#example of women's struggle

[elfdyke]

i dont think fandom people who only think about male characters and only create content for male characters are like horrible misogynists but i do think they often have some shit they need to unpack. like how can you , for example, play life is strange and the only thing you come away with from that is you want nathan and warren to fuck nasty. how can you watch birds of prey, and the only thing you come away with from that is you want roman and victor to fuck nasty......... like idk! idk! i just find it strange especially when people will engage with media Specifically about women and then put no effort in to empathize or care about them, sometimes even going far enough to say they HATE the female characters and that theyre bitches... IDK!!!!

[twnenglish]

All Time Best Women Centric Films Of Bollywood

Hindi cinema has served as a mirror of its times, events, and the challenges the nation has faced for many years. Women in contemporary movies have gone a long way from being simple ornamental objects in movies, from occasionally being victims or powerless, to being powerful forces to be reckoned with. Hindi film actresses have established themselves as strong, confident, and powerful individuals who fight for their rights, speak up against injustice, uphold their dignity, and deserve what they do not receive. She too rejects this and resists.

Over the years, Hindi films have successfully portrayed how times and cultures have changed, whether it is the dramatic shift in the professions to which women have been exposed or even the current domestic violence against women. The ladies of Hindi films, from Meena Kumari to Vidya Balan, from Mother India to Lipstick Under My Burkha, have played a significant role in bringing about change in the nation. We provide you movies with strong female characters. Additionally, she is taking an active part in developing her own sense of self in society.

Women-focused movies of all genres were made by directors throughout this decade, and the public accepted them, enjoyed them, and even desired more of them. This is a fantastic illustration of how things are altering. Today we'll talk about some of the finest female-centric Bollywood movies that got people thinking and contributed to a lot of positive social change.

All-Time Best Women-Centric Films Of Bollywood

1. Mother India (1957)

The early Indian cinematic era includes the renowned masterpiece Mother India. This was likely the first widely watched movie to get acclaim both domestically and overseas. It was an unconventional movie at the time. It's regarded as one of Nargis Dutt's most famous and significant performances.

Poor rural lady Radha (Nargis) struggles against all difficulties to raise her two boys. The locals revere him as a deity and a symbol of justice. She murders her immoral son in accordance with her moral ideals in the sake of justice.

Known for directing the social epic Mother India, which won two National Film Awards, the Filmfare Award for Best Film and Best Director, and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Mehboob Khan was a trailblazing producer-director in Indian film.

2. Mirch Masala (1987)

The film Mirch Masala, which was directed by Ketan Mehta, depicts the tale of Sonbai, a humble villager, portrayed by Smita Patil, who decides to refuse a request from Subedar, a strong officer played by Naseeruddin Shah, in order to avoid his bad eye.

The village chief's wife, played by Deepti Naval, protests against her husband's oppression and his wish to send their daughter to school. A powerful tale of women's emancipation in backward times. This is a singular illustration of how hard it is for women to survive.

3. Bandit Queen (1994)

The movie is a biography based on the life of Phoolan Devi, an Indian dacoit who was imprisoned in 1983 and who is played by Seema Biswas. The Indian police accused him, and the populace transformed him into a legend.

This is the tale of a lady who battles all male crimes, including those done by police and thugs. She eventually defeats them all and shows herself to be a powerful lady. India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi, a movie based on Mala Sen's biography, was directed by Shekhar Kapur.

4. Astitva (2000)

The Mahesh Manjrekar-directed film Astitva exposes India's pernicious social structure. It brings to light societal problems like extramarital relationships and marital abuse that have never been freely discussed.

Aditi Shrikant Pandit, a character played by Tabu, is encouraged by her future daughter-in-law, Namrata Shirodkar, as she searches for her identity outside of marriage while being separated from her husband and kid. She eventually exits the house as well, standing by her mother-in-law.

5.  Chandni Bar (2001)

Chandni Bar sheds light on the oppressive and hopeless lives of several Mumbai women who are entangled in a labyrinth of crime, prostitution, dance clubs, and the underworld. In the movie, Tabu, who plays Mumtaz, strives to offer her kids a better future, but she is ultimately overcome by the circumstances. It is a nerve-wracking story of the reality experienced by women in particular regions of Mumbai, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.

6. English Vinglish (2012)

The protagonist of English Vinglish is a dedicated homemaker named Shashi Godbole. Shashi puts her all into her career and is a fantastic mother, wife, and housewife, yet her husband and daughter frequently disappoint her. Shashi's lack of English language proficiency is the cause of his actions.

