#it was actively sexist - did we see ANY boys playing with dolls?

[hippo-pot]

i watched Barbie because they made an ASL-interpreted version (with a Deaf interpreter, as they should) and i was like oh okay, even if i don't think i'll LOVE the movie, this should be a fun way to get some ASL receptive practice. unfortunately it was only fun for like 20 min. did not enjoy the movie

[lowvintagesims]

I've never seen anyone who hates uncle iroh before and I'm actually really curious, would you mind explaining why you think he's awful? maybe there's a perspective I haven't considered yet

i’m going to respond to you bc of all the people in my ask box who asked this same question you were by far the nicest lol

the short answer is that he exhibits sexist behavior and generally negative traits in the same strain that most “good” male characters are allowed to without actually damaging their character.

the long answer is below the cut bc this isn’t most of my followers’ cup of tea

these are in no particular order bc i’m unwilling to rank the “badness” of his actions

he’s a creep. i used to like iroh moderately as a child and it was actually this thing that made me look closer at this actions instead of just going with the idea that he’s a nice guy because that’s his whole thing lol. the thing in question is that zuko and iroh hired june to track the gaang, and they eventually caught up with them at an abbey. there is a fight and june gets knocked to the ground, falling on top of iroh. instead of checking to see if she’s okay or getting up to protect the both of them or to help make sure zuko is safe since they’re all actively in a fight, he lays there and smiles at her laying on top of him. it’s played as a comedy beat and it pisses me off. 

he’s sexist. it always rubbed me the wrong way that he gave zuko a knife and azula a doll as gifts from his siege on ba sing se. totally ignoring how fucked up that part is (bc it’s substantially more obvious why gifts from a culture that you’re colonizing is fucked up), they’re sexist gifts. from my (admittedly not that great) memory, azula and zuko are being raised in pretty much the exact same way without a division of training based on gender. that is important in this instance because imo it shows a fault in iroh as a person rather than in his culture itself. and i don’t think you can explain it away by saying it took place when he was still a bad person because he never learned a lesson or make any notable changes in regards to his treatment of women

 this transitions nicely to the third point which is that even if he is different now, he does fuck all to actually help anyone or make reparations for his actions. his new “being a better person” schtick mostly consists of empty platitudes about tea and living your best life. the only exception is when the white lotus took back ba sing se, but frankly he was a small part of that and i’m just unwilling to concede that that makes up for the damage that he did in his whole career as a military leader. you can argue that indirectly he influenced zuko in a way that eventually led him to help aang learn firebending and defeat the firelord. but none of that was intentional so it doesn’t count

he’s selfish and has zero impulse control. that’s mostly played out as a cute personality quirk (i.e. when he goes shopping in the earth kingdom and buys way too much stuff ha ha). but it eventually gets them outed as firebenders to jet when they’re earth kingdom refugees because he heats his tea using firebending. thank goodness that in this specific situation, the police that jet alerted just happened to be like haha okay crazy boy, we don’t believe you. that’s a very generous depiction of police in general that they would be giving the accused (esp if the accused is of a different identity group than them............) the benefit of the doubt. tldr; it’s great that it worked out and they didn’t get caught, but it very very easily could’ve gone the other way

everything about the following image:

 azula is an abused child who is just as deserving of a forgiveness and rescue as zuko. this is, again, played as a comedy beat bc it’s like haha that’s not what you would expect to hear from him. he’s usually so peaceful and positive! but i feel like it gives a little more insight his sexism. in his eyes, why is azula worse than zuko? is it because she’s actually competent in carrying out her plans where zuko isn’t? or is it because he has “adult man who sees teen girls as women” syndrome?

bonus: this is more about the writers and not about the character, but kinda fucked up about iroh learning firebending from ran and shaw ?????

so he lied about slaying the last dragon so that they could live in peace, and they trained him to become a master firebender. but i’m super confused about why they taught him firebending at all. wasn’t it before zuko was born? wasn’t it when iroh was either already or on the way to becoming an imperialist general who did general things: presumably murder, bodily injury, false imprisonment, etc?

