i think what is really attractive to me about astarion’s character is that he balances his feminine/masculine traits so well.
like he can be pretty feminine with how he expresses himself (flamboyant, vain, showy) but he’s intrinsically masculine in a lot of aspects (his desires to pursue, protect, provide) and that was sooo surprising to me because usually it’s very black or white with that kind of thing— you typically get characters that are wholly masculine/feminine (or very heavily leaning on one side), not a mix of both (especially not in a man).
it just makes him feel much more alive and not so one-dimensional. it’s really a disservice to try to force him into a box by depicting him as only one or the other. let him be a silly little peacock man in peace
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I dint know how to say this but women who wear men's clothes make me feel like I'm a fan of them like I feel like a young girl with a crush on a celebrity like fangirling but for masc women
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Reminder that if your feminism revolves around propping up women that partake in traditionally masculine activities/roles and shitting on or even hating women who embody traditionally feminine roles and enjoy feminine activities you’re not really a feminist.
It sets the precedent that women are only valuable and valid if they have traditionally masculine traits, which feeds a narrative that masculine traits are better simply because they are associated with men who are the ideal.
It perpetuates the idea that things that are feminine and traditionally associated with women are in fact inferior to men/masculinity and should be looked down upon and belittled.
And, it alienates so many individuals that feel more comfortable in femininity, regardless of gender identity.
I think people in the ASOIAF fandom really need to learn this because feminine characters are so despised on the basis that they are not “better” women. Simply because they don’t embody traditionally masculine things like conquering or fighting.
Much of the hate comes from stans that love characters like Rhaenyra, Daenerys, and Arya (and do not get me wrong I love Arya), who are women and girls that are in positions that allow for more traditionally masculine behaviors and tomboyishness. And they will say incredibly sexist things about how the other women in media are inferior and directly contrast these women to their faves negatively by pointing out that they’re “too weak” or “subservient”. They reduce femininity to weakness and bowing to patriarchy instead of considering that some people have a different, more feminine nature. And that is OK! Just because a woman isn’t wielding a sword or fighting on the front lines or pursuing leadership roles in masculine ways (because historically women exacted and sought power in different ways than men) doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable and strong characters. Do not use feminine characters as a negative comparison to show how “feminist” and great your fave is. Because it’s just so blatantly sexist.
Don’t fall into the trap of reinforcing patriarchal rhetoric!!! Don’t reinforce narratives that traditional masculinity is superior to femininity!! Don’t belittle feminine activities and act as if they aren’t valuable!!! Girbosses are great but so are gentlewomen.
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women selfshippers who aren't stereotypically feminine, whether in physical features or personality or anything, your f/o loves you just the way you are 💚 you are their ideal woman ! :)
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shiv booking herself a room to grieve her dead father in because she does have emotions about it she is grieving she is crying but if she as a woman at waystar royco is seen showing them anywhere at any time she is ruined. the boys can boss everyone around can arbitrarily fire anyone who looks at them wrong roman can fire a longtime executive because she mentioned his dad kendall can be on the verge of tears when a set designer is unable to create realistic looking clouds in less than a day of work but shiv? shiv can't do any of that. shiv has to be stone. when men show emotion in the workplace, it isn't seen as emotion, it's seen as Man. anything a woman does in the workplace is seen as emotion and thus seen as Woman because the two are seen as being virtually interchangeable. shiv schedules her grief because it exists and she isn't actually the emotionless pinnacle of masculinist ideals (independence, self-sufficiency, pride, stoicism, distance) she tries to be but god is she fucking trying to be so she blocks herself out a twenty minute period of time to be a person because if she's a person in public then she becomes a Woman and that's untenable.
big fan of that specific choice from the writers' end because that was honestly a really smart way to straddle the modern 'conundrum' facing female characters -- it allowed her to simultaneously maintain masculinist respect and human emotionality, while very much drawing attention to the absurdity, cruelty, and inhumanity of both the expectations she's trying to meet and the degrees she must go to meet them. typically Strong Female Characters must be emotionless hard-hearted and cold if they hope to remain Strong. if they show emotion they are demoted from Strong Female Character to just Female Character. what a brilliant way to circumvent that -- it's not just Strong On The Outside Soft On The Inside or whatever, it's a character study moment while also being a metatextual critique of the absurd boundaries and forced emotion regulation placed on women not only in the workplace but on the screen. shiv hiding her moment of vulnerability shows that she hates it too, knows it's weak and bad and wrong too; shiv going out of her way to schedule moments of alone time to have emotions shows she won't let her emotions get in the way of anything important -- she's internalized the bizarre masculine emotional narrative deeply enough to be respectable in the audience's eyes, thus maintaining her position as a Strong character despite being seen acting like a "Female" one. but ! it's still framed so absurdly and painfully that it additionally works on the level of meta commentary, highlighting just how small and high the hoops female characters have to go through in order to be seen as respectable by a general audience while also retaining their humanity and emotionality (that male characters are free to express however they'd like)
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Mha fandom when you say that Izuku’s biggest fic mischaracterization isn’t making him twinky:
WHEN DID BEING A TWINK BECOME A BAD THING CAN I JUST ASK THAT
Like yes, twinkifying one male character in a ship can be annoying—it can perpetuate heterosexual roles onto same sex relationships (“who’s the woman in the relationship/who wears the pants in the relationship?”), BUT LET US BE CLEAR:
TWINKS ARE A PART OF THE QUEER COMMUNITY. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A TWINK, MAKING A CHARACTER A TWINK, OR SEEING A CHARACTER AS A TWINK.
WHEN in the ever loving FUCK did that somehow translate into “the twink has to be the stereotypically aggressive one so it doesn’t abide by queer stereotypes”. HOW DID WE GET HERE.
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It took me a stupidly long time to find out that Heket was female...
It wasn't until Leshy called her "sister" is when I finally managed to find out.
Heket is going to kill me.
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radfem question!!
i'm having a conversation with someone about female only spaces (this specifically pertains to bathrooms) and they said that the rule of having female-only bathrooms would "act more like an enforcement of femininity more than anything else."
I think their point is about butch lesbians and/or women who present "masculinely," and so because there is ofc no female identification at the door, and policy would likely just make it more acceptable for women and girls to report if there was a male in the bathroom (without having to determine if the male identifies as a woman), this could end up hurting "masculine"-presenting women (implying that they could be mistaken as male), and in turn just reinforce femininity. Thoughts? (mine are in tags)
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