#asexual in africa

[queerafricans]

“We had to prove asexuality was a normal orientation so we began to communicate with other asexuals worldwide and doctors from Arab countries to answer many of the questions received on the page.” - Nabil Allal

#nabil allal #algeria #asexual in africa

[sharedimagination24]

Trivial Time

#africa #princess peach #the eras tour #margot robbie #asexual #super mario #ryan gosling #taylor swift #artists on tumblr

[thelittlevikingfox]

Went to Pride yesterday. My legs are so sore from the march, but it was sooo awesome!

#Pride #Pride south africa #transgender #asexual #March #Proud

[indigenous-gender]

white cis women and trans people push back against androphobia because they don’t want to admit they have the power and privilege to oppress Black and Brown men. cause they’re always lumping us in with white men and claiming we oppress them? while they stand on our stolen lands soaked with the blood of our people?

#indigenous #black and brown gender #native safe space #guam #two spirit #black and brown safe space #native #chamoru #native gender #africa #Turtle Island #Asian #Chinese #lgbtqanatives #asexual #aromantic #lesbian #gay

[herpsandbirds]

Hello! Since March 8th is International Women’s Day, I was wondering if you might share with us some females from various species? (Since the more vibrant males tend to get the spotlight lol)

International Women’s Day!!!

Yes yes yes! With many animals, the females are more impressively large or more colorful than the males. Let's have a look at some impressive and amazing females...

(Southern) Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus), female, family Boidae, Ecuador

With many snakes, the females get to be much larger than the males. Female Anacondas grow to be the heaviest snakes in the world, as up to 97.5 kg (214 lb 15 oz).

Though reports have claimed that Green Anacondas can grow up to over 30 ft long, the longest ever ACTUALLY measured was about 19 ft. long.

photograph by Alejandro Arteaga Advance Wildlife Education

Brahminy Blindsnake aka Flowerpot Snake (Indotyphlops braminus), family Typhlopidae, found in tropical and subtropical areas around the world

This snake is native to somewhere along the Indian Ocean, possibly somewhere in SE Asia or coastal Africa.

The fossorial (burrowing) snake feeds mainly on the larvae, pupae, and eggs of ants and termites.

All known specimens of this snake have been female. They reproduce through parthenogenesis (asexually).

photograph via: UGA Coastal Ecology Lab

Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius), female, family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes, near Barrow, Alaska, USA

Female Phalaropes are larger and more colorful than the males. They court the males and defend the nest site. The males incubate the eggs, and raise the chicks.

photograph by Mark A. Chappell

Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis sonorae), females, family Teiidae, Arizona

This is another all female parthenogentic species.

There are other closely relates species, other whiptails and racerunners, that are also all female populations. Some of them are completely parthenogenic, and some combine parthenogenesis with sexual input from closely related species or populations nearby.

photograph by Tom Brennan

photograph by Forrest Fanning

photograph by Giuseppe Mazza

Asian Yellow-spotted Climbing Toad (Rentapia hosii), females, family Bufonidae, found in SE Asia

The females of this species are large, gorgeous, ornate frogs, while the males are much smaller and much less colorful.

#frog #toad #amphibian #snake #anaconda #reptile #phalarope #bird #animals #nature #whiptail #lizard #blind snake #international women's day

[qbdatabase]

Book bans are on the rise across the US, but even if you want to go read and buy as many books with LGBT+ representation as you can get your greedy little hands on--it's hard to know what you don't know :/

The Queer Books Database lists over 3,500+ fiction and non-fiction titles in a google docs spreadsheet that lets you search by representation, or just by age, genre, year published, and more. It doesn't just track LGBT+ rep but also tags for people of color, disability, mental health, neurodivergence, fat rep, older characters, and religion!

You can use the database to search for:

multiple identities at once--find rep for a schizophrenic asexual lesbian, an autistic black boy, or a non-binary soldier with tinnitus

age appropriate books--search for children's books, junior chapter books, teen titles, and YA

non-fiction education--this includes biographies and memoirs, self-help, mental health, sexual education, LGBT+ history, legal resources, and affirming spiritual texts

trope/setting/time period--get a list of ghostly paranormals, queer fiction set in africa, gay regency romances, enemies-to-lovers, dark academia, and tons more!

