make some members of the regime in Iran re-examine their actions.

“Many of the questions I ask my characters about a torturer’s conscience are in fact directly aimed at them,” he said.

“Maybe this will plant a seed that will grow into something later on.”

Rahmani, the political activist who has lived in France for over a decade, does not believe either “Where God is Not” nor “My Worst Enemy” can bring about any redemption.

But everything in them “is happening at the moment in Iran. By speaking up, I’m trying to denounce it,” he said.

His own wife, prominent rights defender Narges Mohammadi, is jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison.

“As my wife is well known, she isn’t tortured physically. But she’s in solitary confinement,” he said.

“Whenever she suffers, I also suffer.”