#CW: sexism

[picklepie888]

So word got out that Nickelodeon has decided to cease production on a new animated show called Phoebe and Her Unicorn because, according to an executive, "female lead cartoons don't sell well." To show just how backwards and idiotic this statement is, here is a compilation of beloved animated series which were both created by women, and have a female protagonist.

[musicalhell]

Musical Hell TV: The Magic Flute

Here's a half-hour animated version of Mozart's trippiest opera, now with 50% more uncomfortable racism!

Title card by Cat Luniscia! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBKAHquhaASqD-s3iRmwXUw?view_as=subscriber https://twitter.com/blackmoonrose13 https://www.patreon.com/blackmoonrose13 https://www.deviantart.com/blackmoonrose13

Visit Musical Hell at: http://MusicalHell.com

Support me on Patreon and Ko-Fi! http://www.patreon.com/user?u=235731 https://ko-fi.com/musicalhell Follow me! @MusicalHell musicalhell.tumblr.com facebook.com/divasmusicalhell

For more reviews, commentary, and general awesomeness of every kind, visit: rtgomer.com

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. Anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog! 💞

Revealing myself as an older millennial here, but my first ever computer game was Black & White. Which was actually a copy owned by my brother, but he was kind enough to share it with me (I just wanted a cute giant fluffy creature *_*). While I was terrible at any combat, I was much better at village management and the more strategy based puzzles - which my brother had no patience for - so he'd usually do the boss fights in my save and I'd solve the puzzles in his.

While I consider myself to be a functional cook at best (I don't loathe it but it's just another chore to me), one dish I can make well is an Italian tomato risotto. This is because I learned it while I was living in Rome and my flatmates taught me. Honestly, the trick is just to get tomatoes with a lot of flavour (Roma or cherry tomatoes are the best) and to have less rice than you think you'll need. Too much rice will dilute the flavour.

I've since gone over to women's soccer/football more because the theatrics, cheating and corruption in the men's leagues have come to disgust me, but I was a huge Arsenal FC supporter back in the day. Because I was based in a country where football isn't so popular and it was rare to meet other fans in the flesh, I was thankfully spared from most of the sexism that other friends have experienced. For the most part, the guys that I met were just happy to have someone to talk football with and didn't care about my gender.

[asha-mage]

Lesbian Rand AU?

[Send me a potential AU and I'll answer with five things from that story!]

Oh boy, here we go-

A lot depends on the setup. A big part of Rand's character is reckoning with the failures of his past life and the foundation of a lot the interesting ways Jordan interrogates the gender binary is built on the idea that those mistakes are a remix of Paradise Lost/The Fall. LTT is at both at once Eve and Lucifer. Eve in that he acts without the consent or permission of his other half (Latra Posae Decume- the Adam of this version) and runs of on his own in defiance of her will. Lucifier in that in his pride, he believes he can match or surpass the Creator, by attempting to Seal the Bore with only saidin. As a result, paradise is lost- the AoL is destroyed in the breaking by LTT's sin, an entire Age results where all men take the blame to a greater or lesser extent, for the original sin of one man. Of course, Jordan isn't just running with this premise as simple fact- he's interrogating the idea of original sin, salvation, and redemption and raising inherent and complicating questions. Does it make a difference that LTT's intentions where pure and genuine? That he didn't know and couldn't have predicted the consequences of his actions? How does Rand suffering for LTT's do any justice to those who suffered and died in the Breaking? Is chasing the splendor of an Age that could shatter so easily even a worthwhile endeavor, or should the focus be on letting go of the past and building something new? Does that mean forgetting and forgiving and is that fair?

All this to say is that, I think for a Lesbian Rand AU to work the story would probably need a reversed gender dynamic to the one that is present in the books- which I don't know that I could ever write both because it would veer very uncomfortably close to the most misogynistic elements of our own historical societies, and probably have to exceed them in brutality to work (something I'm not very good at, since a lot of my world building energy is usually directed at reshaping and re interpenetrating those historical societies through more queer and equitable lenses), and because a lot of what I connect to in Rand's story has a lot to do with the specifically queer male reading of it. That said if I could or would do that, I think it could also work very effectively as a queer female reading in the same thematic ways.

