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meabhmcdonnell · 7 years

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Leslie Knope

Leslie Knope is the world’s most optimistic government employee. She is also a staunch feminist, wants to be Gloria Allred when she grows up and is one of the most competent and hard working characters to ever grace our TV screens. Portrayed by the wonderful Amy Poehler in NBC’s Parks and Recreation, Leslie is a woman in a competitive field for women but she manages to never be competitive with the other women in her life. She excels at building them up and celebrating them, and is the creator of the wonderful, Galentine’s Day, which we take as inspiration for this issue! Leslie is kind, hard working and extraordinarily passionate about where she lives and works. Leslie works tirelessly — and often thanklessly — to make Pawnee a better place and almost always does it with a smile on her face. Leslie is the opposite of what we are so often shown in a female character on television today. She is sincere and uncynical and does her best in every situation. I want to be her when I grow up.

Jo March

Jo March is my literary hero. That’s something that is true for most girls. The protagonist (mostly) of Little Women, Jo is a wonderfully complex character, a woman who has deep ambitions and dreams but one who is unable to completely follow those dreams because she is a woman in a world where men hold power. Throughout Little Women she laments the fact that she is not a boy and wishes that she had the power and agency that men have in this world. In Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 re-imagining of the story, Jo March is an ardent feminist who desperately wishes to go to college and wishes to be recognised as a writer. She doesn’t want to be a writer just for the recognition and the fame (although she is interested in that) she also wants financial independence, recognising that with the satisfaction of being able to earn her own keep she gains a sense of purpose. Although throughout the novels her family remains her top priority and her willingness to make practical sacrifices for them stands as an example of her strength.

Rey

We were a long time debating whether we should include Leia here or Rey but ultimately we decided to go with Rey, because, while we love Leia and always will, we wanted a chance to talk about our newest addition to the Star Wars family. Leia will always be our hero, the fast talking princess who wouldn’t take shit from anyone, but Rey is a horse of a different colour. Rey has the tenacity and is slightly jaded by a world that abandoned her to fend for herself as a child. She still manages to be sincere and enthusiastic when she finds herself wound up in a plot to save the Empire and once she becomes embroiled in the story she is determined to do her part in the rebellion. Rey is the ultimate mis-direct in film, considering we were clearly meant to think that Finn would be the Jedi from the promotion of The Force Awakens – but we were given a wonderful surprise when it was Rey who was able to free herself from Kylo Ren’s clutches. That moment when the lightsaber comes sailing out of the snow to her remains one of the most cheer-worthy shots I have ever seen in the cinema. We can’t wait to see what she does next.

Inej Ghafa

Inej Ghafa is one of the most bad-ass acrobats you are ever likely to meet. The acrobat turned assassin is one of the six main characters in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology. Assassin she may be but she also has a heart of pure gold. Her steadfast loyalty to her crew is matched by her stunning abilities with her knives. Inej is a wonderful character who’s harrowing backstory involves being sold into slavery and being forced to work in a brothel as a teenager. But the most remarkable thing about Inej is that none of these things break her. She remains the heart of the crew that populates the Six of Crows world and is often both their moral conscience and their most deadly asset. If that weren’t enough she has a wonderfully open and fun friendship with fellow protagonist Nina. Both ladies share a caring friendship that isn’t often seen between female characters in fantasy novels. Long may it last.

Yu Shu Lien

If you haven’t seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then you need to. Probably the most famous of the wuxia martial arts movies, it is a beautiful delight. But not only that, the film has a strong feminist theme running throughout it. The lead character Yu Shu Lien, played by Michelle Yeoh, is a martial arts expert and bodyguard who is tasked with taking a sacred sword (the sword of Green Destiny) to an old friend of hers. The sword is later stolen by a masked thief and she undertakes the task of retrieving it. And no one ever says the line – ‘but you’re a woman’. It is an accepted fact of the story that she is a bodyguard and highly skilled fighter and no one ever questions it. It’s incredibly refreshing. She and another character, Yu Jen have a wonderful conversation about the merits of being able to choose your future path. Jen envies Shu Lien’s ability to go and be a bodyguard and laments that she must make a profitable marriage. (It’s later revealed that Jen is in fact the thief who has stolen the sword and is an accomplished martial artist herself). The film presents four very different types of women who manage to be strong and capable without sacrificing their femininity. Shu Lien is a measured, kind character, who is clearly disciplined and struggles with guilt over her past relationships and how they may affect relationships she wants to have in the future, while Jen is impulsive and loving but shows great discipline and passion for learning. Even the antagonist, Jade Fox, has a complicated back story that gives her character a great deal of nuance. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a feast for the eyes and will make your feminist heart sing.

Zoe Washburne

Zoe Washburne is the coolest first mate in the ‘verse and we dare you to find anyone more capable and intelligent. Zoe is first mate to Captain Malcolm Reynolds of the star ship Serenity on the late lamented Firefly. (It’s all on Netflix- watch it now). Zoe is a war veteran and is the steadiest character we meet in the Firefly universe. She’s one of the crew’s best fighters, can manage everyone on board and one half of the best relationship on the show. Her husband, Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne, is the ship’s pilot and is completely loving and supportive of his wife. Wash and Zoe’s relationship never brings up the fact that she outranks him at work or that she is much more competent fighter than he is. They have moments – like all couples – where things aren’t perfect but they work through it maturely and only with a small amount of bloodshed. Zoe also has strong relationships with the other women on the ship, acting like a big sister and confidant to Kaylee and River but always remaining the reigning matriarch on Serenity.

Favourite fictional feminists: part one Leslie Knope Leslie Knope is the world’s most optimistic government employee. She is also a staunch feminist, wants to be Gloria Allred when she grows up and is one of the most competent and hard working characters to ever grace our TV screens.