Using the database, supporting my patreon, or buying me a ko-fi also really helps out the autistic transgender librarian who put this all together during the pandemic! Please share and reblog if you can~

#queer books #lgbt books #lgbt fiction #lgbtqia #queer #bookblr

[mortimermcmirestinks]

a complete list

so we got the following already:

AFAB = assigned female at birth

AMAB = samesies but for the bros

ACAB = fuck them pigs

AHAB = guy who wants to fuck and/or kill a sperm whale

so I'm gonna give you the other 22. ready? let's go

AAAB: the muuuscle in your miiidseeection

ABAB: 🔥🔥swedish band typo🔥🔥

ACAB: fuck them pigs

ADAB: world's most rad dance move

AEAB: assigned evil at birth

AFAB: doctor said you were a dame right when you slunk out the pusspuss

AGAB: what the doctor said you was when you slopped on outta the verjubit

AHAB: from hell's heart I tap that cetacean or whatever I never read it

AIAB: all investigators are bisexual

AJAB: a friendly poke

AKAB: all kops are bastardz

ALAB: like asexual but for science experiments instead of sexual attraction. short for "alaboratory"

AMAB: doctor said you were a bloke the second you shot out of the ol' utero cannon

ANAB: someone very sneakily trying to name their D&D character after a banana. don't let them get away with it

AOAB: desperately trying to remember the official Maori name for New Zealand but I'm so so bad at spelling

APAB: assigned pussy magnet at birth

AQAB: the guy from the new GAY version of Moby Dick. this version's called Moby Pronouns. the woke agenda has gone too far!!!!!

ARAB: an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the ARAB world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant ARAB diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years. In the 9th century BCE, the As

ASAB: ahh!! stinkyyy!!! aww, baby

ATAB: the thing you start at a bar when you don't want to pay up right away. ALTERNATE JOKE: the thing you hit to go to the next cell in Excel

AUAB: sound a turtle makes when it's ramming ham

AVAB: only known word to be a perfect anagram of both "balaclava" AND "baklava"

AWAB: assigned weeb at boston

AXAB: amnestic XK-class anomalous being

AYAB: alla youse are bullshit

AZAB: mystery option. nobody knows what this one is. if you know what this one is, send your knowledge to the Pentagon and they will send you a shiny American penny.

glad to help out!! just playing my small role in the queer community. fuck cops also

[dougdimmadodo]

Fat Duckweed (Lemna gibba)

Family: Arum Family (Araceae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A tiny aquatic plant found in slow-moving or stagnant freshwater habitats across much of Africa, Europe and the Americas, Fat Duckweed floats freely on the surface of the water, respiring and carrying out photosynthesis through a buoyant leaf-like “main body” called a thallus while its single submerged root hangs down and absorbs inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen (which plants need to produce chlorophyll) from the water around it. Although they do occasionally produce flowers (particularly when exposed to intense sunlight and low water levels,) members of this species primarily reproduce asexually, with the thallus developing bud-like offshoots that split of into new but genetically identical offspring, and through this method of reproduction (which can occur every few days) Fat Duckweeds can quickly spread over vast areas, potentially near-totally covering the surface of the body of water they inhabit under ideal conditions. The root of an adult Fat Duckweed is sticky, allowing members of this species to compensate for their limited ability to spread their rarely-produced seeds by adhering to semiaquatic animals such as ducks, allowing them to be carried between bodies of water and colonise new areas (hence the name, “duckweed.”) If an individual should fall from the animal that was carrying it before reaching a suitable body of water, it may also be able to survive in sufficiently damp soil.

——————————————————————————

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/63913-Lemna-gibba

#Fat Duckweed #duckweed #duckweeds #plant #plants #botany #biology #aquatic plants #aquatic wildlife #wildlife #african wildlife #european wildlife #north american wildlife #south american wildlife

[no-passaran]

Hi, it's Asexuality Awareness Week and I would like to share one of the reasons why it's important to raise awareness: including asexuality in legal protection.

