#sjm & oppression

[rewrite-canon]

white authors who love to write about oppression they have never experienced themselves are dropping like FLEAS rn

#sarah j maas doesnt suprise me bc the way she writes oppression in her books is so ass #sjm is genuinely a bad writer #but pierce brown??? ive never read red rising but fr?? #AND victoria aveyard?? how u gonna write abt nortan rule over the reds and the slandering of the scarlet guard as terrorists and then claim- #-ur neutral over something almost identical happening irl??? weirdo #tjr too? disappointing as hell #and now im hearing shit about alice oseman and brandon sanderson 😭😭 ru kidding me #im just gonna stick to rf kuang for ever and ever. she never lets me down. #free palestine #throne of glass #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #sarah j maas #crescent city #red queen #victoria aveyard #mistborn #red rising #heartstopper #taylor jenkins reid #the seven husbands of evelyn hugo #daisy jones and the six #radio silence #rewriting #hope all these authors know that jk rowling supports israel. if i had an opinion thag ever aligned with jkr i would re-evaluate

[bookishfeylin]

I've been thinking that the reason the ACOTAR fandom is so toxic is because Mrs. Maas applied real world standards to a fantasy series, creating a conundrum where some characters are allowed to exist in and operate within a fantasy-based morality (like Rhysand, the Inner Circle, and Feyre) whilst others are held up to a stricter, real-world morality and are vehemently critiqued in text for failing to meet the moral standards of our world (Tamlin, Nesta, even Lucien), leaving fans of the latter group of characters to call out the hypocrisy in text for their characters being evaluated by standards that the former aren't held to whilst fans of the former set of characters happily indulge in such hypocritical writing even while promoting this series as an excellent example of handling of real-world themes like abuse; but now I think it's more than that.

Feyre has all the powers--she can shapeshift AND read minds AND control all the elements AND control light AND shadow. Everyone loves her, men of all races want to have sex with her, she can fetishize men of color and have mixed children and participate in cultural appropriation without consequence; she can brutalize men of color and look down on and belittle the appearance of women of color whenever she wants with impunity, because she is the eternal victim. She can do no wrong; people can only wrong her. She can never hurt anyone; people can only hurt her. Feyre is all powerful, but she's an eternal victim--she's a white woman's power fantasy. That's why this series reeks of white feminism so badly. Feyre is a white woman's power fantasy.

But some white women, and many women of color, don't identify with that power fantasy--especially Feyre's "being able to oppress others with impunity" schtick--so they reach out for other characters instead. But because Feyre is the eternal victim, because Feyre is the embodiment of white womenhood, that means many of the other characters are written as Feyre's oppressors or antagonists, and the white women who identify with Feyre hate them, because how dare those characters and their stans ruin their power fantasy? How dare those characters impede Feyre, their self-insert, from being the embodiment of idealized white womanhood?

So those characters, and those who stan them, are resented. In this essay, I will--

#who's gonna write the full essay y'all? it'll probably be me wont it #about how sarah's white feminism translates into feyre developing white women syndrome(TM) later in this series #aka: the world revolves around her and no one else's oppression matters and she is beyond criticism for anything #feyre critical sadly #acotar #acotar analysis #a court of thorns and roses #sjm critical #acotar critical #its the white feminism for meeeeeee

[a-library-ghost]

IM TIRED OF DEFENDING TOWER OF DAWN TO PEOPLE WITH NO GRASP ON CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT/ARCS AND THEMES YOU ARE ANNOYING STFU

#chaol westfell is not the problem #consider critical reading outside of the narration #consider sjm character assassinations should not be consumed at face value #consider why you like reading tog #consider how tod suits the overall themes of healing from self loathing and oppression that #tog is all about #tower of dawn #tod #sjm #tog veteran #throne of glass #chaol westfall #yrene westfall #yrene towers

[astrababyy]

Rhysand selling himself out to Amarantha helped one part of his Court. Amarantha didn’t not go after his Court after he pretended to join her side. All that did was take her laser-eyed attention off his Court. She still oppressed the people of the Night Court. She just didn’t bother to look closer at the Court because she already thought Rhysand was on her side. That’s why he sold himself out. It was to keep her from finding out about one part of his Court.

THE REST OF HIS COURT WAS STILL FUCKING OPPRESSED BECAUSE IT DOESNT ACTUALLY MATTER THAT HE SOLD HIMSELF OUT!!

So to all the people that say that Tamlin should’ve given himself up to Amarantha to protect his Court, that wouldn’t have worked because she would’ve oppressed them anyway.

To all the people who say that what Rhysand do was “noble”… that’s questionable. Rhysand chose to take the route that would protect the people of Velaris with near-100% surety, but he sold out the rest of his people in the process. That’s not noble. That’s kind of understandable, but it’s far from noble.