#crouching tiger hidden dragon #feminism #ficitonal feminists #Firefly #inej ghafa #jo march #leslie knope #rey #star wars #yu shu lien #zoe washburne

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bookworm158 · 4 years

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The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss (audiobook version)

I came across this book by accident. I was, admittedly, looking for books to download. I started narrating some audiobooks and had a bunch of codes that were going to expire. I had downloaded all the ones I wanted and had extra codes, so I started downloading books that sounded interesting. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It had mystery, which was great, I wanted a good mystery to get lost in. It had adventure, running from monsters and murders. Gallantly saving mistresses in distress! Strong, major female roles (in fact all of the main characters were female. Who needs a man?!) They are only there to add to the story, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Waston are helpful, but they are by far, not the most important characters in this story. There was the fantastical part mixed in, beast men/women, a woman who lived mainly off the consumption of sunlight and herbal tea (like a plant) that somehow had poisonous breath. Along with this, there was the whole plot line of a dangerous society that performed experiments on people. Mainly women, their daughters, to be exact. Alchemy is the “supposed” medieval study of changing matter. Hence, the beast men and poisonous plant woman. If you’re looking for something funny, adventurous, and feminist. Look no further. This book will keep you intrigued. I’m excited for the second book.

#books #mystery #adventure #feminist #dr jekyll and mr hyde #adventures of Sherlock holmes #maryjekyll #book #alchemy #alchemist #bookreview #book review #audiobook #fantasy #ficiton #feminism #review

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ardenttheories · 4 years

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Noticed you have a post about K8 that's mainly homestuck discourse focused so uhhh here's a whole ass Google Doc. on some of the bad shit she's done publically that isn't directly Homestuck-related. Might be useful if you wanna link or add it to the og post but idk (docs. google. com/ document/d/ 1nA1Wlf_5PiNrsyIgtJ370xF8cmlrvLwQ1IOu2VdWIqE)

This is brilliant - thank you so much!!

For those of you who want to read this - which I seriously encourage you to do - here is the non-chopped up link: docs.google.com/document/d/1nA1Wlf_5PiNrsyIgtJ370xF8cmlrvLwQ1IOu2VdWIqE.

This link also goes into detail about each point, which is why I recommend the read. However, for those of you who would rather just know the main points:

- Points out that Kate was extremely upset/defensive over people wanting the official Homestuck Twitter to publically support/boost BLM, going on a complete cursefest at someone who is supposedly a minor

- Frequently talks about how she’s going out to protest as if this somehow gives her brownie points, while also utterly dismissing anyone who isn’t protesting (but may still be donating/boosting information). Very set idea of what “Real Activism” is on a race issue is despite being white.

- Has been racist to POC in the past and frequently talks over them, then relies on her transness to somehow slip her out of hot water (often by citing transmisogyny as the reason to why she’s being attacked). Includes additional sources from BIPOC fans on how she’s racist.

- Focuses significantly more on herself and revolutionarism in BLM than actual black people, going so far as to comment that “neurotypicals... can’t even participate in the main battlefields of this revolution”, despite it actively being a race-related issue and therefore perfectly acceptable for neurotypicals to get involved (especially, unsurprisingly, neurotypical POC).

- Goes into more detail about the frequent misgendering of Charlotte Clymer, and how Kate sees her as a CIA conspiracy where Charlotte is actually a cis woman, for some reason.

- Controversy surrounding Kate’s role as the Wasington D.C. Overwatch League manager, scamming players and providing jobs that straight up did not exist.

- More evidence on the supposed “doxxing” of Kate, where it turns out that she’s willingly provided literally all of her information - including where she lives, her phone number, and her email - because she ran for both WA delegate and a Commissioner position, both of which are public offices. In other words, it quite literally is not doxxing because it’s information she willingly provided while running as a public figure. (Though I will again state that you should never do anything harmful with information that public figures provide, no matter how shitty they are.)

She has no right to claim that it’s HS fans comitting illegal activities. It’s quite literally not.

- Has associated anti ideology with TERFs (which, if you don’t know what antis are; they’re typically people against pedophilia and incest in ficiton. She quite literally claims that people who are against pedophilia and incest are “indistinguishable” from Trans Exclusatory Radical Feminists).

- Has actively preyed upon an underaged nonbinary person with the claim that she was helping them escape from an abusive family during her time in the SCP fandom

- Goes into more detail about her posting nudes on her Twitter account, which is open to minors, without any vetting process to ensure that minors could not access the content, with the addition that her Twitter isn’t at all catalogued as a NSFW or 18+ account, meaning that minors had no prior warning to this drop

- Additionally shows that a minor DID buy her nudes, which is part of the fucking problem

- Harrassed fans who expressed discomfort towards the publishing of her nudes on a public, non-18+ locked account - of which both adult and underaged fans had issues

- Has allegedly been involved with/supported known abusers (of which crimes also include sexual assault, attempter murder, slander, and gaslighting), all of whom seem to be transfem (which, remember that I said Kate defending Vriska as non-abusive because she’s transfem is really fucking bad, and how that reflects into her real-world beliefs? Yeah. Kate either seems to think that transwomen are incapable of being abusive, or quite literally does not care what crimes a transwoman committs)

- Provides evidence that Kate frequently deletes social media accounts and changes URLs to avoid lashback to the shitty things she does, and especially when she’s moving into a new fandom (supposedly, I would think, to ensure that nobody knows that she’s the same person so she isn’t immedaitely called out on her shit).

I think it’s fairly safe to say, at this point, that Kate is a toxic person to have in any fandom. Not just in regards to what she’s done specifically to Homestuck, but her personal views, her actions, and the things she’s done in previous fandoms that she continues to repeat. Why she’s still being given a platform at this point, I’ll never fucking know - but unless she changes, and changes soon, there’s no reason that she should have any role in any fandom that gives her a voice and authority.

