#fictional characters are not exempt to toxicity

[pinto-bean-writes]

Welcome Y'all :)

My name is Pinto! Some of you may know me as @sydaney-foxay, my personal blog! I'm a silly little author, I usually write original works in the genres of Dark Fantasy and Realistic FIction with hints of fluffy-angsty Romance sprinkled within! Though I do occassionally write Fanfiction and do take requests, but more on that later on!

Name: Pinto Bean Age: Minor Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Heteromantic & Ace Socials: Wattpad, AO3, Neobook Race/Ethnicity: Half Filipino, Half British Religion: Catholic ✝

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Any type of hate, racism, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, abelism ect, are PROHIBITED and will NOT BE TOLERATED.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ No NSFW/Explicit asks or images/videos in the Ask or Submissions box. They will immediately be DELETED.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Anybody younger than 13 reading/engaging with this blog WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. (Mutuals are an exception to this rule.)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Any asks or submissions about politics are PROHIBITED and will be DELETED.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ People older than 30 reading/engaging with this blog WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. (Family members, mutuals, and people granted personal permission are an exception to this rule.)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ If any work is marked "16+" please do take it upon yourself to make a responsible decision on wether to consume the piece of media or not.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ All trigger warnings will be mentioned, please do read those first and mind then when reading through a piece.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Anyone younger than 13. (Mutuals and family members are exempt from this rule)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Anyone older than 30. (Mutuals and family members are exempt from this rule)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ AI Art supporters.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Proshippers.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Homophobic, transphobic and fatphobic individuals.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ People who have public ownership of explicit/18+ media blogs.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ This silly shart sniffer /silly

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ People who showcase harmful/toxic behaviors and excuse it with religion (I.E: Toxic Christians, toxic Catholics)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Bots.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ People who spread religious hate.

If any of these describe you I highly suggest getting off my blog and to not interact with it.

..............................Fanfiction............................

As I mentioned before, I do take requests! Now I do wanna start this off by saying:

I consider myself an ORIGINAL AUTHOR. I mostly write ORIGINAL WORKS. Though those take quite a long time to come out and sometimes I want to write but not focus on larger, original projects- so I take REQUESTS and write MY OWN fanfictions, but those are LOW on the priority list. I spend the majority of my time writing WORKING ON ORIGINAL WORK, so I do want to say FANFICTION REQUESTS MAY TAKE A WHILE TO GET SENT OUT. Due to this, I want to thank you all in advance for your patience and support!

Now; onto the fun stuff!

Fanfiction requests will usually take about 1 week to come out, due to my focus on original work and the fact my writing is usually very long and detailed. I write for a plethora of fandoms and even though fanfiction is not my main focus, I try to put as much love and care into my fanfics as I do my original work!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Hazbin Hotel 🔥

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Helluva Boss 👿

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Cuphead 🥤

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Camp Camp 🌲

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ The Ghost and Molly McGee 👻

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Miss Peregrines Peculiar Children 🐣 (I have read all 6 books + watched the movie)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Stardew Valley 👩‍🌾

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Sexy Brutale 🛌

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Court x Mort Saga 📚

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ The Amazing Digital Circus 🤡

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I DO WRITE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Character x Character ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Character x Reader ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Platonic Character x Character ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Platonic Character x Reader ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Sibling Character x Reader ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Sick comfort ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Period/Menstruation comfort ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Sibling comfort ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Headcanons ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Alternate timelines ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Alternate universes ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Alternate situations ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Hurt comfort ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ MILDLY suggestive fluff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I DON'T WRITE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Sexually explicit NSFW (OF ANY AGES) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Incest ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Pedophelia ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Underage use of drugs and alcohol ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ SA scenes ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ The brutal murder of children ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Suicide ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Zoophilia

Side note:

My boundaries when writing fanfiction will not always align with my boundaries when writing original fiction. I want to respect the original piece of media and the creatives behind it- so I refrain from writing anything particularly heavy, intense, or mature that has not happened in the original piece or anything incredibly off-canon. I also know the large majority of those who read/request fanfiction are minors, and I want to be able to give them a place to read lots of fics without worrying about coming across anything particularly disturbing. Though with my original work, do expect much heavier topics to be referenced.

..........................Original Fiction........................

As I've stated before, I am an original author and I do plan on sharing my work here on this blog among other socials! My original work will usually take longer to release than fanfictions, so feel free to pop in aks about characters, plots, and things revealed through spoiler posts! The genres I write in are usually dark fantasy, realistic fiction, dark humor (if that counts), psychological thriller, psychological horror, dystopia, dark romance, and political fiction.

My original work may contain these things/topics: (Of course specialized Trigger Warnings will be placed on each piece according to the content of the writing)

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Swearing ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Mental/Emotional/Physical Neglect ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Mental/Emotional/Physical Abuse ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Generally traumatic events ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Intense descriptions of blood, gore, and violence ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ The use of drugs and alcohol ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Underage use of alcohol ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Toxic romantic relationships ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ The mentions of sexual harassment/assault (The actual acts of assault are never described or written out. Only suggested.) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Cults/Cult-like organizations ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Death ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Violence ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Vomiting ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ MILDLY suggestiveness (MILD, meaning all characters are fully clothed, and there is never sexually intimate touching) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Vulnerable character (I.E: being drunk) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Child death ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Human cruelty ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ References made to specific types of drugs, alcohols, weapons, ect,

Another reminder:

All pieces of writing will have specific trigger warnings placed on them depending on the content of the piece. Not all of my original works will contain these specific topics if any at all- please read trigger warnings before consuming.

.......................Socials...................... ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Wattpad ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ AO3 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Neobook

Thank Ya'll :)

...to everyone who read through this and I do hope you stick around and follow to see what crazy shit I can whip up for y'all with nothing more than a Google Document and an ink cartridge filled with dreams!

[kitkatopinions]

More and more, I'm starting to think that a lot of people actually really don't want flawed and nuanced characters that make mistakes. Because often I'll see even the people that do say they want that just absolutely hating on characters for mistakes and flaws and/or absolutely losing their minds when someone says the character they like is flawed and makes mistakes.

And I do get the hate thing in some ways in regards to characters with flaws and mistakes that aren't treated like flaws and mistakes and therefore would never get addressed and worked through and they're never treated like they're really in the wrong and that can be very frustrating. But the venom directed towards characters for arguably small flaws is still off the charts in disproportionate ways. And for another thing, I've seen this happen even with things that might not have been directly addressed but were part of a growth arc where the character did seem to recognize they were in the wrong and started to change, and I've even seen this happen with things that were directly addressed and treated as real flaws and condemned by the narrative that the character in question apologized for and regretted. People will be like "I want more flawed nuanced characters that make mistakes!" And then a traumatized child character will be talking to another character and be like "I know when I did this minorly bad thing, it hurt you. I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry." And the same people that were like "I want nuance and flaws and some toxicity for interest!" will be like "um this stupid selfish immature little jerk obviously only ever thinks about themselves!" Like? Why do people do this? Even when the character in question isn't a child, this is still annoying as hell, but it really does make me hesitant to plan to write a thirteen year old character to make mistakes in my own original ideas. XD

On the flip side, you get people who get actively angry every time a character has flaws and mistakes called out, because that character happens to be a favorite of theirs and therefore they want to act like that character is off limits to criticize or dislike. If a character has flaws and makes mistakes, it's going to be talked about here and there, it should be acknowledged as a flaw or mistake, and sometimes some people aren't going to like a character because one particular flaw bugs them a lot. I've seen people react to an acknowledgement of a minor flaw in their favorite character as if it was a personal attack on them and their own morality. Your favorite fictional characters aren't perfect, and if they have to be treated that way for you to like them, then you've got a problem. I've seen people make posts that are like "This character shouldn't have done this majorly bad thing that hurt lots of people, they should acknowledge it and say sorry" and people come into the comments like "how dare you say that this character is bad! I bet you only hate this character because you're horrible evil scum! This character gets so misunderstood and mistreated by the fans!"

Both things can exist at the same time, btw. I'm both frustrated about how characters will get endless venomous hate for even small things but I'm also frustrated about how some characters are treated like they're exempt from all forms of criticism and must be liked and must be treated like they're perfect, and at the same time the people who do either or both of those things will be like "I want more flawed characters! I want nuance and mistakes and learning and growth!"

[thekatebridgerton]

So I read a post of your takes on Yandere Bridgertons and I’m like YAS! They all have blood in their hands, Daphne is definitely acts elegantly sophisticated when she murders all those who hurt her Simon and emotionally manipulative him and he apologizes to her. Francesca, seems normal until she lost John and when she falls for Michael, she lost her marbles and has outbursts when she thinks se is going to lose him. Gregory and Hyacinth definitely lean towards manipulation but also deadly.

Okay so, secret kink here. I love my Yandere heroes. Call them toxic and unhealthy all you want but I don't care, I’ve got my guilty pleasures you’ve got yours and there’s no shame.

Dear readers who like your fictional relationships healthy, hear this trigger warning. This post is not for you. I repeat this post is not for you:

Yandere is a portmanteau of two Japanese words. The first is yanderu, which means “to be sick,” and the second is deredere, used here for “lovestruck.” A yandere is often sweet, caring, and innocent before switching into someone who displays an extreme, often violent or psychotic, level of devotion to a love interest.

