#on japanese ideals of sex and gender...and a more open reflection at that

[dangans-ur-ronpas]

i read 'the gender of mona lisa' and i feel. both extremely seen and yet incredibly infuriated

[sugar-petals]

sub!Yuzu | nsfw alphabet

🌹 NOTE ⇢ content for our fave figure skater, the legend himself. mr. yuzuru hanyu is 1000% dom candy and i’m here to honor it at length ⛸

— WORDS. 5k

tags + warnings. dom/sub dynamics, femdom!reader, role reversal hc, smut, kinks, cum play, spanking, sex toys, very freaky yuzu, kitten play, mdlb, crying kink, food play, prostate orgasms, bondage, some deeper stuff & angsty bits, asthma mention, aftercare

  A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Once the cat ears come off, who is Yuzuru Hanyu not to remain in character for a while. For the shits and giggles, and because it’s cozy. Once a catboy, always a catboy, it’s the law of the land. Curling up, kneading at you for the head pats and massages, you know the programme. 

Also: Yuzu is famously soft-spoken and always finds the right thing to say. So, stimulating conversation for the cooldown. This is literally so nice. He’s unafraid to reflect everything in detail, say what he preferred, what you could change up together, what he wants to try next. The afterglow is not just physical, as in you give him something to drink, it’s 70% verbal which is very important to him as a consistent habit.

Of course, not to forget: Always gotta have a Winnie Pooh plushie ready. He embraces it readily and, as we know him, does some roleplay right then and there. Yuzu, professional cutiepie he is, is the kinda sub who treats all plush and pillow stuff as alive and breathing. You as his domme are in on the play and also treat his things as holy as they are to him. That Yuzu lets you into that world is the biggest compliment you can possibly get. 

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

We all know Yuzu’s godly ass and thighs. Or the staggering waist and beautiful black hair that makes him a total bombshell in his classic comb-back styles. His face is soft and expressive and so damn unique, his legs muscular and long, his back and tummy chiseled, the list goes on and on. Jesus, he has so many great features. All body parts a masterpiece. That are all capable of god-tier contortionism on top of that, gotta mention it in passing. Just so you know if you haven’t seen him bend his every limb into directions you wouldn’t believe are humanly possible. 

Interestingly though. If he chooses, Yuzu picks his feet: They are his most important instrument and weak spot. His ankles are where the magic happens. So, you taking care of them a little would mean the world to him, imagine a candle light massage. Not to worry, no-gross-alert. Yuzu has perfect and cute feet. That’s gonna be a Victorian moment, oh my god I saw his ankles. For his partner, short and simple: He likes a shoulder to lean on. He loves being touchy in general, all body parts are amazing to him. Being in a profession that’s all about the physics, Yuzuru knows about the wonders of the body.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Certified king of cumsluts, doesn’t even hesitate. The more, the merrier. If he’s not covered in sticky stuff, Yuzu would be underchallenged. It’s less about the taste, texture or any degradation, for him it’s the playing around with his tongue. Somebody wants his mouth preoccupied. Give the cat his milk. Feed him his own cum mixed with yours. He’s gonna lap at it and swallow.

Since Yuzu’s dream is a mommy domme baking him something, he just loves the smell of dough and hazelnuts and cinnamon and everything — you know what’s coming: Imagine the food play. Nuts indeed. Anything that even remotely looks like a creampie is something he wants to get his lips on. And Yuzu is not the type to be a foodie at all, let that sink in. Sexual-looking food is just too big a temptation, though. And you spoiling him that way... oh my. Surefire way to end up in bed right after. 

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Has a butt plug collection. Once almost went on the ice with one in. The more you know. Also— this guy is the kinda type fantasizing to get absolutely railed on a bed of plushies. He has troubles suggesting it to you because he doesn’t want them to get actually dirty. But the idea gets the two of you kind of horny. Sometimes, a thought is better as a fantasy than actually executing it. You can use it for riling up’s sake, whispering it to him during dirty talk. How you’ll bounce on him and ruin him and milk him while he’s splayed out so innocently on your bed. I smell corruption kink. 

Another secret Yuzu keeps is just how much he changed his mind about wanting his partner to control everything in bed. He grew up with a pre-defined ideal type of a cute, nice skater girl who’d let the reins very loosely around him, who he can speak Japanese to because he had problems with English, who is small and someone he will protect. It wasn’t something based on experience and trying things out: It was simply expected of him. People wanted the domineering Yuzuru on ice to be that way in private, and make use of his power, be a man, savior, boss. 

The reality being: He never felt truly as tough on the ice, nor was he gender-conforming in person. In fact, that is what he became famous for, and it reassured Yuzuru very often how people would accept and actually celebrate this side of him. Which is so refreshing, and a sight to see. The side that was dorky, clingy, childish, gorgeous, and cute has always been there, but now he embraces it more as his comfort place. He has to know what he’s doing in his skating programme and show competitive spirit to achieve his dreams, but that’s where it stops.

His former ideals are something people wanted to hear, it was an adaptation of the environment rather than thinking it through on his own. So, years later — oh boy have things changed. Yuzuru no longer defines his ideal type that way, saying whoever he likes is someone he’d be with. What was a fantasy template and filter is now gone and adapted to his newfound, own preferences. Yuzu is comfortably open-minded rather than being a copy to mainstream. He found fun in speaking English, opened up to the world at large, had more girls around him who he could befriend, grew more confident in his stature, and is well aware — turns out he’s the cute one. Who needs to be taken under a wing. He likes strong-minded girls and says if he had a wife, she’d dominate him. Yuzuru secretly wants her to be in charge entirely, she owns his body and soul. Not in daily life where things are just normal and everyone goes about their business. Sexually, where he surrenders instead, and is taken care of.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

The tale of an introvert. What he knows — he hides it well. Has eyefucked a whole lot of people and is the type to lust like mad from a far distance, and nobody will ever know. Crushes harder than peppercorns in a mill. If he loves someone, it lingers in his mind every split second of the day, may god have mercy on him. And if you know him: Yuzu aims too high to keep it light and easy and clumsy. He hates being an amateur, he’s terrified of starting out something. He dreads not knowing what to do, how exactly to behave, talk, touch, breathe, respond, negotiate, prepare. That’s a hundred percent like hell to him.

