5rzefona - Untitled

Credits to @lovingtaeonmain on Twitter

Good movies for my fellow feminists (interesting female leads and stories)

Gravity

An astronaut tries to survive and find her way back to earth after an incident left her stranded in space.

Gett, the trial of Viviane Amsalem

A woman tries to divorce her husband but faces the misogyny of a rabbinical court.

Gerald’s Game

After being coerced into BDSM by her creepy husband, a woman finds herself abandonned, handcuffed to the bed and starts remembering the sexual abuse she endured as a child. She tries to free herself (both figuratively and litterally).

Doubt

Two nuns start suspecting that the priest of their parish is a pedophile and decide to confront him despite his authority as a male leader in a patriarchal institution.

M.F.A

After the man she had a crush on rapes her at a party on campus an art student realizes that most rapists get away with it. She decides to take matters into her own hands and becomes a serial killer of rapists.

Midsommar

After a tragic loss, a woman is struggling with grief and panic attacks. Her boyfriend is an absolute douchebag but the only person she has left. Him and his friends invite her to a trip to Sweden where they join a bizarre cult which turns out to be deadly. Keep in mind this is a horror movie.

Trust

A young girl is groomed by a pedophile and a culture that sexualizes girls more and more. After she is raped, both she and her father struggle to recover and communicate as she denies that it was rape claiming the pedophile loved her and he feels powerless to help her.

Camp X Ray

A young woman joins the army and is sent to Guantanamo Bay to help protect her country from terrorism only to discover that she is in fact helping her country commit human rights violations against muslim men emprisonned without trial, one of whom she becomes friend with. She also has to face sexist discrimination and sexual harassment from her peers.

Beatriz at dinner

Beatriz is a gentle and thoughtful vegetarian woman from Mexico who is invited to a dinner with rich white people. Throughout the dinner she can’t help confronting them about capitalism, racism and animal cruelty. As the evening gets more and more heated she starts considering murdering the rich white man who embodies the destruction of her values.

Another Earth

A young woman responsible for a car crash that killed a family is working as a cleaner and ends up working for the man who’s family she killed. She tries to help him recover from depression and grief. A relationship begins but he doesn’t know who she really is.

Hard Candy

Pretending to be a clueless teenager online, a girl is invited to a man’s house where she drugs him and holds him hostage accusing him of being a pedophile.

Ingrid Goes West

Ingrid wants to be popular like all the bourgeois instagram influencers who’s lives always seem so perfect. She becomes obsessed with one of them and starts stalking her and creating a fake identity to try and become part of her life. 

Monster

Monster tells the real story of a prostituted woman who was executed for killing her rapist and other “clients” after him. The movie also focuses on her relationship with her girlfriend.

Notes on a scandal

A narcissistic and deeply manipulative teacher becomes obsessed with the new teacher at her school. She sees a love story… where there is none.

Precious

With the help of a sympathetic teacher, Precious, who comes from a poor family and is abused by her mother, tries to find a way out and build the confidence she never had after years of humiliation.

The Others

An isolated and very strict mother of two is frustrated with her daughter saying there are ghosts in the house that she calls “the others”. Turns out… there’s definitely something creepy going on. If you like intelligent scary movies without the gore this one is great.

The Stoning of Soraya M

In a remote muslim village, a man tries to get rid of his wife by accusing her of adultery and getting her stoned to death. The movie takes us through the surreal process of patriarchal “justice” with its inescapable and gruesome ending. Based on a true story.

Wild

After the death of her mother, a woman decides to go on a hiking trip alone for the first time, with all its difficulties, especially as a woman.