#anti sjm #anti rhysand #astrababyy #I vividly remember this one post showing a Reddit post asking why Tamlin didn’t just sell himself out to amarantha #but like #that wouldn’t have done anything regardless #because amarantha would’ve oppressed spring even IF he had given in to her #rhysand was the ONLY high lord who had that as a viable option #the other high lords selling themselves out #fake or otherwise #wouldn’t have actually benefited them in the slightest #because none of them have secret cities within their court

[lorcandidlucienwill]

If you think about it, Rhysand wearing a mask to protect only Velaris doesn't even make sense. While UTM, sure, but everybody thinks so badly of the Night Court that it must have been going on for way beyond that. What was the point of that??? The other courts lived in perfect harmony with each other. Rhysand supposedly possesses far more power than the other High Lords anyway, so he would be able to protect his court from invasion quite easily. There's no need to separate the CoN and Illyria from Velaris if you just properly enforce laws. And if you think about it, guys like Tamlin (and Tarquin) who believe in the freedom of all, would 100% help him get rid of all the oppression and misogyny that occurs in the Night Court. The cut wing problem could be resolved through Nuan, a brilliant technician who made herself a metal arm and a certain redhead a metal eye. What do Tamlin and Nuan have in common? Yes, Lucien. He could've solved all of the Night Court problems in one swipe. With Eris, he often has to wear a mask to survive an abusive tyrant. Rhysand though? He IS the abusive tyrant. There's no mask, it's just who he is. I think SJM tried to recreate Hades not just in a romantic trope but as a character. He rules over the dead and he's shit on by Zeus and Poseidon. So the Night Court is supposed to represent...the underworld? And Velaris is supposed to represent Elysium while the CoN is supposed to represent the Fields of Punishment. Which is really disturbing when you think about how many innocent people must be stuck in the CoN. So Sjm failed to create Hades vibes because people are sorted out fairly in the Underworld based on their misdeeds. Also, Hades didn't pretend to be a super nice guy lol. I mean there's many problems with the Hades-Persephone trope too but I actually think that their relationship is healthier than feysand's at this point.

#anti rhysand #anti feysand #anti inner circle #pro lucien vanserra #lucien vanserra #tamlin #tarquin #eris vanserra #hades x persephone #sjm critical

[ae-neon]

Literally only 4 chapters in and Bryce Quinlan might be the worst? Like morally speaking, she might be sjm's worst protag and that's saying something

She says again and again that compared to the rest of midgard humans are treated best in Crescent City, as they don't have to endure menial labour until death.

The treatment in ccity being that best case scenario: you can become rich but will always be a second class. Worst case scenario: you're eaten. Even the average life of even a half-human is selling sex at the Meat Market.

She still thinks the Asteri shouldn't let the human resistance get to ccity. Implying they should be put down, permanently, rather than have them disrupt her peace.

Bryce sees a Fae woman with a barely adult human man, notes the man is clearly drugged up BUT her real issue is that the woman is cheap when she offers Bryce money to sleep with the DRUGGED UP 20 YEAR OLD.

She says she keeps her nails long and body fit to fight for her life in case some random Vanir tries to rape, kill or eat her. But looks down on her human date for not causing a scene when she thinks that the Vanir in the restaurant are thinking "half-blood" when they look at her. Knowing her Vanir friends would definitely fight for her.

Let's think about that

She knows humans can't do much to Vanir without guns and bombs but she thinks humans are disgusting terrorists when they do use them to fight oppression

She, a half Vanir, is always ready to physically fight for her life but is expecting her HUMAN date to fight a Vanir because she THINKS that random Vanir at the restaurant are THINKING bad things about her

So the man must die because Bryce has perceived thought crimes against her

God help me

#anti sjm #anti crescent city #ccity hoeab

[whitedemon-ladydeath]

Class Warfare + Class Traitors in ACoTaR

maybe I'd be less annoyed and irritated by how SJM writes poverty if she didn't try to make some kind of Point w Tamlins tithe (literally JUST taxes and those aren't inherently bad ffs) and then show Rhys and Co enact violent means of Class Warfare across the NC and in VELARIS

and oh I dunno use systemic oppression and poverty as an aesthetic to make Feyres life seem that sad and pathetic and then have her turn around and become a class traitor

I cannot express how distressing it is reading about this girl, who grew up poor as dirt and being slowly starved via poverty, living in 5 houses, being complicit in the systemic oppression of Illyrian women and being complicit in demolishing apartment buildings, displacing more people to... build a refuge center for people already displaced...?

Cassian and Feyre are class traitors and it's a fucking shame. they both were put in a position to push back against the established government for change and Rhys is pussyfooting around keeping the male Illyrian in check and destroying people's homes and both Cassian and Feyre are not only not pushing back against it, they are complicit

yall say its not that deep but as someone who is one bad paycheck away from being homeless at all times, it's horrifying watching public officials and members of the government strip civilians of their HOMES while having FIVE homes themselves

say what you want about Nesta "deserving it" or whatever, but the fact that the IC just displaced multiple people from their HOMES all for the sake of putting one girl in her place? disgusting

it's Class Warfare and quite frankly, a white middle-class woman writing it makes it even worse. the callous way it is written is written by a woman who has never struggled with money a day in her life and she only views struggle and poverty as an Aesthetic for her books to give her main character extra spice

sorry I don't like seeing politicians putting their boots on civilians' necks. even if one of the civilians is the high lords embarrassing sister in law

