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fragileheartbeats · 21 days

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"your a woman, you supposed to take Rhaenyra's side!!"

My dude, why would you discriminate for her just because she's a woman? You guys just go blind because she's a woman. You're the one who give her a pass because she's a woman.

I never understood these feminist fight.

Feminism is about equality, but nothing was equal between Aegon and Rhaenyra.

Their childhood and adolescence were different like the earth and the sky. Their age, their marriage, the way others treated them and in short everything about them was unequal.

When reading F&B I didn't care much for Aegon when he was introduced as this lazy, unambitious sot. But as the war progressed I couldn't help but notice his resilience, courage and intelligence and root for him.

Look at what Aegon was like in the earlier parts of F&B. He drank a lot, groped and pinched serving girls, potentially fathered multiple unacknowledged bastards, and was an all-round dick. He wasn’t as fierce as Aemond, as courteous as Daeron, or as gentle as Helaena. He started a fight at the family feast when Jace offered a dance to Helaena (the same wife whom he was serially unfaithful to). While the Greens launched their coup, he was at some degenerate “revels”. When Aemond murdered 13-year-old Luke, he threw a celebration and called it “a good start.”

But after the Dance’s actual battles began, Aegon really lived up to his title! He had Criston Cole capture Duskendale and Rook’s Rest, and then fought on Sunfyre to take out Rhaenys when she fell for the bait. Despite his crippling injuries, he survived. Even after his sons were butchered and King’s Landing fell, he fought on. Aegon and Sunfyre recovered on Dragonstone, with Sunfyre killing Grey Ghost along the way. Then Aegon and his forces took the castle under the Blacks’ noses. He and Sunfyre won yet another dragon battle against Baela. And again Aegon clings onto life in the face of crippling injuries. Then he traps and kills Rhaenyra while uttering a fantastic line "Rhaenyra: My lords will find me. Aegon: If they search the seven hells mayhaps." He returns to KL as King. The various self-proclaimed monarchs and the Shepherd are promptly defeated. It is a hell of a comeback considering Aegon’s state when he left the capital.

It's remarkable how quickly he grows into his role as king and how devoted to his cause he becomes by the end. He is determined to reclaim his father's throne, to restore order to kings landing by putting down the rebellion and punishing the insurgents, make peace with his enemies, he already plans to marry a Baratheon girl not for love but for duty to get an heir again. From the irresponsible, lazy drunk he supposedly was you would expect him to be vain, selfish and hedonistic, someone who only pursues his own pleasure and expects others to do the hard work, but no the hardships and responsibilities shaped him into someone who takes duty seriously. Even though prone to make rash, and imprudent decisions he also had the favourable quality to listen to the counsel of wiser and more experienced people around him and nearly always follows their advice. I think towards the end of the Dance it's painfully clear he is a better ruler than Rhaenyra.

Aegon had a 13 to 4 dragon disadvantage and a 53 to 28 House disadvantage, does this seems equal to you? Yet he still won (now if you wanna tell me "But Rhaenyra's lineage continued" pls shut your mouth because we are talking about the winner of war and the win you guys are so proud of is a fucking joke)

It’s hard for me to call him a bad King because he was given the worst situation of any King in Westerosi history with a civil war where you’re at a disadvantage starting out. The Greens should’ve been steamrolled but thanks to Aegon resiliency and Rhaenyra’s incompetent they weren’t.

People show you who they really are when they are tested and things are not going their way. Rhaenyra was tested and failed to rise to the occasion every single time. I find Rhaenyra utterly, utterly pathetic, without any redeeming quality as a ruler, as a person, as a woman.

By marrying and having kids with Daemon, she pretty much guaranteed a three-way civil war between Daemon's sons, her bastards, and her brothers the minute she dropped dead. So it doesn't matter if it was Aegon who sat on iron throne, this war was supposed to happen.

We saw Rhaenyra rule. She was a disaster. A ruler who puts their selfish desires above duty will always be a disaster. That's what Rhaenyra was: a selfish entitled person who didn't give a fuck about anyone other than herself. It's a miracle she had such decent kids.

Rhaenyra had a better council. The Sea Snake was wealthy and powerful, Rhaenys was beloved by many and respected as well. Meanwhile, Aegon's advisors were mostly Hightower cronies and quite a few were motivated mostly to spite Rhaenyra. Yet she fucked that up.

