#he is a feminist without having the urge to spell it out

[msbhagirathi]

IPKKND HEART TO HEART CONVO-(1/n)

It was a nice Sunday morning. Arnav was laying on his bed lazily, half asleep, with his hands folded behind his head. Khushi was, fresh out of the shower, getting ready for the day.

Khushi (quietely inching towards the bed) : Arnavji...? Aap so rahe hain kya...?

Arnav (already squinting at her with sleepy eyes and ruffled hair) : Khushi tum mujhese 'ji'-'aap' karke kyun baat karti ho...? Maine tumse kaha hai na that you are my equal. Tum me aur mujhme koi difference nahi hai.

Khushi (a knowing smile on her face, sat down beside him) : Yeh toh aapka baddappan hai Arnavji, joh aap humse aisa keh rahe hain.( You are being modest, Arnavji.)

Khushi : Hum aapse aise baat isiliye karte hain kyunki hum aapka samman karte hain. Humari nazron mein aapka kad bohot uncha hai.

Khushi : Hum jaante hain ki aap humein apna baraabar maante hain. Lekin aap nahi jaante ki aap humein jaan-anjaane mein kitna kuch sikha dete hain. Aap bhale hi kehte ho ki aap bhagwan mein vishwas nahi rakhte par humne apni puri zindagi mein aapke jaisa, nek insaan, aaj tak nahi dekha hai, joh apne aap ko nastik (atheist) kehta ho.

Arnav : But Khu-

*She placed her index finger on his lips*

Khushi : Hum jaante hain ki aapko purani baatein yaad karne ka koi shauk nahi hai par aaj humein bolne dijiye Arnavji. Aap humesha humein chup kara dete hain par aaj hum bolenge aur aap sunenge.

Khushi : Aaj hum aapko batana chahte hain ki hum aapki itni izzat kyun karte hain.

Khushi : Hum samajhte hain ki aapke liye kisi par bharosa karna kitna mushkil hai. Humein ab samajh mein aata hai ki, aap par kya beeti hogi, jab aapko yeh laga ki, jis ladki se aap pyaar karte hain, usne aapki zindagi ke sabse ahem insaan ke saath, dhoka karne ki koshish ki hai.

Khushi : Beshak tab aapke paas hum par vishwas karne ki koi vajah hi nahi thi kyunki tab hum aapke liye koi nahi the.

*Arnav knew where this was going and closed his eyes to steel himself*

Khushi : Hum jaante hain ki, har roz aap apne aap ko koste (curse) honge. Aapko lagta hoga ki, na aap Di ki raksha kar paaye aur na hi aap, humari vajah se, humare liye, apne aap ko, rakshas banne se rok paaye. Aapne kabhi socha hi nahi hoga ki, jis ladki se aap itna pyaar karte hain uski, nazron mein aapko itna niche girna hoga, ki aap apne aap se bhi nazrein nahi mila payenge.

*Arnav slowly starting to get teary-eyed, turned his face away from her, to hide it*

Khushi : Hum jaante hai ki hum galat nahi the phir bhi humare saath galat hua par hum yeh bhi jaante hain ki aapko bhi utna hi jhelna para tha. Hum samajhte hain ki aapko kitni ghutan hui hogi. Chahte hue bhi aap hum par vishwas kar hi nahi paaye honge.

*She laid her head on his chest with tears rolling down her face*

*Arnav slowly starting to sob, placed his hands softly on the back of her head, caressing her hair gently*

Khushi (speaking through her shaky voice) : Hum jaante hain ki aapko kitna dard hua hoga, ki aap hum se kitna pyaar karte hain, ki aapne hum par vishwas kiya aur humein mauka diya, humare pyaar ko apnaya.

*She started crying bitterly, shaking, trembling against his chest*

*Fresh tears, big and hot, rolled down his face as he took in her words*

He gently pulled her upright, sat up and wrapped his arms around her tightly, eyes shut, tears flowing continuously, his body trembling with the weight of the emotions, that her words held.

****Both of them sobbed for several minutes, calmed down gradually****

Khushi (wiped her tears, sniffing) : Isiliye jab hum aapke pair chune ke liye jhukte hain, toh aap humein roka mat kijiye.

Arnav (wiping his tears, look at her, pursing his lips) : Theek hai. Lekin SIRF tumhare liye.

Khushi (grinned) : Wada kijiye humse! (extended her palm)

Arnav (held her hand, smiling) : I promise, Khushi. Tumhare liye, kuch bhi.

Khushi : Hum bhi na! Ek hi din aap chutti par ghar-pe hote hain aur woh bhi hum roh-dho ke barbaad kar rahe hain.

She stood up hurriedly to complete drying her hair with the towel and placed it on the recliner.

Arnav : Tum chah kar bhi mera waqt barbaad nahi kar paogi, Khushi. (Note- *cue* when he had said something similar but very different to La, in her intro epi)

He made his bed, hung the towel on his shoulder and walked to the bathroom.

Few minutes later....

Khushi (to Garima, smiling dreamily) : Amma, aapko pata hai! Humare Arnavji duniya ke sabse acche pati the, hain aur humesha rahenge....

So.....I tried this one in Hindi....shall I...umm...is it better in English..? I don't even know... Also I don't know if I am allowed to casually tag people here or not. But I wanna thank them as well...so..

Phati-Sari, Jalebi-weds-bluetooth, Paobhaji, chutkiandchotte, onadaanparindey, dimaagkadahi, kashmakash, arnavsinghraizada, laadgovernorandsankadevi, pakki-ya-nahin and all the other IPK fans as well..

Mentioning all of you here because I have huge amount of gratitude to all of you, in some way or the other, I owe you the entertainment that I have received and enjoyed from all of your content and that too for...um...FREE!?!?! I can never thank all of you enough for all that you have done and are still doing for us IPK kids. So, I am trying to do something close to what all of you have done... THank you from the bottom of my heart.

#ipkknd #arnav and khushi #arnav singh raizada #khushi kumari gupta #iss pyaar ko kya naam doon #My guru maas and paas y'all #i got inspired from them and their creations #want to pay a tribute for their contribution in feeding us(parched and starved souls) even after so many years #i iz thankphul to them #i iz lob them #wanna met and give them the tightest hug to them #damn the helplessness #okay so i wrote it becoz this is the reason why I never found- Khushi calling him as Arnavji and wanting to touch his feet- problematic #coz its out of the sheer respect that she has for him #its not due to any obligation nor any sign of patriarchy #she respects him a lot #and i also know that Arnav won't puff out with patriarchal thoughts #becoz his love for Khushi is the most supreme for him he would never think of himself as superior to her #coz he thinks she taught him to live again #he is a feminist without having the urge to spell it out #he is a man of actions he will show rather than scream out- I am a feminist. #This also explains why Khushi said the line mohabbat hi humara dharam hai #aur Arnavji humare bhagwan (probably said this in her head #Tell me - Hindi or English?

[amimimi]

sk8 boys would reacting to you pulling them in by their belt

synopsis: you pulling the sk8 babes in by their belts for a kiss

pairings: joe x reader, cherry x reader, reki x reader, langa x reader

warnings: kissing, suggestive themes, swearing

notes: not me just seeing this tiktok trend ...but thoughts are being thunk...❤️ also, i apologize in advance for any grammatical/spelling errors

word count: 1,930

JOE

this flirty ass b*tch 😒

he thinks he’s so smooth...and he is!

i see y’all bar hopping in the early talking stages of your relationship

so you’re seated the bar and you’re kinda annoyed because maybe there are a couple girls who come up to him and offer to buy him a drink? (of course they would, have you seen how he’s built?)

BUT THAT’S NOT EVEN THE BAD PART

this mf get’s up from his stool and starts FLIRTING BACK?? AND YOU’RE JUST SITTING THERE LIKE —🧍‍♀️

but then he turns back to you and see’s the displeased look on your face.

cue joe nervously laughing and gently shooing the other girls away

but you’re already pissed bc like? the nerve of him? and in front of you??

you stare straight past him, leaning your elbow up on the bar table as he stands in front of you. babbling out apologies(?)

if you can even call them that?

“babe, i’m sorry! you know it’s force of habit! i didn’t even get to see what they looked like! and they were being nice! what was I supposed to do? tell them to get gone? i was just being polite to them, i’m a feminist after all 😏—”

b*tch...what?

you feel like you’re getting dumber just listening to him

so you kinda tilt your head to look at him and let your hands settle on the front of his belt

his voice kinda tilts? like it slightly gets a just a bit higher ?

before he can even make a smart ass remark, you firmly tug him towards you and kiss him

he hums in surprise before chuckling into the kiss and bringing his warm, calloused hands up to your face

he pulls away and quickly pecks at your lips before playfully outing

“oof, so mean”

“but you like that” you reply before kissing him again

meanwhile, the bartender is watching yall like “😐😑😐”

REKI

like with joe, i imagine you pulling this stunt off in the beginning of your relationship

you and reki are in the little workshop behind his house doing normal relationship stuff

you know, reki working on a skateboard repair while you lovingly admire his side profile...yea ❤️

he’s so absorbed in his work, his eyebrows are furrowed every so slightly, and he’ll randomly clench his jaw and WOWOWOW HE LOOK SO GOOD!

you feel so blessed just being able to take this sight in

you’re watching him intently with your elbows propped up on the table and your face resting between your hands

reki’s in the middle of tightening the screws when he notices you looking out of his peripheral vision

he glances over to you and sees you staring at him

have y’all seen that meme of meghan markle at her wedding looking up at harry?

YEA, YEA you’re literally looking up at reki like that

and boy does reki get FLUSTERED

he tries to act cool about catching you staring but baby is blushing way too hard

“w-what?”, reki mentally kicks himself for stammering as he returns his focus to the skateboard

“you look really hot right now”

reki damn near chokes and his face gets even more red (if that’s even possible)

he turns his back to you to reach for a wrench on the wall adjacent to him

but he's trynna hide how hard he's blushing uwu

you're laughing now and the melodic sound makes the tension in reki’s shoulders dissipate

yea...y’all are whipped for each other

reki is pouting with his back to you, still “looking” for his wrench

when all of sudden, he feels your hands settle on his waist, urging him to turn around

"rekiiiiii", you playfully whine. "i can't admire my boyfriend?"

he's turning around to tell you that he's busy, but then your fingers hook onto his belt

and before his brain can compute what's happening, you're sharply tugging his belt and your mouth is on his, hot and heavy

and reki moans

and it's so high-pitched and so earnest and so loud, you almost want to giggle

but then his knees buckle and he kinda collapses forward into you

so y'all both kinda shuffle back, but reki manages to catch himself by wrapping his arms around you for support

you're about to pull away to ask if he's okay, but then he brings one hand up to your face and parts his mouth

and when you gasp against his mouth, he feels slightly relieved knowing his dignity has been saved somehow

reki pulls away first, panting, and rests his forehead against your collarbone, trying to hide his face again

"you suck" he murmurs into your chest, slightly dizzy

you hum contentedly, combing his hair back before kissing the top of his head

CHERRY

first of all, this mf is an aries (just when i thought he couldn’t get sexier)

and aries men...🥴

basically, you have to do a lot to actually fluster this man

so let’s say he takes you with him for a two-day work trip on a nearby island

while he works with his clients during the day, you busy yourself by wandering around the hotel or walking along the beach

basically, the only time the two of you have together is in the evening

it’s your last night before y’all have to return to okinawa

kaoru tells you to get dressed and takes you out to this expensive ass restaurant and he’s sooooo f*cking romantic

the love in his eyes,,,, his soft ass smile as he watches you ramble in between taking sips from your wine glass

he’s looking at you as you’re personally responsible for the sun rising each day

i mean, you could’ve been talking about how you saw a crab on the beach that was missing a leg, and kaoru would just be like “tell me more bby 🥰😍”

when y’all make it back to the hotel, you’re both a little tipsy (kaoru is more so buzzed)

you’re holding onto kaoru’s arm as you both take the elevator up to your hotel room

kaoru feels you slightly sway against him and he leans over to kiss the top of your head

“you alright, darling?” he murmurs into your hair

he takes your hand in his and runs the pad of his thumb over the back of your hand

and he does all of this while his lips are pressed against the top of your head— SIR PLS ✋😩

it’s an chaste act and you know he’s genuinely concerned but after two glasses of wine, your brain is just—🥴

hornknee thoughts only 😩💯

sloppily, you wiggle out of kaoru’s embrace before centering yourself in front of him with your hands placed on his chest

at your action, kaoru’s eyebrow raises ever so slightly but he keeps silent, slightly amused

“you’re so f*cking fine” you murmur, slightly smoothing your hands over kaoru’s chest, staring him right in eye

“oh?”

“yea, and you don’t even try. What’s that like?”

by now, kaoru’s softly smiling. “what’s what like, my love?”

“what’s it like to be so hot without even trying?”

and before ol boy can even reply to that, your hands find his belt before firmly pulling him in for a kiss

kaoru hums at the sudden jolt but then sighs appreciatively through his nose and wastes no time parting his mouth for you

b*tch, you’re the one who’s moaning skxhsnwje

still kissing you, he smooths your hair back with one hand before grabbing a fistful of your hair

he firmly yanks your hair back and deepens the kiss, and you just— 🤸‍♀️

the moan that elicits from you, is OTHERWORLDY

you feel the elevator roll to a stop

kaoru pulls back with a grin on his face and so much love in his eyes that you’re tempted to go in for round two

but then the elevator door slides open and he grabs your hand, tugging you into the hallways

as he leads you to the hotel room, kaoru slightly turns his head back to smile at you, with the same amount of love in his eyes

LANGA

i feel like langa may get flustered as easily as reki might, but he’s manages to be a lot more cool about it

which kinda drives you up the wall? you just wanna see your boyfriend embarrassed for once

all he does is slightly blush with a straight face and glance away

so let’s say he’s walking you home after you, him, and reki were hanging about at a skatepark

the sun had already set and langa is walking beside you with his skateboard under one arm.

the walk is pretty silent, but it’s a comfortable silence. langa finds that he and you can soak up each other’s presence without having to say a word

you see him jolt out of your peripheral vision and you’re like ???

before you can glance over and ask if he’s okay, he quickly grabs your hand

you glance up at him, confused, and he simply replies “i forgot to hold your hand, sorry”

langa wtf??

fighting back the urge to laugh, you squeeze his hand and tell him it’s fine

both of you share a soft smile, before the easy silence continues for the rest of the walk

when y’all arrive on your porch steps, you turn to him and thank him for walking you home

langa assures you it’s no problem before saying goodnight

he’s turns around and takes a couple steps away, when you clear your throat

he glances back at you, quizzically

you’re standing on the porch step, with your hands behind your back.

there’s a mischievous glint in your eyes

“aren’t you forgetting something?” you playfully chide him

langa: 😐😑😐

you can literally see the gears turning in langa’s head

“...did you want me to walk you to your bedroom?”

you can’t help the laughter that bubbles out of you, and langa feels his cheeks reddened slightly

“angel, no. I meant a goodnight kiss?”

“o-oh, right”

his brows furrowed slightly as he determinedly making his way over to you

he’s so—&:&72737

as he’s making his way over, an idea pops into your head and you kinda “>:3”

when langa is standing in front of you, your hands grip onto his belt and you yank him into a kiss

bby boy almost drops his skateboard

he quickly inhaled through his nose before giving a stuttered moan and you smile into the kiss

you’re standing on the first step to your porch so the added height is giving you more access

BITE HIS MFIN LIP! he will gasp so prettily into your mouth

entranced, he keeps leaning more and more forward, that is, until the back of your foot hits the step behind you

stumbling backwards, you fall back and pull langa along right with you

you fall right on your ass, yelping as you knock foreheads with langa as he falls into you

so now, you’re both left moaning, gripping your foreheads

“are you okay?” langa asks you, dropping his hand from his forehead revealing a red mark

you begin to laugh at the sight of it and langa just stares at you, confused but slightly defensive

“w-what?!”

“your forehead is red” you giggle

“well yea, you slammed your forehead into mine”

“you slammed your forehead into mine” you give him a quick peck on his lip before smoothing his hair hair back

“that looks like it’s gonna bruise,” you murmur and press a kiss to his forehead “I’ll get you some ice, come inside”

end notes: i wanted to get this out in time for cherry’s bday!

#sk8 the infinity x reader #joe x reader #reki x reader #cherry blossom x reader #langa x reader #sk8 the infinty

[coccinelle-et-chaton]

come get ya miraculous juice

If your thirst for lukanette and slow burn adrinette cannot possibly wait for season 4, Chapter 10 of The Wall Between Us is up on AO3! 

Or read in Tumblr below the cut

Chapter 10

“Aw, come on Luka, don’t be like this,” Albin said, swinging an arm around his neck.

“I’m not being like anything,” Luka protested as he and his group of friends made their way out of the metro station and towards Place de la Concorde. “I’m just saying I don’t feel like coming to a demonstration.”

“So, what would you rather be doing today instead, hm? Stay locked up in your room like an emo kid? Besides, the weather is great today and you know Margot will hang us by our heads if we don’t show up.”

Luka sighed and remitted to walk along, which pleased Albin.

Luka’s friends had been very adamant on helping him out of the house as often as possible since his breakup with Marinette. They knew that, left to his own devices, Luka would close up and keep to himself. He wasn’t the kind of guy that readily shared when something bothered him, he was more the type that had to be squeezed like an orange for him to share his mind when he was feeling low. However, this was not the reason why Luka had put up more of a fight than it was usually his style. It had been almost a week since the breakup and he had managed to keep out of trouble with Hawkmoth, but he attributed his success to a lot of calm evenings and just processing everything his own way.

As much as he supported the cause and his friend Margot, he could see how participating in a demonstration could get him riled up, especially if some asshole showed up. And he’d attended enough demonstrations during his lifetime to know that there was always some asshole showing up.

The trio of boys made their way to the organizers’ tent, where Margo kept busy readying cardboard signs. Without as much as a quick glance upwards and a smile, she said, “Oh good, you’re here. Help me with these, please. Paint is on the table over there.” She handed a couple of cardboard pieces to each of the boys and left them to their own devices.

Luka wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with these. His creativity didn’t exactly lie in the visual department. That was always more a thing for...

He shook his head and proceeded to grab some random paint and brushes for Albin, Noe, and himself. As he turned around, he accidentally knocked a container of black paint on the person behind him waiting their turn.

“What the heck! Watch it!” the girl exclaimed.

“Shit,” he hissed. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Let me help you clean-- Kagami?”

It took him a couple seconds to recognize who she was. It had been almost a year since he had last seen her. There was an air to her that made it evident she had changed a lot during that time, but it was also obvious in her appearance. She had cut her hair shorter than before and she had now several piercings on her ears. She seemed to have also shed her preppy outfits in favor of high-waisted mom jeans and a black crop top. Besides her appearance, Luka could  just tell this was the type of girl who wouldn’t take crap from anyone, even more than before. It was a bit… daunting. He did always wonder how someone as intimidatingly sure of herself ended up with someone like Adrien.

“Luka,” she said deadpan.

“You... look very different.”

She gave him a dirty look. “Really? You come to a feminist demonstration and the first thing you do is comment on my appearance?”

Luka blushed with embarrassment. “No, no, no! Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! You just-- in general. You look different in general.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Thanks for ruining my pants, by the way. They weren't my favorite or anything,” she said sarcastically, then stopped, looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Marinette, anyway? Maybe she knows some way to take the stain off.”

Luka clutched his painting utensils and gulped. He had tried to steer away from the subject as much as possible to reduce his risk of getting akumatized, but he supposed there wasn’t much of a way to evade it right now.

“We, uh... we broke up a few days ago.”

“Oh.” Kagami perked up, suddenly aware how her question might have been a little insensitive. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah.”

“Not that it’s my business, but how are you doing? After your akumatization and so on?”

“I didn’t get akumatized,” he said, suddenly defensive, as an urge to get back to his friends built up.

“Really?” Kagami said, a bit surprised.

“Yes, really.”

“I always had the impression you were super into her,” she commented, but mostly to herself.

“I am--I was,” he said, getting angry.

“I got akumatized into this nightmarish monster when Adrien and I broke up and it turned out it didn’t take me so much to get over him.”

“That has absolutely nothing to do with it,” he retorted, evidently irked.