One of the reasons why legal protections are necessary is the case of asylum seekers. Asexual asylum seekers, who are endangered in their home country, are routinely not accepted as asylum seekers because the legislation protects LGBT people but doesn't include asexuality in the acronym.

Let's see a couple of examples:

In 2018, an Algerian man applied for asylum in the Netherlands, explaining that he feared being persecuted in his country of origin for being asexual and for refusing to marry his niece.

The Netherlands, a country that accepts LGBTI asylum seekers, did not accept this man's asylum request because asexuality is not mentioned as being in the LGBTI. The court also said that asexuality is not punishable in Algeria. But not being legally called by its name and explicitly punished does not mean asexual people don't face discrimination, forced marriages, and threats of violence and rape. (Marriage itself, by the laws in most of the world, must include "consummation", whether the people involved want to or not).

This is the case of a 26-year-old woman living in Senegal, using the pseudonym Jade. Her family, across the border in Guinea, demanded that she find a man to marry. Her sister told her that if she didn’t, their parents would force her to wed a man who would rape her.

In Guinea and Senegal, forced marriages are common – the same sister who threatened Jade was in one herself. Divorce is also heavily stigmatised – when one of Jade’s cousins told her abusive husband she wanted a divorce, he said he would shoot her, her mother and himself.

Jade is a sex-repulsed asexual woman. She feared being married to someone she didn’t love and being subjected to so-called “corrective rape” until she bore children.

She considered suicide.

Her mother suggested sending her to therapy to fix her "aversion to marriage", when Jade refused, the mother said she'd "fix" her herself. She had Jade lay on the floor while she put her hand on her chest and prayed over her, asking afterwards whether she felt any different.

For a while, Jade’s last resort was escaping West Africa permanently. After she began studying in the US, it became her first choice. When researching what her options were, she found the case from the Netherlands that we've talked about before this one. She also found that legislations that aim to protect LGBTQI around the world don't include asexuality.

At present, the only piece of legislation which explicitly mentions asexuality is New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act of 2003. However, that didn’t help Jade. A New York lawyer told Jade that there was no information as to whether asexuality was grounds for asylum in the US. After a long process of trying in the USA, she couldn't make it but after a year and a half she found an opportunity to do an internship in Ireland, where she lives now.

Since leaving West Africa, Jade has learned that her parents had chosen a husband for her without her knowledge, not long before she managed to escape. She says that, had she not been able to escape, she wouldn't be alive today.

This is what people mean when they say "asexuals aren't LGBTI!", "We can't have asexuals stealing our resources!". These are the kind of resources they mean: the ones that could save the life of a person being discriminated against for not being heterosexual heteroromantic and not conforming to the normative ideas of what their love and sex life should be like. An issue that is deeply shared with the rest of the LGBTQIA+ community.

#💬 #ace #ace awareness #asexual awareness week #asexual #asexuality #actually asexual #lgbt #lgbtqia #queer #asylum seekers #aphobia #acephobia #asexual awareness #queer rights #suicide mention tw #rape mention tw

[ieatcocoa]

General information about Alastor you should know ! Just a few things that I want to talk about, as I've seen so much discourse around aspects of his character. I will try to make this less of an opinion-based post and more of facts/canon. Divider credits to astralnymphh !

To begin, I've seen so much fuss over his cultural identity. Alastor has been stated by Vizz to be mixed-race Creole. He is a black man. When having this conversation, some people make the mistake of correcting others who refer to him as black over mixed-race while the truth is both are correct and interchangeable when referring to him. Saying he is black is not wrong and is a way of affirming his racial identity. Mixed. Black. Creole. He's all three.

Moving on, Alastor is not a Wendigo. He is not a Wendigo. He shares similar themes to one but is not one himself.

A lot of folks can get confused because they are unaware of the folklore surrounding Wendigos so I will give a quick summary; The "Wendigo" is a mythical creature that has been part of Native American folklore for centuries. It is often seen as a powerful symbol of greed, hunger, and cannibalism and has been the subject of many cultural and artistic portrayals. It is believed by some indigenous peoples that the Wendigo spirit can possess those who have sinned or committed taboo acts, resulting in a transformation into the creature.

