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selkie-on-land · 2 months

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Why I don't like the Ariel Live Action and my thought on this topic

disclaimer 1 : please, I'm french, I'm sorry in advance for any wrong sentences etc. I will do my best but I'm not perfect.

disclaimer 2 : I'm new on this app, so I don't know all the functionnalities, how to do this or that, I will try my best to make a descent and pleasant visual post. I know there is differents ways to respond, we can ask I think ? like publishing a post on the profile on someone (that's it right?), there is the republished and adding your own post and the comment section. That's all the option I'm aware off.

disclaimer 3 : WOW ! I just finished to wrote this down and I didn't expected to talk about so many differents subjects !

So I will, list them, as TW, so please, if your sensible to this subject, protect yourself and skip my post. Take care. 👥🤍

School harassment, eating disorder, body dismorphia, suicide attampt, sa and masculine violence in general, incest, familly abuse, racism, lesbophobia, ableism, gingerism, alcool, afrocentrism.

I'm sorry in advance if I miss one.

I hope, it will be an interesting reading.

Prologue :

I know I will receive pretty much all the hates of the world for this but, I'm autistic and Ariel was and is my very first special interest, so I don't care.

I will say/write what has to be written because I'm so sick of the misunformation about her.

I hate any misinformation at all cause I'm autistic but it's so much worst when it's about one of my s.i and unfortunatelly for me, the ones I have are very specific and the society and the patriarchy built a HUGE LIE and basically, any historical information about matriarchy/mythology/patriachy are just misunformation. But there is just too much that I can't correct everyone, everything, because I don't have the energy and because it caused me so much stress that I have a meltdown everytime. So I'm already used to the tense, so I think I will survive the hate about this post.

The real subject of the post :

The Live-Action of The Little Mermaid is at the same time good ? and the absolute worst !!!

Disclaimers : I'm not a fan of Live-Action, it's not specific to The Little Mermaid.

My pov on it is :

Either make the most realistic and exact same as the animation movies, or GO CREATIVE and create something new, a story about someone in the same universe, a prequel, anything. Like Cruella for exemple (I admid I didn't watched it), or Maleficient (I watched it don't worry and loved it) ! It works perfectly, and because it's in a total different universe but based on the same fairytale, you can create anything and it doesn't have to follow the animation movie. It's not an adaptation but more like an extra movie about this universe that you loved ! Or like Mulan (plus it corrected something that was culturally disrespectful : Mushu). I think I love them only if there are creative and create something new.

And here is why :

As an autistic person, I HATE the change, so if it must be an adaptation that I've read/seen, IT MUST be perfect and there MUST BE NOT CHANGE AT ALL otherwise IT RUINS AND DESTROYED WHAT I LOVED AND I END UP HEARTBROKEN. Truly, I had to go to therapy to deal with it and to morn all the differents possibilities of the adaptation that could be the MOST accurate to the animation movie. I waited more than twenty five years to see it and it was a disaster. Too close to be complety hated but too different to be accepted and loved.

In the differents possibilities of an live action of The Little Mermaid, I also imagined some that were about the second or third animation movie. Or about the show.

I bet no one knew (except the ones that have Disney + now), that there was a show about her adventures.

In this one for exemple, she had a mute great friend, Gabriella ! And I LOVED HER SOOOO MUCH !!! She speak with her hands (signing) and her friend an octopus, Olie, translate with his voice. He's sooo cute ! When they go swimming he hang himself on her tail, like if he was riding Gabriella. This is so cute ! I felt so seen, first because I wasn't always verbal as a kid.

And for other kids that weren't pale like me, she was very tan with absolutely wonderful almond green eyes and a bob haircut with browns/dark blond hair. (I think it showing that I had a crush on her and ship them so much lol)

And because when she saw Ariel for the first time, it felt (for me) like she had love at first sight (I knew very young that I loved only girls). Honestly, their story is more a love story to me than a friendship, but it's obviously subjectiv.

Ariel also adopted (secretly) a lost baby killer whale, Spot, a specific

under species of those that only lived in arctic or antarctic.

Killer whale are my most favorite sea animals with seals (I know they don't get along together).

Representations :

I always identitified myself with Ariel because she was a redhead and so had a pale skin. Even if when I was very young my hair where short and almost dark auburn, I could relate with Blanche Neige as I was pretty similar to her but the animation movie scared me so much that I still have nightmares of those sometimes. My hair turned even more light auburn / redhead when I started my puberty and they became slowly but definitely curly/wavy, and then I related even more to Ariel.

And I'm so glad I had her as a model because it's when the bullying, harrassment, assault, s.assault, pushed to unalive myself because in their countries (maghreb) I would I been tortured, raped, burnd alive etc. And every day they (a bunch of boys) come to tell me that I should be dead and were surprised that I didn't killed myself yet. So many times per days, every days, for four long years.

In younger classes, my bff (a girl) was from morroco, and neither her or her mother ever told me things like this. Neither any other girls or women in my whole life from those countries. Only boys and men. So it's not about the people where they were from, but the boys and men and the misogyny from where they were from.

So the fact that Ariel (and Blanche Neige too but they choose an afro descendant to represent a very pale character, we have absolutely no representation, they are all erased or replaced) must be pale was a VERY HUGE expectation for me, cause it was litteraly what partielly saved me. I however did some of the things they told me to do (atttempt in a very specific ways, I did it at the same date evey year, waiting for Death to come get me).

So in my mind castle of the possibilities, there was an adaptation of Ariel as pale redhead with her girlfriend/bff that is deaf and not "white", with her own story. And that could had been absolutely perfect ! Because they didn't had to imagine one, she already existed! (And that would have been quite an argument for the "gnagnagna woke, inclusivity bs gnagnagna".)

Girls and women deserve representation, but come on, the bare is in hell ! We deserve good representation. As a little girl I was far from looking like Pocahontas but I still related to her, because what we saw as kid is not JUST how she look likes (this is so misogynistic that we only exist and have physical characteristics) but also about what they love, what they does, what they stand for etc.

I BET every little girl that has ever seen the little mermaid identified as her when we were at the beach and damn even more if they were a rock where we could sit and do the thing with the wave ! Or when suddenly the wind makes our hair dancing and in our head we look like Pocahontas ! (But you know there is the expectation Vs reality 😂)

Physical representation matters, but saying that, it's the only things for girls to rely on is bullshit and misogynistic.

Why erasing the redhead pale mermaid when it already existed a brown skin mermaid and have both which is even better for the representation in the franchise of the little mermaid ?

Even thoug, signing girls were already kinda represented with Ariel who is a mermaid (as her human form), who is loved, accepted and have fun even if she doesn't speak. But then, there is Gabriella and she just not speak but she signs with the real signing langage ! That's amazing !

They could have done a wonderfull job and created an adaptation where there was two amazing mermaids a pale one (not a white one) and a brown one. Who instead of being in competition could have been friends and shows and learns sorority, or even for once love between two girls or here two mermaids. That would have been amazing ! I would have loved so much to have this and I'm sure little girls (whatever their skin color would have loved it too !)

Growing up I would have loved to know that there weren't anything wrong with me for loving girls and not boys like in absolutely every single movies or animation movies.

We were kissing each other in secrets, deeply convinced that we were doing something wrong, bad, and we did it in secret full of shame because we knew it was forbidden. There wasn't a rule written with it was is ok and was it not, it's more uncunscious. But at 4 y/o we already knew and felt that it was not ok, and still at 13.

I only learn that they were people that love the same sex that their own, in teenagehood, not because there was a lesson about the three differents sexuality (heterosexual, bisexuel, homosexual). No I learned it with all the slurs on all the ones that coudn't hide their sexuality and they all were bullied. It's only around my majority when I was 17 y/o that I knew it wasn't something wrong.