You know I loved writing this take, because I don’t generally get to write about characters with no moral fiber getting a romatic storyline and there’s just something so wicked about cruel romance. so for those of you who don’t mind toxic in your romantic storylines. hit the keep reading button.

Daphne actually, I think out of all her sisters, she'd never bother to hide that she's unhinged. Like, she knows what she's doing when she's smiling and opening her fan and putting the fear of God into people's hearts one ball at a time. Simon went into his marriage with eyes wide open to how she was willing to hurt everyone but him but probably the moment that broke him psychologically was the dubious consent scene where she didn’t care that he didn’t want to have a child, because she loved him and how could he not want to have a baby with her? that’s terrible. That's when he learned that even he wasn't exempt form her tendency to trample on people to get her way. Especially him.

Usually when people start dropping like flies around him, Simon just nervously looks into his teacup and moves away from the dead bodies. His attractive to Daphne is that Simon isn't afraid of gore but has the self preservation to not start fights he can't finish. That's why she loves him so much. Her husband the Duke. And he loves her too, his sweet dear psycho diamond. Even if she’s a little odd.  

Anthony: to give him some credit he did try to marry a woman he wouldn't love so his wife and children could at least have a different upbringing than he did. Since Violet and Edmund were two very intense yanderes, both with each other and their kids. He tried to fight his attraction to Kate, he knew he would ruin her life. He was being as selfless as he could by courting Edwina.

Aaaaand then Kate had to bite him. She was hiding under his desk while he tried to woo his ex mistress to forget about Kate and she bit him. Ever since then he decided that this was enough justification to do what he wanted and tame her into submission. If she were his Viscountess she wouldn't go around biting people, he'd make sure of it. So he seduced her and made her his, and now her life is ruined because she keeps fighting back at Anthony's attempts to make her behave, she doesn't understand it's because because he loves her, the blackmail, corporal punishment, extortion and holding Mary hostage in an unknown location 'for Mary's safety' are also because he loves her too.

Kate has tried running away multiple times. Anthony thinks getting him to chase her turns her on. So he always finds her and brings her back (I'm not sure Kate remained all that sane after the day Anthony cried with fake sadness the first time she had a broken leg. Hearing him lament at what kind of monster would sabotage the wheel of a carriage a Viscountess uses? Because only a maniac would do that, made Kate realize that he'd rather kill her than let her go). One of these days, Anthony is sure that Kate is going to pick up a gun and aim it to his head. He can hardly wait. 

Benedict: obsessive to the bone, he cajoled and manipulated Sophie into falling inlove with him and not satisfied with that he full on kidnapped Sophie after they got married. He loves her, she's been so hurt by the world, except him, he would never hurt her. So Benedict's solution is to simply deny the world access to Sophie (or Sophie access to the outside world).

She lives isolated from anyone but him in My Cottage. Sophie has a seemingly happy life in the countryside where all her whims are provided for exept going outside and having friends. Their servants are all perfectly trained highly recommended mute maids and footmen (see how good he is Sophie, hiring and training servants who haven't found employment elsewhere just because of voice impediments). And she goes everywhere with Benedict, and If she wants to see outside world and he's not with her she's got at least 3 maids and 10 footmen around her trained to both help her and not let her escapade.

On the outside Sophie may act like she thinks her husband is a bit excessive due to being raised a noble. But Benedict rarely knows what she's really thinking on the inside. It spurns his obsession into a deeper level, because Sophie stopped telling him her honest thoughts after he kidnapped/confined her 'for her own good'. So he's always unsure if she's staying with him because she loves him or if she's staying because she's smart enough to plan a better escape than Kate.

Colin: he was suave, he even looks like the least unhinged of his brothers. He was cautious in his approach to making Penelope love him, he was patient even. Colin was All smiles and cute jokes, he lowered her guard, seduced her into marrying him willingly, when he discovered her secret he was even more convinced she was his soulmate. Never let Penelope know he had her seduction planned all along. And Penelope fell for it hook line and sinker. Her leaving LW and retiring her column to focus on her novels and being his wife was also his idea. ( Or maybe it's his wife the one who's played him, we don't know, Penelope does love keeping secrets after all, she may be just as obsessed with him as he is with her)

Eloise: Completely set out to break Phillip physiologically, and gaslighted him into relying only on her. She fell inlove with his letters after Marina died and made sure to spread rumors around the countryside that Phillip had actually killed his first wife. slowly making him a pariah in his community, so that when Eloise showed up at his estate as the seemingly answer to all his problems, Phillip didn’t even question why she acted like she owned the place. Poor Phillip, so grateful that Eloise believes in him and loves him, he really couldn’t live without her. Look at his unruly children, tamed by her magic (so easy to win over with a few well placed candy coated bribes and manipulation behind his back).  

Eloise made sure to spread rumors about Phillip all the way to London that makes everyone avoid him. But fear not, she’s not scared of him, Eloise knows Phillip would never hurt her, she knows he didn’t kill his wife, Marina was sick obviously. How could anyone think he’d be an abusive husband when he was so kind to Eloise?. Phillip in turn think’s Eloise is an angel from heaven and will hear no word against her, she saved him from despair (that she created) how generous and loving of Eloise, to become his wife when he’s nothing compared to her. He’s completely under her spell. And if Eloise pushes a person or two into the lake, well, that’s just her defending their home. 

About Francesca... She may have loved John to death, literally. It's unclear under what circumstances John died, but Anthony suspects Francesca's mischief making took her too far one day and killed her husband. Maybe it was an accident, maybe her sneaky Yandere manipulations killed him, maybe he tried to leave her. Point is Francesca was left with a lot of guilt over it. And kept trying to convince Michael that she was bad news and he shouldn't be inlove with her because she had a tendency to go overboard....

Until Michael kept trying to convince her that he wasn't going to leave and that he was perfectly okay with her wicked behavior. Actually while John wanted to increase Francesca's good impulses, Michael is all about feeding her bad nature and encouraging Francesca to do what she wants and use him like a toy. Then one day, she finally lets lose and he realizes, she's the reason his previous lovers kept dissapearing. And that it's now his job to make sure Francesca's obsession with not being left alone doesn't claim anymore victims. It's either that or throwing away his inhibitions and developing a murder kink. ( She does think he looks handsome covered in blood )

Hyacinth: married a fan of her work. She's the social princess of the ton, fell inlove with Gareth because he seemed to be looking for someone he could share a connection. So she made up an excuse about diamonds and replicated his grandmother handwriting in an old journal to take advantage of his naive soul. Yandere Hyacinth probably went full Hannibal x Will Graham with Gareth, leading him down the path of cruelty and immorality by rationalizing that what she was doing was actually not that bad, until he was morally corrupt enough to kill his adoptive father with no remorse. But on the bright side, they are both very protective of Lady Danbury and pretend to be the perfect couple in her eyes. 

Gregory: A special case, he actually thought he was the normal one in his family. grew up incredibly well adjusted. And then he crossed paths with Lucy’s brand of sociopathy. He was out there minding his own business, having a crush on Hermione, and then he realized, it was Lucy who was pulling the strings playing at revenge while everyone remained oblivious.

Not just by repeatedly telling Hermione not to run away with someone unsuitable knowing that’s what she’d do, but also but arranging things so that Richard would fall for Hermione, leading to a scandal that would make her uncle angry at Richard long enough to make a mistake that would lead him to get arrested. All while Lucy was safely married off to Haselby and played innocent victim. Lucy just didn’t factor Gregory recognizing a sociopath when he saw one, at most he was going to be used to make Richard jealous. And that’s it, Gregory was inlove, he had to have her, he wanted in with her game.

So Gregory turned the tables on Lucy’s careful plans, and pretended to help her, by trying to woo Hermione, when he was really just getting close to her. And subtly manipulating her into place, why ruin her revenge plan, when he could simply....Modify it so that she couldn’t get away from him at the last chapter. Her husband didn’t need to be Haselby, it could be anyone else lending her a shield against her uncle. So what if he has to ruin a wedding or two? nobody touches what’s his. And he deserves true love like the rest of his family, why shouldn’t he take it?. Lucy will be furious, but only for a while.  Lol I think the marriage between Lucy and Gregory is the most fun because they live to try to outmaneuver each other, he’s a yandere and she’s a sociopath, and Richard and Hermione are their favorite torture subjects. While Lucy and Gregory engineer all sort of disasters for them to suffer from. (Lucy will never get over the fact that her brother left her to rot in the countryside with their evil uncle, nor does she care to be used to make Hermione look better) Gregory naturally feels even more convinced they are soulmates and often ties Lucy to the bed to prove it. 

and that’s it that’s the post. What do you think dear readers.

[misty-wolf-draws]

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! I'm MistyWolf06, or misty-wolf-draws, but you can just call me Misty! I am an aspiring young artist drawing for multiple fandoms and teaching myself new things. I also write fanfiction from time to time and am dipping my toes into animation.

This is going to be my pinned post, so expect a lot of reading below. More is under the cut.