So the question is why is Alastor not a Wendigo? Well...

It is unclear to me whether or not Alastor practices Voodoo or Hoodoo. I've seen Voodoo be the overall answer however that could be wrong. Regardless, the Wendigo is a part of Indigenous folklore, while Voodoo is a syncretic religious tradition that originated in Africa and developed in places such as Haiti and Louisiana. These two practices are distinct and have their own cultural and historical contexts, and it is important to respect and understand these differences. Saying that to say, his practices are not entwined with the folklore of Wendigos. He is a deer. A gross smelly cannibalistic deer.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on what could possibly be the most controversial element of his character. His sexual orientation. Canonically stating Alastor is in fact asexual. If you aren't familiar with the term, generally, asexuality refers to a lack of sexual attraction or desire. Something that people tend to miss is that asexuality is a broad spectrum that is not defined by one set of rules. Do not attack other fans for how they envision him on this spectrum. Whatever someone derives from canon, as long as it's respectful, is not an issue. You choose to see him as sex-replused? Awesome! Someone else chooses to see him as non-sex repulsed? Also okay! There's no one correct answer.

i'm done my rambling now ! thank you for reading ! (✿◠‿◠)

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor #hazbin alastor #radio demon #alastor fanfiction #character facts #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel headcanon #alastor headcanons

[mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora]

This ‘gay’ ‘sexual’ ‘asexual’ bla bla bla stuff on GO reminds me of those discussions:

“Please support the HIV research”

some idiot on X: and the children starving in Africa?

Yes, well… we can care about more than one thing at the time, you know?

#i know it’s not so simple #but please try to get my point #ace rep doesn’t invalidate your identity #gay rep doesn’t invalidate your identity #and so on 🤷‍♀️ #and please please please #remember that division helps repression #this applies to a lot of things #good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #neil gaiman #asexuality #asexual representation #asexual #lgbtqiia+ #queer #queer community #queer representation #queer rep in media #sexuality #mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora

[queerafricans]

9 Ace and Aro Icons Who Revolutionized How We See Asexuality

#michaela coel #ghana #asexual in africa

[ian-galagher]

weekly tag wednesday! <3

hello friends and welcome to another tag game. lets dive in!

- thanks @creepkinginc for the tag 🤗🧡💚

how is your day going?

it's been alright! doing a ton of chores while hanging out with friends 🤗🧡💚💙

are you okay?

yeah I'm pretty good 🤗🧡

what is your favourite shade of your favourite colour?

that thing the sun does with orange when it sets, I like that 🤗🧡

are you single?

no

are you happy about that?

SO unhappy 🙄 leave me alone Gale! (that was a joke about Gale from Baldur's Gate 3 who, for some unknown reason, thinks we're in a relationship. I myself am still very much asexual and very happy about that)

what age do you feel in your brain?

sometimes I'm 12, sometimes 98, there is no in between

do you feel like the good times are behind you or ahead of you?

behind me (that sounded so sad, I'm mostly thinking about visiting South Africa and how I might never do that again but you never know!)

do you have a best friend?

yeah I do 🤗🧡💚

did you have a childhood pet?

I had the sweetest Russian hamster 🤗🧡

do you sing or whistle around the house?

yeah I do!

do you light candles or incense?

I don't really like the smell of incense but candles are alright!

are you busy Friday night?

always, if you mean talking to my friends on the internet

if you were a circus performer which act would you be in?

something with animals so I fear I'd be out of a job fast 😂 I would soon start up a business with the fortune teller scammer and we'd make... a fortune 🤗🧡💚

what is your favourite outfit?

jeans + something warm like a hoodie or a sweater

what's the last thing you created?

new Africa words

what is your favourite fic or book of all time?

just the one?! there's so many! there was this one fic that stayed with me over the years about a boy finding this old church with a window that looked out into another world. he climbed through and met a kelpie, a beautiful black horse. it was an amazing story.

what are you looking forward to?

writing, bg3ing...

what can put you immediately in a better mood?

same as Nosho, music! (also Nosho) 🤗🧡💚

do you like hugs?

from friends, yes!