@feynessupremacy @bookishfeylin

#a court of thorns and roses #acotar #sjm critical #anti rhysand #anti feyre archeron #anti cassian #anti inner circle #classism in acotar #acotar meta

[black-is-beautiful18]

TW: mentions of genocide, Zionism, and oppression

I said it before and I’ll say it again: white readers SUCK. What do you mean you don’t have to talk about Palestine or that fiction isn’t that deep??? You don’t have to talk about a genocide?????? You truly believe that authors aren’t putting their beliefs into their books???? Be freaking fr. Ppl tried to tell y’all months ago that Rebecca Yarros was pro-military and was trash at writing Black and Brown characters. Instead of listening to them y’all decided to jump them and use the age old excuse of “It’s not that serious! It’s just fiction!😑”. When ppl tried to tell y’all that y’all’s beloved SJM was a Zionist, also sucked at writing Black and Brown characters, and used Breonna Taylor’s murder to quite literally promote her book it was crickets. Y’all’s favs love to use the oppression of Black and Brown ppl and apply it to white characters,*cough* Margaret Atwood *cough*, but when it comes down to supporting us in real life y’all tuck your tails between your legs or have the audacity to blame us for being oppressed. There is no “BuT bOtH sIdEs ArE wRoNg!”. There is no staying neutral. Either you side with us or you’re against us. Point blank period! What happened to “If the Hunger Games were real I’d stand against the capital”??? What happened to that? Y’all are nothing but talk and you’re cowards. If you can’t look at a book and it’s contents critically then something is wrong. Books are a piece of media for a reason.

#free palestine #white readers #white authors #I said what I said #y’all love anything that looks like us but hate us #make that make sense #fiction is that deep #margaret atwood #rebecca yarros #sarah j maas #unique writes

[ofbreathandflame]

This might not be normal but I’m dying to know your opinion on the ship wars. I don’t know why I’m obsessed with your opinion on the matter but I am very interested in your thoughts on it. 🙂

hi anon!!!

(pls note these are my opinions)

i don't have extreme opinions on the ship themselves. like lucien, elain, gwyn, azriel, and morrigan are all very boring characters to me. i feel like all of these pairings would be like watching paint dry. like let's think about it - elain's pov would literally just have to rework and rehash so many events in the story to make her likable (to the general audience). we've already discussed their vague human life and its clear sjm didn't really event that much lore about their lives before the story. elain has no conflicts with any members save for the whole weird and awkward mate / azriel situation. there's no established villain. azriel has no personality. lucien is in limbo and has no personality. the whole thing about lucien being helion son is ultimately useless and doesn't really change anything (the story is also arguing that i should root for helion despite the fact he just is okay with loa being abused). beron is a caricature villain who made his life harder by just reviving his age old enemy whom he dislikes and has since he was born. so how serious am i supposed to take him as a villain?

koschei is just there and is also another villain with no personality. morrigan also has no personality. gwyn is also just there and I mean I wouldn't say there's a lot of build-up for her either. but at the very least she has some inner conflicts to resolve. rhys is obviously not going to be a real barrier. there's literally no appeal to any of these characters IMO.

if the story would handle an illyrian plotline with emerie and azriel at the wing, i'd probably be interested but unfortunately sjm is the writer so it wouldn't be good. but yeah weirdly enough I would enjoy an emerie x az story (not romantic - but I wouldn't mind; I would love an emerie x female illyrian but alas there are no named illyrian females in this entire series besides her). i think the story unironically sets up an interesting dynamic between the illyrians and the night court but the story genuinely doesn't seem them as victims in any capacity - but I've got to admit its an interesting setup. think about it:

illyrians mothers raise these sons who grow up to hate them. women are isolated in these communities and robbed of their ability to fly; but these women are also semi-indoctrinated to sone extent to exalt this system of brutality and violence. mother's send their sons off to the blood rite to die so that they can serve and protect an utopia (velaris) that they have no access to. their high lord passes law - but is naught to enforce them because he recognizes who integral this oppression is to his political and militaristic aspirations. their high lord leaves their burgeoning communities without leadership for almost half a century to join forces with amarantha but then comes back after his tenure and SLAUGHTERS and tortures hordes of people for doing the same thing despite the fact he removed any court protection from them.

its interesting to me! id read that. it also kind of reminds me of the dynamic between paul atreides / jessica and their use of the fremen in dune (please read if you haven't! very fun and surprisingly easy read!)

#anti sjm #anti acosf #anti sjm: azriel #anti sjm: emerie of illyria #anti sjm: elain archeron #anti sjm: lucien vanserra #anti inner circle #anti rhysand #anti feysand

[elains]

reading through your hofas spoilers and i definitely think sjm’s whiteness and proximity to zionism means she will never understand or even try to understand colonization and oppression, so every single time she insists on writing about it it just becomes an awkward and embarrassing mess to sludge through

Have I said I love when asks give me an opening to rant? So I will rant LMAO. Very light spoilers from HOFAS warning.