Rand and male channelers in general in the WoT verse already fulfill a lot of the tropes commonly associated with medieval witches- individuals tainted by an otherworldly power that is poorly understood and inherently transgressive to the gender roles of their society, as well as threat to the established social order (to put it mildly). It's not hard to translate that to a theoretically tainted saidar and the feelings of a resulting broken world onto a theoretical female Dragon. Rand in this context fulfills a pretty familiar role- Joan of Arc, Himiko of Yamatai, Elizabeth Woodvile, etc- savior and hero to some, witch and monster to others.

My brain of course goes to female Mat to be Rand's love interest in this AU- trickster and guile heroine. Mat's specific brand is easy to imagine transcending into a female character in a strict patriarchy, both because Mat's role in the series is already pretty gender transgressive (as befits a trickster shapeshifting archetype), and because it's easy to imagine again that simmering homoerotic temptation Mat and Rand's relationship inherently invokes, but gender flipped: Mat representing a liberation a refusal of the traditional gender roles that Rand can't quite decide if she truly wants or only wants because she was raised to want them. Rand specifically being homosexual rather then my bisexual head canon means that, I would probably air on the side of it being compulsory heterosexuality/heteronormativity- and genuinely wanting the life of adventure and liberty offered by Mat's promises of running away together.

I could also see Min (again as her Gender Weird makes her surprisingly easy to translate into a traditional patriarchy without loosing core elements of her character) as Rand's love interest- again in largely the same role as the series. Someone who Rand could just be....herself around, who couldn't overawed or terrified or brow beaten into seeing a monster, but rather just a person- a woman sacred and overwhelmed and being crushed by the expectations of a savior, and all the fears of being a monster. Conversely I don't know that either Avihenda or Elayne's relationships would still function the same- not without flipping their genders as well which defeats the idea of the premise. A few extra thoughts (since 1 and 2 are basically just big disclaimers)-

While I find the idea of Lesbian Rand having to learn from Short Gay Ball of Anger Uncle Moiraine very funny conceptually (Moiraine is already a pretty strong riff of mentor characters like Obi Wan and Gandfalf, but genderflipped, and I find the idea flipping that back but keeping the more unique aspects of Moiraine's character to be interesting), I also can't help but find the idea of Moiraine as an older, slightly rattled/mad, female wilder Moiraine with the same motivation as in the series just as intriguing as a mentor figure to Lesbian Rand. It would give the entire series a very different vibe, but that's just a natural outcome of the premise as well. I once said Moiraine is a woman who, if she had be born into a patriarchy would have easily been burned as a witch- but the truth is, the idea of Moiraine as a witch to clever to burn, a witch who is surviving the curse of her power, and struggling to see the savior who may yet be able to reverse that curse and save their world...their is an Appeal There.

It's scary conversely, how easy it is to fit the Aes Sedai in general into a gender flipped Randland, and I think speaks to how effectively Jordan wrote them and their institutional flaws. Mired in traditions, secure in their power, comfortable in ordering the world to their will- a mix between the Catholic Church and an order of magi, angry and resistant to reform and change that alters the base of their power, presided over by ancient and yet ageless cabals of entrenched elders. The scene, easily one of my favorites, in the series, in Fal Dara, is almost sickeningly easy to imagine with the genders flipped- a young woman still bright eyed and scarred of what she is and what she is capable of, with three thousand years of tales of women going mad from power, declaring themselves the Dragon falsely in greed and lust for power and leaving the world to suffer for it, walking into a a room with three ancient wizards who tell her that this is her fate, to be this messiah and destroyer both, it hits sharply and exactly the right way.

Again, I don't know that I would do it, and I find what Jordan is doing with gender and sexuality already in the Wot Books inherently more interesting and....less....I don't know sticky? But it's a fun thought exercise.

[aria-benedetto]

The Quiet Princess

So... I kind of accidentally wrote a short story? No idea how that happened.

Content warnings: Sexism, death, illness, war (mention) and I think that's about it?

1780 words

The story goes something like this:

Once upon a time, there was a princess. She was an only child, born after a great many attempts and struggle and waiting. Her birth greatly saddened the king, for his heir had to be a son. Tradition demanded it.

And so the young princess was raised to be a bride. One day, her husband would be king, but for now, she had to learn.

And there was much to learn for the young princess.

The princess was an energetic child. She loved to run, to climb and to play. But a good bride had to be quiet and still and so the princess had to learn to sit and be still.

