#Women are Wen

[msclaritea]

One-Sex Theory | Encyclopedia.com

"The term one-sex theory refers to the belief that there was only one sex and it was male. The theory originated in the writings of Aristotle and Galen; they had postulated a structural homology between the sexual organs of men and women whereby they were basically the same, except that those of men lay outside the body while those of women lay inside it and were, naturally, reversed: a vagina was a penis turned inside, the ovaries were the testicles, and so on. Similarly, bodily fluids (semen, blood, milk) were basically the same, being composed of the same fungible matter. The difference between men and women was not, therefore, one of kind (two different types of beings), but of degree (various types of the same being).

The theory postulated that, in the final stages of gestation immediately preceding birth, heat drove the sexual organs out of the fetus's body and created a man; should there not be enough heat, an incompletely formed male (that is, a female) would be born. According to this model, females were thus imperfectly formed males, with all the social and cultural consequences that followed, including exclusion from the highest ecclesiastical, political, or intellectual positions in their society, subservience and obedience to male kins, severe restrictions in legal and economic matters, and so forth.

that if, at puberty, sufficient heat were applied, a "girl" could force her sexual organs out of her body and become a "boy." In the sixteenth century, anecdotal accounts attesting to such transformations abound. One of the most famous is the case of Marie, a French shepherdess from Vitry-le-François who, at age fifteen, while chasing some pigs in the heat of the summer, jumped over a small creek and, landing heavily on the other side, so ruptured her ligaments that her sexual organs fell out and she instantly became a man, Germain, who then lived as a male for the rest of his life. The story is recounted by, among others, the physicians Jacques Ferrand and Amboise Paré, and the philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592). Other stories, such as the one told by a certain Antoine Loqueneux to Amatus Lusitanus (1511–1568), attribute the change to the "heat of passion"—a girl in bed with a chambermaid is so sexually aroused that she suddenly ejects a male member from her body and carries on life (and, one assumes, sexual activity) as a male.

In his groundbreaking volume Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (1990), Thomas Laqueur highlights this theory and suggests that it was the fundamental operative model for understanding sex and sexuality not only in the Renaissance but even as far as the eighteenth century. A chorus of scholars (Katherine Park, Robert Nye, Michael Stolberg, and Donald Beecher, among others) have argued strongly against it, however, pointing out that already by 1600 the Aristotelian-Galenic one-sex model had been completely debunked and abandoned not only by European thinkers but, more importantly, by the medical profession itself. Its reaffirmation by Laqueur and others in the late twentieth century is, according to some, more grounded in contemporary theoretical battles than in the realities of Renaissance culture or science."

I can't believe people actually believed this and that it was around during the time of Shakespeare. There absolutely are some men in this world so in love with themselves, they want to actually erase women. What happened at John Hopkins is no accident. This idiotic theory has been around for hundreds of years, but has already been debunked. They've tried to bring it back, anyway.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I want you whipped into shape!

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[hualianschild]

[tonsillessscum]

[lgbtlunaverse]

So I've been wondering about one particuar point on the "Jiang Cheng marriage recquirement" list and it's the one about low cultivation.

Now on its face, except for the "must be nice to jin ling" point, the whole thing just looks like the most standard list of "ideal wife characteristics under a patriarchal society." naturally beautiful, graceful and obedient, coming from a good family, voice not too loud, etc. This leads to either the interpretation that jiang cheng really wants that (doubt dot png) or just... put all the most stereotypical things on a list even though that's not what he really wants.

In that context "cultivation must not be too high" sounds like a typical "men are scared of women who are smarter/stronger" thing. you know, the dudes who feel 'intimidated' when their wife or girlfriend makes more money than them.

...Except wasn't Yanli openly mocked for her low cultivation? Like, wasn't one of the reasons Jin Zixuan was such an ass to her initially because he shallowly assumed her lower cultivation made her an unworthy marriage candidate? Jin Guangshan may hate women who can read but society overal doesn't give the impression that high cultivation in women is seen as something undesirable. I mean... a wife that never looks like she's over 20 even as she starts aging? yeah I have no problem believing a misogynistic society is okay with high cultivation.