About Me

My birthday is November 6th and at the time of writing this post I am 17 years old. I do not want to share my real name or face at this time, so please respect my wishes. I am currently in a relationship with my dear girlfriend who I will call Pastel. (nagisto_ on Instagram, JustPastel101 on DeviantArt)

I try to be a neutral person and someone to easily get along with. I do not wish to be roped into any sort of pointless drama based on what I do or what I like, so if we could just keep things calm here I'd greatly appreciate it.

What I Don't Do

I have no current interest in drawing or writing NSFW content, regardless of my age. I do consider a good portion of my content to be unsuitable for younger audiences, and I may indulge in mature topics, gore and lewd faces/poses from time to time. But explicit NSFW is where I draw the line.

In terms of the things that are exempt from this blog (and other social media accounts of mine), I will not make content of characters in explicitly sexual situations (especially if they are under 18), I will not make content of fictional characters that are in toxic, incestual, pedophilic or zoophillic relationships, and (for good measure) I will not make content of ships including real people.

Fandoms

I am in multiple fandoms, but at the moment, I will mostly post about a select few. The fandoms I am currently in are listed below. (an asterisk indicates which ones I am actively posting about the most)

My Little Pony (G4 & G5)*

Five Nights at Freddy's*

Portal*

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Undertale

Deltarune

Just Shapes and Beats

Where Else to Find Me

I am posting my content on multiple other sites. (Depending on which accounts I keep, rarely use or abandon/delete, the status will be in parenthesis.)

Tumblr: You are here!

DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/mistywolf06

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mistywolf06_art/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mistywolf06_art/videos

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/MistyWolf06_Art

Toyhou.se: https://toyhou.se/MistyWolf06

Archive Of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistyWolf06

Wattpad (rarely used): https://www.wattpad.com/user/mistywolfwrites

I hope you enjoy the dumb stuff I put out! <3

[stfu-im-thinking-abt-blorbo]

《 Jay || 22 || ♤♡ || They/He || Artist || Personal Blog 》

○ Trans masc. non-binary guy!! Autism!! ADHD!! Yeehaw!! (Tone tags = OK!) Also okay with being called Chaos!! I follow and comment from @jay-sketchin.

● Personal blog for reblogs, WIPs, Ninjago stuff, rhythm games, and just anything else I don't want on my other blogs. I tag fandoms, characters, and most ships for filtering purposes. Ask me in DMs or my inbox if you need something more specfic tagged! Also, I don't use a queue. You will be subjected to my reblog spam in real-time :3 (threat)

○ Currently very fixated on rhythm games (mainly Bandori) and Pokemon!! Other fandoms I reblog or post a lot about include Persona/Shin Megami Tensei, Gorillaz, Ninjago, Splatoon, Legend of Zelda, Chainsaw Man, Total Drama, AKIRA, and so many more.

● Gay little self shipper. Go look at @coles-scythe for all that stuff. Ninjago self ship is the only stuff I post here bc it doubles as an OC + headcanon-centered AU.

○ For this blog its basic DNI criteria (no bigots, TERFs, MAPs, zoos, exclusionists, pro-shippers, etc.) + some extras: Toxic anti-shippers, real people fiction enjoyers, YouTube fandoms (Shenpai, Mikeburnfire, and Zach Hazard's communities are exempt), and Lloyd/Ninja shippers. For anything else, if you make me uncomfortable then I'll just block as well.

MY OTHER BLOGS:

@jay-sketchin (Art blog; Main)

@coles-scythe (Self ship blog)

@chaos-husband (Edit blog)

@oc-house-of-chaos (OC blog)

@denjis-chainsaws (Fanfic blog; on hiatus)

@chaos-husband-stim-storage (Stim blog; reblogs only)

OTHER STUFF:

○ OC Toyhouse (most active)

• Instagram (second most active)

○ Linktree (everything else)

NECO ARC BE UPON YE

[mystic-sky]

A fan fic of Gojo Satoru inspired by the song Heaven by Julia Michaels 😭 I enjoyed your writings 🥰🥰🥰

The moment you met him was ingrained into your brain, even years after you both parted. It had been raining that day, possibly 7:30pm, and you were held up in a cafe for shelter. You had been dosing off a bit after your classmates left you an hour or so prior. You regretted staying up so late to watch that sit-com the night before. But it was a Friday, and you didn’t have class the next day. The paper was finally finished and you proudly packed your things together. You kept fantasizing about how your efforts during the week were soon to be rewarded by slumber. 

The sound of thunder brought you back to reality within the quiet coffee space. 

“I guess I should sit back down,” you said to yourself. You were standing by the glass doors and ready to leave, bag over your shoulder. You held your book in one arm before fisting the sleeves of your sweater. The one time I forget my umbrella, you thought.

There was something soothing about watching the busy streets of Tokyo while rain hit the window screen. You felt yourself unwinding, relaxing in place. Sometimes your school and work life felt so hectic. It was nice to slow down  from time to time and breathe. 

“Man, you don’t have an umbrella? That sucks.” An incredibly tall, white haired male spoke beside you, snapping you out of your zen moment. 

You turned your head towards him, and he wasn’t even looking at you. He wore a thick black sweatshirt,  black jeans and dark boots. He had thick black shades on, and surely an umbrella in his hands. He had a gorgeous profile, and his jawline was extremely defined. Was he some sort of supermodel, you thought.

“Yeah, I know.” You say, sighing to yourself. You were partially offended, but mostly tired. He was handsome, but you didn’t have time for flirting. You just wanted to go home and run a hot bath. He looked like he was going to break your heart anyways.

“It says the rain is going to stop within the hour on the weather app.” He said, scrolling and tapping away at his phone. “You goin’ to the train station?”

“Oh, yeah.” You say shyly. You nervously tucked some hair behind your ears before looking straight ahead. Why the fuck was this supermodel speaking to you?

Granted, it was hard for you to stop looking at him every so often.

“Like what you see?”

You blinked at him repeatedly, earning a cocky chuckle from him.

“Wanna walk with me?” He asked, peering down at you. You looked at him, pondering if he was seriously trying to hit on you right now. Surely if you had known him, maybe walking to the station with him solely for the use of his umbrella would’ve been fine. You don’t know if it was the sleep deprivation or the fact that he truly did seem a little arrogant that stemmed your next response as you spoke.

“I don’t even know you.” You said bluntly, and you meant it disrespectfully.

“Not yet.” He said slyly. “But I’ve seen you around campus a lot.”

You stood still, pondering again if you had actually seen him before. Wait- wasn’t he in your political science class? You put a finger to your chin before finally igniting the imaginary, anxious little light bulb above your head.

“Professor Edamura’s class right?” You were such a lecture worm in that class, and the professor had yet to start group assignments. You had absolutely no need to befriend anyone  in that class yet. Nonetheless, it was your largest lecture class this semester, and you only met once a week. 

“Bingo.” He grinned.

“There’s like 120 people in that lecture.”

“Yeah. But I think you’re the cutest.” You stared at him, dumbfounded and blush stuck on your cheeks.

“Thank you,” you say, squeezing your arms around your book and pressing it towards your chest. 

“Oh look, the rain is stopping.” He says, leaning forward and intently staring out the window.

“Well, see you Wednesday.” He smiled a cheeky smile.

You felt like a child, blushing foolishly whilst you watched him walk out and down the street. 

You almost wish you hadn’t met him.

Days would go by until you saw him again. He made his appearance on Wednesday, at 2pm in Professor Edamura’s class. He sat beside you, offering you a wink before taking out his own computer beside you and your own. Aside from a greeting, he didn’t say a word until the lecture ended. You really had spoken too soon about not befriending anyone, because you had gotten slurped up into a group project with  4 other people.

“So, Friday night, we could all go to my place.  I don’t live too far from here.” You wanted to meet at the library instead. Why did he want to go to his house? However, it seemed he was a rather popular guy and everyone loved him. You learned his name was Gojo Satoru. And then you lost the vote 4 to 1. 

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as the women in your group swooned at him as he talked. This sucks.

All of you created a group chat in which you sparked ideas for the project’s format. You honestly think the other girls in your group were just more excited they had his number. 

Thursday night came, and you were in your robe and face mask when your phone went off. You blinked repeatedly, realizing Satoru had texted you directly and not the group chat.

Heyy

Hey, Is everything okay?

Yeah, I honestly just can’t wait to see you tomorrow.

You stared at the message, absolutely not having time for his shit. You didn’t respond. Rather, you went in your settings and purposely turned on read receipts and went to bed. 

You wished you could’ve left him on read in real life too as you sat on the floor pillow in his living room the next evening. The other three group mates bailed, texting the chat just 20 minutes after you got there.

“Guess it’s just the two of us,” he chuckled. 

“Don’t look so happy about it.” You rolled your eyes. This project was 30 percent of your grade, you wanted to punch someone.

“I can’t help it,” he says, sitting across from you on a different floor pillow. “I won’t lie. I had been thinking of asking you on a date. I didn’t think I’d get so lucky.”

“And did you text the other girls in our group the same thing the night before?” You say, nonchalantly opening your book. You didn’t even look his way.

“No, they’re incredibly annoying.” He sighed genuinely. You finally looked at him. They were pretty annoying. Because of them, you were sitting across from him with nothing separating you but an extremely expensive coffee table. The library would’ve been better.