During a journey to the United States, Shashi picks up the English language and her family's perception of her changes. Sridevi plays the role of Shashi Godbole in the movie, which is directed by Gauri Shinde.

Read This Full ARTICLE, Click Here

[p2ii]

I feel like there's something to be said about the way fandom will treat characters who's trauma they can personally relate to Vs characters who they cant

[antiqua-lugar]

reading about stuff, I think this passage about eleanor anne porden, sir john's first wife (the real person) definitely informs my idea of sophia cracroft's characterisation (from the terror amc):

Spufford argued that in this letter, Porden effectively refused the role of a “conventional polar wife,” which he understood to consist of patient waiting and resignation. But her letter can best be understood as defining, rather than rejecting, that role—after all, she had no role model apart from Mary Richardson. She expected she would help produce narratives for the sake of her husband’s career—as did other wives of naturalists, botanists, astronomers, geologists, and practitioners of gentlemanly science. She also expected, like other maritime wives, to be repeatedly abandoned, perhaps for years. In that context, she argued, she had a right to knowledge - particularly about Franklin’s relationships, traumas, and how those were likely to impact their shared life. Clayton, Annaliese Jacobs. Arctic circles and imperial knowledge: the Franklin family, Indigenous intermediaries, and the politics of truth.

[foccaccia]

does anyone have recommendations for fictional media that has like. actual lesbians in it. not like supergirl Two White Skinny Girls, One Blonde and One Brunette Kiss media, or "its implied lesbianism!!!" but just regular fucking lesbians

[papirouge]

the way the collective of White feminists are pathologically defensive of JK Rowling, Britney Spears, Amber Heard, Taylor Swift, and elevate them as thee ultimate posterchild of female oppression in their respective lane has to be clinically studied

[munamania]

obsessed w my friend. i named her jackie i think forever ago lolol one of the film girlz. anyway her not letting sam get a word in last night when we had to record a little podcast together for a project. he was sooooooooooo mad

[stunfiskz]

i wish there was more rep for trans characters whose voices don’t pass at all and that isn’t used to mock them.

[senso1954]

i have now seen it more than once and really don't understand this thing where people say well [recent piece of media] didn't set out to be feminist and that's okay! like no... i don't think it is.

[isdalinarhot]

Ok I can say this cuz I’m blackout wasted and don’t give a shit. Writing sadalinar + ialai is there too as a third in a Dark Shakadolin Fashion mpreg is really fun and all but sometimes a moment in the fic comes and it’s just so fluffy and you get emotional…….. what I’ve just written tonight is Sadeas getting to the point where baby kicks can be felt from the outside and Dalinar is so sofdt and enchanted and taken by this and when he first feels a baby kick it’s the most amazing moment of his life……….. well I’m gonna cry about this……… holy shit dalinar……….. wow…………… wow!!!!!!!‼︎

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

“Omg Edward and Bella are so Odysseus and Penelope coded” that’s how it sounds to me each time anyone compares a mlm ship to achilles and patroklos

[kaerinio]

also, following dany's return to meereen, she's done being tamed. she is done being tamed by the forces around her, done being tamed by the expectations around her, done being tamed by herself. quaithe told her that the dragons know who she is, but questions if she knows. daario expresses the same sentiment. following the second rebirth, she finally understands. it is time for her to drive herself and trust her own intuition more, of course while taking counsel ( that will NEVER change ), but she will not allow herself to become a bleating lamb ready for the slaughter again ; she will be as the targaryens are destined to be . . . a dragon. not just the mother of dragons, but the dragon who stops at nothing to protect her people. the dragon who leads her children. and like her dragons, she will answer to neither gods nor men.

[wild-at-mind]

Every International Women's Day, you will find that progressive publications publish their manditory IWD article about how we should focus more on women in the global south and yet we can't because upper class white women have their pink cupcakes and their CEO jobs exploiting the working woman by being customers and crying about Barbie not getting an Oscar nomination. I always read it and think....I have really good news for you, journalist writing this, about what you could do with the article you're being paid to write!!

[eclipsecrowned]

listen. people can do whatever they want with their muse and their interpretation of canon. but god something rubs me wrong about people introducing misogyny/disparity in a setting where canon pretty firmly says ‘this is a non-issue due to the structure of this fantasy world/society in no way reflecting our own real world.’

and no i’m not talking about da trying to be egalitarian and falling short so fandom calls out the failure in worldbuilding, i mean canon definitively introducing women as warriors, leaders, rulers, villains, and monsters, all while no one in universe bats an eyelash or is weird about it.... but surely there must be an insidious undertow and women have to be told to stay in the kitchen or passed over for power or something else that clearly does not exist outside of fanon.