Rhaenyra literally was kicked out of the throne because people were tired of her reign, no one had this opposition besides Maegor.

People also like to excuse her cruelty and stupidity during her brief reign as a queen because she lost her children during the war. But Rhaenyra was a selfish entitled person long before she became queen or lost any of her kids. She wanted Aemond, who was just a boy, punished for calling her boys bastards, which they were. She murdered and advocated torture to keep up the lie. Let's not forget how she murdered Vaemond Velaryon for speaking up against Lucerys inheriting Driftmark ahead of trueborn Velaryons.

Or how she ignored the entire reason she was made heir by marrying Daemon anyway when she was made heir to keep that psychopath from the throne. All these things happened before Rhaenyra lost any of her children or got usurped. The losses didn't change her. They just worsened what she already was.

She ordered daily executions, established "knights inquisitors" to hunt down innocent children, would not offer peace terms, imposed ridiculous taxes while throwing a lavish birthday party for her son, and then tried to have her allies murdered.

She is insanely selfish - am I the only one who thinks she's a very very scary narcissist? Never in the whole course of her life has she had a single concern about others - it's always about herself, her children who she sees as an extension of herself. Even the great narcissist Cersei has shown some small sympathy towards Sansa when she was engaged to Joffrey. She never even bothered to visit or care for her father, instead she was chilling with her creepy uncle on Dragonstone.

She uses and manipulates, and tramples over others and treats her allies like absolute garbage. Corlys Velaryon was first grandcucked, then got his son murdered either by her or her husband, then got his granddaughters deprived of their birthrights and betrothed to bastards. Yet for some reason still supports his great abuser. What did he get in return? Being thrown in the black cells for trying to save the life of his innocent and loyal bastard son.

She inspires zero loyalty and devotion from either her people or the nobles. She insults important nobles who have never offended her, doesn't make alliances, calls the small folk scum and taxes them to death. No wonder they call her Queen Maegor and threw her out of the city. She doesn't make one single selfless and smart political decision. The Vale and the North might have supported her on paper - they hardly did anything until the war was almost over - she had no real allies except some semi-god Rivermen who were scared into supporting her by Daemon.

She is an utter coward and liar. Her youngest son and teenage stepdaughter both took to dragon back before her, as she hid like a coward and sent others to die for her. She took it for granted that others should die for her ungrateful and pathetic cause. She gaslights others into lying about her bastards' parentage and maims/executes everyone who disagrees.

She is a cruel, stupid and atrocious ruler with zero redeeming quality. She filled her council with idiots like Bartimus Celtigar and some Kingsguard/Commander who don't know a single thing about ruling. She listened to the counsel of that child-murderer Mysaria. She never made allies or made sensible political decisions. Her eldest son Jace has ten times her diplomatic skills.

She was extremely cruel during her short reign as Queen. She beheaded people daily, filled the city with terror, imposed crazy taxes including taxes on bastards, imprisoned any dissenters, made people pay to watch executions, threw a feast while people starved and resulted in all the dragons being killed.

She never defends the rights of other women, she thinks she is the special exception to the patriarchy. Just ask Lord Rosby's daughter. She usurps her stepdaughter's birthright in favor of her bastards.

She fully deserved her fate, because she spent her whole life avoiding duty and responsibility, using, abusing and manipulating those closest to her, ruled like a tyrant and led to the extinction of her dynasty.

Tell me one positive quality of this utter failure of a Targaryen has and I will refute you.

Aegon suffered much more than Rhaenyra but he didn't give up, all these events only made him grow and become stronger unlike Rhaenyra who fucked everything up and got worse day by day. He lived in real world and knows if he don't fight for himself no one gonna do that, but Rhaenyra was still on her I'm my daddy's princess so I do whatever the fuck that I want era. like a leech, Rhaenyra relied on others to survive, she was delulu. Oh did I mention she sold her crown and ran away like a coward? Did I mention Aegon had to clean the mess that she made?

And did you guys noticed almost all the rulers after Aegon II are mad, stupid, useless, coward? Just like Rhaenyra.

Now you can disagrees with me, that's ok but don't even try to fight with me about her or try to change my mind because it's not gonna work. Idk about you but I don't want my feminist icon to be someone like Rhaenyra.

Oh and if you wanna use "but Aegon was a rapist" card go read the fucking book or this post.