Ironically, he has a natural feeling for it and he’s literally amazing in bed, has a sense for social interaction is all the way cute with something valuable to say. But what he believes is something way different. Yuzuru is a diehard, nervous perfectionist. He can only think of it as a rated performance since his mind usually has to work that way to skate well. His esteem is on a knife edge depending on how well he thinks he does. So, the inevitable: He will shy away from sex altogether. He draws immense skating passion from staying celibate, in fact it’s his success secret, but it still eats him up from the inside and makes him frustrated beyond measure. Not even for the pleasure, since he’s so ambitious that’s almost forgotten about, but for being told he did well. 

That’s how much he believes sex is a drill and capability test. And it’s sad that he thinks it’s like his skating career, racking up points for the impossible things judges want and being in a deadlock when it comes to showing his artistic side. He feels thrown into cold water if he doesn’t know everything beforehand. If he ever works up the courage, which probably won’t happen, he will pay an expert to learn from rather than let something all over the place happen with a random person or even someone he might like. 

Yes, you heard that right. He’d rather see a sex worker than ‘mess up’ his first time according to his sky-high standards. So, Yuzu’s experience remains limited since he’s so 100% do or die, and so anxious, and so torn about social interaction, he doesn’t get how his peers can be playboys and get married and flirt with someone they like and all that. He sort of has an easier time with guys, but girls... he can’t approach. To top it off, he also feels like he’d burden his first time one somebody or embarrasses himself, so he will reject and avoid suitors. Those are usually not the people he crushes so hard on to begin with. It’s bound to be one-sided and he knows, so he will abstain and focus on career and use the cheers of his fans as a substitute.

Truth is, he feels helpless and distant from sex sometimes, especially with his practice-heavy lifestyle and hyper-smart mind, Yuzuru has an intelligence that exceeds what most people can grasp. He’s alone on the ice and Brian as a coach is often the only reference person who truly gets him, and leads him well without being controlling. But that’s professional life. Sexually, Yuzuru is metaphorically: coachless. He surely observed it well when Javier (the #1 ladies man, his opposite) was still active and a social butterfly helping him fit in, but Yuzu would always be worried about his extreme fame and spotless image when introduced to someone fangirling over him. He’d rather prefer someone who comes across as a mentor and solid, loyal-to-death person to look up to. So he would do anything to have someone benevolent like that. Most girls would expect him to be the sex god and expert, but he knows that’s only half of the story and based on his characters on the ice. Yuzu crafts these to counterbalance how he really is — withdrawn and indirect. 

Yuzu is extremely calculating and selective, he scans suitors well, protects his reputation, and is mortified of failure. So, he’d rather learn it by the book and from someone he’s not emotionally attached to. In a one-night stand that might also be the case, but he doesn’t know what to expect, and he’s absolutely terrified of sudden sexual vulnerability. He himself often says he values his own struggle between feeling so weak and being strong again 

Besides: He’d have problems squeezing hookups into his schedule and lifestyle, he’d have to cut down on things and create a double life. Plus, Yuzu is famously inept with social interaction up close, he flees the noise and unpredictability. So, it’s better to have a long-term partner. If he doesn’t know something yet, he has it down in one day like the single axel. Definitely counts on his partner teaching him.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

We know Yuzu’s signature move is the lean-back Ina Bauer. So, whatever position allows for an arch is the real deal (cough, taking the strap — oh my god his ass is made for it). But anyway, he can pull off anything with that stellar flexibility and core strength. 

If I think about it. Yuzu might like sitting on your lap very much. I know it’s not a sex position, I mean it can be once his inner lapdancer awakens or you use a strap-on, I rather mean... just for some sweet moments and making out. But yeah: Fathom Yuzu gyrating on your like that. Not in an outright lascivious manner or Chippendales style. The Hanyu way, with embellishments and all the grace. This is gonna be a huge turn-on and perfect foreplay position.  

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Not much to elaborate here: Yep, Yuzu is true goofball indeed. Really flustered and clumsy when eye-to-eye in missionary, and yet: He’s ultra serious towards the end, there’s gonna be an aggressive staredown before cumming. The feeling gets pretty intense, his duality between silly and ‘yeah, give it to me’ is no joke.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Would probably die from inflammation if he shaved clean under those tight suits and did all these chafe-heavy skating routines. Doesn’t have a lot of body hair to begin with, but for pits and pubes, it’s alive, wild, and decently long. Out of all people, Yuzu cares particularly about aesthetics, but in this case pragmatism will prevail. He doesn’t care too much about it either as long as it doesn’t get in the way of something. Having sex with Yuzu tends to be well um well all about a hundred types of friction so any stubble would be a bad idea.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

You haven’t seen a guy in love like that. It’s a figure skater thing for sure. Since he works to portray these sentiments on the ice daily, hardly anybody can play up feelings so delicately and palpably like Yuzuru. Emotion is what his entire career is built on. He knows how to express himself directly, appropriately, intimately. Couldn’t be any more romantic. Yuzu can’t go without it. 

Very passionate, ‘for your eyes only’ kind of atmosphere. Yes, he shows off on the ice, it’s his job (although of course, that word doesn’t really sum up what skating means to him). But private Yuzu is someone you can claim as yours. He will make it clear, he wants to belong to you, he’s yours, dedicated, devotion is the entire point. Less with a slant of what some subs like, very hands-on ownership of a mistress. It’s more emotional. He’s really attached and all smitten. Your private little haven is everything to him. 

Talking about little: Yuzu can be quite a pillow prince sometimes. At least when the initiative doesn’t go back and forth as it frequently does, you often alternate with suggestions and ways of tweaking an ongoing play session. You blindfold him or tie his wrists, He might be standard tired from practice or just fascinated to watch you work your magic on him. 

He also likes music to set the tone for intimacy, who’s surprised. Prepare: Yuzu likes dramatic classical music all the way. He’s probably one of the few people who can make it more than ‘classy’ and definitely more than cringe. He selects pieces very well. This is gonna be a practice template to cum together when the music reaches its peak. Makes the whole thing full of adrenaline.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Lots of fun to him. Would beat it 24/7 if the ice wasn’t calling him. Drowns himself in lube. This guy’s me-time is so rated R, Cardi B would be inspired to remix WAP to wet ass penis as an anthem just for him. A dry dick is a ruined day for Yuzuru, as is a session without teasing his prostate in whatever way he currently fancies. Once he tried it, he never went back. The intensity knocking him out is something that Yuzu thinks about all the time. Strokes like a pro, does all these little moans, can do it forever, loves the feeling, chases the high. Adrenaline junkie on the ice? No different with his hand around his cock. 