ran and shaw supposedly had to determine that aang and zuko were "worthy” before they would train them. was that even true or was it just part of the sun warrior ritual? would they have just trained anyone who showed up? bc based on my knowledge of how sieges works and generally how high-level generals contributes to war, iroh was not one of the good guys. they’re dragons, maybe they just weren’t all that worried about human politics? or i guess they just like. knew he would be a good guy in the end so it didn’t matter

all this isn’t to say that characters aren’t allowed to have flaws bc they are. i just never ever see anyone talking about his

[loudlytransparenttrash]

Feminist fathers

So you’ve decided to ignore my advice about dating feminist men and you are okay with shitty, tamed, nervous sex where he has to ask for your consent before any time he touches you or kisses you. And you’ve decided you really like the whole no accountability and no consequences deal? Well now you must be wondering if perhaps your feminist boyfriend might make a pretty terrific feminist husband and feminist father to your children while you work 40 hours like a total badass. I’m all for baby makin so don’t let his feminist ways stop you from reproducing, but here are nine things to expect from a feminist father:

1. He will worry if you have a boy, he could be raising a future rapist

We all know that the only way to prevent rape is to teach these barbaric urges out of little boys before it’s too late. He will teach your son from the time he’s still shitting diapers that no one is entitled to sex and that he must see girls as human, not as a slab of meat. He will see your son as a possible perpetrator so he must have words scarred into his brain such as rape culture, gender-based violence, sexual assault, the male gaze and exploitation before he even learns the alphabet. Here’s an example of a feminist dad’s guide to teaching sons how not to grow up to be a rapist. If you mix hockey into the discussion, telling him not to rape people becomes so cool and relatable! My favorite part is when the son says, ‘Innocent until proven guilty, dad’ and the dad replies, ‘So you think she's lying!?’ 

2. He will worry if you have a girl, she will be disadvantaged in our society

It isn’t so bad, the feminist dad will provide your infant daughter with every advantage it is possible to give her from birth, more food, better food, toys, more soothing, more coddling, more of everything to ameliorate the disadvantages she will soon face in an educational system, labor market and governance structure designed to oppress her. He will teach her to evaluate her environment carefully and find the sexist reasons that are to blame for her failures and she will be protected from ever thinking her own actions might have contributed to any negative outcomes. “There, there sweetie. That swing hit you in the face because of gravity, which is a patriarchal construct designed to hold you down.” 

3. He will be horrified when your son acts like a normal boy

The feminist dad will fret endlessly when your son turns sticks into guns and insists on issuing his gender neutral, realistically proportioned dolls. He will fret even more when your son turns his Fischer Price Kitchen into a meth lab where he makes poisonous concoctions and strategizes about how to defeat the bad guys. Your son will happily make Play-doh flowers with his Sitting Pretty Gardening set and then have his T-Rex dolls gleefully tear their heads off. When the teacher notices that your son seems overly interested in engaging with the world in a physical, exploratory, hands-on way, your feminist husband will agree this can only lead to bad outcomes and will insist on drugging him with handfuls of Ritalin so he can develop conformity, obedience and docility.

4. He will be horrified when your daughter acts like a normal girl

The feminist father will reassure your daughter that experiencing difficulties with math or science homework, or experiencing a lack of interest in these subjects is the result of the patriarchy refusing to acknowledge or support women in these traditionally masculine pursuits. He will spend a considerable amount of time going through the vast number of publicly financed programs and courses designed to engage girls with STEM when she just wants to play with her dolls, and he will remove all things pink, sparkly and pretty as that reinforces her submissive gender role which was created by the patriarchy. He will replace all her favorite Disney movies with the latest Ghostbusters movie while she turns all the toy dump trucks he has bought her into comfy beds for her unicorn collection.

5. He will be happy when your daughter starts dressing like a slut

Eventually your daughter will morph from frilly princess dresses into push up bras, thongs, tiny tight dresses and skirts and the sooner this happens, the more satisfied the feminist father will be. He will be proud when perfect strangers stammer “She’s how old? My god..” in the grocery store and he will encourage her to explore her sexuality so she can discover her very own gender. He will take her on slut walks and teach her that anyone who even turns their head at her “I <3 Cock” crop top is just a gross pedophilic misogynist who hates women and should be denounced publicly as such. He will happily make the denouncement for her.