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burningtheroots · 1 month

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A common question and critique, both in feminist literature and in (online) feminist spaces, is ”Why aren’t the good men doing more for women? Why are they still so passive despite being the 'good' ones?”

Okay, so the answer is actually pretty simple.

At best, these self-proclaimed or so-called "good men" don’t care as long as it isn’t inconvenient for them personally.

At worst, they either secretly or openly enjoy women‘s oppression, humiliation, violation — both due to mere sadism and due to the fact that they actively benefit from it, personally as well as systemically.

That‘s why "good men" are nearly non-existent. Some might be allies when it comes to certain topics (though probably not for genuine women-oriented reasons, and yes, intention matters), however, they‘ll still be misogynistic and oppressive in other ways, or tolerate those who are.

And the concept of a "good men" who‘s "passive" is completely ridiculous. If you, as a member of the oppressor class who‘s advantaged by our systemic & worldwide oppression all the damn time, think that not doing anything makes you "good", you‘re merely a bystander, and hence a (silent) enabler. Not a "good man who‘s just being passive".

Silence is complicity.

They don’t deserve to be labelled as "good". Not harming us with their own hands is the barest minimum. And we deserve to raise our standards, and we also deserve that our sisters raise theirs.

Women for Women. That‘s it. That‘s the only way.

#radfem #radblr #women deserve better #women‘s rights #feminism #male violence #fuck the patriarchy #just some thoughts #everyone is stuck between 'not all men' and 'but where are all the good men when we need them?'#especially in libfem spaces but also in general #the thing is that the standards for a man to be considered 'good' are lower than bare minimum #the bar for men is in hell and below already and thus scratching the surface of being a decent person #makes everyone believe that they‘re some sort of hero #if a man doesn’t do anything meaningful and genuine for women‘s LIBERATION #he‘s not a good man #he‘s just a complicit misogynistic enabler #silence is complicity

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genderkoolaid · 4 months

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the rationale on make radfem ally's post is so fucking stupid. 'oooo i don't support ANY medically unnecessary surgeries oooo' okay cool how do you determine if it's medically necessary or not.

like. is it what insurance companies deem necessary?? insurance fuckimg hates covering skin removal surgeries, permanent birth control related surgeries, etc etc and calls them unnecessary but these are still definitely life improving for the people who get them in most cases.

is it what medical professionals deem necessary? if so then yippee! American academy of pediatrics, american medical association, american psychiatric association, etc. all consider medical transition to be medically necessary.

is it what the person getting the surgery considers necessary? because if so that's... pretty cut and dry. if you think it's necessary get it if you don't then don't?

but ofc. they're not saying that because they mean it. they're saying that so they can pretend to take the moral high ground lmao

Being myself disabled and as a result very skeptical of the construction of our health industry + our ideas around health itself its like. so obviously flawed. Going deeper into "necessary by whose standards" the idea that the only thing which really matters is the Objective (tm) Facts (tm) of what makes your body work in ways both normative and pleasing to the powerful in society is not neutral! or the only way of looking at health! its absurd that any self-proclaimed feminist is like "actually we should completely sign over medical autonomy to a system run by largely cis men"

#m.#ask box

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germiyahu · 4 months

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I had the brazen lack of judgment to go on Twitter and immediately saw several tweets raging at Mia Schem, calling her ugly, misinterpreting her statements about Palestinian children, standard in the Twitter antizionist playbook really- insults and mistruths.

But I kept seeing the comments, “how does someone rape you with his eyes” “what the fuck does raped me with his eyes mean,” and let me tell you. I am not a woman by any means. I still immediately know what “raped me with his eyes” means and I could immediately envision what that felt like for her, to have a man have absolute control over her, leering at her, mentally undressing her. And this implicit threat hanging over her for nearly 2 months? The fear, anxiety, and disgust she must have felt?

Is it because I have sisters? I’m sure a lot of Twitter has sisters, a lot of them are women, or were assigned female at birth, have experience with creepy men, consider themselves feminists… they can’t all be manosphere goons. Maybe Mia made a mistake giving an interview, because now she’s known to them as a tool of propaganda, and they don’t take her seriously at all. They think everything she says is in service of “dehumanizing Palestinians,” and that her comment was racist and just like the woman who got Emmett Till murdered actually. But I am in no position to judge her choices. It’s her life and body and it’s her healing, not mine. She knows what she’s doing.