[yeoldenews]

A Guide to Historically Accurate Regency-Era Names

I recently received a message from a historical romance writer asking if I knew any good resources for finding historically accurate Regency-era names for their characters.

Not knowing any off the top of my head, I dug around online a bit and found there really isn’t much out there. The vast majority of search results were Buzzfeed-style listicles which range from accurate-adjacent to really, really, really bad.

I did find a few blog posts with fairly decent name lists, but noticed that even these have very little indication as to each name’s relative popularity as those statistical breakdowns really don't exist.

I began writing up a response with this information, but then I (being a research addict who was currently snowed in after a blizzard) thought hey - if there aren’t any good resources out there why not make one myself?

As I lacked any compiled data to work from, I had to do my own data wrangling on this project. Due to this fact, I limited the scope to what I thought would be the most useful for writers who focus on this era, namely - people of a marriageable age living in the wealthiest areas of London.

So with this in mind - I went through period records and compiled the names of 25,000 couples who were married in the City of Westminster (which includes Mayfair, St. James and Hyde Park) between 1804 to 1821.

So let’s see what all that data tells us…

To begin - I think it’s hard for us in the modern world with our wide and varied abundance of first names to conceive of just how POPULAR popular names of the past were.

If you were to take a modern sample of 25-year-old (born in 1998) American women, the most common name would be Emily with 1.35% of the total population. If you were to add the next four most popular names (Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Ashley) these top five names would bring you to 5.5% of the total population. (source: Social Security Administration)

If you were to do the same survey in Regency London - the most common name would be Mary with 19.2% of the population. Add the next four most popular names (Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane) and with just 5 names you would have covered 62% of all women.

To hit 62% of the population in the modern survey it would take the top 400 names.

The top five Regency men’s names (John, William, Thomas, James and George) have nearly identical statistics as the women’s names.

I struggled for the better part of a week with how to present my findings, as a big list in alphabetical order really fails to get across the popularity factor and also isn’t the most tumblr-compatible format. And then my YouTube homepage recommended a random video of someone ranking all the books they’d read last year - and so I present…

The Regency Name Popularity Tier List

The Tiers

S+ - 10% of the population or greater. There is no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. 52% of the population had one of these 7 names.

S - 2-10%. There is still no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. Names in this percentage range in the past have included Mary and William in the 1880s and Jennifer in the late 1970s (topped out at 4%).

A - 1-2%. The top five modern names usually fall in this range. Kids with these names would probably include their last initial in class to avoid confusion. (1998 examples: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Michael, Christopher, Brandon.)

B - .3-1%. Very common names. Would fall in the top 50 modern names. You would most likely know at least 1 person with these names. (1998 examples: Jessica, Megan, Allison, Justin, Ryan, Eric)

C - .17-.3%. Common names. Would fall in the modern top 100. You would probably know someone with these names, or at least know of them. (1998 examples: Chloe, Grace, Vanessa, Sean, Spencer, Seth)

D - .06-.17%. Less common names. In the modern top 250. You may not personally know someone with these names, but you’re aware of them. (1998 examples: Faith, Cassidy, Summer, Griffin, Dustin, Colby)

E - .02-.06%. Uncommon names. You’re aware these are names, but they are not common. Unusual enough they may be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Calista, Skye, Precious, Fabian, Justice, Lorenzo)

F - .01-.02%. Rare names. You may have heard of these names, but you probably don’t know anyone with one. Extremely unusual, and would likely be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Emerald, Lourdes, Serenity, Dario, Tavian, Adonis)

G - Very rare names. There are only a handful of people with these names in the entire country. You’ve never met anyone with this name.

H - Virtually non-existent. Names that theoretically could have existed in the Regency period (their original source pre-dates the early 19th century) but I found fewer than five (and often no) period examples of them being used in Regency England. (Example names taken from romance novels and online Regency name lists.)

Just to once again reinforce how POPULAR popular names were before we get to the tier lists - statistically, in a ballroom of 100 people in Regency London: 80 would have names from tiers S+/S. An additional 15 people would have names from tiers A/B and C. 4 of the remaining 5 would have names from D/E. Only one would have a name from below tier E.