I was accepted in a big group of friends, we were so different from each others, with so many background, but goddess I LOVED THEM SO MUCH ! They helped me setting the things rights, like REALLY. I had no bar, no bounderies, nothing. I grew up with an incestuous big brother (it started when I was 3), violence within all my family (except my dad and step mum), and school harassment since I'm 3 until 22 y/o. No friends or rarely. Or fake ones. Until this group. They teached me that differences is fun, we can learn from each other, they were curious, everyone was curious to understand the pov of everyone even if we thought the opposite. I was so sexually abused in my life that I coudn't bare being in anything that could reveal my skin, my shape. I was soooo prude. Because my brains associated nudity with bad things. But thoses guys (we were mixte) teached me that our body exist to allow us to experiment life. They help me heal from eating disorder, bodydismorphia, shame, and so many other things. We could ALL be naked sitting comfortablelly and not good looking, with rolls, saggy boobs, het, bi, or homo, everything was fine. (Disclaimers, we were drunk when we were naked, drinking red wine, with flower or tree crowns philosophising on life etc. That was so cool and nothing was sexual. Except with one guy who did and tried to sa every girls that came in the groups, he was punched a multiples times by the others mates but not excluded sadly). And within this group they were lesbians and bisexuals persons, a couple of male bff where saying there were married to each other and kissing and every thing was fine and so funny. This was when I learned that it was ok for me to be lesbian. But for fifteen years I hated myself for being like this. Like if there wasn't enough things wrong about me there was this too on the list. It was such a relief ! I even tried to unalive myself because of this guilt.

So yes, I think we definitely should have something for the girls to let them know that it's ok. There is nothing wrong with them.

Resume of all the fact that indicated that Ariel lived in the north of the Atlantica, North of the Europe and not in the Caribbean :

Spot, the Killer Whale

Ariel meeting Great White Shark (living in cold water)

Ariel meeting Hans Christian Andersen who live in Denmark

The Kingdom of Atlantica is near the Groenland

Melody swam quickly to the Groenland, which is in the territory of the Denmark

So it makes absolutely no sense to say it actually happens in the gulf of guinea, in south africa (except for the shark and the killer whale part) or in Caribbean.

BUT !

If the goal was to have only afro descendant community in the representation, I WOULD HAVE LOOOOOOOOVED not to see a Dannish fairytale as representation.

And it blows my mind that it doesn't seemed to occur or bother any usa black afrocentrist. Like ???? This is si insulting ! They all say 'anything that is not black or brown is a coloniser' but they don't seemed to have any problem with having a fairytale that is from a country that colonized (and still doing it 👀) a lot of country in different continents including Africa to represent the afro culture ?! 🤡

You said you want to represetant "YOUR" culture, but obviously you have no idea of what culture you're talking about. You think continent and country is the same, so you think that european has no culture and at the same time you said "european culture". You talk about african culture. Asian culture. But None of them exist. You think Africa is Egypt, maybe South Africa and that's it. Asia is only Japan and China. No. And you have absolutely zero knowledge about not just geography but history too.

Denmark was one of the coloniser country of the African Continent (in case you didn't know). So no I wouldn't choose I dannish fairytale to represent the people from Africa or afro descendant no.

Mermaids are a wordwilde story because it descent and came from Matriarchy. And before Patriarchy, the whole world was Matriarchal. So you can found myths and tales about them in every culture that exists in the world.

So for an afro representation there would had been a lot of choice !

I want to hear everything about the tales of Oshun, Mami Wata, Yoruba and all of the others all over the world ! But I bet you have no idea of who they were and are.

The Yorùbá Goddess Yemaya.

Conclusions :

A huge thank you for reading my very long post.

I think I'm good. I mean, I think I'm done writing my thought about the Ariel Live Action and all the topics that were brings along it and were causing a lot of "scandale". No, wait, I forgot the word? Debate ? Idk.

Please, feel free to share with me your thought on it ! What's that makes you think ? What part are you agreeing, or not agreeing ! And please, explain to me why (agreeing and not, both). I might not get it bc we don't share the same shoes and as autistic I don't always "catch" it.

And please, don't get angry or insult me if I don't understand immediatly your thought or if I don't guess them. I'm not a mind reader, so please, if you think about something that I am not aware off or didn't bring the topic on.

We can all learn from each other. It's not because we have different point of view on something that our views are necessarily in contradictions, they can complete each other's.

Thank you. 🤍

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bohemian-nights · 6 months

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Rhaenys is my favourite character on the show - a show that was overall a massive disappointment - , and along with Visenya, Rhaena and Alysanne, she's my favourite character in the book too. I prefer the book version. The book,while sucking at many points, at least allows much more interpretation since it’s just a history book written by some dude years and years later. Therefore I can literally do whatever I want with the "real" story and don’t have to mind other interpretations. Now the show overshadows and ruins everything Lol.

Okay, but the thing that annoys me personally most is the romantization of Rhaenys/Corlys. First I was angry they made them the same age. I mean, come on! The creators clearly have an issue with depicting age gap relationships since Daemon never ages despite marrying one childbride after another (funnily enough a new haircut doesn’t make me think: oh, look, he grew older). Book!Rhaenys married a man twice her age, which is totally fine, if it weren’t for the fact that she was just 16 years old at the time. (And just btw, in the real Middle Ages people FROWNED heavily on matches like this - even in noble and royal circles). So Rhaenys was basically just a child, who I think was legit infatuated with the older and exciting man. Corlys in turn was glad to score a Targaryen princess, who was then heir to the throne, a dragon rider and pretty. But this relationship only has trouble written across it!!! Corlys isn’t a gentle man. He's got pride and plans - every part of his story shows us an ambitious, determined man, which is okay. If you ask me though, he could only end up grooming Rhaenys. She was a child, and despite all her brains and whatnot, at 16 she still had a child's naivity, that can be too easily shaped by the right person. By someone like cunning Lord Velaryon. The show, however, bust decided to make them this random straight couple from any 80s drama, and completely missed out the potential of a complicated relationship.

And I agree with you regarding the Council of 101. Rhaenys and Coryls could've done more lobbying/politicing for their cause. (I have my theory on why that didn’t happen, but if I say that I attract even more hate from Corlys stans).

But you know, this is why I'm so angry about the Rhaenys/Corlys dynamic on the show. Give me a damn twist. Show me this cool woman finally snapping out of her stupor and realising how she's been manipulated, trying to please men all her life (I see the irony in the Alicent & Rhaenys speech, even though I actually enjoyed that moment. It's good acting). Watching her daughter marry an even worse man, who then immediately after her death grabs the next girl he groomed (killing off her husband on the way) - what better premisis would there have been for Rhaenys to finally wake up??? But what does the show do? They give us a Rhaenys who runs around in circles, telling people she can’t make decisions without her husband and blah blah blah. For f*sake! Let her be a dragon! But no, in this setting women can only be as strong as it's comfy for patriachy and then we have to sell it off as feminism, because "she loved him so much".

I also never quite got why Rhaenys went to Rook's Rest on her own. When Daemon goes to the Riverlands there's an army with him, but Rhaenys heads out all by herself?...bad bad writing. And just as bad to me is the remark on how angry Corlys was about her death. I mean, come on, he was only angry because he basically lost his most powerful tool. Lucky though, that he had those bastards waiting in the background, ready to claim another dragon for House Velaryon.

Note: I would also like to thank the other anon who mentioned they didn’t like Daemon at all. I'm glad and relieved to hear other people share this feeling!

Rhaenys is a really interesting character who has so much potential to be this amazing woman, but then she kinda just goes along with the tide without really putting up a fight. I agree that book!Rhaenys’ actions are a little more understandable(although yeah her going by herself to Rooks Rest is a choice 😬), but show!Rhaenys’ actions don’t make a lick of sense past episode 7(cause why side with the woman who you think killed your son who just married the man who made your daughter so miserable 🫠).