The princess was an emotional child. She loved to laugh and she cried and she grew angry. But a good bride never inconvenienced others with her emotions and so the princess had to learn how to smile and not feel.

The princess was a talkative child. She loved to speak and to joke and to argue. But a good bride never raised her voice and never spoke without invitation and so the princess had to learn how to be quiet and never to speak unless spoken to.

And so the princess learned and she grew. She grew to be still and elegant. She grew to smile and always show the proper emotion. She grew to be quiet and never spoke unless spoken to.

She grew to be a bride.

And when the time came for a groom to be chosen, she wasn't perfect, but she was close. When the men who would be king came to her father, she sat and she smiled and she did not speak unless spoken to.

She laughed at their jokes and didn't make her own. She admired their strength and bravery and wit, just like a bride should.

And soon, her father made his choice.

Her groom was to be a prince from a neighbouring land, a youngest son, never to inherit the throne of his own country. A long-term ally, who could be trusted to keep agreements and know how to rule and how to be.

And the princess sat and she smiled and she did not speak unless spoken to.

A royal wedding could never be truly soon, for there were envoys to send and treaties to set up and preparations to be made, but it would take place soon enough. The prince stayed in his new home, of course, for there was much for him to learn.

He needed to learn about the lands that would one day be his. He needed to learn about the lords who would one day answer to him. He needed to learn about the castle that would soon be his home.

He did not need to learn about the woman who would soon be his wife.

And the princess sat and she smiled and she did not speak unless spoken to.

In the castle, ambassadors and envoys and nobility, both foreign and not arrived. The wedding was to be a joyful occasion for all.

There were decorations and flags and banners all around. The wedding was to be a beautiful occasion to be remembered in history.

The cooks and servants and tailors worked day in day out. The wedding was to be flawless, lest it ruin the celebration.

The princess was groomed and dressed and decorated. Dozens of tailors had created her gown, representing the devotion of the people. Jewellery adorned her neck and arms and head, representing the wealth of the country. Her face was painted beautifully, representing wonders to be found in the nation.

She was not perfect, but it was close.

Her handmaidens led her to the hall and the ceremony went beautifully. The ambassadors and envoys and nobility celebrated joyfully. The castle was beautiful, a wonderful background fit for the history books. The cooks had cooked flawless meals and the tailors had tailored flawless gowns and robes and suits and the servants served flawlessly. Nothing marred the celebration.

And at night, the newly wedded bride and groom were to render their flawless marriage into a perfect union.

But even a flawless celebration can only last so long and soon all the ambassadors and envoys and nobles went home. The decorations and flags and banners were taken down and stored for the next flawless ceremony.

The cooks kept cooking and the tailors kept tailoring and the servants kept serving, for what else was there to do? And while only a celebration had to be flawless, there never should be flaws when serving a king.

There was still much to learn for the prince. After all, he would one day be king. And so there was never much time for his bride but that had never been the point of the marriage anyway.

And while he learned, the princess should see to her own duties. She was to be quiet and demure and do what a bride should.

And so she sat and she smiled and she did not speak unless spoken to.

And the king was happy, for he had gained a son and the crown had gained an heir and the country would have a king. But the prince still had to learn and the kind would show him how to rule.

And so it was determined that there would be a grand sweep throughout the lands, for there must be no discontent and all the subjects must be loyal and devoted.

And the people were afraid, for an investigation always found discontent and doubts and treason, for that was its purpose.

And the princess sat and she smiled and she did not speak unless spoken to.

Before the hunt for malcontents and doubters and traitors could start, the king fell gravely ill. It was a strange illness that baffled the physicians and confused the healers and frightened the priests. For it had came upon him suddenly and without warning and no matter what they did, he only ever got worse.

His life was soon despaired of and the hunt was soon forgotten, for why hunt while the king is dying? There were other things to do, duties to assign and preparations to be made and positions to fight over. The prince did his duties as a prince should, for though he had been the youngest, he had grown up as the son of a king, so he knew how to rule.

And the princess sat dutifully at her father's bedside, as a daughter should. And she did not speak, for she was not spoken to. But neither did she smile, for no daughter should smile at her father’s deathbed.

And when the king died, the princess sat and she did not smile and she did not speak unless spoken to.