6. He will teach your son humiliation is good for the male psyche

When your son buys the same shirt he saw the astrophysicist on TV wearing, the feminist dad will lecture him that he does not understand how clothing choices can have an impact, often severe, on those around him. He will want to punish your son by refusing to take him to the “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes” event, thereby denying him the opportunity to understand how patriarchal beauty standards negatively affect women and effectively cripple them by forcing them to choose to wear heels. The feminist father will ultimately decide that it is important for your son to experience the humiliation and disabling effects of patriarchy, but not before forcing your son to burn his beloved shirt and repeat “I must not make women uncomfortable with my clothing choices” one thousand times.

7. He will teach your daughter that regret can be called rape

The feminist dad will become visibly upset when your daughter asks to be enrolled in mixed martial arts classes so she can deal with asshats, both male and female, who might threaten her with harm or actively attempt to harm her. He will patiently explain to her that self-defence contributes to rape culture and victim-blaming and that she must never even think that risk management behaviors are appropriate or intelligent. He will reassure her that all sexual choices are contingent upon how she feels at any particular moment before, during or after said choices are made, and that she does not need any way to back up her decisions and should simply demand compliance, although this request for compliance does not need to be stated or indicated in any way. Your daughter will learn that it is the responsibility of her sexual partners to determine how she feels or may come to feel about any given situation and she is not to blame for any adverse outcomes that may arise.

8. If your son succeeds, he will be told to check his privilege

If your son is white and heterosexual, your feminist husband will convey to your son at every opportunity that he is privileged over all women everywhere in all circumstances and he must take steps to address his privilege and apologize and never question those less privileged than himself. He will be taken to view homeless men living in a city park and be given real world examples of how men participate in street harassment by creating mildly annoying conditions for some women. Your son will be instructed in how to blame himself and all his fellow straight white males for all irritations that cause women the slightest degree of discomfort. He will learn that his accomplishments are not the result of hard work, effort, intelligence and perseverance, but the result of the patriarchy producing unearned benefits for people who work hard and persevere in the face of obstacles.

9. He will teach your son that violence is only a male thing

Your feminist husband will teach your son that he must never, ever hit a woman under any circumstances and even if he ends up with a black eye or a hatchet in the head or a beer glass embedded in his face, he must always ask what he did to deserve it and resolve to be a better person. He will be taught “bystander intervention” and he will learn that he is expected to physically and forcefully intervene without concern for risk to his own safety whenever he sees a woman being subjected to anything that might be considered unpleasant or exasperating. Your feminist husband will be confident in his approach to raising children as he’s the ideal, non-threatening feminist ally, the only type of man worth keeping around in a feminist world, that’s all that matters, right? Even if it does make your children miserable, guilt and anxiety ridden trainwrecks. 

[darkstrangevirgilanxiboi]