“No, no. Of course not,” she hurried to say, realizing she had unintentionally pushed his buttons. “I just meant to say props to you. Lesser people get akumatized for the weather or something like that. Sorry for the stupid comparison.

“Sure. Whatever…”

“... Anyway,” Kagami said, sighing. “I guess we’ve made this sufficiently awkward, right? So, I’ll get going.”

Luka marched back to his friends and unceremoniously dumped the materials at the center of their little circle as tried to calm himself down.

He tried to focus on getting something into his sign but the fact he was stuck doing something Marinette usually loved to do was not helping in the slightest.

He breathed heavily, his eyes prickling him as hot, angry tears pooled and then fell onto the cardboard.

“I need some fresh air,” he announced to his friends, who had noticed his mood but had not said anything yet and watched as he stormed outside.

He paced around, taking deep breaths. The anxiety of not being able to calm down mixed with the fear of getting akumatized, was like kindling soaked in gasoline being thrown into a starting fire. And, as wildfires do, it burst out of control.

Luka gasped for air and then, with horror saw as the black butterfly approached him. He sprinted back to the tent where his friends were but by the time he got there, the butterfly had already lodged in the paintbrush he was holding.

The voice of his friends urging him not to give into the spell was faint and distant in his ears, but enough to keep him steady.

The first thing he noticed is that this akumatization felt different. He's was still aware of everything. He hadn’t been completely akumatized yet. Hawkmoth held him in his petrifying grasp but stalled, as if deciding what to turn him into.

Suddenly, his grave voice echoed inside his head.

“What is it that you want, Luka Couffaine?”

“Get out of my head,” Luka hissed, focusing as hard as he could on not thinking of anything that would reveal the secrets he knew.

Hawkmoth laughed. “But you called me here. Your emotions... I can tell you’re a soul in pain. You lost something. I can relate to that pain.” Luka felt how Hawkmoth snaked through his thoughts, looking for something to convince him. A flash of a thought, and Hawkmoth knew he was hiding something.

“GET OUT!” he screamed in his head.

He laughed again. “Oh? And what secrets might you be keeping? Hm?”

Luka winced, straining to keep thinking of random things: music, the weather, that weird bench at school that wobbles when he sits and how he hates it. Anything.

“I can help you recover what you lost...” he whispered softly. “Your girlfriend… Don’t you want her back? What is her name? I can help you. I promise I won’t hurt her.”

He felt himself slipping, turning.

“No!” he said, reverting back into his human form. “Let me go!”

“Maybe what you want is revenge on him? The reason she abandoned you? You’re not worthy like him, are you? That’s why she left you… But I can make you worthy… Wouldn't you want to be in his place, hm? Wouldn’t everything be better with that pesky boy of the way?”

Again, Luka felt himself morph and forced himself to think of other things. He tried reciting stupid facts he knew about ship maintenance.

“Get out of my head!” he exclaimed, sounding much weaker.

“Your power of will is very commendable,” Hawkmoth said. “But if I’m overstaying my welcome all you need to do is tell me what you want.”

“N-no!” Luka said, straining and screaming. “GET OUT!”

“If you--”

Suddenly the contact broke, and he collapsed onto the ground. The world went dark.

When Luka regained consciousness, he did so with a jolt. He was surrounded by his friends, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and surprisingly enough, Kagami.

He had an ungodly headache and realized blood had dried on his upper lip. His nose must have bled.

“Give him some space,” Ladybug ordered the crowd, seeing as Luka was struggling to gather his bearings. He didn’t know what particular panic to tackle first.

“What happened?” he asked, noticing they were not under the tent anymore and the gathering crowd that was preparing for the demonstration had dissipated.

“You got akumatized,” Ladybug explained, a bit surprised she had to fill him in on that particular point.

“Or rather, were about to akumatized,” Chat Noir said, trying to help his confused expression.

“You kept changing into different things. Like, you were getting akumatized on and off again,” Albin explained. “It was pretty scary.”

He turned to Ladybug with horror realizing what that meant. “You need to take me out of here,” he urged.

“Please!”

“Just take it easy for a second, okay?” Ladybug said, trying her best not to share Luka’s worry. “We’ll take you home in a minute.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir had not been present for most of the incident, so they stayed to talk to the people that had seen the attack, mainly Luka’s friends and Kagami.

Chat Noir was the one to interview them while Ladybug found some water for Luka to drink. Once everyone had calmed down and gave Chat Noir their testimony, they took Luka away to a secluded place to talk. It was the abandoned industrial section where Chat usually led Akumas.

“He knows,” he said, with absolute terror in his voice, Luka said pacing around, trying his best to contain his tears. “He knows that I know something! He saw that I was hiding something. I’m so sorry, Ladybug. I tried but he--he was in my mind and saw--.” His voice broke down.

For a reason unknown to Chat, Ladybug suddenly assumed the same urgency as Luka.

“Did he see?” she asked as Luka cried. “Luka, did he see?”

“See what?” Chat Noir asked, with escalating worry. “What is going on?”

“He didn’t. That’s why I kept changing, he tried to convince me several times,” said Luka. “But he knows that I’m keeping a secret.”

Ladybug covered her mouth with her hands.

“Would somebody please just care to explain what is going on?” Chat demanded.

“You didn’t tell him?” Luka said with disbelief.

“Luka, I need you to tell me exactly everything you remember. What happened?” Ladybug said, ignoring the question.

“Nothing. He just… he figured that I… lost someone. And he was trying to get me to tell him who it was, and to convince me to try to get them back, or to get revenge. I managed to focus my thoughts, but what if he tries again,” Luka said fearfully. “You were right,” he sobbed. “I shouldn’t have—I should’ve just looked away that day! I wish I never knew about this.”

Despite Chat’s presence, Ladybug could only comfort Luka with a hug, not knowing what else to do. Chat, on the other hand, seemed to have put two and two together. Luka knew Marinette’s identity.

“Oh my god…” Chat muttered with disbelief as he leaned against the metal sliding door of one of the warehouse buildings and fell to the floor. He grabbed chunks of his hair just to process what all of this meant, what to feel first. His father was only an akumatization away from figuring out Marinette.

“Luka, I promise you I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? We will come up with a plan, Chat Noir and me. But for now, I need to you to lay as low as possible. We cannot be seen together anymore. At all. If Hawkmoth is the person Chat and I suspect he is, he could be very close to finding out who I am if he makes the connection that we were together. Erase everything. Everything we ever posted on our social media, messages, calls, anything that might be public evidence. Try to have Juleka do the same.”

Luka contemplated the prospect for a moment. Ladybug knew she was thinking exactly the same thing as him: how devastating it will be to have to pretend that nothing ever happened. To actively destroy their memories together.

“Okay,” he said after a while. “And what if I get akumatized again? I don’t think I’ll be able to hold him off for any longer than I did today.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ladybug said. “That’s for us to figure out. Your only task is to pretend like you don’t know us, for your own sake.”

They sent Luka back home on a cab that Marinette called through her burner phone, leaving a heavy sense of danger looming between Chat and Ladybug. He was still on his spot on the ground, with his head on his hands as he supported his arms on his knees.

Ladybug sighed and slid down to sit next to him.

“You told him?”

“I’ve only ever told Alya. He found out by accident,” she said, already defensive and prepared for the argument that was bubbling up between them. “He also knows who you are.”

Chat’s stomach dropped. “Come again?”

“He was hiding in the same alley you transformed in one day.”

Chat let out a heavy sigh and swore loudly.

“You knew about this and you didn’t think to tell me?” he asked Ladybug.

Ladybug was in complete silence. She didn’t know what to say. “I—“

“You what?” Chat demanded.

“I— I meant to tell you next time we met,” she said. “I didn’t think—“

“You didn’t think to tell me that the boyfriend you just broke up with and was very much at risk of being akumatized knows who we are?” he exclaimed with frustration.

“I just—“ Ladybug tried to come up with an explanation, but the words kept getting stuck on her throat. Chat was right to be mad. She should have told him as soon as she found out. But everything had been so much, with him disappearing and Luka suddenly breaking up with her that, in a moment of weakness, him knowing her identity had been the least of her worries.

“What were you thinking?” Chat demanded. “Ladybug, I told you I’m close to the Agreste family!”

“I’m sorry!” she yelled. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think—I was… I was so distracted by everything going on that I never thought… I meant to tell you! But then all this stupid teenage drama got in the way! He broke up with me literally the day after you and I talked. That’s when he told me. I meant to tell you Chat Noir, I swear. I just...” she sighed. “I’m so stupid!”

She knocked the back of her head on the metal wall that they were leaning against. “This was the kind of mistake I wanted to evade by telling someone! And it still happened… No matter what I do, nothing ever seems to be enough.”

She was angry at herself, at the situation, at the fact that no matter how hard she tried, she was still not a good enough Guardian.

“We still have time to fix this,” he said, a lot calmer and even with hints of reassurance in his voice. “We need to use our upper hand before Hawkmoth gets a chance to get his,” said Chat. “I can get a hold of his personal calendar. We can attack when he least expects it.”

“How are you going to do that, Chat? Let me go with you,” Ladybug said, worried.

Chat shook his head. “I’ll do it as a civilian.”

“The more reason!”

“No, Ladybug. If anything goes wrong and he sees you there, he’ll be able to figure everything out. Trust me. I promise I will be careful.”

“But--”

“Marinette, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you,” Chat Noir said, his voice cracking and evidencing the whirlwind of emotions he had been trying to hide from her. “Please, just let me do this. Please, my lady.”

“Okay,” she said quietly. “But promise me you’ll be careful. And you’ll tell me when you do it. Please, promise me you’ll tell me.”

“I will.”

The clicking of Natalie’s heels as she entered the office disturbed the soft classical music playing in the background.

“Here’s the schedule for tomorrow, sir,” she said, placing a thin stack of papers on Gabriel’s desk. “Your flight to Helsinki is expected to arrive at nine a.m. and your first meeting is at ten, as you requested.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Natalie,” Gabriel said, without taking his sight off his screen.

Natalie nodded, heading to her desk.

“One more thing while I am absent, Natalie.”

“Yes, sir?”

Gabriel zoomed into the picture of the article he had been reading. The photographer had managed to capture the teenager he had akumatized looking urgently at Ladybug, who seemed to reciprocate his concern.

“Make sure to find out everything you can about this... Luka Couffaine.”

#coccinelle writes #the wall between us #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fanfic #ml #ml fanfic #love square #slowburn #adrinette #ladrien #marichat #ladynoir #lukanette #very short-lived adrigami #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #luka couffaine #kagami tsurugi #alya cesaire #ladybug #chat noir

[tuanyiems]

Fuck the Patriarchy

Fuck the Patriarchy [m] Jinyoung x Fem Reader Genre: fluff, smut Words: 1.6k [Masterlist] Plot: Established Relationship AU! Things get heated between you and your boyfriend but you become overcome with embarrassment. Jinyoung tries to convince you to let him take care of you. Warning: Nothing crazy. Oral (fem. receiving). Just Jinyoung being the mans we all need in our life. a/n – I finished! Wrote this one for you Nik! lol @jinyoungmoans​ I promised you a Jinyoung smut so here it is, made it extra fluffy just to mess with you haha

-

“You know, I kinda need you to remove your hands for this to go anywhere,” your boyfriend chuckled, hands squeezing your thighs softly as he pushed himself back up from between your legs.

You shook your head bashfully, cheeks heating up as you looked away from the lovely view of his abs and to the white ceiling of your bedroom instead. “I-I’m embarrassed!”

Jinyoung smiled to himself as you laid beneath him, your bare chest heaving with exasperation as you turned your head, pressing into the pillow beside you with eyes squeezed shut. Just the sight of your naked body in front of him was making him hard in his jeans but still, your hands remained stubbornly cupped around your mound. How you managed to be both drop-dead sexy and impossibly adorable all at once was beyond him.

Jinyoung resisted the urge to pinch your cheeks. Instead, he squeezed your thighs once more, rubbing soft circles against your inner thigh just the way he knew you liked.

“Babe,” you whined, already feeling your body melt at his touch. You opened your eyes to look at him again. “Don’t you wanna be inside me?”

“Oh, we’ll get to that. You go down on me but I can’t go down on you? How is that fair?” Jinyoung let out a soft pout, his lips jutting out slightly as he eyed you. You rolled your eyes as he stubbornly stuck to his point.

“It’s just…weird,” you muttered.

Jinyoung raised a brow. “Is it weird or is it internalized misogyny?”

You broke into a giggle, letting go of your hand barrier to slap Jinyoung on his thigh. “Are you trying to have a discussion about the patriarchy right now?”

He let out a laugh, eyes crinkling as he pushed his hair back. He looked back at you with a glint in his eyes as he settled himself on top of you, chest against yours as his arms cradled your head, holding himself up so enough of his weight was off you. He gave you a mischievous smile before pressing his lips on yours.

“Maybe,” he answered lowly against your lips.

You smiled, running your fingers through the back of his hair. “Then boy are you getting better at your sex talk.”

You watched with satisfaction as Jinyoung let out another airy chuckle.

“Thank Feminist Theory 101,” he smiled, pressing another kiss to your lips. “But you know I have a point right? Why are you so shy about me eating you out?”

You looked away, feeling your face heat up at just his words. “I don’t know…Just-just the idea of your face so close…It’s not a pretty sight, Jinyoung. I guess I just don’t want you to look too closely at my ugly sides.”

Jinyoung only smiled in disbelief, shaking his head at your way of thinking. “And you think my dick isn’t? Babe, genitals are just genitals, they’re not supposed to be good looking.”

You scrunched your nose, arching an eyebrow his way. “I don’t know, Jinyoung, as far as penises go, I think yours is pretty handsome.”

He scoffed, making you erupt in giggles again. “You must be really whipped for me, huh?”

You smiled softly at this, pressing a sweet kiss to his jaw line before whispering, “Did you just notice?”

Jinyoung felt a fluttering in his chest at the sound of your voice, soft and tickling and so full of love. He wondered how he got so lucky.

Jinyoung pressed his forehead to yours, looking into your eyes as if silently beckoning you. “But you won’t let me return the favor. I just want to make you feel good too.”

He leaned into you slowly, lips touching yours lightly before he was pulling your bottom lip between his own, sucking you in and massaging the area with his tongue. You closed your eyes, allowing your tongue to meet his and the two of you took turns searching each other’s mouths like a practiced routine. It brought warmth straight to your core and you couldn’t help the moan you let out, muffled against his lips.

But as if the sound broke his own spell, Jinyoung pulled away, pressing on his arms to raise himself off your chest. He stared back at you seriously.

“I really want to show you how good it feels to be eaten out, but if you don’t want to, I’ll stop pushing,” he spoke up. You watched as his eyes searched your own, carefully and sincerely.

You held his gaze, a smile tugging at your lips at his seriousness. When you first met, his serious attitude used to scare you, but now it had become a part of him that you treasured. You were grateful to have such a caring boyfriend, especially during times like these. You were glad Jinyoung was patient with you and so willing to work through your insecurities even if it meant delaying his own pleasure.

“Let’s give it a try,” you finally answered.

You watched as his face broke out into a wide smile, eyes crinkling with lines of joy as he pushed himself fully off of you and back to his position in front of your entrance.

Jinyoung pushed your thighs further apart before reaching his hands out towards yours. You intertwined them easily, feeling the natural calm that filled you at the touch of his warm palm against yours.

“Remember you can stop at any time,” he added.

“I know,” you spoke softly, giving his fingers a squeeze as you smiled at him. “I trust you.”

He smiled, warmth filling his chest at your words. He pressed another kiss on your inner thigh before moving back to your lips.

Despite your trust in Jinyoung though, you couldn’t help holding your breath in anticipation as he moved closer to your entrance. You watched as your boyfriend bit at his lip, eyes darkening as he stared hungrily at you. It made you feel both shy and overwhelmingly loved.

He really did look excited to do this.

He glanced up one last time before he gave a tentative lick up your folds. You took in another inhale at the sensation.

And then all at once he was pressing lips down, tongue diving between your folds and circling around your clit. It sent shivers through your whole body.

“Fuck,” you exhaled harshly, squeezing his fingers firmly against yours.

“Mmm,” Jinyoung hummed with satisfaction against you and it sent a thrill straight to your core.

You bit at your lip, face hot from how embarrassingly good you were feeling so quickly. It showed in the way you couldn’t hide your moans.

But Jinyoung rubbed his thumbs against your hand reassuringly as he continued his ministrations through your folds.

“Ahh,” you gasped lightly as he sucked on your clit, humming against you as he did so, making it feel even better than it already did.

“Oh god, Jinyoung,” you moaned, feeling a cold sweat beginning to form as the tension continued to build in your core.

You squeezed your eyes shut, savoring the feeling of Jinyoung’s tongue flicking through your folds and pressing with just the right amount of pressure against your clit. You could barely think. You wanted to cry with how good this felt.

As he sucked against your clit once more, you felt your legs shaking involuntarily at how good he was making you feel.

“Ah, Jinyoung!” you yelled out, feeling a tightening in your core.

Jinyoung pulled away with a smirk, making you open your eyes wide with shock as if he had just punched the air out of you.

“Babe,” you whined.

He chuckled smugly, letting go of your hands to hold onto your thighs instead. “So did you enjoy being eaten out?”

You rolled your eyes, your lips jutting in a pout. “Babe, can your survey wait until after we’re done?”

He smiled, pressing a kiss to your mound. “Somebody’s impatient.”

“Babe, please!” you let out another whine, arching your pelvis up as if chasing his lips. “I was so close!”

Jinyoung chuckled softly at your begging before obliging without further teasing. How could he say no when you were asking so politely?

You let out a sigh of relief once his tongue was back on you, tasting you eagerly and sending your eyes back in pleasure. You shivered softly, feeling the tension in your core build quickly once more. You squeezed your eyes shut, feeling his grip on your left thigh tighten and his right hand left your other thigh.

“Oh fuck!” you moaned out loud as you felt two of his fingers ease through your entrance and into you. Your legs shook with pleasure as Jinyoung sucked harshly against your clit and

curled his two fingers against your soft flesh, hitting right on your g-spot.

You groaned, toes curling, fingers clenching against the bedsheet, your eyes squeezing at the tension squeezing in your abdomen.

“Babe!” you moaned as you squeezed against his fingers. “I’m gonna cum! I’m cumming!”

You let out a cry as your core tightened and your pussy clenched against Jinyoung. A hot sensation released throughout your body until you were seeing spots behind your lids.

Jinyoung smiled with satisfaction, fingers still attempting to rub through your high despite how impossibly tight you were around him. He took in a deep inhale, loving the smell and taste of your orgasm on his tongue, straight from the source.

He licked you clean until you were back from your high and pushing his head away from the oversensitivity.

He grinned, rising on his knees and looking down on you with an arrogant look in his eyes.

“Ready to take the survey now?”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help the smile on your lips. “Can a girl catch her breath first?”

“Nope,” he snapped back, a dark look back in his eyes as he unbuckled his belt. “That was just foreplay, Babe.”