And when the king was buried, the princess stood at the grave and she did not smile and she did not speak unless spoken to.

And when the new king was crowned, the new queen stood at his side and she smiled and she spoke the words supposed to be spoken by a queen when her husband is crowned.

The new king was young and ambitious and he knew what he wanted and how to get it. Soon, the soldiers were polishing their weapons and the generals were planning their tactics and the king was drafting a declaration of war.

And there was great unrest among the people of the kingdom, for the last war had been costly and many still mourned the dead.

But when a king wants war, war he shall have, for what are the common people to do?

And the queen sat and she smiled and she listened.

And when the young king fell gravely ill as the old king had before him, there was great unrest, but no more than there had been before.

For an ill king cannot draft a declaration of war and a dead king cannot send a declaration of war. And while the generals still planned their tactics and the soldiers still polished their weapons, for those were their duties, the people watched and they waited and they planned.

In the castle, the physicians brewed their medicine and their tonics and the healers collected their herbs and their plants and the priests said their prayers and sang their hymns, but the young king grew worse rather than better, as the old king had before.

And the queen sat at his bedside, as a bride should.

Then the great nobles came and they talked of succession and inheritance bloodlines. And they fought, for they all believed themselves to be the next king. But the king lay dying and he could not speak.

And the queen sat and she smiled and she spoke:

"This is not your choice to make."

And there was a great uproar, for even a queen should never speak unless spoken to. And though her husband would be king, a queen could never choose. And though she was the old kings child, a queen could never rule.

But the queen stood and she smiled and she spoke:

"There is no need to fight over a broken throne."

And out the window behind her, the night was lit by flames. For while the nobles had debated their politics and the generals had planned their tactics and the soldiers had polished their weapons, the people had risen up, for they had suffered enough.

And the castle gates were wide open for the people, for servants are of the people. And many a soldier had long since stopped polishing his weapon and joined the people, for they were of the people and they were weary of war.

And when the great nobles finished watching the people spill into the castle and turned back to the queen, they found that she had gone, for no queen wants to be in the castle when the revolution comes.

And the revolution came and the generals looked at their tactics, but they could do nothing, for a general without soldiers is just a man. And the nobles made speeches, but they could do nothing, for a noble without an army is just a man. And the king lay in his bed and he could do nothing, for he was just a man and he was dying.

And the queen had disappeared, for she could have done nothing, for she was just a woman.

And outside the city stood the woman who used to be queen and she was laughing and crying and shouting. And she would no longer be quiet for she had no more reason to be.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

I am on drag Instagram (because I do drag and having a social media presence is a borderline job requirement these days) which means I'm also on makeup and fashion Instagram because the algorithm refuses to just show me people im following. Which means I occasionally get bimbo (pseudo)feminist TikToks on my feed because they like to wear lots of makeup and elaborate outfits and Instagram thinks thats what im into. which if you don't know what that is it's a TikTok phenomenon where girls wear a lot of pink and talk about how awesome women are and how hot they themselves are. They claim the term bimbo and say that they are feminists. Which is fine in the abstract, but usually they are lying about the feminism part. This one I got was rough on that front.

So this girl in a fuzzy pink crop top says 5 ways women invented the internet. And I was like, oh ok she's gonna talk about how Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer and then probably some women I don't know about because people only ever talk about the men, right?

She opens with how Google Images was invented because people wanted to look at a dress JLo wore. (High odds this is TikTok misinfo) (This one was the least offensive one to me)

The other women?: Monica Lewinsky (news blogging)(citation needed), Janet Jackson (YouTube specifically so people could post the nip slip)(citation needed), and the assorted women that mark Zuckerberg ranked on the original version of Facebook.

At this point I'm only still watching the video because I need number 5 to be Ada Lovelace. I wanted to know about obscure female programmers who invented Internet codes and all I have learned is that computer programmers love sexually exploiting women. Please say Ada Lovelace I'm on my fucking knees.

She does not say Ada Lovelace. She starts talking about some world war 2 era actress. I do not stick around long enough to find out how she was sexually exploited.

