#not looking for discussion

[narfoonthenet]

If I had a nickel for every series I've watched that gave a character so much importance to the plot and story, only for the writers to neglect and ignore that character until the last minute...

I'd have two nickels

Which is two nickels too many

[dystopiandramaqueen]

Endgame

I'm gonna say something that may be unpopular, but I think it's important.

I've sat with it for a couple weeks and I'm pretty certain that June genuinely loves Luke AND Nick.

June is polyamorous.

Her heart can hold love for more than one person at a time.

It's actually very feminist and progressive and modern of the show to depict a polyamorous female- to allow her to have real feelings for two (2) different humans at the same time.

Traditionally- in many cultures- women were property.

Literally bought and sold. Exchanged for dowries. Traded between fathers and husbands.

"Love" wasn't part of any of it.

If women had sexual intercourse with men other than their husbands- they were shamed and punished.

As long as stories have been passed down, "cheating" women have been vilified.

In The Bible, Adultery is listed In the 10 commandments from the same (male) Judeo-Christian God who watched and said nothing as King David seduced the wife of another man, sending him to his death at the Battle front so he could "have" her.

In the Scarlett Letter, she literally had to wear a visible symbol on her chest for the whole town to see. Permenant, public slut shaming for having felt love for a man other than her husband. HOW DARE SHE!

The Trojan War- depicted in The Odyssey- happens because Helen of Troy takes a lover and leaves her husband. All the nations go to war because a woman chose to take a lover outside her marriage.

Isolde's affair with Tristan and Gwenivere's affair with Lancelot? Forbidden! Their love had to be kept secret from King Mark and King Arthur. When it was discovered, the husbands were devastated. The kingdoms were destroyed. Again, literal death and destruction. She had to choose. She couldn't have both. Her happiness? Not acceptable.

Romeo and Juliet Die bc her family didn't approve of her choice of lover.

Traditional folk songs are full of stories about killing an errant woman. "Mama's in the graveyard, papa's in the penitentiary" "I thought I was her daddy, but she had three more." "I shot that bad bitch down."

The list goes on. You get my point.

I use the past tense... but everything Atwood depicts in The Handmaid's Tale exists in the real world. The oppression in this story isn't fiction, it's history. She did that on purpose.

Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale so that modern women wouldn't take the hard-won freedoms we enjoy for granted.

I've read headlines about "Honor Killings" in the middle east- where brothers or fathers kill an errant family member for shaming the family. Still. Happening. Today.

These are the stories we grew up on.

June grew up on those stories too. June feels shame when she's attracted to Nick. In the book, June thinks Luke is dead, but she STILL still feels guilt, and begs Luke's forgiveness in her mind for her "weakness" and "faithlessness."

The show writers depicted this beautifully in June's taped confession to Luke in S3. She admits shame and tells Luke he should also find comfort in another, like she has. She releases him from the bonds of monogamy.

Ok. SO.

A TRADITIONAL story would have one of the following ending options:

June confesses her "sin" to Luke, who would have every right to punish her- with shame or a slap to the face, or divorce.

June returns to Luke as his property, downplaying her affair with Nick. Revoking, forsaking it- to return to the safety of Luke's protection.

June revokes her marriage, saying its over, she doesn't love him anymore, "choosing" Nick. Hiding in the safety of HIS arms. This would undoubtedly provoke a man like Luke to violence. Like the trojan war. Like in the fucking bar in Toronto when Luke shoves Nick.

Luke or Nick die, making the decision for her.

But this is a feminist story, written by a woman. At the end of the Testaments, Atwood has both Luke AND Nick present in June's life.

June doesn't have to choose. She can love and be loved by both.

Our hearts can hold love for more than one person at a time.

It's not hurtful if everyone involved knows about each other.

Luke asks her to contact Nick to help with Hannah.

Nick is aware of and Glad for Luke's help from Toronto in sheltering June once she's out.

There are no secrets, no deception. Just love.

Polyamorous people can still feel jealousy, and hurt- it's not EASY to navigate- but when she's with Luke, she's with Luke. When she's with Nick, she's with Nick.

When she says "I love you" to one, she means it.

It isn't false because she also said it to someone else.

We see in Gilead- what it looks like when women are property. Named for their captors. Of-FRED. Of- Luke. Of-Nick. It is BAD and harmful. To be defined by your captor. To be owned by a man like property.

The Handmaid's Tale is healing and beautiful because June reclaims her freedom by reclaiming her sexual agency. By having sex with Nick "because it feels good" June frees herself, even while she is still a captive.

It's the point of the whole story.

So as we watch her tale play out in Season 6, let's remember that June doesn't have to choose between Luke and Nick. Spoiler alert: according to The Testaments, she won't.

This isn't Twilight. She doesn't have to forsake mortal life and become what Edward is, or lose Edward to be with Jacob.

If the writers were going to force a DEFINITIVE endgame with Nick, they could have killed Luke off twice now. Once while he was detained by border agents, and once when he was fighting the man who ran June over.