what is something you wish people understood about you?

that noise can irritate me greatly and that my noise canceling earbuds are everything to me.

tagging a few lovely people! 🤗🧡 @spacerockwriting @dynamic-power @transmurderbug @mybrainismelted @transmickey @stocious @juliakayyy @jrooc @look-i-love-u @energievie @deathclassic @lee-ow @francesrose3

and everyone else who sees this! 🤗🧡

#look at me! finally participating in a tag game! #ngl mainly to make that joke about gale #sorry gale im sure you're nice but please stop slurping my stuff #weekly tag wednesday #tag game #tagged

[herpsandbirds]

Brahminy Blindsnake aka Flowerpot Snake (Indotyphlops braminus), family Typhlopidae, found in tropical and subtropical areas around the world

This snake is native to somewhere along the Indian Ocean, possibly somewhere in SE Asia or coastal Africa.

The fossorial (burrowing) snake feeds mainly on the larvae, pupae, and eggs of ants and termites.

All known specimens of this snake have been female. They reproduce through parthenogenesis (asexually).

photographs via: UGA Coastal Ecology Lab

#blind snake #snake #indotyphlops #typhlopidae #reptile #herpetology #animals #nature #asia #north america #africa

[duckprintspress]

National Non-Fiction Day: 31 Titles to Get Your Queer Learn On!

In the past year, we’ve posted a lot about our favorite queer fiction titles. We wanted to take Non-Fiction day to talk about the non-fiction titles that have impacted us! Whether self-help, memoirs, psychology, history, sociology, or a different non-fiction genre, these are books that have helped us learn, helped us teach, helped us improve, helped us see and be seen, and helped us be more informed. So join us as we introduce our thirty-one recommendations for National Non-Fiction Day!

Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing

Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children by Diane Ehrensaft

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen

Here For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians by Austen Hartke

Bitch: On the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

transister: Raising Twins in a Gender-Bending World by Kate Brookes

!Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer

Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century by Graham Robb

London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885 – 1914 by Matt Cook

Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins by Cassandra Snow

Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion

The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities by Janet W. W. Hardy and Dossie Easton

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam

Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society by Cordelia Fine

Peculiar Places: A Queer Crip History of White Rural Nonconformity by Ryan Lee Cartwright

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine

Queer Budapest, 1873 – 1961 by Anita Kurimay

LGBTQ-Inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care by Kimberly D. Acquaviva

Queering Colonial Natal: Indigeneity and the Violence of Belonging in Southern Africa by T. J. Tallie

Handbook of LGBT Elders: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Principles, Practices, and Policies edited by Debra A. Harley and Pamela B. Teaster

LGBT Transnational Identity and the Media by Christopher Pullen

Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations by Serena Nanda

LGBTQ Cultures: What Healthcare Professionals Need to Know about Sexual and Gender Diversity by M. J. Eliason and P. L. Chinn

The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community edited by Laura Erickson-Schroth

You can view this list as a shelf on Goodreads!

It can be so difficult to find good non-fiction resources on queer topics. Which titles to DO you recommend?

#duck prints press #book recs #queer non-fiction #national non-fiction day #book recommendations #rec list

[myemuisemo]

There is so much characterization tucked into "The Statement of the Case" in the 2nd of Letters from Watson about The Sign of the Four. To marshal my thoughts at all, let's go by character, starting with my cinnamon roll Dr. Watson, then turning to Holmes and to Mary Morstan.

Watson

Watson's close observation of Miss Morstan demonstrates that he's capable of making deductions from observation. He deduces from the simplicity of her attire that she has limited means, and he has a good deal to say about how the character promised by her features and manner.

In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature.

This is a tiny bit amusing because all of Miss Morstan's actions suggest she has the orderly soul of someone who would have been an accountant in an era more supportive of women's careers. This woman keeps receipts. She may be nervous about bringing her concerns to the Great Detective, but she's not the slightest bit delicate.

Watson seems a bit pricked in the ego by Holmes' extensive knowledge of cigar ash, as he's touting his experience with women. That would be a monograph, indeed, something sold discreetly, in a corner of the bookshop behind a curtain. I'm going to guess that the third continent, after Europe and Asia, is Africa, both because the British did a good deal of colonial meddling there and because it makes Holmes suggestion of The Martyrdom of Man so much more apposite.

