#which is devaluing to women

[radlymona]

Well, you clearly weren't bored enough of this conversation to write a massive spiel a few days later but sure what the hell. Let's go another round. This shit funny af.

I called you a coloniser because you were obviously doing the typical Western European thing of "We're so much progressive than English speaking countries. That level of savagery would never fly here," when it came to your bullying comment. You also were trying to call yourself better for speaking in another language, and being like "im so much better than the cultural hegemonisers" I was reminding you that the Spanish don't have a high horse to stand on this lmao.

Second, I can't take you seriously because you can't do basic fact checking. Gen X is said to have started in 1965, the same year JKR was born. Even if you don't know the exact year Gen X started, it's commonly thought that Gen X began in the mid 60s.

We’re not talking about discrimination within the literary scene, nor about how male authors generally write poorly about their female characters or how poorly conceived they are.

The reason I brought up male authors is that is ridiculous to have the same circlejerk conversation of "wawah this female author wasn't 100% progressive" meanwhile Stephen King wrote a scene where a 12 year old girl has an orgy with a group of boys, and is still one of the world's most popular authors. The obvious point I was making is that sheer double standard of that female authors have their works endlessly dissected and nitpicked when it comes to their representation, meanwhile popular male authors can continue writing actual male gaze slop and no one gives a shit.

On another note, I see female characters as a whole that shape the vision of women in general within a novel. Focusing on the individual instead of the collective is absurd in terms of sociological and gender analysis.

But you simply cannot give that level of depth to every female supporting character. Hermione is the most important character to focus, on because you get to see what JKR is capable when given space and brevity. And again, Ginny and Luna’s level of development is consistent with other supporting male characters. 

But, I find genuinely laughable that you care about "gender analysis" when you've basically accused Lily of getting with James (in another post) because of his blood status/wealth. There's no evidence for this in text whatsoever, and you've covertly called her a golddigger because you're the misogynist. She isn't "shallow" for dating a handsome and wealthy guy as you so lovingly called her. You do this thing over and over where you're viewing female characters with a very narrow, misogynistic mindset, and wonder why they feel like such misogynistic archetypes. 

Simply, a lot of British people have told me that what you’re saying is not exactly like that, and well, I’m more inclined to believe someone who’s British than someone who lives on the other side of the world.

Yeah, I saw those anons and I saw the incident being referred to as a sexual assault. Which is laughable. This is the equivalent of a magical pantsing. Neither in the 1970s or 2003 would this have been considered sexual assault. If you asked someone in 2024 they'd likely ask for the context, read the passage, and realise that it's not sexual assault. You had anons legitimately claiming that was meant to "shock" Britons reading it in 2003. And I'm sorry, this is hilarious. No one in 2003 was like oh my god, a pantsing! The actual shocking part of that passage is that a) James and Sirius gain up on Snape b) They do it out of nowhere and c) it proves Snape right (at least in part) about what type of person James is. And that person isn't a sexual abuser, that's just ludicrous. 

Now because you're lovely anons are also pretending not to notice the obvious here (real brave of them to go to your inbox on anon, very believable)- the reason I brought up hazing and other more severe practices like fagging, was that if such horrible forms of bullying were permissible in the 1970s, do you really think a pantsing would have been considered particularly bad? No of course not, as would any non-sheltered student. And what I find particularly hysterical was that just because the British public was appalled about what was going on elite schools, that said things just stopped happening. Sure fagging was outlawed, a were other severe forms of hazing, but you have to be joking if you don't think places like Eton don't partake in heavy (if not more covert) bullying to this day. The idea that I, as an Australian, wouldn't know this is funny as hell. We all know what goes in UK schools, because we're culturally connected, receive enough of their news and have enough expats living here to learn about the UK. Physical distance tends to matter a lot less when the countries themselves are that politically and socially close.

But I don’t know, maybe you’re right, and for an adult woman who writes fanfiction, it’s a bit odd to laugh at people with zero financial resources for wearing dirty clothes. I

Teenagers are mean. They're not perfect. We've been through this. It's not worth paragraphs upon paragraphs of faux-class analysis. If you're going to continue to criticise Lily for this one-off incident, but refuse to acknowledge that a) Snape was getting chummy with future wizard-Nazis, b) then called her a slur (highly implied not to be the first time he used that word), then I just can't take you seriously. Having a mildly mean reaction isn't the same as genuine racism. Especially because I doubt Lily was ever thinking about Snape's poverty in that moment. Side note: if my supposed best friend called me a slur after I tried to help them, I'm beating their ass idgaf the context. Poor kids don't get to excuse being racist. Also, I don’t care that you write fanfiction. I find it hilarious that you write snape/oc fanfiction, and that’s clearly informed your strange hatred of Lily laughing at him (1) time. 

I don’t understand why you refuse to let others use their personal context when you’re the one who initially brought up individual matters to discuss generalized sociological problems.

I legitimately didn't. If you're talking about my explanation of Hermione, I very clearly did not use the word "I" or talked about myself. That was about Hermione what meant to intelligent/unfeminine/socially insecure girls as a whole, and that's very clear from what I wrote. You're the one who brought your mother being more progressive, which is far more specific??

So, I assume you’re familiar with power structures and how they work, and it shouldn’t be too hard to put two and two together and understand that a person who, in their sociocultural and political environment, holds all the capitals—economic capital, social capital, and the capital granted by status (in this case, blood purity)—is something that significantly influences power dynamics against people who have none of that.

Ma'am it's a kid's book. It does not need this level of analysis, that's what I've been trying to tell you. Especially when you're fixated on one chapter in particularly .

And the fact that you don’t pay someone to bully your classmate or cover up the bullying doesn’t mean that being literally a millionaire bullying someone from a slum lacks clear class symbolism and social implications.

He bullies Snape because he's annoying and into the Dark Arts. Who came up with those terrible spells in the first place, and how did they spread if he didn't use them on other students first? It's not like James read Snape's mind to learn Levicorpus. He's also well on his way to becoming a wizard-nazi, and keeps sniffing around James’ best friend to "catch" him being a werewolf. He wants to expose Remus, and get him kicked out of school. He isn't bullying Snape because he's poor, he bullies him because Snape’s an awful person. 

What I’ve been criticizing from the beginning is that she uses the protagonist-narrator as an excuse not to bother explaining or clarifying certain things, and that’s a mistake because even with a protagonist-narrator, there are other resources to give the narrative a broader perspective. It’s not that hard to understand, really.

But what the hell is she supposed to explain/clarify. That they're both purebloods/wealthy? Over and over you're writing the most faux academic spiel but your words have no real meaning, because they aren't substantially connected to the actual text. Draco/James have the most surface level comparisons and that's why the narrative doesn't treat them similarly. James is far more like Ron, which the narrative does state. Maybe if you gave an example that makes any amount of sense, I could actually understand where you’re going with this. 