So if it's not there just to fit the stereotypical standard of an ideal wife...

Jiang Cheng, are you just describing your sister?

LIke?? Every single point on this list applies to Yanli. All of them. I don't mean this in a freudian incest-y way but in a "jiang cheng are you so unaware of what you want in a partner you just took the only woman you've had an unambiguously good relationship with and hoped no one would notice???" way. Does he know the difference in what you should like about your sister and what you should like in a spouse? Is he even aware he's doing this? Jiang Cheng answer meeeee.

[web-novel-polls]

WN Women Bonus Polls #2: MXTX

[Propaganda below] - Spoilers Warning!

A-Qing from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / MDZS

Submission: Incredibly clever. Fakes blindness to survive as a street orphan and pickpocket people. Successfully deceives a magnificent liar into believing she's really blind for years. Tries to hinder said liar's schemes and save people from him even after she's dead and actually blind and unable to speak. 

Jiang Yanli from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

 “Madam, A-Xian is my younger brother. Him being humiliated by others, to me, isn’t just a small matter.”

Submission: She is the sweetest person to ever exist. She's a wonderful big sister to her brother Jiang Cheng and her shidi/adoptive brother Wei Wuxian. She is not just a sister but also very maternal to them, as her parents are not the best. She is also the mother of Jin Ling, but sadly died before she could raise him. Her husband, Jin Zixuan, died in a confrontation with Wei Wuxian, but she did not blame him and even sacrificed herself for him. She would've made the best mother to Jin Ling, just as she was the best sister to Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian. She also makes the best soup ever. I would die to taste her soup. Then I would come back to life because that's how much the soup nurtures you. 

Jian Lan from Heaven Official’s Blessing / TGCF

Submission: She has unconditional love for her very disgusting and disturbing undead fetus child. That's a mother right there. 

Wiki Link

Ling Wen from Heaven Official’s Blessing / TGCF

[No Propaganda Submitted] 

One of the Three Tumors - three Heavenly Officials that have some of the worst reputations after Xie Lian (“the laughing stock of the three realms”) - and was accused of, like, killing a dude or smth but was accepted back into Heaven on the sole basis that she’s the only administratively competent god

Liu Mingyan from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Submission: Head disciple of Xian Shu Peak. Said to be so beautiful she wears a veil over her face so as to not distract others. Writes popular erotic fanfiction about her older brother's shixiong/her shibo and his male disciple. 

Luo Qingyang (Mianmian) from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Submission: She stood up against a whole bunch of powerful men and dared to speak a different opinion. Then she just up and left the cultivation world because she had no more time for their bullshit. At the end of the novel, she's a rogue cultivator married to a former merchant with her own daughter named Mianmian. We should all be like her. 

Mod Propaganda: 

Highly principled and strong-willed. Immediately left her clan after they mocked her for supposedly having feelings for Wei Wuxian when she literally just mentioned he didn't kill indiscriminately. Now living her best life as a rogue cultivator with her husband and child.

She saw the injustice of her own clan firsthand and decided, “I'm not going to be a part of this. You're not listening to me, so fuck y'all.” And honestly, based. 

Wiki Link

Ning Yingying from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System 

Submission: She goes through great character development. At first, she's dense and kind of annoying, even a little selfish. But she grows up to be a strong, intelligent, and intuitive woman. 

Additional Propaganda

Sha Hualing from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Submission 1: I can't stand her and yet I love her. What does that tell you? 

Submission 2: her cringefail losergirl swag <3 girlie constantly in situations and she put herself into most of them 

Mod Propaganda

A fierce demon who attacked the Cang Qiong Mountain sect in SVSSS and became one of Luo Binghe’s wives in Proud Immortal Demon Way who often fought with Liu Mingyan and Qin Wanyue

My fav description of her is something along the lines of, “trying to be the steal-your-man girl who fails about it so badly” 

She’s ambitious, she’s ruthless, she’s intelligent -  If you support women’s rights, you should also support women’s wrongs (/light-hearted) 

Su Xiyan from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

[No propaganda submitted]

Additional Propaganda #1

Additional Propaganda #2

Wen Qing from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Submission: She is everything! She doesn't get enough screen time in the novel, but that proves just how amazing she is to make such an impression in spite of it. She is a great big sister, to both her brother Wen Ning and the protagonist Wei Wuxian. She is stern but kind. She's a doctor. She throws needles at people. She's everything! 

