#she's going to get raped

[gulducock]

look at this pic i found on twitter

#mine #hi heres my star trek take for today #does anyone else feel a little teeny bit weird when peeople talk abou t #wait ok hold on spoilers for s7 of ds9. dont read ahead ok #does anyone feel weird when peopeple joke about how kai winn and dukat were such a good couple when he like. raped her #like i know why they do but did no one think about that whole story arc hard enoigh to realize what he did to her #explicitly stated on screen. like thats verbatim unconcensual sex what happened and everyones liek its funny because dukats funny #and kai winn is a bitch which she is but also idk. does this make sense #ok thats my thought this have nothing to do with the abive image #i just didnt want to make this into a text post :| anyohe else get scared when dukat is on the scren #okay goodbye. im rewatching viyager btw not fr im just putting it on for comfort whenever i feel sick which is often LOL! but like on n off #can we make the doctor more popular than data =. keep going warriors

[yasmeensh]

I finished reading 4 books from Earth's Children series. The last three were really hard to read. After finishing Plains of Passage, I have come to really appreciate Clan of the Cave Bear as a standalone. I miss all the Neanderthals and Ayla's character arc. Gotta do some fanart!

PS. I MISS IZA! Best character in the series.

#clan of the cave bear #earth's children #after the first book it just goes downhill #REALLY DOWNHILL #Ayla becomes the biggest mary sue EVER #in the first book it was believable because it's established in the story the Neanderthals have different skills that Ayla must adapt to #and she wasn't doing anything over the top #She was just adapting #but later she starts doing insane things #like wtf?? NO human ever figured out they could strike iron pyrite to get sparks? #NO ONE ever figured out they could make a needle? #She invented the arrow too (or whatever that thin short spear things they did? not the spear thrower #I will not be surprised if she ends up inventing the wheel in the next two books #also domesticating animals #also there were so many traumatizing scenes #three different rape scenes in book 4 !!??? #I was going to throw up #It just.. got very uncomfortable to read #it changed me #so I now I'm thinking about the first book #yes it has all these same elements from the later books but they were sparse and were actually part of the plot #part of the character development. in other books they were just things that happened. Like. the characters are not impacted by it at all. #you could read the end of the book and nothing about the characters change after witnessing these traumatic experiences #they are the same from beginning to end #uh um sorry for the rant O_O #anyways I miss izaaaa #bye

[astaraels]

why do people think Yevgeny wasn't Mickey's son? in 3x06 there was clearly no condom used (not that Terry probably would have let Svetlana stop to get one), but there's no reason to think she wasn't using condoms with her regular clients. it's not Svetlana's fault that she was a tool used to rape Mickey—the sole blame for everything that happens in that entire situation belongs to Terry Milkovich and him alone—so why does it feel like it's just another way for people to shit on Svetlana for something that wasn't in her control? it's not as though she'd asked to get pregnant in the first place...

#stop giving svetlana shit just because terry was one of her clients—between him and sasha do you really think she had a chance to say no? #her attitude towards mickey is s4 is very easy to understand when you think about the fact that a) she's his age or maybe a year older #b) she is a person who knows she has to take what life gives her and make the best of bad situations #c) her entire future rests (so she thinks) on her and mickey making their marriage work and he was absorbed in ian (which the audience gets #but svet has no context for) and thus her feeling threatened is very understandable because mickey also won't stand up to his father #so yeah of course svet is gonna see terry as the one person who will put things the way they're supposed to be #but! it's after mickey comes out and he and ian fight everyone in the bar that she realizes mickey could be an ally to her #and she extends a hand in friendship because they're both stuck in this situation and yeah of course she wants him to stop being stupid #about yev—as she puts it “baby did not choose this either” which leads me to think she understands mickey's situation a little better now #but yev looks so much like mickey and has those big blue eyes of his (also evidence for baby mickey being blond) #I get that the whole child from rape thing isn't fun for mickey to have to deal with but women have to go through it all the time—like Svet #okay rant over I'm sorry I'm just...it puts a bad taste in my mouth whenever I see it in fic or meta that yev can't *possibly* be mickey's #mickey milkovich #svetlana yevgenivna #yevgeny milkovich #shameless