You’re a bit obsessed with the idea that I have something against Hermione, but that’s not the case

I'm going to keep it real here. When you said that you weren't friends with a lot of girls, and was too busy joining politics and being friends with boys, it all clicked for me. It's projection. You hate Hermione, because you were probably some version of her. Now if you had female friends at school, you would know that Ginny/Luna/Lavender/Parvati/Fleur/Pansy/Cho were all obviously based on how actual teenager girls act. Nothing about them is unrealistic or one-dimensional. 

I'm not going to dive into your male gaze spiel. Her female characters aren't sexualised and they're not for the male audience, which is the key parts to this theory. It really just does not apply to this case. A lot of female characters (especially Hermione and Luna) are absolutely meant for the female audience to specifically relate to. There's a reason why Hermione is the go-to-character for millions of little girls to dress up for Book Weeks at school.

find when discussing the only truly important female character in the saga and how this female character apparently has no girl friends and holds problematic views on things related to femininity.

She isn't the only 'truly important female character': Ginny/Luna/Molly/Tonks/Bellatrix/Narcissa/Fleur/Umbridge/McGonagall are all important. I’m not obsessed with Hermione, but you’re certainly obsessed with pretending the other female characters had no major plotlines/characterisations. But since the message doesn’t seem to be sticking: the reason Hermione doesn't have friends generally is because she has bad social skills. But she does get along with Ginny and Luna, and with Lavender/Parvati for most of the six years they've roomed together. If she supposedly hated women, then why is she immediately sympathetic to Cho and even says to Harry to belittle her for Cho's sake? The whole thing is that the golden trio don't have the wildest social circle beyond the Weasleys and Harry's other dormmates. There's simply not enough page time to delve into Hermione's friendships outside of that. Also Hermione doesn't have problematic views on femininity? Can you show a single example of that? Again, you're projecting what you think Hermione would act like.

You might find that normal and not problematic, but I don’t, precisely because it’s a book for children and teenagers and is influential during a key time in cognitive development and worldview formation. I think it’s important to establish positive roles when we’re talking about girls.

Actually, I think it’s important to treat female and male characters as they are in reality, rather than forcing a hyper-sanitised representation of how teenage girls act. Which, has still very much been exaggerated on your end. You still can’t refute the point that the female characters don't treat other female characters with persistent, major misogyny-driven derision, instead of having minor, situational conflicts. 

But you gave me a spiel about how you felt awful during your childhood and Hermione helped you not feel alone

I didn't. Not once lmao. Also, you're personal experiences aren’t like “this is just what’s it liked to be a teenager” i.e something a lot of people can relate to. You instead write a massive paragraph about how you would never have treated another girl the same way. It’s a false equivalence. How surprising from the person who thinks Lily laughing one time is like a moment of abject horror, meanwhile you’ve refused to acknowledge Slurverus Snape. A lawyer through and through. 

It’s invalidated from the perspective that just because someone is a woman and grew up in the '70s doesn’t necessarily mean they must have a conservative view, because there are women raised in the '60s in even more oppressive and sexist contexts who don’t hold that view.

Yes, but JKR's view was the norm. Your mother being as progressive as she is considering her circumstances is unlikely. Outliers don’t “counter” the average public opinion. What I'm saying is that JKR's representation of female characters is not out of the ordinary if not progressive for the time period she wrote in. If she had been considered regressive at the time, then why were her female characters so widely praised when the books were released?

And that’s why I have to stop criticizing how in her work, traditional, mythified motherhood is rewarded by the narrative while the lack of motherhood or non-conventional motherhood is condemned? What the hell?

No, but is called having empathy ma’am. “Hmm why would a single mother who’s just escaped an abusive husband have such a high esteem for mothers and not fathers?” Key to any literacy criticism, is understanding an author’s personal context. Sure you can critique it, but it’s a very rather unfair criticism especially to delve into with the severity that you have. And honestly, considering the sheer shit she and other single mothers like her have been through, why the hell should it be up to us to judge she decides to portray motherhood? Like for all your spiels on socio-economic and gender analysis, you have more empathy for a bullied (male) fictional character than you do to JKR, who was an actual living, poor, single and abused mother. 

Also, a lack of motherhood/non-conventional motherhood is never condemned. You still haven't given a single example of that happening.

But if we’re doing a gender perspective critique, it’s normal to highlight what’s questionable from a feminist point of view.

But why though? It's a children's fantasy novel from the 90s/00s. There's no reason to hyper-nitpick it for not being a perfect representation of women. There are plenty of other writers who have written about JKR’s representation of women more succinctly, accurately and without hyperbole. You would have a point at times, if so many of you're arguments weren't completely exaggerated/taken out of context. Also, refer to the above. You don’t genuinely care about women and representation. If you did, you would have an atom of empathy towards a real life woman. 

The term Judeo-Christian is used because Christianity—and thus all cultures profoundly influenced by it, especially the Catholic branch in Europe—has a significant influence from Judaism; it literally stems from it

And plenty of Jewish people have a problem with the term "Judeo-Christian" especially in cases when you're talking about the New Testatament specifically. Yes, Judaism obviously influenced Christianity, but Christianity has very specific notions of sacrifice/morality that are very different from Judaism. You've applied this term wrongly, and you would think you could at least admit that. Also why do you keep taking up sentences upon sentences to write things everyone knows? "It literally stems from it". Man I can't thank you enough for telling me this entirely new information.

Anyways, I don't think you're wrong about what the Virgin Mary represents, I think you're wrong about how it's being applied to Harry Potter. I think it’s entirely unnecessary to even mention the Madonna-Whore complex, as that’s entirely irrelevant to what we’re discussing…like a lot of what else you’ve written. Regardless, I think the idea that parents would sacrifice themselves for their children, especially in wartime, is apparent in all cultures and in mythos around the world. JKR representing a basic part of the human condition is not a slam dunk against her work.  

It’s not just that they have jobs, it’s that all the male secondary characters are much more developed, better narrated, and more fully constructed than the female ones.

But the examples you use don’t make sense. Molly and Narcissa are entirely in line with the gender and class roles being represented. Also, there are examples of female characters who end up being better narrated/developed than male equivalents. Fleur quite literally becomes better developed than either Cedric or Krum. McGonagall is the most developed of the “supporting” professors. Umbridge is the most important antagonist after Voldemort, and Bellatrix is the single most important Death Eater who takes over Lucius’ role in the story from OOTP onwards. And Lucius really isn’t all that complex of a character, Narcissa is far more interesting. Of all the Dursleys, Petunia is the most complex and important to the narrative.  Of the three most developed DA characters (Neville/Luna/Ginny), two are girls Lily’s background ends up being more narratively important than James’ does. There are plenty of instances where female characters shine, but you just pretend they don’t. 

But the reason why it feels like there’s so many more boys boils down to: a) a lot of the major supporting characters are Weasleys and Ron’s character doesn’t work if he isn’t the sixth born boy in the family, b) Harry’s is a *gasp* a boy and therefore is going to get to know his male dormmates better + have schoolyard feuds with other boys, and c) the presence of the marauders. Yeah, on a numerical level there are more male characters, but I think it is for the most part justified by the narrative.  I think you’re too busy looking at it from a faux-academic point of view, to actually interact with the text itself. It’s why you genuinely can’t refute any of the arguments I’ve written pertaining to the text, and have to resort to writing paragraphs about the male gaze.