Will masturbate everywhere in the house and has to really get his head in the game to make sure he won’t ruin any carpets. So, he always has at least two towels with him. In the kitchen, in front of the TV, in the shower, the bed. Watches his fair share of eclectic porn, he gets really desperate. Especially before you started dating, Yuzu would shut himself in until the lotion ran out. Can jack off to something romantic (he starts crying) or something extreme (he loves shocking himself and ). 

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Very curious about sadomasochism. Googles a lot of things that make him hard during the day. Often jawdropped by his research, but once he tries things out with you, nothing can really shock him anymore. Absolutely wants to be collared, it’s his biggest fantasy. Another little secret he has, Yuzu is decked out in skating gloves, right. He wishes he could feel you wearing them, or he keeps them on for sex himself, the lacey transparent ones. Looks especially pretty when his wrists are tied so, major photograpy material. Oh yes, Yuzu likes the camera, he can work it. The guy is photogenic in any position and can strike any angle you want. Your phone background is a new Yuzu snapshot every week already, imagine your gallery, 5800 kinky pictures.  

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

I’m gonna say it. The frozen lake out of town, late at night, condoms and lube with you. A quickie that will leave your genitals frozen. Yuzu might get stuck inside you because it’s -15 Celsius. Call that fantasy on ice. Jokes aside: Come on, Yuzu is the biggest ever hermit homebody. The couch will have a bunch of indents after your week-long fucking sessions after he comes home training. Also, at his desk while he does work for university. You ride him, Yuzu studies. Double the ambition. His dick is completely sore. The lake out of town thing might go down, but without sex. Just skating together under the stars, Yuzu doing amazing spins and spirals around you, very very romantic.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Yuzu is a crazed Sagittarius. Have you seen these men? They just want it all. Must be the influence of Jupiter. Zeus was definitely vibing that way. And yes, Yuzu has borderline unhealthy gold medal thinking in bed. He wants to be not just good but damn good with pleasing you. If you don’t have a good time and head home without an orgasm, he’ll consider himself a failure. Yuzu won’t cut himself any slack there. You’d have a hard time changing his ways into something more chill and moderate. Instead, you will see the benefits of rolling with it once you see how improvement fuels him and does make sex really mindblowing.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Couldn’t do things like slapping you, spanking. Yuzu makes for a terrible daddy dom, it’d not suit him.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Cum-dripping oral mess, Yuzu is the brave kind. Totally into it, and can’t resist a good blowjob. Will act different afterwards, there’s a lot of erotic tension. “This evening again?” is what those eyes are saying.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Outstanding kinesthetic intelligence. Every inch of his body follows his intent, and yours if you have him take on certain ways of kneeling. Yuzu can do it all, whatever you want. Tantalizing, moderato, overwhelmingly fast. He can take it, he can portray it. And knows the value of a pause like a true connoisseur. Not just when he wants to prevent cumming early, also just because the moment is right. That’s why cockwarming is a staple, as well as you having him wait patiently for kisses. To top it off: If you give him a blowjob, building up the tension by doing nothing is damn effective. The ruined orgasms you’re gonna give him... delicious.

Everything’s gonna have nice transitions as well, no awkward climbing and rolling and tangling limbs. If he gets something from another room that you need, no slouching. The university course as good as the extracurricular activities. Being inconsistent with any subsidiary details? Not in the Hanyu household, he’s keeping it classy. Yuzu feels like if he makes the bridges to new positions even remotely messy, the feeling is killed and it’s as if he’d break character mid-skate. Although he’ll have to practice and refine and test a lot of things because he’s not super experienced and adapting to your own movements is an individualized thing to do, he’s a masterclass of quality, period.

Even when things get fast and heated, nothing feels off. Having that kind of body smartness also means: Yuzu learns by touch, whatever you do. He knows by the way you pull his hair what comes next. How much saliva drips off your tongue when you suck at his neck, he knows how hard you’ll to ravage him in five minutes. This guy observes things you aren’t even conscious of because his physical understanding is just so fine-tuned.

The sense of rhythm, and every skating programme of him will showcase that, unbeatable. Unless his mood is really impacted by something severe, your guy feels it in every bone. He’s an artist, after all, he listens to music all the time. Dissecting rhythms to turn them into movement is what his line of work is all about. The pace will always fit the mood. Everything is precise, but never crude. Instead, the way he moves is dictated by an inherent flow. With little accents that match right with any thrust, like putting his hands on your sides when you’re on top of him.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Hit it Shakira: Whenever, wherever! He seemingly carries an entire condom factory with him. Or, to be more exact: At least three of them.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

This one’s a complicated case. Yuzu being reckless on the ice may or may not mirror in your private life. He might need some downtime, so bring out the soft domme stuff. No trial and error stuff, just going through a routine of things you love the most. On the other hand, he always gives it all. This guy’s endurance at your hands is amazing. Advanced kinds of BDSM he will not feel deterred from at all. Rough toys, anal hooks, sounding, whips, why not is Yuzu’s motto. But then again. He has such a confusing mix of innocence and feeling like he’s completely hardcore. You might end up experimenting a lot, but also not daring the leap sometimes because the mood is different. And then rather go for softer hours, where Yuzu will be all shy shy and more bursting with excitement than ever. A good, interesting mix is what I’m saying.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Yuzuru, once he gets a bit of practice to gauge the situation... Viagra on two legs, absolute unexpected powerhouse. You might end up pondering to work out a little and go for a run because this guy is in a consistently outstanding shape to say the least. Olympic athletes are literally hard to fuck with. And since Yuzu is starfishing sometimes (which is very adorable), or he’s in bondage for some time, that presents a further problem: For a second round, he’s full of energy, while you already spent energy. So, you alternate with who’s active, and the other leans back entirely. He has to remind himself since his body is programmed for it: This is no contest — the point is feeling good.

You might ride him reverse cowgirl all the way while you watch TV, and after the overstimulation fades he will eat you out ad nauseam, full course slobbering, sweeping the whole menu. That way, it’s less about keeping up with him, which would be hard for most people not doing sports at his galactic level. He understands, Yuzu knows he’s not normal in that regard, you don’t have to worry. Some exercise still doesn’t hurt, just to further increase the quality of sex anyway.

Then again: Why go jogging and do some laps wasting valuable together time when Yuzu’s lap is the best workout? And running doesn’t guarantee your stamina in bed is perfect even if it does help. You rather wanna manage how to draw out the arousal. It’s a self-control thing, with the goal of having you match up in every aspect as good as you can. In which case, you can count on him to pull it off: Have you seen Yuzu doing jumps side by side with a bunch of female skaters? Copy paste. This guy knows how to synchronize with the ladies.