How they handled her relationship with Corlys has been another choice. They’ve still kept the fact that he cheated on her(unless they make Alyn and Addam Vaemond’s bastards) so Rhaenys running around talking about I won’t do anything without Corlys is only going to make her look stupider when those boys show up(and some people say they’ll appear in episode two and she’s probably still alive then😬).

It would’ve been nice with the changes that they made she snapped and said enough is enough, but yeah that doesn’t happen. She never puts herself(or her granddaughters) first. She’s exactly who she claims Alicent is except she might be worse considering she had way more power than Alicent ever had yet she threw it all away for reasons🤦🏽‍♀️

At this point, it’s pretty obvious that this show is all about giving girl boss-looking moments(see having Rhaenys come in through the floorboards), but at the end of the day these women just look silly and weak(getting choked out, cheated on, slapped around, abused, acting oblivious to what’s happening around them, being smiling pretty puppets, etc.)

For a feminist show these women sure do lack agency🤷🏽‍♀️

Can I just say I love how people trash Daemon on this blog even though he's my favorite🤣 It's super amusing, but I get it cause he is very out there. He's an acquired taste.

#rhaenys targaryen #a lovable bird #hotd has made her look worse #bnask #bnasks

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namimikan · 9 months

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more barbie 2023 complaints:

- kind of expected more of the gloria&barbie symbiotic relationship? gloria’s misery affecting barbie went nowhere fast. the gloria&sasha mother daughter bond apparently fixed??? in a car ride???? sasha has one line that she enjoys the creepy morbid side of her mom, but earlier when gloria says her daughter hates her there’s no rebuttal or anything???? if gloria is happy, shouldn’t barbie be happy too?

- sasha was SO inconsistent. she tears barbie to shreds, and then she’s on board, and then she’s there to fix stuff. she just felt like a plot device, whatever the plot needed her to be, there she was.

- WHY did barbie want to be human? it seemed like she hated being in the human world. fair enough, she couldn’t return to what she was before in the barbie world, but at no point did it feel like she enjoyed the wonders of being a human being, tbh?

- i kind of expected ken to have a symbiotic relationship as well??? like the growing insecurity. i just thought that there might be a human affecting his actions and mentality as well, and then just no???

- i guess i wanted more barbie&human symbiotic relationships in general rather than passing mentions

- will ferrell’s plotline seemed... pointless? he was clearly having a good time but! the punchline was...? money sells...? idk???

- there seemed to be a connection between barbie world and human world but even then it felt like. whenever convenient to the plot’s memory, otherwise it was forgotten?

- was ruth handler a ghost? was she actually dead? was she god but will ferrell knew about her anyway? how do you keep the ghost in the building like that?

- not really sure this movie was v. good at actualizing barbie OR ken’s personhood, tbh?

- not really sure i liked that it took a single line to brainwash barbies/revolutionize kens like that...? and to snap them back like that either.

- i don’t think ken is wrong in wanting some respect. i know barbie apologizes and breaks up with him, but the message that ‘women are in power’ has it’s own flaws tbh, i’m not saying that the patriachy is the better way, bc no it’s not. and it’s also tied into being barbie world is a girl’s fantasy, but. if ken dolls are unhappy, can they also not work hard and accomplish their dreams...?

- that ken was so quick to take to the patriachy was... idk. maybe a greta gerwig problem, as was the gloria speech about how women are doomed either way bc no true box fits one. but then. greta gerwig is pretty soapboxy and i often... dislike that?

#onion sprouting text

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nina-vonnegut · 2 years

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Talking to my bff about mayans/soa and it got me thinking about Gemma.

Before all of this gets away from me I want to say that this isn't me even entertaining the idea of intention on Kurt Sutters or anyone else's mind. This also isn't me turning the narrative around and making soa out to be some feminism show. It's not. It's really not. It's a macho sausage fest. But this post goes out to the girlies.

So. Gemma. Queen Bee. HBIC. She is the soa enforcer when it comes to women in the show and around the club. She calls women sluts, whores, etc. and far worse stuff. Sometimes her dialog could be spoken by a dude on the show and I wouldn't even blink, esp. when it comes to degrading women.

And by all accounts she won that way. She is the ultimate old lady, highest ranking woman present at all times, even when she is not the wife of the clubs prez. She is playing the patriachys game, she is one of the boys; she is winning. People either hate her for behaving like that/or judge her far harsher than the dudes or are in love with her; kinda affirm her actions and try to immitate her cause they are "bad bitches" too.

Screw intention on Sutters part but is she winning? Truly? She is the one woman who suffers the most gendered crimes, most often on the show. And she is the one woman who would be a good addition at the clubs table cause she cares about the club and isn't afraid to kill people over it. And still never gets to be one of the brothers.

Gemma is someone who "gets the life" and protects it, for that she is rewarded. But rewarded as a woman. She is still "just" an old lady even if the is thee old lady. And she gets punished as a woman when she missteps. Just like the other not old ladies, the ones she looks down on.

Even before Clay/Gemma conflict on screen she tells Tara that it's not the first beating/smack that she took. It's implied that either John and/or Clay hit her. While Tara is shocked, Gemma is more "that's the life" about it. Both her husband's cheat/ed on her regularly, and while it happens on runs, she is supposed to be fine with it. And pushes that narrative. The conflict only arises cause the girl shows up. Gemma is raped and beaten when the club has enemies and is instructed to deliver a message. She is later beaten by her husband on screen, when she tries to argue with him earlier that the club doesn't do drugs he grabs her by the throat and tells her that she doesn't tell him what the club does. Conveniently forgetting that he uses her as a battering ram to tell everyone else what the club does and quiet liked her cheer-speeches in the earlier seasons. As long as she is "in line" she apparently can tell what the club does/stands for.

Later her son pimps her out, literally, to that husband who beat her viciously, her son knows this, cause he needs information from him and she is supposed to honey trap him into sharing. Much later, after she admittedly kills his wife, that same son shoots her from behind and kills her. She is shown to give him permission cause that's "who they are". She is the most driving force behind the "outlaw life" in the show. Should have patched her in and given her an outlet for all the ideas.

And as much as she is the hbic she gets sex crimed every season at least once! As much as she plays the game and shits on other women she gets punished just like them. Let that sink in for a sec before you break your neck posting "Gemma was right etc." and immitate her too much by "putting bitches in their place". Remember how Gemma was put in her place by the dudes whose rules she followed to a T.

Tara, most behatedest, who hated the life/style and the club and even at her most "gemmafication" didn't enforce the boys club rules as much, doesn't get "put in her place" the same way. She doesn't stand for and accept some default behaviors. Again, the show isn't feminist tm and Tara does her fair share of fighting women too, but she does punish and hold Jax responsible for misstepping, cheating as much. She isn't beaten by a man ever, she isn't raped, she isn't pimped. Her most horrific physical injury/handicap/illness is completely "sexless". In fact she pretends to have a miscarriage and blames it on Gemma and because Gemma behaves the way she does Jax believes she caused it.

So while I think hating Gemma is understandable, she did *all this*, one cannot ignore that she also got "got" every season. And while I think it's cool that Gemma brought confidence and a certain attitude to women and their self perception I don't think one should ignore how her hating other women and playing by the boys rules, enforcing them on other women, didn't help much in the end when it came to domestic violence and such.