The fact is that several women mock Fleur, women that the narrative portrays as good, women considered important enough to be protagonists or the protagonist's girlfriend. The fact is that Fleur is the only girl in the tournament, and out of the four participants, she gets the worst treatment. No matter how much you try to theorize and rationalize the reasons, the reality is that when you look at it from a broader perspective, there’s a clear gender differentiation in the story that disadvantages women. And that’s it, nothing more to it.

Actually there are entirely rational reasons to how Fleur is treated by characters and the narrative as a whole. I explained them. Ginny/Hermione = insecure, Molly = scared mother-in-law to be. Fleur did poorly in the Triwizard tournament because Beauxbatons doesn’t matter. She doesn’t get the worst treatment in the long run- we leave DH knowing far more about Fleur than we do about Krum or Cedric. For all your complaints about not knowing women’s inner lives, we meet Fleur’s family, we see how she interacts with her loved ones vs. the Weasleys and co. We see her mellow out through GoF, and see her proved narratively ‘right’ against Molly in HBP. We see that even though this conflict exists entirely in a different nation, she becomes an important member of the Order. Again, you can’t refute me from a text-based perspective, so you deride my arguments as “irrational”...but provide no counter argument based on the text itself. 

J.K. Rowling at all costs, in case your official financier of radfem takes a hit. 

It’s not about radical feminism lmao, it’s about the fact that you just don’t know the books all that well. You spend a ridiculous amount of time writing incorrect “meta” statements that aren’t at all accurate reflections of the text itself. It’s about the fact that you’ve become so obsessed with your headcanons (like Lily is shallow and got with James for his status??) that you’re entirely unable to engage with the canon text. This tends to happen when you’re too busy writing self insert fanfiction.

Lily doesn’t seem to think she’s done anything wrong by insulting his poverty and aligning herself with his abusers - only Severus is remorseful, and the trauma that caused him to lash out was considerably worse than the trauma that caused her to lash out. She believes he deserves it, as apparently she believed his abuse was amusing. And I’d be totally fine with this from a character perspective because it’s the teenage condition to be self-centred and poor at self-reflection. But the *narrative* (and the author in interviews) doesn’t believe Lily was in the wrong here. And it believes Lily made the correct moral judgment on the two boys when she casts Severus off for his crime and falls in love with James despite his. But I just don’t buy into that framing, and I didn’t even when I was 10. The use of the word ‘mudblood’ while in considerable distress is not a greater sin than sexual assault.

Lily feels no remorse, nor does she think it's wrong to half-smile at the bully who’s targeting your so-called friend. She doesn’t even consider that this might be why your supposed best friend insulted you in the first place. But here’s the thing: this isn't Lily's fault. It's J.K. Rowling's fault, and the way she portrays ethical dilemmas throughout the series, blurring the lines between what's morally right and wrong. Now, if you’ll allow me, before diving into the dynamics between Lily and Severus, I’d like to provide some context as to why I believe the biggest issue with many of the characters’ attitudes in the series lies in Rowling’s constant attempt to project her own moral compass through her writing. In doing so, she falls into repeated inconsistencies and creates a narrative that’s all over the place when it comes to how certain characters are treated.

Rowling is never consistent. She portrays Draco Malfoy as an irredeemable, terrible character because he’s a rich kid spoiled by his parents, using his power and influence to bully those weaker than him. Yet, she gives James the benefit of the doubt, even though he behaved exactly the same way: a rich bully who used his status and his friends to gang up on the vulnerable. From early interviews, Rowling claimed Pansy Parkinson is practically the reincarnation of Satan, even though, of all the antagonists, Pansy is probably one of the least relevant and harmless. This is simply because Rowling projected onto her the stereotypical “mean girls” who mock those who read and study—something Rowling clearly couldn’t stand. On the other hand, she glorifies characters like Ginny, who has a pretty nasty attitude towards any girl she doesn’t consider cool or "not like the other girls." Ginny treats Fleur like a witch when Fleur has done nothing wrong—her only crime is being incredibly beautiful, knowing it, and not constantly apologizing for it. And this treatment of female characters throughout the series deserves a proper gendered critique, because they fall into every stereotype and archetype set by the traditional male gaze.

In Rowling's world, there are always two kinds of women. When it comes to younger, adolescent characters, there are the "good" women—those who don’t fit the typical feminine mold, the weird ones (like Luna), the tomboys who are “one of the guys” (like Ginny), or the overly studious ones who don’t have time for frivolous things like reading magazines or talking about boys (like Hermione). In other words, the cool girls, the ones who are supposed to be role models, are those who "aren’t like the other girls." But not because they’re deconstructing gender roles consciously—they just happen to embody the fantasy of the woman who can give you kids while still being one of your bros. It’s a common male fantasy, where women abandon the graceful, ethereal, delicate image to fit into a set of needs the modern man has. These are "manic pixie dream girls," hiding a deeply internalized misogyny as they are presented as individuals opposed to the “other” women—the “other” being less cool because they lack traditionally masculine traits, and thus are less than. We see this not only with how Fleur is treated but also with the disdain or prejudice Hermione shows towards girls like Lavender or the Patil sisters, just because they act like normal teenagers instead of validating themselves through academia to compensate for their inferiority complex (cough, cough).

Then we have the adult female characters, where Rowling’s toxic and incredibly conservative view of motherhood kicks in. Except for McGonagall, the rest of the adult women who are seen in a positive light are either already mothers or end up becoming mothers. And for them, motherhood is everything. They are mothers first and women second, in every case. Lily is Harry’s mother, who sacrifices herself for him. Molly is the Weasley matriarch, whose entire life revolves around her kids—she hasn’t even looked for a job (which wouldn’t be a bad idea, considering the family’s financial situation), nor does she have any aspirations beyond knitting sweaters and worrying about her children. Even Narcissa, a negative character throughout most of the saga, earns her redemption solely because she loves her son and is willing to risk everything for him. Nymphadora Tonks, a 25-year-old woman, ends up pregnant by a man 13 years older than her and goes from being an independent Auror with her own life to a passive housewife waiting for her man, who is off having an existential crisis. The adult women in the saga aren’t independent individuals—they’re extensions of their children. And any woman who isn’t a perfect, self-sacrificing mother (like Merope Gaunt) is either a psychopath or portrayed as a terrible person.

What I’m getting at is that Rowling is far from impartial in the moral narrative of the story. In fact, she’s absolutely inconsistent. She presents characters she sells as "good," whose attitudes are absolute trash, yet she continues to insist that they’re good and perfect. This is especially obvious with her female characters, because throughout the seven books, she constantly emphasizes her ideal of the "perfect woman" in terms of tastes, motivations, and behavior. Hermione is a self-insert, Ginny is probably a projection of who Rowling wishes she could’ve been, and Luna is the quirky girl who isn’t “threatening” to other women, and is treated with a condescending, paternalistic lens. They are either Rowling’s aspirational figures or archetypes that don’t bother her, or they’re reduced to filler characters who are mistreated by the narrative.