[fromtheseventhhell]

It's crazy that people still uphold show!Sansa as a well-written character and pretend that liking her is the pinnacle of feminism when it would be infinitely more impactful to acknowledge her terrible and misogynistic writing. This is the same character who, while written by two men, was thankful for the abuse she suffered because it allowed her to grow. The same character who we had to be told was smart because the writers were too lazy to develop or show her intelligence. The same character who had to rely heavily on the men surrounding her and ended up accomplishing nothing on her own merit ( and no, thinking that she deserved to be Queen doesn't mean that she earned it). She is not well-written, she is not complex, and she is not a feminist character. Which is fine! If you enjoy her then good on you, but please stop pretending that she's something she isn't just because you feel the need to justify liking her character

#anti got #anti d&d #anti show sansa #anti sansa stans #like literally one of the worst written characters on that show because they tried so hard to make her the most important #while being entirely incompetent and their only method of doing so was to steal from other characters which ruined the plot #the only arguable achievement was defeating LF but even then it's written in the script that she had to go to Bran to explain things #/she rallied the Vale army!/ no she didn't 😭 she wrote a letter to LF and he did everything. instead of showing her arc in the Vale and #her learning about politics to rally them herself they took the quickest route to give her a /badass/ savior scene #which only ended up making her look selfish + power-hungry for putting her brothers' lives at risk for not telling anybody about said lette #and idiotic in the aftermath after relying once again on LF even though he was very obviously manipulating her #/pawn to player/ sounds catchy on paper but without seeing that growth/development it doesn't work #Arya was terribly written but at least we /saw/ her training in a way we never did with Sansa #and people try to apply this same logic to the books and think she's gonna suddenly spring forth as a political mastermind #when that's not how George writes...we see characters develop and make mistakes on page and get actual earned growth #feminism isn't defending the writing of two men who gave her a rape plot not in the books because they thought it was /interesting/ #when the only aspect of that plot they adapted was a woman suffering abuse :/ #and as per usual with stansas their only /evidence/ of her being well-written is accusing you of being misogynistic if you don't like her

[mintharasthrone]

if orin was a man she would be so much more popular and given the most empathy

#orin the red #orin #and not met with the misogyny or people not acknowledging what she is a victim to. she's faces violence and the only person #she's been groomed into “loving” is a man who had her by raping her own sister he wants to rape her or for durge to rape her and abuses her #i loathe that a character who is a woman who has faced things that are part of really graphic serious subject matter as a joke or to mock #like if people look at orin and go haha stupid evil crazy woman larian should have done better and not made light of this #the fact that people think she's the least sympthatic is pure misogyny #how tragic that i will never see her turn her rage violence and chaos at the men who abused her groomed her and used her #and she dies so some fucking man can live and get a new life #if you're gonna yell at me about this post i will not respond #even dare i say the most popular villain? if there wasn't durge/gortash? even larian panders to any fav male characters she gets no love #ketheric is an abusive selfish father and the game and fandom see him as some sympathetic character....orin has zero autonomy thinking #ketheric is not even sympathetic but even saying gortash has it the worst more than orin is pure misogyny and your blind thirsting #she has even more trauma than any male version of her can have because misogyny but that's the irony #she would get the empathy if she was a man & female characters in general would be more loved/popular/defended if they were men lbr #those essays an energy women and fandom only put into expressing empathy for tragic men

[fantabulisticity]

The new Kesha album Gag Order ABSOLUTELY FUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been listening to it on repeat the last several days. It's intense and heartbreaking and chaotic and disturbing and wistful and motivating. Listen to it when you have emotional space for it, but definitely listen to it.