#klukvatalk #putting this in the tags in case someone wants to chat. interested in all the opinions. agreeing or disagreeing #gemma teller #soa #gemma teller morrow #sons of anarchy

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mahmou4d · 3 months

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How To Spiritually Mature And Activate Your Divine Masculine Energy

Do you want to experience more wholeness in your life? Do you want more depth and wisdom to carry through everything you do? Balancing your masculine and feminine energy is key if you want to develop spiritual maturity. We’ve already talked here about how to embrace your Divine Feminine. Now let’s get into the specifics of your Divine Masculine energy, and how activating it can drastically improve your life.

In the last post, I talked about the importance of constantly assessing where you are on the spectrum of masculine and feminine energy – especially when you’re dealing with something challenging. Because once you see where you’re out of balance, it’s easier to move over to the energy that will be most helpful to develop. So definitely look back on that post and video since I’m not going to touch on those details as much here.

THE PROBLEM I SEE THE MOST WITH WOUNDED MASCULINE ENERGY

I will remind us all though that we all have masculine and feminine energy regardless of our sex and gender. And when we’re too far on one side or when we see either energy as bad – that generally means we’re in a wounded state and misunderstanding what the Divine aspects are.

We often see this reluctance to intentionally activate our masculine nature in our culture (United States) since people associate masculine energy with toxic masculinity. Again, since it’s mostly women who are reading this, I want to mention that I believe this is the shadow side of feminism which has negatively affected our attitude toward strong men, holding our partners to high standards, and providing our children with healthy male role models. But what many women don’t see is that when they’re attacking masculinity & the patriachy, they’re actually in both their wounded feminine (victimhood) and wounded masculine (the fighting and attacking).

So it’s important to keep that in mind as we continue. What we’re trying to achieve is the Divine state of both Masculine and Feminine energy which is where we experience more peace, love, and understanding in our lives.

How do you do this?

RECOGNIZE WOUNDED MASCULINE VS. DIVINE MASCULINE ENERGY

First, like I mentioned for the Divine Feminine, you need to honestly reflect on how you’re showing up energetically. What is YOUR part in the conflict you’re experiencing and how can YOU change. You have complete control over your energy.

These descriptions of masculine energy will help you see if you are in a wounded or divine state.

WOUNDED MASCULINE ENERGY:

Agressive

Easily offended

Aligned with Ego

Defensive – making up excuses to protect Ego

Overly competitive

Success driven – image matters

Materialistic

Selfish

Withdrawn emotions – not sharing your heart, others don’t deserve access to you

Stuck in mind

Refuses help

Spiritually disconnected

DIVINE MASCULINE ENERGY:

Encouraging

Protects & guides

Inspired action

Clear communication

Responsible

Expanded vision

Aligned work

Spiritual purpose

Honest & humble

Uplifting strength

Expresses emotions

Disciplined & driven

In the video above, I talk how I was constantly in a wounded masculine state as a child and teenager. It may have had something to do with not having a father in the home. Men usually do carry the masculine energy with two heterosexual parents. I had a single mom who had to hold both feminine & masculine. And I think all of us ended up being way too much in the masculine in an attempt to balance. It was an overcorrection. Now I’m learning in my marriage and as a mom how I need to let that go and let my husband lead more. It comfortable for everyone that way.

I also share in the video about a recent experience I had where I needed to be in my Divine Masculine. It was a difficult situation, and I took charge as a leader, handling it in a very calm, mature way.

I really suggest you do the same as what I’m doing with you here to become more comfortable with masculine energy. Think of times when you were in a wounded state. How did that work out for you. Think of times you were in your Divine Masculine energy. How did that work out? When you become more familiar with it, it will be easier for you to tap into it when needed.

FIND ROLE MODELS FOR DIVINE MASCULINE ENERGY

Next, I recommend that you find role models of both men and women who have healthy, Divine Masculine energy. Like I mentioned for Divine Feminine, these figures do not have to be family and friends. They can be social or historical figures, archetypes. The Divine Masculine is a born leader but does so compassionately in a way that makes everyone involved feel included and valued.

Oftentimes when we need to heal our wounded masculine it means that we don’t have a strong spiritual connection. It is in our nature to honor a higher power, to show some degree of devotion to the Universe, God, or Creator – whatever you want to call it. When we don’t do this, there’s a tendency to show devotion to people or institutions instead. We see people worshipping doctors, medicine, political figures, universities, and certain ideas & values instead. This is not a healthy switch. It keeps us in the Ego, tethered to our physical experience and out of spirit. So just know there may be more room to heal with masculine energy this way, to include trusting in the Higher Spirit.

AIR & FIRE ELEMENTS AS DIVINE MASCULINE ENERGY SUPPORT

Finally, as I did with Divine Feminine, I recommend that you work with the Elements of Nature. Air and Fire are more yang elements since they’re lighter, hotter, ethereal, related to power & thought, and experience energetically in the 3rd chakra (Manipura – Solar Plexus) and 4th chakras (Anahata – Heart). So I consider them to be more masculine energy.

Check out the posts here to learn how to align with these elements through interesting and helpful rituals:

Wonderful Air Element Spiritual Practices For Clarity And Inspiration

Strong Fire Element Rituals To Ignite Your Passions And Energy

IN CONCLUSION

Hope this information helps you move forward in your life in a more balanced and empowering way! Please let me know what you think in the comments of the YouTube video.

Remember that we can work together 1:1 in my in-person or online Holistic Healing Sessions if you need further support.

Many blessings to you friend…

FALCONHEALINGARTS.COM

falconhealingarts.com

youtube

#Youtube

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antiyourwokehomophobia2 · 3 years

Note

That post you made about radfems not holding women accountable for their actions and blame it on patriachy is how i feel about how some bi women who call themselves gay whom when called out say its not that deep and also not their fault that men dont take homosexuality in women seriously. Like i get that men dont respect lesbians but what about these women's roles in it? You cant just call yourself gay while also being osa and pursuing men. Some guy is probably gleeful out there thinking he got with a gay girl when thats not true. I hate it here.

Honestly, the fact it's so common for people to hear another person say they're gay and ask them "are you actually gay or are you bisexual?" all because bisexuals keep calling themselves gay is really all you need to know.

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eroticcannibal · 5 years

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i honestly feel bad for radfems. life must be tough when everything u do has to be the opposite of what the patriarchy wants, no matter what you yourself want

Jokes on them the patriachy wants women to over-analyse every action and not lead fuffiling lives

#Anonymous

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beymeg · 5 years

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Commonwealth Trust Panel Discussion on IWD 2019

None of you probably cares but here are my thoughts about yesterdays Commonwealth Trusts Panel on International Womens Day.

When this event was first announced weeks ago I had thought that it would be a panel where buzzwords and empty rhetorics would be thrown around, I honestly didin’t expect much, and while it was on going, the shitty journalists covering the event didn’t do well to dispel my bias, the only thing the journos reported on was mis-quoted statements that sounded empty and they only focused on meghans looks and pregnancy, and I thought the event had gone as I had earlier assumed it would go.

I was very wrong!

watching the Panel myself later was such a joy, I disagreed with some things, agreed passionately with others was later convinced to change my mind on some positions I had earlier held.

I would enumerate some of the positives and negatives that I perceived from the event.

NEGATIVES

No Asian woman, I felt like a Panel on International Womens day with focus on the Commonwealth without any Asian women was surely Incomplete, the perspective of anybody from a whole section of the Commonwealth was missing and I felt that this absence showed in the contributions made to their discussions.

No particularly religious woman, muslim and or Christian, it is my firm view that the biggest barrier to the advancement of women in most developing countries is one of this two religions, they are both Patriachial and they have both been successfully used to push women behind the curtains(metaphorically speaking) I feel like A devout Muslim or Christian feminist would have elevated yesterdays panel.

The last negative (which turned into a positive towards the end for me), the need to include boys and men, I had always felt that men should be excluded from discussions on feminism and womanhood, but the panelists convinced me towards the end that Men and Women are jointly part of society, it would be worthless to inculcate feminists ideas in women whilst ignoring boys, those women would inevitably be drawn back by their sexist male counterparts.

