#anti aphrodite

[xstrawberryshiftsx]

My Aphrodite altar <3

What do you guys think? <3

I have photos surrounding it of my loved ones <3

[genericpuff]

I wonder why christian misrepresentation are rarely talked about if compared to other religion misrepresentation. Like, I've seen people really vocal about Greek myths misrepresentation in LO and such (and it's valid because it's a culture and religion) but I rarely saw the same thing with christian even though there are many media who use christian religion innacurately, to the point where it comes off as using it as an aesthetic and not a proper religion.

Is it because of rampant religious trauma especially in western world? No ulterior motives on this question. I'm not a christian and yet I'm curious about this. I apologize if this sounds harsh.

I obviously don't have The Answer(tm) to this but personally speaking (and I'm about to get VERY personal here so take this with MOUNTAINS OF SALT), I think it's just the obvious - Christian mythology is one of the most well-documented and strongly protected out of virtually any other religion on the planet. Especially here in the West, it's commonplace for kids to go to Sunday school, for couples to have Christian weddings even if they're not practising Christians themselves, even the American anthem references the Christian God. It's simply not as easy to 'misrepresent' it because the representation is written into our very fabric of society. Even Greece itself is primarily made up of Orthodox Christians.

So anyone that does 'misrepresent' it are either completely mislead hardcore Christians, or people who are doing it intentionally, such as with the intent to make a parody of it or to deconstruct it through a different context or whatever have you. And of course, people will still get mad at those things, if you're implying that people aren't vocal about Christian misrepresentation then frankly IDK what to tell you there LOL If you want a contextual example in the realm of webtoons, Religiously Gay was dragged to hell and back during its launch for having a very crude and insulting depiction of St. Michael, and frankly, yeah I don't disagree because what the fuck is this-

(like at best it's just terrible character design lmao that said, there's also plenty else to criticize Religiously Gay for, including its fetishy representation of gay relationships and the fact that it's still just the "naive person who looks and acts like a child hooks up with mean person in a position of power" trope, blech, but the character design is definitely the first thing you notice)

There are even plenty of hardcore Christians who will deadass claim "misrepresentation" over things that ARE factually correct but they just haven't read the actual Bible and simply cherry pick what works for their own agenda. And of course those people are routinely called out by people like myself who know for a fact that Jesus wouldn't have promoted the war crimes that many modern day Christians are committing and justifying today. So it really depends on the definition of "misrepresentation" here.

The issue specifically with LO and Rachel that I personally call her out for (and many others) is that she's called herself a "folklorist" and claimed she's so much more knowledgeable on Greek myth than anyone else, while making a complete mockery of the original mythologies while not being honest about her intent as to whether LO is actually supposed to be a legitimate retelling OR a parody (because it sure acts like the latter more than the former, but she still seems to expect us to take it seriously and consider her knowledge of Greek myth superior?) Which leads to a lot of her teenage audience claiming shit like "Persephone went down to the underworld willingly" and "Apollo did assault Persephone in the original myths actually" and the classic "why would Lore Olympus lie or make up fake myths?"

You just can't pull off this extent of erasure with Christian mythology because we have a whole ass book of it that's been preserved, sold on shelves, and systematically integrated into society for thousands of years. Of course, there are people who will still try their damned best to twist the Bible to match their own bigotry with the whole "Jesus hates gays" bullshit (he would never), but it's met with equal amounts of 'misrepresentation' that are actually fully well-read and are intentionally subverting and changing things to either critique, parody, or restore the original intent of a lot of stories in the Bible without all the manufactured right-wing crap.

Greek myth, on the other hand, has some stories that are well preserved, and others, not so much. And in the modern day outside of the poems and hymns, you'll also rarely, if ever, see anyone use stories from Greek myth to ostracize, torture, and murder other people. "Misrepresenting Christianity" is more often done by actual Christians who are using the Bible to commit hate crimes than the people who have actually read the Bible and are just taking creative liberties with it for the sake of deconstructing / parodying / analyzing / subverting it. Veggie Tales "misrepresents" Christian stories because obviously Moses wasn't a fucking cucumber lmao but it still accomplishes its goal by retelling Christian stories in a way that's fun and educational for children.

