Feminism Lite and Rape Culture

[Content Note: Rape Culture, Misogyny, Abusive Relationships]

Note: This post is cross-posted from Ana Mardoll’s Ramblings.

I began officially criticizing Twilight on the internet in 2010. Twilight was the first literary deconstruction I worked on, and I was deeply inspired by the work of Fred Clark in deconstructing Left Behind. In the same way that Fred highlights the toxic messages in Left Behind and their effect on mainstream Christian community, I hoped to examine what I perceived as toxic messages in Twilight and their effect on cultural attitudes towards women. Probably not surprisingly after three years of immersing myself in Twilight, I began to feel that the truth was more complicated than I’d first realized.

Board Business, May 29th, 2013

(posted by chris the cynic)

Irregular Business

The first writing prompt post will go up this coming Sunday so we’ll see how that works.  As such I’m going to endeavor to get the weekend post up on deadline this week (I know I’ve said it before, but this week I’m not sick and… and…  stuff.)  Unless someone has objections my plan is to have the regular writing thread start a week from today.  Basically like the last open thread, but recurring regularly.  Still not sure what that regularness should be.  My inclination is toward weekly (everything else is) but that might be too frequent and dry the metaphorical well.

Regular Business

Submission deadline for the weekend post is 20:00 EST Saturday. (Article submissions can be sent in any time.)

Anyone who has submissions for the weekend post should send them in.  Some people wonder if they really deserve to be in the post.  The answer to that is always the same: You do.  So try not to be afraid and do try to send in submissions if you have them.

The sections of the post are as follows:

The Blogaround

Any denizen of the Slacktiverse who has posted an article to their own website since they last submitted to a weekend post is invited, enticed, and cajoled to send a short summary of that article along with its permalink to the group email. That summary and link will be included in the next weekend blogaround. This will help to keep members of our community aware of the many excellent websites hosted by other members.

Remember, this is since you last submitted to a weekend post, not since the last weekend post. For example, if the last time you submitted was a month ago, everything you wrote since then is fair game.

In Case You Missed This

Readers of The Slacktiverse can send short summaries of, and permalinks to, articles that they feel might be of interest to other readers.  These should be sent, as you might expect, to the group email.

Things You Can Do

Anyone who knows of a worthy cause or important petition should send a short description of the petition/cause along with its url to the group email.

Deadlines

Please email all submissions to said group email address (SlacktiverseAuthors at gmail dot com). The deadline this week is 20:00 EST.

Urgent or time-sensitive announcements will be posted immediately rather than being held for the next regular Weekend Post.  But you’ll have to tell me they’re urgent or time sensitive because it’s liable to go right over my head if you don’t.

–

This can be used as an open thread, if you want.

Loving Her Less

[Content Note: Misogyny, Abusive Relationships]

Note: This post is cross-posted from Ana Mardoll’s Ramblings.

A lot has been said, here and elsewhere, about the misogyny directed against Susan Pevensie in The Last Battle, wherein it will be revealed that Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia and may-or-may-not have been barred eternally from heaven (depending on how you interpret the theology of the gates closing and everyone you’ve ever heard of from Narnia being in heaven at that point). And a lot has been said here about the misogyny directed against Susan Pevensie in the two books that feature her as a protagonist: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.

This week in the Slacktiverse, May 26th, 2013

(posted and compiled by chris the cynic, written by members of The Slacktiverse)

The Blogaround

Catherine wrote:

Hi all,

I’ve missed a couple of rounds of this because after challenging myself to not buy any pantry ingredients for a month (not in itself a completely stupid idea), I then decided that this required me to photograph and blog every meal I cooked.  Which means that I have been madly posting at least once a day, and have barely managed to keep up with anything else!

I shall spare you the list of thirty-odd food blog posts since I was last here (sadly, it really is about thirty posts since then), and just give you some of the highlights from this month to date.  By all means, drop in and read the rest of the madness, but these are the ones that have amused me…

I’m now going to a farmers’ market every week, so if photos of vegetables with weird commentary make you happy, the posts are here, here, here and here (with bonus choral madness).

My friend Anna Cowan had her first book published, and since the hero spends most of the book disguised as a woman, I had to make her a cross-dressing Ken cake.  Ken then made a repeat appearance for Eurovision (but of course!), along with a lot of other very lurid desserts, and I finished this sequence of posts with a recipe for his construction, along with a gallery of some of his previous outfits.  Also, if you like gender-bendy romance novels, I do recommend Anna’s book – the title is Untamed, and it’s currently only available as an e-book, though the paperback will come out in September, I believe.

I’ve written a handful of recipes recently, but the ones I like most are this lemon, rosemary and raspberry cake, my spiced rye bread, and a plum crumble that hits all my nostalgia buttons.

Oh, and my food blog turned two on May 11, and is now officially a toddler!