“You’re pretty cool though. Kind of bummed you didn’t text me back.” 

“Because I know what you’re up to.” You say, scribbling away in your notes.

“And what might that be?” He takes off his shades, putting them on the glass coffee table. You’d never forget the way he stared at you with his mesmerizing blue shells.

“I’m not going to fall in love with you. I don’t have time for that.” You firmly set your pencil down, looking at him. 

“I don’t exactly want you to.” He chuckled. You looked at him before speaking again.

“So what do you want from me?” You say, placing your face in your palm and leaning forward a bit to look at him directly. The intense stare you had was sure to ring out the truth from his lips.

“I said I wanted to take you on a date.” He laughs. “Get to know you a bit, but ultimately take you to bed at the end of the night, if you don’t mind. You can decline, I just wanted to show you a good time.”

He just blatantly asked you to sleep with him. Somehow, you admired that. You hated people that wasted your time. At least this way, you felt like you had some power in the situation. You could decline him or not, and you knew exactly what would become of your situation-ship if you started something.

“Sure,” you say calmly, to his surprise. You shift yourself around the table, right beside his body.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” you took hold of his jaw, delicately planting a kiss. He had no idea you were so confident. He only had a girl initiate the kiss once before. Your lips were incredibly soft and pillowy. He was already hard, wondering just what your sex was like if you kissed him like this. The semester’s stress had gotten to you. You were only hoping he could help you unwind.

You shifted over his body, straddling him against the bottom of the sofa. You’d give him exactly what he wanted.

“You better be good at this, or don’t even bother looking at me after we finish this project.” You break from his lips. 

“Oh princess, I don’t ever disappoint.” He smirked. You were alarmed at his strength when he lifted both your bodies off the ground. He sucked in your lips, kissing you firmly as he brought you to his bedroom. 

That night, he gave you the best sex of your entire life. He wasn’t lying about not disappointing you.

You remember the day you guys finally had to present your project, which didn’t come out too bad. Satoru had seduced the girls who didn’t show up on Friday into doing majority of the work. You remember him telling you that they deserved it after you attempted to nag him for messing with them like that.

“You and me worked hard last Friday night, right princess? So what’s the big deal?” He whispered into your ear while you all gathered in front of the lecture. You presented your part that you did on your own with constant red hues plaguing your face. You wish he waited to say that after the presentation. Now, you were worked up again. The events of skin touching skin had been stuck in your mind. 

You couldn’t get his extremely large hands and hot body out of your head. For something that was supposed to be a stress reliever, the thought of his sex lived on within you and it was getting annoying. He caught up with you after you rushed out the room as soon as class ended.

“You have time before your next class?” He peered down at you, grinning a sexy and devilish smile.

“Why?” You ask. 

“Let’s go grab a bite to eat, on me. I promise really do work harder than I like to show off. The thing I did for the project isn’t really my character. I just didn’t like how the other girls were going to push all the work on you.” 

He sounded genuinely sorry for the situation.

“It’s fine. They deserved it anyway. They never replied to me when I texted them. If it wasn’t for you using your ‘sexiness’ to make them get busy, we would’ve gotten a shitty grade for sure.” You used air quotes around the word ‘sexiness’.

“You think I’m sexy?” He said smugly.

“Of course that’s all you picked up from the entirety of what I said.” You rolled your eyes, and he laughed a hearty laugh.

“Obviously,” you say quietly, he almost didn’t hear you. 

“You’re so fucking cute,” he said, laughter dying down. You had this annoyed blush on your face as the both of you walked. You did end up going out to eat with him. But somehow, you also ended up fucking him in the restaurant bathroom right after.

His hands squeezed your hips as you pressed you ass closer against him. You never realized you could feel so full. He slammed his length into you, while you shamelessly watched yourself pant beneath him in front of the mirror.

“You’re such a pretty girl, look how pretty you are. I wanna see your face again when you cum.” He coaxed you whilst gripping your neck. 

“Don’t be so loud though, then we’ll get caught. You don’t want this to end do you?”

Your juices were running down your weak legs, and you were holding back pleasure filled squeals while he rammed himself into you. It had been a while since you had been fucked so well aside from last Friday. And something about the thrill of someone knocking on the door, which wasn’t even locked, helped you find your climax during that 10 minute session.

You called out his name as you clenched around his length, causing him to throw his hand over your hot mouth.

“Shhh,” he shushed you as he lifted your body towards his own. 

“We won’t be able to do stuff like this in the future if you’re so loud.” His hot breath poured into your ear. Your knees were burning, but the pleasure in your core was enough to over shadow it. You were ashamed to admit it, but you were cumming again onto his dick.

“Satoru, my legs...” you muffled against his hand.

“I’ve got you sweetheart, don’t worry.” His thrusts were quickening and you felt him twitch inside you. He released himself into the rubber he wore before removing his member from you. You collapsed your upper body onto the sink for support.

He was incredibly sweet somehow, sliding your jeans and panties up for you. 

“Can you walk?” He asked.

“I can manage.” You say, stumbling back against his chest. He caught you whilst you buttoned your jeans. 

“The look on your face is priceless.” He said, looking at you in the mirror. You were a disheveled blushing mess, but somehow you were scowling at him for making you cum in such a short time.

“You can hold my arm for support,” he watched as you fixed what you could of your top and hair. 

“Shut up.” You said, wrapping yourself onto his arm and exiting the bathroom.

Sex with him was filled with plentiful moments like this. He would spontaneously show up around you, asking to hang out. It helped out a lot, considering you were less stressed and chirpier, your friends noticed. A little bit of dick does everyone good sometimes. 

You did your best to keep it strictly sex related, and you felt like he was casually following whatever you wanted to do. He was a decent friend, listening to your qualms about school and your other friendships. He took in a lot of stories and life situations from you, but he rarely ever talked about himself. You had slept with him countless times by then, but you really knew nothing about him. The thing that made it worse is that he started to sex you more passionately, stirring your feelings in a bunch.

He towered above your body in the dark moonlit room. It was another Friday, and you were lost in his sex yet again. He was so close, kissing and sucking your lips til they were sore and bruised. He dragged his mouth against your neck and down to your chest. You didn’t know what had gotten into him, but he was keen to keep the space between you as close as possible. You hadn’t see him all week, and you both didn’t have any classes together this season. The spontaneous adventures became more planned due to your busy schedules.

He inserted himself into your warmth, making you arch your back and press your breasts to his chest. 

“Fuck, I missed you.”

Your entire head was hot from the whisper he made into your ear. You wished he wouldn’t say things like that. It was starting to fuck with you. You let out a moan as he filled you up completely, grinding your sex towards him from underneath.

“It looks like you missed me too,” he chuckled. Your sex was loud and wet. You couldn’t lie to him even if you tried— your body wouldn’t let you.

You found yourself moaning how much you missed him as he rolled into you endlessly throughout the evening. 

“I know baby,” he placed sweet kisses against your face and neck, “I know.”

You chose to block this specific memory out whenever you told your friends this story. He had sexed you like he loved you that night and you had too many orgasms to count.

You awoke in the morning with him clinging to your naked body. It really wasn’t the first time something romantic like this had happened but it was the first time you felt provoked to say something.

“Satoru...” You said against his hair. He grumbled a groggy hum into your neck. You didn’t know if this was the right time to say it, but you were tired of the subtle hints of affection he had been mixing in with all the lust. 

“It’s getting hard for me to keep this relationship strictly sex based,” you begin.

“I really do want to get to know you more. But sometimes you throw me these mixed signals and I get confused.” 

He sat up, bringing his blue gaze towards yours.

“Then we should stop.” He said bluntly. He wasn’t asking you either. 

“We should,” you sort of agree, confusedly.

“I had a feeling this was going to happen.” He said, tearing himself from you. 

“But it’s cool. I’ve got somewhere to be. You need a ride home?” He asked. You nodded. That morning for the first time in a long time, you both got dressed together in solitude. There was no banter, no joking around and none of the occasional compliment or kiss.

He drove you home, in comfortable silence on his part. When you both of reached in front of your house he finally spoke.

“Don’t look so down, honey. At the end of the day, you were just a warm body to me. Cheer up though, you served your purpose.”

You could’ve cried but you knew exactly what this was from the beginning. Was it possible he was starting to feel something? And this was his way of running from it? You stared at your lap. There was no point of trying to read too hard into it now.

“Thanks for the ride.” You say, shutting the door. He watched you walk into your house. He hadn’t known you were so sensitive considering the persona you’d been giving him since the very beginning. He would never be able to apologize to you for it either— he had too much pride.

He never texted or called you after that. Not that you were surprised, you knew he wasn’t the one for you. He was too secretive despite his outgoing nature. An experience it was, you thought it was fun. You did your best to look at the situation as optimistically as possible.

Whenever you saw him on campus, you didn’t even bother looking at him. You walked right by him. He knew better than to speak to you. One day you were sitting in the cafe you first met him in. It was raining just like it was last year. You knew he saw you scribbling away through the glass window. He entered anyway, with a brunette attached to his arm. She laughed loudly as she pressed her breasts to his bicep. You casually sipped your iced coffee, eying him briefly before returning to your work.

He was pretty ballsy.

“You okay babe?” Suguru slid his large hand over yours, breaking you out of your thoughts. 

You hummed in delight, watching him take hold of your hand and press your knuckles to his lips. 

“When you’re done, how about we go to that Hibachi place you like?”

You held back an excited squeal at the dark haired male in front of you.

“I’d like that a lot.”

part 2

[padawanlost]

I have a couple of questions about Karen Miller/Traviss (are they the same person?) who wrote the Clone Wars novels. Are they still considered canon? Also, I heard that Karen Traviss was abused online or something, was that over her Star Wars novels? Really, I mean that just takes toxicity to a new level.

This is a hot topic but one that desperately needs to be explored because to this day people are still spreading misinformation about that happen as a way to ‘defend’ their points. So, here we go:

Karen Miller and Karen Traviss are not the same person.

Karen miller wrote novels like  The Clone Wars: Wild Space and the Clone Wars Gambit series.

Karen Travis wrote novels like The Clone Wars movie novelization and the Republic Command Series.

Both, in my opinion, are very talented writers but both also suffered thanks to sexiest and overzealous fans. There are many reason why they became ‘infamous’ but the main reason is their political stance. They both had a lot of sympathy for the clones and the enslaves citizens of the GFFA, and both were not shy about calling out the Jedi Order and the Senate for their inaction. Of course, jedi stans hated them. To add insult to injury, Karen Traviss was the writer who ‘killed’ Mara Jade (btw, this wasn’t her idea but she’s still hated for it).

Karen Miller ‘crimes’:

Her biggest ‘offense’ was being mistaken by Karen Traviss (more on that later). Beyond that all she did was write Anidala and portraying Anakin and Obi-wan as good but flawed people. This is the kind of stuff she wrote:

“Coruscant was out there. Padmé was out there. There was a heart in his chest, beating, but it was only an echo. She was his true heart. She was his home.”  - Karen Miller’s Clone Wars Gambit: Siege

“He saw himself a candle. He saw himself behind a wall. Brick by brick he tried to raise it. Brick by brick, it was destroyed. Every death was a hammer blow. Every loss a chisel. The Sith were a wily foe, they knew where and when to strike. They were drawn to weak places, to old griefs and unhealed wounds.” - Karen Miller. The Clone Wars: Wild Space

To weep for a fallen comrade was to display unseemly attachment. A Jedi did not become attached to people, to things, to places, to any world or its inhabitants. A Jedi’s strength was fed by serenity. By distance. By loving impersonally. Karen Miller. The Clone Wars: Wild Space

Nothing particularly edgy or offensive. Imo, she’s one the best prequel writes in the game.

Karen Traviss ‘crimes’:

Beyond killing Mara Jade, she’s known for being critical of the Jedi and Republic and advocating for clone wars. She supported the highly offensive and controversial idea that clones were human being who deserved the freedom. She also believed that love (romantic or platonic), family and friends were not inherently evil and that Order made mistake by banning them.

Karen Trraviss is also know for writing so much of what we know of Mandalorian culture and she struck a nerve that too.

She wrote things like:

“The only thing [the clones] all had in common was their appearance—although they were starting to age differently, she could see that now—and what the Republic had done to them. Apart from that, they were individuals with the full range of virtues and habits of random humankind, and she now felt completely at home with them. If she had a side in this war, this was the one she chose: the disenfranchised, unreasonably loyal, heartbreakingly stoic ranks of manufactured men who deserved better.”  Star Wars - Republic Commando: True Colors by Karen Traviss

Serenity, my backside. Passion. Passion and anger and love. That’s what this galaxy needs, not serenity. Passion for change. Anger at this brutality. Love-buckets of it, for everyone, love between child and parent, between spouses, between brothers and sisters, between friends. We need more attachment, not less. Attachment can stop us from tearing ourselves apart. The Clone Wars: No Prisoners by Karen Traviss

He wanted to ask her why only a handful of Jedi objected to a slave army, and why they could claim to believe in the sanctity of all life and yet treat some life as being exempt from that respect. [REPUBLIC COMMANDO: TRUE COLORS BY KAREN TRAVISS[

Fandom (over)reaction:

Because of her ‘polemic’ takes, she started getting a lot of hate from the fandom. She used to interact with the fandom and her reward was to get constant death and rape threats. Some fans threatened her with ‘corrective rape’ to change her mind about the Jedi Order and other topics. Apparently, she responded by calling these fans ‘talifans’.

And the fans used that reaction to further vilify her. she was accused of hating the Jedi Order, of favoring Mandalore over them, getting the size of the clone army wrong, of ruining the OT by killing Mara Jade and now, of attacking fans. She was basically bullied out of the franchise.

However, her depictions of Clones and Mandalorians as heroes, while portraying the Jedi as petty or villainous, frustrated some fans, who felt that her stories and characters were counter to Star Wars. These fans wrote negative reviews of her books, and created a petition to George Lucas to stop Traviss from writing further Star Wars books. Traviss also received rape and death threats. Traviss wrote about these experiences on her blog, attacking the fans who created the petition, and likening them to Muslim extremists by calling them "Talifans." Traviss ultimately retired from Star Wars writing due to the threats she received.  [x]

It got to point where she had to write an open letter to the fandom explaining she DIDN’T hate the Jedi Order, she just didn’t believe things like war crimes and slavery should be so easily overlooked.

“No sane human can hate someone who doesn’t actually exist. From a writer’s perspective, the more super-powers characters acquire, the harder it is to develop logical story arcs and true human drama…but I don’t have any real feelings about fictional characters that stay with me once I step out of character-point-of-view-writing mode and get on with my life […] My real problem, then, is not with fictional Jedi, but with the people who refuse to believe they can do wrong. – Karen traviss [x]

If you want to know more about this, check this out :)

Now, back to Karen Miller

A few years ago, a popular sw tumblr tried to discredit Traviss writing by spreading the info that  she was a sexualizing Ahsoka with Bail so people started hating her for that too. Thing is, Karen Miller was the one accused of doing that but here is the deal:

Neither Karens ever wrote Ahsoka interacting with Bail Orgarna. What actually happened was that someone wrote a fic about Bail sexualizing Ahsoka on fanfiction.net, someone read it and decided the writing style was similar to Karen Miller’s so OF COURSE it must be Karen Miller who wrote the fanfic. Thanks to that genius level of deductive work, over the time people started saying that Karen Traviss wrote about Bail wanting to fuck Ahsoka as extra proof that SHE IS EVIL and should not be taken seriously.

Conclusion

Regardless of what you feel about someone writing, it’s NEVER okay to send them rape or death threats. Never! unfortunately, some hardcore jedi stans still spread the ‘karen traviss was attacking us’ without explaining exactly transpired between her and the fandom. According to their narrative, she was the *only* one in the wrong. That’s why there’s so much misinformation about her and what truly happened online.

My take on this ‘controversy’ is very simple: stop sending rape and death threats to women. I don’t care if you agree with her or not. The moment you believe a women *deserve* to be rape or killed, or support those who do, you lose any more ground you might think have. The situation becomes even more dire if it’s done to protect FICTIONAL CHARACTERS. 🤦‍♀️ I swear...this fandom....

[bythenineshards]

Hello to everyone who has a critical eye and doesn't excuse toxicity in the books they read because "iT's fAnTaSy!"

Written by humans for humans and glorifies abusive behavior is not cute. Ever.

"It's fantasy" is an excuse bad writers and bitchy stans use to justify something that's atrocious. Sorry your UwU dark daddy is an abusive PoS and you were too stupid to see it. There's no more kid gloves for stans. If you're gonna come after people and post about them by name and call them names, I am done holding back to spare your feelings. Unlike your Queeeeeeeen I'm gonna show consequences for your shit attitude.

Fiction, fantasy or otherwise has always been held to those "human standards" you bitch so heavily for us to ignore. You yourself thrust human standards on characters who did less than what UwU dark daddy did. He's just as human as UwU Dark Daddy. 

Fantasy and Sci-Fi have been used as ways to discuss issues in real life. Your precious books are not exempt from this. If the society and behaviours of the characters are abusive, then they are. No excuse. And it is even worse when the writer does nothing to condemn that society or those who commit them.

Spoilers for The Orville!

For example, The Orville is a sitcom version of Star Trek made by Seth MacFarlane. In The Orville there is a race of people called the Moclans. They are a society of (nearly) all males and (nearly) all homosexuals. The show features a couple aboard the ship, Bortus and Klyden. In the side plots of the show you watch as the cultural differences and perspectives on the ship begin to alter how Bortus thinks causing his relationship with Klyden to drift apart. The events, though comical at times, are a very realistic depiction of a marriage deteriorating due to one partner wanting to change and grow while the other wishes to remain bound to the lifestyle and morals of their culture.

The narrative never condones the bigoted parts in the lifestyle of Moclans. They also show that change can happen but it is often slow and the relationships you build can change you for better though it can also make things difficult.