#ardenttheories #homestuck^2 #homestuck^2 critical #Anonymous

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lavernius · 4 years

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I think one of the problems with regards to how weird the fandom is to Caboose is that he's not treated so hot by Rooster Teeth. Everybody is a comedy relief character to some degree in the BGC, but Caboose ends up the butt of a "stupid guy" joke more often than not. I don't know where I'm going with this, but 1) the fandom treats caboose in a gross way and 2) I think the original sin is rt's for making him the "dumb autistic guy."

this absolutely. one of this fandom's biggest problems is that no one knows how to criticize the writer and not the character— i often find people acting like these characters are making conscious decisions to exaggerate their behaviors, rather than recognizing that it's just rooster teeth playing up specific traits in the characters for comedy aspects.

examples of this include caboose being "stupid" (and the way this RAPIDLY starts amping up after caboose has beta alpha and omega fight in his head), tucker being overtly sexual (when he's the only confirmed black man of the cast), and kai going from a ditzy, "bimbo" character before randomly turning into a huge "feminist" type of character (and thusly conflicting with tucker's chorus development because rt wanted to make her stand up to a man and they executed it poorly) after she's brought back from her long absence.

these characters aren't choosing to be like this. their attitudes are all based off stereotypes, and their writers are the ones who should be held responsible for the poor treatment. the way this fandom is incapable of being critical of rooster teeth's writing itself is a problem and exposes more of these stereotypes to vulnerable parties, such as ableist stereotypes in caboose, wash, and locus being forced onto mentally ill/neurodivergent people and racist stereotypes in tucker, the grifs, and even locus being forced onto people of color.

these are ficitonal characters whose writers are not experienced in writing their specific oppressions. plenty of rvb's writers have been white, neurotypical, cishet men, which results in the caricatures of minorities that we see in red vs blue. the fanbase isn't exempt from excusing rt's racism, ableism, lgbt+phobia, etc.

separating the art from the artist is impossible. media is never perfect. vital things to always keep in mind are this: don't let the problems in media alter your view of marginalized groups, don't fall for stereotypes, don't follow in rt's footsteps just because they get away with it. hold them accountable and always stay critical of what you're watching.

#i MEAN it when i say you need to be critical of rvb #and its writers ESPECIALLY. everyone lets them get away with too much shit because they're quick to pin it on the characters rather than the #writers. there are times where actions and behaviors fall on the writers of the show and not the characters #inbox #anon

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thevagueambition · 6 years

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We may think The Discourse is extra but around the 1880s the whole of Scandinavia used over a decade on what Danes call The Decency Feud, Swedes and Norwegians call The Decency Debate and what is apparently known as The Nordic Sexual Morality Debate elsewhere

Basically it was about double standards in what type of pre- or extramarital sexual behavior was expected of women and men - namely, none and whatever they wanted, respectively.

And indeed there was virtriolic debate within those who wanted things to change, too, not just between them and the conservative “the church says it’s fine so it’s fine and women are dumb anyway” types (Strindberg)

The participants would @ each other’s short stories in their own to make their points. I mean, a lot of people used essays and articles in papers, but there was a lot of “I’m going to prove the point you made in your ficitonal work wrong by writing my own ficitional work where I make the opposite point” going around which is just amazing to me.

The two takes were:

“Glove-morality”: Men should be virgins on their wedding night and faithful afterwards, like women. This would lead to less disease, orphans, sex work and - of course - strengthen male morality. (Bjørnson, Elisabeth Grundtvig)

The ~radicals~: Women should be free to do whatever they wanted, like men. Probably related to the Free Love movements elsewhere, these people were often critical of marriage in general and definitely of inhibiting sexuality. (Brothers Brandes, Hans Jæger)

While many women merely used their time describing how the current state of things was bad without taking a side (Skram, as far as I can tell), a lot of the current feminists actually subscribed to the former view. The Danish Women’s Society did, while the Norwegian one was very divided.

Anyway humans don’t really change, lol

#other people: ugh danish classes are so boring why do we need to know what people used to write #me: this is fucking hilarious my good dude what are you talking about #history #scandinavia #sædelighedsfejden #humanity doesn't change

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fastwalker · 4 years

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not a radfem am prochoice, those are some very nice theorethical questions there. is it alright to discuss through anon asks? id already written up something here but its 4 am lol. you've got good points that actually sound legit from a PL perspective and not a PC strawman, would love to just chat about it.

sure that’s why I have the option open :) and no stress take your time and yeah my questions are theoretical in nature but eh where else to talk about stuff like this. I mean even early term abortion isn’t fully legal nor easily accessible where I live 🤷‍♀️ this country is nowhere near a point where stuff like late term abortions are even on the table in the far future imho so it’s nothing but ideas and concerns about a purely ficitonal scenario from my pov

hope it didn’t come off like I believe that there really are a bunch of feminists just waiting to murder babies lol even if I was quite weirded out by those comments I read

#Anonymous

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iamdage · 4 years

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LÁ THƯ TỪ NỮ HOÀNG

Tác giả: D.A. x K.K. Authors: D.A. x K.K. Thể loại: Hành động, Phiêu lưu, Kịch tính, Tâm lý li kỳ, Giả tưởng, Lãng mạn (có yếu tố LGBT), Hoàng gia, Nữ quyền tích cực, Tarot nhân cách hóa Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Psychological Thriller, Fantasy, Romance (LGBT included), Royal, Positive Feminism/Female Empower, Tarot personalized Ngôn ngữ: Tiếng Việt Language: Vietnamese Tags:

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nataandreev · 5 years

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Three Main Ideas from Roxane’s Gay Book “Bad Feminist” Chapter [GENDER & SEXUALITY]

Essay “Beyond the Measure of Men”

Idea #1

It is a shame that I can point to any number of essays that take up issues of gender, literary credibility, and the relative lack of critical acceptance and attention women receive from the (male) literary establishment, with equal skill and precision as Wolitzer does. It is absurd that talented writers continue to have spent their valuable time demonstrating just how serious, pervasive, and far-reaching this problem is instead of writing about more interesting topics.

Idea #2

The time for outrage over things we already know is over. The call-and-response of this debate has grown tightly choreographed and tedious. A woman dares to acknowledge the gender problem. Some people say, “Yes, you are right,” but do nothing to change the status quo. Some people say, “I’m not part of the problem,” and offer up some tired examples as to why this is all no big deal, why this is all being blown out of proportions. Some people say, “Give me more proof,” or “I want more numbers,” or “Things are so much better,” or “You are wrong.” Some people say, “Stop complaining.” Some people say, “Enough talking about the problem. Let’s talk about solutions.” Another woman dares to acknowledge this gender problem. Rinse. Repeat.