On Cate Sings, life has been a little calmer, with my usual twice-weekly posts (a pity, because I have two reviews that really need to go up).   My Monday music bits and pieces have been Ella Fitzgerald singing “They Can’t Take That Away from Me; Love’s Philosophy, by Quilter, and The Cold Genius (Purcell).   My Friday Fun selections started with Spera e Godi, from the extremely silly opera, Partenope, which I was lucky enough to win tickets for a couple of weeks ago, Climbing Uphill (or The Audition Song) by Jason Robert Brown, and A Charm, by Benjamin Britten – possibly the most evil lullaby ever written.

I’m sorry – this is unconscionably long, and I have no idea of its level of general interest.  My advice is that you just go and look at all the cross-dressing Ken cakes while listening to pretty music…

chris the cynic wrote:

Regarding Edith and Ben I wrote a meta-post on vampire feeding, specifically that of the Cullens, in the Edith-verse. And I wrote a short fiction fragment also on feeding, specifically how the difference between what the need to feed is like for vampires and for humans can leave Edith losing track of when Ben needs to eat.

I wrote two posts about the dragon scene in The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. One was a serious retelling of the scene from the dragon’s point of view, the other was a silly exchange to explain where all those crowns came from.

Watching something on TV that left me thinking maybe being demon possessed wouldn’t be such a bad thing had me write an original fragment in which a demon makes contact with the closeted individual she’s in. The topic coming up in person again made me decide to post about my sister’s idea to show double features (think The Land Before Time and Jurassic Park, ET and Alien.) And a project I’ve been wanting to work on for ages calls for angel sized feathers, trouble is I don’t know if they can be gotten or, if they can’t, how to make them myself.

In Case You Missed This

No submissions this week, guess nothing of note happened on the planet.

Things You Can Do

What do you do if your 15 year old daughter is dating a 17 year old girl and you’re not a fan of same sex relationships? Apparently wait for the 17 year old to turn 18 so she can be arrested and charged with the felony of lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12-16 years of age. There’s a petition saying to let the 18 year old go. What good it will do, if any, I know not.

–Co-authored by the Slacktiverse Community

Open Thread: Writing

I’m still under the weather, let’s push the weekend post back a day.  (Deadline for submissions to it similarly pushed back.)

Until then, writing.

Do you do it?  What’s your style if you do, what type do you like to read if you don’t.  Anything you’d like to do better?  Questions, comments, requests for help?  It’s an open thread, go wild.

-chris the cynic

Deconstruction Round Up, May 24th, 2013

(by the Slacktiverse and others; collected by chris the cynic)

—

Ana Mardoll: Ana Mardoll’s Ramblings

Multiple Deconstructions:

• The Chronicles of Narnia: First Post
  • Native Occupiers, White Discoverers
• Twilight: First Post
  • Gentleman by Birth or Deed?

—

Erika M. and Will Wildman: Something Short and Snappy

• Enders’ Game:First Post
  • Ender’s Game, chapter five, in which Ender SHOWS THEM ALL and Will says ‘whatever’ a lot

—

Fred Clark: Slacktivist

• The Left Behind Series: First Post
  • Throwing Chaim under the (hypothetical) bus

—

RubyTea: Heathen Critique

Multiple Deconstructions:

• THE SECRET ON ARARAT
  • The Seven, They’ll Ski at Nothing

—

InsertAuthorHere: Um… InsertAuthorHere

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:

Season 3 (ongoing)
Thoughts on Ponies (ongoing)

—

Omskivar: Omskivar Reviews

Eragon: First Post

Eragon: Chapter 41

—

Philip Sandifer: Philip Sandifer: Writer

• Doctor Who: First Post
  • You Were Expecting Someone Else 21 (The Monsters Inside)
  • The Impossible Dream of a Thousand Alchemists (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances)
  • Queers Dig Time Lords (Sigrid Ellis and Michael Damian Thomas, eds) (book review)
  • You Were Expecting Someone Else 22 (Eccleston Comics, the 2006 Annual, Doctor Who Magazine)

—

Yamikuronue: Raven Wings

Multiple Deconstructions:

• Bitten: First Post
  • Human (chapter 2)

—

Please comment or e-mail us if we’ve forgotten anybody or you have anyone to add. Or if any links are broken, or if you’re linked to and don’t want to be, or for more or less any reason really.  There are fewer links than normal this week because last week’s was late so there’s been less time between the two posts.

Just this once, Rose, everybody lives.

Board Business, May 23th

(posted by chris the cynic)

Irregular Business

The problem with having me be the one to do the regularly scheduled posts is that I happen to be incredibly unreliable.  This week I have an excuse though, I’ve been sick.  Anyway, hopefully I’ll be all better by when it’s time to do the weekend post so do try to get submissions in on time.