[ragnarlothcat]

So I'm writing again after like six weeks of no-brain times which is exciting (although I am not working on one of my many half-posted wips so there's still room for improvement) and I'm sort of spiralling. I'm finally making progress on that baseball obikin thing from like two years ago and I've decided that even if it's a modern au I want women on my fake baseball teams. Because 1) it's kind of difficult to piece together a full roster of only male Jedi (and indeed, villains to go on the rival team) without feeling silly about how far I'm reaching for some of these people and 2) a lot (most!) of the female Jedi are wonderful and would be better at baseball than whatever random dude I toss in there to fill the ranks (probably men who have no real relationship with either Obi-Wan or Anakin which is just boring from a story perspective). Also? It's nice to imagine a world where anyone can play whatever sport without the usual whining chorus of "but biooooology"

But!!! I've written some discussion of homophobia and why characters might be uncomfortable coming out. There are (I think) two out players in men's professional sports (in the US at least, idk about globally) and it feels...weird? not to acknowledge that. But am I really concerned with maintaining verisimilitude (about bigotry of all things!) in a fic in which one of the batters is a giant spider? And in a world in which I've decided sex discrimination isn't a thing?

And then: am I incorrectly assuming that a non-sexist society would also be a non-homophobic society? Does one necessarily follow the other? Lived experience would suggest probably not but also this is my world and I can fix society's mistakes as I choose if I really want. Am I stuffing this poor gratuitous smut fic with too many confused thoughts about the societal ramifications of a fake baseball team? In addition to stuffing it with way too many words???

[grollow]

Here's some Ashe deep lore. CW sexism, misogyny, some trauma, depression and over-all a stressful time. Read at your own convenience.

I used to work in the gaming industry for an indie company. Watching some of you react to no Silksong news brings back some horrors.

To preface: The company that I worked for was a very small independent gaming company based out of the Netherlands -- so it was a remote position. We made a few different titles, none of which were wildly successful, in large because of major design flaws (examples include: story not mattering, too much emphasis on PVP in poorly balanced titles [and making the game COMPLETELY DEPENDENT on pvp in some cases] and most egregiously, no real direction beyond 'it should be fun.')

I was hired as a Community Manager initially. My responsibilities for this job largely involved managing the forums, doing news updates, sending out (Not writing) press releases, hanging out in the chats of our games / playing the games sometimes with players, and coming up with fun events. My colleague/boss was senior community manager, and she ran a very successful gaming blog (more successful than most of our games initially -- until she closed it). Both of us were/are heavily involved in games. I am more of an RPG and horror title enthusiast and she was a big fan of RPGs as well as FPS games. We both have a pretty wide repertoire of experience combined. She was a world's top 50 raider in World of Warcraft at the time of this all going down.

I should preface: I am AFAB. I, unfortunately for me, have a very feminine voice. At the time of this all happening, I was also still using she/her pronouns. So was my colleague.

During our experience as Community Managers, we were forced to do marketing despite neither of us knowing how to do that (examples include understanding metrics, learning how Google algorithms worked, composing and distributing Press Releases as well as finding the sites to send those TO).

Here's some examples of the awful things that she and I endured under this company:

80+ hour work weeks, where we were required to detail out with time sheets daily everything we did and what the reasons were. I think I clocked in 16 hour days most days and I was required to work weekends.

On Christmas, our boss called and screamed at my colleague because she and I dared to want the day off to spend with our families (we were not allowed any holidays).

My colleague was forced to work -from the hospital- while her mom underwent life-saving surgery, under threat of being fired.

"You look like a crayon eating [r slur]" is an actual phrase that was used to describe her because of a picture she was using of herself.

We both got told, numerous times, that "girls can't make strategy games."

We were blamed for them releasing an RTS/Tower Defense title the same day as Left4Dead despite my colleague telling them numerous times that that was a mistake.

I later got promoted to Project Manager, but I was still making over $1000 a month less than my male colleague who I hired. In order to get me a raise, he had to take a pay cut. I put in more hours than he did, by his own admission, and worked twice as hard. He was questioned far less on whether or not his work was "efficient."

There are more stories but in truth, I have blocked a lot of it out of my mind. She and I both ran screaming from the gaming industry and have nothing to do with it now in our professions for a reason.

The worst part of all of this is that this is not at all uncommon. This is unfortunately very typical of the industry -- there are good companies, but you hear about these horrors lot less often than they actually occur.

Why do I share this? Because when I see you all screaming about wanting Silksong news, I want you to remember what indie developers go through. And maybe have a little empathy. Good things take time.