Idea #3

The solutions are obvious. Stop making excuses. Stop saying women run publishing. Stop justifying the lack of parity in prominent publications that have the resources to address gender inequality. Stop parroting the weak notion that you’re simply publishing the best writing, regardless. There is ample evidence of the excellence of women writers. Publish more women writers. If women aren’t submitting to your publication or press, ask yourself why, deal with the answers even if those answers make you uncomfortable, and then reach out to women writers.

Idea #4

There are books written by women. There are books written by men. Somehow, though, it is only books by women, or books about certain topics, that require this special “women’s ficiton” designation, particularly when those books have the audacity to explore, includes the topics of marriage, suburban existence, which apparently, and parenthood, as if women act alone in these endeavors, wedding themselves, immaculately conceiving children, and the like.

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useyourrwords · 5 years

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Month in Review // The Month From Hell – March

This month has given me more breakdowns than I can count.

So maybe it’s not the single worst month I’ve ever lived but honestly, it’s pretty high up there!

Between a car accident, still going through the mess of changing names, pain, oh so much fucking pain, a new doctor who doesn’t know how to help me, and an altercation I wish to just forget, I’m just about ready to hide under my blankets and never leave my room.

Unfortunately, that’s not an option and so I am sitting at me desk at work writing this instead.

If you would like to buy any of the following books please consider using my Book Depository Affliate link!

Month’s TBR

│The Dream Thieves││

│Skylarks││

│The Surface Breaks││

│The Female of the Species│││

│Sharp Objects││

│Blue Lily, Lily Blue││

│Truly Devious││

│Khutulun│tatterhood│Agnodice│Te Puea Herangi│Moremi Ajasoro│Sybil Ludington│Kurmanjan Datka│Andamana│Mary Seacole│Florence Nightingale│Gráinne “Grace O’Malley” Ni Mháille│Rejected Princesses││

│Empress Xi Ling Shi│Hatsheput│Agnodice│Trung Trӑc & Trung Nhi│Fatima Al-Fihri│Bygone Badass Broads││

Read

│The Surface Breaks│Lousie O’Neill│││││★★★★│Read Mar 13│

This book was so unapologetically feminist, I loved it.

│The Dream Thieves│The Raven Cycle #2│Maggie Stiefvater│││││★★★★★│Read Mar 25│

I think I jumped into this book too quickly after finishing the first so it took me a while to get through it but I got there eventually.

│Truly Devious│Truly Devious #1│Maureen Johnson│││││DNF Mar 22│

I don’t think fiction audiobooks are for me! at least not ones I haven’t already read. I’m switching to Non-Fic/memoirs and I’ll try rereading a fave eventually to see how I go with that.

│I’ve Got This Round│Mamrie hart││││

After realising ficiton audiobooks weren’t for me I needed a win so I returned Truly Devious for this because i love Mamrie and there’s no way I wouldn’t love this. I was right.

│Skylarks│Karen Gregory│││││

I’ve just been super invested in this one. I don’t know if it’s because i wasn’t reading it regularly since I normally read ARCs while I’m exercising…and I’ve not been exercising like at all this month. I don’t know. I’ll give it another go next month if I have time but otherwise it’ll probably be pushed back to May.

│Rad Girls Can│Kate Schatz│││││

I switched to this ARC since it’s only 112 pages and I figured SURELY I can finish this before the month is up. Nope. So April it is!

│Empress Xi Ling Shi│Hatsheput│Agnodice│Trung Trӑc & Trung Nhi│Fatima Al-Fihri│Bygone Badass Broads│Mackenzi Lee│││││

I didn’t do much but at least I got my entries read for both of these!

Book of the Month

│The Female of the Species│Mindy McGinnis││││││★★★★★│Read Mar 31│

Once I realised just how little I read this month and made myself power through this one and omg it was soooo good and worth it. I needed this book this month.

│Average Rating: 4.5★’s│ 5│

Structured TBR Pass or Fail?

│Must Read: 3/5│ 0/1│ 0/0│ 2/2│ 3/3│ 10/10│ 5/5│

│Allowances: 1/1│ 1/1│ 0/0│ 0/0│ 0/1│

Clearly this was a terrible reading month. I got hardly any reading done. I started off relatively strong but then I stopped exercising (for reasons I’ll go into further later in this post) so that was less time spent reading. And then I spent far more time watching TV when I should have been reading because Depression. And the audiobook wasn’t really working out for me so I didn’t get that read either. FUN.

Haul

│Barbed Wire Heart│Tess Sharpe│││

I loved Far From You so when I saw this was available on Netgalley I knew I needed it! And it wasn’t even a request, just one you could immediately download and my international blogger heart is v. v. thankful.

│Vicious│Villains #1│V.E. Schwab││

│Vengeful│Villains #1│V.E. Schwab│││

If you’ve been paying attention to my hauls sections you’re probably thinking “doesn’t Grey already have both of these books and the answer to that is yes absolutely but listen.

I have the paperback copy of Vicious in the old cover art because i bought it years ago…Well my mum bought it for me years ago but same same.

Then it was announced that with the long-awaited release of Vengeful we’d get all new cover art so I knew I’d be re-buying the first no matter what.

And then the collector’s edition came out for Vicious.

So I bought that and then Book Depository listed the hardback for Vengeful as a collector’s edition and so I ordered that as a birthday present to myself.

Only I don’t actually think it is a collector’s edition because it doesn’t say so on the cover or anything but oh well.

So I finally have both books with new covers only I don’t want to read them because if I do, I’ll want to annotate them and I don’t annotate collector’s edition as a rule for myself.

So I had to buy the paperbacks. I just had to. My hands were tied. Did I really have the money to? No, but I’ve had a hard month so fuck it.