#personal #kesha #gag order #gag order album #edit: it sounds like what it feels like to have a trauma breakdown #like a long one over a series of months and years. she got it perfect. i hope this album was healing and cathartic for her. #it's so important to be able to express the 'ugly' emotions #her anger is justified. she gets to be angry about all the shit that's happened. and she gets to talk about it. it's so so so fucking hard #nothing happened with my rape case. i never heard back about any of it (except the university telling me they dropped my case). #i can't imagine going to court with people pointing cameras in your face and then having your case dismissed AND have your rapist file a... #...defamation suit. and the years that that bullshit has been going on. fucking hell. it's so hard. i feel for her and i hope she has... #...all the support she needs to get through it. she deserves all the love and care in the world. holding powerful people accountable for... #...their actions is so fucking difficult.

[lesbianshepard]

i love Tumblr Mythology and its spread. someone on Reddit just tried to assert that the oldest definitive version of the myth of Medusa is Ovid. 

#m #bestie he wasnt even greek #they were trying to tell me how the ORIGINAL myth was her as a rape victim punished by athena #like yeah that's ovid's version #in archaic greece she was just a scary monster from the get go

[craycraybluejay]

ik people like to act like sex and imbalanced sexual dynamics are uniquely traumatizing (moreso than any other kind of power imbalance, abuse of power, or just flat out abuse period) but from personal experience not really. there's nothing inherent to sex and sexuality that makes it traumatizing. there's nothing inherent to sexual trauma that makes it more traumatic than any other trauma.

and chiefly trauma is never really about the intentions of any party who made or let it happen. someone who wants, intends, and tries to hurt you might bounce off you just like that; because they simply failed to psychologically damage you, because what they did didn't bother you a lot whether it be mental physical or sexual. conversely someone who does not want, intend, or try to hurt you may scar you for life with something either they don't understand is harmful or isn't even inherently harmful and is uniquely that way to you.

i just. i'm annoyed at the narrative of trauma being taken away from the survivor themself. if i say this was traumatizing and you think it's not a big deal, too fucking bad, listen to me. if i say that wasn't traumatizing at all and you think it's the worst thing in the world upon hearing what it is, too fucking bad, you don't get to tell me what my trauma is. i'm sick of seeing people put words in each others mouths and tell someone's story for them without that person's consent. idk like? it makes me so angry that whenever i used to talk about things people would blatantly disregard the most horrific times of my life and instead focus on stuff i was neutral or even positive toward as a big terrible thing that ruined me.

nowadays i'm very grateful to have people who are chill and don't jump to conclusions no one asked them to. people who listen when i tell them "i know this sounds bad but it wasn't actually" or "i know this sounds stupid but this was world shattering." people who i get to laugh with. the RIGHT people who extend me the same kindness of knowing their strange "good bad things" and "bad fine things."

life just isn't as simple as "this is always terrible for people" and "this is always fine for people." PEOPLE aren't a monolith. yes, even that thing that you think must be the worst thing possible. yes, even that thing that you think no one could possibly be hurt by. it's hard to involve myself in serious discussions about abuse because there is a very clear Narrative people want to follow and if you as a "victim" don't follow it then either it didn't happen or you're wrong about your own experience.

hopefully I can consult my therapist about this phenomenon in discussions of abuse and trauma. and also about the specific thing that made me think of this. it irritates me quite a lot when others pity me for something that i knowingly chose-- and in retrospect never hurt me either. like what are you fishing for. why are you looking at me like that. i'm fine, maybe you're the one that needs counseling if my talking about this creates such a visceral reaction in you.

#listen to trauma survivors #listen to victims #listen to people who say they AREN'T that when you say they are too #the only person who knows their life best is that person especially in retrospect #ask to tag #trauma #the narratives surrounding trauma are regressive and ignore anyone who does not fit them #mental health culture critical #mental health #i consume [one] weed and then have sex and its immediately rape. pls touch grass jfc #idk everything surrounding sex is this mystical thing rife with potential evil #and i'm tired of it #the anti sex culture #the whole: there's nothing more traumatizing than someone 2 years older asking you out #pls stop #sex is not inherently more evil or potentially evil than literally any other thing that can be used to abuse #and abuse isn't as simple as 2 neat boxes labeled abusive thing and not abusive thing #for example you cant claim a karen yelling at you in a store is abusive. rude and mean yes but shes not abusing you #but if the same person is yelling at you all the time and has power over you so you cannot stop them thats a diff story potentially #idk people have this #black and white thinking #that never fails to irritate me #and we are never going to get anywhere in understanding these difficult topics if we cannot disconnect the narrative from our ego to always #always be right. to always know what is one thing and what is the other

[thedreadvampy]

The thing is I am definitely not happy or chill in the Immediate Sense lately but I am, big picture, so fucking happy with the person I am.