Something that has to be mentioned beside that, though. Yuzu has asthma since 2 years old, and it’s often a mind thing to him still these days. He doesn’t let it stop him from sleeping with you because as always, he’s not letting anything get in his way. He has learned to live and thrive with it. But you both have to mind the possibility of an attack, he prevents it with inhalers, and the mood plays a crucial role. Yuzu being comfortable and confident is so important to his breathing, and keeping a good rhythm rather than being chaotic in bed. So, you will plan most of your sexual activities rather than improvising. 

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Would stuff an entire sex shop into his every available orifice. Yuzu is a toy freak, he wants to try everything. Motto: a new one every day. Well, almost. But he can afford it. Buys stuff he uses solely on himself, things you use on him, things he uses solo and you use on him, and as the cherry on top, every possible high end vibrator on the market for you. Any size, too. This bitch will browse through the latest innovations, prepare to get off. He’s obsessed with seeing you use it on yourself. Yuzu owns a separate phone just for videos of you buzzing your clit, and him fingering you for minutes and minutes. 

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Extremely so. Loves to be a total brat only to get put into his place. He does it so you’ll pull the chin grab on him. He likes getting choked out as a punishment as well. Yuzu also tends to be very around the corner if you will when it comes to soft subbing, he lays over expecting cuddles but doesn’t say so. Buds his head against your chest, nuzzles, and so on. Lighter forms of teasing come to him very easily. Loves to prompt. Roughhousing, banter, favorite thing.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Moderately loud because his voice is very very light, but unsurprisingly — he’s just beautiful. What a nice tone. Gorgeous whimpering sounds. And when you go hard on him, voice cracks! And really heavy breathing. What’s gonna be the most striking though is his expressiveness. We know it from the ice and interviews, and he can really amp it up even further. No need for screaming, that face will speak the volumes.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

You’ll be blessed with him if you have a huge crying kink. Yuzu definitely opens the waterworks every other week in bed. Happy tears, horny tears, relief tears, aftercare tears, orgasm tears, masochist tears, romantic tears, subspace tears, he has it all. He also begs for the type of pain that makes it stream down his face for minutes. He’s touchy-feely all the way and feels like he can really connect with you that way.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

His ass twitching is kind of a spectacle, but I don’t have to tell you, do I. Yuzu has muscles for the gods in there. So voluptuous, you can’t call it any other way. Big booty boyfriend, Jesus you can show him off, he loves it. Around the house, he will flaunt them big ole athlete buns in particular, acting like it’s unintended. Um, Yuzu, those are joggings. Smack it, he is sure to moan. 

And may I respectfully mention as well — this guy has some major big ass balls figuratively and literally. How else would someone be motivated to jump a triple axel like it’s nothing. Not kidding, they’re big and round and ugh. His love for tight pants doesn’t help. He knows what your eyes like and dresses just to flex the goods. Screams for more spanking and pinching if you ask me. Yuzu is definitely serving it. Well-endowed, you lucky girl.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Mega horny, ready when you are. On a scale from zero to hundred? Breaching into the 90 percent right there. Yuzu’s hormones are literally insane. On paper he’s 26, but his dick wants the 18th birthday party. Jesus is he gonna be clingy when he’s in the mood. All wrapped around you in a backhug in the kitchen or when you iron a costume of his, and that’s sexy of him. He’s not gonna hide what’s filling out those sweatpants. He’ll desperately grind up against you like it’s Christmas.

Paired with his puppy eyes and little “Do you have some time... I’ll iron this tomorrow” — instant pounce. He’s admittedly a bit hard to keep up with sometimes, though. The reason: With that level of exercise, he has major pent-up energy. That machine is definitely running. Heavy sports changes your hormones, nervous system, and especially blood flow. Now take that to the scale of his performances and regimens? That equals a firework of horny. No wonder he masturbates all the time.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Takes some time. He cools down, sweats it out, chugs water. However, don’t underestimate how tired Yuzu can already be. His daily routines and competitions have a toll on him. Ironically, he’s not a deep sleeper, however. Yuzu might toss and turn and have sudden energy bursts, or ideas, or gets hungry. So, he needs his plushies, he needs a weighted blanket, warm pajamas, a hot cup of his favorite warm drink, a light snack, and you by his side. Spooning him excessively and sometimes even humming to him. Yuzu looks like a certified angel on his pillow, his well-deserved rest from everything is so important, too.

NOTE - hope i could indulge you, thank you for reading!

© 2017-2021 submissive-bangtan. all rights reserved. no reposts allowed. depictions fictional.

[divas-k]

Dress to Oppress – Walls and Overalls

Today, we unravel the threads of time and tradition, and weave a new norm.

The dilemma of deciding what to wear is universal. But in an age where gender and sex are spectrums rather than definite lines, we must re-examine the stereotypes (‘tom-boy’, ‘slutty’, ‘sanskari’) we have woven with respect to the clothing choices of those around us. Furthermore, questions like “Who wears the pants in your relationship?” only deepen the scars of prejudice, and misguided notions of masculinity and/or power. Such erroneous judgments continue in assigning gender and/or sex to colours. While in the early 20th century, the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department, mentioned that “pink, being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”, by the 1940s, the tide had turned altogether. However, regardless of this timeline, an earnest plea to the reader would be to leave the rainbow alone.

Then, there are those who advocate ideals of equality and freedom of choice, and admonish men wearing dresses (read Jaden Smith at prom), all in the same breath. Say, if a woman wore a tuxedo to her wedding, one would witness all dainty facades of acceptance and support flying off the shelves. Admittedly, open-mindedness is easier in theory than in practice, and hypocrisy a smoother path to traverse than honesty. The question is- are you willing to take the road less travelled?

Further, dear reader, recall the stunning, overexposed shots of testosterone-fueled, muscled men, armed with spears and shields, skin slick with sweat, clad in plumed helmets and fustanellas (a traditional Greek skirt) in Zack Snyder’s dramatic fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae within the Persian Wars. Fixated as you may be on the seeming juxtaposition in the above description, of brave men wearing skirts, I shall clarify, that I speak of the box office success, ‘300’.