You'll probably find people who think Sarah is the most progressive, groundbreaking, and deals with thorny real-life subjects wonderfully. I'm very much not one of the. In fact, most of the time she tries to broach such topics, I end up sighing a lot, burying my head in my hands and saying "Sarah, please, for the love of God get yourself sensitivity readers".

Crescent City is the worst offender in this regard, House of Sky and Breath particularly because we are dealing directly with thr human rebellion. Bryce is SJMs mouthpiece in this series and so many times I wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up. Humanity is treated no better than objects or food in many parts of the world, prey for the vanir; born with no life, into subjugation, stripped of their dignity and their world. And still there she goes, condemning the Human Rebellion for what — rising up and fighting against their oppressors? Every time we met the rebels, from what recall, I was "Am I supposed to agree with here Bryce?"

After fifteen thousand years... you want the humans to ask nicely? That worked really well for them, so far?

Same with ACOTAR: the humans... are very fair in being scared and hate the fae? The Wall, the only thing keeping THEM safe is down and look at the continent! The Fae realms are already salivating to invade human lands. But the fear is unwarranted? "But not all fae!" true, but I don't blame them for being wary and "Fuck off". Midgard is worse because it was the Humans (and the Merfolk) who lived there before and they lived in peace.

It's clear for me that Sarah writes these topics from a position of privilege. You are correct: she lacks an understanding of the topics she is handling, has no interest in getting beyond surface level and, therefore, ends up writing things that at best tone-deaf and at worst fully hypocritical and problematic. And the framing. The framing of how these character are the heroes and in the right drives me up a goddamn wall.

HoFaS shows us that the Fae can be very, very horrible and bloodthirsty, which rings hollow for me with how much shit she gives humans for fighting back with force. I wish Bryce's human side mattered more (half the time, she's so connected to the Fae side you 100% forget), or that we had a human protagonists for this series.

In short: her take on oppression and colonization is shallow and privileged and tone-deaf.

#hofas spoilers #sjm critical #I'm not very eloquent today sorry 💀

[wishcamper]

Gone Baby Gone: birth control and the ethics of risky sex

CW: abortion, sexual violence.

Creds: licensed counselor with expertise in addiction, trauma, and gay stuff. Experience with tx exclusively for pregnant people and young parents with addictions.

Okay class! Today we’ll be talking about abortion oh my god don’t run away I’ll make it worth your while I promise.

Firstly, a disclaimer: I’m not interested in debating whether abortion should be legal/allowed/is moral or immoral. The research bears out, unequivocally, that access to comprehensive reproductive and family planning options improves everyone’s lives (1). And again, not actively anti-SJM or any characters, just exploring themes and what they say about us.

It’s so funny to me that NO one liked the pregnancy plot line in ACOSF, whether they love or hate or are indifferent (me) to Rhysand. And I think that’s because we, the largely femme audience engaging with the material, recognize the strings of violence weaved into it, possibly not even consciously but on a deep, bodily, instinctual level.

The 2007 crime drama Gone Baby Gone centers on a conversation about motherhood, parenting fitness, and what society owes to children. Beneath that though, and I believe unintentionally, is another story about pregnancy-capable people’s autonomy and the cycle of oppression around reproductive rights.

I’m going to spoil the movie for you - I don’t want you to watch it because Casey Affleck is a creep, and it’s not that good anyway. There’s a whole mystery plot, but the basics are: drug addict Helene’s daughter Amanda is kidnapped, then later thought to be killed but they never find her body. Casey Affleck, Boy Detective uncovers a scheme by two rogue cops to fake Amanda’s death and kidnap her because they think Helene isn’t a good mom. And they’re kind of right; once Amanda comes home, Helene is an incredibly neglectful mother, and the movie wants you to go woahhh, maybe those murdering unethical cops were right after all!

Sure, Jan.

The movie ends with the lead character wondering if Helene, for whom he’s literally killed people to bring her child back, is even fit to raise Amanda in the first place, even interested. And here’s where I feel complicated, because on one hand - yes, this is your child, and she’s completely innocent in all this and doesn’t deserve abuse and neglect. AND what were this women’s other options? Does anyone ask? Living in deeply Catholic working class Boston, did she have access to birth control? Could she have gotten an abortion? Would her culture (and her internalization of it) even allow her to entertain that option? Could she perhaps be using substances because of the circumstances of her life over which she has no control? (See Nesta, Interrupted for more on that.)

So I ask myself: what does it mean in our culture, as a person who can become pregnant, to have sex with someone who can impregnate you? What happens when your body becomes the battlefield on which larger conflicts are played out?

I’ve been thinking on these question a lot recently because my IUD is about to expire and my doctor recommended a back up method while I wait to get a new one. This has prompted my husband and me go farther into the kids conversation and consider not just what it would mean for me to get pregnant on purpose or accidentally, but what it would mean for me to get pregnant here. Where we live, abortion is technically legal but functionally impossible to find. Even for a wanted pregnancy, if it became life-threatening I might have extremely limited options.

This makes any sex inherently risky for me. IUDs failure rates range from 0.3% to 2.3%, but that still means as few as 3 in 1000 and as many as 2-3 in 100 users still get pregnant. And IUDs significantly raise the likelihood of medically dangerous pregnancies if a fetus is conceived (2). The long odds are somewhat comforting, but if I were to have an ectopic or other life-threatening pregnancy complication, I can’t trust that my local doctors would be able to save my life, legally. 

