#“Do you like reading because it makes you feel superior?” No. Actually it is Worse™

[faeriekit]

Me: am I emotionally stable enough to interact with (x) media today? Let's find out! Me: *spins wheel of symptoms* Me: Me: Me: PLEASE STOP SPINNING. Wheel: *spins even faster*

[oldshrewsburyian]

Once saw a comment on reddit that went as follows:

"GRRM: 'I'm going to base my fantasy on historical Europe.'

Also GRRM: *takes only the most debauched parts of European history to sate his own fetishist fantasies*"

The above basically sums up my feelings on Martin. A lot of discussions about his work would be a lot more productive if his fanbase didn't think he was some deeply esoteric writer that was doing some dark exploration of medieval patriarchy on women and instead was fundamentally a p*rn and gore guy that writes about minors in bizarrely sexual situations, age gape relationships, and perpetual SA in his work because it's edgy and titilating lol.

I... actually think this is unfair both to GRRM and the Middle Ages.

I've been vocally critical of sexism and misogynist tropes in Game of Thrones, yes. But I have, alas, read male writers who do a much worse job of writing a range of interesting women characters. Also, I haven't found (so far!) what I would call "bizarrely sexual situations." The marriage night of Daenerys to Khal Drogo, for instance, I would call a sexual situation that makes sense within that world (and also, refreshingly, treats both her pleasure and her consent as important.) I also don't see the book as being "fundamentally" about sex and violence, or fetishizing either of those things, or designed to titillate. I do think it's designed to showcase the ways in which his imagined world does not share late C20/early C21 US-American shame and prudery around the body.

Also, this isn't "the most debauched parts of European history," and I'm kind of afraid to know what Reddit thinks those are. This is a 19th-century fever dream of medieval European history. I'm sure I sound like a boring broken record here, but I think that matters because that is a version of the European Middle Ages constructed in opposition to a present that the authors saw as superior, with its rationalism™ and modernity™ and strong centralized imperialist governments™. And that's not even touching the ways in which that nationalist tradition of history-writing constructed medieval Europe as whiter and more culturally isolated than it was. I also think it matters because those tropes live on in popular history (looking at you Barbara Tuchman, Dan Snow) and not a few historical novels (looking at you Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory, Bernard Cornwell.) I just... I'm so tired, and I spend so much time and energy trying to get students to stop clinging to these tropes because they seem to confirm a fever dream of a democratic and Protestant America, rather than a Europe polluted by "feudalism" (tyrannical construct) and "superstition" (anti-Catholic propaganda), as inevitable Top Nation.

[rjalker]

Let me fucking put it this way:

If Julia Serano posted her essays online for anyone to read at any time, instead of in a physical book you have to spend real money that you could be spending on food (Yes I am bitter and I will fucking be bitter for the rest of my fucking life) on before you can read it, her essays would be rightfully torn to fucking shreds for how happily racist, exorsexist, homophobic, and yes, transandrophobic they are. Not to mention that she contradicts her own fucking arguments constantly.

Here's some fucking examples. These were supposed to be bullet points but I am fucking incapable of not expanding.

A) She says gay men and lesbians aren't actually oppressed for their same gender attraction, they're just oppressed for being gendernonconforming! (because apparently masculine gay men and feminine lesbians don't exist!! Or if they do, well, by her logic then they aren't oppressed at all!!!!!!!!)

B) She says butch and gender nonconforming women are treated better by our society and have privilege over traditionally feminine women who wear dresses and makeup. (But didn't she just say lesbians are only oppressed for being gender nonconfoming? Why yes! She did! So now she's arguing that they're priveleged!!!!)

C) (Accidentally listed this twice but I do not give a single shit.) She says gay people aren't actually oppressed for their same gender attraction, they're just oppressed for being gender nonconforming. Despite her literally just saying that gender nonconfirming women are privileged over traditionally feminine women. "But that doesn't make any sense!" You're probably thinking!! And you're right!!! It's almost like it's complete fucking homophobic and misogynistic bullshit!!!

D) She says trans men are privileged over trans women because they're always treated and viewed as women. Yes, read that again. Trans men re privileged for being misgendered and treated as women, even though they're men. Even though her Whole Fucking Argument is that people perceived as feminine are always more oppressed than people perceived as masculine. She is once again arguing that the people she's saying are the most oppressed are magically privileged...for being oppressed. Huh. It's almost like that makes no fucking sense at all!

E) Oh and it gets better, and by better I mean worse. She then goes on to argue that trans men are privileged for always being seen as men, for being treated as men, and never having any trouble passing and always having their masculinity respected and revered and never mocked or derided, and saying they don't need to have surgery to pass, because everyone is assumed to be male unless stated otherwise, so everyone always genders trans men correctly!!!! Did she ask any trans men about this? No! Is she quoting from a trans man who said this? No! Is she literally just pulling shit out of her own ass to downplay and dismiss and literally lie about the oppression trans men face so that she can make the argument that trans women are more oppressed in every way??? You bet your ass she is!!!