#got7creators #got7 imagines #got7 scenarios #got7 reactions #park jinyoung smut #got7 jinyoung #kpop scenarios #kpop reactions #kpop imagines #kpop smut #fluff

[celestial-depths]

Harry Potter has always been much less progressive than its fandom: a retrospective

In June 2020, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling decided to use her platform to devalue trans people by ridiculing a headline with trans-inclusive language and going on to spout hateful nonsense like insisting that recognizing trans women as real women makes the experiences of cis women somehow less valid. I’m not going to repeat her baseless arguments here because I’m not really interested in picking them apart, as more qualified commentators than me have already done that, and doing so would be like throwing rocks at a house of cards anyway. Instead, I want to reflect on the fan reaction to her statements. The response has been overwhelmingly negative, with many fans expressing feelings of disappointment and surprise over her choice to further vilify a group of people who are already marginalized and vulnerable to violence and discrimination. I was disappointed, too, but, sadly, not surprised. Not because this isn’t the first time in recent history when Rowling has aligned herself with TERFs, but because I think her writing and interviews have always suggested that her politics are way more regressive and conservative than what most of her fans may have assumed. Me and Harry Potter go way back. I’m in my thirties now, and I remember reading the first two books at the age of eleven, just before the global Harry Potter hype had really taken off. In fact, I may have been among the last wave of readers who got to start the series without the faintest idea what the books were even about. At the time, I had a habit of reading books without checking out the blurbs first because I enjoyed the feeling of diving into a story and being taken completely by surprise, so I didn’t even know that wizards were involved when I started reading. I couldn’t have been at more perfect an age to discover the books. For pre-teen readers like me, they were the perfect mix of escapism and relatability. It was wild adventures and magic combined with the everyday reality of a school-aged child, which is probably why I felt more connected to it than I did with other fantasy books I also enjoyed, such as The Lord of the Rings. Harry would learn spells and fight dragons in one chapter and worry about homework and making friends in the next one, which was why it was always easier for a kid like me to daydream about going to Hogwarts than it was to imagine fighting orcs in Middle-Earth (sidenote: this is also why I was never a big fan of the HP movies; they kept the exciting highlights but they left out the slice-of-life parts, which instantly made them seem less relatable to me). My generation also got to grow up with the series. I read the first book at 11, and the final one was released when I was 19, so I was always roughly the same age as Harry during my first read of each book. But by the time I read that final chapter, I was no longer as enamored with the series as I used to be – not because I’d grown bored with the series, but because its politics had started to worry me over the years. I didn’t like the story it was telling between the lines, and I certainly didn’t like the note it ended on. I wasn’t really involved in the fandom during my first years of being a fan of the series, but I did step into it around the time Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. I was fifteen, I was extremely excited about the release of the first new HP book in three years, and I soon found myself spending hours in fan message boards speculating about future plot twists and discussing my favorite characters. The fandom had its flaws – you don’t know the meaning of the word “petty” unless you’ve witnessed the absolutely brutal fights adult human beings in the HP fandom had over their Hermione Granger shipping preferences – but overall the community was inclusive and open-minded. The fans were a diverse bunch of people who generally seemed to agree that the world of HP was as progressive as they were, since the main message most of them picked up from the books was that one should not discriminate anyone based on the qualities they were born with. I agreed with that reading of the books for a long time, but as I grew up I began to pay closer attention to what the books were actually depicting and what it was leaving out altogether, and I eventually started to wonder whether the series was progressive as it was made out to be. The story was seemingly preaching a message of inclusion, yet all the characters were straight (no, Dumbledore doesn’t count because his sexual orientation was never brought up in the books), cis, and able-bodied, and non-white characters were barely there. What is there to be inclusive about when there’s hardly any real diversity among the very, very vast cast of characters, especially not among the main heroes? Moreover, HP’s way of using non-human characters as metaphors for discrimination yielded very questionable results. The series used house-elves as a metaphor for slavery, yet it ends with the conclusion that the enslavement of house-elves was only wrong when they were treated cruelly, and that they actually preferred slavery to freedom, which was why Hermione was depicted as being silly for fighting for their emancipation. That’s a load of yikes. Werewolves, the series’ metaphor for the HIV positive, were violent, tragic, and uncontrollable, which is... also not great. And don’t even get me started on the books’ take on goblins, who bore extremely uncomfortable resemblance to antisemitic caricatures. The series built a hierarchy between species and used it to address real-life inequality between groups of people, but it never dismantled or even properly questioned that hierarchy, In fact, the biases towards and unequal treatment of other species was ultimately made to seem natural and right. So, there’s that. The books were also littered with awful fatphobia, which doesn’t comply with the anti-discrimination message by any means, and the apparent importance of personal choices and accomplishments got lost by the final two books. For instance, the penultimate book explores Voldemort’s origins and concludes that he was simply born evil, either because he lacked a mother’s love or because he was born from a loveless union (a rape, if we’re being specific, though the books doesn’t recognize it as such, and that’s a whole another can of problematic worms). I don’t even have the time to unpack all the twisted ideas about gender roles that plot point suggests, but my main point here is that it seems like Voldemort never chose to be evil, and apparently neither did his followers, as most of them seem to be villains because they were sorted into Slytherin, or that they were sorted into Slytherin because they were already villainous. At the age of 11. Even the two Slytherins who actively choose to do the right thing in the end (Draco and Snape) do so out of cowardice (Draco) or selfishness (Snape). Meanwhile, as the series progresses Harry’s goodness is less and less predicated by his actions and more based on the virtue of simply being the Chosen One, all the way up to the point where Harry ends up resorting to torture and mind-control – two of the three “unforgivable“ acts as determined by a previous installment in the series – and suffering absolutely no consequences, because he is the hero and nothing the hero does can be bad. The world of Harry Potter, which steers towards being morally ambiguous around the midpoint of the series, ends up being disappointingly black-and-white and deterministic by the end. Choice ends up having very little to do with anything. And then there’s the gender issue, which bothered me most of all. The series exhibits very old-fashioned and restrictive gender roles without ever really questioning them, throws around casual sexism, and it paints a really appalling picture of femininity through its overly sentimental, subservient, frivolous female characters, whose only motivation for doing anything is far too often devotion to a male character or their children, and who are always defeated by their pesky female emotions. Rowling is a self-declared feminist, and I distinctly remember this one writing of hers where she was congratulating herself for championing characters like Hermione Granger over characters like Pansy Parkinson, and that’s her view of feminism I guess? Putting down one female character in favor of another? Pitting women up against each other, urging them to be good girls instead of bad girls – doing all that instead of paying attention to the structural, cultural, ideological reasons why gender expectations and inequality are harmful? Honestly, I don’t think that HP is pro-women at all; the female characters lack agency and are constantly sidelined in favor of male characters, and the series valorizes a very narrow view of womanhood that’s obsessively centered around motherhood and sacrifice.   Overall, the HP series seem to idealize this aesthetically and ideologically old-timey view of society where the world is unrealistically white and straight, and where static hierarchies prevail. The story does not end in a revolution, rebellion, or reform because the story isn’t really about progression; it’s about following traditions and preserving pre-existing power structures. The epilogue of the series really hammers down this point: in the final chapter, the main characters have grown up, married their (white) childhood sweethearts, assumed the roles and biases of their parents and named their kids after their dead relatives, joyfully returning to the origin point of a cycle that brought death and destruction into their world as if there was never anything wrong with that cycle to begin with. So, yeah. I’m not really shocked to see J.K. Rowling expressing awful opinions about trans people because the world of HP was already built upon a whole bunch of awful, traditionalist ideas. As a teen, I’d been read the series through the hopeful lens of my own set of values, but by the time that final book was released, I’d become disillusioned with Rowling and the series, and I no longer took HP for the forward-looking, inclusive story I had made it up to be. I didn’t stop liking certain aspects of the books, but I did stop thinking of Rowling as someone to look up to. For some time, I hoped that Rowling was simply misguided and that she would eventually listen, learn, and rethink. But she keeps proving herself as someone who absolutely refuses to see past her privileged, white, and straight point of view despite all of her resources, and who has inexplicably chosen to crusade against trans women, of all the people in the universe, as if the world wasn’t already hostile enough towards them. So, fuck her. But you know what? The HP fandom doesn’t have to take its cues from J.K. Rowling. The fans don’t have to condone her discriminatory views or agree to read her books in the light of her backward politics. They’ve never done that. From Wolfstar to Black Hermione and from Gay Draco to Trans Snape, the fandom has always been a nurturing environment for fan interpretations that aim to add diversity and complexity to the books, whether Rowling agrees or not. Long live the headcanon. (The fans have also learned to tune out Rowling’s unnecessary comments when they feel like it. Two words: wizard poop. That alone should suggest that the things she says aren’t always worthy of anyone’s attention.)

#harry potter #jk rowling

[just0nemorepage]

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft || Jessica Spotswood & Tess Sharpe || 405 pages ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 3 Genres: Short Stories / Fantasy / Young Adult

Synopsis: Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Glinda the Good Witch. Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Willow. Sabrina. Gemma Doyle. The Mayfair Witches. Ursula the Sea Witch. Morgan le Fey. The three weird sisters from Macbeth.

History tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders: educated, independent, unmarried, unwilling to fall in line with traditional societal expectations.

Bold. Powerful. Rebellious.

A bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results. A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch. In a terrifying future, women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all. In a desolate past, three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king. Somewhere in the present, a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricane.

From good witches to bad witches, to witches who are a bit of both, this is an anthology of diverse witchy tales from a collection of diverse, feminist authors. The collective strength of women working together—magically or mundanely--has long frightened society, to the point that women’s rights are challenged, legislated against, and denied all over the world. Toil & Trouble delves deep into the truly diverse mythology of witchcraft from many cultures and feminist points of view, to create modern and unique tales of witchery that have yet to be explored.

Finished: August 20th, 2019.

Progress: 2 / 15. 13.33% complete.

My Rating: ★★★★★. [5/5]

My Review: [Under the read more - NOT SPOILER FREE]

I've been working on reading this book for 8 months. 8. MONTHS. It didn't take me so long because it was bad – HELL no. The complete opposite. This is one of the best books I've read in my entire LIFE, and I wanted to make it last.

The intersectionality and diversity among women. The unapologetic strength and friendship and love and spirit and power and RAGE they each had in their own ways. Ooooh, my god. This SPEAKS to me.

I wish I had enough skill to put how this made me feel into words. I wish I was left with more coherency than reeling with emotions and my own strength of will. I wish I could say flat out what very important discovery about myself this book led to. But alas.. words have never been my strongest suite when I'm feeling highly emotional, and it's not about to start now. And that's okay.

Just know that this book is an instant, high-ranking, top-five lifelong favorite and I will continue to praise it as such for as long as I hold righteous anger in my soul.

As I do with short stories, I reviewed each individual one and provided comments for each one. Out of 15 stories, my average rating for this one is –4.82.– I hope you realize exactly how rare that is for a book of short stories, to rate nearly ALL of them a good and solid five stars.

With no further ado: I present my ratings.

Starsong ; Tehlor Kay Mejia - ★★★★★. 5/5. #SHRIEKING

If this story is a promise of what all the others in this book are going to be like, then SIGN ME THE FUCK UP, I am SO GLAD I picked this to read next. Who cares that it’s not around Halloween. Not only is the representation spot on, but the AESTHETIC. OH MAN. Oh man oh man oh man.

I LOVED THIS ONE. To BITS AND PIECES. And found myself heartily disappointed that this is in fact only a short story, and not a full length novel. Because I’d read the SHIT out of a full length novel that stems from this. It is SO cute and pure and full of new love and promise and hope and optimism and the shit I’ve been shaping my life around lately and just, oh my god. I am on a cloud. This story is pure sunshine on my cloud, gold lined and full of wonder, and I REALLY TRULY HOPE the rest of the stories in this book are going to be anything even close to this.

I mean, look at me. IT ROMANTICIZED MY REVIEW WRITING.

Real thoughts: I wish to hell and back that this girl was real, and her social media accounts were real. I’d follow her EVERYWHERE. Her attitude and confidence is the kind of inspirational glow-up shit I need in my life on a daily basis.

Afterbirth ; Andrea Cremer - ★★★★★. 5/5. I didn't love it as much as the first one, but it's still well deserving of 5 stars. A much more traditional setting in terms of witchcraft – 1650s New England – with a single traditional plot point – the midwife convicted of witchcraft is hung. The differences are in her relationship with her apprentice, someone who discovers her true magic and seeks to learn more and take the lessons upon herself, rather than think of it the way the rest of her village would. The spell book and the magic lives on in Deliverance and the new baby girl birthed at the beginning of the story, and the positivity, loyalty, love and acceptance in Deliverance and Miriam's relationship spoke worlds to me in the short pages it got to live on.

I am only unsure about the presence of the "monster" birthed right after the girl was. It didn't really seem to serve any purpose, and it was never fully explained what it was or how it came to be, or why it was there. It seems more like a plot point that was just entirely dropped, or only used to further Miriam's accusations for witchcraft.

OTHERWISE though. The strength, resolve, determination and resiliency in this story did things to me.

The Heart in Her Hands ; Tess Sharpe - ★★★★★. 5/5. Oh man, another one that did things to me.

I've NEVER seen this kind of shit in a story before, let alone in a full-length novel. AND I REALLY WANT TO NOW. Sign me the eff UP for a full length novel of this cause SHIT, I never knew how relieving it is to read about someone who truly says "fuck you" to fate, deals with the consequences, and then learns to accept them. Someone who truly goes "my family and community are toxic and unhealthy for me, regardless of the fact that "they're my family" or whatever, so I am going to leave and never come back."

And just.. the depiction of a kitchen witch, and a whole community of witches living together, and the second gay couple in the book (we're on two out of two for relationships here!), and the pure fury and spitfire in Bette's soul and spirit, and the complete and utter "yeah no" spitting in the face of the supposed soul mate Lady Fate had picked out for her… I can't tell you how REFRESHING it is that she said "yeah no" and STUCK with it, and nothing caused her to face it or regret it, since there's nothing to face or regret. She made a decision and he never cropped up again and just oh my god. I am HERE for this shit.

I wonder if her soul mate being a guy indicates that she's bisexual, or that Lady Fate only pairs people up heterosexually.

I don't know, I just LOVE THIS WHOLE THING. Young people going "fuck you" to the system and breaking out on their own when they don't fit inside it, the old magic of the mountain, writing your own destiny, Auggie coming for Bette, and honestly right here is where my train of thought was interrupted for 15 minutes so I forget what else I was going to say. BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.

So far I need full-length books of every one of these stories, and I'm only three into this collection.

Death in the Sawtooths ; Lindsay Smith - ★★★★☆. 4/5. This one loses a star just for the accents of the people, and how much it grated on my nerves. But there is a poetic nature to this one that I'm not entirely sure I can articulate that well. Just, the idea of a priestess of death who still tries so hard to do what is right, even when the dark urges of revenge tug at her own heart, even when she herself is treated like shit, even when she has every reason to react with anger.. I don't know, there's something beautiful about it. Just as much as the idea of Mattie actually relating to the kid who was responsible for stealing people's souls, and the idea of a childhood bully apologizing for their actions as an adult and meaning it.

Now, granted, I'm not one for mercy or forgiveness. I'd be more likely to become the boy than to become Mattie – though perhaps, I'd become someone else in between. I'd give in to my anger, but not in ways that would prove all the stereotypes against me right. I'd find some other way. But I can appreciate the idea of someone sticking it out and doing the right thing, even if it makes people hate you. And for the most part, as long as it doesn't give shitty people a pass for being shitty, I'm all for doing that exact kind of thing.

I'm not really sure what else to say about this one. This one's more food for thought, than something that I can easily translate into a readable review. It was fascinating, thought provoking, and very well done, but I'm glad to be moving on to the next one.

The Truth About Queenie ; Brandy Colbert - ★★★★★. 5/5. Not as strong as a five as the other fives, but STILL A FIVE. I actually finished this one yesterday and I've been basically just sitting here nodding in appreciation since.

Notable points – a family of black witches? YISSS.

How supportive all the family is of each other, despite being mostly ashamed of being witches? Yissss.

I LOVE how Blythe and Queenie support each other, EVEN THOUGH Queenie's totally head over heels in love with Webb. I'm not here for any of that girl hate bullshit. This was REFRESHING.

AND. How Webb admitted he doesn't have feelings for Queenie, and let her down honestly and cleanly, and kicked a love triangle in the face. How the friendship still stands strong. How he stays loyal to Blythe. How Queenie STILL heals Blythe – and actually does it!! – and accepts herself fully and stands proud on her own now that she's clear-headed after not trying to do things for Webb anymore.

Just.

YASSSS.

YOU GO GIRL.

I am SO HERE for this independent lady gloriousness.

The Moonapple Menagerie ; Shveta Thakrar - ★★★☆☆. 3/5. This one seemed of significantly worse quality than the others. There are still bits that really did it for me – the Indian mythology and culture! humanizing the churel (if reluctantly – I would have liked to see everyone be much more accepting of her from the start)! the idea of weaving spellcraft into performing arts in such a way that mundane humans don't notice! the much more fantastical use of magic! the normalized disabled character!! – but quite honestly, it was the main character and the completely unrealistic dialogue and character interaction throughout that turned me off of this one. I couldn't follow Shalini's plight at *all*, and even though I can relate to that level of writer's block, coming up with ANYTHING AT ALL truly is not as hard as she made it sound. And the fact that her story didn't have any conflict in it at *all* AND that the churel critiqued all the parts that she did write tells me that honestly Shalini may just be a terrible writer. So, I had a hard time empathizing with this one. I kind of wanted her to leave the coven, by the end.

The other parts that I still really loved are what kept this at a three. And honestly my favorite character is probably the churel. No joke. My favorite part was right at the end when she says she's going to deal with her "husband."

FUCK HIM UP, GURL. MAKE HIM PAY.

The Legend of Stone Mary ; Robin Talley - ★★★★☆. 4/5. This one loses a star, since it didn't really give me a chance to get to know or like much of any of the characters, it all happened a little too quickly to have much emotional depth, and I don't really agree with the idea of forced forgiveness.

Also, Wendy's grandmother seems like the HBIC in terms of local curses and I wish she was a more prominent part of the story.

But I *did* enjoy the normalized lesbianism, as well as the message of doing what you feel is right no matter what anyone around you may think.

Plus like… how friggen powerful do you have to be to stop a generations-long curse. That was pretty awesome.

The One Who Stayed ; Nova Ren Suma - ★★★★★. 5/5. TW: Rape, for this one. Though never explicitly described, or even directly named.

I'm going to have to keep my thoughts about this one short. But I absolutely adore the embracing of female anger and rage, the implications that these things happen to everyone all around you, that you have no idea who it could have happened to – or who could really be a witch, for that matter – and I absolutely 100% feel sisterhood with these women who so badly want revenge.

The power of feminine anger, man. Righteous and furious anger. I am so here for this shit. I would seek out this circle in a heartbeat, if only I could.

I only wish I knew how exactly they would make Jayson and his friends pay for it. But I know the possibilities, and I know they're taking it into their own hands, and that they aren't above death. That is satisfactory enough for me.

Divine are the Stars ; Zoraida Cordova - ★★★★☆. 4/5. This one gets four stars mostly because I feel like a lot of it went over my head.

Excellent symbolism and representation though. 👌👌👌

It was very short, and yet it still felt like it got across the feeling of death and renewal and finding oneself, and I heavily enjoyed how easily and simply they got rid of Enrique. Casual murder? Sure, why not! He had it coming anyway.

Personally, I, too, would like to turn into a tree when I die.

Honestly though it felt like it moved a little too fast, as soon as Marimar successfully found her way inside the house. I know the story was only some 12 pages long, but, still. It felt pretty rushed, and that's likely why it felt like a lot of it went over my head.

I still enjoyed it well enough, though. I still appreciated the Hispanic (Latinx?) family, the connection between Marimar and her cousin, the message of female power passed on from daughter to daughter. It just didn't necessarily resonate with me, personally, is all.

Daughters of Baba Yaga ; Brenna Yovanoff - ★★★★★. 5/5. Okay, THIS one is more like it. This is the kind of shit I came to this book for, and the kind of shit I live and breathe for. If I could give this beyond five stars, I ABSOLUTELY would.

I absolutely adore the friendship between two very different types of girls who both extract revenge in their own very different ways – one is sweet and threateningly kind and devastates you with the truth. The other… well. I think a curse of 50lbs of pig guts stuffed inside 15 different lockers says enough.

This kind of vengeance on those who deserve it is the kind of thing that gives my life purpose, and let me tell you, this bad bitch is MY KIND OF BITCH and I'd be BFFs with her if I could and I want a whole novel of nothing but her fucking wrecking people who have had it coming.

I aspire to be more like Stony. We need more women like her in this world.

P.S. The sweet poetic irony of a girl named Harmony sweetly doling out the worst kinds of truths on this story's shittiest people has not escaped me.

The Well Witch ; Kate Hart - ★★★★★. 5/5. Awww yeah. Nothing like sweet, sweet revenge to asshole men.

It's damn well implied that those two men are left for dead, and good riddance for it.

Also, I am in love with the fact that Elsa decided to go look for Zeb on her own, rather than continue waiting in the conditions the other two men had her trapped in.

AND that she took all the water with her and left them to watch their shelter and supplies burn into nothingness.

There's not much else to say about this one, really. The historical accuracy of it seems pretty spot on, Elsa is described as a WoC, and there was just the right amount of pace and development to be interesting. Also – Zeb is a good man. He gives me hope. One out of three actually being decent sounds about accurate for the ratio of good to shitty men lol.