Moreover, consider the Scottish, who, in donning the kilt, were concerned with convenience and comfort for their male warriors and employed several practical uses of the garment- apart from shielding one’s body from nature and clothing one’s frame. The kilt could serve as a camping blanket, and was worn over a full-sleeved garment stopping below the waist (léine); loose-fitting, it enabled the wearer to make distant, long marches with agility and to wade through rivers. The upper half could be worn as a cloak over the shoulder, or brought up over the head for protection against the weather. Now, as queer (in more ways than one) as it may seem for some, to witness warriors donning an article of clothing reserved for the ‘weaker’ sex, when you come to think of it, it may be wiser and more comfortable for males to don skirts and females to wear pants, for obvious anatomical reasons.

Having said that, one should be free to clothe themselves as they see fit, regardless of the anatomy of their body. This free will is embodied in Megan Fox’s parenting style, whereby she abstains from enforcing stereotypical dress-codes for her children; in conversation with Jimmy Kimmel, she mentioned how her son, Noah, likes to wear dresses sometimes. Parents all over the world should take notes from the Transformers star, who said, “…there are no rules- you can be whatever you want to be in my house!” Moreover, skirts have made their way into men’s fashion through celebrities; Jared Leto, David Beckham, David Bowie, Jaden Smith, Kanye West and Vin Diesel have all worn skirts proudly.

Why, though, must we view these developments as achievements to be proud of, rather than commonplace occurrences that are treated with normalcy? I suppose we have, indeed, come full circle- where once, Luisa Capetillo and Katherine Hepburn went against the tide and donned trousers, the garment of revolt (the former went to jail for the supposed ‘crime’, though charges were dropped later), the dawn of the twenty first century brings with it the campaign for men to freely wear ‘feminine’ clothes. This is baffling, juxtaposed with the fact that cultures across the world started out with simple, flowy, dress-like garments meant for both the sexes - from the Roman toga, to the Indian lungi, and the Japanese kimono (to name but a few) - which were differentiated and altered into gender-specific clothes. Having said that, the response to the present hue and cry for gender-neutral clothing has not been met satisfactorily; despite the promise of equality, the unisex garment has essentially been of a ‘masculine’ style. Needless to say, we have miles to go in this area.

But clothes aren’t where it all ends; cosmetics form an integral component of fashion trends and the way one wears them (or doesn’t, depending on one’s preferences) reflects a person’s projection of themselves as much as their clothes do. Men have found their footing in the cosmetics industry, debunking the myth that makeup can’t be ‘macho’. This comes amid a larger investigation into traditional gender boundaries in fashion and beauty, alongside the growth of internet-famous beauty fanatics who have built followings via social media. Take, for instance CoverGirl’s latest face, James Charles, 17, a high school senior from Bethlehem, N.Y., with nearly 650,000 followers on Instagram and over 90,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. Following suit, Maybelline unveiled their first ever male model, Manny Gutierrez, the 25-year-old “beauty boy”, with a whopping 3 million followers on Instagram and 2.1 million YouTube subscribers.

And then there is the eventful history of high-heels. From Medieval Persia to Carrie Bradshaw, the elevated shoe has come a long way. Initially donned by Persian noblemen as riding shoes, the heel enabled a steadier stance so that the rider could shoot his arrow more effectively while standing up in the stirrups. European royals took notice when Persian monarch, Shah Abbas went to tour European courts around the 1500s. And so the Persian style shoes were adopted by the aristocracy who felt it lent their demeanor a masculine edge, until it was eventually taken over by women.

Cut to the present, where more men are adopting the style originally meant for them, dispelling invisible boundaries and gender norms. In 2014, Yanis Marshall auditioned for the talent show Britain’s Got Talent; the part French, part British dancer combined his passion for dance and his undying love for high heels, and along with his two friends Arnaud and Mehdi, won the hearts of everyone who was watching. Sure-footed (in 6-inch heels, no less) and sassy as can be, the trio stunned the crowd and received nothing but adoration and respect from the judges, with their up-beat and bold moves on numbers by the Spice Girls and Beyoncé, among others. When asked why he dances in high heels, Yanis replied with the same answer he has always uttered, i.e.- “Why not?”

And truly, that is a question we must all ask ourselves. Why can’t men wear high heels? Why must make-up be withheld from the masculine? Why should women worry about being looked down upon for wearing a tuxedo instead of a dress? Can the walls we see around us be crossed and broken? More importantly, who built them to begin with? In part, we all are culprits, and these walls stand testament to our crime. Every naysayer has placed a brick and a dollop of mortar. It seemed a small contribution at the time- but then, no individual water drop holds itself responsible for the flood.

And while, as a general rule, things are easier to break than build- these walls are standing exceptions. We must all resolve to make a small indent, to chisel away yet another bit of prejudice, and to bury away our notions, in order to break the walls that separate us from each other, and ourselves. For, there are those amongst us who do not identify as either male or female- everything is not, after all, simply black or white. But this human tendency, an obsession almost, to put things into neat, tiny little boxes, has imprisoned some of our own; the breaking of these walls may be the first step for some of us to see ourselves in the clear light of day and do justice to who we truly are.

After all, walls are only so good as long as they protect and support us. But when they begin separating us from reality, and each other, it’s time to start considering cutting a few doors into them. And even if we don’t find the courage to cross those doors immediately, at least we’d have let in a bit of light from the other side.

[anna-is-angel]

the young girl of “the tattooer”: sadist and constructed other - literary analysis

Images of mounting bodies of flesh, ultra-sharp needles, pulses of flowing blood, and the seedy corners of the “pleasure” quarters in this urban center course through the reader’s psyche in an encounter with Tanizaki Junichiro’s “The Tattooer.” One of the stories in the collection Seven Japanese Tales, “The Tattooer” establishes a strange literary world during Japan’s Tokugawa Period. Tanizaki artfully crafts a space of depraved perversion: a battleground for collision of power, beauty, and pain. Aestheticization becomes control, as Seikichi the tattoo artist enjoys episodes of homoerotic penetration and degradation that he and his needles inflict on his male patrons. However, in an encounter of both love and fetishization, Seikichi tattoos the body of a young girl with a black widow spider tattoo. In the adornment of her body, she transforms into an anthropomorphic being that absorbs his sadism and destroys him. Through tones of cruelty streaming through the story, the tale provides a potential space for female subversion of passivity, but ultimately subjugates the female subject to the occult realm of the uncanny. This complex, ambivalent position further stuffs the female into a position of abjection, smothered by contradicting tropes that reinforce an Otherness that distances her from “normative” constructions of male-defined humanity. Within the interplays between beauty, violence, and rebirth, Tanizaki constructs this complex, transgressive world that both challenges and (re)invents dominating gender relations within this literary space.