But the distinct lack of empathy for Jewish women is appalling, because I know if you removed the context of “genocide in Gaza from settler colonialist white supremacist Zionist entity” I know most of you self proclaimed feminists would implicitly understand what she meant. Many of you have been in similar unsafe and harrowing situations (though probably not for over 50 days!). Many of you don’t trust men for these reasons. If this were a Palestinian woman saying an Israeli prison guard raped her with his eyes, Twitter would believe her. Twitter would spread that like wildfire and there would be a million garbage essays incorporating that interview into their “Zionism is sexual violence” theses at Universität Judenhass.

Most (normal) people even came around and empathized with Kim Kardashian after she was robbed, and explained the fear she felt and the real danger of sexual violence she was in as a woman. But they won’t come around to a young woman who was literally held captive by and was at the mercy of a man who belongs to an organization who already filmed themselves committing war rape and were high fiving each other for it?????????

#it’s just crazy to me #there has to be a term for how they deliberately play dumb when it comes to something Israelis said #israel #palestine #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism

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suzukiblu · 1 month

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Self-proclaimed "feminists" who leave trash and used plates/glasses and dirty socks all over common areas, do not ever do the dishes or take a turn on the dinner-cooking rotation, and put in absolutely zero effort towards any of the basic logistics of running a household while expecting their femme/femme-presenting roommates to do it all for them are actually not being very good feminists, go fucking figure. Or very good friends or housemates or LITERAL HUSBANDS FFS, either!! Especially when they are simultaneously repeatedly misgendering you as a femme for no apparent reason despite normally being hyper-fixated on using people's correct pronouns!!!!

In totally, toooootally unrelated news, I might kill one of my roommates. No reason! Totally unrelated to any other comments I've recently made!!

TOTALLY UNRELATED NO REASON WHATSOEVER.

#rintalk #vent post #very much a vent post

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max--phillips · 4 months

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Hey, @staff @support @wip @engineering @changes @humans it’s me again. Do you have a second? I would like to draw your attention to something.

So, you know how when you start typing in a tag, it’ll list tags to choose from based on what you’re typing in? Y’know, you start typing “star” and the list will populate “Star Wars” and “Lego Star Wars” among a few other tags you can tap on to auto-complete what you’re typing if you want? Yeah, it’s about that function.

I assumed that these tags populated based on popularity or number of uses. But when I saw some weird shit populate that read more like a clickbait article headline than a tag an actual human being had used at some point, I did some experimenting.

To preface, the tags that I'm about to list here have never once been used on my blog, and are not suggestions from my history. They are purely on tumblr's side.

Did you know that if you type in simply “I need,” the following tags auto-populate?

“I need to lose so much weight,” “I need to lose this weight,” and “I need to ⭐️ve.” Yikes. Knowing this, out of curiosity, I typed in "I want" next. Guess what I found?

"I want to ⭐️ve," "i want to cvt," and "i want to be skinnier." Again, yikes.

But perhaps this is a bit too leading. What if I just type in "I w" instead?

It auto-populates with some repeats, PLUS some more concerning shit. we got "i want to ⭐️ve," "i wanna lose weight," "i will reach my ugw," "i wanna be skinnier," "i wanna be tiny," "i want to cvt," "i want to be skinnier," "i wanna be perfect," "i will lose weight," and "i wish i was weightless."

Let's try just "i n" too, for fun.

We get "i need to lose so much weight," "i need to lose this weight," "i need to ⭐️ve," and "i need to be weightless."

With this in mind, I typed in "ana" because I recognize all of this as stuff people struggling with anorexia have historically said on this platform. Once again, we have some concerning things auto-populate:

"ana meal," "ana bllog," "ana tricks," "tw ana diary," "ana trigger," and "ana rant."

Here's my question: how and why are these auto-populating? This kind of thing literally goes against your own community guidelines. Here's a screenshot from those community guidelines:

I highlighted the text that reads "Don't post content that actively promotes or glorifies self-harm. This includes content that urges or encourages others to: cut or injure themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders;"

I realize that monitoring tags like this isn't going to be perfect, some things inevitably slip through the cracks. But this many tags? Someone somewhere is dropping the ball.

That also leads me to another point.

I, as with many other people on this website, the self-proclaimed "queerest place on the internet," occasionally tag posts with something to the tune of "terfs do not interact" because... well, being a terf is to be inherently transphobic and anti-queer. I noticed something peculiar recently while tagging a post as such.