And we have talked about how we both feel strongly: it’s my life first. My husband says he would rather have me, and he would rather any children of ours have me, too. And there’s this sort of sick sense of gratitude I feel, because that is, to me, the only answer, but it feels like such a kindness nonetheless.

So we get to ACOSF (you forgot this was about ACOTAR, right? Me too.). When they decided to start trying to get pregnant, Rhys had to know the risk was there. My boy, you are half Illyrian. Even without Feyre being Mystique, get out your punnet square and do the math. Your baby always had a 25% chance of having wings. Conception was always risky. I refuse to believe he didn’t know that, and it was irresponsible of him to not inform her, a person who only entered his world like two years ago.

Then they conceive a baby with wings that, as far as they know, she has no way of safely delivering. If that’s true, why couldn’t Feyre have an abortion? I’m serious. They found out very early the baby had wings. It’s not unlike an ectopic pregnancy, or even a very small person becoming pregnant. Adolescent mothers (age 10-19) (god it feels gross to type that) are at much higher risk for conditions like eclampsia, endometritis, and systemic infections, not to mention fetal complications (3). Regardless of the details, Feyre’s body is not equipped to handle this pregnancy, and yet they never seem to explore the option of terminating it.

Which begs the question: did Feyre even know abortion was an option? Is it an option in Prythian?

In my opinion, probably. If the fae have contraception (let’s not even get into STDs and the ’they have magical healing’ BS), they must have abortion. The first record of an induced abortion was on an Egyption Papyrus around 1600BC, though the practice likely well predates that. The Ancient Greeks drove a plant to extinction for its abortifacient properties (4). And even when banned, people find ways, because they have to. Reproductive health has long been of importance to pregnancy-capable people for reasons of safety, resources, and survival. 

At the end of the day, Feyre is allowed to carry a pregnancy to term that she knows will kill her. That’s her right to bodily autonomy being exercised freely, and I will never begrudge her that. But imagine if abortion were an open option for her, and she knew the birth would kill her, and then Rhys. Knowing that, what do you think she’d choose? To die, bringing her mate along with her, and leave her child parentless, if they even survive? I really struggle to see that. Feyre loves hard, and knows what it’s like to grow up with extreme neglect. I cannot imagine her condemning a child to the same circumstance she found so damaging. But Rhys doesn’t tell her, forbids anyone else to, and possibly robs her of the ability to terminate the pregnancy. And also Madja, I don’t forgive her either for glossing over it. Girl needs to retake her boards.

In the beginning of my career, I worked at an inpatient substance use treatment center that was specifically for pregnant people and mothers with young children. They were allowed to bring two kids under the age of 5. I could write a million words about the flaws in that place, but it was at least something. In working with these people, the same themes came up over and over:

They wanted to get jobs but couldn’t afford childcare. 

Caring for children kept them isolated from support networks and financially strapped.

The daily maintenance and self-focus of sobriety felt at odds with being responsible for children. Ironically, that neglect of self often created the perfect conditions for relapse.

Children kept them tethered, legally and/or personally to abusive partners.

They received extreme judgment, even while seeking help, for “doing this to their children”.

They did not have adequate access to reproductive autonomy, whether financially, from religious beliefs, or otherwise.

This evidence is purely anecdotal, but I do think it speaks to the larger cycle of covert violence and policing of women and pregnancy-capable people’s bodies. It is well-documented that lack of reproductive freedom has a direct negative effect on mental health and wellbeing of people of child -bearing age (5). There is also a much larger intersection to this conversation when it comes to race, class, and the systemic oppression of people of color via reproductive restriction, but Feyre is privileged in the ACOTAR world for the most part so this doesn’t touch her. She doesn’t have to wonder if she can afford a baby, or if her husband is going to be racially profiled and taken to jail or just straight up murdered by law enforcement. (and this is not to downplay the experiences Rhysand have, that Sarah doesn’t give us, being a mixed race man, more so that he is in an extreme position of power.)

I think it’s a shame we didn’t get to explore this in ACOSF with Cassian and Nesta. They jump in the sack even after learning Nesta’s body could not handle an Illyrian baby. No amount of ‘the monthly aid’ justifies not having an honest and thorough conversation about what having sex means before they sleep together. Cassian must feel real confident in the birth control options of Prythian to be spreading his soldiers around so willy nilly. And I just hope, for all their sakes, that he’s right.

Ibis Reproductive Health and Center for Reproductive Rights, “Evaluating Priorities: Measuring Women’s and Children’s Health and Well-being against Abortion Restrictions in the States,” (2017).

Kim SK, Romero R, Kusanovic JP, Erez O, Vaisbuch E, Mazaki-Tovi S, Gotsch F, Mittal P, Chaiworapongsa T, Pacora P, Oggé G, Gomez R, Yoon BH, Yeo L, Lamont RF, Hassan SS. The prognosis of pregnancy conceived despite the presence of an intrauterine device (IUD). J Perinat Med. 2010;38(1):45-53. doi: 10.1515/jpm.2009.133. PMID: 19650756; PMCID: PMC3418877.