Especially through the specialized focus on Seikichi’s artform of the tattoo, a rhetoric of control pervades the tale. The tattoo itself provides a unique commentary on the themes of bodily adjustment and optimization, emblematic of the specific environment that Tanizaki outlines, in which “everywhere beauty and strength were one” (160). Painstakingly chiseled into the sensitive flesh of the body, the tattoo not only serves as a tool of physical aestheticization, but also signifies the fortitude and self-control of the subject who was able to endure the painstaking process of the tattooing.  The role of Seikichi as the external artist further magnifies the tatto’s representation of control. He simultaneously facilitates his patrons’ internal and external optimization and utilizes their suffering as a vehicle for his pleasure. The discussion of intersection between beauty and strength is a veritably a gendered one, as the themes of self-control and dominance serve as major pillars in the construction of male identity. Male identity formation is vested within the violence of Seikichi’s tattooing praxis, which symbolizes both male fortitude in the face of pain and control over the pain of others.

Initially, the emergence of the female subject serves as another domain to conquer. The story opens with graphic, erotic descriptions of Seikichi tormenting male bodies. The latent homoeroticism within these images and Seikichi’s desire to tattoo a woman provide a complex landscape of sexuality. The sexual relationships and acts of the tale challenge sanitized boundaries of normalized relations between men and women, circumscribing the pulses of transgression that underlie the narrative. It is within this space of transgression that the theme of control undergoes permutation and manipulation, and the female subject emerges as a challenge to the dominance traditionally ascribed to male identity. While tattooing the young girl’s back, Seikichi does not enjoy the usual pleasure of his process. Rather, “He [feels] his spirit dissolve into the charcoal-black ink . . . He [sees] in his pigments the hues of his own passions” (167). While the tattoo remains as an artform vested with more than simply aesthetic qualities, this scene symbolizes the shift of Seikicihi’s pleasure from sadism to masochism. With every puncture of the girl’s skin, his “passions” and emotions seep out of him and flow into the black widow tattoo. In the finality of the tale, the young girl is reborn as a quasi-human dominatrix, not only destroying him, but consuming and absorbing his interiority. By displacing Seikichi as the deployer of power and cruelty, the young girl’s transformation signals a disruption to the power relation between male dominance and female passivity.

However, can the reader interpret the gendered commentary of this tale with the simplicity that mirrors conceptions of female empowerment and sex-positivity, permeating the discourse of modern feminism? I am wary to fully indulge in this perspective, as it fails to dive into the terms of the young girl’s transformation. A critical lens exposes the misogyny saturated within these terms, as the narrative centers around the subjectivity and procreative powers of Seikichi. The nameless female inhabits the distanced space of the uncanny, and her self-actualization and transformation exist only vis-à-vis male intervention. Mirrored by the images within the scroll, “in the picture she discover[s] her secret self” (165). In Freudian terms, this moment of self-recognition triggers the internal emergence of her ego ideal. The links between the girl and the female subjects within the paintings appear as fluid as the flows of blood that pulsate through the story. However, Seikichi disrupts the focalization on the confrontation between the girl and her latent self. Similar to how he introduces the paintings to the girl, catalyzing her transformation, Seikichi inserts himself as the facilitator of her transformation and the ultimate creator of her actualized ego ideal. By wedging himself in her experience of self-recognition, his actions demonstrate the notion that female self-discovery hinges on the mediation of the male.

The reader, alongside Seikichi, witnesses the multisensory spectacle of the emergence of the girl’s latent self. The gaze of both the reader and Seikichi objectify the female as an anesthetized, blank-minded experimental subject on the operating table, awaiting Seikichi to imbue her body with new meaning. In this scene, Seikichi does not simply “embellish” her skin (167). Once again, the significance of his artform is revealed through his externalized control. While this control manifests in his culturally creative powers in the construction of male identity as discussed above, this control further entails procreative powers. In his statement, “I will make you a real beauty” (166), Seikichi articulates his ability to form her into a new being. Through both a physical manipulation of her skin and the conveyance of his passions into her, he provides the aesthetic and emotional ingredients for her (re)birth. Even though she destroys Seikichi after her physical and sexual awakening, his procreative role accentuates the notion that only through man can woman come into her “true self.”

The critical reader can also find problems in this conception of the “true” female self, as the young girl’s ego ideal actualizes as an anthropomorphic being. When the young girl awakens after Seikichi completes the spider tattoo on her back, “with each shuddering breath, the spider’s legs stirred as if they were alive” (168). Her quasi-human, quasi-black widow spider form challenges the normalized understanding of human embodiment, essentializing the female as Other and relegating her to the realm of the uncanny. This scene both animates the lifeless ink etched into her skin and characterizes the merging of the human and animal, inviting the territory of the uncanny to seep into the flesh of the female body. A site of the merging between two-dimensional tattoo and living spider, human being and murderous creature-- the female subject both inhabits the strange space of the uncanny and symbolizes the uncanny itself. By centering the tale’s most overly strange elements on the transfigurative body of the girl, the story marginalizes the female to the subjugated realm of the occult.

Tanizaki Junichiro’s “The Tattooer” presents a complicated perspective of the female subject. On the one hand, the emergence of the female sadist within this literary world creates the space for the potential destabilization of existing power relations and dynamics. On the other hand, the narrative distances her in the margins of Otherness. Not even awarding her a name, the speaker traps her in a position of passivity disguised by her violent proclivities, where Seikichi facilitates each stage of her internal transformation. The multisensory depictions of the collisions between beauty, cruelty, and desire tactfully construct Tanizaki’s nuanced literary landscape of urbanity in the Tokugawa period. However, these themes permeate the social milieu that extends beyond the pages of his collection and the temporal boundaries of this discrete era. The complexity of literary depictions of the female subject both reflect and inform the gender relations within the social body— a complexity characterized by a series of deconstructions and inventions of controlling images of the woman. Though the uncanny in this story serves as a tool of depicting woman as Other to the “normalized” human (man), authors must reconceptualize the uncanny as a space to expose and destabilize the dominant representations of the female presence in literature. Authors must recognize the potential of subverting the constructions of human embodiment, not exploiting them.

Works Cited:

Tanizaki, J. (1963). The Tattooer. In Seven Japanese Tales (pp. 160-169). Alfred A. Knopf.