Bleach Headcanons For The Wounded Soul

ALL RIGHT I KNOW THE ENDING WAS ALL KINDS OF JUST.....WHAT??? AND A LOT OF UNANSWERED THINGS So to make MYSELF and hopefully the fandom feel better I'm gonna dump alllllll the headcanons here for you ( if it's ship specific stuff u want just send an ask I ship a ton of things my friends ) SPOILER WARNING TURN BACK NOW IF U DO NOT WANT SPOILING - Toshiro babysits Kazui and Ichika quite often and demands payment of either watermelon or dragon themed decor Renji bought him a dragon shirt and Toshiro got super excited over it Ichigo , secret art guy , managed to one up this by making a drawing of Hyorinmaru's human form and gave it to Toshiro as a cheer-up gift one day. Ichigo got free babysitting for a whole YEAR - Byakuya and Toshiro become close friends after the Quincy war ( they were friends before but at some point Toshiro ends up with Byakuya's scarf in the manga so they musta been best bros ) and Toshiro is named god-father of Ichika - Uryuu and Ichigo become much closer and Uryuu has dinner at Ichigo's every week and they catch up. Uryuu teaches Ichigo about Quincy stuff and Ichigo teaches Uryuu the good things about shinigami . They visit their mothers graves together every year. - IZURU MADE A FULL RECOVERY HE'S FINE HE JUST RETIRED - JUSHIRO IS FINE THAT little sad scene was just a nightmare sequence okay haha ( JUSHIRO IS F I N E) - Kurotsuchi eventually becomes a decent damn father to Nemu and checks himself once he realizes how much evil he's wrought ( BUT REALLY THOUGH GIVE HIM A REDEMPTION ARC SOMEONE) I mean I used to hate him so much but I hate him a little less because he DID save Toshiro and Rangiku He does good things by accident sometimes I mean maybe he has a tiny heart -Ikkaku marries Keigo's big sister and Keigo is so scared but so happy for them too - Grimmjow gets a happy ending ( just let my angry cat be happy please) - KISUKE AND YORUICHI GET MARRIED AND ADOPT GINTA AND URURU - Yuushiro Shihouin is FINE, he's F I N E - Toshiro and Momo start dating soon after Kazui and Ichika are born , Byakuya is the best man at the wedding Toshiro names their first son Hyorinmaru ( Nicknamed Hyorin ) And Hyorinmaru is of course god-father Toshiro is the CUTEST dad . He brings baby Hyorin with him everywhere , wrapped in one of his scarves . It's very distracting at Captain's meetings because who's gonna scold Hitsugaya when his son is so cute ? Plus Nemu pretty much adopts all of the Hitsugaya babies the minute she sees them so Kurotsuchi will fight anyone who tells Toshiro to leave the baby at home , because he LOVES to see Nemu happy ( and is secretly fascinated by the super strong reishi of the Hitsugaya kids) All of Squad Ten adore the Hitsugaya babies , anyone who so much as makes a Hitsugaya frown gets a beat down from the tenth AND fifth division ( Shinji is the most ecstatic god-father ever and Hiyori thinks it's adorable) They have like six or seven ( or more ) kids and every one of them is super strong in fighting Their third child Shiromo actually challenged Zaraki to a fight when he was seven , and Zaraki LOST. To a seven year old. Momo tells everyone about it for centuries . Zaraki never lives it down . Shiromo Hitsugaya gains his first rival before puberty. They have a winter home in Karakura town and visit often . Ichigo adores their youngest child , and not just because he's named Ichigo! Little Ichigo Hitsugaya thinks Big Ichigo is the coolest thing since his dad , and listens to Ichigo talk about old fights all day. They do art projects together and play soccer and Ichigo makes sure Little Ichi learns first aid because obvi his folks are gonna need it one day - Mizuiro becomes a profitable business man who helps exiled Shinigami adjust to the human world and helps humans who see spirits learn how to stay safe from Hollows - Tatsuki helps Mizuiro with his business and eventually he's the best man at her wedding when she marries her girlfriend , and SHE'S the one who gives him away a year later when he marries his boyfriend - Orihime is a Full-Bringer , the Full-Bringer group just didn't know about her yet. They find out pretty soon after the Quincy War and soon start training her and she becomes best friends with Riruka . ( I mean if Kubo ain't gonna tell me why she can do the thing I'm making up my own thing ) - Kyoryaku marries Nanao and they have four daughters ( Shunshui doesn't die from the Ise curse he lives well into old age he's fine ) - Chad runs a nonprofit orphanage / children's home devoted to finding kids loving families . Kisuke and Yoruichi adopt four to begin with and adopt more over time as their children grow up and move out. Tatsuki and her wife adopt twin girls that can see ghosts . They become a famed ghost medium family Mizuiro and his husband adopt a blind boy , a deaf girl , and a nonbinary kid. - Kisuke eventually figures out how to remove the Hogyoku from Aizen and Aizen finally gets executed for his crimes - Keigo runs a blog of conspiracy theories , most of which actually happen to come true at some point. Turns out Keigo's family is descended from a runaway Quincy and Keigo is the first in generations to develop any type of Quincy power. He has glimpses of the future but can't control it. Uryuu is stunned ( and mildly annoyed) that Keigo is a Quincy but helps him out nonetheless. - Tatsuki gets famous worldwide for punching a sexist on national television and soon every corner store has souvenir Tatsuki shirts - KOMOMURA IS FINEEEEE - Shuuhei becomes the next captain of squad 9 -Soi Fon gets a girlfriend - UNCLE BYAKUYA BYAKUYA IS THE UNCLE TO THE CHILD OF ANYONE HE'S FRIENDS WITH And he gives all the kids scarves and flowers and etiquette lessons ( and plushie Mr.Seaweed dolls ) - OKAY BUT IN THE MANGA BYAKUYA LOVES TO DRAW THIS LITTLE CHARACTER THAT'S JUST A HUMANOID SEAWEED It's amazing and adorable and I love artist Byakuya - Karin introduced Toshiro to ice puns and puns in general. He gets a tumblr and an instagram. He posts pics of defeated enemies and lots of sweet stuff about Momo . And memes The memes haven't stopped since You think he was sarcastic in fights before? ICE try , bitches ( Rangiku tries to disown him three times ) - OH YEAH SHINJI ADOPTED HIYORI OKAY - There's a betting pool in the Gotei 13 over who Zaraki challenges to a fight most often that week. Toshiro wins regularly ( he bets on himself and Soi Fon ) Once Toshiro actually takes up Zaraki's challenge , because he's stressing out over having his first child and Momo is sick and there's been weird Hollow activity and Zaraki just hit a nerve . He ends up getting hurt pretty bad but managed to win and now there's a new betting pool over when Zaraki is gonna beat Toshiro ( or if anyone CAN beat Hitsugaya anymore ) - Whenever Toshiro looks sad , Momo makes it a rule that you have to hug him every time you see him and give him a compliment. Rangiku and Byakuya enforce this rule , doubly so when Toshiro is recovering from injury. One time Kensei tried to refuse to hug Toshiro and Byakuya glared at him from the shadows for a solid hour while a very concussed and confused Toshiro just watched from his hospital bed . Kensei lost the staring contest and gave Toshiro an awkward hug and for lack of a better idea just went " Your Bankai is very artistic to watch , good job " Toshiro smiled for about an hour and later Kensei got a thank you card from Byakuya " You made Toshiro smile today , I can like you now " - Whenever shit hits the fan in a battle and Byakuya is by Toshiro he just picks him up and books it for home while Toshiro protests and tries to go Bankai -When Momo swears in front of Shinji for the first time he hugs her like a smug parent and she is confused - Toshiro jokingly leaves a jar labelled " Zaraki's Swear Jar " in the Captain's Meeting room and no one tells Zaraki it's not official so in meetings Zaraki just drops whatever's in his pocket at the beginning of the meeting in the jar The prices range depending on severity and vulgarness " Damn " is a nickel " Fuck " is a dollar Anything sexually overt is three dollars The money goes toward whatever is most pressing at the time - repairs , medical supplies , equipment .... - Once in a war Momo is kidnapped and Toshiro just decimates a whole army to rescue her and from then on the enemy was terrified of Toshiro , who's unaware of it for a few weeks while he recovers from injuries. But when he shows back up at the front the leader just surrenders like " DON'T MURDER US WE DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS YOUR WIFE " Uhhhhh that's it for now I'm tired , but enjoy! @hitsuhinahappiness @xxhanabifireworksxx