World Health Organization: WHO. (2023, June 2). Adolescent pregnancy. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy#:~:text=Adolescent%20mothers%20(aged%2010%E2%80%9319,birth%20and%20severe%20neonatal%20condition.

Muvs - Abtreibung in der Antike. (n.d.). https://muvs.org/en/topics/termination-of-pregnancy/abortion-in-antiquity-en/

Liu SY, Benny C, Grinshteyn E, Ehntholt A, Cook D, Pabayo R. The association between reproductive rights and access to abortion services and mental health among US women. SSM Popul Health. 2023 May 12;23:101428. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101428. PMID: 37215399; PMCID: PMC10199416.

#prythian university #rhys critical #abortion #reproductive rights #sjm critical

[jazzy---j]

CC3... and just my problems with sjm as a whole.

Soooooo, yeah. that was a bit disappointing. I wanna start off that due to the problematic nature of SJM I wanna make it clear I no longer financially support her. When I first began reading her books I was in high school and didn't know much about whose books I was reading. Most of it was just pick up a book, read the summary, if I liked it I bought it. But now as an adult who is on booktok and all the other bullshit (it's a whole mess) I can see all of a book and author's pros and cons and be like, "nah, I'm not doing that." And you know as a black woman, I cannot just be and do what I want and damn whoever it may impact or the consequence. I don't get to live in that world. I feel like I have somewhat of a responsibility to not contribute to the harm that the world already does to marginalized people around the world. That's just me personally, black people are not a monolith and this way of thinking doesn't apply to all of us.

Anyway all that being said, I am a book reader who is invested in whatever story they are reading and want to know what happens. So I read CC3.., but was sailing the high seas while I did it if you know what I mean. And let me just say... yikes. The problematic things that SJM does in real life and all that those issues mean really do shine in this book. I mean I always knew white authors have different experiences than me so I don't expect something that caters to me when I read their books but, idk sjm makes all the problematic things just so apparent. And it's just generally hard to read. There can't be any separation between the art and the artist in this one guys. I'm a political science and history major in real life so I spend my time studying political theory and structures of power in historical contexts. Hopefully, I can work to better understand those structures in our current present and with my intersection of activism (I am very passionate about that in my day-to-day) work to make a better world for marginalized people. So when I read SJM, I see some very troubling themes in her work. Themes that can perpetuate misogyny, racism, and imperialism. And it just makes me queasy reading it. It's not fun for me to read that. The way she used the oppression and discrimination of people as a major plot device, that the heroes have to defeat but in real life be ok with taking a birthright trip is just... a type of cognitive dissonance that I can't even put into words. and don't think I forgot the Breonna Taylor incident that she still has on her Instagram. if you don't know what I'm talking about look it up on TikTok, many black book readers have created multiple videos explaining that whole situation.

Now some people may be like, "What the fuck are you talking about. I don't see any of this." And like that's cool maybe because of what I'm studying I just see it everywhere. But I just have not been able to shake this ickiness in my gut about her work. The most thought-out example of the problematic nature of her work that I have is the description and characterization of the Illyrian people.

Now the way she physically described the illryians is as brown-skinned, with dark hair, and brown or dark eyes. This does put them in a very racially ambiguous position but to describe them as brown-skinned makes me picture brown people who in real life are racially recognized as black and brown people. People apart of brown communities are usually Southeast Asian or Arab people. They are marginalized in real life through various forms of oppression displayed in orientalism perpetuated mostly recently by the United States in the last 30 years (the war on terror, but this behavior goes back so much further). The Illyrian people's cultural characterization coupled with their physical description aligns with the negative aspects of Orientalism. Literally, the illryians are described as "backward", "barbaric", "slow to change", and stuck in timeless, old antiquated traditions that encourage the abuse of women and children. Sjm describes an indigenous people (she makes it clear that the illryians are native to the night court and nowhere else) as "savage" culturally, in their interpersonal relationships, and communally. That is just described as inherent to the people (except for a couple of characters who are "the good ones", or "not like that" and lucky enough to get away). Culturally they are described as being constantly in a state of conflict, preparing for and/or enjoying that conflict. I'm so sorry but that is Orientalism, literally the definition of how Orientalism was used to justify the colonization of the Middle East and parts of Asian during the colonization period and again when the western powers and the United States had a vested interest in interfering politically and economically in the region in the last couple of decades. That same language was used to describe the people of the Middle East and justify their oppression in the West. The exact same words. I did not understand the connection until I took a Middle East: politics and society class about two semesters ago and again that same language was used when we were learning about Orientalism. I went back to read some of acotar again and I saw all of that in relation to the illryians and I was like, "oh, oh no." I really don't know what else to say. To me, the relation is very very clear and makes my stomach just drop when reading it.