[criticalotterstudies]

As such, what seemed to go strangely unnoticed in the OkCupid story was a more significant and infinitely more frightening possibility. The question which threatened yet failed to arise was whether the data itself, and therefore the structure and algorithms of a major online dating platform (and perhaps of others, since Match Group owns dozens of sites which reach 190 countries in 42 languages), were in part responsible for the way the results had seemed to come out. The racial biases of dating sites have been commented on before, but only in terms of how they reflect or reveal existing social biases. Instead, might it be possible that there is a more complex ideological code written into the history of the connection between love and the digital world — a connection which was already biased in favor of what might even be seen as right-wing and patriarchal identarian politics. OkCupid itself has commented on the racial biases of their data, blaming the fact that “daters are no more open-minded than they used to be” and thereby circumventing the possibility that their own algorithms might be at least partially responsible. In fact, the logic of matching users only with those just like themselves might be something shared between the dating algorithms and this extreme right-wing rhetoric.

Far from ratifying bizarre alt-right pseudoscience, if this were shown to be the case, it would present the claims of the “scientific” alt-right as just part of a wider and more concerning digital architecture that has become structural to relationships themselves, propped up by liberal assumptions about data’s neutrality and innocence. In broader terms, the concern raised by the incident is that if relationships, desire, and friendships are mutating and transforming in the age of AI, big data, and social media, then there might be a problem with the politics they are mutating in the service of.

Ours is the data-driven age. Arguments and claims made in the media and in the academy are backed up with harvested “empirical” information drawn from data collection technologies that make dystopian cybernetic dreams seem like relics from the ancient past. Data sets control what we see on our internet searches, social media feeds, and television screens, yet that process of selection remains deliberately obscured. Data as a methodology percolates through every area of the university, and new appointments (even in the so-called “arts”) reward scholars who apply data analytics software to understand everything from gender to poetry. Mobile apps manage everything from eating habits to menstrual cycles using data-formatted algorithms, while “smart condoms” collect sexual movements into large aggregated sets which set a new blueprint for the sexual future.

...

At the same time as data-driven relationships become the norm, technology infiltrates sexuality in other comparable ways that at first appear subcultural, niche, or non-normative. Often we give cultural or natural explanations for such bizarre occurrences, but they are also the product of data as well as of culture. Sex robots and Virtual Reality relationships, for instance, reflect misogynistic and patriarchal traditions of domination and subservience (the cultural explanation), or else they gratify the infinite libido of the hungry sexual animal that is the virile male (the natural explanation).

In fact, both politically motivated interpretations or explanations of data-driven projects (left=cultural, right=natural) seem to neglect the role of data as a third force between culture and nature that operates additionally as an active agent in the process. The robots (and even dolls like those at LumiDolls in Moscow or PlayMate Dolls in Toronto) are constructed in relation to data patterns of what has been deemed to reflect the market. If Japanese men are our main audience and they statistically prefer younger Western women, that’s what is built, or so the reasoning goes. Such is also the logic of Silicon Valley liberals who defend their work with the claim that their technology is neither political nor patriarchal but an innocent and apolitical result of data that indicates what people want, echoing OkCupid’s circumvention of the role of their own algorithm discussed above. On the contrary, data does not simply show what is already there in nature or in culture

...

In 1953, this ability of modern technology to transform desire while claiming only to respond to it was anticipated by the important situationist Ivan Chtcheglov, a close ally and collaborator of Guy Debord. In his seminal essay “Formulary for a New Urbanism,” Chtcheglov pointed out that new technologies idealize classically desirable situations (things already desired — such as gazing at the stars, watching the rain, et cetera) but exclude the “unpleasant” within the older relationship to those pleasures: “The latest technological developments would make possible the individual’s unbroken contact with cosmic reality while eliminating its disagreeable aspects. Stars and rain can be seen through glass ceilings. The mobile house turns with the sun.”

As such, he argues, the population has entered a kind of bored malaise in which our desires have become more homogenous, predictable, and automated by a process of cleaning or sanitization. I’ve argued elsewhere that situationist ideas of “psychogeography” might explain more broadly how we are organized at the level of desire by mobile technologies (rather than architecture) today, and here we can see a more specific way in which the situationist attention to a revolution in desire reveals a key organizing feature of modern capitalism. “Dreams spring from reality and are realized by it,” writes Chtcheglov, arguing that technological changes do not reflect existing desires but construct the future of desire. If our dreams become reality, we need to be even more suspicious of the data-driven patterns discussed here, which do not merely reflect what we want but take us into the future of desire. On the other hand, there is also a space for hope, and Chtcheglov argues that “[i]t has become essential to provoke a complete spiritual transformation by bringing to light forgotten desires and by creating entirely new ones. And by carrying out an intensive propaganda in favor of these desires."

https://t.co/OGXR4jfPS6?amp=1

[selenammoon]

Seeking And Preserving the History

Doing something a little different this week and blogging about several women historians who have birthdays this week.

Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 – November 9, 2004) was an American author and journalist, best known for her 1997 book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II about the Naking massacre. Her first book was Thread of the Silkworm, published in 1995), a story of Tsien Hsue-she, a Chinese-born physicist forced to leave the American space program and deported back to China during the McCarthy era. After returning to China, he founded its international missile program.

The Rape of Nanking was published sixty years after the massacre, the first full-length nonfiction book, and the most detailed Western account of the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers after they invaded in December 1937. Within two months, more than 300,000 civilians were murdered and 800,000 women were raped.

Chang was inspired to write the book when she attended a conference in 1994 sponsored by the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia and saw photographs of the atrocities at Nanking. Later, she met a group of Chinese-American activists when she moved to California with her husband.

Her maternal grandparents escaped mere weeks before the Japanese invasion. Chang grew up hearing gruesome stories about Nanking, but could not find any books on the subject in her school library. She later learned that there was very little printed material on the subject in China, Japan, or the West. She wrote The Rape of Naking, “out of a sense of rage. I didn't really care if I made a cent from it. It was important to me that the world knew what happened in Nanking back in 1937."

She spent two years researching, including going to China to look through archives and interview survivors. She made several discoveries, including diaries of two Westerners who saved hundreds of Chinese civilians, whom she dubbed the "Oskar Schindler of Nanking” and the "Anne Frank of Nanking." The first was John Rabe, a German Nazi party member. He established an International Safety Zone before the Japanese soldiers arrived from Shanghai. The second was a Minnie Vautrin, an Illinois woman, a missionary and teacher at the Nanking Women's College that became part of the Safety Zone. She saved hundreds of women and children there, but suffered a breakdown believing that she had failed because she had not saved more. In 1940 she returned home to Illinois and committed suicide a year later.