THE OVERWHELMING POSITIVES!

I got Introduced to a new set of wonderful women, other than Meghan the only other woman on that Panel I can say that I had ever paid any attention to was Julia Gillard, I had heard of Abwoa, Annie (I have one of her songs on my phone), Chrisann and Angie but I had never ever really paid attention to any of them and/or their works and I must say, they are all incredibly inspiring and smart women. They all are real models for all of us.

Annie made a very important point on how the lack of Political Leadership is the single biggest reason that women have’t been able to break free from the shackles of sexism and misogyny, and she’s very right, I see it everyday, it is not and has never been enough for charities to solve actual society problems, a problem such as sexism and its attendant evil effects such as lack of education, proper healthcare and financial access for girls needs actual Political will for it to end, political leaders have to make actual laws and enforce those said laws so as to ensure the positive change we all desire, where we don’t get this political will we would keep running around in circles without great change. I am very grateful that the Panel did not shy away from this truth.

Adwoah when speaking, highlighted something to me that I had never thought of in the way she highlighted it, there needs to be a safe space especially within feminist circles, for all kinds of girls and women, even those we do not like, we should be careful not to erase the voice of the voiceless, we should be careful not to speak over people, impose our views on them and then ignore their own thoughts in favour of ours. To a certain extent I believe that all of us in this Fandom and all over the world are guilty of this bad behaviour. I also need to say that this young woman is extremely inspiring!

Meghan was also very spectacular, at the beginning, I was mildly irritated by her insistence that boys and men have to be included in this discuss on feminism and she later convinced me with evidence corroborated by Angie and my own real life experiences, it would be very dangerous and even self defeating for a young woman to hold feminists ideals whilst all the men around her in the form of her father, brothers, husband etc are still sexist and misogynists, in many cases all around the world such a scenario could lead to the death of such a woman and in mild cases her otracisation, honour killings exist for instance to keep women in check and remind them that independent thought, believes and wants is forbidden for them, so to effect actual feminist change in the lives of women around the world Men folk must be included so that sustainable change can be achieved.

Julias’ actual contribution to the feminist struggle warmed my heart incredibly, I was very please to hear about her work in this regard, she,s working passionately to create policies that would increase the instances of women in power, there are honestly too few women in power, in my country for instance less than one percent of elected representatives are women, less and less women are taking part in politics and it is leading to devastating effects, more and more women are uneducated, child marriages are as rampant as ever and the men in power are unconcerned as because these situations affect women disproportionately and they are fine with that. I look forward to following her work and seeing how it can be applied to my own country.

Angie herself is a success story of how important female education and how any help towards achieving this aim globally should be the focus of us all on International womens day, she pointed out that over 53 million young girls in sub-saharan Africa are out of school, off the top of my head I am sure that my country contributes about a third of that, from the recent Royal visit to morroco we learnt that over 70 percent of women in morocco where illeterate, I was super embarrased and I am not even morrocan,(I remember thinking how silly the whole talk about Meghans Caftan was when this fact was staring us all in the eye), Angies words and work inspired me the most, I ended the video thinking of ways I can help effect this change in my country, I would be googling to see if CAMFED exists in my country and if I may volunteer with them to help people in my country.

Chrisann was the youngest of them all and what an achiever, she exemplifies Meghans quote about taking personal action to right any wrong you percieve your self, she formed a charity to influence political decision making in favour of minorities whose voices are rarely ever considered when policies that would affect those policies are being considered by the Government, she also highlighted the fact that we should be careful not to over-simplify the issues facing women around the world or even within our locality, she pinpointed the importance of intersectionality, and further reinforced the point that Meghan made last year that disadvantaged peoples already have voices, they just need to be listened to to, we should be careful not to take a paternal or maternal approach to working with and for them.

This Panel was extremely illuminating and it really inspired me, I hope all of you take the time to watch and digest it was truely worth it.

#Annie Lennox #Meghan Markle #Angeline Murimirwa #Adwoa Aboah #Julia Gilliard #Chrisann Jarrett #Queens Commonwealth Trust #IWD Panel 2019 #Writing these exhausted me I'm sorry it's too long #Please bear with me

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xx-amaya-may-xx · 5 years

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Poetry Submission: SHE

Author's Note: I just wanted to clarify that in NO WAY am I suggesting that 'all men' act/think this way. I am not a 'man-hater; I am not a misandrist; I am a feminist. Although this poem reflects my views, I DO NOT BELIEVE that all men are evil, nor am I advocating misandry. I am simply stating that, whilst some poeple may find this to be exaggerated, modern Western society often feels this way towards women. With this poem, I am simply attempting to bring awareness and transparency to this problematic notion. PLEASE do not believe that I hate all men - I DO NOT.

~ Amaya May ♡

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This poem is about women who are constantly told by society that they are not enough, and will never be enough, unless they are the "perfect woman", who can cook, clean, be submissive, and be everything else expected of women in the modern Western world. They are angry about this, and so, after realising how incredible they truly are, describe their efforts and ambitions to test down the patriachy and destroy all the toxic stereotypes and expectations which harm and demean women everywhere.

----------------

TRIGGER WARNING:

SLURS: "p*ssy"

MENTIONS: misogyny; sexism;

----------------

SHE is an Angel,

but not the ‘pure' kind,

because Society's Rules are

the myths of 'honest' Men.

SHE does not need to be

a ‘Virgin’, or ‘innocent’,

to be valued,

but SHE is valued anyway,

because SHE is a person,

and detests these Rules.

these standards are awful,

and are only used as

a means of Oppression

against Women -

and SHE knows this.

so SHE shrugs her shoulders

and SHE holds her head

up high, where the weight

of the world and opinions

of Men cannot reach her.

"a Woman with opinions

is a Dangerous Thing".

this is what we are taught

to believe from youth.

SHE knows it is not true,

and SHE knows it is an unfair lie

spread by those in power

(yes, they're all Men).

but what can SHE do?

after all, SHE is a Woman.

but what Men do not tell us

is that Women are strong -

so strong. SHE is told

that femininity equates

to weakness, in the form

of "man up" and

"don't be a pussy".

and in this way

SHE is subjugated to

prejudice and sexism.

SHE is told SHE is not enough,

and that SHE will never be enough,

unless SHE submits to

the Western ideals of

Beauty, whether SHE is or isn't

Western; that doesn't matter

to the Men in Charge.

SHE is not enough unless SHE

cooks and cleans and still

must be 'Perfection'.

and so, SHE is angry.

SHE calls upon all Girls and

Women of the world to

help right the injustice done

everywhere by the Patriarchy.

SHE tells them of their strength

and SHE tells them that they

are all Angels, and are all Perfection

in just the way they are.

now, they start to listen--

no longer will WE be silenced.

WE are angry at what WE have faced,

and, looking back,

it is Justified.

WE have suffered, and

WE have lost so much

at the hands of the Men.

and so, WE Fight,

with Fury in OUR voices and

Passion in OUR souls.

WE stand together

and know that WE will Succeed,

because in the end,

all WE want are Rights.

to be denied this any more is

Impossible, because now WE Realise

that WE are stronger than

WE ever knew, and that

now is the time for US

to take Action.

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shamelessavenuecloud · 3 years

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sustainable development

Sustainable development is the "ability to make development sustainable-to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need” (Robert K.W et al 2005). As the late Nelson Mandela Once said ”Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”. Through Education Individuals gain knowledge, skills, critical thinking and begin to question why things are the way they are.