Past Grey Reads

Book Review // Girl Made of Stars – I Am Broken

Grey Reads // Everything’s On Fire and I Couldn’t Be Happier – Girls of Paper and Fire

Grey Reads // Bloody Moors & Candy Castles – The Wayward Children 2 & 3

Film & TV

Honestly I barely remember what I did actually watch.

Month’s TBW

│The Bold Type│Season 2││

│Brooklyn Nine-Nine│Season 6││

│RuPaul’s Drag Race│Season 11││

│I Am The Night│Season 1││

│The Umbrella Academy│Season 1││

│Russian Doll│Season 1││

│Sex Education│Season 1││

Watched

│The Bold Type│Season 2││2017│ Sarah Watson│ Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee, Meghann Fahy│★★★★★│

This show is so fucking good, I’m not not so patiently waiting for the third season to come out next month!

│Brooklyn Nine-Nine│Season 6││2013│ Daniel J. Goor, Michael Schur│ Andre Braugher, Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz│Watching weekly episodes│★★★★★│

The episode with the murder in the apartment and the making stupid promises to the mum and Jake slowly going crazy and Rosa with a different hair style every scene??? Iconic!

│RuPaul’s Drag Race│Season 11││2009│ RuPaul│RuPaul, Michelle Visage│Watching weekly episodes│★★★★★│

Between Miss Vanjie being the narrator of the season (and maybe my fave of all time), her hoemance with Brooke Lyn Heights, Yvie’s take no shit, own your shit attitude and Plastique’s fish???? I am in love with this season.

I could do without Silky’s obnoxious everything and R. Kelly style Untucked breakdowns but whatever.

│Russian Doll│Season 1││2019│ Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler│ Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee│★★★★★│

I am in love with Russian Doll and everything about it. It’s short, it’s smart, it’s quality TV and it’s fucking funny.

│Sex Education│Season 1││2019│ Laurie Nunn│ Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Emma Mackey│★★★★★│

This show is stupid funny but it’s also super intelligent and important. This is such a good show for teens to have easy access to and I can’t wait for the new season.

│Queer Eye│Season 3││2018│ Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France │★★★★★│

This season had me crying my eyes out and I loved every second of it.

But my favourite moment is when Jody, on the first episode, comes out for the big reveal and the guys all lose their fucking minds! Especially Karamo’s and Antoni’s reactions. They were absolutely fucking gold.

│Game of Thrones│Season 1││2011│ David Benioff, D.B. Weiss│ Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington│★★★★│

I mean, yes I am well aware of the problems Game of Thrones have and I am trash for it anyway. Is it as amazing as I initially thought?? Not at all but I’m in too deep now I can’t just not watch the final season.

So here I am re-watching the entire show with my mum to drag it out just a little longer and hopefully by the time we’re all caught up the final season, in it’s entirety, will be well and truly out.

I just have to try and avoid spoilers until then…which should actually be very easy because of something I’ll announce in my Month Ahead post.

Me after this month.

Music

│YUNGBLUD│11 Minutes + Halsey│Loner│Falling Skies + Charlotte Lawrence│

│Dodie│Burned Out│

│Troye Sivan + Lauv│i’m so tired…│

│Noah Cyrus│Sadness│Good Cry│

│Julia Michaels│Anxiety + Selena Gomez│Happy│

│Steve Aoki│Waste It on Me + BTS│

Past Grey Watches

Grey Watches // I Hate It So Much I Love It – A Christmas Prince

Grey Watches // It Has To Be A Shit Show – A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Grey Watches // I Wanna Bone Jude Law and Kate Winslet – The Holiday

Use Your Words Highlights

Grey Reads // Bloody Moors & Candy Castles – The Wayward Children 2 & 3

Top Ten Tuesday // Audible and Overdrive Are My Lords & Saviors – My Audiobook TBR

Blogosphere Highlights

│Laura @ The Book Corps│#UNSOLVEDATHON: A BUZZFEED UNSOLVED READATHON — ANNOUNCEMENT AND SIGN UP!│#UNSOLVEDATHON BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS!│

│Elise @ The Bookish Actress│Why I’m Not Honestly That Excited for Game of Thrones: Season Eight│Eighteen Things I’ve Learned In My First Eighteen Years│

│Krystin @ Here’s The Fucking Twist│True Crime Tuesday: The Moors Murders│

│Jamieson @ Jamishelves│IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK YOU’LL LIKE THIS TV SHOW !│

│Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads│Stressed About College? These Book Recs Are For You!│

│Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxxbooks│5 TIPS ON ANNOTATING YOUR BOOKS!│

│Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books│10 YA BOOKS DEALING WITH ANXIETY│

│Avery @ Red Rocket Panda│DOWN THE TBR HOLE | USING THE #KONMARIE METHOD FOR MY PHYSICAL SHELVES│

│Fadwa @ Word Wonders│#DIVERSEBOOKBLOGGERSDISCUSS: THE FANTASY OF HISTORICAL ROMANCE│(SOME) BOOK BLOGGING PRESSURES & HOW TO FIGHT THEM│WORD WONDERS’ TBR EXPANSION: BOOKS WITH EAST AND SOUTH EAST ASIAN MAIN CHARACTERS│MY PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS – OR HOW TO BE A MASTER ORGANIZER!│

│Aurora @ Aurora Librialis│5 Book Quotes for International Women’s Day│

│Swetlana @ The Caffeinated Bookworm Life│6 Reasons To Watch On My Block│

│Qui @ The Black Lit Queen│Diversity vs. Representation|BLQ Quick Guide│

│Madeline @ Caffeine & Writing Dreams│How to Write Scenes that Balance Plot & Character // Scene and Sequel Sequences│

Past Month In Review

Month in Review // Christmas is Over Thank Fuck – December

January in Review // I Cried, Laughed, Ate Pasta, Celebrated My Birthday & Completed TWO Read-A-Thons/Challenges

Month in Review // I FINALLY CHANGED MY NAME – February

Month’s Goals

Get my mental health plan

Book a therapy session I have to wait until April ahhhhhhhh

Get a massage from mum —I just always forget okay

Try and take a mental health day

Try and take a mental health day later in the month

Keep my shit together —HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA

Start journaling —I will get to this eventually…

Quit soft drink

Start floor exercises—I keep adding this and never get around to it. —I couldn’t even go for my walks for most of the month so…

Try and read 5 books —I can’t even say I tried.