When it comes to Lily, the problem is that Rowling spends half the saga painting her as some kind of Mother Teresa. She’s the quintessence of motherhood—but not a conscious, modern motherhood, but one rooted in traditional Judeo-Christian ideals. This is the kind of motherhood that can do no wrong, the one that represents women because, in this view, a woman can’t be fulfilled unless she’s a mother. Lily dies for her son, and that love creates a divine, protective magic. She’s beautiful, popular, and one of the most popular guys at school is after her. Clearly, she must be a saint, because everyone describes her as such. And while the narrative does question James’s perfection, even if vaguely and unsuccessfully, it doesn’t do the same with Lily. Harry questions his father’s actions but never his mother’s. He never stops to think about how problematic it is that his mother almost laughed at Severus or refused to hear his apology, or that she couldn’t empathize with what he was going through, knowing full well the kind of situation Severus had at home. When a narrative tells you something but never shows it, and worse, never questions it, that’s a problem. Something doesn’t add up. Rowling is obsessed with showing her own moral line through her characters and doesn’t realize how incoherent it is to portray Lily as someone who always does the right thing when what we actually see of her suggests that, if she really liked James all along, not only is she a hypocrite, but she’s also quite superficial with questionable principles. But this is never addressed, never explored. It would be fascinating if it were, giving the character more depth and making her more relatable. But Rowling brushes all this aside, as she does with so many other things, because to her, Lily was a role model, despite the fact that anyone with common sense can see she was just a terrible friend who got tired of justifying why she hung out with a poor, scruffy kid and ultimately decided it made more sense to date the rich, handsome bully.

[obstinaterixatrix]

here are all the recs I posted for femslash february 2024...! each individual rec post can be found in my femslash feb recs tag. I actually thought I wasn't going to be able to do this because work got super chaotic, but in the end I couldn't bear to skip out on a leap year. that's a whole extra day for yuri.

last year I focused on official releases, so this year I wanted to focus on series that aren't technically officially available (plus a french-japanese film). fan translations are always a dicey for artists/translators/publishers/etc because obviously they need to get paid... but yuri's already such an overlooked genre that—in an official capacity—we end up with a couple drops from what's already a pretty small pool. I read hana to hoshi about a decade ago, and I keep submitting it to the seven seas survey for licensure! and yet!! no dice. and even when there are official releases, sometimes they just... disappear!? wish you were gone was licensed and then taken down, so for a while the only way to read it (if you missed out on buying it) was the fan translation. I think it's important to support artists and official releases, and also, to appreciate the thankless endeavor(/crime) of scanlation.

hope yall find something you like!

[cowpokezuko]

I feel like Philosophy Tube's new video is like a spiritual successor to Hbomerguys's video.

[stinkrascal]

it's 10am i gotta start posting about the sopranos. one of my fav details in the sopranos is the frequency in which tony repeats the things women have said to him word for word, usually as a way of bringing legitimacy to whatever conversation he's having. whenever it happens im that soyboy pointing meme

[lesbianlenas]

ok fr tho i hate when ppl insist to me no you have to want to date no you’ll be happy once you date etc like i’m sure that’s true but at the same time when i was severely depressed before i took meds i had such a crushing depression over the fact that i was alone inside of my own body and i had to live life by myself forever even when there are other ppl in my life bc i would always have to experience some things by myself. & i have gotten over that & feel totally fine being alone & doing stuff by myself so like i would rather have a sense of comfort being by myself than tell myself i could never be happy alone ever just bc ppl like to insist that is the case. like actually not being ok w being alone is very unhealthy for u and u should learn to enjoy it. becoming ok w that is like the number one thing that improved my depression. so basically i will never sit and wallow abt being alone again i am perfectly fine w it. and shocking to say this to some ppl but having good friends can be just as fulfilling in the sense of companionship as having a significant other……let’s #normalize that

[hearts-hunger]

i finished the book on conscious femininity (hooray!) and the author says that we have to be loving towards and in tune with the positive mother archetype (matter, mother earth, our own bodies) and says we shouldn't call menstruation the “monthly curse” because that's a symptom of a society that devalues the positive mother, which intellectually i can agree with, but girl sometimes it does feel like a curse 😭

[cursed-spirit-manipulation]

i like thinking about Geto being quietly obsessed with grieving Riko. He thinks about her constantly and refuses to ever forget her, but he also refuses to talk about her. He has the selfish impulse that he's the only one who's truly allowed to grieve her because he was there when she died, he was the one who failed her. And I think he hates that he has that impulse because it's selfish, because Gojo failed her just as much as him, and Kuroi was her family and Riko meant so much more to her, but that isn't enough to stop him from feeling like he's the most deserving of the guilt and grief. And I think he can't ever truly see Mimiko and Nanako as their own people- he sees them as proof of his worldview, they are the reasons for his beliefs made human, but also. They're a chance at redemption. Theyre a chance to go home

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I think a lot of what's currently informing my fellow white people curdling like milk and shitting their pants when asked to interrogate their relationship with rap is the way many people (especially well-meaning white people) still can't help but think of racism as something that you get accused of rather than something that influences the entire world in pernicious ways.

like, I think a lot of people currently posting the most cringe takes about rap right now would very much agree that Racism Is Bad and probably even acknowledge that rap has been and is still widely maligned and devalues for racist reasons.

but that last step, acknowledging that your personal tastes and interests are also influenced by systemic racism, is where a LOT of people stumble. it's very easy to assume that because you consider yourself against racism, then your tastes and interests cannot possibly be at all informed by racist. if you're a white American, that's simply extremely unlikely to be true.

speaking from personal experience, I had to Work to decenter whiteness in my media tastes. when I was like 19 I listened to a podcast where a white Jewish man talked about keeping a spreadsheet of the books he read to make sure he was reading a roughly equal number of men and women, and I started doing the same thing to track how many authors of color I was reading. at the time I took pride in my belief that I was reading diversely, but when the year ended I was shocked to discover that people of color had written barely a quarter of the books I'd read. I had been giving myself way too much credit while still unintentionally prioritizing white authors, because white authors were the ones I knew best. so I started making an extremely conscious effort to seek out books by authors of color, both fiction and nonfiction, that sounded like my kind of shit.

music was extremely similar. I grew up a little white girl in a very white city in a very white state; nobody was offering me an education in rap or r&b or soul or hip hop. as an young adult there were definitely some Black artists I liked, like Janelle Monáe, but I had to take the initiative of seeking out more artists to find out who I fuck with. you're not going to like everybody, which is fine, but are you even giving anyone a chance? are you even looking?

racism has roots everywhere, bro. it's not enough to just acknowledge it, you have to actively get digging.