But this one's a good one. I heavily enjoyed it, and GOD I am loving this book overall.

Beware of Girls with Crooked Mouths ; Jessica Spotswood - ★★★★★. 5/5. Wow. That was not the ending I expected at all.

It was all so dark and creepy and powerful and scary and holy shit I loved the feminine power in this story.

And open bisexuality in a historical fantasy!! That wasn't frowned upon, and nobody blinked an eye!!

Also. Can I say how much I ADORE that the sweet, gentle thing that is Georgie is the one who has the affinity towards fire, and is filled with utter RAGE? Holy w h a t. And Elle's open, unembarrassed sexuality? I am HERE for the unapologetic attitude ALL these girls have.

I really feel like I should say more about this, but I'm still just reeling, and at this point (it's July seriously wtf), I'm feeling kind of anxious to finally finish this book rofl.

Love Spell ; Anna-Marie McLemore - ★★★★★. 5/5. It's August now and I am DETERMINED TO FINISH THIS BOOK, goddamn. So I finished this one all in one sitting lol.

ADRIAN IS TRANSGENDER. Oh man that was the first thing that popped out at me.

And that someone can be Catholic AND a witch?? That's something I've seen surrounding the witchy community in real life, always in heavy debate, so it's quite nice to see it addressed in story form!

Plus like – the underlying tone of women supporting other women, and the disobedience of the typical Catholic fear, and religions accepting other religions, and I just – this one was a good one. It was a great one to come back to after a month of no reading.

And it's multi-cultural!! I will admit, I'm uneducated enough to not know if it's Mexican or Spanish culture – I –think- it's Mexican – but, STILL. So wonderfully done!!

The Gherin Girls ; Emery Lord - ★★★★★. 5/5. Goddamn. If I could give this one more than 5 stars, I would.

Sisterly support through an abusive relationship, and the VERY REAL feelings that come with trying to recover from it. In both the abuser's and the witness's points of view. Oh, man. I've never seen abuse and the trauma that follows captured so well before. I wasn't going to read this story in one sitting, but I had to – it nailed it so well, it reminded me of my own abused past and I couldn't set it down without knowing how it ended.

And the note of magic is so subtle and unique and wonderfully well done – and the sexuality of all three of the sisters are different! and they all have their own happy endings! and everyone is SO SUPPORTIVE of each other – god, no one was shitty. (Except for Wyatt, but, yanno.) This one speaks to me. On a very, very deep level. I just.. wow.

I felt the very same fire burning in myself as Rosie did when the story ends. I recognized it, and feel connected to her in a way I don't feel with most people I'm actually close to in real life.

This story sobered me. It reminded me of all I've been through, and just how rough the road to recovery was. But it also reminded me of how far I've come, and where I'm at now. What I've made for myself. What I've become, who I've curated myself into. And that.. no much can make me feel more strong or powerful than remembering that.

Why they Watch us Burn ; Elizabeth May - ★★★★★. 5/5. Well. Fuck.

THAT was a powerful ending to this whole anthology.

And left me feeling ALL KINDS OF PISSED OFF, let me tell you. Holy shit. The retribution at the end was implied and powerful, but I wanted it to be more explicit. I wanted to see those men SUFFER.

I don't even have words for this story, other than that it spoke to me on a deep, crushing, soul-igniting level. EVERYTHING about it – the unfair misogyny, the suffering, the sisterhood, the strength. The embracing of the very thing they were accused of. The pure love between the MC and her lover. The spirit, and the STRENGTH, I've already said it but oh my god, the strength. I feel as they did at the end. I feel powerful and unbreakable and full of rage and the need to make somebody pay, because I, too, have suffered at the hands of men and I would tear apart anybody who ever touches or treats ANY woman like that with my own bare hands.

The message of power this story gives for anyone who calls themselves female… I can't describe it. I don't know if it can be described.

But I would treat this story, and this whole book, as my bible, if I could.

#book reviews #toil and trouble #jessica spotswood #tess sharpe #★★★★★ #short stories #fantasy #young adult #witches #paranormal #glbtqa #feminism #favorites #stunning covers #owned #print book #stand alone #jomp original

[theteaisaddictive]

🔥 St John Rivers.

ok, so aside from me hating him so so much because he’s the fucking worst (seriously, this guy tries to manipulate jane into going to india with him by exploiting her faith, how are we all gung-ho for dragging my problematic fave rochy to hell and back but not this guy???), i feel like in most adaptations (i.e. the 2011 and 2006 adaptations, since they’re the only two i’ve seen which apply here), the filmmakers go for ‘repressed vicar trying to berate our Modern Woman Jane with Religion when she’s far too Modern and Proto-Feminist to need That’, when, like. guys. the author was a minister’s daughter and rochester’s redemption is explicitly tied to his becoming a true christian and not just going to church three times a year, it’s not exactly a faithful adaptation.

(i also have feelings about aoje!st. john, who was called . .. . simon??? sheesh i need a rewatch he wasn’t a minister at all, but a doctor. jane was still a christian, but she was also a former nurse who had retrained as a tutor, so there was a similar kind of dynamic if i remember correctly. although, simon was much less of a dick overall and was actually pretty nice, as far as i recall)

in support of this, i am going to copy+paste the relevant section from a dissertation i did in advanced higher english under the cut. now, when i say ‘dissertation’, what i really mean is 4.5k of close reading which only cites two secondary sources, because i was only 17 at the time. but i think this is relevant. and also i’m eternally frustrated about this.

fair warning – this is almost 1k long, but it’s all of my religion section about jane eyre and it all felt pretty relevant. also, the ‘lucy’ and ‘madame beck’ referred to are from ‘villette’; my dissertation was contrasting treatment of women and religion between the two.

(oh and besides all of that st. john’s also a freaking moron who can’t even spell ‘hindustani’ correctly like jesus dude you’re not only learning the language but teaching somebody else as well, get your head out your fucking arse)

[…]

This religious conflictis similar to the one that Jane in JaneEyre faces. However, Jane’s struggle is more personal than Lucy’s as shestruggles against different creeds of the same Protestant belief, and has toface the opposing ideals of Mr. Brocklehurst, St. John Rivers and Mr.Rochester. Her own sense of morality with regard to the Bible is instilled intoher by Helen Burns, who introduces her to Christianity and urges her “to endurepatiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself.”[1] However,Jane is often pressured by the men around her to change her creed to one thatthey find more suitable. This illustrates the role women had in society as themajor men in Jane’s life all seem to think they know what is best for Janebetter than she does. This is similar to the experiences of many women of thetime, as they were often seen as incapable of making important decisions withouta man to help them. In Jane’s first exchange with Mr. Brocklehurst, when sheremarks that she personally does not find Psalms interesting, Brocklehursttells her

“This proves that you have a wicked heart; andyou must pray to God to change it: to give you a new and clean one: to takeaway your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”[2]

Jane also disagrees with St. John Rivers on thecorrect way to fulfil Christian duties, for he believes

“that the more acrid and unreclaimed the soilwhere the Christian labourer’s task of tillage is appointed him […] thehigher the honour.”[3]

St. John’s metaphor of an empty field connotesboth simple farming life, the kind he grew up alongside and which he detestsfor its boredom, and adventures on unnamed shores which explorers often claimfor themselves, the kind of stirring, interesting life St. John dreams of andis so disgusted by. His vision of correct Christian duty is to work steadilyand hard at what he has a talent for because it is his duty, not necessarilybecause he enjoys it. In the same vein, he continually urges Jane to follow hisexample. If he had his way, Jane would never have a moment’s idle rest, so thatshe always turns:

“to profit the talents which God has committedto [her] keeping, and of which He will surely one day demand a strict account.”[4]

Jane’s battles against St. John and Brocklehurstecho Lucy’s struggles with alienation from Madame Beck’s pensionnat. Both Jane and Lucy struggle with opposing views onChristianity and religion to the people around them at critical stages in theirlife, although Lucy is often more vocal about her qualms with Catholicism.

Jane also struggles withMr. Rochester’s irreligious values, especially with regard to the potential shehad to become his mistress. Rochester is without doubt unchristian in hisactions, whether it is his several affairs with foreign mistresses or hisattempts to make Jane wild with jealousy by cruelly pretending to be in lovewith Blanche. He also has a fundamental difference in his belief of Christiandoctrine, as he believes his attempted bigamy “will expiate at God’s tribunal [.. .] my Maker sanctions what I do.”[5]Jane begins to let her religion fall by the wayside in the days of theirengagement, as she “could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whomI had made an idol.”[6] Thismakes her struggle with her Christianity all the more difficult when the timecomes. Jane’s conflict is between her values and her desires, and she is awareof God’s judgement of her desire to be with Rochester almost immediately. Janesays her hopes of a happily married life are utterly destroyed

“– struck with a subtle doom, such as, in onenight, fell on all the first-born in the land of Egypt,”[7]

However when she does decide to “keep the lawgiven by God; sanctioned by man,”[8]Jane’s main struggle is over. This suggests that Brontë herself believes thatfollowing the Bible is always the right thing to do, and this is reflected bothin Jane Eyre through Jane’s strugglewith Rochester, and in Villettethrough Lucy’s struggle against Catholicism. Her difficulties with her romanticinterest differ from Lucy’s, as Jane and Rochester only really disagree aboutreligion at the climax of the novel, whereas Lucy and M. Paul have arguments continuallythroughout Villette, with theirdisagreements coming to breaking point in the last few chapters. However, theirresolutions are similar, as the men in their lives eventually learn to accepttheir faiths.

Jane advises Rochesterto “trust in God and yourself. Believe in heaven. Hope to meet again there,”[9]and when they are reunited at the end of the novel, Rochester has begun “toexperience remorse, repentance; the wish for reconcilement to my Maker.”[10]His acceptance of Christianity marks the end of Jane’s struggle with him, andthis is signified by her emotion at hearing Rochester call to her at theRivers’ house, as

“the wondrous shock of feeling had come like theearthquake which shook the foundations of Paul and Silas’s prison.”[11]

Thissecond Biblical reference symbolises that Jane and Rochester’s union,previously cursed by God for Rochester’s bigamy, is blessed both because theyare free to marry each other, and because their previous inequalities have beenerased by Jane’s inheritance. While some women had a social status thatequalled or exceeded Jane’s at the end of the novel, their lack of politicaland social empowerment meant that society’s expectations of them were verylimiting; for example, women were not allowed to vote and so had no input increating the laws which directly affected them. However, an ending where thefemale character has her agency preserved throughout, and achieves independencefrom a man in the 1800s was practically revolutionary.

[1] Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Amazon, p 39

[2] Jane Eyre, p 23

[3] Jane Eyre, p 259

[4]Jane Eyre, p286

[5]Jane Eyre, p186

[6] Jane Eyre, p 200

[7] Jane Eyre, p 216

[8] Jane Eyre, p 232

[9] Jane Eyre, p 231

[10] Jane Eyre, p 328

[11] Jane Eyre, p 308

#asks #cinderellasfella #jane eyre #sorry i just kind of leapt head-first into this #but i will never not care about jane eyre

[peek-mag]

Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: Week of 10/29

Thoughts, notes and links to things read, worn and watched this week.

As NY grapples with the aftermath of the largest terror attack since 9/11, and a new sexual assault allegation seems to appear every time I hit refresh on the browser, this week I’m brought round to the age old question… why are men trash?

• “Netflix Suspends House of Cards” - NY Times

• “Top NPR accused of Sexual Assault While at the New York Times - NY Times

• “In a Superstar Economy, a Bull Market in Superstar Harassers” - NY Times

It’s not an oversimplification to say that mass acts of violence and terror are nearly always enacted by men. Nor is it naive of me to predict that we won’t find many women on the predator side of these evolving sexual assault cases.

What is it about the gender that makes them–as a generalization– violent, angry and prone to grope, corner, and proposition? I’m of the belief that the hand that grabs ‘em by the pussy is the same hand to detonate the bomb. To pull the trigger.

• “Trump’s Female Accusers Feel Forgotten. A Lawsuit May Change That.” – NY Times

Sex is the first thing, as humans, that divides us – before class, color and creed. And until we heal the earth of patriarchy, until the true equality of the sexes (in social, economic and political spaces) humans will continue to be our own biggest threat to survival.

The wisest woman on this subject, to me, continues to be Miss Virginia Woolf, who in her 1929 essay “A Room of One’s Own” offers the following as she seeks to understand the sentiment of anger she observes from the scholar and the patriarch, both arguing the inferiority of the female sex:

“Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was concerned not with their inferiority, but with his own superiority. That was what he was protecting rather hot-headedly and with too much emphasis, because it was a jewel to him of the rarest price. Life for both sexes is arduous, difficult, a perpetual struggle. It calls for gigantic courage and strength. More than anything, perhaps, creatures of illusion as we are, it calls for confidence in oneself. Without self-confidence we are as babes in the cradle. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable, most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to one self. By feeling that one has some innate superiority—it may be wealth, or rank, a straight nose—for there is no end to the pathetic devices of the human imagination—over other people. Hence the enormous importance to a patriarch who has to conquer, who has to rule, of feeling that great numbers of people, half the human race indeed, are by nature inferior to himself. It must indeed be one of the chief sources of his power…Under the spell of that illusion, I thought, looking out of the window, half the people on the pavement are striding to work. They put on their hats and coats in the morning under its agreeable rays. They start the day confident, braced, believing themselves desired; they say to themselves as they go into the room, I am the superior of half the people here, and it is thus that they speak with that self-confidence, that self-assurance, which have had such profound consequences in public life and lead to such curious notes in the margin of the private mind.”

Were I dictator (as I often daydream to be) A Room of One’s Own would be required reading. I urge you to at least digest chapter two, which is where the quote from above, and many more artfully articulated arguments of Woolf’s, can be found.

• “A Room of One’s Own: Chapter Two″ - ebooks

If it’s hitting you that this essay from the 20s feels like it could be a modern Jezebel think piece, now may be a good time to channel that rage into concentrated reading of the latest from The Cut’s advice columnist Heather Havrilesky:

• “Ask Polly: I Hate Men” - The Cut

Taken with Heather? Samesies. Her latest novel is a collection of fan favorites and never before published essays from her beloved advice column Dear Polly. Freshly checked out from the Brooklyn Public Library, but should you find yourself compelled, Amazon link below:

• “How to be a Person in the World” - Heather Havrilesky

While eagerly awaiting your new parcel, pop in two earbuds and listen to the Fresh Air interview with New York Times columnist Lindy West, who covers feminist issues and body positivity.

• Columnist Lindy West Sees ‘Straight Line’ From Trolls Who Targeted Her To Trump - NPR

But! I’m never one to dwell in the negative. A perpetual optimist (especially after a few glasses of Chardonnay) I do have faith that we are, more or less, heading in the right direction. Should we collectively find the ability to look inwards, understand ourselves and the larger function we serve in a cosmic ecosystem, we may just be alright.

I return faithfully to spiritual principles that have always guided me. Sometimes it’s the connection you feel to something much grander and eternal to yourself that puts you in your place.

Typically October/November signal the creep of seasonal depression for me, a spring baby, who only feels truly alive half-naked and under the sun. But something about this November feels…energizing.

If you’re curious about the cosmic current running through month I suggest the following:

• “Mystic Mama Theme for November: Turning the Soil”

“When one has focused only on what is seen and shows up on the surface, what is beneath that surface becomes less and less fertile as time goes on. This month is it time to dig down deep and turn up what is underneath, bring it to the surface, inspect it, break it up, feed it, aerate it and fertilize it in preparation for new seeds.”

And if mystic ju-ju isn’t your vibe, may I prescribe some retail therapy?

A couple good buys this week were the perfect Halloween treat for a hard-working, independent twenty-something ;)

• MIU MIU Eau de Parfum

• J Crew lodge coat in vibrant flame

• Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara

Not in the shopping spirit? Maybe you just suck at it. Best brush up your skills as the holiday season is fast upon us.

• Why are we so Bad at Shopping?” - The School of Life

And, as all bad bitches must do, I will now ride out to a soundtrack of funky noise.

THIS WEEK’S VIBE

• My boy, Billy Eilish

• Second Nature, Stalking Gia

• La Luz, Coastal

Peace, love and an educated electorate.

Yours, 

Nomi 

#writing

[fictionaljournalofbbwomans-blog]

EPISODE 07.03.4040

SHARE YOUR CONTROLLED BRAIN IRL 

Is BB right about the money? 

She has a doubt, especially after bathing in a crowd environment, she goes through all her recent actions and declarations and gets worried of the receptions, she hears all sorts of accusatory comments about what she fashions to survive and it is really hard to discern who is really hinting... The people or the Masters through the people?… Will that generate more exclusion, misunderstandings and laughing? She tends to forget about it until she is in a space, as she is so used to be alone with all her theories and discoveries, locked in a restrained internet world that gives her half of the necessary infos and some made out facts, pages and discouraging hacking alarms and software bugs. She concentrates for a second; “It’s something SO big that it traumatises all my friends, chosen and blood families, entourage, activists and allies to keep silent, and the police refusals, lawyers and medias ignorance! That much of a level of isolation and efforts in intimidation to keep everyone silent and divided, strait up violence which eventually leads to groups of 10 police and firemen coming to take me by force to hospital to inject hardcore meds in my ass while all details disappear and everyone gets back on their everyday days... Come on! It HAS to be fucking BIG? No? HAS to involve big money!” And she is 99% sure amounts must go high high HIGH and even surer that using her body and brain as objects to bash, fuck and manipulate should grant her with that 66% easy…? Presumptuous? 

After months of being ostracised from friends and fun, buried under incessant brain eating and keeping as healthy as possible BB goes out clubbing parred with a wise amount of drugs. She needs to have a dance so badly, see familiar faces, and feel surrounded by good energies!… Barely touches the substances after her initial start and go line, very surprising and unlike her, but she is content and fulfilled with this change, and only takes half of a pill too late or too early, stupidly just before she decides to actually leave the venue without saying anything, having had enough of nightlife psychosis theatre... Ho one important piece of information for our readers is that, the Bastards want her to believe that people around her can only read her thoughts when she is high on drugs. We will explain in further diving in the story that it is a trick marketed to make her believe the perpetrators are the infamous members of her family, and it is a system with a processus that will only end when she sobers up from all drugs and clubs or music making for years. 

She walks home delighted to have seen her friends and received love hugs and actually danced hard for so much longer than for so long! She remains puzzled on the reason why these public thought reading sessions are still hapening… She THINKS they are really not playing in the “Doctors” favour. The grand realisation of the ampler and spectrum of the operation for BB happened thanks to one of these instances and she is really grateful for it.

This brings us to raising 2 more questions: First: does this mean she is right in thinking that the Masters can decide when and for how long people have access to her thoughts? And second: do they have access to it all, are they aware of what they make her think and what is genuine and how direct is it? BB: “because it feels really fucking live!” In your ears? On your phones? In an inoffensive V2K for the rest of population? Just a couple of the worst words there and there, beamed out to nearing curious heads…? 

BB: “I feel that I see them come close to me and try and catch my eyes, when that is done they stand still, bend down their upper body slightly in my direction, like waiting to hear something imminently… Or could that be another trap to make me think they hear me live strait in ears and make me tell that to a professional Psychiatrist LIAR?... And so you’re waiting to hear... get informed... about…??? My panicked urged thinking on the way you look? The way you move...? Really…? Is that interesting what I think about the way you look? Do what you get satisfies you? Or can we agree that it is generic, always the same, absolutely non specific, vulgar, and most importantly useless as fuck? Is it somehow interesting and, I can’t grasp why? So hearing the primary thought of a female bodied individual under pressure and harassed in a social environment who was traumatised while growing up, by Patriarchal society’s pressure to work on the way she looks as a priority and to make it fit the selling standards as well as prove it by finding a men against all women is fascinating? Or is it better to get the embarrassed judgements about your races, genders and genitals she wishes never crossed her neurones?”