Don’t waste all my time on The Sims

Go to Writers Week

Considering how shit this month was I count 7/12 goals reached a fucking accomplishment!

My Nightmare Month

So it started well enough. I went to Writers Week on two different days and thoroughly enjoyed myself! but then i got into a car accident on the way to my third day.

Which was stressful and anxiety inducing. It’s been a nightmare to work through all the aftermath. I didn’t know if the accident would be covered by insurance or if I would even hear from the person who hit me. And then when I did get the good news of being covered I basically had to micromanage the insurance company because they did everything slow and I couldn’t afford slow. So that was loads of phone calls which is something that causes me anxiety so YAY.

It’s mostly all sorted out. I still need to take my plates in and get a refund on my rego which I tried to do a couple days ago and got frustrated so that’s a task for another day.

I did get to go to the Fringe Festival and see Daniel Sloss’s new comedy special which was absolutely brilliant! He talked about rape culture and really put the onus on men and how they need to work and go out of their way to think critically of themselves and society and what they can do to dismantle rape culture. I laughed and sobbed. My mum nearly pissed herself laughing and it was a great night out with to die for Sri-Lankan food hot buttered squid will blow your fucking mind! and I discovered that I like to drink Pimms.

Throughout the month I’ve still been sorting out my name change because that is a long and drawn out process of changing my name everywhere and hitting road blocks constantly has be incredibly frustrating but I’m nearly finished!

I have also been doing all of this while in incredible pain because chronic illness.

My March mood

Basically my feet have been very painful, I knew the solution, doctor refused me, mum took me to a doctor who knows our history and I got the solution so I can actually start walking regularly again which will help my mental health loads.

My mum also took me to replace all of my shoes which was both expensive and needed so I have the best shoes for walking and working and running around doing errands and going out!

I was ready to end the month on a positive. Sure the start had rattled me a lot, and I was big depressed because of pain for most of it but I did have a few great experiences and I’d resolved almost all the long running issues.

And then while I was waiting for mum to finish work a couple of days ago, I sat and read in the foodcourt.

A man approached me and invaded my personal space and stared at me, knowing it would make me uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that it distracted me from the fact he was trying to steal my purse.

Thankfully I noticed at the last minute and grabbed it back because I would have been a fucking mess if I had gone to all the trouble replacing everything in my purse with my new name on it, only to have to do it all over again because someone stole my it all.

The man walked off but I would be lying if I said it didn’t terrify me. The way he stared at me was so unnerving and I don’t handle people being in my personal space…like at all. Even people I know and trust have to always ask permission first. I don’t let men I know in my personal space at all because I know what men are capable of. But to have a man I don’t know get in my face with the purpose to make me uncomfortable, especially after the month I’ve had, was enough for me to completely come undone.

I’m thankful for the cleaner for checking up on me, even though I burst into tears, and I’m thankful for the girl who approached me after as well to try and be supportive.

She had fire in her eyes and in that moment I had wished that that was what I looked like instead of the girl I was, not being able to hold back tears and trying to keep calm in the middle of an anxiety attack.

More than anything, I’m thankful for my mum for being so supportive and understanding and being exactly what I needed her to be and for calling out the men who made things worse, while trying to help, when I didn’t have the strength to.

I’ve argued with myself on whether to share this and maybe I might delete it all before it gets published, but I think it’s important for women to share their experiences with how men have preyed upon them, whether sexually or not, and how men continue to use their power to get what they want from us, regardless of the negative impact it has on us.

I just—girls, women, know that if something like this happens to you, if something worse happens to you, it’s not your fault, it’s never your fault. The way you react to it is right because it’s your experience and your emotions. I’m trying to remind myself of that.

And men, know that if you’re not actively trying to stop this shit from happening, aren’t pulling your friends up for those gross comments they make, then you’re part of the fucking problem. I don’t want to hear that you personally would never do this. That shit isn’t enough. It’s never been enough. This all lies at your feet and fuck you for helping to hold up a society that makes us think any of it is our own fault.

And if something like this happens to a girl or woman you know then ask her what she needs, ask her the best way for you to help. Because nine times out of ten the way you react naturally is going to be the complete fucking opposite of what she needs and you might make things worse. And that’s on you, not her.

Past Month Ahead

Month Ahead // Happy Birthday To Me + Hiatus Announcement – January

February Ahead // I’m Finally Going To Read The Raven Cycle Series & It’s Black History Month + A Great Resource for Education!!!!!

Month Ahead // Writers Week, Comedy & Too Much To Do – March

Thank fuck March is over.

What did you do this month? What did you read? What did you watch? What posts did you write that you’re super proud of?

│Blog│Goodreads│Instagram│Twitter│Tumblr│

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#my blog #books #grey writes

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browsersbooks · 7 years

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(via What’s Happening in America? Susan Sontag Sought to Find Out in 1966)

As we confront the inauguration of a bawdy President, indecorous, undignified and illiberal, many among us—American liberals in particular—have been tempted to ask: “What’s happening in America?” Susan Sontag, whose political prescience has been duly noted, asked and answered this same question 50 years ago. And her answers, laden with the intellectual acuity of all her work, offer some insight into our own sour present.

“What’s Happening in America?” began as a questionnaire distributed, per the editorial custom of the Partisan Review, among a number of the notable intellectuals of the time. These included many men and, other than Sontag, a single woman: Diana Trilling. “There is a good deal of anxiety about American life. In fact there is reason to fear that America may be entering moral and political crisis,” wrote the editors at the top of the document. The questions posed included, among others, “Does it matter who is in the White House?” and “Is white America committed to granting equality to the American Negro?” Responses were then published in the Partisan Review’s Winter 1967 issue. Sontag’s take begins with a repetition of the editors dire characterization of the present, presenting readers today a precedent for the apocalyptic flavor of our political moment. If the conscience of the nation seems moribund to our 2017 sensibilities, “What’s Happening in America?” reveals it to have been flailing for at least five decades. When Sontag submitted her response, the United States was in the midst of the Vietnam War; prettily titled operations with names like “Cedar Falls” were dropping bombs and killing thousands. Lyndon Johnson was President and Ronald Reagan Governor of California. The country was riven; the chasm between intellectuals and voters, liberals and conservatives, seemed then, like now, wider than ever.