[hermajestyimher]

P*rn, dating apps/hook up culture, and 50/50 normalization are the three main culprits as to why the men of this generation seem so different than men from previous ones, and why so many beautiful and accomplished women are unable to secure a relationship without settling. Men always had their issues collectively, but it was never to the degree that we see today, and it’s largely due to the normalization from an early age to those three things.

The brains of men these days have been wired in a completely overly s3xualized manner. They don’t view women as people but as objects of strict desire and nothing else. Consumption of p*rn has not only given them unrealistic expectations of intimacy, it has influenced their s3xual orientations (see DL epidemic), and their social behaviour. Nowadays many don’t find regular girls attractive, which is why they choose to engage in “taboo” activities to feel some arousal. This leads them to becoming socially inept and to falling easy prey to manosphere content that only reinforces the objectification and dehumanization of women.

Dating apps then come in as an easy way for these men get the illusion of options, because while they might be generally not attractive, in the apps they get instant access to women they otherwise would never have in real life. And because many women have become desperate, by entertaining these men and giving them easy access to their bodies, the men no longer feel like they have to improve and work on themselves to attract a quality partner. It also gives them the idea that women are disposable because at any point they can ghost them for no reason and then swipe right to get another one. It makes them devalue access to us.

This easy access is then transferred to their expectations of relationships. They abuse the concept of equality to manipulate women into financially abusive arrangements where she’s expected to provide fiscally while also performing her feminine duties and taking care of a grown, able-bodied man. Naturally this continues to reinforce men’s lack of respect and gratitude for women in their lives, while increasing their own sense of self-importance, narcissism, ineptitude, and ungratefulness.

Obviously women are not responsible for the actions of men, but we do have the power to not reinforce and condone their sick ways. By deleting dating apps, standing our ground when we oppose 50/50 dating, and choosing to remain abstinent until marriage, we are taking the power dynamics back to our advantage. No, you are not unreasonable for not wanting to be with a man who consumes p*rn, or who wants to be sexually fluid with other men, or who views red pill content that dehumanizes you, or seems unwilling to provide things for you and cherish you in his life. It’s on you to stand firm in your decision to only entertain the gentlemen whose mindsets haven’t been completely fried by modern societal trends.

The “male loneliness epidemic” that we hear so much about is entirely self inflicted (not that anyone cares when it’s women who are lonely), and it’s a direct response to women saying no more to men who exhibit the behaviours outlined above. Hold the line, because they either leave their toxic ways and get better, or they will doom themselves to a life of solitude. Either way, that is their responsibility to fix, not yours.

[vaspider]

I've been thinking about the one post that had some weirdo TIRF on it talking about how "men 👏 don't 👏 experience 👏 misogyny" and everybody just kind of skipped to talking about how ofc trans men experience misogyny but like

We can't just skip how fucking asinine that sentence is on its face. That is not ground that should be conceded, bc trying to state as if it's a plain fact that "men don't experience misogyny" should get you laughed out of any room you're in.

Every time a boy is told he "throws like a girl" or is called a "little baby girl" for crying, he's experiencing misogyny because he's being devalued for traits that others see as feminine, traits which those doing the mocking see as belonging to women. Every time a fat dude's "moobs" get mocked, he's experiencing misogyny. Every time a girl makes fun of a dude for enjoying something she perceives as feminine, he's experiencing a double whammy of misogyny and homophobia.

There is no other reasonable way to discuss what these men are experiencing. That's misogyny.

The longer I talk with people in all kinds of marginalized groups online, the more convinced I am both that it's very understandable that people want their experiences and their hurts and their oppressions to be totally unique and unable to be experienced by anybody who isn't part of their group and also that anybody who hammers away on the idea that "only [X] can experience [Y]" and devotes excessive time to guarding the borders of their little fiefdom is not just not helping the cause of liberation, but is actively degrading our chances of making meaningful change.

I would go so far as to say there probably isn't a man alive who has zero experience of misogyny. Misogyny is leveraged against men constantly as a form of social control. Just because it's "do X or we will devalue you by calling you a woman" doesn't make it not an experience of misogyny.

Is it exactly the same thing that women experience? No, but also what different groups of women and different individuals experience is also different. There is no flawlessly singular experience of oppression experienced only by women, experienced the same way by all women, and never endured by men.

With that very simple fact in mind, spending time endlessly trying to police the way that another marginalized individual speaks about the method and effect of their own oppression rather than finding solidarity and commonality is fucking fed shit. It does not serve us and actively sabotages all of us, serving only those who actively benefit from our subservience and our infighting.

So fucking stop it.

[genderkoolaid]

Translated with Google and edited for clarity

Transgender men in Mexico suffer the same type of violence as trans women, but they tend to remain silent and not report it due to gender stereotypes that impose the idea of ​​strength on men, LGBT rights activists agreed on Wednesday. Davien Gómez, a transgender man originally from Guadalajara (western Mexico), told EFE that this sector faces attitudes of devaluation in society, since many of them are in a process of gender transition in which their feminine features have not completely disappeared. “Since they are perceived as women from the start, they have this idea that they will always be women. There are [transmasculine people] that do not have a phallus, but that see themselves as cisgender men, so there is not so much of a problem as long as no one knows, but if they do not [pass as cis, they think,] "how can I consider you a man if you look like a woman?” he said. The activist from the Impulso Trans organization stated that this devaluation is present not only in front of acquaintances or in work and family environments, but also when trying to establish emotional relationships in person or on dating apps focused on the LGTBIQ+ community. Impulso Trans and the Existimos Foundation conducted a survey among trans men in various states of the country, in which they found that 80.2% of the participants have experienced discrimination and violence, but 9.9% of them do not know how to identify it. In the data released within the framework of the LGTBIQ+ Pride month, it stands out that 54.9% of transmasculine people experience violence in the family, 50% at school, 33.5% at work, 38.5% on the street and 34.6% when requesting a service in public institutions. Adrián Arellano, a trans man, told EFE that sometimes violence arises because people have an idea of ​​what it means to be a man, dictated by a heteronormative system in which only what is conceived as masculine is valid. “There are people who believe that all trans men want to have a beard and want to look 100% like a [cis] man, if we don't get to that point we continue to be treated as women,” he explained. Worse still, transgender people face verbal and physical violence because of their appearance or gender expression, attacks that extend to those who identify as non-binary, although transgender men tend not to report them, Gomez added. “It doesn't have the visibility that transfemicides have (...) there is a huge invisibility towards the trans male community and it is very strange that transmasculine people cannot say what happens to them because of this sexist idea that men have to put up with it or that nothing happens to them,” she said.