(No, I am not saying this is happening at a little 3man studio. I am just telling you, as someone who has worked in the gaming industry, that you should try to be a little more understanding of how hard it can be for some of us.)

[theangryman]

One person was banned almost immediately.

The other person was not banned until they made another post revealing that they were posting videos of their partner.

One person was harassed and bullied and told that they were lying.

One person was given advice, told about how they could improve their situation.

This is why kink is not safe. There is more compassion and kindness for someone who admits to wanting to kick their partner in the face than there is for someone who has received that treatment.

[heartless-aro]

So much of the arophobia directed towards aromantic heterosexual men seems to be rooted in willful ignorance about what aromanticism actually is and how allosexual aromanticism differs from sexual objectification. Aromanticism is experiencing little to no romantic attraction towards others. That’s it. It isn’t the same as sending unsolicited dick picks to strangers or reducing women to their bodies. When a misogynistic man disregards a woman’s personhood in favor of treating her as a sexual object, it isn’t because he doesn’t experience romantic attraction to women. It’s because he chooses not to value women as people.

That has nothing to do with whether or not the man in question experiences romantic attraction. You can respect someone’s personhood without being romantically attracted to them. In fact, if you can’t respect a woman’s personhood without being attracted to her, then that is misogynistic. However, there is nothing inherently misogynistic about finding a woman sexy (even if you aren’t romantically interested in her!), nor is there anything inherently misogynistic about having casual sex with a woman who has enthusiastically consented to having casual sex. (Because, yes. Women CAN consent to having casual sex without being tricked into it via false promises of romance. Women are fully capable of deciding for themselves what they want to do with their bodies. Just because a woman does something with her body that makes you uncomfortable—like casual sex—doesn’t mean she’s a helpless victim who needs you to rescue her from her own autonomy.)

It also just seems so bizarre to me to claim that aromantic heterosexual men don’t face any stigma related to their aromanticism. Do you really think a man who has never had a crush on a woman won’t face any stigma for that? If a heterosexual man says that he has never gone on a date or has never had his first kiss, how do people react to that? Social norms for how men engage with romance are different from how women are expected to engage with romance; that doesn’t change the fact that men are still expected to engage with romance in certain normative ways.

Of course, aromanticism is not the same as just not going on dates or not kissing people. That is just one of many ways that aromanticism can look. But aromantic experiences are diverse, so it’s difficult to give a one-size-fits-all example of how aromantic heterosexual people are affected by arophobia. What I’m trying to express here is that aromantic people often don’t engage with romance in the way that society expects us to (if we engage with romance at all) and that, furthermore, men are often perceived differently when they do not conform to those expectations.

[norskheks]

random personal shit about my family and Christmas but it's too long for twitter:

My mom and I are White Christmas Lights people. My dad is Colored Christmas Lights people. He is also an asshole and doesn't care that much about Christmas (those 2 facts are unrelated to each other but both related to this story), whereas Christmas is my mom's and my favorite holiday and we both fucking adore it.

This year, my mom decided to buy a new artificial Christmas tree with lights that can change color. I anticipated a Lights War (like a thermostat war), but my mom thinks that after almost 40 years of white lights on the tree, she owes it to my dad to allow him to enjoy the colored lights on the tree.

Now, if my dad were a good husband, good dad, and(/or, even) a nice, gracious person who came to conflicts like this in the spirit of compromise and harmony, I would agree. As it were, he is none of those things. And she owes him nothing, and less.

Owes him! For almost 40 years of verbal abuse, denigrations and putdowns?! For 23 years of barely lifting a hand to help raise two children?! For almost 40 years of his housework contributions mainly being... some laundry, and mowing the lawn?? For almost 40 years of putting his dirty dishes next to the sink, not in the sink, not intending to do them later, but fully intending her to do them? For almost 40 years of bland cooking for his racist picky-eater ass because he refused to learn how to cook his own damn meals?!

But she owes some colored lights to him?! Nahhhhhh. White lights every year for the rest of her life is the fucking LEAST he owes her.

So tonight I came downstairs and the colored lights were on on the freshly-decorated (by mom, of course) tree. My parents went out to a concert and like 0.5 seconds after the door closed, I turned the lights to white, so I could properly see all the ornaments. (Side note: she does not seem to have hung the Schitt's Creek ornament she gifted me last year, so I'll have to remedy that as well.)