They didn't kill Luke off.

Luke will remain a part of June's life. He's the father of her child, and holds a special place in her heart. His love survived her absence, and is doing its best to adapt to her new post-trauma reality. He is growing with her now. Doing everything he can to help, just like Nick. Is Luke as savvy as Nick? As graceful and open? No. But he's from a different world. I'm open to Luke's growth as long as it allows for Nick, the same way Nick allows for Luke.

Nick is ok with June loving more than one person. It doesn't diminish his love for her. His love isn't possessive. He will never own June. She is NOT "his". That's cannon. Nick, depicted by Max Minghella, is impressed by Luke's love for June, and glad for it. He looks impressed when Tuello tells him the driver who injured June is in the ICU. Glad June has another protector, who is free to act in ways he can't.

June can have both.

She can love two men. Openly.

And that is pretty fuckin cool.

[paimt]

smiting_friends.psd

[inkskinned]

so one of the things that's so horrifying about birth control is that you have to, like, navigate this incredibly personal choice about your body and yet also face the epitome of misogyny. like, someone in the comments will say it wasn't that bad for me, and you'll be utterly silenced. like, everyone treats birth control like something that's super dirty. like, you have no fucking information or control over this thing because certain powerful people find it icky.

first it was the oral contraceptives. you went on those young, mostly for reasons unrelated to birth control - even your dermatologist suggested them to control your acne. the list of side effects was longer than your arm, and you just stared at it, horrified.

it made you so mentally ill, but you just heard that this was adulthood. that, yes, there are of course side effects, what did you expect. one day you looked up yasmin makes me depressed because surely this was far too intense, and you discovered that over 12,000 lawsuits had been successfully filed against the brand. it remains commonly prescribed on the open market. you switched brands a few times before oral contraceptives stopped being in any way effective. your doctor just, like, shrugged and said you could try a different brand again.

and the thing is that you're a feminist. you know from your own experience that birth control can be lifesaving, and that even when used for birth control - it is necessary healthcare. you have seen it save so many people from such bad situations, yourself included. it is critical that any person has access to birth control, and you would never suggest that we just get rid of all of it.

you were a little skeeved out by the implant (heard too many bad stories about it) and figured - okay, iud. it was some of the worst pain you've ever fucking experienced, and you did it with a small number of tylenol in your system (3), like you were getting your bikini line waxed instead of something practically sewn into your body.

and what's wild is that because sometimes it isn't a painful insertion process, it is vanishingly rare to find a doctor that will actually numb the area. while your doctor was talking to you about which brand to choose, you were thinking about the other ways you've been injured in your life. you thought about how you had a suspicious mole frozen off - something so small and easy - and how they'd numbed a huge area. you thought about when you broke your wrist and didn't actually notice, because you'd thought it was a sprain.

your understanding of pain is that how the human body responds to injury doesn't always relate to the actual pain tolerance of the person - it's more about how lucky that person is physically. maybe they broke it in a perfect way. maybe they happened to get hurt in a place without a lot of nerve endings. some people can handle a broken femur but crumble under a sore tooth. there's no true way to predict how "much" something actually hurts.

in no other situation would it be appropriate for doctors to ignore pain. just because someone can break their wrist and not feel it doesn't mean no one should receive pain meds for a broken wrist. it just means that particular person was lucky about it. it should not define treatment.

in the comments of videos about IUDs, literally thousands of people report agony. blinding, nauseating, soul-crushing agony. they say things like i had 2 kids and this was the worst thing i ever experienced or i literally have a tattoo on my ribs and it felt like a tickle. this thing almost killed me or would rather run into traffic than ever feel that again.

so it's either true that every single person who reports severe pain is exaggerating. or it's true that it's far more likely you will experience pain, rather than "just a pinch." and yet - there's nothing fucking been done about it. it kind of feels like a shrug is layered on top of everything - since technically it's elective, isn't it kind of your fault for agreeing to select it? stop being fearmongering. stop being defensive.

you fucking needed yours. you are almost weirdly protective of it. yours was so important for your physical and mental health. it helped you off hormonal birth control and even started helping some of your symptoms. it still fucking hurt for no fucking reason.

once while recovering from surgery, they offered you like 15 days of vicodin. you only took 2 of them. you've been offered oxy for tonsillitis. you turned down opioids while recovering from your wisdom tooth extraction. everything else has the option. you fucking drove yourself home after it, shocked and quietly weeping, feeling like something very bad had just happened. the nurse that held your hand during the experience looked down at you, tears in her eyes, and said - i know. this is cruelty in action.

and it's fucked up because the conversation is never just "hey, so the way we are doing this is fucking barbaric and doctors should be required to offer serious pain meds" - it's usually something around the lines of "well, it didn't kill you, did it?"

you just found out that removing that little bitch will hurt just as bad. a little pinch like how oral contraceptives have "some" serious symptoms. like your life and pain are expendable or not really important. like maybe we are all hysterical about it?

hysteria comes from the latin word for uterus, which is great!

you stand here at a crossroads. like - this thing is so important. did they really have to make it so fucking dangerous. and why is it that if you make a complaint, you're told - i didn't even want you to have this in the first place. we're told be careful what you wish for. we're told that it's our fault for wanting something so illict; we could simply choose not to need medication. that maybe if we don't like the scraps, we should get ready to starve.

we have been saying for so long - "i'm not asking you to remove the option, i'm asking you to reconsider the risk." this entire time we hear: well, this is what you wanted, isn't it?