Unmistakably choosing a social environment at night, which was initially and is even more now an anxious and difficult process for her to go through is the perfect setting to share her brains out, the absolute jackpot if you want her to sound hysterical and obsessed! She systematically scans rooms and analyses level of security within them, trying not to look shaky and scared. She is used to taking shit from her trusted ones under instructions, and so having to assess a full night of energies to open or close to is without a doubt setting her off to make another bunch of enemies. Or so they think! The Evil dumbers trying to play her body want to add to hysterical and obsessed, offensive and ridiculous. Offensive is really important because it raises up many hurt feelings for harassing comments and actions to want to fuse, and ridiculous obviously linked to making people laugh, it is hard not to laugh at something funny, she feels like laughing too when listening to the thoughts farting out of her head… Some she owns up to, some are put through.    

She is a vessel for anything and everything they want to make the female body say! Or shall we even go as far as to say; what they want a feminist to think? An exemplar soft white piece of bread for the sausage of their choice and pile of sauces. Are they really still Witch Hunting? Trying their best and most, lets have a little count… mmmmhhhh fuck loads against 1, to demonstrate that being a feminist is being a hypocrite? Do they need to prove womxn remain women and when you dig into their primary unrepressed thoughts, you can see how much they like to be raped? How much in competition there are with each other and how obsessed they are with their appearance and men? Acting this through BB Womans who never ever had any specifics in gender preferences appears to be worse! She knows she has taken on the role of the bad bad BAD feminist and finds it comical but it is probably not what is read by her surroundings. It could translate in; “Wow heard what she thinks!!! She’s got issues!!! That’s so mean” or... BB: “Insensitive or self-centred and everything else you might want to put in to justify your wish for me to feel ashamed, leave or just move away, bearing your sigh and spare you the consideration or memory of “that game you’re fed up with?”

When confronted with a lot of energies, everything becomes ultra binary; fucking or not fucking the men, “fine!” But then Comparing her size and looks with every female she encounters, obviously pointing out when she wins and noticing awful recurring words come out of her like some unfounded diarrhoea, and if they have a male partner it goes something like how better for them she is, like dog pissing, highlighting ingrained female competition as compulsory? When it comes to trans* people she is stuck by the thought of their genitals… being the worst one of all she can think of being stuck with while trying to be next to her friends.  

Again BB is really fed up to have to justify herself for ANY thoughts at all, but some of these need to be outed as their doings… All the ones that go something like; Fat, ugly, small, dicks, pretty, better, jealous… etc… Could not be further from the way she considers a person for the first time or the people she knows, she would never call them repeatedly fat or ugly or EVER want to categorise anyone with all encompassing description of their appearance, and if it happens that she did, well that would be a good subject to bring into light and discuss. 

The process is simple, they make her stop and wonder with a short and accusatory: “SSSSSSiiiiii” which in french translates to some stronger YES when opposed to a no. “Si” means you are a liar and what you really think is not what you think basically. So they go:”Hoooo, Siiiiiii BB you think that she is….” and wait for a word to be shat. Or: ”No, you don’t think that he…” Back and forth and back and force until they force out some blunt annoyed spelling of raw thinking to be fired out, and here we are, you do not just undo a thought? Do you? It’s out there, it is shared, it has shamed, it has hurt! 

But it crucially needs to be massively underlined as irrelevant! She is not perfect that’s fucking right, and she is not a sleepless moraliser anymore either, although she did take that one, good to work on even, and forced to understand she did not know how to get all her points across efficiently…  She then also got to learn quite a lot through this hyper introspection: the first thing that comes to your mind, and if it does not come, they extract it anyway, is rarely considered or enunciated by your brain. In the same way that you would not just punch the guy next to you in the metro on your way to work because it’s a hard morning and you can not stand anyone, you would also not just describe, judge or attribute some simplistic insulting words describing someone’s appearance in your head.. and even less out loud. No! You refrain your primary urges. Same goes with thoughts. If you’re fast and hold a lot of self awareness you should be able to catch them, but they often just hover deep in your disorders and insecurities. When you got them you can analyse them and decide to give them whatever importance you want to give them and restrain or indulge consequently with the attitudes and reactions related. 

BB thought she had been clear about ways to understand or try to understand how it could feel to be her, but that was with forgetting these special nightlife stretches… If you can imagine yourself in a club night slightly aside fearing to near bodies but still trying to look like you can handle it, having to juggle your thoughts made a public matter, avoid considering the ones they send to your brain and their constant calling you out on the worst of what you think or repeat under pressure, pay or not pay attention to what is said and acted around you, wonder if it is kind or not, scripted and imposed or scripted and acted enjoyably or pure reactions to your turbulent inner voices, steer clear from looking at people not to spew out anything offensive, nor focus on yourself not to seem self obsessed, wonder if you should be here or not, if your friends are ok with what the hear, having a nice time or if you are fucking up their party and your friendships just because you’re here, want to dance and you miss them, add to all of it some high level of anger against the people hired to remotely drill your brain hiding like weak knees, when you should just be free in a space made for body release and expression… and you can probably imagine a mine full of intense emotions to make you give it up very quickly. Last time she held it up for about 5 hours, was never scared or wanting to hide and danced as hard as she could and is really proud! 

BB only has had positive discoveries from these moments, lengthened endurance to keep ok in her favourite environments and countless signs of kindness and support. Which brings us back to wondering why are these brain eats organised and who does it really profit? Does it only happen when she is on drugs? No sorry, checked and checked! It had ceased to happen in the streets in the last couple of weeks. She understood there is a certain distance to respect to receive… the closer the clearest?  

As whispered above; is could be Patriarchy and their demonstration of the limits or incapabilities of womxn, some mindless misogynist droned out revenge, or is there a parent wanting to fully extract their “past the point mentioning” grown up child from rave environments and their consumptions, and if so who is performing the “parent”? Was the family, the evil, backward, jealous mother scenario set out from the get go of a thought reading experiment to create groundbreaking machinery or is it more recent, so to transform some joke that got a bit too far in a love fueled rescue? BB: “Huh... Is this just a fucked up fucking game?… Who is playing? And how do I become the only remotely playable body?” And last thought of option seeming most accurate for BB at this stage; “It just smells like a social media thought reading study and experiment... No? Does this just need to keep on without my consent and full knowledge on mechanisms for my whole life?” It certainly looks like this is what they are hinting at. Unfortunately for them though, this outrageously fucked up, unconstitutional and violent story has taken a turn of NO RETURN; they have let it go too far and too long, they have seen it too big which instead of inviting her to swallow it as impossible, got her to understanding it as impossible not to be REAL. She now knows TOO MUCH she can NOT forget. She already remembers everything from her 2 previous painful reality discoveries after hospitals, medications and all her datas, writings, videos and pictures destroyed. This 3rd time around the amount of support and signs of her sanity she is lucky to have had are printed deep in her memory, she is so grateful to have lended in a coussin of radiant power and love and everything she knows to be truth is most definitely not erasable. And even if their torture and pressure was nearing anything she would cede under and resign to take some anti psychotics giving way to their increased and sustained control of her body and brain, she would stop as soon as possible because this substance is hurting her physically and mentally and would run back to raves, altered states and people she likes to surround herself with, read what she wrote again, remember it all and resume to fight its disgusting doings and presence at all on this planet! 

But she has to admit that she has exhausted ideas on what to write, expose or communicate through her fiction, appart from going down the past slide show of her administered life and sharing all the crusty details of her slow realisation of the deception. They are sensitive and difficult times to recall and describe without emotion and more introspection, and could also loose her in interpreting many aspects and times as inaccurately linked to being a targeted individual. She is still not sure how efficient that would be, thinking that it could also hurt, guilt trip or offend some loved ones involved in hurting her or contributing to her isolation, or tickle the risk to drown herself in greater despair... BB: ”The past is the past... yerrr but... and in 2 days it’s International Womxn’s day! Wowwww!” But then again force is to constate that writing to expose perpetrators’ pestiferous work protocols is proven to be the most efficient tactic she found effective towards increasing tranquility, in small steps but could it eventually lead to owning herself, her mind and her body back? her popularity or NOT, who fucking cares! The worst of her outer and inner self is a public matter... but indispensably her INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS! 

Here is how she is going to power through this misogynistic shit storm. Just keep up what she is doing! Writing it all out and OUT, impose the amount of self care she wants to impose on herself, re-educate to rave environments for as long as it takes to feel at ease, not give anyone a word on her levels of consumption, since it is unquestionably highlighted that she has absolutely no problems, addictions or mental disorders resulting from her monstrous drug taking most of her life... Quite the contrary, it has always unveiled the truth! She will be thinking and dancing in ways that she sees fit or are envisageable under the machine hold in parties, try to not let them destroy chances to get hired somewhere, build her strength up day by day, walk, ride, shit, cry, masturbate and tell her points of views around Blue to whom ever wants to hear them. And If there is any problem with that, “Just let me know!”

#intellectual property #whistleblower #bbwomans #humanautomation #mind control activism

[crimsonrevolt]

Congratulations Amos you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Rabastan Lestrange

↳ please refer to our character checklist

Amos! We were so excited to see your application in our inbox, and even more to see that you were going for a character outside of your norm. For a Death Eater, especially a Lestrange, you captured Rabastan perfectly. It’s clear what drives him and how his mind works, and we can’t see where you take him moving forward in CRT. Welcome to the family!

application beneath the cut ( tw: mentions of drug and sexual assault )

OUT OF CHARACTER

Introduction: Amos, 21, he/him, GMT

Activity: Starting from February I’ll have a 9-5 job, I’m also writing a dissertation, and I would say I’m have a fairly moderate social life, so I can’t promise to be on 24/7, but I will most likely be on in the evenings, and I will most likely rp when I’m procrastinating doing actual work.

How did you find us? Just through a tumblr search for literate rps

Anything else? On Rabastan’s bio it gives his age as twenty, but looking at the current in game date and the graduation list, I think he’s 22? But I could have figured that out wrong. Either way I’m happy to move his birth year around to fit whatever.

IN CHARACTER

Desired character: Rabastan Lestrange

Birthday / star sign: 17th April 1957 - Aries

Occupation: Unemployed, and that’s the way he likes it. His family is wealthy enough that he’ll probably never have to think too much about money. He can live day to day, and do as he pleases without ever thinking about the gold he’s spending. Being the brother to Rodolphus, he’ll occasionally dress up fancy and attend formal events, shake hands with the right people, pose for the right pictures, give the right comments to the right reporters. However he much prefers pulling the strings of political figures and public opinion from the shadows. As anyone can see, he’s far too busy for an actual job.

Faceclaim: Matthew Daddario (no change, I think? It’s different on his bio, and on the directory. But I’d prefer to use Matthew)

Reason for chosen character: I have a habit of playing squeaky clean or at least morally good characters, and I’ve grown bored of it. I think Rabastan will challenge me, he’s just exciting. I’m inspired to write a morally corrupt bad boy right now, to figure out what drives him and what his motives are. It’ll be interesting to play someone who thinks very differently to how I think.

Rabastan has a lot of qualities that I would usually despise in someone. Obviously, he’s dedicated to this fascist movement. He’s aggressive and violent. He’s definitely not a feminist. Honestly if he were around today he’d probably deny global warming too. He wouldn’t hunt foxes, but only because he’s having too much fun hunting muggles. Any sane person would hate him. So, it’ll be incredibly interesting to find a way to make him likeable. He has a tender side, he has weaknesses, he has affection. He just finds it difficult to access these or admit to them. I don’t think he sees himself as a bad person. I think he can rationalise all his actions and beliefs. Maybe there’s some naivety to him. I think he finds it very hard to do anything at less than 110%. Either he’s indifferent or he’s set on fire with the passion of it all. The things he doesn’t care about fall to the wayside, the things he holds as sacred get his whole attention.

Preferred ships // Character sexuality // Gender & Pronouns: Male – He/Him, Bisexual, No preferred ships.

Sex and romance are two very separate things for Rabastan. Sex is something he does to blow off steam. He has an urge and he fulfils it. I think he’s a pretty selfish lover, especially when his partner is a women. I think he’ll take what he wants without too much of a thought for his partner. With men it’s more fun for him, perhaps because he doesn’t really see it as real. Obviously, he’s engaged to Emma at this point. I don’t think he’d see having sex with men as cheating, and no amount of reasoning could convince him otherwise. It’s just a fact that he is never going to marry a man, and he can’t get them pregnant, so having sex with them almost doesn’t count. That being said, I don’t think he’d have a problem with sleeping with other woman whilst engaged to Emma either. Emma sleeping around though, would trigger his temper in a heartbeat.

I feel like there might be some kind of trauma in his past, maybe some older relative praying on him when he was younger, and him experiencing some kind of sexual abuse. This is why he’s emotionally detached from sex, and he likes to be in control of every sexual encounter. But I think that’s very subconscious and he’s probably buried a lot of those memories and feelings.

He’s extremely sceptical of romance and romantic love. He’s never understood it, and never experienced it for himself. If it is real, it’s something that happens to other, softer people. I think one day it’s going to hit him like a train when he’s least expecting it and he’s not going to handle it very gracefully.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER

§ Trait expansion:

✓  Charming – Rabastan likes to get what he wants, and if that means he has to draw that person in with a smile, he’ll do it. He knows how to make people feel good. And that just makes it even better when he decides to ruin them. Rabastan can hold an audience captive, can make someone feel like they’re the only person in the world that matters. He can also make them feel like they’re burning from the inside out.

✓  Spontaneous – This doesn’t mean that Rabastan doesn’t think critically and pre-determine certain actions. He’s not an idiot who jumps into situations unprepared. All the time. He’s spontaneous when he feels he can’t lose, or alternatively, when he feels he has nothing left to lose. Showing up at a friend house for an unexpected night out, doing 5 tequila shots and going home with a girl he picked up at the bar, spontaneous but relatively low risk. Dropping his pants during a press conference and declaring his loyalty to the Dark Lord just for the heck of it, fairly high risk, definitely not something he’d do in a hurry. This plays into the fun-loving side of him. He’s game until it isn’t fun anymore, and he’s not going to deliberately do something that’s going to cause him hell.

✕  Deceptive – There are very few people who know the real Rabastan inside and out. His brother is probably one of the closest. Even Rabastan himself isn’t always completely clued in. Though he acts confident, he can doubt his identity. Largely his deceptiveness is a security tactic. If people don’t know the whole truth, they can’t hurt him as efficiently. Unfortunately, this also means he can lose his sense of self.

✕  Easily bored -  Rabastan is a hedonist, he gets bored easily, he seeks thrills, he’s not one to sit still and wait for what he wants, he’ll go out and chase it. This does mean he has a few unhealthy habits for dealing with the all too common boredom. Drugs, alcohol, sex, cruelty, or a combination.

§ Potential plots/connections:

The Regular – Someone Rabastan meets up with regularly to let out frustrations, usually in the form of sex, but perhaps with other pass times. Perhaps they think they know Rabastan pretty well, and maybe Rabastan feels the urge to let them in. But he keeps them at arm’s length nonetheless. The more he’s feels vulnerable with them, the more he wants to hurt them. Perhaps Rabastan harbours genuine affection for this person, or maybe they are nothing more than a plaything. Maybe this person feels the same way about him.

The Master – Someone who has power over Rabastan. Maybe they have dirt on him and use it for blackmail, maybe Rabastan owes them a debt, or perhaps Rabastan is inexplicably loyal to them for emotional reasons he’d rather not admit to himself. Whatever the reason, Rabastan is forced to do things he wouldn’t usually choose for himself.

The Rival – Someone that makes Rabastan’s blood boil every time he sees them. Perhaps the bad blood goes back a long way, or maybe the dislike is instantaneous and inexplicable. Rabastan wants nothing more to destroy this person, but they match him blow for blow everytime they go head to head. These battles may take the form of actual duels, or they maybe carefully plotted actions to tears the other’s life apart from the shadows.

The Weakness – Someone Rabastan feels genuinely close to. He may not admit it but he cares for this person deeply, and he doesn’t always know what to do with those feelings. He gets it wrong a lot of the time, he may push them away, but this person knows him better than most. Maybe this knowing is an intuitive feeling, or perhaps its long-term experience gathered over many years. Someone Rabastan would go to when he’s fucked up. Someone he would protect from harm no matter what. This person is Rabastan’s weakness.

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

§ Do you think it is more important to be feared or loved? Which would you rather be?

Fear, absolutely. Fear drives people, love just slows them down. Besides it’s much easier to cultivate fear. Love doesn’t last long if you don’t tend to it regularly, and I really don’t have the time. You can break someone once and it can infect everything they do for the rest of their lives. That’s power.

§ What is one thing you would never want said about you?

Let it never be said that Rabastan Lestrange doesn’t know how to have a good time. If you think you have a hope in hell of keeping up with me you better buck up your ideas.

§ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it!

Merlin, just give me a potion that means I don’t have to sleep. Who has time for that shit?

§ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

Deciding where to eat is always a struggle. Deciding who to eat with. Deciding how much I can tell them. Deciding how to get rid of them when they let me down.

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

Rabastan probably posed for a few pictures when the Daily Prophet started rebuilding. Shook a few hands, smoothed over a few wrinkles. But he probably wasn’t too involved, he’s not interested in the heavy lifting.

Rabastan likes Quidditch as much as the next man. He most likely used the world cup as an excuse to party harder than he usually does. The Aversio stunt made his blood boil. At such a public event, there was nothing he could do to counter it. He did not like feeling helpless. He probably went out to attack some muggles in the following days to vent his frustration.

WRITING SAMPLE

TW: Swearing, drugs

Rabastan padded through the house, tossing the quaffle up and catching it, creating a rhythmic thumping. There was a tenseness in his arms, a restraint, his jaw tight. Then without warning he hurled the quaffle. It smashed directly into a priceless vase, shards of china exploding across the room. He let a huff out through his nostrils as he examined the scene. Damn these insolent rebels. Mudbloods, blood traitors, mislead idiots, he’d kill them all.

The floor boards creaked behind him and when he turned around the girl was standing in the doorway.

“Come back to bed.” She gave him a sly smile but his expression didn’t change.

“Get dressed, and get out.” He said slowly, articulating every word so that even a halfwit like her could understand. Unsurprisingly she didn’t.

“What? I don’t-“

“Leave! Now!” He roared, anger getting the better of him. She flinched as if she’d been physically hit and ran back to the bedroom. He was still, listening, until he heard the front door slam behind her.

With that he took his wand from the harness that kept it strapped to his forearm, and repaired the vase. Everything else was a fucking mess, no need for his living space to reflect that. The girl had been a nice distraction the night before but she was nothing. Now he needed to focus on the bigger problems, like retrieving his fiancée. It wasn’t so much a matter of love, but pride. She belonged to him, and every hour she was withheld from him was an insult. Of course not being the Minister of Magic his problems were pushed down the priority list. But this didn’t look good for any of them. One of the most powerful wizarding families in Britain and they couldn’t even keep hold of their women.

He didn’t trust the Aurors to return her safely to him either. Half of them were probably involved in the capture, and those that weren’t were incapable fools. If he wanted her found, he’d have to do it himself. He was half tempted to leave it a little longer. It would stir up more public sympathy, a bigger story when she was miraculously saved by her doting fiancé. Besides, if she was stupid enough to get herself kidnapped she might as well suffer a little longer.

However, he was impatient. Now, he could play detective, or he could smoke out a member of aversio, using them for information or a bargaining chip. He knew which one appealed to him more.

He scribbled a quick note about his intentions to his brother and tossed his jittery bird out of the window. It didn’t go into detail, that would be careless, but Rodolphus would understand. Not that he would take it seriously. Rodolphus rarely took him seriously.

He picked out his clothes carefully, making sure his appearance was immaculate in the mirror. Appearances were everything. Then he took a small vial from a drawer and downed the potion. It burned the back of his throat, and a small involuntary gasp escaped when it hit his system, his eyes blown wide for a second before returning to normal. It wasn’t anything particularly strong, just something to sharpen his edges. There were some in the drawer that could send him into oblivion, but this was all he needed today.

His wand was now strapped back to his arm, hidden discreetly beneath his shirt, but still easily accessible. He checked it once more. Every second his intentions became clearer and his future actions more defined. With purpose, he turned on the spot and disapparated.

It was time to go hunting.

#accepted app #rabastan lestrange

[getyourgossip0-blog]

Mormon feminists urge LDS authorities to remind local leaders that breastfeeding isn't sexual

New Post has been published on http://getyourgossip.xyz/mormon-feminists-urge-lds-authorities-to-remind-local-leaders-that-breastfeeding-isnt-sexual/

Mormon feminists urge LDS authorities to remind local leaders that breastfeeding isn't sexual

Mormon feminists have launched a churchwide letter-writing campaign, urging LDS officials to issue a “statement of support for nursing mothers.”