According to the survey conducted in early 2024, trans men who have experienced violence or discrimination do not file a complaint because they do not know how or where to do so (31.9%), because nothing will change (23.1%) or out of fear (19.2%). Izack Contreras, coordinator of Impulso Trans, told EFE that while it is common for trans men to remain silent out of machismo or to act tough, they also do so because they do not know how to recognize or differentiate violence. “We don't recognize violence, we don't know when I'm experiencing violence or discrimination and I don't know where to go or how to report it or what to do, in general. Add to that the fact that the justice system doesn't work, so we report it, but nothing happens,” she said. Of the survey participants, they found that in 6.6% of cases there was no change among those who dared to report, 3.8% of them were re-victimized, and in 2.2% of cases there was reparation of the damage. Based on these results, both organizations will launch a campaign to make the problems of the trans male community visible, “to make them aware of the violence they may experience, to inform them of the places to go if they are victims and to generate a culture of respect in different areas of society,” explained Contreras.

[gatheringbones]

something something still teasing this connection out but: ever since I read alithia zamantakis’ book and encountered the phrase subordinate masculinities, I realized that I’d come across something like the concept ages ago when my therapist recommended I read resmaa menakem to help support me while I unpacked a lot of entrenched epigenetic trauma. the thing that comes up over and over and over again in his work is, more or less: that in america, the only model of a human being is a straight white able-bodied sane man with normative genitals who owns property. everything else is below that— not a true human being and also subordinate to true human beings.

alithia zamantakis also referenced the idea of street cred with regards to cis gender care and maintenance, and emphasized how cis people perpetually objectify and use other people to build and maintain their own desired gendered states— they use trans women to prove they’re real women or real men, they use trans men to prove they’re real men or women, they use other cis people to do it, they use anyone they feel is subordinate to them to build their genders like sandcastles from one high tide to the next. this likewise feels connected to the julia serano concept of derivatization— the act of seeing other people as objectified derivatives of our own thoughts and desires. subordinated masculinities are there to be used in the true technological sense for the purposes of providing gender affirmination for others. When you tear down a subordinated person (what resmaa menakem says is not the model of a real human being in a culture like ours) it makes your gender more real, it velveteen rabbits you into a more secure state of gender for however long the sandcastle of street cred stays standing.

this is not the same thing as a hatred for or antipathy towards masculinity!

a subordinated man— a man of color, a disabled man, a gay man, a gender nonconforming man, an impotent man, a poor man— is a failed man, not a real man, and real men and real women and even other subordinated people can become more real through his continued devaluation and subordination, all in service to patriarchy, which is working exactly as intended to serve and protect the true and only model of humanity: the straight white able-bodied sane man.

[lgbtlunaverse]

I've been wrestling with two beliefs I hold simultaneously but that I previously (incorrectly) thought were contradictory: that sexuality is inherently harmless, but also that specific kinds of sexual desire have been used to enact and justify grievous harm. The notion that men's sexuality is more important than women's consent, that white men's sexual access to white women must be protected from the "threat" of men of color, the idea that this specific kind of desire is so inherent to a proper society that if you have the wrong kind of sexuality you deserve to be shunned and harmed.

How can sexuality both be inherently harmless and measurably harmful?

Anyway, the answer is very easy, and part of why I feel like we should stop treating sex as something completely unlike other things and horniness as unlike all other emotions. Because I realized that, oh, right, this happens to other feelings too.

You know another feeling that is not inherently dangerous but is frequently used to enact and justify violence? Fear.

Fear is not inherently evil. Not even if it's irrational and your level of fear does not correspond to the level of danger you're actually in. In fact, irrational fears are such a common phenomenon we literally have a word for them: phobias. Which you are not evil for having. (Am I calling phobias the fear equivalnet of kinks? Kind of... I guess)

But fear and discomfort are used all the time to harm people. Let's say some random white woman is walking home late at night, and she notices a man is following her. This man might just be walking in the same direction by coincidence, but there's a small chance he's following her on purpose. It is quite natural for the mind to wander, and we frequently fear what we do not know. Discomfort or fear, in this situation, is neither inherently harmful nor unusual. However, if this white woman has been inundated her whole life with 'stranger danger' narratives and stories of women being brutally kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered by strangers. (Even though the vast majority of female victims are killed by someone they know, most often a romantic partner or family member) and she then, by the flash of a streetlight, spots that the man following her is black, and she has also been fed a narrative that black men are inherently violent and dangerous, that feeling of discomfort is enhanced and distorted until she believes she is in genuine danger and calls the police.

Statistically speaking, that guy really was just walking in the same direction, and is unlikely to be a threat. However she has now seriously endangered him, and justified it by the fact that she was scared.

A man justifying sexual assault because he couldn't help it, he was just so attracted to her. (And she led him on! She was barely dressed!) Is weaponizing his horniness in exactly the same way as people who call the authoroties on a disabled homeless person because they were "acting weird" are weaponizing their fear.

And all emotions can be weaponized this way. Anger is used to justify domestic violence ("you shouldn't have provoked me") Happiness and fun is used to jeoparidize safety (the last 30 years of olympic games have had a death toll among construction workers of over 116. The 2022 world cup alone has an officially admitted death count of 40, but the real cost is likely in the hundreds) disgust is used so often it's hard to restrict it to a single example (queerphobia, ableism, fatphobia, racism, misogyny, it's everywhere)

Sexual desire is just one way among many where the comfort of the powerful is valued above the safety of the opressed. It's not unique, but instead painfully common. And it's useful to keep this in mind not to devalue it or deny it's happening, but because we can borrow tactics and learn from similar situations rather than getting stuck on endless debates on whether porn is intrinsically evil or not, which will get us nowhere.

[visenyaism]

hi visenyaism, sorry i know this is mainly an asoiaf blog but I loved your literacy & kids in school analysis and i had a question. idk if you're familiar with the "male flight" from college substack article making the rounds on tumblr (tldr: the author takes the thesis of this sociological paper that men stopped enrolling in vet school once women enrollment hit 60% and suggests that it could explain why men's enrollment in college generally has fallen bc women's enrollment has now hit that 60% threshold & men, or well, straight men, want to avoid anything deemed too feminine) and I was wondering if you've also noticed that men / boys tend to devalue going to college and generally had any thoughts on this phenomenon?

Hm. Here’s the article if you haven’t read it:

I agree with her about a lot. I think a lot of it really is that we beat into young girls’ heads from the start that you need to work hard and become financially and professionally independent because of you don’t you will be dependent on and taking care of a man forever. But boys are way more likely to get the “don’t worry you will find someone to take care of you no matter what it is what you deserve” message. I have noticed a rise of this anti-college intellectualism particularly in young men that it is a scam and that even if you get a job, it’s gonna be like the beginning of fight club where it’s like super emasculating to do that because you’re following the system. 

I can tell you it’s a common phenomenon in high schools that honors classes are disproportionately female and standard level classes are disproportionately male. Some of it is just outperformance (which I think is the aforementioned messaging difference and also just because I think we hold young women to a higher standard academically and behaviorally and they react accordingly.) I have talked to male students who have insinuated that performing well in school is kind of girly because it’s like being submissive.