[ismael37olson]

As Soft and as Pink as a Nursery -- 13 Really Sexist Musicals

In this moment in our cultural history, in which we're finally calling out expressions of sexism, racism, and other bias, it's worth looking closer at the shows we produce. Maybe the Era of Trump has made it necessary. A while back, I wrote a blog post about musicals that are much darker than most people think. Now we're having debates about problematic content in older musicals, and whether or not some older shows should be largely retired. Sometimes people tell me -- apologetically, but not really --that they don't really like "the new musicals." They like Rodgers & Hammerstein because they "just want escape." You know, like the "escape" of World War II in the Pacific, or the "escape" of watching the King of Siam lose his culture and then his life, or the "escape" of watching Jud Fry buy pornography from Ali Hakim, then try to murder Curly and Laurie, then die in a knife fight... Escape is awesome. Some people (usually white straight men) are enraged that anybody would suggest that Annie Get Your Gun should be retired for good. But it should. Times change. We are no longer the people, the culture, or the country we were in the early and mid 20th century. A great many of the shows written before 1960 (and some since then) are no longer relevant, and many of them are embarrassing or full-out offensive.

Here are some examples...

My Fair Lady -- This is a story about a narcissistic misogynist who keeps a young woman hostage in his home, using psychological torture, including sleep deprivation, to break her will and brainwash her, in order to make her socially acceptable and marriage-able to other men. Although, to be fair, the original poster laid out the show's sexism pretty clearly. At the end of the show, we debate whether the ambiguous ending means Eliza loves Henry or not. Let's hope not, for her sake! Why the fuck did she come back...? Sure, you could argue this is a near-masterpiece in many ways, and like some of Shakespeare's plays, it should be kept in the canon even though it's problematic. But you can't call Annie Get Your Gun anything remotely like a masterpiece. Annie Get Your Gun  -- Like My Fair Lady, this show is about the subjugation of strong women by insecure men. Ultimately, Annie can only win Frank's heart by letting him win fraudulently, so his tiny male ego isn't hurt. WTF? And what's with that toxic song, "The Girl That I Marry"?

The girl that I marry will have to be As soft and as pink as a nursery. The girl I call my own Will wear satins and laces and smell of cologne. Her nails will be polished and, in her hair She'll wear a gardenia, and I'll be there; 'Stead of flittin', I'll be sittin' Next to her and she'll purr like a kitten. A doll I can carry, the girl that I marry must be.

Seriously, "a doll I can carry"...??? She is literally an object to him, a toy. This is twelve years after Reno Sweeney had told us that "times have changed." Carousel -- This is a show about a serial womanizer and abuser, and petty repeat offender, who dies in the commission of a violent crime and leaves behind a wife with PTSD and a fucked-up daughter who tries to find validation in the arms of other men. Of course, these days, this is most infamous for this exchange between Billy's widow Julie and her daughter Louise:

Louise: I didn't make it up, Mother! There was a strange man here and he hit me -- hard -- I heard the sound of it -- but it didn't hurt, Mother! It didn't hurt at all -- it was jest as if he -- kissed my hand! Julie: Go into the house child. Louise: But is it possible, Mother, fer someone to hit you hard like that -- real loud and hard -- and not hurt at all. Julie: It is possible, dear, fer someone to hit you -- hit you hard -- and not hurt at all.

Anybody want their daughter to see that scene...?

Kiss Me, Kate -- Another show about the subjugation of strong women by insecure men. This story is literally about the "taming" of a woman. Animals are tamed, not people. The only way to make it work is by subverting the text, by suggesting through the staging, line delivery, etc., that Kate is "in on the joke." But even if you change the ending that way, it doesn't erase the abuse he has subjected her to, throughout the rest of the show. She's going to be happy with this guy?  No. Guys and Dolls -- Yet another show about the subjugation of strong women by insecure men. Adelaide is in a psychologically abusive relationship with Nathan. They've been engaged for fourteen years, in a time and place when women had to get married. There's no way he actually loves her. And Sky gives Sarah the 1950s equivalent of a date-rape drug. And notice in the song "Marry the Man Today," we discover Adelaide and Sarah don't really like a whole lot about their men. So why would they marry them? And Republicans want to return to the 1950s. No, No, Nanette -- Yet another show about the subjugation of strong women by insecure men. Surprisingly for 1925, one of the central plot lines is about how Nanette cannot enjoy independence without money, and all the money is controlled by men. It's an unusually honest and truthful comedy for 1925, though Nanette can't live Happily Ever After till she gets her man. Yawn. Camelot -- Not only is this another story of the subjugation of strong women by insecure men, but here, the woman's punishment is literally burning at the stake. She is to be killed for the crime of being sexually active and choosing for herself who she loves. The irony gets even uglier when you consider how much the serially adulterous JFK loved this show. And let's not forget that Guenevere is a truly fucked-up young woman who has been taught to be attracted to (and aroused by?) violence. The Sound of Music -- Here's one about a damaged young woman who falls for an angry, abusive, distant daddy figure, who has raised some monster children. Aw, isn't that sweet? What's that rule about workplace romances? Yeah, but the Alps are so pretty! Maria is never allowed to decide her own fate -- everybody tells us what to do, and then she does. And how about the treatment of the Baroness -- how did Georg's legitimate fiancee become the villain here...? It's not exactly the old "virgin vs. whore" scenario, but it's close...