It looks like I am fighting the Lights War myself this year. So be it. I'm ready.

[probablybadrpgideas]

So! I was going through the Champions RPG Villain sourcebooks to compare descriptions of male and female villains.

In case you are wondering, slight over half of female villains had some variant of "attractive" in their appearance section, while only around 1/6th of male ones did. But you know, comics are weird about women and so are games based on them, this was ten years ago, more at eleven.

No, the reason I bring it up is because while there were twelve male villains whose appearance section explicitly called them unattractive, there was only one canonically unattractive female villain.

Here she is:

And you can tell the person writing these descriptions has never been on tumblr, right?

-Pencil

[dathen]

Another day, another “why didn’t Victor just make a woman with missing body parts to gift as a custom-made wife-slave to his other creation :// worst human being in history!!”

[sickofthis666]

Isn't it batshit crazy that when a famous man is accused of rape, two kinds of testimonies come forwards simultaneously:

A part of people who knew him/his circle, (employees, friends, coworkers, lovers, etc) will say, horrified:

"We didn’t know. Who could have thought? He never acted like that with me"

And another part will say:

"Everyone knew. Everyone. For years. Decades. It was an open secret. The whole industry knew."

[dreamwatch]

Hello, I've Waited Here For You

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest

Day #18 - Prompt: Freak | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: period typical attitudes to women, period typical homophobia, internalised fat shaming, period typical sexism, sexist language | POV: Matt (Freak) | Pairing: Steddie, Matt/OC | Tags: Falling in love, CC is a family, secret relationship

I hope this makes up for yesterday.

Matt has always liked girls. Sadly, girls didn’t hold him in the same high regard.

He’s not an idiot. Yes, they were freaks in high school, no one liked them, boo hoo, but even then he was the odd one out. Because Jeff was seeing that irritating mathlete for a while there, Gareth went on a couple of dates with Samantha-what’s-her-face, and Eddie had actual women hanging off him at The Hideout, though he always seemed pissy about it. Fuck, even Henderson and Wheeler had girlfriends, though they don’t live in Indiana.

Actually, yeah, that’s probably bullshit.

And Matt? Nothing. If he looks at a girl he gets a curled lip and a side eye for his troubles. Because no one wants the fat dude. So he doesn’t talk about girls, and the boys don’t ask. It’s a pleasant status quo.

When they move to LA and start playing proper gigs in proper venues, suddenly girls are interested. But there’s a hierarchy.

The really pretty ones attach themselves like limpets to Eddie and Jeff. The shy ones hang around trying to catch Gareth’s eye. And then the bored friends who struck out with everyone else will rock up to Matt like they’re doing him a favour. It really fucks him off. But he’s a nineteen-year-old virgin and it’s slim pickings.

So he leans into it.

He doesn’t exactly sleep around, but if the opportunity presents then he’s not saying no. Girls come to a gig, they queue up for their spoils, the guys do whatever it is they do, and Matt gives some bored hanger-on a good time. 

But he rallies, chin up, he’s going to be a rockstar, women are going to be pounding down his hotel room door, and he’s going to be swimming in pussy. Really bored, would-rather-be-washing-their-hair pussy.

Jeff moves in with his new girlfriend, a sweet student named Melody. She’s going to leave him when she realises he doesn’t understand the concept of putting the toilet seat down.

Gareth moves his girlfriend in to make up the rent. It’s a fucking disaster, and they all fight constantly. In the end, they all go their separate ways: Gareth and the girlfriend in one direction, Eddie and Matt in another.

The new place is ok. Eddie is weird when it comes to girls. He lets them paw at him a little before he gets antsy, like an overstimulated cat. Like he wants it but doesn’t at the same time. So the apartment is girl-free, everyone goes to bed early, and by the way, did he mention he was going to be a rockstar?

Another backstage, another endless stream of girls pawing over all the bands, and another night of Matt nursing a beer and being ignored.

He’s thinking of leaving when he sees her.

She’s sitting in a dark corner on her own, black leather jacket, ripped black jeans, and long hair that looks dark pink under the lighting. He wants to find out what colour it really is. She glances at him occasionally, before looking away as if she’s trying not to get caught.

He’s never done this. Never approached a girl. He’s always left it to them to come to him. But she’s beautiful, and they’re only in town this one night.