I'm willing to bet real actual money that the tag "terfs dni" gets used significantly more than the tag "terfsafe," so... why does the auto-populated tag list look like this when you type in "terf?"

We get the auto-populated tags "terfblr," "terfsafe," and "terfism." But not a sign of "terfs dni" or "terfs don't touch." Why is that?

So, again out of pure curiosity, I typed in "rad."

"radblr," "radical feminists do interact," "radical feminist safe," "radqueer" (which isn't radfem related but also shouldn't be on that list), "radical feminism," and "radical feminist community" auto-populate. Considering radical feminism and being a terf are literally the same thing, this is further concerning.

For shits and giggles, I typed in "lgb" to see what I'd get.

Why on EARTH is "lgb drop the t" the second auto-populated tag?

Let's try just the word "gender."

"gender critical" is the second auto-populated tag. Another transphobic term.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact trans women can't post entirely safe for work selfies on this website anymore without their post getting flagged as mature content, or the swath of trans women who have had their blogs entirely terminated for no reason recently.

Also, interestingly enough, in your community guidelines, under the hate speech guideline, you have written "Don't encourage violence or hatred. Don't post content for the purpose of promoting or inciting the hatred of, or dehumanizing, individuals or groups based on race, ethnic or national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability or disease." You may be interested to know that terfs and other transphobes do, in fact, encourage, promote, and incite hatred of, and dehumanize, individuals or groups based on gender and gender identity.

Perhaps what you have auto-populate for tags should reflect things that are popular and inclusive on this website, not... whatever this is. If this is truly the queerest place on the internet, and you want to continue to cultivate it as such, you should probably at least act like it.

Anyway, it'd be cool of you to address these things. Toodles.

#long post #tori says things #max says things #reblogs would be appreciated just so more people see this lmao im mad

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theremina · 1 year

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Adoption causes way more intergenerational trauma and collective health crises than I think many "kept" people realize.

If you bother to read it, the science is clear: adoption is violently traumatic, causing devastating, irreversible health issues for millions of human beings. Yet I'd have more luck conveying the severity and longevity of my own trauma to most non-adoptees with "I was dropped on my head as a baby."

Heck, I didn't begin to contend with the horrors of my own situation until my mid forties. Being yeeted directly after birth into foster care and eventually adopted by lovely, well-intentioned folks who were not prepared *at all* to help me deal with the lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders and physical health problems directly caused by my abandonment at birth has permanently damaged me. I'm saying so as one of the "lucky ones".

I adore my adoptive family. They're incredible parents. We love each other dearly. This doesn't change the fact, not for one second, that I wouldn't wish adoption on ANYBODY. Thankfully, my folks understand this. I wish more adoptive parents did.

The modern adoption industry* is, by design, deeply misogynistic, racist, transactional, ableist, imperialist, colonial. Ignorance and hate and apathy and coercion and subjugation and dehumanization and capitalism keep the machine running.

We're already seeing the beginning of Baby Scoop Too: Electric Boogaloo on Facebook. On Twitter. On Instagram. On other social media platforms owned and controlled by obscenely wealthy white men who don't consider private adoptions to be unethical.

You may *think* that legalized human trafficking doesn't really effect you, but soon, if the Christofascists continue their cultural blitzkrieg, the amount of infants and children who end up in the foster care system, adopted by unqualified people, in devastating private "rehoming" situations like the one shared above, or worse, is gonna SKYROCKET.

So...I'm barely on Facebook anymore for a few different reasons. One of them is that I couldn't handle watching a whole bunch of ignorant self-proclaimed feminists making shitty adoption jokes after Roe was overturned.

Another reason is that Facebook is LITERALLY A BABY MARKET.

ADOPTIVE PARENTS ARE BUYING AND SELLING CHILDREN ON FACEBOOK. WHAT THE ACTUAL UNFORTUNATE FUCK.

Nearly 100 million American families are in the adoption triad, with a majority of adoptees' needs and voices being considered last instead of first. It's so backwards.

Non-kinship adoption is a systemic violence that cannot help but touch the lives of billions. That is so very, very bad for ALL of us, not just abandoned infants and children or their struggling parents.

Some straightforward response questions for every person who has ever asked me about about my adoption:

Are you a feminist? Are you antiracist? Are you a humanitarian? Anti-ableist? Do you consider yourself lefty, liberal, or otherwise progressive? Do you respect science? Then please reevaluate your perceptions of adoption.