In her next book, The Chinese in America: A Narrative History published in 2003, the year before she died, Chang chronicled the 150-year history of Chinese immigration. At her death, she was working on a book members of the U.S. tank battalions who were taken prisoner by the Japanese and forced into the Bataan Death march. After the American general surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942, the Japanese forced the troops to walk sixty-five mines through the jungle, during which around 8,000 died. Survivors spent the rest of the war in prison camps or as slave laborers. Though it was the largest U.S. Army surrender, the story was mostly forgotten after the war. One of the men she interviewed was Ed Martel, one of the last survivors, whom she “cross-examined...like a district attorney for five solid hours."

Chang committed suicide while still researching her book on Bataan.

In April 2017, a memorial hall honoring Chang opened in her ancestral home, Huaian, Jiangsu province. Each of the six parts of the museum depict an aspect of Chang’s life. It is the second memorial to commemorate the Nanking massacre, after the The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre was built in 1985.

Joan Kelly (March 29, 1928 – August 15, 1982) was a leading Italian Renaissance historian who challenged dominant notions of women’s roles during that time. She took night courses at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, graduating with her BA summa cum laude in 1953. She also was the only woman in New York to receive a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship that year. She received an M.A. (1954) and Ph.D. (1963) in history from Columbia University, where her dissertation Professor Garret Mattingley described her dissertation as, "the best Columbia dissertation he had ever read." It became the basis of her first book, Leon Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early Renaissance.

She spent the next few years teaching, including at Sarah Lawrence College where she became interested in women of the Renaissance and feminist theories of history and social change. She worked with Gerda Lerner to develop the first M.A. program in women's history there and was acting director of the women's studies program at City College of New York (CCNY) from 1976-1977. She defined herself as a socialist feminist and developed a Marxist-feminist theory of history.

Kelly wrote “Did Women Have A Renaissance?,” a ground-breaking area of scholarship (she concluded that they did not) and co-authored a Households and Kin: Families in Flux, a high school textbook. Her essay collection, “Women, History and Theory” was published posthumously.

Additionally, she served on the Renaissance Society of America executive board, was chair of the Committee of Women Historians of the American Historical Association, and was on the board of the Feminist Press.

In 1874, two years after Kelly died, the American Historical Association created the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize, “for the book in women’s history and/or feminist theory that best reflects the high intellectual and scholarly ideals exemplified by the life and work of Joan Kelly” which addresses “a recognition of the important role of sex and gender in the historical process. The inter-relationship between women and the historical process should be addressed.”

Muriel Wright (March 31, 1889-February 27, 1975), a member of the Choctaw Nation, was a teacher, historian, and editor. Her mother Ida Belle Richards was a Presbyterian missionary teacher who arrived in 1887, and her father, Eliphalet Nott “E. N.”) Wright, was a Choctaw and a graduate of Union College and Albany Medical College in New York. He returned to the Choctaw Nation in 1895 to establish a private practice and serve as company physician for the Missouri-Pacific Coal Mines at Lehigh.

Wright could trace her white ancestry on both sides of her family to the Mayflower (1620) and the Anne (1623). On her mother’s side she is descended from Frances Sprangue, who arrived on the Anne. Her paternal grandmother Harriet Newell Mitchell Wright, who descended from two Mayflower passengers William Brewster and Edward Doty was a Presbyterian missionary teacher who moved from Dayton, Ohio to the Choctaw Nation. In 1857, she married Rev. Allen Wright, principal chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1866 to 1870. It was he who suggested that the territory be named “Oklahoma” which means "red people." in 1866. Wright was a member of several organizations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames.

Wright attended Wheaton Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts and completed a teacher education course at East Central Normal School in Ada in 1912, but did not receive a degree. From 1912 to the mid-1920s, Wright worked at several schools in southeastern Oklahoma as principal and English and history instructor. From 1916-7, she studied English and history at Barnard College.

Wright’s interest in Choctaw history began in 1914 when she met journalist and Oklahoma Historical Society board member Joseph B. Thoburn. He encouraged her to study southeastern Oklahoma’s geography, map the Choctaw Nation, and conducted field work almost annually from 1922-9. Thoburn and Wright collaborated on a four-volume work, Oklahoma: A History of the State and Its People (1929). She also wrote three Oklahoma history textbooks used in the public schools: The Story of Oklahoma (1929), Our Oklahoma (1939), and The Oklahoma History (1955).

In addition to studying Choctaw history, Wright was actively involved in Choctaw Nation affairs as secretary of the Choctaw Committee during the 1920s, member and secretary of the Choctaw Advisory Council in 1934, and as a Choctaw delegate to the Inter-tribal Indian Council from the late 1930s to the early 1940s.

After joining the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1922, Wright wrote articles for the The Chronicles of Oklahoma from 1923 to 1971 on topics such as Indian and military history, biographies of notable women, and historic preservation. From 1943 to 1954, she was the journal’s editor in all but name, which she officially became in 1955. Wright produced more than one hundred issues, including over sixty-six of her articles.

Wright’s A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma (1951), which surveys the sixty-seven tribes then in Oklahoma, including their location, membership, history, government, contemporary life and culture, removal experiences and adaptation to change, “remains a standard reference for studying the state's American Indian people.”

In the 1950s, Wright and her historical society colleagues launched a program to create historical markers to raise awareness of the state’s history. Wright conducted most of the research for the inscriptions and created a list of sites which went from the initial 512 to 557 when the final list was published in the The Chronicles of Oklahoma in 1958. That same year, Wright and Oklahoma Historic Sites Committee chair George H. Shirk compiled and edited Mark of Heritage: Oklahoma Historical Markers, focusing on 131 sites. In 1966, Wright collaborated with LeRoy H. Fischer on "Civil War Sites in Oklahoma," identifying and describing the location and historical significance of the sites. In addition, she also conducted OHS–sponsored public tours of historic sites.

Wright received numerous honors including listing in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1940, the University of Oklahoma's Distinguished Service Award citation in 1948, the Oklahoma City Business and Professional Woman of the Year Award in 1950, Oklahoma City University's honorary doctorate of humanities degree in 1964, and the National American Indian Women's Association Award in 1971. After retiring in 1973, Wright continued her research projects until she died in 1975. She was one of the first four inductees of the when the Oklahoma Historical Society launched the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame in 1993.