And the thing about it is it did not have to be this way, SJM did not have to characterize them like that. There is no real narrative function of this characterization, they are not the bad guys of the story or the main antagonist. In fact, the main characters need them to actually defeat the evil. SJM at the base made an interesting indigenous group of people that could have been a unique culture in her narrative landscape and added to her world-building. Instead, she wrote harmful stereotypes about vaguely racialized, marginalized people that directly mirror a marginalized group of people in the real world. Now was that her intention or just the subconscious influence of Orientalism in our society coming out without her awareness? I mean i cannot confirm from the horse's mouth that this is the case right? She has never actually said this. But her stance on current world events that are happening right (Palestine and Gaza strip) does not give me a lot of hope that she is completely unaware. But either way, this can hurt people in the real world. In the book, because the Illyrians are characterized the way that they are, the main characters are put in a moral position of opposition, that is the the dynamic. And to me, that dynamic is hard to read knowing what I know and what actually happens in real life to people that the Illyrians mirror. it begins to be super easy to just live in that moral opposition that can stripe away people's humanity and value. Azriel's contempt for his people and desire to destroy Illyria and the culture is a good example of what happens to these groups in real life. This is just one example of things in her work that can be problematic.

And listen I'm not writing this to tell you to stop reading her, to tell you what to do with your money, or who to like/support. That is not my job. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and give whoever is reading this food for thought. And hey I might be reading too much into this, and just going way too deep. It is just hard for me to enjoy her work anymore knowing and seeing what I see. I can't really ignore that icky gut feeling.

And hey do I think sjm is a good writer? Eh... that is a whole other blog post. I could go really deep into her world-building, story choices, and what I think might just be lazy writing. But there are some aspects that I do like and are unique. But guess what? The fandom's fanfic writers are the light in the tunnel in this situation. As they often are in other fandoms. they take the actual cool and fun things that SJM created and build on them in a way that does not negatively depict the representation of real people. In a way that is not narratively disappointing. In a way that is just fun for everyone to enjoy. Free of charge they express their talent because they love to do it for however long they want to. Fanfiction is an amazing system that I hope and pray won't get messed up. Like one of my favorite creators @separatist-apologist posted about last week, "I think no matter what happens, we've all spent so much time reading fic and developing headcanons that whatever SJM does isn't going to live up to the fantasy we've created...". And I for real felt that and I just wanna shout out to all the fic writers who make this space fun despite all the fandom fuckery and SJM fuckery.

@separatist-apologist, @thehaemanthus, @the-lonelybarricade, @moodymelanist, @ablogofsapphicpanic, @vidalinav, @vikingmagic33, @c-e-d-dreamer

There are more that I probably missed. So you know thank you guys for making things fun and giving me something to read that doesn't give me an icky feeling when I read.

So yeah, thank you for coming to my ted talk. this turned out to be hella long but you know once I started I couldn't stop. If you have any questions, my ask box is open. Again these are just my thoughts. you don't have to agree and I'm not trying to change your mind. I just needed to share this somewhere.

#acotar #acotar fanfiction #sjm critical #fanfiction #very scared to how this will be recieved #i might delete idk #acotar fandom #just a thought #black tumblr #black reader #sjm books #sjmaas #cc3 #crescent city

[ladydeath-22]

Wealth and the Night Court

So remember when Feyre was giving Tamlin shit for the tithe? She was disgusted by the “amount of wealth” displayed. 

First of all, the tithe takes around 10% of what you have. So if you have grew 100 apples, you would give 10 apples. (more or less). and it is not even money he asks for, it is anything of what you made/grew. 

How else is Tamlin supposed to keep the spring court running? He literally has all kinds of Fae living in his house (the mansion). He doesn’t have numerous houses. The only one he has, he allows others to stay in (especially during Amarantha).  Rhys doesn’t allow anyone other than his inner circle to stay in any of his places of residents but yeah Tamlin is the bad guy. 

Not to mention, he gave back her family’s wealth. But she was never grateful. 

The moment Feyre steps into Night Court, she suddenly forgets that hoarding money is bad. Night Court doesn’t do tithe it does taxes (same thing Feyre) 

She makes classist comments in how the Night Court food is better than spring, the beds....pretty much everything else is better.

She literally gave so much shit at the jewels Tamlin gave her (and gave it to that Fae for them to pay their tithe) but oh Amren loving jewels and having more than enough is just Amren being Amren. (and she constantly buys her jewels) 

Besides they say Rhysand is soooo rich. Beyond imaginable. They could literally spend frivolously everyday and still not make a dent in his accounts. How did his family get so ridiculously wealthy without the oppression of others. But Feyre doesn’t mind that does she? 

Besides I don’t even think people in Velaris pay taxes. Why would they make those precious citizens pay. Amren made a comment its usually “rich” High Fae. And who do we know “rich” high fae resided in the past....Hewn City. So pretty much they are funding Rhys and his inner circle along with their precious little city they can’t even enjoy. 

It was just nasty writing on SJM to make Tamlin look like the villian for imposing taxes. 

#anti rhys #anti inner circle #anti rhysand #anti cassian #anti feyre #anti amren #anti mor #pro tamlin #anti azriel #anti acomaf #anti acotar #anti acowar

[lorcandidlucienwill]

SJM's zionism as seen in ACOTAR: Fae males were territorial, dominant, arrogant—but the ones in the Spring Court … something had festered in their training.