For every adoptive or bio parent you listen to, listen to three or more adoptees. For every shitty adoption "joke" you've ever told, check in with an adoptee (or first mom) in a kind and caring way. For every ignorant question you've ever asked an adoptee about our "real parents", crack a book!

Please. Do some research. Learn. Please. Center transracial adoptees, international adoptees, disabled adoptees, queer adoptees. Please. This stuff impacts all of us just as surely as countless other aspects of systemic rape culture do. Try to understand. Please.

I'm more certain than ever that we must abolish before we can rebuild.

Please give a shit. Please.

*The fact that adoption is an industry at all should shock and horrify us all, and yet... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[image description: a screenshot of a Facebook post with a black border and caption reading, “Welcome to America, where people try to regime adopted children on Facebook Marketplace.” The Facebook post itself reads, “So basically they either want him to come back home, or have CPS place him in a foster home. Or I can find someone willing to take him in, and ‘under the table’ pay them the stipend, we get. If CPS places him they will have to have an open case against me. In doing that I will lose my job. I cannot work at a daycare, school, group home etc. if I have an open active CPS case against me. How the hell do I go about ‘re-homing’ my child? Should I create a post in market place? Through no fault of our own, we are being forced to re-home our thirteen year old son. He can be the most loving, helpful young man. He does suffer some learning difficulties. He comes with a complete wardrobe and a monthly allotment. Only serious inquiries please.” End id]

#karpoozy #adoptee #adoption is violence #adoption is annihilation #adoption is racist #adoption is sexist #adoption = imperialism #adoptee voices #adoption is legal human trafficking #cw rape culture

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femsolid · 2 years

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"Of all the horrid brutalities of this age, I know of none so horrid as those that are sanctioned and defended by marriage. Night after night there are thousands of rapes committed, under cover of this accursed license; and millions—yes, I say it boldly, knowing whereof I speak—millions of poor, heart broken, suffering wives are compelled to minister to the lechery of insatiable husbands, when every instinct of body and sentiment of soul revolts in loathing and disgust. All married persons know this is truth, although they may feign to shut their eyes and ears to the horrid thing, and pretend to believe it is not. The world has got to be startled from this pretense into realizing that there is nothing else now existing among pretendedly enlightened nations, except marriage, that invests men with the right to debauch women, sexually, against their wills. Yet marriage is held to be synonymous with morality! I say, eternal damnation sink such morality!"

- Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States (1870), the publisher of the first translation of the Communist Manifesto in the United States (1871), the first person ever arrested under the notoriously repressive Comstock Law (1872)—crusaded against the material dependency of women on men because she knew that anyone who bartered her body bartered her human dignity.

"She was a mass organizer, and the masses of women were married, sexually subordinated to men in marriage. At a time when feminists did not analyze sex directly or articulate ideas explicitly antagonistic to sex as practiced, Woodhull exposed marital rape and compulsory intercourse as the purpose, meaning, and method of marriage.

Wives were the majority, whores the minority, prostitution the condition of each, rape the underbelly of prostitution. Selling themselves was women’s desperate, necessary, unforgivable crime; not acknowledging the sale divided women and obscured how and why women were used sexually by men; marriage, women’s only refuge, was the place of mass rape.

Woodhull proclaimed herself a “Free Lover” by which she meant that she could not be bought, not in marriage, not in prostitution as commonly understood. In telling married women that they had indeed sold their sex for money, she was telling them that they had bartered away more than the prostitute ever could: all privacy, all economic independence, all legal individuality, every shred of control over their bodies in sex and in reproduction both.

Few feminists appreciated her because she confronted women with her own sexual vitality, the political meaning of sex, the sexual and economic appropriation of women’s bodies by men, the usurpation of female desire by men for the purposes of their own illegitimate power. She was direct and impassioned and she made women remember: that they had been raped. In focusing on the apparent and actual sexual worth of wives and whores, she made the basic claim of radical feminism: all freedom, including sexual freedom, begins with an absolute right to one’s own body—physical self-possession.