Holmes

The Martyrdom of Man turns out to be a progressive best seller about world history. Author Winwood Reade's perspective is to show the importance of Africa in the development of the world. This is entirely at odds with Victorian self-confidence about the white European and American missions of colonialism. Holmes is implying, deliberately or not, that Watson knows less about at least two continents than he thinks he does.

Reade's prose feels comparatively modern -- it has the sprightly feel of early 20th century writing rather than the long, turgid sentences of the 19th century. I've been distracted by reading bits of it, as while it's not how an historian would handle its topics today, it's an interesting read.

A side note on Winwood Reade is that he was open about being an atheist, so his book is also at odds with the popular idea of Divine Providence smiling about the endeavors of the British Empire. Contemporary audiences would surely have drawn some conclusions about Holmes' religious and political leanings.

The book recommendation is preceded by Holmes establishing that he's not a sentimentalist:

He smiled gently. “It is of the first importance,” he said, “not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit,—a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.”

My first reaction was "welp, he really is ace, isn't he?" On reflection, I think that reaction is both right and wrong. On the side of "right," there is no way that Holmes, as written, is a neurotypical allosexual heterosexual. Asexuality is not the only possible category for him, but it's a solid contender.

On the side of "wrong," what he's arguing for from "I assure you" on is simply not to judge a book by its cover. We're used to that as a moral. We're also accustomed to believing that "body language" and such can give clues to the person within. Heck, Holmes was just on about handwriting analysis. So there's a messy little tension here between two views that were common then as now: "outer aspects reveal the person's true nature" and "don't judge a book by its cover."

Mary Morstan

I like Mary Morstan a good deal, not least because she keeps receipts.

This image from the New York Public Library gives a sense of Mary's plain beige walking suit, though the feathers are far too big.

My first reaction to Mary Morstan's backstory was to check the publication date of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, because how many little girls were being left in boarding schools by their UK Army officer fathers who were serving in India?

Quite a few, it seems. It was standard practice to send children back to the UK to boarding school "for their health." That last euphemism raised my "what in the racist colonial claptrap" hackles, but there was a legit health concern -- malaria. Malaria is potentially deadly for anyone and worse for children, since a child who survived might have ruined health and intellectual development for life. It was not until 1897 that surgeon Ronald Ross established that malaria was transmitted by mosquitos. Miss Morstan was a child in India in the 1860s; she really would have been sent away for her own safety.

Meanwhile, although A Little Princess was published in 1905, it was expanded from a short story published in 1887. a few years before The Sign of the Four was written. That doesn't mean there's a connection: stories about a common situation and the fears arising from it are going to have similarities.

Miss Morstan's lack of English relatives did have me wondering if her mother was Indian, especially as her complexion lacks "beauty" (isn't translucently pale). Since she's blonde and light-eyed, presumably we're to assume that both parents were English or Scottish. (The genetics of eye color inheritance weren't established at all until 1907, but people obviously had folk beliefs about how much children looked like their parents, and in what ways, before that. Using today's knowledge, it seems possible that her mother had one English parent and one Indian parent, but who knows?).

At twenty-seven, she is "on the shelf" -- past the ordinary age of courtship and marriage. Her job as either a companion or a governess implies she brings no financial assets to a marriage beyond those mysterious pearls. Watson's musings that twenty-seven is "a sweet age" establishes both that he's head-over-heels for Miss Morstan and that he's enough a man of the world to prefer a woman "a little sobered by experience" to a blushing debutante.

So do the mysterious pearls mean we're going down a path superficially similar to Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868), where a heroine inherits a mysterious gem from a British Army office relative? Rachel Verinder's uncle was a horrible person who came by his gem in the worst way; but Mary Morstan's father was a guard at a prison for political prisoners, which doesn't bode well for his connections. Mary has far too much good sense than to wear her pearls, though.

I do want my cinnamon roll Dr. Watson to get the girl.

#sherlock holmes #letters from watson #the sign of the four