By comparison (on the whole, I'm not comparing LO to Veggie Tales LMAO) LO just isn't clear in its intentions beyond Rachel's initial statements that she was trying to "deconstruct" the myths, while labelling herself as a folklorist. Therefore, I'm going to criticize how she does it because the way she's done it up until now has been very mishandled and has resulted in a lot of misinterpretations of the myths simply for the sake of fandom. And yes, these people exist in Christian media as well - they're called TV evangelists.

And that's my (very heavy) two cents.

[oxusla-rue]

"rejected by hera. rejected by aphrodite" ???? my good dude yall seem to keep forgetting that it wasn't "😔 aphrodite cheated on poor hephestus" it was "aphrodite was FORCED to marry Hephestus and she took her own autonomy back and CHOSE Ares" I'm ngl I really dislike how Rick Riordan portrays female characters, *especially* the goddesses.

[wanderingmind867]

The Aphrodite cabin has good reason to hate the Hunters of Artemis. Love is important, damn it! There's so many kinds of love! Romantic love! Platonic love! It isn't all about sex, like Artemis seems to think it is! Artemis condemns love! Just love. She doesn't care about the many different types of love. She is the worst and her hunters are the worst.

[mylittleversaille]

Every day I see more and more pop myth takes that make me want to pull my eyelashes out. No, Ares was not a protector of women. No, Aphrodite was not a war goddess (and you know what, being the goddess of sex and lust and beaut is okay!). No, Hera is not an irredeemable villain. No, Zeus is not evil incarnate. No Achilles isn’t without fault or some ‘gay softboi’ icon (he’s literally presented in the Iliad as someone who is proud to a fault. You’re supposed to recognize that he’s selfish and arrogant). No, Demeter was not an overbearing mother nor was Hades some sort of misunderstood, brooding knight in shining armour. Medea is allowed to commit heinous crimes and still be a sympathetic character. Jason… deserves all the hate he gets, respectfully.

Off the top of my head, I think Helen is one of the few people who gets complex, interesting characterization in modern retellings and discourse, ironically enough. She’s allowed to be vain and aware of her own beauty while also often having a great deal of agency. At the same time, she is frequently depicted as both victim and as offender. She’s allowed to want to be in Troy, but also to miss her husband and daughter.

Some days I feel like I could write essays about pop mythology and the way people reduce mythological figures to one dimensional caricatures. And how these retellings are never as progressive as people think, fixing some issues but exacerbating others. I do think retellings end up being an excellent resource for identifying what social issues bother us and how we would like to address them.

For example, we see a lot of feminist retellings that want to show women as capable of the same things as men, and in so doing they reject or deride their own femininity. But a retelling that is ultimately saying that masculinity is more interesting or valuable than femininity isn’t a truly feminist retelling, but it does show us that our society struggles to find femininity compatible with strength or courage.

[swallowtail-lotus]

That... That face is unsettling. She looks unhinged as hell.

It just looks forced and it hurts me seeing it.

Girl has spider legs for eyelashes.

Her face reminds me of a toad and I hate that I can't unsee it.

[princessmeepa]

Looks like Daddy Sigma Ares got his Mommy Aphrodite in BOZ.

BOZ Ares is the real Alpha Sigma then the LO Ares who is just a pervert cheese block man with legs and he treats his Kim lavender looking ass bitch his booty call and she is the most ugliest woman he has never seen and he is in Lust with Bimo Lolita Trophy Wife Pink RS as the goddess of beauty and he is a stacker simp for her and While Ares loves his mommy Aphrodite deeply.

And who could blame him for loving her, besides being super hot and a beauty queen (because she is the goddess of love and beauty)

She’s a real badass Femme Fatale with a sword that would make his mommy proud and the mommy step on me.