Once Upon a Mattress -- This is a comedy entirely about how women have to be twice as good as men to get the same job. In the late 1950s! Tell Me on a Sunday (Act I of Song and Dance) -- This is a great show in a lot of ways, but it's about a woman who has learned to define herself only in terms of the men in her life. Yikes! We produced the show with New Line because as weak and fucked-up as this woman is, we did see a lot of truth in her, and ultimately, we think she will take control of her own life... Beauty and the Beast -- Sorry about this, Michelle, but this is a story about a young woman with Stockholm Syndrome, imprisoned by an insecure man... er, monster. It's creepy in a similar way to My Fair Lady. Why do we accept these stories? Why do women find them romantic? Miss Saigon -- Kim is a depressing, weak, Asian stereotype, who literally cannot talk about anything other than love, and who is helpless unless the White Savior can rescue her. But the White Savior has a White Wife, so the Asian woman is fucked. The Robber Bridegroom -- The story's hero Jamie Lockhart tells us repeatedly (most explicitly in the Act I finale) that he doesn't enjoy sex if it's consensual. Think about that. He only likes sex if it's rape.

I never was a courtin' kind of boy; Them flirtin' games ain't nothin' I enjoy. I hate a girl to give me goo-goo eyes; If she'd turn her back, I'd sneak attack, And get 'er by surprise! ‘Cause I like Love stolen from the cookie jar! I like love stolen on the sly! Oh yeah! I just love snitchin' what ain't meant for me; Oh the more forbid, The sweeter tastes the pie! A lot of girls are willin' to be had; The more I see, the more it makes me mad. You grab ‘em good; it doesn't faze 'em none. Well, that may be cool by the modern rule, But they're killin' all the fun!

You know, the "fun" of raping someone. How can anyone produce this show anymore? We did it in 2004, long before the #MeToo movement, and it was a difficult show even then -- which is the point. I'm told a recent local production essentially removed the rape from the story by making it all more playful and making Rosamund more obviously eager and compliant. That's fine I guess, but then it's a different show making a different point (if any) about different things. It's no longer about the intersection of violence and sex in American culture and in our American DNA. Yes, it's in our DNA. We can never forget that mid-century America was fine with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, a freakish MGM romanticizing of abduction and rape; and also The Fantasticks, in which abduction and rape are ironic comic devices. So what do we do with this show? It's awfully hard to make a case right now for a comedy about rape. Women characters in many musicals are weak. That's partly because companies still produce a lot of really old musicals when our culture not only accepted that, but expected it. It's also because until the last decade or two, there were virtually no women writing musicals. And since lots of musicals center on a love story, it was almost always a love story from the male (fantasy?) point of view. When there were strong women characters, they were generally the secondary "comic" lead. Because after all, you can't take a strong woman seriously!

There were exceptions (almost always written by gay men) like Dolly Levi and Mame Dennis, but even they needed men before they could end their stories happily. Most disturbingly, since it opened in 1966, Mame is about a nonconformist who is repeatedly forced to conform. It's not an accident that a year later, the American theatre answered with Hair -- which admittedly, is awfully sexist in its own ways.

What's my point with all this? My point is not that we should abandon all the old shows. But I do believe we need to think more critically about work we're really familiar with. It took me a long time to realize what a dirtbag Harold Hill is, because I grew up watching him in one of my favorite movie musicals. It never occurred to me as a child to question any of it. And really, that's the genius of The Music Man, that Harold cons us (the audience) as successfully as he cons the River City-zians. We can be eassily seduced by our favorite musicals, by great songs, etc., and we have to be careful about that. In other words, just think about it. More than we have been. Long Live the Musical! Scott from The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre http://newlinetheatre.blogspot.com/2018/11/as-soft-and-as-pink-as-nursery-13.html