Speak

An introverted teenager who doesn’t fit in stops talking after she is raped at a party. No one understands what is wrong with her. Slowly she tries to find the strength to trust and speak again.

libfem vs. radfem solutions

many have said it before me and probably better than me but i just feel the need to shout into the void:

my problem with liberal feminism is that it tries to solve the branches of the problem instead of addressing the root of the problem.

problem: gender is constrictive and enforces oppressive societal roles

libfem solution: make more genders so that people feel more comfortable when gendered stereotypes don’t fit them

radfem solution: understand that gender doesn’t define who you are and how you can express yourself /and/ eliminate the concept of gender completely (keeping in mind the importance of biological sex because women and men are medically different and need different treatment or present different symptoms for the same conditions, etc.)

problem: sex industry is harmful to society and more importantly it’s abusive to women in the industry

libfem solution: “ethical” porn

radfem solution: get rid of porn and ban prostitution NOT to criminalize workers but to protect them (and put in place other safety nets so that they can still make money and live) /and/ understand the social harm that comes from filming and making money of off rape. (we can all agree that consent through coercion is not consent, right? begging or guilting someone into saying yes is not consent so why is ‘paying’ (bribing) someone with money any different?)  

problem: beauty standards are damaging and make us insecure

libfem solution: expand beauty standards to be more inclusive

radfem solution: understand that beauty isn’t a measure of your value /and/ accept that physical appearrance doesn’t matter. no matter how inclusive beauty ideals are there will always be someone that doesn’t meet the criteria (i’m not trying to downplay insecurity, it hurts believe me i know. but if you consistently strive to be 'beautiful’ there will always be something to nitpick and find wrong with yourself. 'you don’t need to be beautiful’ is my new mantra to try and fight that)

all of this is an oversimplification of a lot of difficult and complicated issues but i hope if you’re reading this you consider a radfem’s perspective. also i do NOT speak for everyone lol. feel free to discuss politely in the notes

Yuuri Moving to St. Petersburg

Eggs, Coffee, Bread, Butter by LittleLostStar | T | Yuuri/Victor | 2k

Yuuri has a small adventure at a grocery store in St. Petersburg and everything is just adorable.

~ “Yuuri, did you go grocery shopping?” “Yes, why? …What did I do?” Victor cocks his head, eyes crinkling, and just like that Yuuri realizes that he might not actually have the upper hand in this situation. “What were you trying to do?” he asks innocently, which just makes Yuuri even more furious.

Five Time Yuuri Katsuki Freaked Out About Living with Viktor Nikiforov (and the One Time It Was Viktor’s Turn) by Ame (Ulan) | T | Yuuri/Victor | 7k WIP

Viktor could not help his wide smile. Life with Yuuri in Saint Petersburg was off to a great start. He was happy; he was excited. He had never felt anything more wonderful and overwhelming and amazing in his life.Which probably meant that Yuuri was off somewhere, feeling the same, and freaking out.

leave-taking by winchilsea | G | Yuuri/Victor | 1k

Moving to St. Petersburg was Yuuri’s idea. Viktor wanted to stay in Hasetsu.

Next Level by ghostystarr | G | Yuuri/Victor | 3k

In which Yuuri and Victor settle into their new life in St. Petersburg

Safety Hazards in St. Petersburg by lucycamui | E | Yuuri/Victor | 3k

In which Yuuri moves in with Victor in St. Petersburg and Victor discovers just how distracting living with him can be.

Alternatively titled, How Many Ways Can Victor Hurt Himself? or Idiots in Love

This Curious Condition Called Love by xtwilightzx (blackidyll) | T | Yuuri/Victor | 16k

The bite of pancake is delightfully buttery, with a tang from the cheese curds. Yuuri isn’t sure what his expression is like, but Victor’s smile brightens, and his phone goes up.

“Say syrniki!”

That photo’s going to end up on Instagram in less than a minute. Yuuri ducks, and when Victor whips his phone to follow, Yuuri grabs Victor’s elbow and drags him over so they’re both caught in the shot. Victor laughs, a long line of warmth mashed up against Yuuri’s side. He tucks his arm around Yuuri’s waist and raises his phone again.

Victor uses variations of the same caption every time: Reexploring St. Petersburg with #katsukiyuuri #oneplateatatime

“You’re ridiculous,” Yuuri whispers, after the camera goes off.

Victor smiles. “Ridiculous, but yours.”

(Yuuri has done the transcontinental uprooting of his life twice before and it’s never easy, but this time there are photos plastered all over Victor’s social media, explorations into Russian cuisine, shenanigans with the Russian figure skating national team, calls and messages from friends and family, and Victor, always.

Victor, on the other hand, mostly copes by watching Yuuri adapt to life in St. Petersburg).