It's like. My brain was made by and for consistent trauma and since that trauma stopped about 5-7 years ago, it is incredible what the amount of resilience and cleverness and flexibility and thoughtfulness I developed to survive can do when it's not being all spent on surviving. like I had a hundred ton weight on me so I had to get REALLY STRONG to stay in the same place and not get 100% crushed, and when that weight came off I found I can use the strength it used to take to stand up and I can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

I was talking to my mum the other day and she said, "you've got the 'fuck it' energy at 30 that most women don't find until their fifties at least" and I'm like yeah man. Imagine how unstoppable I'll be in 20 years.

#red said #i don't know that i can express this clearly but it's the most encouraging thing in my life #my mum's always been proud of me but just lately she seems to actually really admire me #like she's genuinely impressed. she thinks I've surpassed her. i don't necessarily agree but it's a really nice quiet joy. #anyway like this sounds super up myself and it kind of is. #but also it's part of realising just how heavy the weight I've been carrying around with me for 25 years was #like not to be ridiculous but i have realised again this week. that it isn't that everyone's been raped that much and doesn't talk about it #i just have been raped an Unusually Consistent Amount. i have spoken to a lot of people who have had much more horrifying things happen. #I'm not sure I've talked to more than a couple of people who've had a similar level of total consistency of abuse from all angles #and the one is not heavier or harder to bear that the other. but. i think i spent most of my life listening to people's awful experiences #and going ok well nothing i went through looked that bad so it's microtrauma #obviously microtraumas build up but still. #then the older i get and the more i have these conversations the more I notice that stuff which to me is a microtrauma #is a lot of people's defining trauma. and they're reacting appropriately which means i am SO SEVERELY UNDERREACTING #told my friend the other day about a time someone who i still like and respect was having sex with me when i paralocated my hip #and then just kept getting really annoyed with me for not being ready to have sex again while i was literally crying with pain #until i caved and just tried to find the last painful position #and my friend was like pal what the fuck that's horrific #and i was like i mean no that's normal I've had sex with like maybe 3 or 4 people in my life who i haven't had similar stuff with #like i am genuinely thrown when i am allowed to say no to sex and have it be the end of the conversation. and not end up having sex #out of guilt or out of physical coercion or through physical rape. and i have had sex with probably like 40 people at this stage? #and I'm not sure it's as many as 4 i haven't had that experience with tbh #so like. I'm slowly coming to terms with the idea #that i may have actually been doing a hell of a lot of heavy lifting. #like i developed a sense of self that can survive being constantly crushed and at this stage is fucking diamond.

[blackmagictrait]

this isn't gonna win me any friends but I won't pay a dime to see movies made by/starring people who signed the petition to free convicted child rapist roman polanski, and that includes guillermo del toro and wes anderson. you can love their movies all you want but paying to see them puts money in the pocket of people who publicly support rapists going free. 🤷🏾‍♀️

#idk it's cut and dry to me #and if you're PUBLIC in supporting rapists then like....what kinda shit you doing in private? 🤔 #most of the arguments i see are ppl going “but it was so LONG ago he's done his time” no he literally hasn't #that's uh the problem #he was convicted n then FLED the country to avoid prison #mf literally never did his time. he never faced justice. #“hasn't he suffered enough” literally no he hasn't #that man drugged and raped a child and plead GUILTY to it and then never saw a day of prison #he should be dead but go off #and before you come at me with “yknow x and y actor signed it too what about them?” bitch what about em? none of them getting my money! #not a goddamn one! #natalie portman was one of the only ones to sign and then admit she fucked up and take her name off #if she can do it then so can anyone else. they just actively choose not to. #“they were probably misled” ok well its 2023 the knowledge is public and google is free #maybe its time to walk that support back huh

