How We Feeling, Bi Rhaenyra Nation??????

tbh alicent being a shit mother is such an important thing to me. all of her relationship with motherhood.

since i could talk i always said i didn't want children. the adults laughed at me everytime, this stupid little girl, saying i just have to wait. it'll change when i get older. i'll see the appeal, apparently. of course i don't see the appeal still, no matter how old i am. but i noticed how assumed it was of me, expected even, that i didn't know shit and there's some secret parental gene that would manifest.

that's young alicent holding little crying helaena and wondering why she doesn't feel anything. if she's deficient in some way. if maybe she can make herself do it long enough, or hard enough, she'll settle in. and guess what? she fails. she doesn't settle in. she grows to love her children in time, they came out of her, of course she loves them, but she never gets better at handling them. with no help from either her husband or her father, she fails even harder.

my mom, who always dreamed of children, told me how scared and disoriented she was when i was born (her first). all the books she read didn't mean shit in that moment. and she's a happy mother, one of the best parents i know, but she worked SO HARD for it. saying that's just her maternal nature is directly spitting on all the blood and guts she poored into this. it's a hard-won satisfying job when you want it, it's hell on earth when you don't.

yeah no not to make it all about Me but i'm still fucking furious that i a jewish woman have been subject to a nonstop torrent of misogynistic antisemitism for the last year in which i have been repeatedly told to kill myself or have my teeth punched in or that my sexual assault or murder wouldn't matter and that i'm an evil human being if i don't believe that 45% of my ethnic group should straight up die and then i find out all these motherfuckers telling me this statistically come from fucking trumpist families while we, jewish women, turned out not to be the root of all conservatism but the second most Harris-voting demographic in the entire country. i think we are owed a fucking apology

thierry mugler, fw 1984. may he rest in peace.

-> Be My Victim: Favourite depictions of love/romance in horror [Candyman, 1992; Midsommar 2019; Silence of the Lambs, 1991; Possession, 1981; Bones and All, 2022; Annihilation, 2018; Raw, 2016; Ravenous, 1999]

i did not study for the english test but i reread an amazing 30k fic in english so i think that counts

I’m definitely not a blubbering mess thinking about Jinx believing she’s this actual curse on people’s lives, an actual literal jinx. That if Silco and Isha hadn’t found her then their lives would’ve been so much better. That she ruined their lives. That without her, they would still be alive and all that shit.

Because that’s not true.

She was this bright, colorful splatter of paint that made both of their lives so much better and neither one of them would’ve traded the time they had with her for anything, because they loved her so goddamn much.

Even though she wasn’t Powder to them and only Jinx – she was in a no way a jinx to them or their lives.

im still kind of in disbelief that that the internet like...turned on lore olympus. i get the whole "once something is popular people make it their personality to hate something", and the "incredibly online people make age gap discourse about immortal gods bc they need to touch grass," and you're certainly not obligated to like it, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but like. it is a genuinely good comic. its issues are no worse than like, most serialized web comics that have to struggle with the medium, and its art style is engaging and interesting, and has improved a lot over time. i know there was a very t*rf-led movement on here a LONG time ago starting discourse about greek myths to get crypto t*rf shit about femininity across and i know thats where some critiques come from. and it's weird that many criticisms of "modern retellings" get blamed on lore olympus bc it doesnt actually follow them - like, demeter isnt some crazy bitch, she's a character with complexity and depth.

yes the original intent of the story is changed, a story that women in ancient times could relate to about the fears of marriage, but LO actually does what modern retellings of old stories do best - modify a story to serve a similar purpose, but reflecting the modern audience's contemporary issues. in this case, embracing the complexities of love and marriage as a survivor of sexual assault, something many modern women struggle with. persephone's relationship with demeter ALSO reflects a very real struggle many modern young women have, of finding identity and sexual agency as an adult when your entire life has been controlled by a helicopter mother, even with the best intentions, and with her own trauma.

i also find the criticisms of the body types and sexuality often misogynistic and weird - people want things with a distinct, interesting style, they want women with sexual agency to be promoted and not sanitized, and yet LO gets over-criticized. how persephone dresses, how the other gods dress, changes a lot depending on level of confidence, mood, etc, and is a part of the storytelling in an interesting way. you don't have to like it, and i know there's jokes about the LO art style of drawing women, but i have a body like some of those bodies. i know other people who do, or at least similarly. it's not like a lot of comics or manga or anime where everyone is a stick, and they get to be sexy! it's nice!

and when people complain that its the only webcomic people read well then thats a YOU problem. i read a LOT of webcomics. i talk about them to people, i recommend them. romantic and otherwise. do you? do you spend as much time complaining about lore olympus as you do talking up other cool webcomics that deserve attention?

Hilda by Duane Bryers

Everytime I see something from tiktok, I get hit in the face with the ✨internalized misogyny takes✨ I had at 12.

Ok, real quick, speaking as a librarian, you absolutely cannot despair about the adult literacy crisis and shame adults for reading fiction books you do not personally care for or think are "challenging" at the same time. It doesn't work with kids, and it doesn't work with adults.

Here's how to increase someone's reading level:

1) Let them read whatever they choose without shame or judgment. Maybe get them talking about it using open-ended, non-leading questions to encourage critical thinking and comprehension.

2) Let them get bored after a while and seek out different books.

3) Repeat.

Look, I know in pt 3., they'll probably give more justification to his actions but....

Jayce when I get my fucking hands on you.