In my community there has been several school dropouts especially young females who drop out of school as results of teenage pregnancy. This number of uneducated pupils has a negative effect to growth of the society as these women stay unemployed and usually depend on male partners for support thus contribute positively to the pachiatry system. As a result of unplanned pregnancies, schooling and working parents’ young babies are often taken to creches, even though they have a caregiver at the creche, the caregiver is not trained to equip babies with preschool skills, and this negatively affects young children when they start school. As Occupational Therapist in the community we have programmes for creches which gives us the opportunity interact with caregiver about equipping babies with preschool skills, we also visit sea cow lake primary to screen kids for learning difficulties, cognitive function, and physical development. In trying to reduce the number of uneducated women and its contribution to poverty we have youth development group where we tackle teenage pregnancy through prevention strategies available.

“South Africa is having grave difficulties in attaining a gender balanced society and furthermore women are besieged by high levels of gender base violence. Women are still exposed to human rights violations and inequalities; patriarchy is a permanent force in South Africa” (Noge M.T 2014). Many women who come to the clinic are not working and they associate this to the role of being a woman as they must live under certain boundaries and rules just because they are females. Many women report having to stay at home to care for the child, even without a child when they live with their male partners, they must stay at home to complete what is described as “women duties” such as cleaning, cooking, and washing their man. While some may view this as traditional or cultural norms, it allows man the opportunity to live their lives with complete autonomy and deprive women of the same opportunities. As women depend on men, they are more likely to experience Intimate partner violence which can lead to several physical and mental illnesses. In the community we aim to work with man of all ages to help them understand how their own actions affect women and look to promote man taking responsibility. When addressing teenage pregnancy, we have focused on the role of man in the process and encouraged young males to be responsible and use condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancy and break the cycle of children growing without fathers or fathers who don’t support their kids and thus contributing to kids and mothers diving deep into poverty.

“Poverty is also political because it relates to the allocation or distribution of resources and reflects the impact of past and present policy choices”. The emergence of covid19 has worsened the situation as many people have lost their jobs thus losing the little income, they use to address their food insecurities and clothing. As previously stated, most of the population at the community do not have tertiary education or matric as result they work in firms, due to COVID-19 19 restriction most firms have suffered significance losses in profits thus led to most of the previously employed group job less and unable to generate income. This has further contributed to the high unemployment rate in South Africa which directly contributes to poverty. As Occupation therapist we have looked to tackle this problem through KITE project to help them generate some income and vegetable garden project address their food insecurities and we have also looked to tackle the psychological effects of unemployment and the stress it causes through providing psychosocial intervention.

Poverty can contribute directly to hunger as people with poverty of education may lack skills to find jobs and put food on their tables. Some clients have expressed difficulties falling to sleep as they stress what they are going to provide for their kids tomorrow. To contribute to the zero-hunger goal, we have included clients to garden project which will help them gain skills to run their own gardens at home and benefit direct from the clinic garden by having some of the vegetables. For those in need we have worked closely with the community workers and try to provide for the poor.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Hofgastein, B 2011). In occupational therapy we are more concerned with people being able to participate in their meaningful activities, people with illnesses are more likely to have decreased participation in activities. This activity may include caring for young ones, taking care of self, work etc. in the facility there has been an ignorance of mother’s mental health status and to address this we have implemented a maternal health group which focuses more on how mothers are coping at their home. We have also prioritised screening mothers for mental health conditions.

“in every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is power to do it” Marianne Williamson. We do community because it is part of who we are and we love it.

Reference

Hofgastein, B (2011). Presentation: “Designing the road to better health and well-being in Europe” at the 14th European Health

Noge, M. T. (2014). Evaluating Patriachy and Gender Inequality in an Era of Democracy: case of South Africa (Doctoral dissertation).

Robert, K. W., Parris, T. M., & Leiserowitz, A. A. (2005). What is sustainable development? Goals, indicators, values, and practice. Environment: science and policy for sustainable development, 47(3), 8-21.

https://www.google.com/search?q=factors+of+poverty&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjEypPb-_HvAhUCWBoKHZ7eD3kQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=factors+of+po&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgBMgIIADIECAAQQzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAOgQIIxAnOgcIIxDqAhAnOgUIABCxAzoICAAQsQMQgwE6BwgAELEDEENQ5MIPWLb7D2DKjxBoAXAAeASAAYsDiAG3KZIBBjItMTIuNpgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nsAEKwAEB&sclient=img&ei=ULRwYMTiLIKwaZ69v8gH&bih=657&biw=1366&rlz=1C1EJFC_enZA905ZA905#imgrc=KDw4TMTsReCQfM

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ineededabook · 4 years

Text

Bk. 53 - Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

01\10\2020-01\10\2020

★★★☆☆

C.A.W.P.I.L.E RATING 5.71 = 3 Stars

Characters: 5

Atmosphere: 5

Writing: 6

Plot: 6

Intrigue: 7

Logic: 6

Enjoyment: 5

I've seen Cinderella is Dead pitched as 'queer women overthrow the patriarchy' by a multitude of people across the bookternet.

And while this isn't necessarily wrong, I would say it is at times poorly executed. Kaylynn does an excellent job of setting up the cruel patriachial society, she consistently hammers it into the narrative that women are not safe, that they have no autonomy, and how they are constantly berated of abused. This is however explicitly violent in it's depiction lacking any subtlety in it's portrayal.

The world lacks nuance in the male characters outside of 'loving father,' 'gay friend' and finally 'violent aggressor.' The women in turn are very one dimensional, they accept this is the way and that no way exists to change it. Everyone however except our narrator Sophia.

Sophia is a well fleshed out character, who at times is inconsistent in her actions. She greatly dislikes how the other woman in the story lack choice, but refuses to accept her friend Erin's choice to ignore their feelings for one another. She explicitly says she doesn't want a match at the ball, nor a knight in shining armour to save her, but jumps at the chance for Luke (a gay man) to be her beard\saviour.

Sophia also has a terrible habit of flaunting the rules and beliefs of her society, much to other characters chagrin. They take the time to remind her of what befalls people who go agai nst the status quo, she however is never caught so we the reader do not experience anything but a mere hint of fear.

The overarching plot is heavy handed in it's depiction of toxic masculinity, yet lacking in it's depth of characters or world building, with the diverse cast of BIPOC & Queer characters ultimately being the stories saving grace, alongside the excellent reimagining of the original Cinderella myth. The latter portion of the novel is were the writing shines, with a multitude of plot twists in regards to Kalynns rewrite of the fairy godmother. And her involvement in what happened in the past, and what is to happen in the future.

However, with the surface of the story having barely been scratched, and so many aspects of the world building and characterization needing expansion or exploration, the end result was lacking. Falling short of my expectations.

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toldnews-blog · 5 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/sports/mma-arm-collector-anita-karim-fighting-patriachy-in-pakistan/

MMA 'Arm Collector' Anita Karim: Fighting patriachy in Pakistan

If you were asked to name five MMA fighters from across the world, chances are you would struggle. A few of you, who have a taste for the adrenaline-fueled martial arts would probably have seen ‘Never Back Down’, a movie that helped popularise mixed martial arts among its takers. MMA is an extreme combat sport that mixes techniques of boxing, grappling, and martial arts. It is still, however, a very niche grueling sport that hasn’t broken much ground. But in Pakistan’s Islamabad, one woman has broken into the ring and how.

Anita Karim runs her ring with a ruthless, firm grip. All of 22, the five-foot woman is Pakistan’s first and only female MMA fighter and is quite at ease with breaking stereotypes. Being the first in her league is bound to put anyone in a challenging space, but she brushes away all talk of pressure while speaking exclusively to TimesofIndia.com.

“It’s quite ordinary, to be honest. I belong to a family of Taekwondo black belts, so it isn’t exactly an insane decision around here. I was raised a fighter, and my brothers, who are also my trainers, were always supportive. It’s only now that I realise the magnitude of responsibility that fell on my shoulders once I took up MMA. I am happy, but certainly not under pressure.”