[dirtytransmasc]

I'm sorry but the moment Alicent decided to obey her father she knew what was going to happen she knew she would have to have sex with him and have heirs. It's the only reason viserys remarried

"decided"????

what else was she meant to do? this was a day and age where women, especially young girls were controlled by their fathers, to some if not a great extent until they were married off (children of nobles typically betrothed for political reasons not love, these betrothals arranged by their fathers to whoever they pleased and saw fit, no matter what it could mean for the daughter). was she supposed to say no? was she supposed to disobey? what could have happened to her if she did? there was no point in which she could say no, when she could disagree. she was a girl, a child, all she could do was bite her tongue and pray for a miracle, pray for Viserys to not take to her, that at the very least he would wait to get her pregnant (the fact a 14 year old had to worry about that is sickening)

she was 14, she was grieving Aemma and reliving the pain of the loss of her mother, her father gave her an order, though disguised as a suggestion, one she could not deny. it didn't mean she wanted to, it didn't mean she wanted him to marry her, it doesn't mean she would have been forced to bear heirs as a child herself (especially because Aemma died because Viserys tried to get her pregnant to young and cause long lasting health issues that eventually lead to her fatal pregnancy), it doesn't mean she wanted any of it. but she didn't have any other choice, she didn't have a choice when her father sent her to his chambers, when Viserys claimed her hand, when Viserys assumed her consent and raped her in their marital bed, when she bore multiple children before she was 18, when she had to take care of him in his illness, when she had to practically rule in his stead. women didn't have choices at the time, nine of it was s choice she could have said no to, she just had to take it, all of it, cause her father told her to and it's her duty to obey him, and then Viserys married her and it was her duty to serve him.

y'all are so quick to blame a CHILD for the actions of her father and the king himself and forgetting the time and place she was in. nothing she could have done would have spared her fate, if not bringing her a worse one.

#I swear to god #I need people to think critically #“oh yes the 14 year old girl who lives in a patriarchal society that actively harms women who dont obey should have disobeyed her father #and king. all her pain and trauma is her fault cause she did what was expected of her and obeyed the men in her life so now she deserves no #pity whats so ever. this is a sane take to have“ #I actually can't #even if she wasnt a child. she was a somewhat powerful mans daughter. she had to fill his expectations of her that was her duty. #she was in danger otherwise #being a child just makes it even more depressing #and just because she knew what was going to happen to her doesn't make it ok nor does it equal consent #it was still forced marriage with dubcon to straight up rape #you can't deny that #alicent hightower #pro alicent hightower #pro team green #hotd #house of the dragon #lets see how long it takes to get hate for this post #the audacity #“well she knew what was gonna happen” #actually never speak again #this anon picked the wrong god damned day #I wanna commit a felony #why do people think what happened to her was ok?

[tragedyfetishist]

It’s very insane to me just exactly how quickly people are turning on Gypsy Rose. I’ve seen tweet after tweet with millions of likes talking how she’s untrustworthy and manipulative and she “convinced some poor boy” to murder her mum for her and how the fact that she’s going on a press tour to finally actual talk about her own story without show producers and the suchlike makes her a bad person. Li,e it’s actually insane. I’ve seen so many stories about people who’ve killed their abusers and rapists and everyone supports them so why is she so different? This literally can’t be how you all would seriously treat victims of abuse who were so desperate that they had to kill their abusers,right?