[punkeropercyjackson]

"You're delusional for thinking Percy is trans,there's no evidence in the books!"The books:

'You spoke the truth,Percy Jackson.You are nothing like...like Hercules.I am honored that you carried this sword'

'Piper hadn't studied him up close before.After hearing so much at Camp Half-Blood about Percy Jackson this and Percy Jackson that,she thought he looked...well,unimpressive,especially next to Jason.Percy was more slender,about an inch shorter,with slightly longer,much darker hair'

'He'd been the first demigod Nico had ever seen in action.Later,at Camp Half-Blood,Percy took Nico by the arm,promising to keep Bianca safe.Nico believed him.Nico looked into his sea green eyes and thought,how can he possibly fail?This is a real hero.He was Nico's favorite game,Mythomagic,brought to life/"Wait,"Percy said,'So you mean-" "Right,"Nico said again."But it's cool.We're cool.I mean,i see now...you're cute but you're not my type." "I'm not your type...Wait.So-'

'He had the most cruelest,brutal face i'd ever seen-Handsome,i guess,but wicked/I was used to hearing from the girls how good-looking Luke was,but at the moment,he looked angry and weary and not all that handsome/Handsome,i guess,for an older guy'

'I can't pretend i hadn't thought about Rachel.She was so much easier to be around than...well,than some other girls i knew.I didn't have to work hard,or watch what i said,or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking.Rachel didn't hide much.She let you know how she felt'

'A pretty blonde girl,her hair curled like a princess/"And your hair?It's too unkempt,and i don't mean intentionally so.(Princess hair too and then her dad is the King of Atlantis)'

'Part of me was impressed with her for standing up like that.But part of me thought her pride was gonna get us all killed/She looked just the way she had when she faced the Sphinx-Like she wasn't going to accept an easy awnser,even if got her in trouble.I realized that was one of the the things i liked best about Annabeth'

'Afterward,Thalia did something that surprised me almost as much as the pledge.She came over to me,smiled at me,and in front of the whole assembly,she gave me a big hug.I blushed.When she pulled away and gripped my shoulders,i said,"Um...Aren't you supposed to not do that anymore?Hug boys,i mean?" "I'm honoring a friend."She corrected[...]"I'm proud to be your friend"(A running theme in their dynamic is also Percy being jealous of Thalia because wants to be treated by everybody like she is)'

'"Never seen Jason fly before."Percy grumbled,"He looks like a blonde Superman."/"No.I think i get it."'

'"I'm gonna be Percy Jackson when i grow up."She told Hazel solemnly.Hazel smiled and ruffled her hair."That's a good thing to be Julia."'

'The sea does not like to be restrained."

'"You're sweet,"Aphrodite said."But beauty is about finding the right fit,the most natural fit.To be perfect,you have to feel perfect about yourself-avoid trying to be something you're not."

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

To continue the trend of people just chillin during a fight for the world-

[jessmalia]

Wait do you think Annabeth Chase is abusive? Not trying to start an argument! Just genuinely curious because I never picked up on that before & I want to see if maybe this is a 'blindspot' I need to work on. Or did you mean a different character from the YA girlfriend poll?

No, I was talking about Annabeth. It's obviously not something RR intended, it's just a result of how fucking terrible he is at writing flirty banter (he just crosses the line into verbal abuse) and that he clearly thinks it's SO FUNNY when girls are violent against boys.

@hermesmyplatonicbeloved summarised it very well recently here but I've also gone more in detail about it with examples before here

Now, I'm not gonna pretend like all of my ships are perfect. I'm very familiar with the concept of recognising flaws in a ship and just deciding to like it anyway. I'm not gonna judge anyone for doing that with p/ercabeth. What baffles me is the widespread unawareness of those flaws. And what horrifies me is how often I see Annabeth's abusive tendencies actually encouraged by her stans and seen as something Percy deserves. Or just generally turned into a joke.