“We need to remove the barriers and difficulties placed upon [Mormon] women for how they mother their children and we need to make it easier to be a woman in this church,” Carrie Stoddard Salisbury declared in an Exponent II blog. “Without such an official declaration, women will remain at risk for judgment and exclusion if their chosen way of nurturing their babies doesn’t align with the preferences of a local priesthood authority.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no written policy regarding breastfeeding in its buildings. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins declined to comment on the request for such a policy or the women’s push for a statement of support.

This campaign was spawned by a breastfeeding incident that Salisbury reported earlier this week on Exponent II’s blog, which has generated hundreds of comments and outrage.

A recommend gives the holder permission to enter LDS temples, attesting to the person’s adherence to church behavioral and belief standards. The questions are prescribed; none has to do with public breastfeeding.

The local lay leader said it was a “modesty issue,” Exponent II reported, and “blamed her for the men and boys having impure thoughts.” He insisted she cover up or use the mother’s room, off the restroom.

When the women refused and argued that he was “sexualizing breastfeeding,” the blog post said, the stake president would not sign her recommend because she was “not sustaining her leaders.”

She said she would seek “a higher authority.” He told her to go ahead. “I’ve already called Salt Lake. They agree it’s a modesty issue.”

The LDS regional leader also denied the woman’s husband a recommend, saying he did not “control” his wife as “patriarch of the family.”

Article continues below

The church also declined to comment, Hawkins said, on the stake president’s alleged actions and remarks.

The woman has said she doesn’t want to use her name for fear of reprisal in her northern Utah ward nor has she named the stake president. She does hope the publicity will push the church and its female leaders to take a stand that at least parallels the legal protections of the state.

“As a law-abiding entity, the LDS Church should not impose stricter guidelines or punishments on nursing women,” Salisbury wrote in a follow-up blog, “than reasonably exist in the state or country where she lives.”

For some Mormon women, the solution is simple: Add a line to the church’s Handbook, spelling out that nursing moms are welcome in meetinghouses covered or uncovered.

“Maybe that is micromanaging,” said Heather Moore-Farley, a Mormon mom of three in the Bay Area, but the church has lots of detailed instructions, including “what instruments can be played in [services].”

If LDS leaders want to “continue to hold up motherhood as a blessed calling,” she said, “they need to demonstrate that with actions.”

Every couple of years, another story of a breastfeeding Mormon mother facing criticism, gossip or even reprimands from church leaders erupts.

In 2010, that was Moore-Farley’s own tale.

As a new mother in Provo, she got a call from her congregation’s Relief Society president, asking her to use a blanket or go to the mothers’ lounge in the women’s restroom to protect others’ sensitivities. Her bishop then suggested Moore-Farley and her husband pray about it.

They did and got the same answer: She was doing nothing wrong.

Sometime later, another ward member accused her of “contributing to the pornography problem” and “not keeping [her] covenants.”

After that, she moved to the Bay Area, where she is a lactation specialist, and has had both accepting and judgmental experiences in church settings.

She breastfed uncovered in the Sacramento LDS Temple and “got a lot of support from temple workers there,” Moore-Farley recalled. “But I’ve also been shamed for breastfeeding in the Oakland Temple Visitors Center.”

When Moore-Farley’s Provo incident went public, LDS feminists asked for a similar churchwide statement, said Jenne Erigero Alderks, founder of the blog Birthing in Zion.

Back then, she recalled, the church said no statement was needed, that “it wasn’t a big deal and that people could handle it.”

But it continues to be an issue in some quarters, especially in the Mormon Belt of Utah, Idaho and Arizona, Alderks said this week — especially with men of a certain age.

Older men rarely saw their moms or wives nursing babies, she said. In the 1950s, bottle-feeding was more prominent and widely preferred. It was seen as more “scientific,” “clean” and “healthy.”

That began to change with 1960s feminists and the practice has been dominant across the country during the past two decades.

In fact, the Beehive State, with its predominant Mormon faith, has one of the highest percentages of breastfeeding moms in the nation, according to a 2012 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I know that Mormon women are still encountering [disapproval] from ward members,” the Seattle woman said in a phone interview. “But this is the first time in awhile I have heard [it being raised] in a power dynamic with a church leader.”

How can a Mormon leader say it’s wrong to nurse uncovered and deny of recommend to a woman who does it, she wonders, “if the church has no policy?”

Breastfeeding has become part of the church’s “modesty rhetoric,” she said, especially in the United States.

Her husband served an LDS mission in Germany, where women openly breastfeed at church, Alderks said. “He just had to get over [any squeamishness].” After all, there should be nothing sexual about nursing.

As to the stake president’s assertion that women should cover up so that men and boys don’t have sexual thoughts, she suggested he listen to what Jesus had to say.

“If you lust after a woman,” she paraphrased, “pluck your eye out.”

A Davis County blogger for Sisters Quorum, who goes by Laura, has strong words about lactation.

“I’ve made being a militant breastfeeder a badge of honor in my life,” she wrote. “And yet, unlike some, I’ve never once been counseled by Mormon lay leaders for breastfeeding openly and uncovered. Most of the time it was shirt up, showing very little skin, but sometimes neck down, with my whole, gigantic breast exposed.”

That could be because critics were afraid to bring it up, the blogger and former doula wrote, or because “they had served missions in places outside of North America and had become accustomed to the act of women openly breastfeeding. Or maybe they just never noticed and no one ever complained.”

No matter what, she wrote, it’s a question of who owns a woman’s body.

“Our bodies aren’t objects to be owned. Our breasts aren’t sex toys for the benefit of the male gaze,” she wrote. “Our babies and our consciences get to drive our choices. We do not need to be hidden away to prevent society from facing reality.”

Whether to go to a mother’s room or covering or using formula, should be a choice made by individual women.

After all, the blogger wrote, “it is our bodies.”

[aion-rsa]

How Mulan’s Main Antagonist Almost Breaks the Disney Mold

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This article contains MAJOR spoilers for Disney’s Mulan. You can read our spoiler-free review of the film here.

A recurring visual motif in Disney’s 1998 animated Mulan is the titular warrior staring at her own face, rendered unfamiliar by makeup and wondering at how to reconcile the image of that stranger with the truth of herself hiding inside. The film’s core “I Want” song, “Reflection,” articulates this ambivalence, this sense of carrying two selves, with lyrics like: who is that girl I see / staring straight back at me / why is my reflection someone I don’t know. The Mulan (Yifei Liu) of 2020, however, doesn’t have to peer at her own blurred reflection in a pond. Instead, those alternate selves are made flesh. She confronts her reflection in the faces of her sister Xiu (Xana Tang), and to a much greater extent the Rourans’ warrior-witch Xianniang (Gong Li): the two potential futures available to her. Throughout the course of the film, Mulan forges a new, third future that she makes reality. And she probably couldn’t have done it without her main antagonist: Xianniang.

From Xianniang’s first scene with Böri Khan, the antagonist is presented as the cautionary tale for what could have been, had young Mulan not heeded her father’s advice to hide her qi as she reached womanhood: Xianniang was exiled from her home for refining her qi, a privilege granted only to men, so that by the time the Rouran commander found her, she was “a scorned dog.” Böri Khan gave her a way to direct her anger and betrayal at her own people, with the promise that, when he ruled China, she would have what she most wanted: a place where her powers would not be vilified, even if that place would only exist under his totalitarian rule.

The promise of this dark future is the chain with which he leashes Xianniang, despite them both knowing that she is more powerful than him by leagues. When he calls her a witch, she grabs his throat and corrects him: “Not witch—warrior.” Yet he laughs at the notion of calling her a warrior, because they both know that a woman cannot name herself with such an honorable title; she must be named by others. The only option is a slur.

The most breathtaking example of this society’s casual sexism comes at the training camp, when Mulan-as-Hua-Jun shows off his use of qi while sparring with Honghui (Yoson An). Later, Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) gently scolds him—for hiding his ability. “You need to cultivate your gift,” he says. “Your qi is powerful, Hua Jun. Why do you hide it?” As a man, Mulan is chided for not utilizing her advantage, while as a woman she would be exiled for daring to do so.

Even her father Hua Zhou’s narration belies the tricky nature of qi: “The qi pervades the universe and all living things. We are all born with it. But only the most true will connect deeply to his qi and become a great warrior.” Only those who use their qi can be true, but only men can use their qi. Women are trapped from the start, with no chance to fulfill that trueness.

All of this lays the foundation for Mulan’s four confrontations with Xianniang—which, interestingly, map onto the four virtues of the film.

True

While the new Mulan adaptation uses the same story beats as the animated film in revealing Mulan’s true identity, they come in a different order, granting our warrior protagonist agency over this pivotal moment in a way she never got in the 1998 film. Instead of getting wounded and having the doctor discover her body beneath her armor, it is Mulan’s bindings that stop Xianniang’s deadly arrow from piercing her heart. Hua Jun dies, but Mulan lives.

Yet even before what was supposed to be a killing blow, Xianniang shames Mulan for lying. “Your deceit poisons your qi,” she snarls in disgust when they first fight—of course she immediately recognizes Mulan as another woman taking on a mantle not offered to her. Twice, Xianniang gives her the opportunity to identify herself; twice, Mulan says, “I am Hua Jun, soldier in the Emperor’s army!”

“Then you will die pretending to be something you’re not,” says the Rouran warrior, who bears the slur of witch by embodying everything that her own people accuse her of being: otherworldly, powerful, unpredictable.

Despite representing opposing sides on the battlefield, Mulan clearly recognizes some solidarity with the other woman. Why else would she willingly return to the Imperial Army as herself? She could have pulled the arrow from her bindings, readjusted her armor, reclaimed her helmet, and ridden back as Hua Jun, having miraculously escaped death. Instead, inspired to finally fulfill the third virtue stamped on her father’s sword, she presents herself in all her courage and vulnerability.

And they call her an impostor and cast her out.

Loyal

Though I briefly theorized that Xiu could have grown up into Xianniang, making her and Mulan sisters, in actuality, having Xianniang be older than Mulan makes her story even more compelling. There is a dearth of older women in fantasy stories, and in Disney tales they are very deliberately siloed into specific roles: Anyone over “marriageable age” is dead (mothers), evil (stepmothers and/or witches), or supporting characters lacking their own arc (fairy godmothers). Obviously, Xianniang falls into the evil category, but the sympathy woven into her story elevates her beyond her peers. Even if you could identify with Maleficent not getting invited to Aurora’s birth, or felt a twinge for the Evil Queen chasing after beauty via her magic mirror, we are taught that these women are past their prime, that they are pathetic for competing with their younger replacements.

Xianniang has no need to compete with Mulan; she was already a prodigy in her youth, rich in her power, and she was crushed for it. She has seen the consequences of trying to fit into their society by men’s standards. That’s why Xianniang invites Mulan to join her, because she sees the younger woman as someone to mold to her own vengeance, to replace Böri Khan as the catalyst for reshaping their future. “Join me,” Xianniang says, the tropiest of moments yet still aching with authenticity as two women trying to find a way forward together. “We will take our place together.”

But Mulan, who has known the camaraderie of men like Honghui and Tung (even if they cast her out) and who clings to the promise of her father’s unfaltering love, rejects Xianniang. “I know my place,” she says, “and it is my duty to fight for the kingdom and protect the Emperor.” And there is something troubling in that a woman will choose the patriarchal society that rejected her over creating something new by allying with a woman who has already trod her path. Yet neither is Xianniang’s destructive plan tenable. Mulan chooses the loyalty she knows, imperfect as it is, over a potential new loyalty, even if it sees her for who she truly is.

Brave

When the two meet again, Xianniang sits on the Emperor’s throne, and Mulan finally believes her: “You were right,” she tells the warrior-witch. “We are the same.”

“With one difference,” Xianniang says sadly. “They accept you, but they will never accept me.”

But buoyed by Honghui and her friends’ willingness to follow her into battle, Mulan believes that they can still change the tide. “You told me my journey was impossible,” she urges Xianniang. “Yet here I stand, proof that there is a place for people like us.”

Unfortunately, this is where what had been an affirming, feminist dynamic falls prey to worn-out tropes in which the older woman gives up. “It’s too late for me,” Xianniang intones, and transforms into her falcon form—not to escape, but to lead the way for Mulan to save the Emperor from Böri Khan, and to seal her own fate.

Devotion to Family

Xianniang is not Mulan’s blood, but they are nonetheless bonded by their mastery of qi. Xianniang is not Mulan’s sister, but she is a role model. When she tells Böri Khan that a young woman from a small village is the sole resistance to his plot, she can’t help smiling at the irony of it. And when he scoffs, “A girl,” she is quick to correct him, not with her violence over the use of the word witch, but with calm certainty: “A woman. A warrior. A woman leads the army, and she is no scorned dog.”

When Böri Khan sees this warrior for himself, before even allowing her to engage him in their first and only face-to-face fight in the film, he takes the coward’s way out: shooting an arrow at her, to swat her away like an inconvenience rather than treating her as an equal.

Are we at all surprised that Xianniang takes the arrow intended for Mulan, and then dies in the young warrior’s arms? “Take your place,” she whispers in her final words, before speaking the woman’s name like a spell, like a blessing: “Mulan.”

In that moment, Xianniang is the fairy godmother quietly stepping offstage after magicking the carriage. She is the evil queen who brings about her own literal downfall by stumbling off a cliff. The wonder of having an older woman in a fantasy story does not last if she dies in the end, doubly so if she takes herself out so that there can be only one female warrior because our mainstream storytelling still too often believes that women can be powerful, but only as exceptions to the patriarchal rule, and only for as long as they are young and traditionally beautiful and never challenge the dominance of men. Women can be powerful, but only in the ways borrowed from traditional masculinity: as soldiers, as comrades to other men, as defenders of the rightness of patriarchy. 

Mulan’s fight with Böri Khan is inconsequential, even as she uses qi to defeat him, because the movie’s most important figure has already died, and in the most demeaning fashion. What’s insidious is that their culture still wins out over two women allying together. Mulan carves out her own place in the world, but it is a singular role; it does not leave room for someone like Xianniang, who is considered too far gone to save. It’s ironic how the writers built an entire complex character out of Shan Yu’s falcon from the animated film, but in the end she is reduced back to a symbol.

I already made the joke in my review that the inevitable 2040 remake will hopefully make up for some of this movie’s stumbles. Hopefully, by then, viewers will not just get more than one woman in the movie, but both women will make it to the ending credits.

Mulan is available now on Disney+. More details on how to watch it here.

The post How Mulan’s Main Antagonist Almost Breaks the Disney Mold appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[tiffanie-nicole2011-blog]

Farrah Fawcett sweet smile Barbie Doll.

The most beautiful women in TV and Movie History now become Barbie Collector Dolls created by acclaimed re-paint Artist Donna Brinkley.

Farrah Leni Fawcett is known as the world’s Sexiest Star of all time… she will forever be one of Hollywood’s greatest Icons. She was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters.[3] Her mother, Pauline Alice January 30, 1914 – March 4, 2005), was a homemaker, and her father, James William Fawcett (October 14, 1917 – August 23, 2010), was an oil field contractor. Her sister was Diane Fawcett Walls (October 27, 1938 – October 16, 2001), a graphic artist. She was of Irish, French, English, and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett once said the name Ferrah was made up by her mother because it went well with their last name.

A Roman Catholic, Fawcett’s early education was at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. She graduated from W. B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, where she was voted Most Beautiful by her classmates her Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years of High School. For three years, 1965–68, Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin, living one semester in Jester Center, and she became a sister of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. During her Freshman year, she was named one of the Ten Most Beautiful Coeds on Campus, the first time a Freshman had been chosen. Their photos were sent to various agencies in Hollywood. David Mirsch, a Hollywood agent called her and urged her to come to Los Angeles. She turned him down but he called her for the next two years. Finally, in 1968, the summer following her junior year, with her parents’ permission to try her luck in Hollywood, Farrah moved to Hollywood. She did not return.

Upon arriving in Hollywood in 1968 she was signed to a $350 a week contract with Screen Gems. She began to appear in commercials for UltraBrite toothpaste, Noxema, Max Factor, Wella Balsam shampoo and conditioner, Mercury Cougar automobiles and Beauty Rest matresses. Fawcett’s earliest acting appearances were guest spots on The Flying Nun and I Dream of Jeannie. She made numerous other TV appearances including Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, [Mayberry RFD]] and The Partridge Family. She appeared in four episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man with husband Lee Majors, The Dating Game, S.W.A.T and a recurring role on Harry O alongside David Janssen. She also appeared in the Made for TV movies, The Feminist and the Fuzz, The Great American Beauty Contest, The Girl Who Came Giftwrapped, and Murder of Flight 502.

She had a sizable part in the 1969 French romantic-drama, Love Is a Funny Thing. She played opposite Raquel Welch and Mae West in the film version of, Myra Breckinridge (1970). The film earned negative reviews and was a box office flop. However, much has been written and said about the scene where Farrah and Raquel share a bed, and a near sexual experience. Fawcett co-starred with Michael York and Richard Jordan in the well-received science-fiction film, Logan’s Run in 1976.

In 1976, Pro Arts Inc., pitched the idea of a poster of Fawcett to her agent, and a photo shoot was arranged with photographer Bruce McBroom, who was hired by the poster company. According to friend Nels Van Patten, Fawcett styled her own hair and did her make-up without the aid of a mirror. Her blonde highlights were further heightened by a squeeze of lemon juice. From 40 rolls of film, Fawcett herself selected her six favorite pictures, eventually narrowing her choice to the one that made her famous. The resulting poster, of Fawcett in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller; sales estimates ranged from over 5 million[12] to 8 million to as high as 12 million copies.

On March 21, 1976, the first appearance of Fawcett playing the character Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels was aired as a movie of the week. Fawcett and her husband were frequent tennis partners of producer Aaron Spelling, and he and his producing partner thought of casting Fawcett as the golden girl Jill because of his friendship with the couple. The movie starred Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as private investigators for Townsend Associates, a detective agency run by a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met. Voiced by John Forsythe, the Charles Townsend character presented cases and dispensed advice via a speakerphone to his core team of three female employees, whom he referred to as Angels. They were aided in the office and occasionally in the field by two male associates, played by character actors David Doyle and David Ogden Stiers. The program quickly earned a huge following, leading the network to air it a second time and approve production for a series, with the pilot’s principal cast except David Ogden Stiers. Fawcett’s record-breaking poster that sold 12 million copies.

The Charlie’s Angels series formally debuted on September 22, 1976. Fawcett emerged as a fan favorite in the show, and the actress won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program. In a 1977 interview with TV Guide, Fawcett said: When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.

Fawcett’s appearance in the television show boosted sales of her poster, and she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in Charlie’s Angels. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a Farrah-do a Farrah-flip, or simply Farrah hair Iterations of her hair style predominated American women’s hair styles well into the 1980s.

Fawcett left Charlie’s Angels after only one season and Cheryl Ladd replaced her on the show, portraying Jill Munroe’s younger sister Kris Munroe. Numerous explanations for Fawcett’s precipitous withdrawal from the show were offered over the years. The strain on her marriage due to her long absences most days due to filming, as her then-husband Lee Majors was star of an established television show himself, was frequently cited, but Fawcett’s ambitions to broaden her acting abilities with opportunities in films have also been given. Fawcett never officially signed her series contract with Spelling due to protracted negotiations over royalties from her image’s use in peripheral products, which led to an even more protracted lawsuit filed by Spelling and his company when she quit the show.

The show was a major success throughout the world, maintaining its appeal in syndication, spawning a cottage industry of peripheral products, particularly in the show’s first three seasons, including several series of bubble gum cards, two sets of fashion dolls, numerous posters, puzzles, and school supplies, novelizations of episodes, toy vans, and a board game, all featuring Fawcett’s likeness. The Angels also appeared on the covers of magazines around the world, from countless fan magazines to TV Guide (four times) to Time Magazine.

The series ultimately ran for five seasons. As part of a settlement to a lawsuit over her early departure, Fawcett returned for six guest appearances over seasons three and four of the series.

In 2004, the television movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels dramatized the events from the show with supermodel and actress Tricia Helfer portraying Fawcett and Ben Browder portraying Lee Majors, Fawcett’s then-husband.