Previous Propaganda (MXTX Side Characters Tournament):

Submission 1: Doctor, mad scientist, war criminal, protective big sister... she has the range!! Submission 2: Wen Qing my beloved!! She did surgery on a grape. Mad genius for real. Also a loving sister with a very sharp tongue and maybe no sense of how far is too far. Can't wait for them to find her alive in a Koi Tower basement! Submission 3: Justice for my girl!!!!  Submission 4: She's bitchy and pragmatic and cares deeply and did an unprecedented operation (experimental and nonconsensual!), what's not to love? Also she deserved better. 

Yushi Huang from Heaven Official’s Blessing / TGCF

Submission: She slit her own throat to save her country. She's very compassionate and always willing to help others. She also gives people vegetables. 

Additional Propaganda: 

Additional propaganda for Yushi Huang:  She's so competent that she's got the womanzier of the series consistently on the back foot, and she doesn't even care to notice.  She's here to dish out rain and that's it.     

[writeitinsharpie]

ever think about the great sect madams of the generation before?

about madam yu, the violet spider, one of few in her generation to earn a title (even her husband was only ever sect leader. even wen ruohan was never regarded by a title other than sect leader wen). about yu ziyuan, about what she was like before years of jealousy and envy twisted her to only her most bitter parts? about the girl who was the third daughter of a sect leader, and then the wife of another, and yet all of her immense martial power meant nothing to the society around her.

about madam jin, known only by her title and never given a name or a natal sect, who was still somehow the closest friend to yu ziyuan. the mother of the sect heir and yet a wife who can do nothing but stand by as her husband dishonors their marriage over and over again.

about madam lan, the murderess locked up for her crimes, never seeing a trial and dying alone, only allowed to see her children once a month. who was she before she was the wife of the lan sect leader? was there a reason she killed the lan elder? did she want that marriage to qingheng-jun? did she even want the children she was kept from?

about the madams nie and wen, who only exist by implication, by the knowledge that their children exist and therefore so must they. about how so little is even implied about them?

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

As I posted this past spring, I was this year's juror for the 5th Triennial Exhibition of the Wood Engravers' Network, the national organization for American wood engravers. With my love of wood engravings and the superior quality of the entries, the experience was joyfully playful.

Of the 140 entries, I selected 60 for the exhibition. The chosen works met all four of my criteria: excellent craftsmanship; interesting composition; emotional resonance; work I would I would mount on the walls of my home. But among these 60, there were a set of works that really resonated with me, and I display two of them here, along with some details and the front and back covers of the catalog that display snippets of some of the other work: Northern Pygmy Owl (4.5" x 3") by California artist Richard Wagener and The Madonna Tree (6.6" x 5") by Massachusetts engraver and letterpress printer Abigail Rorer.

What stands out for me in Wagener's owl print is the asymmetrical composition with the flat jet-black background having the same emotional weight as the owl, and the simple treatment of the eyeballs that allow the eyes to almost glow in the darkness. In Rorer's print, it is the precision of her mark making, the exquisite depth of her composition, and just the aliveness of the tree and the apparent spirit it holds. Both just wonderful!

View another post with work by Richard Wagener.

View more posts on work by Abigail Rorer.

View more engravings by members of the Wood Engraver’s Network.

View more posts with wood engravings!

– MAX, Head of Special Collections

[kinkynerfherder]

Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May in Marvels Agents of Shield.

[add1ctedt0you]

What a plot twist you were. [x]

[waterlilyvioletfog]

MXTX introducing good boy Gongyi Xiao as a potential romantic rival and then IMMEDIATELY killing him offscreen DIABOLICAL. Top ten MXTX crimes.