Women's Names

S+ Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah      

S - Jane, Mary Ann+, Hannah, Susannah, Margaret, Catherine, Martha, Charlotte, Maria

A - Frances, Harriet, Sophia, Eleanor, Rebecca

B - Alice, Amelia, Bridget~, Caroline, Eliza, Esther, Isabella, Louisa, Lucy, Lydia, Phoebe, Rachel, Susan

C - Ellen, Fanny*, Grace, Henrietta, Hester, Jemima, Matilda, Priscilla

D - Abigail, Agnes, Amy, Augusta, Barbara, Betsy*, Betty*, Cecilia, Christiana, Clarissa, Deborah, Diana, Dinah, Dorothy, Emily, Emma, Georgiana, Helen, Janet^, Joanna, Johanna, Judith, Julia, Kezia, Kitty*, Letitia, Nancy*, Ruth, Winifred>

E - Arabella, Celia, Charity, Clara, Cordelia, Dorcas, Eve, Georgina, Honor, Honora, Jennet^, Jessie*^, Joan, Joyce, Juliana, Juliet, Lavinia, Leah, Margery, Marian, Marianne, Marie, Mercy, Miriam, Naomi, Patience, Penelope, Philadelphia, Phillis, Prudence, Rhoda, Rosanna, Rose, Rosetta, Rosina, Sabina, Selina, Sylvia, Theodosia, Theresa

F - (selected) Alicia, Bethia, Euphemia, Frederica, Helena, Leonora, Mariana, Millicent, Mirah, Olivia, Philippa, Rosamund, Sybella, Tabitha, Temperance, Theophila, Thomasin, Tryphena, Ursula, Virtue, Wilhelmina

G - (selected) Adelaide, Alethia, Angelina, Cassandra, Cherry, Constance, Delilah, Dorinda, Drusilla, Eva, Happy, Jessica, Josephine, Laura, Minerva, Octavia, Parthenia, Theodora, Violet, Zipporah

H - Alberta, Alexandra, Amber, Ashley, Calliope, Calpurnia, Chloe, Cressida, Cynthia, Daisy, Daphne, Elaine, Eloise, Estella, Lilian, Lilias, Francesca, Gabriella, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hermione, Hyacinth, Inez, Iris, Kathleen, Madeline, Maude, Melody, Portia, Seabright, Seraphina, Sienna, Verity

Men's Names

S+ John, William, Thomas

S - James, George, Joseph, Richard, Robert, Charles, Henry, Edward, Samuel

A - Benjamin, (Mother’s/Grandmother’s maiden name used as first name)#

B - Alexander^, Andrew, Daniel, David>, Edmund, Francis, Frederick, Isaac, Matthew, Michael, Patrick~, Peter, Philip, Stephen, Timothy

C - Abraham, Anthony, Christopher, Hugh>, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Walter

D - Adam, Arthur, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dennis, Evan>, Jacob, Job, Josiah, Joshua, Lawrence, Lewis, Luke, Mark, Martin, Moses, Nicholas, Owen>, Paul, Ralph, Simon

E - Aaron, Alfred, Allen, Ambrose, Amos, Archibald, Augustin, Augustus, Barnard, Barney, Bernard, Bryan, Caleb, Christian, Clement, Colin, Duncan^, Ebenezer, Edwin, Emanuel, Felix, Gabriel, Gerard, Gilbert, Giles, Griffith, Harry*, Herbert, Humphrey, Israel, Jabez, Jesse, Joel, Jonas, Lancelot, Matthias, Maurice, Miles, Oliver, Rees, Reuben, Roger, Rowland, Solomon, Theophilus, Valentine, Zachariah

F - (selected) Abel, Barnabus, Benedict, Connor, Elijah, Ernest, Gideon, Godfrey, Gregory, Hector, Horace, Horatio, Isaiah, Jasper, Levi, Marmaduke, Noah, Percival, Shadrach, Vincent

G - (selected) Albion, Darius, Christmas, Cleophas, Enoch, Ethelbert, Gavin, Griffin, Hercules, Hugo, Innocent, Justin, Maximilian, Methuselah, Peregrine, Phineas, Roland, Sebastian, Sylvester, Theodore, Titus, Zephaniah

H - Albinus, Americus, Cassian, Dominic, Eric, Milo, Rollo, Trevor, Tristan, Waldo, Xavier

# Men were sometimes given a family surname (most often their mother's or grandmother's maiden name) as their first name - the most famous example of this being Fitzwilliam Darcy. If you were to combine all surname-based first names as a single 'name' this is where the practice would rank.