Haha, what? You were just fine with them before, they revered you and respected you, and now they're suddenly suspicious because they live under Tamlin? It's giving "Ohhhh look at Hamas see see see? All Muslims are terrorists!" And I'm almost certain this is the justification SJM uses for Feyre to genocide the shit out of them in ACOWAR. HyBeRn'S aCtIoNs ArE tHeIr OwN sounds remarkably like Israel using October 7th to justify killing babies, maiming children, and abusing the elderly. They use this same mentality towards CoN citizens too despite Mor coming from there. But notice how Mor is somehow white. “Most of your soldiers are dead.” Eris only blinked. “And the good news?” “Two of them survived.” Nesta studied every minute shift on Eris’s face: rage glimmering in his eyes, displeasure in his pursed lips, annoyance in the fluttering of a muscle in his jaw. As if countless questions were racing through his mind. Eris’s voice remained flat, though. “And who did this?” Cassian grimaced. “Technically, Azriel and I did. Your soldiers were enchanted by Queen Briallyn and Koschei to be mindless killers. They attacked us in the Bog of Oorid, and we were left with no choice but to kill them.” “And yet two survived. How convenient. I assume they received Azriel’s particular brand of interrogation?” Eris’s voice dripped disdain. “We could only manage to contain two,” Cassian said tightly. “Under Briallyn’s influence, they were practically rabid.” “Let’s not lie to ourselves. You only bothered to contain two, by the time your brute bloodlust ebbed away.” Nesta saw red at the words, and Cassian sucked in a breath. “We did what we could. There were two dozen of them.” Eris snorted. “There were certainly more than that, and you could have easily spared more than two. But I don’t know why I’d expect someone like you to have done any better.” “Do you want me to apologize?” Cassian snarled. Nesta’s heart began to pound wildly at the anger darkening his voice, the pain brightening his eyes. He regretted it—he hadn’t liked killing those soldiers. “Did you even try to spare the others, or did you just launch right into a massacre?” Eris seethed. Cassian hesitated. Nesta could have sworn she saw the words land their blow. No, Cassian had not hesitated.

Cassian and Azriel are super duper mega warriors and they didn't even bother to try and save Eris's soldiers despite knowing they're innocent, yet we're expected to take Cassian's side over Eris's. It's giving "Israeli soldiers are traumatized over all the civilians they were 'forced' to kill" DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULD BE TRAUMATIZED!!!

But Keir must have known, too. And said simply to Rhysand, “I want out. I want space. I want my people to be free of this mountain.” “You have every comfort,” I finally said. “And yet it is not enough?” Keir ignored me as well. As I’m sure he ignored most women in his life. It's giving, "I will colonize your land, I will trap your people in Gaza strip and systematically oppress you, but hey we didn't kill you! Why are you mad??" Also the white feminism in that last line I can't. THERE ARE WOMEN TRAPPED UNDERNEATH THAT MOUNTAIN GETTING ABUSED EVERY DAY!!!! It's the same reason no one cares that Palestinian women don't have clean menstrual supplies and no anesthesia for clean births. Because Palestinians are brown.

So Keir knew about Velaris. The Hewn City knew about Velaris. Before Rhys wiped their memory. This is a lot like Israel occupying Palestine and rewriting history to make it seem like they're the country and Palestine are the occupiers. But they can't delete all the evidence, and now the truth has come out.

#anti sjm #anti zionism #palestine #anti genocide #white feminism #anti acotar #anti sarah j maas

[ae-neon]

SJM once again insists on pushing her limited understanding of oppression where it doesn't belong by making up the most convoluted and nonsensical parameters

"Come from the gutter" IFYOUDONTSHUTTHEFUCKUP angels are second only to the Vanir, what does the gutter mean??

Hunt - a slave but still an angel - literally punches the Prince of the Fae in the face and there are no real consequences

Why are there highborn and common ANGELS??? What does that even mean?? Why would their society, which already has species and houses and regions also have normal human class structures like this?

Hunt doesn't need this sob story bullshit, he's already enslaved for rebelling, saying he's a "lowborn" angel means nothing, it adds nothing.

"Isaiah with crisp white wings 😔 and all I have is grey wings 💔" hello???? Are you implying wing colourism Sarah?? (against a black man mind you)

And even then she can't commit to it because of course Hunt goes on to add that despite his "common blood" he has a super special power that hasn't been seen EVER in the history of angels

#anti sjm #shut up sarah #anti crescent city #ccity hoeab

[whitedemon-ladydeath]

it's annoying that all the main leads show off so much skin. like, not in a "you need to cover yourself" way but SJM has a track record of vilifying modesty. it's this weird attitude of modesty = oppression. why can't they enjoy their modesty. Nesta was a Prideful, modest woman who valued her chastity and modesty and then SJM had her routinely put in clothes that made her so uncomfortable and then she became increasingly promiscuous

like :( sure embrace ur Femininity by showing skin if u want but the girlies who wanna cover up and remain modest deserve the same respect

#a court of thorns and roses #acotar #nesta archeron #sjm critical