[my-pjo-stuff]

gen question, what are your opinions on each of the Olympians (you don't have to but plz separate for each god cause I'm really interested

Lmao dw, although I should warn you many of my opinions are the same or very similar on them, so I shortened parts and left others out (elaboration at the end) ZEUS - Tyrannt king who's no better than Kronos in terms of personality who deserves to be overthrown. HERA - Cruel woman who yes, is hurt and props mistreated by Zeus and his actions, but still takes her anger out on innocent people. Also deserves to be overthrown

HADES - Upholding and unjust system who may somewhat be okay to Nico, but still is a shitty parent. He litteraly wanted to force Nico to become the Hero of the Great Prophecy for his own gain despite believing the hero would die. Deserves to be overthrown, and have CPS called on him. POSEIDON - A "nice" dictator is still a dictator y'all. Uses and treats mortal life just as carelessly as everyone else. Him being a good father to Percy does not make him a good guy or someone who is a good ruler. I mean just look at his r*pe bodycount plz DEMETER - Negelctful parent who uses her children as much as canon fodder as everyone else. Helps to uphold an unjust system that uses and abuses literal children and their mortal parents while activley benefiting from it.

APHRODITE - Negelctful parent who also uses and abuses her children. Just because she talked to Piper and helped her dad doesn't make her a good person or mother. The main reason for that is that she does not give that same level of attention and care to the rest of her children- picking favorites is not suddenly "okay" or "cool" just because your favorite character happens to be the favorite child.

ATHENA - Negelectful parent who uses her kids as cannon fodder. And not only that but she's also exceptionally irresponsible considering how she just dumps kids on completely unprepared parents and leaves not helping any further. Ontop of that she's also incredibly prideful and assumes she has some right to meddle with her kids' lives. 90% of the gods deserve to be overthrown but she also deserves a kick in the balls from Annabeth ontop. ARTEMIS - I made multiple posts about how creepy she is already. Borderline creep in her way of specifically going after younger girls. Also not yet sure she ain't leading a borderline cult with the Hunters of Artemis. Also the way she is about men violates so many human rights. Joining her Hunters would be a living nightmare for me, knowing she'd be my patron goddess if I lived in PJO makes me glad she's fictional. Helps to uphold and profits from a system literally killing kids. APOLLO - Helps to uphold a system that's literally killing kids and benefits from it. He uses demigod lives as cannon fodder too. Him "loving" his partners and children does not change the fact that he just leaves/abandons both of them if the kid doesn't happen to be a favorite of his. Jury's still out on him post-TOA and redemtion. If he actively does something against the system to help the demigods or atleast attempts to do we're god. If he doesn't he's even worse than the rest bc now he doesn't even have the "he didn't know any better" excuse. ARES - OG reason I wish Luke won unironically. Tyrant, jerk, probably abusive and misogynistic????? Also the typical case of using his kids as cannon fodder. Neglectful parent 101. HEPHAESTUS - IDK if he talked and helped Leo and said he "watches all his children". He did not help any other of his kids like that, no good father EVER employs even a SMIGE of favoritism. You can watch your kids all you want, if you continue to ignore them, use them as cannon fodder, and actively benefit from the system killing them that makes you a weird stalker at best. But most certainly not a good father OR person. HERMES - I have never seen someone fumble the bag so hard like??? Honestly he deserve a TROPHY for being able to mess up so incredibily much with Luke and May 💀 At this point you can really only describe the guy as inept. He for real just left his innocent newborn son with a woman he KNEW was insane completely alone for no reason??? AND THEN BLAMED LUKE FOR LEAVING HIS MOM/NOT LIKING HER????? Listen idk if he "couldn't have interfered without making it worse" and if it was against some ancient law. Poseidon interferes with Percy a BUNCH even when he was under a prophecy for multiple of his quests and everything turned out fine. Hermes loved Luke, unfortunately he just had a room-temperature IQ. He is also a neglectful parent who uses his kids as cannon fodder- he couldn't care less about any other child of his not named "Luke Castellan". Favoritism still ain't cool my man DIONYSUS - May genuinly care about his kids and all, but he still basically trains up a demigod child army and uses them as cannon fodder. Helps to uphold the system. Litteraly shoves his job at camp off to the kids while being a straight up asshole- no wonder did so many kids turn when HE was their one and only example for a god. EXTRA INFO