“Uh, are you with anyone?”

She nods. “Yeah, um, Sandy. She’s over there with Eddie.” 

Sure enough, Eddie’s looking exasperated while Sandy practically climbs in his lap. Matt laughs. 

“She won’t be long, trust me. What’s your name?”

“Lily.”

“I’m—“

“Matt.” She smiles, shyly. “I know who you are.”

Damn. 

“Matty! Hurry the fuck up!”

“I’m trying!! This fucking—“ he scrabbles at the bow tie and yanks it off for the fifth time. Fucking thing is ruined. 

Eddie slaps his hands out of the way. “Let me look.” He scowls. “Jesus— why did we think we could do this? We wear fucking t-shirts for a living for Christ’s sake.”

There’s a knock on the door before Steve Harrington pokes his head inside the room.

“Hey, sorry, but the bride-to-be just arrived.”

“Oh fuck.” Matt can feel his insides flopping around like they’re looking for the exit. Why is he doing this, why is she doing this? She’s so beautiful and she could have anyone but—

“Hey! No zoning out, we don’t have time!” snaps Eddie. He glances at Steve. “Do you know how to tie these things?”

“Oh yeah, sure.”

He can’t figure his life out at all. In eight years he’s gone from school freak to minor rock star, he’s marrying a beautiful girl, and to top it all off, Steve Harrington’s tying his bow tie. Is he high?

“There ya go, you look awesome man.” Steve claps him on the arm. “I’ll see you out there,” he says, but Matt doesn’t miss how he looks at Eddie as he says it. 

Then it’s just the two of them.

There are a lot of things he wants to say to Eddie. He’ll get round to some of them later when he’s blind drunk and crying. But he needs to be sober for this.

“Just one of us left.”

Eddie smiles sadly. “Well, you know me, confirmed bachelor.”

“You know… if there was something you wanted to tell us. That— that you thought you couldn’t—”

Eddie shakes his head. “Matty—”

“—just listen. Please.”

Eddie freezes, eyes fixed on the floor.

“We love you. And if there was anything you ever wanted to tell us, we would be over the fucking moon to hear about it. And… and Steve’s a good guy.”

Eddie looks like a deer caught in a trap and Matt hates it. Hates that Eddie feels he can’t share the most important part of his life with them because the world is so shitty he couldn’t even be sure his best friends would be okay about it. So it stops now. 

They’re a family. Gareth and Bonnie, and Jeff and Melody, and Matt and Lily. And Eddie and Steve. 

[mayasaura]

One thing that really stuck me about gender in Nona was the sexism in the teacher's perception of Pyrrha. She sees two young women living with someone she perceives as being male, and on learning they're not related, her immediate assumption is that Pyrrha is taking sexual advantage of them. How incredibly unfair that assumption is to Pyrrha, to assume this about her and to continue assuming this despite how clearly Nona adores her. What it implies about the broader setting that this was apparently a somewhat reasonable assumption to make, and that there are battered women's shelters for her to try to gently direct Camilla to. How starkly it throws into relief that this assumption has never once been made in the series before.

That's what really hit about the scene. This was the first time a perceived-male character had been assumed to be a sexual threat. It was the first time being a woman or a girl had carried an assumption of victimhood. I had already noticed that the Nine Houses seemed to lack any kind of gender-based hierarchy, and didn't show any signs of misogynistic gender roles, but it really struck me again in that moment how freeing it had been. To have had two whole books from the perspective of teenage girls with no concept of sexual violence. To have had a whole setting where those assumptions just didn't exist, and would never have occurred to anyone.

And I think that's one thing that really holds me back from agreeing that 'Nine Houses' = Bad and 'Not Nine Houses' = Good. The societies outside the Nine Houses are still the legacy of the billionaires who left the Earth to die. They're still capitalistic, they have plastic bags clogging their bays, and after ten thousand years, they still haven't been able to put down the misogyny juice. I don't think it was a mistake that this information about the setting was communicated the way it was, using this assumption about Pyrrha. The delivery cuts way too deliberately to the putrid heart of gender bias; where misogyny, misandry, and transphobia are all just different angles on the same damn thing. A total milf perfectly playing the part of loving and beloved father, but still assumed by observers to be a sexual predator. That's not a culture I want to champion.