The messaging facing young men that going to college is overrated because that kind of 9-to-5 white collar job you’re supposed to get as a result is inherently kind of feminine or cuck or beta or whatever is common. Of the group of students not going to college after they graduate I think girls are in my experience more likely to have a plan like they’re joining the military or they’re going to trade school or they’re going to community college or taking a year off. Whereas boys Are more likely to have that mentality that they’re gonna become an influencer or a day trader or crypto whatever or a twitch streamer because that’s more alpha than following the system. I think a lot of our anti-intellectualism in society is a result of this messaging that going to college is now girly.

What I really hate is when people point at high levels of women enrolling in college as evidence that the system is rigged in favor of women which has never been true and is not true currently. I feel like “male flight” is not a complete answer, but it is definitely more comprehensive of an explanation than a lot of the other ones I’ve heard.

[1percentcharge]

Like is frankenhooker a feminist movie? No. But if you said it satirized the way some men view women as a collection of body parts (all of which for their pleasure) rather than a whole person by taking it to a campy extreme well. I dunno. You’d actually have something there. Meanwhile what does the substance leave you with, besides the whole “aaah society hates old women but dont go on ozempic or get surgery or you’ll turn in to a big ugly monster.” Or poor things “ermrmmmmm women should be having more sex guys. I’m an enlightened man for knowing that it doesn’t devalue women for them to have sex. With me” or Barbie “guys i just noticed that double standards exist :(”

[doromoni]

Clash of Champions | MV1 , LH44

Act 2. Part 6 : The Truth Unraveling

Ships : Max Verstappen x Engineer! Reader, Lewis Hamilton x Engineer! Reader

Genre : Drama, Angst, Romance

Warning : Morally Grey Characters, Manipulation, Blackmail, Swearing

A/N : Rahhhh! I’m so sorry for taking so long to update, forgive me.

Summary : The rivalry between the titans of Formula 1 goes off track and only one will reign victorious.

< Previous Masterlist

Act 2. ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Distinguished, proud, and dignified are words paralleled to the motorhome of Mercedes Amg Petronas F1 team. The team where this era’s champions are bred and trained. It was the model of what a Formula 1 team should be.

However, this is all in the perception of the common fan —a facade carefully built for the media and their sponsors. In reality everything was far from it. Manipulation, deceit, and sketchy dealings are rampant behind closed doors. Rumors and slander come out of that place on the daily. And in the world of Formula 1 when scandals arise, however unjust and cruel — a person is guilty until proven. That was the deal.

All are well aware of such a notion. And when Mercedes had posted an official statement about Y/N L/N’s supposed lawsuit. The entirety of motorsport was in shock and disbelief. Many were convinced about the allegations and had petitioned for your removal from the sport, while the few who had actually known you had stood by your integrity and your character as a person.

In an instant, your years of hard work were put under a microscope and are being devalued to its foundations. Your presence as a woman in motorsports was already a hot matter, and some are only waiting for you to trip. And now they have the opportunity to discredit you.

Inside the motorhome of Mercedes, chatters and whispers littered every corner and every wall. Not one Mercedes employee wasn't talking about the topic of Y/N L/N’s lawsuit. With them insulting your name — most of which are the engineers who were envious of your success. Nevertheless, in the darkness there are some fireflies where they light up the night by a fraction. These are the people who actually directly worked with you… they were not your friends, but they cannot diminish your work as they saw it first hand.

And they were the people who saw the change in Lewis Hamilton upon your departure from the team. They knew that you and Lewis were dating, but they kept it to themselves. They were not blind nor were they stupid, but why should they care? The team was winning, that was all that mattered.

However, when you left and went to Red Bull and became Max Verstappen’s engineer — they watched as Lewis lost himself bit by bit. First came anger and agitation, Lewis was livid inside the motorhome, snapping at everyone and everything. Then day by day every ounce of spark had drained from the driver’s body, leaving a hollow vessel behind. He no longer went out drinking with the team, no more parties and galas, no more women.

Until that one fateful day where everyone was mandated to celebrate in a club chosen by their boss specifically out of nowhere. Lewis was with the other drivers only nursing a single drink in his hand. Up to, late that night when he looked out of it and a girl was in his arms kissing him feverishly. They thought that Lewis was back to his partying playboy personality.

However they were gravely mistaken, as the morning after Lewis was back to the hollow and empty version of himself and he went on racing on autopilot. Another drastic change had happened to Lewis Hamilton that got the team on their toes — Lewis Hamilton was suddenly filled with determination and resolve , for what? They did not know. Not till they heard of the news of the party in Monaco where Y/N L/N had Max Verstappen wrapped around her finger and had made a fool out of their boss.

Lewis came back a man with a purpose, it was as if he was in his rookie years filled with so much resolve and focus to prove himself. And they could only point all of this to one person. The person who turned their motorhome upside down — Y/N L/N.

And so , when they’ve gotten news about the lawsuit, they immediately informed Lewis.

He was already on edge from his loss to Max in the race and he was furious at your exchange of affection with Max on the podium. Lewis was not angry with you. How could he? You were his light.It was his fault for letting you go into the arms of the enemy. He knew that it was his mistake for taking you for granted. Lewis knew that he should’ve loved you and came clean when he had you. You would’ve understood… Lewis knew that you would. He knew you – he was sure of it.

Lewis knew that he should’ve told you the truth and confessed his sins… be he was too ashamed and guilty for what he has done to you. Ultimately, he was terrified that you would never forgive him for what he had agreed to do. He was afraid that you would’ve left when you came to know that his relationship with you was tailored by Toto Wolff. But you had already left him for an entirely different reason.

It was just supposed to be business and nothing more for the British driver but now all things were clouded as he found himself in the clutches of Love itself. Maybe it was his punishment for his selfishness and greed for success. But you cannot blame him for wanting the best for himself– after his father sacrificed so much for his dream. The temptation of Wolff’s words was a trap that he willingly went under.

Date the girl, make her content with what she had and nothing more. Tie her down and make her loyal to him and the team. Make her believe that it was him and her against the world. Keep it a secret so he would still be free.

It was easy to pretend at first– Lewis always thought that Y/N L/N had everything made easy for her. Lewis had despised that you had climbed the ladders so quickly in such a short amount of time… where he had to bear the prejudice, discrimination, bigotry and grudgingly wait, swallowing his pride for so many years at the chance in Formula 1. He hated that the pretty girl had made her way through the system without much of a hiccup.

With the plan in mind, Lewis started with flirting here and there– which Y/N had only prompted back with humor, not showing any true interest. Then came the banter, side jokes, and actually spending time together that ultimately opened the avenue of Lewis to get to know you, proving Lewis wrong of his prejudice against you. He saw himself in you, the pain and struggle that came with not fitting in with the cookie cutter image of Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton had seen your courage, tenacity, and will to prove to everyone that you belonged in the sport. In this you had earned his respect.

The friendship between the two of you bloomed. Lewis eagerly sought for your companionship and conversation, he had found a true friend in you. Then the gifts had started coming in – it was all in good heartedness at first, a true gesture of appreciation. Everything was innocent at first, Lewis had forgotten why he had approached you in the first place. That was till the big boss had reminded him of their agreement and toxified Lewis’ mind yet again – that he needed to prove himself to the world and to the team and all that. Then the flirtings came back and the intention of making Y/N his came back. And this time it was successful, Y/N had shown reciprocation to his advances.