I think that "helps to uphold an unjust system" and "actively benifits from a system that uses kids as cannon fodder with no regards for them" honestly applies to EVERY god with exception of Hestia and the minor gods who joined the TA. They are also all dictators to some degree- remember everybody: A NICE DICTATOR IS STILL A DICTATOR. IF THEY WERE A GOOD PERSON THEY WOULDN'T BE A DICTATOR! I hate the gods for real. Although personally in terms of hate everyone get's an equal amount, but Artemis creeps me out the MOST. (Can I get a restraining order against a goddess?)

[xstrawberryshiftsx]

I want to start worshipping Aphrodite

I've always adored her and even as a kid I remember loving her-I'm finding it hard to find info about how to properly worship a deity and giving gifts (i.e with offering her food-what do I do when It starts to rot? and with just normal offerings how exactly do I do it respectfully?)

I've always felt connected to her and I want to have an amazing altar but can't really afford a lot of stuff, would it be disrespectful to buy cheap things like from the dollar store or temu?

I know these questions sound silly but I would really appreciate if any of you guys have tips :)

xx <3

[thelandswemadeofpaper]

As much I hate Forced or Unwilling Marriages, the power imbalance between the wife and the husband should be considered

Even if the man didn't agree with the wedding, in a patriarchal society, he does have far more power than his bride

To judge things like cheating, treating his/her spouse badly depends on other factors like a previous consensual agreement (Laenor/Rhaenyra) or abuse (Robert/Cersei)

Respect is the minimum in the relationship

[demeterdefence]

this feels like a fucking hate crime what the hell

[wanderingmind867]

The Aphrodite cabin lacks individuality. Everyone's bed looks the same. The whole house is painted in pinks and pastels and nothing is out of place. It's suffocatingly sterile, which isn't what Aphrodite is about. Even though I might be aromantic (I'm not sure, but I've definitely never felt romantic love for anyone in real life before that i've noticed. But that's a topic for another note, not just a random tangent on this one) I can tell you that.

Love is passion! Passion isn't a boring dreamhouse! Passion would be each camper's bed reflecting them and their sense of beauty. Because beauty is subjective, and it's that subjectivity that makes it beauty. I bet Drew contributed to the Aphrodite cabin being so bland. Because that's not what Aphrodite stands for at all. It's sort of loosely like the ares cabin, honestly. That's what I'm picturing. Love and War go together shockingly well. Because love is like a war. It's that passionate dance of flames, yet it's also that tenderness that awaits within. I mean...look at all the love songs. Some are ballads and some are downright hard rock war crys. Because love is many, many things.

[clown-cult]

ANYWAY back to doing webcomic designs. For your viewing pleasure, we have Aphrodite and Demeter, plus another Hera study.

Aphrodite is a figure to be reckoned with. In her human form, she can shapeshift to fit whatever your idea of beauty may be. She blends in and adapts effortlessly. In her titaness form, she’s tall, imposing, an exaggeration of the ideals of femininity that also turn those ideals on their head. Her sense of fashion shifts constantly and her personality is unpredictable at best. She’s a transgender woman, older than all the other Olympians and has a very low, husky voice. She towers over Ares and Hephaestus despite their own strength. They do not mind this at all.

Demeter is as full of rage and love as she is beauty. Her animal symbology is a snake, but while most gods associated with snakes are associated for their venom, my take on Demeter is more like a python. She’s dark, glittering, calm and calculated and incredibly strong. As Hades as found out the hard way, once she has you in her grip, she doesn’t let go easily. Demeter’s relationships include Iason and a few nymphs, she’s said to be one of the great lost loves of Zeus, it’s believed she may be one of Aphrodite’s affair partners and she has a deep, passionate relationship with Hecate. I was heavily inspired by Nia Long and Da’vine Joy Randolph when I designed her.

You’ve already seen my Hera designs a few times now. I’m working on a sheet for her. The queen of Olympus is buff. It’s how she enforces order.

Bonus: