#i also like scary women

[apologeeze]

why u gay

Im bi

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

[thisismisogynoir]

I love it when women hate men. I love it when women are allowed to vent to each other about how horrible and creepy men are. I love it when women form friendships with and prioritize each other over relationships with men(whether they're attracted to them or not). I love it when women put men dni in their bios and on their nude photos and on posts on their blogs. I love it when women refuse to mollycoddle and accommodate entitled male feelings with "but this doesn't mean I hate all men, I know a few men who are great, I love my father/sons/brothers/uncles/male cousins/guy friends" I love it when women complain about men WITHOUT "not all men" being a disclaimer. I love it when women avoid socializing with/refuse to be around/befriend/get close to men because they know men can't be trusted. I love it when women make "kill all men" jokes. I love it when women offer absolutely no concern or care for men's feelings and if their misandry offends men whatsoever because why should we, men are the oppressor class who have raped and killed and abused us and kept us as subjugated as second-class citizens for millennia, they regularly mistreat us and the women in their own marginalized communities still every single day and make this world so much harder and more awful for us to be in, and if we choose to hate them and not spare them any sympathy then so be it, and I don't just mean "men as a class" either, you can be a woman who doesn't want to have anything to do with any man on an individual basis and completely cuts off men from her personal life too and ykw I will love and fucking support you in that because men deserve absolutely NOTHING from us. If they're so tough and strong then they can handle it just like they can handle being lonely. If you are a woman who hates men, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A LESBIAN AND/OR A TRANS WOMAN, then just know that I love you. I love you, I support you, and you are safe here.

[lesbinewren]

ik this is old news but it’s been on my mind lately. it was very incredibly alienating as a female star wars fan (and lesbian) when manny jacinto took his shirt off in the acolyte and a thousand people were like “FINALLY they’re making star wars for WOMEN not gross boy star wars!!!”

it was especially frustrating because i feel like so much time (like literal decades!!) was spent having to fight people to see “star wars has always been for girls too, it’s for everyone!” only for people to seemingly concede that actually, it WAS always for boys, but NOW we have star wars for girls because dark romance or whatever

i’m happy people who previously weren’t interested in star wars found something that appealed to them and drew them in. this is by no means a gatekeeping post saying it’s wrong to have gotten into the acolyte because of those things. it just really sucks to be someone who did always love star wars and had to spend a long time defending being a girl who likes star wars only for people who should be on the same side unwittingly play into the rhetoric that was used to try to exclude women

[titfairy]

[min-xie]

help i cant stop drawing fem neuvillette

[mwagneto]

we knew this but Kate confirming that even UNIT recognises a lot of events as supernatural rather than alien AND that it's a whole new thing they aren't very equipped for yet is really cool

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Queer bar down my street doing an introduction to shibari this month but it's for "women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary and trans people"

[losersage]

I have a big FAT girl crush on izutsumi

[pcstan]

T4T GIRLED FRIENDS

[idkmynameiskat]

Legit friendly PSA/reminder that this is just Tumblr, and there are a lot of reasons why people, I included, do not go into specific details about personal life/relationships/family on here. I know I talk A LOT more than “normal” people about my life and struggles on here, but I am very careful about what I post and for specific reasons I do not need to explain to anyone.

Tumblr is probably the creepiest social media I’m on, and a lot of people tend to forget how fucking scary the internet is for women. There is a 99% chance that if I talk to you on here often, we will remain friends on Tumblr only. This is literally no offense to anyone at all, I don’t even have some of my old coworkers I knew in person on my socials, and having people I simply don’t know well on my personal socials is not something I will ever change. I am simply doing this to keep myself and my family/relationships/personal life safe.

I have had people on here try to find me on other socials, try to find where I live, get mad when I don’t want to tell them exactly who I work for, etc, etc. and it’s fucking scary. There is no need to know these things about someone at all, especially someone you met online that lives hours/days away.

Please respect my decisions to not talk about certain things on here, not tell you my full/legal name (yes, people have gotten mad at me because they think they are entitled to know my “real” name), not tell you what company I work for, not want to tell you my personal socials, etc.

Like, is this wrong of me to think this way or….

[yuridovewing]

oh my god can the erins shut up about the sisters already

[tooies]

the whole sexuality label thing is hard because on one hand the idea of romantic love and having someone who will like choose me over other people instead of everyone choosing someone else over me sounds nice and appealing but on the other hand i don't really feel romantic or sexual attraction to people. but on the other other hand maybe i do actually but i just push it down because the idea of being in a relationship scares me because i don't know if i could fulfill my side of the relationship the way the other person could. like maybe i could love someone in that way but i don't really know if i am enough for someone to want to love me back because i am just like. a nothing person. i don't do anything or contribute anything i'm just kinda there. so in conclusion i dont know what i am aughhh

[anti-transphobia]

Everyone posts about how Stardew Valley is a cozy LGBT+ inclusive game but NO ONE mentions the lack of a platonic option for the bachelors/bachelorettes. Which would be good for aspec people and also just more pleasant for many casual players I believe but that's not even the point. I just want to become best friends with everyone and not only does that require me dating everyone at once and feeling like a sleazebag because of it (ik the bad cutscene can be avoided but I know in my heart they'd be hurt if they knew) BUT it also means the women flirt with me!!!!! Constantly!!!!!!! It makes me sick to my stomach. Truly ruining the characters I liked

[svtskneecaps]

quesadilla island is scared of women REAL. evidence: the hypothetical women in the freezer this entire time, baghera constantly misses lore, jaiden is actually respected by cucurucho and cucu lets her give it headpats, there are two women (players) on this island, juanaflippa and tilin (two eggs who used she/her pronouns at least once) died very very quickly, pomme was oneshot like 9 times (and remembers it), leo has to wear ugly armor otherwise the island kills her, need i go on

[waterdeep-weavemoss]

so i'm acearo whatever but i do have a type and it's fictional men who are like exceedingly powerful and accomplished and total sweethearts with their love interest and then terrifying to their enemies