Lewis had officially taken Y/N for himself. Lewis had enjoyed his time with you, all the memories you’ve built together from then forward were authentic and true. Through every ups and downs, you were with him. Without notice, Lewis Hamilton had unknowingly truly fallen for you. His agreement with Toto was the last thing on his mind.

However, that love was not enough to distinguish his desire for greatness. Lewis was still consumed by what the world offered. But everything became real and true way too fast for Lewis when the entry of a young Dutch driver to Formula 1 had happened. Suddenly his reign was shaken and it had clouded his judgment, even towards the person that he had loved. Lewis saw your friendly interactions with Max and he had seen you defend the young driver. In his panic, jealousy, and uncertainty, He had allowed Toto to manipulate him against the very person who had shown him love and care. He had once again allowed someone to poison his mind against you.

Lewis had started to doubt you and your love for him. He allowed the rumors and false accounts on you get to his head. And to his shame, Lewis had believed the stupidest thing that he could’ve thought— that Y/N was causing and conspiring in his fall and loss of the championship.

Lewis had believed that Y/N had betrayed him. He believed Toto’s words and he allowed Toto to demote Y/N. Lewis knew that he chose to believe everyone but the person that had loved him. And this had caused him the person he loved. Y/N had left him.

Regret was short of what Lewis felt. The emotional pain had manifested into pain that he felt on the outside. Lewis had felt pain like no other at the loss of Y/N. But it was a pain that he would choose to go through, if it meant that he finally realized the mistakes that brought pain to his Y/N. He would gladly go through the pain if it meant that he finally realized the depth of his love for the girl he once took for granted.

And He promised to himself that he will get her back and prove himself worthy to Y/N. Lewis Hamilton will take all means necessary to right his wrongs — and it starts within Mercedes, where the root of the problems began. Fuck the championship and the team. He wont let them touch Y/N again.

Exploding with simmering rage, Lewis had found himself in front of Toto Wolff’s office. Not bothering to knock, he had opened the door with a crashing bang not caring if he broke the office door or if everyone heard the commotion.

“WOLFF!! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” The loud shouts of Lewis filled the entire office.

“Calm down and close the damn door, Lewis” there sat behind his office table, a stack of paper in hand — Toto Wolff. The man’s expression was unreadable and cold. Toto knew how to keep his reactions and emotions away from the English champion. Toto Wolff always knew how to control and deal with Lewis Hamilton … until Lewis had fallen for Y/N L/N for real.

Toto can read Lewis Hamilton like an open book— Toto knew what Lewis’ thoughts were before he said them. But when Lewis had started to deviate from the plan, Lewis Hamilton’s priority had shifted. The champion had set his heart on you.

Lewis Hamilton had deviated from the plan. He wasn’t supposed to fall in love with the engineer. No, the plan was to date the girl to keep her in Mercedes, be his race engineer and keep her in line.

This was set between Lewis and Toto from when he transferred to the team. From day 1, everything was set in stone. But to Toto Wolff’s vexation, Y/N L/N had always come up on top.

Y/N L/N had turned his golden driver, the key to his success and fortune against him. Lewis Hamilton was no longer the puppet he could control. Just because he fell to the charms of the engineer.

“Shut the fuck up Wolff! Drop the fucking lawsuit on Y/N or I’ll swear I’ll tear this team and your reputation apart” Lewis raged, muscles tensing as he jabbed his finger menacingly at Toto.

***

“Christian what is this about? What is going on?” After you had received the urgent news. You had quickly made your way towards the Red Bull Motorhome.

Your phone was blasted with notifications from all social media platforms. Mercedes had the insolence of posting in the media of something that wasn’t yet to be discussed with you nor Red Bull. You knew that this was another dirty tactic on their part

“They’re suing you and the team for a data and contract breach” Christian had said begrudgingly as he sat back his chair, a hand on the bridge of his nose.

“What? On what grounds?” You asked exasperated as you took a seat in front of Christian’s table.

“Here’s a copy of their claim” Christian gave you a copy of the paper from Mercedes. You flipped through the pages and you couldn’t help but mockingly laugh.

You were being sued on the grounds of sharing information on team and driver strategies to Red Bull and that you didn’t finish your employment contract with them. You could help but think of how desperate and pathetic they could be.

How can they be so petty and think of you cheating just cause they couldn’t win against you.

“Wow, they couldn’t handle the fact that they’re loosing, huh. What did the FIA say?” You once again asked your team principal.

Suddenly the door opened revealing a disheveled Max— who seemed to have ran his way here.

“What the fuck did I hear about a lawsuit?!” Max was hysterical as he made his way into the room.

Christian didn’t mind the Dutch driver as he answered my question.

“They haven’t contacted us yet, but expect that you will be suspended from engineering for Max till end of the season.” A look of sympathy had shown itself on the principal.

“They wouldn’t dare! Y/N is innocent! Just cause they cant swallow their incompetence, they target Y/N?! Cowardly motherfuckers” Max ranted.

They expected you to cower and run for the hills, but this was something you had already planned on them doing. Petty and underhanded actions are Mercedes’ MO and you are prepared for it.

If they wanted to play it this way, then you’ll up them in their own game.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. We’ll have your back and we’ll do everything in our power to prove your innocence” Christian had said showing his support. Meanwhile Max was on his phone typing away muttering under his breath that he’ll pay millions for the best lawyer for you.

“Thank you Christian, it’s very much appreciated! Great to know the team has my back. But I think we should fight fire by fire first” you smiled at them menacingly as looks of confusion appeared on them.

“What do you mean, Liebling?” Max questioned

“A counterclaim on Mercedes on the grounds of employee maltreatment and workplace harassment — don’t worry, Nico will testify if needed” You smiled brightly, as if what you said was nothing.

“It will only be fair if we take this to the media as well right? They did start it first” you added.

“That will ruin the reputation of Mercedes… are you sure, y/n? They will be out for blood.” Christian warned.

The pain, humiliation, and mental abuse you’ve experienced in that motorhome, everything they’ve done to you came rushing back.

“They’ve ruined mine and they’re dragging the team into. Its only fair”

“Y/N there are hundreds of employees at Mercedes that will face fire. Are you certainly sure?”

“Mercedes will survive, it’s only the principal and top management that needs total revamping.”

***

Red Bull had just posted their response to Mercedes and all of motorsports was having a field day. All sports news was covering the debacle between the two motor teams.

Your phone was once again lighting up with notifications. And one particular message has gotten your attention that you couldn’t help but reply.

Upon reading the last reply, your heart dropped to your stomach. Should you ask Max?

Max wouldn’t do anything like that right? Max knew what Toto Wolff had done to you… he wouldn’t work with Toto right?

Max knew you detested the man that made your life a living hell. Max would never.

Yeah … he wouldn’t.

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