She made the women she addressed in person and in print face the sexual and economic system built on their bodies. She was one of the great philosophers of and agitators for sexual freedom—but not as men understand it, because she abhorred rape and prostitution, knew them when she saw them inside marriage or outside it, would not accept or condone the violence against women implicit in them. “I make the claim boldly,” she dared to say, “that from the very moment woman is emancipated from the necessity of yielding the control of her sexual organs to man to insure a home, food and clothing, the doom of sexual demoralization will be sealed." Intercourse not willed and initiated by the woman was rape, in Woodhull’s analysis. She anticipated current feminist critiques of intercourse—modest and rare as they are—by a century. Robin Morgan in 1974 transformed Woodhull’s insight into a firm principle: “I claim that rape exists any time sexual intercourse occurs when it has not been initiated by the woman, out of her own genuine affection and desire”. This shocks, bewilders—who can imagine it, what can it mean? Now as then, there is one woman speaking, not a movement.

But then, this was why she was excluded: the men wanted the rape and prostitution. She threatened not only those sacred institutions but the male hallucinations that prettify those institutions: those happy visions of happy women, caged, domesticated or wanton, numb to rape, numb to being bought and sold. Her sexual intelligence was despised, then ignored, because of what it revealed: he who hates the truth hates the intelligence that brings it."

- Right Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin

#marriage #rape #radfem #relationships #quote #andrea dworkin #mp #radblrthemeweek3

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vincent-marie · 3 months

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Hot Take: "Equal Fights" Predicted Online Faketivism

In some ways "Equal Fights" hasn't aged well in its effort to teach about feminism, that the execution wasn't handled as well as it could have been & that it wound up painting the feminists as straw men stereotypes. Rumor has it that even Lauren Faust, who did storyboards on the episode, isn't a fan of it in hindsight.

However this episode feels a lot more relevant to me now in our current age of online purity culture.

We live in an age of social media where young people, who had little to no power before, now have a tool at their fingertips to signal boost for those who need help the most. Teenagers can be everyday heroes in their own right. Frankly I respect you kids for being motivated in your sense of kindness & nobility.

However the problem is that unfortunately what good that can actually be done gets drowned out by a lot of harassment & bullying in the name of social justice. Especially if these young people's sources are very dubious & self-serving.

That's basically what Femme Fatale is as a character. She's a grifter who uses a progressive movement, feminism in this case, as her means for her own gain. Namely, robbing banks.

It's understandable that every super villain has a gimmick. Two-Face has the Number 2 & duality, FF could've just been a devious collector of currency with women imprinted on them. (I myself wish they would discontinue the bulky, useless penny & bring back the Sacagawea dollar.) But beyond that, she uses it as an excuse to get out of getting arrested, to claim that what she's doing is good for society at large, & above all to manipulate & influence the young & impressionable Powerpuff Girls.

The girls, being literal children, take her words to heart & implement them in ways that do more harm than good. From bullying boys in the schoolyard to letting Femme Fatale get away with her crimes.

Reminds me an awful lot of kids & young people on Tumblr & Twitter who get riled up by the words of self-proclaimed progressives who turn out to be TERFs, grifters, or members of the Leopards Eating My Face Party. Namely, the people who use progressivism & online activism to their own end.

And it's not just the Youtubers with the large subscriber base. It's also the individuals who reblog, retweet & bully even on a small scale to make themselves look good or feel like they're making a difference. Not to mention the burner & bot accounts being used to fan the flames of discord within progressive circles.

But what I find the most telling is that FF claims to be a feminist, she collects Susan B. Anthony coins, but she doesn't even know who Susan B. even was & why she was so important to American history.

Reminds me an awful lot of certain gay or trans Youtubers who would try to have you believe that "queer" is a slur, when in reality we not only reclaimed it as an umbrella term to include bisexual, trans, intersex, asexual, etc. people, but is an important part of our very history.

The slogan chanted demanding our basic human rights:

"We're here, we're queer

Get used to it."

It makes me sick that there are multiple generations of people who don't understand our own history. That there are people within our community who would promote & capitalize on that ignorance.

That's who Femme Fatale is. Willingly ignorant herself, selfish, manipulative, & would promote such lack of values to the next generation for her own gain.

And that's why she deserves to serve time in prison, while online faketivist grifters deserve to lose followers, go broke, & disappear into obscurity so they can't do any more damage.