Sontag’s characterization of 1966—she wrote the essay many months before it was published—is important for another reason, as calls for resistance to the new administration proliferate. She was adept, as revealed in her early opposition to the Vietnam War (and her bold trip to Hanoi even as it was underway), at carving out a position of dissent and non-complicity against even the most intractable milieu. It is that signature Sontag skill in which many of us need instruction today, and one which she supplies in the essay, underscoring at the outset that “everything one feels about this country is, or ought to be, conditioned by the awareness of American power, of America as the arch-imperium of the planet, holding man’s biological as well as historical future in its King Kong paws.”

This is an important exhortation, one whose application to the recent past and the recently arrived present would reveal that the imperium has persisted, differing in flavor but not ultimately in form. The outgoing Obama Administration, lauded now in part for its contrast against the garish and gaudy replacement, was sly in its use of America’s “King Kong paws,” raids and bombings and secret wars all an acknowledged part of its arsenal. Under Trump, King Kong promises to be ever more wild and unfettered, building walls, crushing and trampling with relish; in Sontag’s words “naked violence breaking through, throwing everything into question.”

If Sontag were alive, she may have noted that neither presidential candidate truly considered the nature of American power in the 2016 election. A less hawkish America was not a feature of Hillary Clinton’s political vision. This is a thorny fact to resurrect now, posited against the horror of a Trump presidency, but it remains a crucial one. In “The Third World of Women,” published in the Partisan Review six years after “What’s Happening in America?,” Sontag isolates as one of the failures of the women’s movement its inability to argue for a change in the nature of power itself. This would require not simply the transfer of a power subsistent on the structures of patriarchy to a female leader, but rather a complete dismantling of that system, so that its very character was changed. It is perhaps just this inability to re-conceptualize power itself that bears some relationship to the almost-but-never-quite nature of American women’s quest to get into the White House.

Today, President Elect Trump will be sworn in as the President of the United States and his cabinet, made up of the whitest and richest of America, will begin to run the country. And yet, tomorrow, thousands of women will march and protest in Washington D.C. to express their opposition to his flamboyant misogyny, his xenophobia, and his ascendance to the country’s leadership. Sontag famously said in an interview to the Paris Review that “feminist” was “one of the few labels [she was] content with.” She went on to ask, “Is it a noun? I doubt it.” These women marching on Washington inauguration weekend are doing feminism, insisting on it as a verb and not a noun—not dormant, nor a tame description to affix to this or that. Their commitment to its active meaning is likely to be tested in the days to come as the promises of Trump’s cohort of cronies seek to abridge reproductive choice, marriage equality, to cut funding for programs that have provided assistance to domestic violence shelters, women’s health initiatives, and many others. Each of these fights, and others not yet enumerated, will require continuing energy, continuing vigilance, continuing insistence on feminism as a verb.

In “What’s Happening in America?” Sontag also notes three historical facts that required confrontation before any analytical grasp of the “moral and political crisis” of 1966 was possible: that America was founded on genocide and on the “unquestioned right of white Europeans to exterminate” the indigenous population, that it had the most brutal system of slavery that did not “in a single respect recognize slaves as persons,” and, finally, that it was essentially peopled by a European underclass who were not, in their native Europe, cultural producers. As a result, she argues, after America was “won,” it was “filled up with new generations of the poor and built up according to the tawdry fantasy of the good life that culturally deprived, uprooted people might have at the beginning of the industrial era. And the country looks it.”

Condescending as it may be, Sontag’s assertion continues to resonate. Even before Trump was elected, comedian John Mulaney, appearing on the Seth Myers Show, joked that “Donald Trump is not a rich man, Donald Trump is like what a hobo imagines a rich man to be,” complete with “fine golden hair,” “tall buildings with [his] name on it” and a “TV show where [he fires] Gene Simmons with [his] children.” Mulaney was riffing, but in the months since others have picked up the track, pointing to the garish nature of Trump’s gold-laden rooms and conspicuous consumption as the core of his appeal to those who have little or nothing. Viewed in light of Sontag’s observations about the constitutive realities of America, Trump’s ascendance looks less like an aberration. It is instead the expected trajectory of a historical reality wherein Sontag’s three unacknowledged facts continue to determine the national mythos. Paths, after all, cannot be changed without a reckoning.

It is unsurprising that the tumult of the present, our collective chagrin at what is to come, has provoked a turning back—a re-reading of those who have come before, catalyzed by the belief that this perusal of intellectual history, of catastrophe’s endured, can provide some faint blueprint for the formulation of an ethical and active dissent. Sontag was searching too in “What is Happening in America?” considering one and then another avenue for hope. But hope was for her in 1966, as it is for us in 2017, elusive. Sontag located it in the young people of her time, whom she believed “understand that the whole structure of modern American man needs re-hauling” and that if “America is the culmination of white Western civilization” then “there must be something terribly wrong with white Western civilization.”

In this last prognostication, seeking hope in a burgeoning, youth-led re-thinking of America among the generation “not drawn to the stale truths of their elders,” Sontag may have been wrong. The young of 1966 are the old and older of now, but their vision—that brave re-configuration promised by the sexual revolution and by a turn to eastern mysticism and non-western forms of knowledge—never came to fruition. They may have, in the heady moments of youth, rejected the “stale truths of their elders,” but ultimately the same stale truths have been resurrected again: a disregard for racial equality, an insidious belief in the supremacy of whiteness, a disdain for foreign others, and a persistent faith in violence loom over many American baby boomers.