#Like even Dee Dee Blanchard’s OWN FAMILY dgaf about her murder and flushed her down a toliet. #The ‘’innocent’’ boy she ‘’manipulated’’ was said to have raped her. #There was this dumbass on twt who was talking about some sort of white privilege and as a black person I don’t think race had anything to do #with it. #She still got 8 years and prison so that’s about as much privilege as she has. #Of she were black or Asian or indigenous or Mexican people would still be going to bat for her because she’s a literal victim of abuse. #Her race isn’t what matters in this case what matters is that she had to further traumatise herself to get out of a situation that could #have killed her. #Luckily on the quotes on tweets bashing her are filled with people calling the op a loser who doesn’t actually support abuse victims #but still…… #gypsy rose blanchard

[fromtheseventhhell]

Saying that non-conforming female characters don't face as much misogyny as their "feminine" counterparts is so funny cause literally the misogyny in their treatment is more overt because they aren't staying "in their place" like men think they should. The disdain for women + misogynistic societal ideals are so much more blatant in male characters interacting with these women. Countless times they are, in essence, told they need to sit down, shut up, and know their place but somehow that translates into them having "masculine privilege". I can only assume that people with this take haven't actually read the books and only get their information from second-hand sources.

#Men actually love it when the group they're oppressing doesn't conform with their restrictive measures that's exactly how things work 🙄 #George saying that his non-conforming female characters were outcasts was really just overkill cause this is explicitly stated in the books #It's such a stupid take to have or try to argue cause there's literally no basis for it anywhere in the books #the inherit misogyny in othering women for not conforming to a misogynistic and patriarchal society though...I have to laugh #Coming from the so-called feminists in fandom make a career of throwing female characters under the bus to prop up their faves #Brienne literally gets told not to go crying if she gets raped because she's asking for it by /acting like a man/ #and her mistreatment by both genders for her looks and behavior is well documented in her POV and those who interact with her #Asha gets denied her claim for being a women and repeatedly treated like an idiot for pushing for it anyways #Arya is an outcast in her own family and her behavior is lamented by her father mother and sister lol #I would just really like to know where this supposed privilege comes in??? where is it actually at?? #cause it doesn't get them better treatment...better access to their claims...security from being assaulted...so where exactly is it? #just another fandom idea that can never be backed up but people treat like an absolute fact anways #obligatory this isn't me that feminine female characters don't face misogyny cause people love misinterpreting my points #asoiaf #brienne of tarth #asha greyjoy #arya stark #daenerys targaryen #fandom nonsense

[willowcrowned]

the irony of naomi novik’s books having very little fic on ao3 does not escape me. it does however annoy me a great deal

#rereading uprooted and WHERE is the Kasia gets taken instead fic. WHERE #god okay because look. i think her thing about age gaps is hilarious. i think agnieszka and sarkan is compelling #but agnieszka and kasia is soooooo much more interesting to me. loving someone you hate (but you love more) #and being envious of someone whose life you fear (but you want more) #how do you see the truth of yourself reflected in someone else’s eyes and bear the fact that you are petty and cruel in a thousand ways #how do you go about loving them with wild abandon afterwards. how do you let yourself be loved by them #and I think like. changing the story a little is a way to go about that #and the first part of it is so obvious—kasia gets taken. she is brave and tragic and kind and then marek rapes her and suddenly she’s angry #i think *that’s* a Kasia who would start taking advantage of the library and the laboratory #and I think when Agnieszka came when sarkan was off handling the chimera (because it would be her. it would always be her) #Kasia would grab some potions and come to dvernik to save everyone. and with agnieszka it would work #and THEN you get sarkan getting injured and agnieszka using his spell to get them *all* back to the tower and that’s where the fun begins #but like. god. why hasn’t someone else written it #uprooted

[p4nishers]

can we actually take a moment and remember swan upon leda? can we actually shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down and think about our lord and savior swan upon leda because i'm tired of doing it alone every single day guys