#powerpuff girls #equal fights #episode examination #hindsight #online culture #online purity culture #off the cuff analysis #analysis

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rewritingcanon · 1 month

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Sorry, this might be a long rant but those anons and replies you were getting got me going. TERFs always say how trans women are “cosplaying” or “performing” what they think a woman is. But, and I say this as a cis woman, don’t cis women do that too? I’d argue that it’s not even performing womanhood, it’s performing femininity, and isn’t femininity a performance at the end of the day? Cis women wear makeup, jewelry, dresses, etc. usually to express their femininity, but it’s not inherent to being a woman. Being born a woman doesn’t automatically come with a gene that makes you interested in traditionally feminine things or ways of expression, it’s all socialization. People associate gender affirmation only with trans people, but cis men and woman do it too? Men will go to the gym to build muscle or get hair transplants to feel more masculine, and women will do things that make them feel more feminine. It’s all a performance that we put on for society. Cis women get cosmetic surgery to adhere to female beauty standards all the time (even JKR, allegedly) but suddenly it’s a problem when trans women do it?

It sucks because I do consider myself a radical feminist but TERFs make it hard to exist in that space. I think TERFs and I would agree that women getting plastic surgery is actually not an empowering or feminist choice and only further feeds an industry that profits off of making women (especially women of color) feel insecure. However, I don’t blame women for getting work done, because they’re essentially the victim in the scenario. Why would I blame someone who is groomed by a society that tells them certain parts of them are bad and need to be changed? It’s pointless and self righteous, and it only further puts the burden of being the “perfect victim” on women. I feel the same for trans women (and men). I don’t like that we live in a society that pressures people into undergoing sometimes very serious procedures to be more palatable. But that’s hardly their fault, is it? Can I really blame anyone for being worn down and making a decision to try and make their life in a toxic world easier? Specifically for trans women, it also involves their safety because they (specifically trans women of color) are the most at risk members of society, especially when it comes to violence. The more they ‘pass’, they are keeping themselves safe.

It’s just so crazy to me how TERFs can acknowledge that the patriarchy is toxic to women in ways that affect their daily lives and how they present themselves, but can’t seem to understand that it also affects other groups of people in those ways as well. Trans women aren’t our enemy, they’re just trying to survive, just like we are. How can I fault anyone for that?

Again, so sorry for the long rant but I got heated lmao

no dont apologise babe i completely agree LOL. its so sad because when i first came across radical feminism it was about their takes on sex work and the porn industry in general and i really agreed with a lot they had to say so i kept deep diving and THEN i came across the terfism. and to this day idk whether that is intrinsic to radfem ideology or if terfs are just saying it is. either way, its sad because i feel like radfems are sort of overshadowed by terfs in their spaces and get a bad rep to their name because of how many bigots use that space to promote their hateful rhetoric instead of promoting their good takes on patriarchy.

that original post about jkr got a lot of terfs/self proclaimed radfems in the shits too and i would scroll through their profiles and read what they had to say about the oppression of ciswomen and actually agree with them. and then they would turn around and argue the exact opposite about trans women which was absolutely mind-boggling to me. you tell me these people can discuss so many nuances about cis-womanhood but refuse to acknowledge similar nuances in transpeople? crazy. and very disappointing.

your point on plastic surgery and gender affirming surgery is interesting. ive never thought about it that way before or thought to compare the two. i agree with what you say about cis women getting plastic surgery btw, i also dont think it’s empowering women at all but i wont blame them. i think the difference between that and gender affirming surgery is that there are more grey areas like gender dysmorphia (although not everyone who gets this surgery has to have dysmorphia) and also what you said about safety in passing! im cis too so i dont pretend to know how gender dysmorphia feels like (i know dysmorphia is also not a trans-only thing either though). maybe the experience of that is because of socialisation and the knowledge that one’s physicality is preventing them from being socialised ‘correctly,’ and maybe that would disappear if strict ideas of gender (and what ‘man/woman’ “look” like) disappeared as well, but i don’t pretend to know lol. i dont want to make it out to be some big illusion of patriarchy or anything.

either way, you’re right. we are oppressed by patriarchy in similar ways, ways that are exacerbated for trans women (and more so for non-white trans women). even trans men are oppressed too, but im not so sure how they fit into terf rhetoric. i think they may just groups trans men in with cis women? although ive never seen a terf come on here and speak up for the oppression of trans men either so. lol.

sorry for taking so long to answer this i was pondering it for a long time 😭👍

#intersectional radfems who arent terfs ily 🫶#i wish i could send this anon to the inboxes of all those stupid terfs that got on my arse a month ago 😔#harry potter #hp #anti jkr #anti terfs #radfem #ask #anon #rewriting

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