Regular Business

Submission deadline for the weekend post is 20:00 EST Saturday. (Article submissions can be sent in any time.)

Anyone who has submissions for the weekend post should send them in.  Some people wonder if they really deserve to be in the post.  The answer to that is always the same: You do.  So try not to be afraid and do try to send in submissions if you have them.

The sections of the post are as follows:

The Blogaround

Any denizen of the Slacktiverse who has posted an article to their own website since they last submitted to a weekend post is invited, enticed, and cajoled to send a short summary of that article along with its permalink to the group email. That summary and link will be included in the next weekend blogaround. This will help to keep members of our community aware of the many excellent websites hosted by other members.

Remember, this is since you last submitted to a weekend post, not since the last weekend post. For example, if the last time you submitted was a month ago, everything you wrote since then is fair game.

In Case You Missed This

Readers of The Slacktiverse can send short summaries of, and permalinks to, articles that they feel might be of interest to other readers.  These should be sent, as you might expect, to the group email.

Things You Can Do

Anyone who knows of a worthy cause or important petition should send a short description of the petition/cause along with its url to the group email.

Deadlines

 

Please email all submissions to said group email address (SlacktiverseAuthors at gmail dot com). The deadline this week is 20:00 EST.

Urgent or time-sensitive announcements will be posted immediately rather than being held for the next regular Weekend Post.  But you’ll have to tell me they’re urgent or time sensitive because it’s liable to go right over my head if you don’t.

–

This can be used as an open thread, if you want.

This week in the Slacktiverse, May 20th, 2013

(posted and compiled by chris the cynic, written by members of The Slacktiverse)

Sorry it’s late

The Blogaround

As her garden progresses through the spring, Storiteller considers one of the garden’s major enemies – the weed.  But rather than cursing it out, she describes how weeds are perfectly adapted to their ecological circumstances and gardeners can avoid creating that environment in A Weed By Any Other Name.

Ana Mardoll wrote:

Elementary: Becoming the Oppressor
Season 1 | Episode 3 “Child Predator”
Joan mentions that she “read all the articles over the years”, and provides information which reveals that she has followed the case closely (as opposed to just being briefly aware of it while it was a media sensation). And I think this is so important, because while many characters on the show (and a few of the viewers) assume that Joan is passively changing her career on a whim or to suit Sherlock, conversations like this reveal that she has had an interest in detective work and criminology long before she met Sherlock.

Twilight: Existence and Empathy
Yet a side-effect of stripping Edward and Bella and Jacob of the choice of leaving in order to create Perfect Security is the fact that their pairings seem motivated by persons and powers they have no control over. Imprinting may be for the imprinter’s “own good”, but that fact in no way diminishes the fact that it was imposed on them without their consent and they have no free will to refuse it. That’s kind of fucked up.

Fringe: Having Anti-Choice Cake (And Eating It Too)
I’m genre-savvy enough to understand that this plot was largely created in order to speed up the pregnancy so that New Baby can be used for plot points in a way that 8-Week Long Pregnancy couldn’t. I’m sure there will be a scene wherein Peter has to gaze lovingly at his infant son and make a tough decision or whatever heart-string-tugging bullshit the writers decide to wad up and throw at us. Whatever, I don’t care. My larger issue is with how this episode was a huge bundle of anti-choice cake being crammed down our gullets.

Narnia: Moving To Calormen
The thought occurs that if a god really is willing to work this damn hard to get us in position to sin, then we’re pretty much all screwed because I honestly can’t point to a place in the narrative where Eustace was given any semblance of choice or free will.

chris the cynic wrote:

It is by now well known that Star Wars movies are produced without a thought as to the previously established facts, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be gained by looking at the stuff that was retconned into nonexistence.  With that in mind I collected all of the things that the original trilogy says about the story that came before it and did my best to put it in order.  The result was The prequels as they were described in the original Star Wars trilogy.

I told a spammer I have a donate button, described (with pictures) converting ordinary sunglasses to work with my corrective glasses via the cunning use of a paperclip and pliers, and made mention of those times the cops called on my professors to translate Latin for them.

I also finished off chapter 13 in Snarky Twilight (which is not to say that the chapter is done because I don’t think I ever did the start.)  That installment has Bella getting continuity on Edward’s angst, Edward almost becoming a sympathetic character but then messing it all up, Bella sticking to the script for as long as she can bear to, a discussion of the connection between quick reflexes and controlling a truck more than half a century old, and stuff.  Lots of stuff.

In Case You Missed This

Nothing submitted this week, but feel free to say stuff in the comments.

Things You Can Do

Nothing submitted this week, but feel free to say stuff in the comments.

–Co-authored by the Slacktiverse Community

Deconstruction Round Up, May 19th, 2013

(by the Slacktiverse and others; collected by chris the cynic)

Real life did indeed get in the way, hence the lateness.  I’ll be aiming to get the weekend post in by the end of the day, so if anyone has a submission they didn’t send in, send it today.