Anita’s in-the-ring performance would make you eat your hand. The irony of a five-foot-something fighter wrestling fighters to the ground is cathartic in some ways.

“I participated in a grappling competition, my first bout outside Taekwondo. I was up against a technically sound girl from a renowned gym. In a dramatic turn of events, I caught her in a Kimura (arm lock); for whatever reasons, she didn’t/couldn’t tap and her arm snapped. Keeping aside the sad incident, it was the first day I truly realised my potential.” Anita told TimesofIndia.com.

And she has only gone from strength to strength since then. The incident won her the epithet of “Arm Collector”, because she has won all her bouts through arm locks. She made her MMA fighting debut in a professional bout only a few months ago in Singapore.

Her struggles are magnified when see them in the backdrop of Pakistan’s social fabric. In a largely male-dominated society and with restrictions acting as barbed-wire on women’s ambitions, Anita Karim’s achievements shine like the burning sun on barren land.

“When we moved to Islamabad, I had the option to study or train. The fact that I had the option was a blessing. So I did both. I completed my intermediate education and when my coaches, Ehtisham Karim and Ali Sultan, trained me for the first time, I felt like I am destined to do this, so I decided to pursue this full time.”

Anita’s dominance has been fueled by personal ambition and a natural gift for the sport. But making the transition from Taekwondo to MMA posed one big hurdle – training. Being the only female MMA fighter means rigorous training sessions in the ring with men, a problem she tackled head on. Her tiny frame belies her strength and she says she did get a lot of flak for some choices she had to make.

“I was teased for the way I kept my hair short, like boys do. So all the talk about not being girly enough is like water on a duck’s back for me. Back in Hunza I used to train and fight with men in Taekwondo competitions. It wasn’t a choice then, it isn’t one now. If anything, it has only made me stronger and more resilient.” Anita said.

“People will always talk, we can never change that. Our team’s focus and goal is to shut everyone up by our actions and we do that. Also, the kind of support I got from my extended family and the beautiful people of Hunza and Gilgit-Baltistan encouraged me more and helped me shut out the detractors.”

It is hard to imagine all the back-breaking hard work that goes into the making of an MMA fighter. It takes a lot of sacrifice, and not just from the fighter alone. Anita’s household isn’t new to success, and jaw-breaking talent. Uloomi, Anita’s brother, is one of Pakistan’s most famous MMA fighters. It was Uloomi and his brothers Ehtisham Karim and Ali Sultan who inspired Anita to take up MMA, when she moved to Islamabad two years ago. They are the founders of ‘Fight Fortress’, one of the first MMA training facilities in Pakistan. With two more branches of the gym opening up in the city, MMA perhaps has the potential of becoming a cultural phenomenon in Pakistan and the family has their hands full at the moment.

“Team Fight Fortress trains together like a family. There is equality in all matters. I don’t receive special, softer treatment because I am a girl. In fact, it’s often the opposite” Anita told TimesofIndia.com.

A growing number of people, especially women are starting to line up to train like Anita. She plans to help train them. But she says some of her own future plans are in the making.

“I have decided that I will eventually train abroad. Since there are more girls out there with whom I can train and evolve, we have planned some things for this year. The main thing that we feel is that I need to focus on training only.”

Anita and her brothers firmly believe that MMA is not just a sport, but also a road towards empowerment.

“If it makes people feel secure, knowing they can defend themselves, it’s worth the sweat and tears.” a proud Anita signed off.

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scifigeneration · 7 years

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Alien: Covenant falls short of the original Alien's trailblazing feminism

by Sadek Kessous

It was pitched as “Jaws in space”, but director Ridley Scott’s original Alien film, released in 1979, couldn’t have been more different to Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster. Unlike Jaws (1975), Alien didn’t indulge in attacks on female skinny-dippers. Instead, it channelled second-wave feminism to reflect and critique the slasher genre’s spectacle of violence against women.

These politics are unfortunately a far cry from those in Scott’s new addition to the franchise, Alien: Covenant. Where Alien traced the contours of sexual violence, Scott’s new prequel excavates the original’s mystery, horror and feminism, leaving an empty shell that is all too redolent of the B-movie sexism its predecessor transcended.

Now nearly 40 years old, Alien still gives men more than a few reasons to squirm in their seats. The film’s monster, the insuperable “xenomorph”, is a seven-foot phallus, pouncing from shadows to attack male victims with a thrusting set of angry teeth. Its larval stage is a “facehugger” that impregnates its victim by clamping its reproductive organs over his mouth. The process culminates once the victim has carried the child-parasite to term and dies in bloody childbirth.

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This imagery of male rape, noted by the film’s critics and creators, allowed Alien to exploit a singularly male fear: that some monstrous thing might treat men in the same way that men too often treat women.

However, Ripley – the film’s protagonist played by Sigourney Weaver – prevents Alien from fixating on solely male anxieties. The alien’s victims, almost entirely men, are the poorly paid haulage crew of the spacecraft Nostromo. Their employer – “the company” – conspires to obtain the xenomorph, at the cost of their lives.

Scott’s stroke of genius is that, as all the male crew members die gruesome deaths, Ripley emerges as the central figure. The character had originally been male but was later recast by Scott. This meant that Ripley represented the doubly assaulted woman, facing both the xenomorph’s sexual violence and her employer’s gendered economic exploitation. Audiences feel the structures of sexism and then reflect on the fact that it is Ripley, and not the male crew, who both resists “the company” – even when their sleeper agent literally attempts to ram a porno-mag down her throat – and kills the xenomorph.

Male fantasy

At first glance, the apple of 2017’s Alien: Covenant doesn’t seem to have fallen far from the tree. All the familiar beats are present as the cast of characters is whittled down – and Katherine Waterson’s Daniels, the ship’s third-in-command, emerges as the heroine/survivor.

And yet, in a film that resembles the very slasher exploitation cinema that Alien rejected, the echo of Ripley rings hollow in Daniels. Throughout Covenant, female characters haplessly slip and fall at crucial moments. They react stupidly and selfishly in moments of crisis. Twice women conveniently leave the group to bathe, granting the audience the voyeuristic opportunity to enjoy their predictable demises. The particularly egregious shower scene – in which the camera lands upon a naked Callie Hernandez, drenched in blood and screaming – is the furthest remove from the original film’s feminist aesthetic.

Covenant’s script matches this ornamentalisation of women, reversing Alien’s narrative formula and limiting the role of its female protagonist. Instead of Daniels, the plot revolves around Michael Fassbender’s Wagnerian villain David, a robotic creation of “the company”.

David madly presides over an unpopulated world, determined to outstrip his human creators by bio-engineering the xenomorph. This new take divorces the sexual violence of the alien from the structural violence of “the company”. Rather than the monolithic corporation, violence now centres around David – the corrupted anomaly of male power rather than the prime example of its values.

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The film’s symbolism ultimately condemns David for his desire to break with a “natural” order. He perverts the company’s gendered directives by longing to create life alone, an act that requires he embody both male and female sex roles. Covenant couples this “deviancy” with a sexually charged scene involving a flute and David kissing his own doppelganger. And so the original Alien’s critique of heterosexual-masculine-capitalist violence is displaced, by the actions of the new prequel character.

Rather than galvanising Alien’s feminist critique against a patriarchy that divides labour according to gender norms and normalises sexual violence, in Covenant Scott instead finds a scapegoat in the victims who are not adhering to the patriachy’s standards.

This is all encapsulated by the film’s final image. Alien’s horror fixated on deathly male-birth throughout the movie. By contrast, Alien: Covenant’s parting frames voice its kink-shaming terror through Fassbender’s smiling face, happily birthing xenomorph embryos from his mouth.