In the same Art of Ficiton interview in which she accepted the “feminist” label, Sontag also confessed that she sometimes began essays with the first lines, but others with the last. In “What’s Happening in America?” it is the next to last line that rings out most clearly, suggesting that it was perhaps Sontag’s first, generative thought. “This is a doomed country, it seems to me,” she writes. “I only pray that when America founders it doesn’t drag the rest of the planet down too.” Many Americans will be murmuring a similar prayer today.

Were she alive, January 16, 2017 would have been Sontag’s 84th birthday, but in its proximity to political catastrophe, it would not likely have been a very happy one.

#action #activism #feminism #imperialism #susansontag #trump #politics #america #2017 #notmypresident

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meabhmcdonnell · 7 years

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Jane Villeneuva

Jane is the protagonist of the CW’s fantastic Jane the Virgin, a single mother, who is incredibly devoted to her family. The series kicks off with her being ‘accidentally, artificially inseminated’ leading to her unexpected pregnancy. Jane is a wonderful character to watch, optimistic and brave but grounded – she never becomes annoying. Jane is of course supported by a host of strong, brilliant women from her headstrong mother Xiomara, to her level=headed, forthright grandmother Alba. Jane’s decision to remain a virgin at the beginning of the series is unconventional, but she consistently uses her agency to make the decision for herself. She never judges other characters for their sex lives and makes her own decisions about her own. Jane faces multiple obstacles in her life but remains the strong, kind, forthright character we all love.

Imperator Furiosa

If you haven’t seen Mad Max Fury Road – then get out from under the rock you’ve been living under and relax into one of the most feminist movie spectacles of the last ten years. Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, is the short haired, one armed, prized driver of Immortan Joe’s fleet. She begins her story by breaking out his captured brides and escaping with them, headed for an Eden-like land of her childhood. Despite the movie’s name, she, not Mad Max, is it’s main character. She proves herself to be badass and strong and heroic. She takes the women away, determined to set them free. She does this without seeking reward or without any regard for her own safety. She is strong and resourceful, pushing the other characters forward and inspiring the wives to take up arms to defend their own freedom. She is the one who ultimately defeats Immortan Joe and returns to his citadel to claim victory for the citizens.

Martha Jones

Martha Jones, how we miss thee! One of our long time laments about Doctor Who is that Martha only received one season. Martha Jones was one of the best companions that the Doctor never noticed, and is one of the most impressive women to ever take the role. She accompanies David Tennant’s Doctor on some of his most iconic adventures – she meets Shakespeare, faces off against the Master and finds herself at the end of the world. She has a fantastic moment during the third series episode, The Family of Blood, where she proves her doctor’s credentials when she recites the name of every single bone in the human hand – a truly cheer-worthy moment. Martha is brave and resourceful and has one of the best, most assertive exits from the TARDIS and the Doctor’s life. She is one of the most heroic characters ever to grace Doctor Who – and deserves to be remembered as such!

Eowyn

I can’t write a list about feminist heroes and not include Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. I just can’t. Arwen and Galadriel are incredibly cool as well but I can remember being 12 years old, sitting in a cinema and watching Eowyn don her armour and sneak out as part of the Rohirrim. There are few more cheer-worthy moments than when she faces off against the Witch King of Angmar and defeats him by the very fact that she is a woman – delivering the immortal line “I am no man!”. Eowyn is the girl who was raised by men, who was taught how to fight and emerges as a ‘shield maiden’ of Rohan. In the book her constant need for war is replaced after her own healing for a need to heal others. This disappointed me as a child reading it, it felt like some of her fire was diluted. But she makes the decision herself and still has agency. Her decision to make something out of her life is a positive one, as it’s pointed out that she had planned to die in glory on the battlefield and now has to figure out how she is going to go on living her life. She’s still one of my favourite female characters and always will be- for her complexity and her strength and her adamance that no one will tell her who or what to be.

Rebecca Bunch

Rebecca Bunch is the bubbly, hard-working and anxiety-filled protagonist of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Rebecca is the girl who did everything right. She studied hard, she got the great job at a law firm in New York and despite all of this she was dreadfully unhappy. A chance meeting with her teenage ex boyfriend has her hop on a plane and move to his home town of West Covina California. Which, although it sounds like a ridiculous move, it’s exactly the one our Rebecca needs. West Covina becomes her home, where she makes new friends and even more bad decisions. It helps that she narrates her life through brilliantly written, thoughtful songs. Rebecca is a staunch feminist, and although she has trouble showing people that she cares, her principles towards other women are almost always on point. All of her female friendships feel genuine and are some of the best aspects of the show to watch. She is continually commenting on double standards for women and men and is an example of a successful woman who embraces her femininity. Rebecca may have problems in her personal life, but she is a smart and engaging character to watch and really feels like someone you might know.

Lady Eboshi

To be fair we could have listed most of the women in Studio Ghibli’s back catalog and we’d have an interesting list of complex, intelligent feminist characters but Lady Eboshi is one of the most interested in equal empowerment. Of course, so is Nausicaa of Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind. Lady Eboshi is painted as the antagonist of Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke but it’s her feminism and socialism that are her redeeming character traits. She is the leader of the newly built Irontown and has created an independent industrial community incorporating all people as workers. It’s mentioned that she ‘went around buying up the contracts of every brothel woman she could find’ and the women are incredibly loyal to her. They also are all hard workers in the iron plant. The lepers are her engineers, but she is certainly using them for her own ends. They’re all treated like equals by Lady Eboshi – although her equality doesn’t reach to the Princess of the film’s namesake. Lady Eboshi is a character who’s downfall is her pride and her arrogance but she is a staunch feminist and she does learn from her mistakes – eventually. She’s one of Ghibli’s more complex characters but she is also one of its richest, one of it’s most important.

Favourite fictional feminists: part two Jane Villeneuva Jane is the protagonist of the CW’s fantastic Jane the Virgin, a single mother, who is incredibly devoted to her family.

#cinders magazine #Crazy Ex Girlfriend #doctor who #eowyn #feminism #ficitonal feminists #furiosa #jane the virgin #lady eboshi #lord of the rings #mad max #martha jones #pop culture #princess mononoke #rebecca bunch

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