In 1983, Fawcett won critical acclaim for her role in the Off-Broadway stage production of the controversial play Extremities, written by William Mastrosimone. Replacing Susan Sarandon, she was a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. She described the role as the most grueling, the most intense, the most physically demanding and emotionally exhausting of her career. During one performance, a stalker in the audience disrupted the show by asking Fawcett if she had received the photos and letters he had mailed her. Police removed the man and were able only to issue a summons for disorderly conduct.

The following year, her role as a battered wife in the fact-based television movie The Burning Bed (1984) earned her the first of her four Emmy Award nominations. The project is noted as being the first television movie to provide a nationwide 800 number that offered help for others in the situation, in this case victims of domestic abuse. It was the highest-rated television movie of the season.

In 1986, Fawcett appeared in the movie version of Extremities, which was also well received by critics, and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

She appeared in Jon Avnet’s Between Two Women with Colleen Dewhurst, and took several more dramatic roles as infamous or renowned women. She was nominated for Golden Globe awards for roles as Beate Klarsfeld in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and troubled Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and won a CableACE Award for her 1989 portrayal of groundbreaking LIFE magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White in Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White. Her 1989 portrayal of convicted murderer Diane Downs in the miniseries Small Sacrifices earned her a second Emmy nomination[20] and her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination. The miniseries won a Peabody Award for excellence in television, with Fawcett’s performance singled out by the organization, which stated Ms. Fawcett brings a sense of realism rarely seen in television miniseries (to) a drama of unusual power Art meets life.

Fawcett, who had steadfastly resisted appearing nude in magazines throughout the 1970s and 1980s (although she appeared topless in the 1980 film Saturn 3), caused a major stir by posing semi-nude in the December 1995 issue of Playboy.[citation needed] At the age of 50, she returned to Playboy with a pictorial for the July 1997 issue, which also became a top seller. The issue and its accompanying video featured Fawcett painting on canvas using her body, which had been an ambition of hers for years.

That same year, Fawcett was chosen by Robert Duvall to play his wife in an independent feature film he was producing, The Apostle. Fawcett received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress for the film, which was highly critically acclaimed.

In 2000, she worked with director Robert Altman and an all-star cast in the feature film Dr. T the Women, playing the wife of Richard Gere (her character has a mental breakdown, leading to her first fully nude appearance). Also that year, Fawcett’s collaboration with sculptor Keith Edmier was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, later traveling to The Andy Warhol Museum. The sculpture was also presented in a series of photographs and a book by Rizzoli.

In November 2003, Fawcett prepared for her return to Broadway in a production of Bobbi Boland, the tragicomic tale of a former Miss Florida. However, the show never officially opened, closing before preview performances. Fawcett was described as vibrating with frustration at the producer’s extraordinary decision to cancel the production. Only days earlier the same producer closed an Off-Broadway show she had been backing.

Fawcett continued to work in television, with well-regarded appearances in made-for-television movies and on popular television series including Ally McBeal and four episodes each of Spin City and The Guardian, her work on the latter show earning her a third Emmy nomination in 2004.

Fawcett was married to Lee Majors, star of television’s The Six Million Dollar Man, from 1973 to 1982, although the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

From 1979 until 1997 Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O’Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond James Fawcett O’Neal, born January 30, 1985 in Los Angeles.[26] In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, Redmond was arrested for possession of narcotics while Fawcett was in the hospital.[citation needed] On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times and Reuters reported that Ryan O’Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough.

From 1997 to 1998, Fawcett had a relationship with Canadian filmmaker James Orr, writer and producer of the Disney feature film in which she co-starred with Chevy Chase and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Man of the House. The relationship ended when Orr was charged with and later convicted of beating Fawcett during a 1998 fight between the two.

On June 5, 1997, Fawcett received negative commentary after giving a rambling interview and appearing distracted on Late Show with David Letterman. Months later, she told the host of The Howard Stern Show her behavior was just her way of joking around with the television host, partly in the guise of promoting her Playboy pictoral and video, explaining what appeared to be random looks across the theater was just her looking and reacting to fans in the audience. Though the Letterman appearance spawned speculation and several jokes at her expense, she returned to the show a week later, with success, and several years later, after Joaquin Phoenix’s mumbling act on a February 2009 appearance on The Late Show, Letterman wrapped up the interview by saying, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight and recalled Fawcett’s earlier appearance by noting we owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett.

Fawcett’s elder sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, died from lung cancer just before her 63rd birthday, on October 16, 2001.[33] The fifth episode of her 2005 Chasing Farrah series followed the actress home to Texas to visit with her father, James, and mother, Pauline. Pauline Fawcett died soon after, on March 4, 2005, at the age of 91.

Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery. Four months later, on her 60th birthday, the Associated Press wire service reported that Fawcett was, at that point, cancer free.

Less than four months later, in May 2007, Fawcett brought a small digital video camera to document a doctor’s office visit. There, she was told a malignant polyp was found where she had been treated for the initial cancer. Doctors contemplated whether to implant a radiation seeder (which differs from conventional radiation and is used to treat other types of cancer). Fawcett’s U.S. doctors told her that she would require a colostomy. Instead, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as holistic aggressive and alternative. There, Dr. Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, and a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Doctors Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy back in Fawcett’s home town of Los Angeles. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course, this time including laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.

In early April 2009, Fawcett, back in the United States, was hospitalized, with media reports declaring her unconscious and in critical condition, although subsequent reports indicated her condition was not so dire. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that her cancer had metastasized to her liver, a development Fawcett had learned of in May 2007 and which her subsequent treatments in Germany had targeted. The report denied that she was unconscious, and explained that the hospitalization was due not to her cancer but a painful abdominal hematoma that had been the result of a minor procedure. Her spokesperson emphasized she was not at death’s door adding – She remains in good spirits with her usual sense of humor … She’s been in great shape her whole life and has an incredible resolve and an incredible resilience. Fawcett was released from the hospital on April 9, picked up by longtime companion O’Neal, and, according to her doctor, was walking and in great spirits and looking forward to celebrating Easter at home.

A month later, on May 7, Fawcett was reported as critically ill, with Ryan O’Neal quoted as saying she now spends her days at home, on an IV, often asleep. The Los Angeles Times reported Fawcett was in the last stages of her cancer and had the chance to see her son Redmond in April 2009, although shackled and under supervision, as he was then incarcerated. Her 91-year-old father, James Fawcett, flew out to Los Angeles to visit.

The cancer specialist that was treating Fawcett in L.A., Dr. Lawrence Piro, and Fawcett’s friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson – a breast cancer survivor – appeared together on The Today Show dispelling tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions Fawcett had ever been in a coma, had ever reached 86 pounds, and had ever given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live. Jackson decried such fabrications, saying they really do hurt a human being and a person like Farrah. Piro recalled when it became necessary for Fawcett to undergo treatments that would cause her to lose her hair, acknowledging Farrah probably has the most famous hair in the world but also that it is not a trivial matter for any cancer patient, whose hair affects [one’s] whole sense of who [they] are. Of the documentary, Jackson averred Fawcett didn’t do this to show that ‘she’ is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique … This was … meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them.

The two-hour documentary Farrah’s Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009.[47] The documentary was watched by nearly nine million people at its premiere airing, and it was re-aired on the broadcast network’s cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett earned her fourth Emmy nomination posthumously on July 16, 2009, as producer of Farrah’s Story.

Controversy surrounded the aired version of the documentary, with her initial producing partner, who had worked with her four years earlier on her reality series Chasing Farrah, alleging O’Neal’s and Stewart’s editing of the program was not in keeping with Fawcett’s wishes to more thoroughly explore rare types of cancers such as her own and alternative methods of treatment. He was especially critical of scenes showing Fawcett’s son visiting her for the last time, in shackles, while she was nearly unconscious in bed. Fawcett had generally kept her son out of the media, and his appearances were minimal in Chasing Farrah.

Fawcett died at approximately 9:28 am, PDT on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O’Neal and Stewart by her side. A private funeral was held in Los Angeles on June 30. Fawcett’s son Redmond was permitted to leave his California detention center to attend his mother’s funeral, where he gave the first reading.

The night of her death, ABC aired an hour-long special episode of 20/20 featuring clips from several of Barbara Walters’ past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O’Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro. Walters followed up on the story on Friday’s episode of 20/20. CNN’s Larry King Live planned a show exclusively about Fawcett that evening until the death of Michael Jackson several hours later caused the program to shift to cover both stories. Cher, a longtime friend of Fawcett, and Suzanne de Passe, executive producer of Fawcett’s Small Sacrifices mini-series, both paid tribute to Fawcett on the program. NBC aired a Dateline NBC special Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel; the following evening, June 26, preceded by a rebroadcast of Farrah’s Story in prime time. That weekend and the following week, television tributes continued. MSNBC aired back-to-back episodes of its Headliners and Legends episodes featuring Fawcett and Jackson. TV Land aired a mini-marathon of Charlie’s Angels and Chasing Farrah episodes. E! aired Michael and Farrah: Lost Icons and the The Biography Channel aired Bio Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. The documentary Farrah’s Story re-aired on the Oxygen Network and MSNBC.

Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon, TV had much more impact back in the ’70s than it does today. Charlie’s Angels got huge numbers every week – nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it’s hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie’s Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said Farrah was one of the iconic beauties of our time. Her girl-next-door charm combined with stunning looks made her a star on film, TV and the printed page.

Kate Jackson said, She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her… I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile…when you think of Farrah, remember her smiling because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered: smiling.

She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

The red one-piece bathing suit worn by Farrah in her famous 1976 poster was donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) on February 2, 2011.[65] Said to have been purchased at a Saks Fifth Avenue store, the red Lycra suit made by the leading Australian swimsuit company Speedo, was donated to the Smithsonian by her executors and was formally presented to NMAH in Washington D.C. by her longtime companion Ryan O’Neal.[66] The suit and the poster are expected to go on temporary display sometime in 2011–12. They will be made additions to the Smithsonian’s popular culture department.

The famous poster of Farrah in a red swimsuit has been produced as a Barbie doll. The limited edition dolls, complete with a gold chain and the girl-next-door locks, have been snapped up by Barbie fans.

In 2011, Men’s Health named her one of the 100 Hottest Women of All-Time ranking her at No. 31

Posted by CelebToys on 2012-10-04 19:18:07

Tagged:

The post Farrah Fawcett sweet smile Barbie Doll. appeared first on Good Info.

[kidsviral-blog]

How Prince Taught Me About Female Sexuality

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/how-prince-taught-me-about-female-sexuality/

How Prince Taught Me About Female Sexuality

He helped me realize there are men who enjoy being submissive to women — and that being a woman who’s more sexually experienced than a man isn’t something to hide or being ashamed of.

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CROLLALANZA /REX USA

As a little kid in the early 1980s, I remember watching the video for Prince’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover” for the first time, as I experienced the magic of cable television and MTV in my family’s first house. I could not look away from this man with the hairy chest, single hoop earring, and feathered hair. When I was around 11 or 12, my sister was in college and dated a guy who was a huge Prince fan. He let me listen to his records, including the B-sides and bootlegs, like “Girl,” “Erotic City,” and “17 Days.” I felt like I was a member of a club with select membership.

I’ve been fascinated with sex since an early age, and even as a child, I knew Prince was “nasty,” but it drew me to him even more. Prince built a reputation on his risqué songs, like “Head” with lyrics that said, “I know you’re good, girl/ I think you like to go down.” With songs like “Soft and Wet,” it’s easy to think that Prince only sees women as objects made for sexual pleasure, but looking further, his songs show women with the same sexual urges as men. Acts like Salt-N-Pepa and Madonna were equally important in showcasing women’s desires through song during my childhood, but Prince’s work resonated more with me. His music shaped my own sexuality because it helped me realize there are men who enjoy being submissive to women, that there are men who are willing to admit to helplessness during sex, and that being a woman who’s more sexually experienced than a man isn’t something to hide or being ashamed of.

His ’80s catalog, in particular, was a revelatory mix of sex, politics, and religion. He sang as a man unafraid of changing how society looked at masculinity, a man who enjoyed a more sexually experienced woman, and as a man willing to follow a woman’s lead.

“Darling Nikki,” from the 1984 Purple Rain soundtrack, details a one-night stand. It has all the markers to offend — a sex fiend of a woman masturbating in public who abandons her conquest after using him. On the surface, the song has much in common with 1982’s “Little Red Corvette,” another song about a one-night stand with a promiscuous woman. However, in “Little Red Corvette,” Prince’s persona warns the woman against her sexually adventurous lifestyle and attempts to “tame” her into monogamy. In “Darling Nikki,” the object of the woman’s affection has no problems with being used and ends the song begging for her to come back. Also, “Darling Nikki” was the catalyst for Tipper Gore, ex-wife of former Vice President Al Gore, to become co-founder of the Parents Music Resource Center, which led to “Parental Advisory” stickers on music deemed too explicit for children.

People frequently sing “Darling Nikki” to me because of my nickname (although I spell it differently) and love for Prince, but they don’t realize how empowering the song was for me once I became sexually active as a teenager. As I matured, I frequently warred with the idea of being a “good girl” who doesn’t talk about sex openly because it meant I was “easy” and yet wanting to express myself sexually in an open and honest way. I was warned that when women talk about sex, no matter how innocently, it makes people want to have sex with her, and that could have dangerous consequences. Even though “Darling Nikki” is told from the point of view of her conquest, I felt drawn to the woman in the title, bold and memorable. I wanted to be like her. I haven’t followed Darling Nikki’s exact footsteps, and my journey to realizing my full sexual self hasn’t always been straightforward, but I often think of her and the song when challenging myself sexually.

Beyond fast-paced rock and pop songs like “Darling Nikki,” “Little Red Corvette,” or even “Raspberry Beret,” where Prince sings about succumbing to the wiles of women more sexually experienced, he has more traditional R&B-like ballads, making sexual demands of his lovers for their mutual satisfaction. In “Do Me, Baby” from 1981’s Controversy and “Scandalous” from the 1989 Batman soundtrack, he asks to be touched and explored and lets the objects of his desire know that he’s at their mercy. Despite the persona’s obvious eagerness to make love, he lets his partners set the pace. In “Do Me, Baby,” he waits for his lover to lay him down, a sure sign of the other’s readiness. In “Scandalous,” Prince croons, “Anything’s acceptable / just ask me / and I’ll try it.” He’s willing to follow someone else’s lead. In these songs, Prince sings of his overwhelming desire for his partner but doesn’t rush the rendezvous. He encourages his lovers to lead, knowing that his being in a submissive position will be mutually beneficial.

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eu9qkMPr10I.

When people jokingly wonder how a man who wears heels and makeup, challenging ideas of masculinity, is able to date so many women, I often think of songs like “Do Me, Baby” and “Scandalous.” He understands the need to give his partners room to take charge and how doing so doesn’t equal a threat to his manhood. On the album version of “Do Me, Baby,” Prince ends the song with his orgasm, begs his partner for help, and finally asks to be held. The vulnerability he displays perhaps answers the question of how this diminutive man in eyeliner and lace can be considered a ladies’ man. It set a high bar for me when it came to my own sexual partners. I expected my boyfriends to let me lead sometimes and to express neediness without shame. My disappointment was frequent, so I’d return to Prince’s music to daydream.

As much as Prince’s music gave me permission to accept my own sexual maturity, his discography is not without issue. Sometimes he is flat-out hypocritical and misogynistic. “Little Red Corvette” borders on what we’d now call slut-shaming. On stage, Prince frequently pairs women dancers together in sexual mimicry, and yet some of his lyrics scold women about being bisexual. On the 1979 self-titled album, the song “Bambi” attempts to convince a woman to abandon her female lover because “it’s better with a man.” Prince ends the song declaring, “Bambi, I know what U need / Bambi, maybe U need 2 bleed.” In the 1982 bootleg single “Xtraloveable,” Prince’s persona tries to seduce a woman by asking her if she wants to take a bath with him. He praises her because she doesn’t brag about her love life and doesn’t appear to be loose with her affections: “What I dig the most is the way that U keep your sugar in your hand / till I want it.” However, later he claims he’s “on the verge of rape” then: “I’m sorry / but I’m just gonna have 2 rape U / Now are U going to get in the tub / Or do I have 2 drag U?” Prince moves from seduction to rape, and it’s jarring. Here, his usual submissive role is gone and replaced with an overly aggressive one. One moment, the song’s persona is happy that his lover makes him wait, and the next he’s threatening rape because she doesn’t respond to his advances quickly enough.

Prince recently performed “Bambi” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon with the all-female band he fronts, 3rdEyeGirl. He didn’t sing the final threat of violence, but the overall sexist sentiment of the song remained, especially considering the fact that Prince stood in front of an all-woman band. Perhaps Prince decided to play the song because it’s more rock than funk or R&B and showcases his rock guitar talents. It remains an odd song selection.

In 2013, Prince released “Extraloveable Reloaded,” with sanitized lyrics. The sugar in hand becomes a vague “it,” and any mention of rape is scrubbed. Since Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness in 2001, he’s become increasingly conservative, refusing to play most of his racier songs that cemented his place in pop culture. Recent music like “Da Bourgeoisie” returns to shaming a woman for her bisexuality, but “Breakfast Can Wait” hints that the old, raunchy Prince is still around.

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GHbyNrGXpAA.

Prince still has moments where he wags his finger at a woman because of her choices, but then I think of “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” from the 1987 album Sign O’ the Times. It’s a song so important to me that I have a line of its lyrics tattooed around my left ankle. In it, Prince’s alter ego Camille sings in the perspective of a man who wonders if becoming a woman would lead to a closer relationship with his current female lover. Again, Prince disrupts heteronormative ideals of masculinity by being willing to change genders for more significant connection, the kind shared between women.

It’s hard to reconcile the Prince of gender-fluidity with the one who refuses to comment on same-sex marriage. I’ve overlooked his bouts of hypocrisy and sexism to concentrate on what I’ve learned from his music over the years. With his music, I gave myself permission to be bold and shameless in my desires. As a Southern woman, I’ve grown up dancing to a lot of music that directly contradicts my feminist beliefs, like bass and bounce. Lyrics demanding women to pop their pussies or guaranteeing material goods in exchange for satisfactory sex fly directly in the face of the idea that a woman is more than her body and sexuality. It’s not enough to shrug off the misogynistic verses simply because of a good beat. Not only did I give myself permission to speak freely about sex, I also had to allow myself to be a complex person who enjoys flawed artists and their art.

Prince’s early catalog taught me things about myself I wasn’t even aware I was learning at such a young age. When I made the decision to become sexually active as a teen, I imitated Prince’s moans and gasps from his songs as practice to make sure I would sound sexy in bed. To this day, you might catch me making sounds straight from “Do Me, Baby,” “Girl,” or “Vibrator,” a Vanity 6 song Prince wrote. That’s what was sexy to me — a man willing to vocalize pleasure and be vulnerable and so I sought to translate that into my own sex life. Despite his increasingly conservative beliefs and his occasionally sexist lyrics, Prince helped me achieve an honest and good sex life. For that, I’ll always be grateful.

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tnwhiskeywoman/do-me-baby

#music #sexuality

[feedit]

The Things She Carries

How heavy is your diaper bag?

Just this summer I officially stopped carrying my Big Diaper Bag on most days. Both kids were out of diapers (!!!!) and accidents were rare (fingers crossed) and we could usually make it through most of a day out and about with water bottles, a few snacks, a lollypop or two, and some luck packed into my small mommy backpack with my keys, phone and wallet. And that FEELING of leaving the house so unencumbered (as much as one can be unencumbered with two children in tow) was incredible. 

My giant diaper bag, ready for an evening out. 

I calculated that my diaper bag, when fully loaded, weighed well over 25 lbs. Diapers (two sizes), wipes, butt cream, juice(s), travel milk cup, spare pants (and underpants), bibs, table covers, snacks, backup snacks, healthy treats, escalation treats, Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer, gigi (security blanket), spare gigi, sunscreen, water for Mom, toys for the train, book I will never read, and more were packed into my lovely diaper bag. 

I selected this bag very carefully before I was a Mom, and, with all the naiveté of someone not-yet-a-parent, I also bought a small matching handbag because, I imagined, I would simply bring *my* things for an evening out in my clutch and the baby’s things would be meticulously packed away in the diaper bag for relaxing evenings out on the town as a family. 