I'm sorry that you love a PoS character who has done nothing for his people in his 500ish reign. I'm sorry you can't comprehend that analyzing books, their themes and characters is actually something that is encouraged. And I'm sorry that you think your opinion and trash excuses rank higher than actual logic. You can like UwU dark daddy all you want but know, when you say that, I do think lesser of you. And if your excuse for condoning abuse is "it's fantasy" then you need to read other books than this trash. Maybe you will be less like Klyden and more like Bortus.

Remember stans! If you're seeing this rant for whatever reason. If "human morals" and "human standards" aren't allowed to be used for UwU dark daddy, then I don't wanna you spewing shit about Nesta being abusive. She's fictional too. Don't open your mouth with those double standards. We get it, you don't like real flawed characters and would rather cling to Mary Sues masquerading as actual characters. Like a child.

One more time, just for the hell of it.

UwU Dark Daddy.

[vampiremeerkat]

I actually forgot about that squirrel. Lol They will probably cancel or censor it, give it time. I heard they’re doing a reboot of tiny toons. If Fifi la fume is in, it shows how hypocritical they are. She does the same exact things as Pepe, but she gets positive feedback, still has a fan base, and on some sites is more popular than Pepe. And I don’t want her to get canceled either. I have Pepe le Pew merchandise I collected or loved ones have given me over the years since I was kid. Things that have sentimental value. I have a Pepe figurine my grandmother gave me so many years ago. A Pepe shirt and keychain my niece gave me. What am I supposed to do with it now that he’s supposedly a symbolism of rape culture?Throw it away, so people, these strangers out there don’t think I’m a rape apologist? Will I get harassed or weird looks now? I hate that all of sudden I feel like a horrible person for liking him and having a different interpretation. All this cancel culture is toxic. Causes more harm than good. Cancel culture gives people an excuse to harass others. They could’ve written him in another way. But they decided to just cut him all together. I know there’s so much going on in the world, and I shouldn’t care about this but at the moment I can’t help it. I needed to vent. I’ve been harassed before for liking certain fictional characters even way before the pandemic, for years, and I’m just tired of it all. I want it to stop. There’s characters I don’t like, but i refuse to waste my time trying to cancel every character I don’t like. I concentrate on the ones I enjoy.

I can’t say with certainty what the entertainment industry will do. Fictional women have been exempt from criticism for a very long time now; they’re free to molest or stalk a target. Or well, “free” in the sense that they and/or the show they're part of don’t get cancelled over it. Pepé Le Pew is ridiculing the men the complainants think he’s honouring. Not a single child or adult believed that what he did was alright. The man is a walking joke, which was the point. Donald Duck was portrayed as a nazi supporter once, yet his face is still being printed on shirts today, because everyone familiar with that episode knows it was 40s anti-nazi propaganda, and Donald was merely having a nightmare. It’s the same deal with Pepé. The average Joe understands he’s but a cheeky fool and his cartoons aren’t pro anything. That the Space Jam 2 staff got worried has little to do with what the regular crowd thinks of the character. What could happen is that Warner Brothers examines this soft ban and the few loud bloggers who agree with it, and hastily concludes that this is what all customers want. Pepé could be excluded from future projects for the next 10 to 20 years or so, but if you walk the streets with a Pepé hat, I can promise you that no one’s going to look at you funny. No one worth your time, anyway. They’re still selling Pokémon posters with black-skinned Jynx over where I live. The “anger and disgust” news articles report on isn’t always as great as insinuated. But let’s also be honest: it’s not like Pepé was ever a part of the main Looney Tunes crew to begin with. He was barely in the first Space Jam. Even if I believed Pepé were a despicable character, I wouldn’t give Warner Brothers an applause if they announced a ban. How do you ban an underused character? It’s fine to worry about nonsense. This nonsense is what’s supposed to be our temporary escape from the real troubles of the world. If our forms of escapism get tainted or taken away, all that’s left is double the worry. It’s a bit like yanking the pacifier from an infant’s mouth, I suppose. Pacifiers don’t symbolize anything “cool” or truly important, yet we all need one in our lives.. So, I guess.. it is important.

[into-the-daniverse]

PSA: A toxic fandom isn’t one that strives to grow and inform. A toxic fandom is one that insists on perpetuating racist/anti-Semitic/homophobic stereotypes and ideologies while refusing to acknowledge them.

If you think fandom is toxic because you’re getting called out on doing/saying “problematic” (read: racist/anti-Semitic/homophobic) things then you really need to take a step back and think outside of yourself for once.

Refusing to acknowledge your mistakes is what makes a fandom toxic. Playing the victim card when people rightfully get upset by harmful ideologies makes a fandom toxic. Saying things like “It’s just fiction” while ignoring that fiction is rooted in fact and those facts can be extremely harmful to the groups they are based upon — is toxic.

Fandom is meant to be a safe space in that all people should feel free to be themselves, love who they love, write what they want, and draw what they want within reason. “Safe space” does not mean that you are exempt from criticism or change, and if anything, as someone who benefits from the space, you should be more than happy to grow and adjust to make the space bigger and more accessible for others.

I have been on this website for almost a decade, seen many a fandom rise and fall. None have been perfect, but I can say without a doubt that I have never felt more supported and loved in any fandom than this one. And it’s because so many of you are open and kind and you listen when something you’ve done is wrong or problematic. That often gets overshadowed by the louder voices that refuse to listen and grow and change, but I promise, as a whole, this fandom is an amazing one.

If you feel like your personal fandom experience is toxic, or if you’ve only heard bad things, maybe it’s time to look around you a little more and branch out of your close circle. There’s so many awesome creators here with so many unique and captivating characters (that aren’t problematic), and they all deserve to feel safe and loved in this fandom.

[msgrumpygills]

I feel like stans don't accept that people might have legitimate reasons to not like their fave outside of who they play on TV or what faction of fandom they belong to. For example, i came into this fandom a Dean girl(gn) and i wasn't a huge fan of Sam until season 5 or 6. I had no problem with Jared however. I adored him. I was very pleased to see a celebrity so open about his struggles with mental health. It became a problem however, when he started using his mental health issues as an excuse to act like a spoiled brat.

Those of us who suffer from various mental issues have a hard enough time trying to shake off the "crazy" stigma and having a celebrity, who seems to be an advocate for mental health awareness, turn around and slam someone who suffered from addiction, publicly shame customer service workers while doing nothing to stop the fans who attacked them in his defense, and assault people while under the influence, then turn around and play the victim while also making jokes about it.....not a good look for us, ya know.

Dont get me wrong, it's okay to make mistakes, people mess up. Its part of being human. Own up to it, apologize and move on. But to blame crap behavior on mental health issues while also trying to be a spokesperson for good mental health.....

I know my fave isn't perfect. He says and does some Fd up Sh** and absolutely deserves to be called out on it. I also know there are people in my particular corner of the fandom are toxic as hell, but their opinions do not influence my own.

I can separate fiction from real life. Who i like and what i like and what i do or do not ship has no influence on how i feel about the actors on some tv show. I didn't like Sam at first but it had nothing to do with any ship or any other characters, i simply just didn't like Sam at first. And that didn't make me hate Jared. Now it's actually the opposite. I adore Sam, but Jared gives me all the wrong vibes. I want to believe he will get better, but it seems like the more time goes on, the more controversial he becomes.

I tried watching Walker, and it was BAD. I tried to talk to people about why it was bad and people told me i was just biased because of my preferences in SPN. A completely different show. I pointed out that jared fudged some things about the finale (5 years vs 6months, blurry "gender ambiguous" spouse.) and was ignored because I don't hate Misha. (All three of them said sketchy things about the finale btw i don't want this to seem like jared was the only one)

I'm sorry to rant like this on your page, but you seem to be one of the only anti blogs that can keep an objective view and I'm seriously starting to get sick of all these people acting like their faves sh** don't stink. They're men. Not Gods. It's okay to call them out. All of them. And no one can tell me that if Jensen had beat someone up while drunk he wouldn't be crucified, or if Misha had called a beloved actors death "pathetic" he wouldn't be cancelled. As they should be. Because those are messed up things to do. No matter who does them. And who ever does those things should be held accountable. Not babied.

I just really wish more people would realize the hypocrisy in their favoritism. I'm sorry. Rant over.

You’re welcome to rant anytime you need, love! 

I have an anxiety disorder and depression, and let me tell you, I was stoked when Jared was so open about his struggles and created AKF. But now it kind of makes me roll my eyes. He only brings up AKF when he’s promoting a new product he’s selling, he rarely ever mentions being a “mental health advocate” unless he’s promoting some product. It comes off as really fake. And I completely agree with you that him being able to hide behind his mental illness as an excuse for everything is gross. The fans totally feed into it too because no matter what happens, no matter what he does, he’s exempt from criticism (well deserved criticism) because of his “mental health”. Him making jokes about his arrest while simultaneously dodging responsibility and accountability for it was a big giveaway to him being able to handle more than the fans think. 

There is a LOT of hypocrisy with Jensen, Jared and Misha and a lot of double standards. I try very hard not to be biased with them though! I think you’re right though that if Jensen had done the shit that Jared has done and continues to do, he’d be ripped apart. Misha would be cancelled in a heartbeat and Jared would absolutely stay silent to it all. Jared does it though? He’s just a big ol’ silly moose with depression! Seriously? 