*Rank as a given name, not a nickname

+If you count Mary Ann as a separate name from Mary - Mary would remain in S+ even without the Mary Anns included

~Primarily used by people of Irish descent

^Primarily used by people of Scottish descent

>Primarily used by people of Welsh descent

I was going to continue on and write about why Regency-era first names were so uniform, discuss historically accurate surnames, nicknames, and include a little guide to finding 'unique' names that are still historically accurate - but this post is already very, very long, so that will have to wait for a later date.

If anyone has any questions/comments/clarifications in the meantime feel free to message me.

Methodology notes: All data is from marriage records covering six parishes in the City of Westminster between 1804 and 1821. The total sample size was 50,950 individuals.

I chose marriage records rather than births/baptisms as I wanted to focus on individuals who were adults during the Regency era rather than newborns. I think many people make the mistake when researching historical names by using baby name data for the year their story takes place rather than 20 to 30 years prior, and I wanted to avoid that. If you are writing a story that takes place in 1930 you don’t want to research the top names for 1930, you need to be looking at 1910 or earlier if you are naming adult characters.

I combined (for my own sanity) names that are pronounced identically but have minor spelling differences: i.e. the data for Catherine also includes Catharines and Katherines, Susannah includes Susannas, Phoebe includes Phebes, etc.

The compound 'Mother's/Grandmother's maiden name used as first name' designation is an educated guesstimate based on what I recognized as known surnames, as I do not hate myself enough to go through 25,000+ individuals and confirm their mother's maiden names. So if the tally includes any individuals who just happened to be named Fitzroy/Hastings/Townsend/etc. because their parents liked the sound of it and not due to any familial relations - my bad.

I did a small comparative survey of 5,000 individuals in several rural communities in Rutland and Staffordshire (chosen because they had the cleanest data I could find and I was lazy) to see if there were any significant differences between urban and rural naming practices and found the results to be very similar. The most noticeable difference I observed was that the S+ tier names were even MORE popular in rural areas than in London. In Rutland between 1810 and 1820 Elizabeths comprised 21.4% of all brides vs. 15.3% in the London survey. All other S+ names also saw increases of between 1% and 6%. I also observed that the rural communities I surveyed saw a small, but noticeable and fairly consistent, increase in the use of names with Biblical origins.

Sources of the records I used for my survey: 

Ancestry.com. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1988 [database on-line].

Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line].

[sidsinning]

Apothecary Diaries is pog as fuck bc serious political issues and dynamics from a woman's POV are rarely depicted in ANY form of media

It's always a man's world where women's issues surround him. Even if we get a female perspective once in awhile- it all comes back to how it facilitates his game in the end. She's a footnote in the overarching scheme of things. Misogyny exists. Back to the real plot.

Apothecary Diaries is strictly from a female perspective and how each class of woman has to act, what limits they have, what rights they have and don't have between each class, etc. These women have to behave a certain way under a patriarchy, which you would think makes it a man's story, but it never is. The women are THE focus of this show, their struggles are THE plot. The focus is about how the patriarch effects them.

Take the concubines for example. The show dives into how bearing a child affects their rank, how traumatizing it is to lose that child, the consequences of that, etc. We have barely seen the emperor who sired all these kids because this is not about him.

Jinshi's personal plot is secondary to Mao Mao's journey- he is mostly there to provide new cases for Mao Mao to solve and to learn more about the shortcomings of his class when taking care of citizens like Mao Mao.

Jinshi is not a bad person, but by virtue of his position in the higher classes, he cannot understand how harsh life as a poor WOMAN is specifically- he can only catch glimpses of it from what Mao Mao tells him and feel outrage but powerless in his wealth and luxury

Mao Mao is a fortunate commoner woman for what privileges someone in her class should and shouldn't have. She happened to be adopted by a knowledgeable man. She is allowed to read, write, learn, and has enough skill to be a poison tester and have a job EXTREMELY out of her class limit as an apothecary, also a job not traditionally meant for women

Mao Mao is not a "noT lIkE oThER gIrLs" protagonist, she is FOR THE GIRLIES. She only wants to help the women around her, and women are whom she has the closest relationships to. She sees a woman being harassed and can't let it stand. She sees a frail, traumatized woman dying from the recklessness of those who should be caring for her and spends day and night nursing her back to health, while also punishing the people who were so careless with her needs.

My girl has STUDIED UP on THE BODY to TEACH these upper class ladies on how to really HEAT things up in the BEDROOM

Sex depicted in Apothecary Diaries is both something women are not shamed to be enjoying, while at the same time being acknowledged as an unfortunately huge economic necessity to market themselves.

Like shit is just so real in this series???

Listen, I can go on and on about how GOATED the series and especially Mao Mao is but you get the picture