[doberbutts]

I always think it's funny whenever I post about an issue that directly affects me and someone responds with "you're an idiot that doesn't know what you're talking about" and I have to be like. Hello. This is my demographic. Do you see this label here? Guess who falls under it OH RIGHT it's me. Maybe I like. Have some amount of idea of what I'm talking about considering this is sampled directly from my life experiences. Just a thought.

[filmnoirsbian]

U get used to the straight men actors in gay roles kissing so hard n hungry their noses are in danger so ur like yeah that's just how straight men kiss other men I guess and then u see straight actors in gay roles kissing like grandparents at church who stopped loving each other years ago and no longer know how to feel passion and ur like ok what gives. How did u get that role. Do u know how many straight actors would kill to be gay for pay on that camera? I'm calling Gael García Bernal.

[azuremist]

OP turned off reblogs but I can’t let this die

[spielzeugkaiser]

How it started-

How it's going!! They are a family and I am!!! also draw the hug you want to see in the show but they are forgiven because them meeting in brokilon was still soooo tender my HEART-

[knifearo]

this year my challenge for everyone is to unlearn the association between love and morality. love is not something that is inherently morally good, and the absence of love is not something that is inherently bad. sex without love isn't morally bankrupt, it's just an action. people without love aren't less kind or less good, they're just people. when we can get past this false (and often unnoticed) dichotomy of good love/evil lovelessness then i think we are going to be able to take leaps and bounds in sex positivity, aro advocacy, certain discussions of mental health...

[redysetdare]

All this aroace character shipcourse has proven to me that a majority of people that interact in fandom cannot actually interact with characters and media outside of shipping and genuinely I believe you need to learn how to interact with media outside of shipping.

[adh-d2]

Can we talk about Sami for a sec?

She's not the precocious kid. Not the one with the sweet voice who'll break your heart with their innocence, curiosity, and optimism.

She's not the defiant kid. Not the one who'll rage and fight and inspire you with their rebellious spirit.

But she's the one taking it upon herself to care for baby Bayrn. She's the one gently reminding them of how to keep out of trouble. She's the one trying to reassure the new kid that things won't feel this bad forever.

I'll always have a special place in my heart for the kids that aren't as noticeable as their peers. The ones making themselves as small and silent as possible to keep everyone else safe and happy. Don't worry. We see you too.

[danielnelsen]

while i get where this comes from and it’s true to an extent, i reeeaaaally don’t like how people try to explain “trans men don’t [necessarily] have male privilege” with things like “some trans men don’t pass”.

like sure that’s the most obvious example (someone who is seen as a woman won’t have the privilege that comes with being seen a man) but you’re still acting like being a passing trans man is just a free opt-in to male privilege which is………kinda the issue.

[turtleblogatlast]

I think a lot about Leo standing up for his brothers in the things that really matter to them.

Like- Leo is the one who immediately pushes Mikey and Donnie into finding Raph the second it’s clear that their oldest brother is missing because he knows Raph can’t handle being separated like that.

Leo is the one who stands up for Mikey when Mikey wants to go on a solo mission, actively vouching for him and being the one to convince Raph into letting Mikey go, because being independent and proving himself just as capable of standing on his own two feet as everyone else means so much to Mikey.

And Leo defends Donnie’s honor in particular when his brothers’ intelligence is insulted because Leo is well aware of how important Donnie’s smarts are to him - and how important having those smarts valued and acknowledged is as well.

All this goes right into just how well Leo knows his brothers. For as much as he’ll tease or fight with them, he knows them, and he loves them.

[yearnerspermit]

I’ll be honest the way some people talk about this show makes it sound less like they’re interested in the messy nature of people failing and remorse and guilt and atonement and redemption and regret and the capacity to change and the inability to undo what’s been done and unforgivable actions and maybe forgivable people and how you face all of it and continue to live and endure. and more like they want to be sitting in that jury, determining who’s guilty or not guilty, deciding a sentence, and walking away satisfied in the result being final

[buqbite]

My thoughts here mainly revolve around YSA as the mary sue/female lead type character:

She goes from being this perfect woman to. just being a woman. And my idea is that the weight gain isn't there to make her "unconventionally attractive," or whatever other dumb phrase you wanna use to avoid calling someone ugly, but to make her conventionally attractive, yet realistic.

Instead of looking like a skinny waifu character, she looks like a skinny human woman. Her hair swaying in the nonexistent wind isn't as perfect, her magic blush is missing and she has eyebags. She's still hot, just more human.

[aherdofbees]