F) She says nonbinary and multigender people are Actually™ just binary trans, but don't want to admit it, because they want to feel superior to trans women -- oh I'm sorry, I mean transsexuals, but you'll forgive me for getting the two mixed up, since she does all but state that trans women are the only true and real transsexuals™. You heard it here, folks! Nonbinary people aren't actually nonbinary, we just want to feel superior to trans women! Why does she come to this conclusion? Because she identified as nonbinary before she identified as a trans women and apparently had a superiority complex, and has now decided that if she was a bigot while she identified as nonbinary, that means all nonbinary people actually secretly hate trans women and just refuse to admit to their "unconscious sex" to feel superior!!!! Because she thinks being trans is a game and you can win it by being better than everyone else!!!

G) She says the only reason the white western gender binary is so prevalent is because it's the most natural system out there. If it weren't true, then it wouldn't be so far spread!!! Because I guess colonization didn't happen and isn't still literally happening, as far as she's concerned. No, no, it's not like white people literally committed genocide and are continuing to do so against cultures that didn't line up with what the colonizers viewed as natural!!! /s It's totally just normal and natural that most people are either 100% male or 100% female, this can't POSSIBLY have anything to do with transphobia and people being violently punished for being in any way gender nonconforming -- oh wait, she thinks being GNC makes you priveleged, doesn't she? Or does she? Who the fuck knows??? Not her, that's for fucking sure, considering she contradicts herself every other minute, depending on which statement will make trans women seem more oppressed than everyone else no matter what!!!! And so much fucking more!!!

If you want to read Whipping Girl, for yourself, fucking pirate it. Do not spend fucking money buying a physical copy when you could instead, Oh I don't fucking know, buy food, or pay your fucking rent, or buy a new pair of shoes sine yours are fucking falling apart. Pirate this fucking shit.

If you read this book and you, too, fucking agree with all her bigotry, then go the fuck ahead and pay her your hard earned cash for a physical copy. But not fucking before.

======

TLDR:

Julia Serano is a bigot who thinks (yes, all at the same time) :

Gay people are not oppressed for their same-gender attraction, only for being gender nonconforming

Gender nonconforming women are privileged over feminine women

Trans men are privileged for being viewed and treated as women

Trans men are privileged for being viewed and treated as men

Nonbinary people are actually binary trans but refuse to admit it

Nonbinary people only identify as such so they can feel superior to trans women in particular

The white western gender binary is only so pervasive *because* it's the most natural and right - not because of genocide, or transphobia, or anything like that

No, I am not joking. Read Whipping Girl and see for yourself. But do not fucking spend money on it.

[smokestarrules]

Smaller and Meaningless

An analysis of Amity’s Introduction Scene™ because it’s one of the funniest fucking scenes in the show if you add in later episodes’ context. 

Because yes, she was kind of Awful in this first episode, but now we know that she’s also absolutely Socially Clueless, and I think Amity in this scene in particular rocks back and forth between those two so much it’s almost funny. The question is, here, at what times is she trying to be genuine, and what times is she not?

Firstly, this is absolutely uncalled for, and 100% Amity intentionally being condescending. She and Willow are obviously both still hurting after they were torn apart, although Willow probably only assumes that that hurt goes one way (which is fair), so that combined with the fact that Willow had seemingly followed Amity into the same classes at Hexside was just a recipe for disaster. Amity lashes out when she’s uncertain, and she’s uncertain whenever Willow’s around, at this point, so this is Amity taking her chance to try and pretend to herself that she doesn’t actually care.  

This, on the other hand, doesn’t read the same to me. Amity is someone who is able to force herself to be better, putting in all her energy to improve at something she wishes came easier to her, but still comes to her. So I think she’s trying to say here, “if you want to do better, then why don’t you work harder?” She doesn’t understand because she assumes that everyone is the same, but Willow shouldn't be in this Track in the first place, and even if she was, her work ethic is clearly not the same as Amity’s. 

Amity is genuinely trying to be encouraging here, I think, but her fundamental misunderstanding makes her come off even worse, especially since she doesn’t even consider the possibility that not everyone improves the same way she does. 

But encouragement is not all that’s here, and I’m not trying to shy away from that fact. Here, she is absolutely being a little shit; Amity’s obviously proud of her own Abomination, and that feeling of superiority is as good as it gets. It’s fucked up, but it’s how she thinks. It’s how Odalia - and Alador too, probably, he’s not blameless - have taught her to think. 

(Because even if she struggles too, at least Willow will always be worse.)

Sighs. Again, “aww, it’s like mine, but much smaller and meaningless” is just a continuation of my last point; Willow can be good, and Willow can be encouraged to do better. 

But she can never be allowed to be better than Amity. 

But then it’s an immediate switch; Amity takes pride in her status as Top Student, and so she’d automatically take pride in encouraging and pushing the other students to be better as well (though, again, not better than her). This is genuine, because Amity is naturally an encouraging person, that facet of her has just been pushed down through years and years of repression. 

...Plus, she probably feels better about encouraging Willow anew now that she’s absolutely certain that Willow’s Abomination sucks. 

She does not end the scene on a good note, however. Amity ends the interaction with another somewhat passive-aggressive note, in fact; a few more jabs towards Willow’s less-than stellar grades just to hammer in the differences between their schoolings. It’s not... great, but this scene does well to portray Amity as someone who, while not sympathetic in this episode, does clearly have other facets to her than just... mean.