I’m not saying Jared needs to be perfect, I’m not saying that any of them have to be perfect, but at least own up to your mistakes, take responsibility and practice what you preach. No one has made him face actual consequences so he keeps doing it without learning from his mistakes. 

[apesoformythoughts]

“It is well known that [Flannery] O'Connor's fiction directly challenges the toxic racism of white Southern culture, but it is less well known that she did not exempt herself from its negative influence. In her personal letters she makes an unflattering comparison between herself and one of her own racist characters, Mrs. Turpin. Her letters and journals reveal a woman aware of and forthcoming about her own sins. We ought to prefer O’Connor’s self-deprecating and revelatory honesty over a self-congratulation fed and watered by self-deception […]

Finally, the petition presents an opportunity for Catholics to address the contemporary demand that those we honor be perfect and free from the stain of sin—especially the sin of racism. We should resist this impossible demand. We need moral exemplars to provide models for our own lives, but we must accept that those exemplars will inevitably be wounded by sin—original, personal, and structural. We need to see those we honor in their wounded humanity, or we will never be able to see ourselves in them at all.”

— Jennifer A. Frey: “Don’t Cancel Flannery O’Connor”

[faustonastring]

What has been going around in the fandom? Like, I've seen more posts against antisemitism than usual regarding The Arcana and more "this fandom is toxic, stop spreading hate" posts too. What happened?

I don’t want to get involved, I just want apologizes for the people who were offended, so to sum it up, some major artists have been posting art of devil or fallen angel Julian, which is antisemitic, which also offended a lot of people (keep in mind Julian and Portia are Jewish coded characters) and instead of apologizing for what they did, and editing or taking down their posts, the proceeded to victim blame, and pretty much tell people that their ruining their ‘creativity’ like they’re pretty much telling people it’s not a big deal get over it, in like passive aggressive ways. This is multiple people, some people left for Instagram, other people deleted post or turned off replies, it’s like a big ol mess. The main problem is is that being that they’re big accounts they think their exempt from criticism. I think people have tried reaching out privately but I haven’t heard any thing about an apology which pisses me off. Like they are hurting a whole marginalized community, and to them it’s okay because it’s just ‘fiction’ but what’s ‘fiction’ to them is reality for others, I don’t want to spew hate, I just want an apology for those hurt, I just want the op’s to atleast own up to their mistakes and admit they messed up, it won’t change shit, but atleast it will help blow things over, I think. I hope this helps.

[kabii-kins]

DNI LIST

Hey. I’m making this list because after roughly seven years on this site (at the time I made this damn list), I should start isolating myself from certain demographics. Especially those that pertain to immensely toxic fan bases. If you’re gonna make fun of me for making this list, go ahead. I honestly don’t care as much as I did before. (It’ll still bother me, I just wont publicly whine about it.)

Do not interact with me if you’re:

Are a ProShipper/Anti-Anti: Ships Pedophilia; Ships incest; Advocates for either or / both; is a MAP or support MAPs

Racist: force racist caricatures on other characters who do not show them; draw ethnic characters that put an emphasis on stereotypes pertaining to that ethnicity; virtue signal despite being racist

LGBTPhobic: lesbiphobia/Homophobes; Biphobes; anti-pan; Transphobes; aphobes and arophobes; engaging in behavior that disrespects the LGBT Community, including promoting blatant queercoding and baiting; are an exclusionist; an overall fetishizer of the LGBT community and its people; as well as the kind of person who thinks that being a member of the LGBT community also means that you can be derogatory towards said community. (tongue in cheek humor =/= blatant LGBTPhobia) NOTE: "MSPEC LESBIANS" COUNT AS LESBIPHOBIA, ANTI-PAN, BIPHOBIA, AND OTHER ORENTATIONS THAT FIND ATTRACTION TO MORE THAN ONE GENDER IDENTITY.

Ableist:  Talks down physical disabilities; Talks down mental disabilities; Talks down Neurodivergency; Glorifies Physical and Mental disabilities; Glorifies Neurodivergency; Thinks Disabilities and Neurodivergency are merely an excuse in not being able to progress in life (either not quickly or not at all); disregarding Neurodivergency as a whole

Generally Toxic: Promotes Toxic Mindsets; Supports eating disorders and other forms of self harm; Exposes minors to NSFW (both harsh gore and pornography); Is toxic about petty things, such as ships, characters, and misunderstandings; excuses “loli” and “shota” as okay since “the characters aren’t real” and/or “it’s just fiction”; Promotes fat shaming

ECT: Likes HGS (High Guardian Spice) unironically (the writers have a history of racism, transphobia, and sexism, and don't know how to write people regardless of gender identity, skin color and sexual orientation); kin Rougefort Cookie from Cookie Run Ovenbreak (I've had horrible experiences regarding people who kin them. And don't want to be associated with anyone who kins them as a result of those bad experiences. If you identify with/as them that's fine, just... Don't interact with me, please.) Take part in the MYCT fanbase they aren't as bad now, and most fans tend to stay in their own lane. But I'm leaving it up for the sake of those who are still little shits, tbh. Likes/Defends the Boyfriends webtoon (creator has a shifty past that he, if he was truly sorry for it, wouldn't keep doing controversial things-- like making one of the characters canonically a proshipper, for example. Just because the creator himself is Trans does not exempt him from the shit he has done. The fact that webtoon shills this out as their token gay boy comic is,,, ew.)

[itsaship-literally]

One more time...

For those of you who have followed this blog for some time, you may remember a little post I once made called Because it needs to be said YET AGAIN. Well, it’s time to revisit this. 

THIS BLOG supports the POTENTIAL FUTURE of Beetlejuice and Lydia.

As a fictional set of characters, there is nothing more endearing than a ghost who wants to live and the living who wants to be a ghost. It’s sad and holds a beauty that only the strange and unusual can truly appreciate. 

For over 30 years the Beetlejuice has been comprised of the Chuck and Delia’s, the Adam and Barbra’s, and the Betelgeuse and Lydia’s. You can go online and see these pairs all over the place. Both in the movie or in the toon verse and now we have the blessing to have one more iteration. The Musical.

This brings us to today. Yes, we are aware that there is a divide between life/death, immortality/mortality, youth/experience. These are constant dynamics in fiction all over the world. It’s perfectly normal to express these tropes in fiction because as we know, FICTION IS THE BEST WAY TO EXPLORE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SCENARIOS. 

That being said, how many of you actually want to fuck a ghost/corpse/demon? Like in real life with the body you have? I highly doubt it. And if you do... Well then, have fun 😊

Here is what we have right now:

Movie: Potential. Betelgeuse and Lydia do NOT have a relationship but the potential for mutual understanding is there. 

Toon: Potential. Beetlejuice and Lydia have a wonderful friendship and a relationship built on mutual understanding. They trust and care about each other and are near inseparable. They have never shown romantic interest outside of flirtations due to the show being geared towards children.  (Note, the word relationship is not used in a romantic context but a general one.)

Musical: Surprisingly the MOST Potential. Beetlejuice and Lydia both want to be seen, they both feel alone and lost, they develop a friendship. On Lydia's end, this relationship is one of a good distraction and teenage rebellion. On BJ’s end, a co-dependent and completely unhinged attachment. They love scaring people and causing chaos. If BJ hadn’t gone exorcism crazy and then MURDER crazy they could have spent more time together.... and seriously .. WHY did Lydia go through all that trouble to get Beej to believe she was in love with him? She could have easily said. “Don’t hurt them. Just call the priest and I will let you out.” You know, like in the movie. 

Now that we got those potential futures out of the way, let's cover many of the complaints we have been seeing lately...

Age of Consent: this is best represented by a statement found on the ageofconsent.net “ The legal age of consent varies from 16 to 18 years old from state to state across the United States. In some states, a "close in age exemption" exists to decriminalize consensual sex between two individuals who are both under the age of consent.” This show takes place in Connecticut. The Age is 16 - Source Musical: Age UNDETERMINED in cannon -  Actresses range from 16 (Presley) - 35 (Dana) while the main actress debuted Lydia Deetz at the age of 16/17 Movie: Age UNDETERMINED in cannon - Two scripts were made one where Lydia was aged 16 and one where they made her younger but this wasn’t said directly in the film. The ‘little girl’ comment made by Barbra was a leftover from when the script had Cathy, Lydia’s little sister.  Toon: Age Never Stated AND Lydia grew through the series. The only context we have is that she is in 7th grade at the beginning of the series. and a book came out later stating she was 14. No one really expects there to be a physical relationship between the characters and if there is, it’s not something anyone really focuses on. WE CARE ABOUT THE DYNAMIC. I have never read fanfiction where Lydia was a 12-14-year-old. BJ likes adult bodies. This is a fact. So until his best friend gets an adult body we just need to enjoy the cartoon. It’s a fucking cartoon. Folks need to relax. 

Sexual vs Romantic vs Platonic No one cares how you headcanon the ship. Friendship or Relationship. It’s sweet. They are perfect. They are a dynamic combo. 