[wasted-women]

ROUND 1A, MATCH 1 OUT OF 8!

Causes of Death & Propaganda Under the Cut:

Jiang Yanli

Cause of Death: Stabbed; Self-sacrifice to save her brother.

Propaganda:

she's your pfp that's got to count for something

I love JYL don't get me wrong! But also. She is solely written as a part of the male characters and does not get much in her own right. She is Wei Wuxian's older sect sister, or Jiang Cheng's sister, or Jin Zixuan's fiance/wife, or Jin Ling's mother he never got to know. Even what characterization people give her (like liking soup/cooking or standing up for her family despite being gentle) are things that have to do with her brothers. I wish we got more of her in her own right.

AND ALSO. ALSO??? HER DEATH MAKES. NO SENSE. Okay first of all - she was in Lanling grieving for her very recently dead husband & taking care of her newborn baby. Who would let that woman out of Lanling????? WHY???? How did she get out of there SO FAST????? She doesn't have a sword/isn't a cultivator (at least in MDZS) so she couldn't have flown. And then after she got there WHO LET HER JUST OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLEFIELD???? WHY DID SHE GO THERE???? Even if there was a short part of her saying "I need to talk to Wei Wuxian about how he killed my husband and I'm going to get there no matter what" would've clarified things a little bc it's like okay she needs to go there even if we don't know how. Where are my answers MXTX, where are my answers????

Qin Su

Cause of Death: Suicide; Stabbed herself with a knife. (NOTE: In some versions of the story, she was being controlled and thus forced to kill herself.

Propaganda:

I'm fairly certain this character was only created as set dressing for the main villain's tragedy. We get zero insight into her inner life, zero hints that any such inner life might even exist, and after she dies basically no other named character other than the aforementioned villain is shown to be majorly affected by her death, even those who logically should have meaningful relationships with her.

Compared to the other two main female characters in this series (who are also fridged) Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing, Qin Su is probably the least aggravating because she's barely in the show and has very little character that we see. But I still think it's worth noting. I really wish that she could've survived and been there in Guanyin Temple IT COULD'VE BEEN COOL OKAY.

Wen Qing

Cause of Death: Executed; Burned to ashes.

Propaganda:

The fact that Wen Qing is the character that originally said the thing about "I'm sorry" and "Thank you", which is repeated multiple times in the post-resurrection parts of the series, but is so rarely mentioned by name is so aggravating! She's such an important part of the plot that did SO MANY THINGS but just basically disappears after her death!!! The only time I really remember her being mentioned is when her brother, Wen Ning, mentions her integral role in the golden core reveal. Jiang Yanli's ghost haunts the series after her death, but Wen Qing's really doesn't, and that's so fucked up to me. She even dies during the same time that Wen Ning does, but then it's revealed he survived (well, "survived", he is a zombie, but he was that beforehand too) SO WHY COULDN'T SHE HAVE SURVIVED TOO????

[womeninfictionandirl]

Fennec Shand by John Yandall

[web-novel-polls]

Web Novel Women Tournament 

[Please be kind and respectful in the notes. Anti-Propaganda is NOT allowed.]

Wen Qing from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Submission: She is everything! She doesn't get enough screen time in the novel, but that proves just how amazing she is to make such an impression in spite of it. She is a great big sister, to both her brother Wen Ning and the protagonist Wei Wuxian. She is stern but kind. She's a doctor. She throws needles at people. She's everything! 

Previous Propaganda (MXTX Side Characters Tournament):

Su Xiyan from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

[No propaganda submitted]

Additional Propaganda:

Time for some Propaganda! For someone who doesn't even appear in the main story, Su Xiyan is so important. She fell in love with someone she shouldn't have and died because of it. She kickstarted the whole plot and everything I know about her says she's amazing. For someone who we never see alive, her motivations are so important to the story. We know what she did, but finding out why she did it is so important. She helped save the world and she was dead at the time. She's a queen and I love her.