Sadek Kessous is a Teaching Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

#movies #science fiction #alsohorror #alien covenant #movie review #reviews #scifi #scifi in society #feminism

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nevertrustamanwho · 7 years

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in essence never trust a man raised in any patriachy, he can be as good at hearts as he wants he will never be able stop all opressive actions this society demands

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vileart · 6 years

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Heroine Dramaturgy: Susan Worsfold @ Edfringe 2018

Scene Change Productions

heroine

WORLD PREMIERE Part of the 2018 Made in Scotland Showcase

This poignant and darkly humorous solo performance, based on the remarkable true story of a US military sexual trauma survivor, explores courage, healing, forgiveness and what speaking your truth really means

Directed by Susan Worsfold (Eve, NTS) Written and performed by Mary Jane Wells

Rainy Hall, Assembly venues, 3 - 26 August 2018 (not 8, 21), 12.00 (13:05), 16+

Danna Davis (her nom de guerre), is the only female soldier within her company in the US army. As a lesbian serving in the midst of the ’Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ policy, she is sexually assaulted by three male soldiers. On a dangerous mission inside a combat zone, Sgt Davis is forced to rely on one of her attackers to get her squad home safely. Can finding peace ever be possible?

Embarking on her most daunting mission yet, Danna speaks out for the first time. This incredible human story about one soldier's experiences reflects on the human paradigm of revenge, what one must give up to forgive, and the black humour necessary when there has been no justice. heroine delves into the grit required to be the only woman in your company, the courage you must find to lead your squad into combat, when your as- sailant is within, and the heroism it takes to finally talk about it.

how would define the political content of your work? Its essential to me to be political rather than Political with heroine. My job as a writer and performer is to tell Danna's story it in all of its colours, so this piece is absolutely not affiliated with Agit Prop or pushing any political or legislative agenda in its content. I believe in letting art be art. In watching and participating in art this way, I have come to be more educated and outside the play I am an activist for the issues it raises, for zero tolerance and zero occurence. However, storytelling as an activity these days for me is Political. The central tenent on why I am doing heroine is my belief that "It is not the event that has the power to define our lives - but the story we choose to tell about it." Women are just as corruptible as men. But too often their stories are as patriachy has told them - and the way patriachy has told them, as this is what many women recognise as standard. heroine embodies what it is like when we move from a patriarchal storytelling model to the way a woman tells a story whilst she is making the transition into acknowledging her narrative. Stories like Danna's have value, that culturally we do not recognise enough yet. Stories like hers show what trying to birth them is like when patriarchy's hammy fists are all over everything. :) On a personal note, action for Danna held a transformative potential for self worth that words could not. She needed her story heard, felt, understood. Hannah Gadsby talks about the exhaustion she felt without a community to witness, understand and take on her story - "Please help me take care of my story." The implication is not just that she is too tired to carry it alone, or even that it is so lonely to carry it without human connection but also that we might not ultimately GET THE VALUE of it. True stories like Danna are powerful in what they tell us about power, and how to treat the vulnerable. To be powerless does not destroy our humanity. Resilience IS our humanity. Humanity has been destroyed in those who believe they have the right to render another human being powerless.

But Gadsby says "to yield and not break - THAT is incredible strength".I agree. I also think diversity is strength, and giving up authorship is a strength. It's an actor's job is to embody each perspective and make an audience feel each perspective, so then the entire picture can be seen without one perspective getting stuck and favoured for so long we think its the right and only way of telling it. We invalidate these other perspectives in favour of the one we recognise - that of the white straight male - and that has been the one that we end up believing and investing in. #timesup for storytelling too. are there ways in which your work can engage the audience beyond the immediate emotional rush of the content, and move forward towards further action? Great question. I have a shoutout for a "Brown Envelope" after the show. Its a digital way to connect directly to Danna herself to say hello and pass on a message, and also to raise awareness of the non-profit I partner with called Protect Our Defenders who exist solely to advocate for service members who are Military Sexual Trauma survivors and fight to reform the training, investigation and adjudication systems related to sexual violence and harassment in the Military.

It means a dialogue can begin, and other resources can be laid out and clearly introduced in a way that the audience member can direct. Taking care of the audience and why they might be motivated to reach out is also something I want to take care of, so for Edinburgh we are also partnering with Safe to Say, who are on hand to counsel anyone during our entire run in Edinburgh who comes forward with a disclosure or is affected by the play's themes and needs support. how far do the material conditions of the Fringe impact on the process by which you make theatre for it? Hugely. If we had not won a Made in Scotland Award I would not consider doing it. We are so privileged to be platformed in a sea of incredible international work and to be funded at the fringe is one of those wildest dreams that never seemed possible.

Writer and performer Mary Jane Wells states, “There are two separate justice systems – one for soldiers, an- other for the rest of us. Since the cultural sea change sparked by #metoo last November, #metoomilitary has seen little comparable movement: on both sides of the Atlantic, military justice systems are broken.

“The Pentagon estimates that sexual assaults increased from 19,000 in 2011 to 26,000 in 2012 and the figures are actually higher for 2013 - 2016. According to these figures, female soldiers in the US army are statistically more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than they are to be killed in com- bat. According to the most recent US Department of Defence report, there is a sexual assault in the US Mili- tary every 35 minutes.

“I wrote heroine from a sense of outrage at what one soldier endured, admiration for her character and be- cause I wanted to support her healing. Her truth needs to be out there and she was clearly ready to talk. I knew that in order to tell this story responsibly and truthfully, the dark humour we share was also essential. My bones said, ‘Write’.”

Mary Jane Wells trained as an actress at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and worked in Scottish theatre before dividing her acting career between the UK and the US. She played Josie Marks in HBO’s The Newsroom and her duet with Gerard Butler in How to Train Your Dragon 2 hit the Oscar list, whereupon she became a full-time voice actor, working at Starz and Dreamworks. She was nominated in 2016 for Outstand- ing Body of Voice Work by SOVAS (Warner Brothers), won an Earphones Award for excellence in narration in 2017 and was a 2018 Audies finalist. Upcoming work includes sci-fi neo-noir feature The Tangle. Mary Jane

For all press enquires please contact: Sharon - [email protected] on 07970 178643 or the SM Publicity team - [email protected] on 07401 878154

was also lead artist on new writing site-specific show I Confess, supported by Arts Council England. She also works as a story coach, notably on Sundance Select / CNN documentary Holy Hell.

heroine was developed in Scotland with support from Aberdeen Performing Arts, Creative Scotland and Capi- tal Theatres before winning The Olwen Wymark Award with Nicola McCartney, and Made in Scotland support.

Susan Worsfold is an award-winning theatre director who has worked with the National Theatre of Scotland and been supported by Creative Scotland, Made in Scotland, British Council Brazil and British Council Scot- land. Susan is co-company director of Queen Jesus Plays, working with Jo Clifford to direct the internationally acclaimed The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, which toured to Brazil in 2016, won a Made in Scotland and Scottish Arts Award and continues to tour to South America, UK, Europe and the USA. She is Creative Development Director of the Nadine George Voice Centre and is Associate Teacher to the Centre for Voice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, from which she graduated with a BA Hons in Directing in 1998. In 2017 she directed Eve by Jo Clifford & Chris Goode for The National Theatre of Scotland performing at the Traverse theatre, Edinburgh and Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, The Last Post (St Magnus International Festival commission, Made in Scotland 2017 Award performing within the Summerhall programme), Lysistrata, Three- penny Opera (Kings Theatre, Edinburgh), War in America (Old Royal High School, World Premiere) for The Attic Collective, The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven (UK Tour), Heroine by Mary Jane Wells (Edinburgh Festival Theatre), and Cleopatra, at Sesc Palladium, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. heroine is her third show to receive a Made in Scotland award.

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