The reality was, is, of course, that I put that clutch away for nearly six years while I was hauling around that giant, overstuffed, diaper bag like the pack mule we all never intend to be. When we did go out, I carried that bag. Even though my husband offered, I felt lost without it. It was my self-imposed burden to bear. 

As my physical load has lightened, I noticed that my psychological load has not. I don't carry as much stuff around with me in my arms, but my brain and my time are as overstuffed with tasks as my old diaper bag configuration was. 

In her amazing article in Harper’s Bazaar, Gemma Hartley describes trying to explain the phenomenon of Emotional Labor as she urges her husband to take notice of the myriad of tasks it takes to run a household. The article is titled “Stop Calling Women Nags - How Emotional Labor is Dragging Down Gender Equality,” and it speaks to the frustration - often coming to a boiling point (and requiring, as Ms. Hartley gently describes, ‘damage control,’) once the beleaguered Mom has Simply. Had. Enough. 

Recently I vented about this with my Book Group friends and was not surprised to find myself in good company. That week, my husband asked me to find a sitter so we could go out with friends who were randomly in town. It was a short-turnaround request and a holiday, two strikes against me, but what made it more frustrating, I found myself saying, is that no matter what the outcome of my efforts, his life wouldn’t change. He could still go out - or not - because it’s assumed that I will simply stay home with the boys. Somehow that’s on me. 

Heads nodded and everyone had a story to tell about forgotten pacifiers and too much screen time. One friend sent me a message later detailing how her that very night, her husband hadn’t put their child to bed with his diaper on (as he’s supposed to) because “He didn’t want to wear one,” and so she was faced with the dilemma of either diapering him before she went to bed (as her husband assumed she would) or cleaning up a late-night mess. 

“Really?” she wrote, “Really? I have a title for your blog post... ‘Emotional Labor  vs. Dumbassery.’ “ 

It’s funny because it’s true, but it’s also a revealing element of the Parenting Culture. 

In Hillary Clinton’s raw and revealing new book, “What Happened,” she mentions how even as the first woman partner in a law firm in Arkansas, she was the one responsible for the Emotional Labor in their family. Remembering the birthdays and the spelling tests and getting the clean leotard out for ballet class, which is on for Tuesday but cancelled next week… It struck me that even as the First Lady of Arkansas, as First Lady of the Nation, she always had that role in addition to Everything Else.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama called herself the Mom-in-Chief, which polarized feminists and as mentioned in this piece from Salon, seems to degrade any experience of Motherhood that’s not 24-7. “These notions, sometimes referred to as “intensive motherhood,” leave little room for women to focus on careers, activities or commitments outside of caring for children.”

So Mrs. Obama’s attempts at so-called-balance were just as precarious and full of self-doubt as any of the rest of us.

I remember reading Arlie Hochschild’s The Second Shift in college, long before I ever considered having children and I wondered to myself how my mother did it all but also WHY did she do it all? I now know the answer: She did it all because she had to. I loved my father but he did not play a substantial role in my family’s Emotional Labor Force. 

So how did I end up here, with so many of my educated, independent, intelligent Mother friends and women of power alike? Did we create this by insisting on carrying the load ourselves? It’s hard to put it down, because, especially for SAHMs like myself, it’s what we do. It’s ‘all’ we do, when someone asks us what we do all day, and we struggle for an specific answer.  

Perhaps it’s that element of Dumbassery, as my eloquent friend put it. Or perhaps we just need to call out these inequities and ask for more with the understanding that it might get done differently than we would have done it, but that’s OK. Great, even. 

In our situation, I explained my frustration and my husband got it. He handled the arrangements and we found a way for us all to win. Another friend told her husband that she needed a break and he booked both a sitter and a restaurant. There’s hope for us all. Hopefully next time, neither one of us has to ask. 

When we decided that I would stay home with the kids, I realized that the majority of household tasks would fall to me. And I feel the need to add that my husband is a great Dad, a wonderful partner, and an active part of keeping our house running smoothly. But as lives, as marriages, evolve, we are entering into a new phase. Our family still needs me - and the things I do - more than ever, but they are different things now than when they were babies. I’ve been carrying this weight because I insisted on holding the bag, all of the time. That was on me. But it’s time for a change.

I’m happy we are finding ways to lighten the load, together. 

#emotionallabor #momlife #diaperbag #change #whatsnext

[tiffanie-nicole2011-blog]

The Ultimate “BOMB” Farrah Fawcett Glamor Barbie Doll re-paint by Donna Brinkley.

The most beautiful women in TV and Movie History now become Barbie Collector Dolls created by acclaimed re-paint Artist Donna Brinkley.

Farrah Leni Fawcett is known as the world’s Sexiest Star of all time… she will forever be one of Hollywood’s greatest Icons. She was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters.[3] Her mother, Pauline Alice January 30, 1914 – March 4, 2005), was a homemaker, and her father, James William Fawcett (October 14, 1917 – August 23, 2010), was an oil field contractor. Her sister was Diane Fawcett Walls (October 27, 1938 – October 16, 2001), a graphic artist. She was of Irish, French, English, and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett once said the name Ferrah was made up by her mother because it went well with their last name.

A Roman Catholic, Fawcett’s early education was at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. She graduated from W. B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, where she was voted Most Beautiful by her classmates her Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years of High School. For three years, 1965–68, Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin, living one semester in Jester Center, and she became a sister of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. During her Freshman year, she was named one of the Ten Most Beautiful Coeds on Campus, the first time a Freshman had been chosen. Their photos were sent to various agencies in Hollywood. David Mirsch, a Hollywood agent called her and urged her to come to Los Angeles. She turned him down but he called her for the next two years. Finally, in 1968, the summer following her junior year, with her parents’ permission to try her luck in Hollywood, Farrah moved to Hollywood. She did not return.

Upon arriving in Hollywood in 1968 she was signed to a $350 a week contract with Screen Gems. She began to appear in commercials for UltraBrite toothpaste, Noxema, Max Factor, Wella Balsam shampoo and conditioner, Mercury Cougar automobiles and Beauty Rest matresses. Fawcett’s earliest acting appearances were guest spots on The Flying Nun and I Dream of Jeannie. She made numerous other TV appearances including Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, [Mayberry RFD]] and The Partridge Family. She appeared in four episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man with husband Lee Majors, The Dating Game, S.W.A.T and a recurring role on Harry O alongside David Janssen. She also appeared in the Made for TV movies, The Feminist and the Fuzz, The Great American Beauty Contest, The Girl Who Came Giftwrapped, and Murder of Flight 502.

She had a sizable part in the 1969 French romantic-drama, Love Is a Funny Thing. She played opposite Raquel Welch and Mae West in the film version of, Myra Breckinridge (1970). The film earned negative reviews and was a box office flop. However, much has been written and said about the scene where Farrah and Raquel share a bed, and a near sexual experience. Fawcett co-starred with Michael York and Richard Jordan in the well-received science-fiction film, Logan’s Run in 1976.

In 1976, Pro Arts Inc., pitched the idea of a poster of Fawcett to her agent, and a photo shoot was arranged with photographer Bruce McBroom, who was hired by the poster company. According to friend Nels Van Patten, Fawcett styled her own hair and did her make-up without the aid of a mirror. Her blonde highlights were further heightened by a squeeze of lemon juice. From 40 rolls of film, Fawcett herself selected her six favorite pictures, eventually narrowing her choice to the one that made her famous. The resulting poster, of Fawcett in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller; sales estimates ranged from over 5 million[12] to 8 million to as high as 12 million copies.

On March 21, 1976, the first appearance of Fawcett playing the character Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels was aired as a movie of the week. Fawcett and her husband were frequent tennis partners of producer Aaron Spelling, and he and his producing partner thought of casting Fawcett as the golden girl Jill because of his friendship with the couple. The movie starred Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as private investigators for Townsend Associates, a detective agency run by a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met. Voiced by John Forsythe, the Charles Townsend character presented cases and dispensed advice via a speakerphone to his core team of three female employees, whom he referred to as Angels. They were aided in the office and occasionally in the field by two male associates, played by character actors David Doyle and David Ogden Stiers. The program quickly earned a huge following, leading the network to air it a second time and approve production for a series, with the pilot’s principal cast except David Ogden Stiers. Fawcett’s record-breaking poster that sold 12 million copies.

The Charlie’s Angels series formally debuted on September 22, 1976. Fawcett emerged as a fan favorite in the show, and the actress won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program. In a 1977 interview with TV Guide, Fawcett said: When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.

Fawcett’s appearance in the television show boosted sales of her poster, and she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in Charlie’s Angels. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a Farrah-do a Farrah-flip, or simply Farrah hair Iterations of her hair style predominated American women’s hair styles well into the 1980s.

Fawcett left Charlie’s Angels after only one season and Cheryl Ladd replaced her on the show, portraying Jill Munroe’s younger sister Kris Munroe. Numerous explanations for Fawcett’s precipitous withdrawal from the show were offered over the years. The strain on her marriage due to her long absences most days due to filming, as her then-husband Lee Majors was star of an established television show himself, was frequently cited, but Fawcett’s ambitions to broaden her acting abilities with opportunities in films have also been given. Fawcett never officially signed her series contract with Spelling due to protracted negotiations over royalties from her image’s use in peripheral products, which led to an even more protracted lawsuit filed by Spelling and his company when she quit the show.

The show was a major success throughout the world, maintaining its appeal in syndication, spawning a cottage industry of peripheral products, particularly in the show’s first three seasons, including several series of bubble gum cards, two sets of fashion dolls, numerous posters, puzzles, and school supplies, novelizations of episodes, toy vans, and a board game, all featuring Fawcett’s likeness. The Angels also appeared on the covers of magazines around the world, from countless fan magazines to TV Guide (four times) to Time Magazine.

The series ultimately ran for five seasons. As part of a settlement to a lawsuit over her early departure, Fawcett returned for six guest appearances over seasons three and four of the series.

In 2004, the television movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels dramatized the events from the show with supermodel and actress Tricia Helfer portraying Fawcett and Ben Browder portraying Lee Majors, Fawcett’s then-husband.

In 1983, Fawcett won critical acclaim for her role in the Off-Broadway stage production of the controversial play Extremities, written by William Mastrosimone. Replacing Susan Sarandon, she was a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. She described the role as the most grueling, the most intense, the most physically demanding and emotionally exhausting of her career. During one performance, a stalker in the audience disrupted the show by asking Fawcett if she had received the photos and letters he had mailed her. Police removed the man and were able only to issue a summons for disorderly conduct.

The following year, her role as a battered wife in the fact-based television movie The Burning Bed (1984) earned her the first of her four Emmy Award nominations. The project is noted as being the first television movie to provide a nationwide 800 number that offered help for others in the situation, in this case victims of domestic abuse. It was the highest-rated television movie of the season.

In 1986, Fawcett appeared in the movie version of Extremities, which was also well received by critics, and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

She appeared in Jon Avnet’s Between Two Women with Colleen Dewhurst, and took several more dramatic roles as infamous or renowned women. She was nominated for Golden Globe awards for roles as Beate Klarsfeld in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and troubled Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and won a CableACE Award for her 1989 portrayal of groundbreaking LIFE magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White in Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White. Her 1989 portrayal of convicted murderer Diane Downs in the miniseries Small Sacrifices earned her a second Emmy nomination[20] and her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination. The miniseries won a Peabody Award for excellence in television, with Fawcett’s performance singled out by the organization, which stated Ms. Fawcett brings a sense of realism rarely seen in television miniseries (to) a drama of unusual power Art meets life.

Fawcett, who had steadfastly resisted appearing nude in magazines throughout the 1970s and 1980s (although she appeared topless in the 1980 film Saturn 3), caused a major stir by posing semi-nude in the December 1995 issue of Playboy.[citation needed] At the age of 50, she returned to Playboy with a pictorial for the July 1997 issue, which also became a top seller. The issue and its accompanying video featured Fawcett painting on canvas using her body, which had been an ambition of hers for years.

That same year, Fawcett was chosen by Robert Duvall to play his wife in an independent feature film he was producing, The Apostle. Fawcett received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress for the film, which was highly critically acclaimed.

In 2000, she worked with director Robert Altman and an all-star cast in the feature film Dr. T the Women, playing the wife of Richard Gere (her character has a mental breakdown, leading to her first fully nude appearance). Also that year, Fawcett’s collaboration with sculptor Keith Edmier was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, later traveling to The Andy Warhol Museum. The sculpture was also presented in a series of photographs and a book by Rizzoli.

In November 2003, Fawcett prepared for her return to Broadway in a production of Bobbi Boland, the tragicomic tale of a former Miss Florida. However, the show never officially opened, closing before preview performances. Fawcett was described as vibrating with frustration at the producer’s extraordinary decision to cancel the production. Only days earlier the same producer closed an Off-Broadway show she had been backing.

Fawcett continued to work in television, with well-regarded appearances in made-for-television movies and on popular television series including Ally McBeal and four episodes each of Spin City and The Guardian, her work on the latter show earning her a third Emmy nomination in 2004.

Fawcett was married to Lee Majors, star of television’s The Six Million Dollar Man, from 1973 to 1982, although the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

From 1979 until 1997 Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O’Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond James Fawcett O’Neal, born January 30, 1985 in Los Angeles.[26] In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, Redmond was arrested for possession of narcotics while Fawcett was in the hospital.[citation needed] On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times and Reuters reported that Ryan O’Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough.

From 1997 to 1998, Fawcett had a relationship with Canadian filmmaker James Orr, writer and producer of the Disney feature film in which she co-starred with Chevy Chase and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Man of the House. The relationship ended when Orr was charged with and later convicted of beating Fawcett during a 1998 fight between the two.

On June 5, 1997, Fawcett received negative commentary after giving a rambling interview and appearing distracted on Late Show with David Letterman. Months later, she told the host of The Howard Stern Show her behavior was just her way of joking around with the television host, partly in the guise of promoting her Playboy pictoral and video, explaining what appeared to be random looks across the theater was just her looking and reacting to fans in the audience. Though the Letterman appearance spawned speculation and several jokes at her expense, she returned to the show a week later, with success, and several years later, after Joaquin Phoenix’s mumbling act on a February 2009 appearance on The Late Show, Letterman wrapped up the interview by saying, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight and recalled Fawcett’s earlier appearance by noting we owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett.

Fawcett’s elder sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, died from lung cancer just before her 63rd birthday, on October 16, 2001.[33] The fifth episode of her 2005 Chasing Farrah series followed the actress home to Texas to visit with her father, James, and mother, Pauline. Pauline Fawcett died soon after, on March 4, 2005, at the age of 91.

Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery. Four months later, on her 60th birthday, the Associated Press wire service reported that Fawcett was, at that point, cancer free.

Less than four months later, in May 2007, Fawcett brought a small digital video camera to document a doctor’s office visit. There, she was told a malignant polyp was found where she had been treated for the initial cancer. Doctors contemplated whether to implant a radiation seeder (which differs from conventional radiation and is used to treat other types of cancer). Fawcett’s U.S. doctors told her that she would require a colostomy. Instead, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as holistic aggressive and alternative. There, Dr. Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, and a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Doctors Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy back in Fawcett’s home town of Los Angeles. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course, this time including laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.

In early April 2009, Fawcett, back in the United States, was hospitalized, with media reports declaring her unconscious and in critical condition, although subsequent reports indicated her condition was not so dire. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that her cancer had metastasized to her liver, a development Fawcett had learned of in May 2007 and which her subsequent treatments in Germany had targeted. The report denied that she was unconscious, and explained that the hospitalization was due not to her cancer but a painful abdominal hematoma that had been the result of a minor procedure. Her spokesperson emphasized she was not at death’s door adding – She remains in good spirits with her usual sense of humor … She’s been in great shape her whole life and has an incredible resolve and an incredible resilience. Fawcett was released from the hospital on April 9, picked up by longtime companion O’Neal, and, according to her doctor, was walking and in great spirits and looking forward to celebrating Easter at home.

A month later, on May 7, Fawcett was reported as critically ill, with Ryan O’Neal quoted as saying she now spends her days at home, on an IV, often asleep. The Los Angeles Times reported Fawcett was in the last stages of her cancer and had the chance to see her son Redmond in April 2009, although shackled and under supervision, as he was then incarcerated. Her 91-year-old father, James Fawcett, flew out to Los Angeles to visit.

The cancer specialist that was treating Fawcett in L.A., Dr. Lawrence Piro, and Fawcett’s friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson – a breast cancer survivor – appeared together on The Today Show dispelling tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions Fawcett had ever been in a coma, had ever reached 86 pounds, and had ever given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live. Jackson decried such fabrications, saying they really do hurt a human being and a person like Farrah. Piro recalled when it became necessary for Fawcett to undergo treatments that would cause her to lose her hair, acknowledging Farrah probably has the most famous hair in the world but also that it is not a trivial matter for any cancer patient, whose hair affects [one’s] whole sense of who [they] are. Of the documentary, Jackson averred Fawcett didn’t do this to show that ‘she’ is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique … This was … meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them.

The two-hour documentary Farrah’s Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009.[47] The documentary was watched by nearly nine million people at its premiere airing, and it was re-aired on the broadcast network’s cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett earned her fourth Emmy nomination posthumously on July 16, 2009, as producer of Farrah’s Story.

Controversy surrounded the aired version of the documentary, with her initial producing partner, who had worked with her four years earlier on her reality series Chasing Farrah, alleging O’Neal’s and Stewart’s editing of the program was not in keeping with Fawcett’s wishes to more thoroughly explore rare types of cancers such as her own and alternative methods of treatment. He was especially critical of scenes showing Fawcett’s son visiting her for the last time, in shackles, while she was nearly unconscious in bed. Fawcett had generally kept her son out of the media, and his appearances were minimal in Chasing Farrah.

Fawcett died at approximately 9:28 am, PDT on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O’Neal and Stewart by her side. A private funeral was held in Los Angeles on June 30. Fawcett’s son Redmond was permitted to leave his California detention center to attend his mother’s funeral, where he gave the first reading.

The night of her death, ABC aired an hour-long special episode of 20/20 featuring clips from several of Barbara Walters’ past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O’Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro. Walters followed up on the story on Friday’s episode of 20/20. CNN’s Larry King Live planned a show exclusively about Fawcett that evening until the death of Michael Jackson several hours later caused the program to shift to cover both stories. Cher, a longtime friend of Fawcett, and Suzanne de Passe, executive producer of Fawcett’s Small Sacrifices mini-series, both paid tribute to Fawcett on the program. NBC aired a Dateline NBC special Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel; the following evening, June 26, preceded by a rebroadcast of Farrah’s Story in prime time. That weekend and the following week, television tributes continued. MSNBC aired back-to-back episodes of its Headliners and Legends episodes featuring Fawcett and Jackson. TV Land aired a mini-marathon of Charlie’s Angels and Chasing Farrah episodes. E! aired Michael and Farrah: Lost Icons and the The Biography Channel aired Bio Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. The documentary Farrah’s Story re-aired on the Oxygen Network and MSNBC.

Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon, TV had much more impact back in the ’70s than it does today. Charlie’s Angels got huge numbers every week – nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it’s hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie’s Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said Farrah was one of the iconic beauties of our time. Her girl-next-door charm combined with stunning looks made her a star on film, TV and the printed page.

Kate Jackson said, She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her… I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile…when you think of Farrah, remember her smiling because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered: smiling.

She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

The red one-piece bathing suit worn by Farrah in her famous 1976 poster was donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) on February 2, 2011.[65] Said to have been purchased at a Saks Fifth Avenue store, the red Lycra suit made by the leading Australian swimsuit company Speedo, was donated to the Smithsonian by her executors and was formally presented to NMAH in Washington D.C. by her longtime companion Ryan O’Neal.[66] The suit and the poster are expected to go on temporary display sometime in 2011–12. They will be made additions to the Smithsonian’s popular culture department.

The famous poster of Farrah in a red swimsuit has been produced as a Barbie doll. The limited edition dolls, complete with a gold chain and the girl-next-door locks, have been snapped up by Barbie fans.

In 2011, Men’s Health named her one of the 100 Hottest Women of All-Time ranking her at No. 31

Posted by CelebToys on 2012-10-13 05:55:29

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