What a treat to wake up to. By brilliant Alasdair McClellan. At TomHardyFanpage?
AU Meme → Jo as the Righteous Woman for applesarefuckinghealthy
Jo: Is it true? Did I break the first seal? Did I start all this?
Anna: Yes.“It’s not blame that falls on you, but fate.”
Virginia Lawmakers Drop Invasive Ultrasound Requirement From Abortion Bill
After an understandable uproar over a mandatory procedure that federal law would consider rape, Virginia legislators have opted to forgo the invasive and most definitely uncomfortable procedure for women seeking abortions. On top of a big invasion of privacy for all women, the legislation could have re-traumatized women who sought abortions because of rapes. A meeting last night led legislators to reconsider the vagina wand provision, reaching a compromise that would make the procedure voluntary, but not mandatory, reports The Washington Post. We’re not sure what woman might choose to have an ultrasound used in this way, but, now they get a choice. And with that, the never-ending reproduction debates continue.
A victory for activists in the latest round of the culture wars.
Hurray! Also: I like that poster. That’s a fully formed human baby, alive and breathing and functioning on its own. YES, that baby deserves all the same rights afforded to human persons. But seeing as abortion doesn’t do anything to already-born babies, it’s kind a non-sequiter on this issue.
-Jess
Bless every last one of ‘em.
{{dollymops, judies, ladybirds, and tail were all victorian terms for prostitutes}}
slut-shaming, asoiaf fandom
Looking over some of the comments since the release of the new trailer and god, people who are slut-shaming are diametrically missing the point.
Because here’s the thing that often happens with women in Westeros: they’re built up to be images, not people. GRRM even makes it easy for us by giving the trifecta of feminine ideals in religious iconographic form: the Mother, the Crone and Maiden and it seems to me, that the ladies who bring out the most vitriol in fandom (in other words, not the Briennes, not the Aryas, not the Ashas) are the ones who are trying to - or forced to - occupy roles of perfect “womanhood”.
These women are constantly dictated to on how they should look, how they should behave. Fandom seems to always forget that Sansa Stark doesn’t hitch a wagon ride to King’s Landing to land her golden prince, no, she’s engaged to Joffrey by her family and her enthusiasm to marry him is partly natural, but it’s also partly knowing her place, it’s knowing that she’s expected to be excited at the prospect of marriage, excited at the prospect of being a wife and Queen and trying to fulfil those social expectations. Similarly, Margaery Tyrell presumably doesn’t want to seduce her brother’s lover away from him but she goes along with the Baratheon marriage and she has to sleep with Renly one way or another, because it’s what society demands, that the he has to have an heir and it’s her job as the good, dutiful wife to provide him with one.
So yeah, these women go ahead and accept social convention and then guess what, they get punished for it. Sansa spends her youth trying to be the perfect “maiden” (which involves yes, a great deal of superficiality because femininity, as a construct, is conditional upon appearance) and then is condemned for it within the books - censured as a shallow, vapid girl by the Lannisters or worse still, has her looks used against her when men come pawing. Similarly, Cersei doesn’t want to sleep with the Kettlebacks (not that there would be anything wrong if she had) but she does it, because she knows in their eyes - in society’s eyes - the only real power she can wield is of a sexual brand. And when she does, when she gives in to what she’s been told all her life, that her body is the only part of her that matters and so she better use it, society punishes her for the very thing they leave her with no other option to do. The slut-shaming is already in the fucking text. We as readers aren’t supposed to look at it and think, “Hey, that’s right, Sansa really does lead all these dudes on.” No, we’re not supposed to be that obtuse or that superficial in our reading, we’re supposed to look and go, “Hey, these women are being constantly screwed over by the social structures they live in and that’s a darn shame.” Why does that need to be spelled out for you, fandom?
So, I was thinking about BBC Sherlock fandom’s hate-on for Sally Donovan, and just earlier today I was talking with Maria about Tara Thorton’s shitty treatment in True Blood.
And then I made myself a list.
You’re not fooling anyone, fandom. I know what’s up.
They want these women to be invisible and get upset when they’re not. Then they’re bitches, sexless (i.e. no chemistry with ANYONE), or sluts. And it’s not like the show writers don’t have the same problem, those tropes are a consistent fallback when it comes to any major characterization of black female characters. But when they step out of those tropes (Bonnie becoming more assertive, not just a support system for the white female lead; Martha wanting the Doctor to see her in a romantic way, not just as a support system for the white lead; Gwen being the LOVE object of several male characters, not just a support system for the white lead) fandom goes apeshit cause their worldview is being messed with. These women are not supposed to be important, loved, complicated in their minds, just easily forgotten once the episode is over.