Safe Space by preciousbunnynoiz | G | Yuuri/Victor | 1k

Yuuri is moving in and Victor is thrilled but Victor is also noticing something is a little different about Yuuri and he isn’t sure what

(Basically these two love each other so much it’s ridiculous and wonderful)

Cleopatra

I saw this meme today: 

It’s of course a play on another meme (which is literally the meaning of “meme”): 

I found that meme on Instagram and broke the cardinal rule of social media: never read the comments section. I was rather surprised at how many people not only bought into this, but didn’t know that Cleopatra was:

-Macedonian (not Egyptian, not Greek, not Roman, not Persian) -not beautiful

I wanted to make a post about this to explain these misconceptions and where they (likely) came from.

Cleopatra VII the Macedonian

Cleopatra VII was part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, and the Ptolemys were Macedonian. They had taken power in Egypt after the death of the famous Macedonian, Alexander the Great (who likely died from alcoholism and/or malaria at age 34, just a fun fact). Many people mistook Alexander the Great for a Greek, but there’s a reason for that: Alexander the Great was a Greek fanboy. He started something called a “Hellenistic Period”…you know “period” is “length of time” and “Hellenistic” means “Greek-like” or “inspired by Greece”. It would be like if famous otaku Baron Trump married one of Japan’s princesses, then went into Mongolia to take over and implemented a bunch of Japanese culture…then, a couple thousand years later, some people might think that Baron Trump was actually Japanese because why on Earth would he implement Japanese rule? It’s not really common to assume that a leader is a mega fanboy, but that’s what happened here. I cannot confirm whether he had a Greek goddess body pillow, but can confirm I made this sweet meme in Paint for my PPT: 

The Ptolemy rule came to an end shortly after Cleopatra VII’s rule ended, and it was Rome that had ended said rule. This might be why Cleopatra VII was thought to be Roman by some people in the comments section. 

Cleopatra VII was Not Classically Beautiful

We may not know exactly how Cleopatra VII looked, but we can say she wasn’t a beauty queen (and there’s nothing wrong with that unless you’re in a job being judged on how well you fit in with that standard). How can we be sure? Here is how she’s depicted on her coins and in stone reliefs from the time:

Some sculptures have been made based on these:

I wouldn’t go as far as to say she looked like someone we would consider “ugly”, but she’s definitely not someone I’d be captivated by based on her looks alone. If that’s the case, then how did “She was so beautiful!” start as a rumor? It had to do with the fact that she was able to impress two other leaders. Some of the people in the comments section mentioned her “several affairs”, but we do know that she was involved with two other leaders: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. The tales of her seduction, as told at the time they happened, involve her wit. Accounts of Cleopatra VII describe her well-educated (including that she spoke seven languages) and very charismatic. Combine this with her being the leader of a kingdom, and she suddenly becomes a very attractive prospect for sex, both in terms of sexual interest and reproductive interest. It appeared to be a mutual attraction for her, as she sought to expand her own power and interact with men who were intellectually, militarily, and politically on her level. In other words, she did was literally every other royal has done in history: had sexual encounters with other royalty for the purposes of strengthening political power. 

So if everyone who knew her knew she wasn’t gorgeous, then why did this myth start? 

After the death of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony, a rumor had been started by this guy with a long birth name we eventually came to call Caesar Augustus. He and Antony, along with another Mark, were part of this three-part ruling structure called a Triumvirate. The other Mark (Marcus Lepidus),  was exiled, leaving just Antony and Augustus to lead the Roman Empire. Augustus’ great-uncle was Julius Caesar, and his co-regent was Antony, and both of these dudes had been with Cleopatra VII, producing children that could potentially try to claim/take power from him…especially relevant since both of these dudes were dead. He basically had launched a smear campaign against her after her death that talked about her as if she’s a gorgeous, deadly, conspiring woman who seduces powerful men with both her charm and her beauty. 

Writers of the time jumped in on this, and some called her a lot of really crappy things. One Roman historian referred to her as “a woman of surpassing beauty…with the power to subjugate everyone.” 