—

Ana Mardoll: Ana Mardoll’s Ramblings

Multiple Deconstructions:

• The Chronicles of Narnia: First Post
  • Moving To Calormen
• Elementary: First Post
  • Unaware, Unresponsive, Unconscious
  • Elementary: Liss and Ana Talk About It
  • Becoming the Oppressor
• Fringe: First Post
  • Acting Emotionally
  • Fringe vs. Consent
    
  • Having Anti-Choice Cake (And Eating It Too)
• Tropes and Characterization: (I’ve been ignoring this tag, which I shouldn’t have, I was going to post the entire backlog but there is too much, just take a look at the index.)
  • No Place Like Home
• Twilight: First Post
  • Existence and Empathy

—

Erika M. and Will Wildman: Something Short and Snappy

• Book Club:
  • Cat’s Cradle Book Club meeting, chapter 1-4
  • Cat’s Cradle Chapters 5-8

—

Fred Clark: Slacktivist

• The Left Behind Series: First Post
  • Steppin’ Out With My Baby

—

Froborr: My Little Po-Mo

• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: First Post
  • All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?! (Lesson Zero)
  • Hello everypony! Did I miss anything? (Luna Eclipsed)

—

RubyTea: Heathen Critique

Multiple Deconstructions:

• THE SECRET ON ARARAT
  • Chapter 48: Back to Stephanie
  • Chapter 49: Takes Way Too Long
  • Chapter 50: Last Noah Chapter!

—

InsertAuthorHere: Um… InsertAuthorHere

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: (I’ve been doing a very bad job of keeping track of when this is updated and when it is not.  Largely because it follows a different format.  At some point I’ll get a system down, but not this week.)

Season 3 (ongoing)
Thoughts on Ponies (ongoing)

—

Mouse: Mouse’s Musings

• Left Behind: The Kids: First Post
  • Warning! Ragedump ahead!
  • Marjorie escapes but Janie doesn’t

—

Philip Sandifer: Philip Sandifer: Writer (Formerly TARDIS Eruditorum: A Psychochronography in Blue, which is now a redirect.)

• Doctor Who: First Post
  • About Time I Found Something To Do (Dalek)
  • Audioarchitectonalmetrasynchosity (The Long Game)
  • Crying Silently (Father’s Day)

—

Yamikuronue: Raven Wings

Multiple Deconstructions:

• Dogs and Goddesses: First Post
  • Dogs and Goddesses Chapter 7 Part 2: In which this becomes a romance novel (Yes, this is a repeat, I appear to be having a problem with my links not taking.)
• Bitten: First Post
  • Bitten: Prologue

—

Please comment or e-mail us if we’ve forgotten anybody or you have anyone to add. Or if any links are broken, or if you’re linked to and don’t want to be, or if I’ve inadvertently caused the end of the world, or for more or less any reason really.

Board Business, May 16th

(posted by chris the cynic)

Irregular Business

Due to real world commitments the schedule for the next few days may be a bit… fucky.  If the deconstruction round up and the weekend post are posted late that is not a sign of the apocalypse.  Be not alarmed.  On the other hand, I said, “may,” which means, “may not,” as well.  Everything could be on time.  We’ll have to wait and see.

Regular Business

Submission deadline for the weekend post is 20:00 EST Saturday. (Article submissions can be sent in any time.)

Anyone who has submissions for the weekend post should send them in.  Some people wonder if they really deserve to be in the post.  The answer to that is always the same: You do.  So try not to be afraid and do try to send in submissions if you have them.

The sections of the post are as follows:

The Blogaround

Any denizen of the Slacktiverse who has posted an article to their own website since they last submitted to a weekend post is invited, enticed, and cajoled to send a short summary of that article along with its permalink to the group email. That summary and link will be included in the next weekend blogaround. This will help to keep members of our community aware of the many excellent websites hosted by other members.

Remember, this is since you last submitted to a weekend post, not since the last weekend post. For example, if the last time you submitted was a month ago, everything you wrote since then is fair game.

In Case You Missed This

Readers of The Slacktiverse can send short summaries of, and permalinks to, articles that they feel might be of interest to other readers.  These should be sent, as you might expect, to the group email.

Things You Can Do

Anyone who knows of a worthy cause or important petition should send a short description of the petition/cause along with its url to the group email.

Deadlines

Please email all submissions to said group email address (SlacktiverseAuthors at gmail dot com). The deadline this week is 20:00 EST.

Urgent or time-sensitive announcements will be posted immediately rather than being held for the next regular Weekend Post.  But you’ll have to tell me they’re urgent or time sensitive because it’s liable to go right over my head if you don’t.

–

This can be used as an open thread, if you want.