#the title itself!!! THE FUCKING TITLE #swan UPON leda #god he's an actual genius THANK U HOZIER SO FUCKING MUCH #i hate how that myth is portrayed and received and objectified bc they make it out to be such a funny little chuckle story like 'hahaha led #is SO easy that she fell for a swan isn't that actually the funniest thing you've ever heard omg like women are literally so easy to please #whatever whatever blahblahblah yes that's fucking hilarious matthew thank u SO much for that absolutely fascinating commentary on a women #getting raped by a god really truly an amazing insight into ur pea fucking brain #like fuck sorry but i just absolutely despises how this myth is made out to be and i remember learning abt it in class and being literally #nauseated bc guess fucking what it's literally not hard to understand wtf is happening and while u r laughing away about i repeat a WOMEN #getting RAPED some fucking of us have brain enough to be mortified #jesus ANYWAY #hozier dropped that song after roe v wade was over turned and i just i love him so fucking much he cares SO MUCH and before anything else #he's an activist and he actually gives a shit about women's rights and he dropped this song as a comfort as something to hold onto but also #as a social commentary and he linked charities and resources to help women and keep them safe and this song just means everything to me #bc greek mythology often gets reduced to children stories bc most ppl know myths from children books and obviously a book for kids not gonn #outloud say the word rape or even imply that that's what's happening and that's fine ig but bc so many ppl know it from there it gets #reduces to a joke and a raped women gets ridiculed but hozier actually took one of the few poems about leda being raped and it being a rape #at all and made it into a song during a time that was so traumatizing for ever afab person in the world basically and it just says 'i see #you i see what you're going through and i'm listening and i actually care and i want to help you' and he's helping by writing a song yes bc #he's spreading the word that way bc that's how movements are spread and people listen to him when he's singing and that's how he helps and #i did i mention that i love him? bc i'd actually do anything for him and to meet him and tell him how much he fucking means to me #the line that always gets me is 'a crying CHILD pushes a CHILD into the night' bc yes she was a fucking child who had to deliver 4 KIDS BC #AN ASSHOLE DECIDED SHE WAS PRETTY ENOUGH TO FUCK and nobody ever cares that she was just a child and her child helen was just a child when #she was abducted and raped and impregnated (JUST LIKE HER MOTHER) by theseus a supposed great hero and im genuinely sick she was just a #child like so many women or girls in greek mythology and ik it was a different time back then or wtv but they were just GIRLS and nobody #cared about that or cares now. but this song does. #bc of course it does it's hozier. #hozier #swan upon leda

[fangirlinglikeabus]

samuel richardson, clarissa; or, the history of a young lady // anne brontë, the tenant of wildfell hall

some notes on this:

i've already posted one of the penguin edition's notes where stevie davies describes this scene in tenant as helen defending herself with the tools of her profession. well, i'd argue a similar thing is happening in clarissa: it's an epistolary novel, she's one of its most prolific writers. a penknife is as emblematic of her ability to assert herself as helen's palette-knife, albeit on an interpersonal level that allows her to battle against the forces trying to silence her narrative voice, rather than on a professional one which will actually empower her to escape abusive men.

i don't think it's unreasonable to read a rape-y undertone to hargrave in this scene ("say i overcame you and you could not choose but yield"). the penknife scene in clarissa takes place after lovelace (who narrates this section) has raped her; he's now trying to trick her into granting him access to her again. imo what's partly happening here is her reasserting her personal integrity in the face of his idea that she should already be sexually 'fallen' and indifferent to further violations after what's happened to her. and yet the scene also plays into that old old idea that death is the only option a woman has to avoid being raped and she should thus naturally be willing to choose it when she's threatened with rape. helen says fuck that and threatens to cut a man instead (as she tells hargrave, she has no interest in dying, of a broken heart or otherwise). to be fair i think she has a bit more of an out than clarissa at this point - the fact that the only power clarissa has to exert is against herself is deeply sad to me - but man there's something i find incredibly moving in anne brontë's assertion that women aren't doomed to resort to self-destruction when they're threatened with an assault

they both describe the woman in the scene as resolute! this is possibly just a coincidence but it's a neat connection

#the tenant of wildfell hall #wildfell weekly #laura talks books #bronte blogging #clarissa #clarissa; or the history of a young lady #guy who's only read clarissa reading her second piece of literature: getting a lot of clarissa vibes from this one... #tw: suicide #i feel like i'm going fucking insane like she HAS to have read this book right why is there apparently NO critical literature on the link #between the two #aside from a few throwaway lines in unrelated essays #tw: rape #'gimme a sec' i said in my notes for chapter 39 post and then took 40 minutes #analysis