Kind of reminds me of Rasputin, who was creepy and smelled weird but utterly captivated women. Women explained that it was his intense gaze and what he had to say that kept them interested, but upon his death what did the murderers do? Pulled down his pants, cut off his dick, and preserved it, studied why it could be so appealing to women (they claim the girth and wart near the head are a factor). It’s like “He’s interesting” wasn’t good enough…must be dick power! In the same way, “She’s utterly fascinating, charming, and educated” wasn’t good enough…must be a sexy pout and perfect tits!

As I tell my students: history isn’t just some old collection of names and dates, it’s human drama that still happens today. 

LET’S GROOVE! an ode to unsettling dance scenes

“Nevertheless, although the way the Bathhouse is staged recalls a megalopolis, Miyazaki did not choose to show it from a futuristic angle, in contrast to Tezuka Osamu. The references are more ninetheenth and early twentieth century: the forge, the apothecary’s cabinets, the tatami room, the tasuki sashes, the old-fashioned elevators, the curtains and wall hangings in the old woman’s apartments, as well as her hairstyle, and so on. It is the world of bourgeois order. The old woman’s face, her Victorian bun, and the way her rooms are decorated all suggest it - at the very top of this closed and vertical universe lives an Anglo-Saxon-looking witch. However, neither the Japanese people nor Japanese culture (starting with the public-bath tradition) are entirely remote from this world. In fact, they are completely taken with it and are confirmed stakeholders in it; one of the more obvious reminders of this is that the outside of the Bathhouse clearly brings Sino-Japanese architecture to mind. But it is not an ancient architecture recalling a specific style. It is a hybrid building, almost a pastiche; it is made not of wood but of conrete painted and decorated in the 1930s style known as Imperal Crown, like the Tokyo National Museum. Miyazaki thus evokes the Rokumeikan palace, built in 1883 by the Japanese government to welcome Westerners, and the salons of Gajoen and Meguro, popular spots for bourgeois weddings.”

“[…] Even though allusions to the West are the most pronounced, it is interesting to note that there are also references to Buddhism, a religion that in Japan is consistently described as a foreign creed. There are at least three allusions to Buddhism, each of which could plausibly be accidental but collectively leave no room for doubt of their working together. The first is in the name borne by the witch’s son, Bôh, a word often used in Japanese to mean just “boy” or “kid” but that primarily means “monk”. The second occurs in a quick scene that takes place on the banquet level, where we see a small sign that says “Pure Land” (Jôdô). And finally, the big mole on the witch’s face is placed where one might usually find the “third eye” in Buddhist iconography. Buddhism is thus clearly associated with the upper spheres of society, with power and money. Beyond socio-historical criticism, however, the allusion to Buddhism indicates that the vertical world is first and foremost one of eschatological promises.”

“The possibility of reaching the world of horizontality is granted to Chihiro thanks to her resistance to the laws of verticality - she never espouses the system of mimetic desire. Not only does she refuse the gold that Kaonashi offers her, but she refuses to give in to her new friends’ desire for wealth. Her attachment to people, beginning with her parents, is sincere and unwavering. She does not, however, have just one thing in mind (restoring her parents to human form, for example), which would amount to a form of fantasy. She handles situations in real time, based on circumstances, and solves problems as and when they occur. This is why she gives the antidote that could have saved her parents to Haku and Kaonashi, who need it immediately. She also avoids being reduced to the object of other people’s desire while still remaining sympathetic and compassionate, as we see from her relationship with Kaonashi.”

“In short, Chihiro is driven by the power of her heart, which also dictates her moral sense. She is quite willing to imitate the way poeple look or act (she has no problem dressing like a servant and does her best to wash the floor like a practiced hand), but she does not adopt their aspirations. She can therefore have genuine relationships with people. She forges strong and lasting bonds, as symbolized by the tasuki - the white sleeve ties that she wears in the film’s poster. Miyazaki thus contrasts the fake depth of the Bathhouse, which is of Western origin (but into which modern Japanese culture has been completely absorbed) and which keeps individuals in a state of severe and ridiculous anxiety vis-à-vis death, with the real expanse, the real depth, which is an awareness of the bonds that link people to one another under any set of circumstance and in real time, and that link mankind to nature.”

Imitation and Creativity in Japanese Arts; from Kishida Ryūsei to Miyazaki Hayao, Michael Lucken, 2016.