Grooming and Abuse: Dude, If you want to know what this looks like take a visit to this page from Victims of Crime. So in this case, if you think BJ is grooming Lydia to be his wife and/or partner then you really need to stay away from fanfiction in general. BJ is not a good person if he is capable of ANY of this.  There is only one story that I can think of that shows this type of treatment in action and is in no way a story on condoning the relationship. The author of the story is conveying a toxic relationship and like many writers will encourage readers to study the signs to protect themselves.  Further Reading: Does Reading Make You A Better Person? - ScienceDaily Video Game Violence Impact

Necrophilia: Let's get this straight right here and now. Betelgeuse is not a corpse. He is not a lifeless body. That’s some Ted Bundy shit right there. Here is a list of actual Cases of Necrophilia.  In Movie and Toon, Beej is a ghost. The term is Spectrophilia In Musical, Beej is a demon. The term is Spectrophilia... yup same thing Sexual encounters with ghosts and demons have been a subject of contention since the days of Ancient Civilization. That will always be an issue. No One is ever going to make it go away. 

Bi/Pan/Gay Phobia: We are really going there. Ok. This topic is said about every fandom. You will never make everyone happy. Everyone wants representation and that is totally fine. Beetlejuice and Lydia have the potential for more than a heterosexual pairing. After all, there is Betty Juice.  Now have I hit all the complaints? Good. If not then please dig a little deeper and try not to interfere with nerds being nerds. It just make you look like a jackass. 

[noxstellacaelum]

Filtering Female Characters Through the Male Gaze

Female characters filtered through the male gaze:  A (way) too long post about why we need a more diverse and inclusive approach to staffing showrunners, writers, directors, crew – heck, all roles -- in TV and movies.  

Yes, I know I am not the first person here on this.  

And note that while I have included a few tags b/c I talk about my frustration with Shadowhunters, Veronica Mars, the Irishman, Richard Jewell, and a few other recent shows/movies, I don’t get to this stuff until the very end,  I appreciate that fans may not want to wade through the entire essay, which (again), is a bit of personal catharsis.

I recently had a random one-off exchange with a TV writer on twitter.  The writer said that she had enjoyed the movie Bombshell much more than its Rotten Tomatoes rating would have suggested.  She wondered if the disconnect between her experience/perception of the movie and that of mainstream reviewers might have been shaped by gender: Specifically, she observed that Bombshell is a movie about women, but most reviewers are male.  

I have complicated feelings about Bombshell.  On one hand, yes, there was and is a toxic culture at Fox News.  Yes, Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly were victims of that toxic culture.  But no, these women were not mere bystanders:  They traded in the racism, misogyny, and xenophobia (for starters) that still characterize Fox News today.  Why should these wealthy, privileged white women – both of whom spent many years as willing foot soldiers in the Fox News army -- get a glossy, Hollywood-approved redemption/vindication arc?  On the other hand, I am glad that the movie makers made a film about sexual harassment, and that the movie presented Kelly, in particular, as an at least somewhat complicated character.  This would not be the first time that a movie about women – especially complicated, and not always likeable women – has proven to be polarizing.

My ambivalence about Bombshell notwithstanding, the writer with whom I exchanged tweets is (not surprisingly, since she is in the industry and I am not) on to something when it comes to gender, character development and critical reception. It’s not just that Bombshell was about women, but reviewed largely by men; it’s that stories about female characters (real or fictional) often are filtered through the male gaze in Hollywood:  On many projects – even those focused on female characters – creators/ head writers are male, directors are male, showrunners are male, and producers are male.  This matters, because preferencing the male gaze impacts what stories about women get told, who gets to tell them, and how these stories are received inside and outside Hollywood.  

First, though, the caveats. I do not mean to suggest that men can never tell great stories about women.  Of course they can.   I also don’t mean to suggest that being female exempts creators, writers, directors, showrunners, etc. from sexism or misogyny (or any other forms of bigotry, as my discussion of Bombshell suggests).   There are plenty of women who prop up the patriarchy.  Rebecca Traister’s work speaks to this issue, as does the work of Cornell philosopher Kate Manne.  There is an important literature on the concept of misogynoir (misogyny directed at black women, involving both gender and race), a term coined by black queer feminist Moya Bailey, as well.  Intersectionality matters in understanding what stories are told, who gets to speak, and how stories are received in and outside Hollywood.  I also don’t mean to suggest that there are no powerful women in Hollywood.   Shonda Rhimes; Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon (increasingly, given her role as a producer of projects like Big Little Lies), Greta Gerwig’s work in Lady Bird and Little Women, and others come to mind.  As I am not in the entertainment industry, I am sure others could put together a far more complete and accurate list of female Hollywood power brokers.  And, finally, I appreciate that Hollywood is a business, and people fund and make movies that they think their target audiences want to see.  So long as young, male viewers are a coveted demographic, we are going to see projects with women who appeal to this demographic onscreen.

Given these caveats, why do I think that the filtering of female characters through the male gaze is an issue? For me, it has to do with a project’s “center of gravity” -- that place, at the core of the project’s storytelling, where the characters’ agency and autonomy comes from.  It’s where I look to understand the characters’ choices and their narrative arcs.  When a character’s center of gravity is missing or unstable or unreliable, the character’s choices don’t make sense, and their narrative arc lacks emotional logic. Center of gravity is not about whether a character is likeable.  It’s about whether a character – and the project’s overall storytelling and narrative voice – make sense.  

When female characters are filtered through a male gaze, a project’s center of gravity can shift, even if unintentionally, away from the characters’ agency and point of view:  So, instead of charting her own course through a story, a female character starts to become defined by her proximity to other characters and stories.  She becomes half of a “ship” . . . or a driver of other characters’ growth (often through victimization, suffering, or self-sacrifice) . . . or mostly an object of sexual desire (whether requited or not).   Eventually, she can lose her voice entirely.  When that happens, instead of a “living, breathing” (yes, fictional, I know) character, we are left with a mirror/ mouthpiece who advances the plot, and the stories, of everyone else.

What are some recent examples of this? The two that I have mentioned recently here are Shadowhunters and Veronica Mars S4.  

- With SHTV, I will always wonder what might have been if the show – which is based on books written by a woman, intentionally as a “girl power” story – had female showrunners. Would an empowered female showrunner have left Clary, THE PROTAGONIST OF A 6 BOOK SERIES – alone on an NYC street in a skimpy party dress, in November, with no money, no ID, no mother, no father figure and no love of her life, stripped of her memories, her magic, and chosen vocation, as punishment, after she saved the world?  Would a female showrunner have sidelined Clary’s love Jace, and left him grieving and suicidal, while his family lived their best lives and told him to move on?  Would a female showrunner have said, in press coverage of the series finale, that the future of the Clary and Jace characters was a matter for fan fiction?  After spending precious time in the series finale wrapping up narrative arcs for non-canon and/or ancillary characters.  And to my twitter correspondent’s point, I guess I am not surprised that mainstream entertainment media outlets didn’t call out the showrunners’ mistreatment of Clary, and by extension, Jace, and the obliteration of their narrative arcs -- and yes, I am looking at you, Andy Swift of TV line (who called the above-mentioned memory wipe “actually perfect”).

- Likewise, with Veronica Mars, would a more diverse and inclusive writers room have made S4 Veronica less insightful and less competent than her high school self, or quite so riven with self-loathing, or quite so careless and cruel with the people in her life who love her?  Would a more inclusive creative team have made S4 Veronica less aware of the class and race dynamics of Neptune, yet more casually racist, in her mid-30s, than she was in high school?

- There are so many other examples from 2019.  Clint Eastwood falsely suggesting that a female reporter (who is now deceased and thus unable to defend herself) traded sex for tips from an FBI agent in Richard Jewell. Game of Thrones treatment/resolution of the Ceresi and Daenerys characters – where to even start.  Martin Scorsese’s decision to give Oscar winner Anna Paquin’s character a total of 7 lines in the 3-plus hour movie the Irishman.

- And, in real life, I wonder whether a Hollywood that empowered and supported female creators would make sure that people like Mira Sorvino and Annabella Sciorra got a bunch of work while also making sure that Harvey Weinstein never again is in a position of power or influence.   Same with female comics targeted by Louis C.K. Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose … the list is long, and Kate Manne’s work on what she calls “himpathy” is useful here.

To be clear, I am not saying that stories involving “ships” of whatever flavor, stories of suffering and self-sacrifice, and stories of finding (or losing) intimate relationships are “bad” or “wrong” or inherently exploitive of female characters.  I don’t think that at all.  I also don’t think that female characters have to be perfectly well-adjusted, virtuous, or free from bias, or that they should never be make bad choices or mistakes.  I want female characters who are flawed, nuanced.  I don’t mind lives that are messy, or romantic entanglements that are complicated.  Finally, I don’t think that that faulty, reductive, or unfair portrayals of female characters is a new thing.  Mary Magdalene was almost certainly not a prostitute, after all.  And classicist Emily Wilson – the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English – has brought a hugely important perspective (including an awareness of how gender matters in translation) and voice to the translation and study of canonical characters and works.

At the end of the day, I just want female characters to be able to speak with their own voices, from their perspectives.  I want them to have their own, chosen, narrative arcs.  I want them to speak, act, see, and feel as autonomous individuals, with agency, and not just in reference to others.  And, I think that more a more diverse and inclusive approach to staffing writers rooms and in choosing show runners, directors, and key positions in storytelling would help.