{ Sense & Sensibility }: “I want to live in a world where little girls are not pinkified, but...
elvensapphire:
“I want to live in a world where little girls are not pinkified, but where little girls who like pink are not punished for it, either. We can certainly talk about the social pressures surrounding gender roles, and the concerns that people have when they see girls and young women who appear to be forced into performances of femininity by the society around them, but let’s stop acting like they have no agency and free will. Let’s stop acting like women who choose to be feminine are somehow colluders, betraying the movement, bamboozled into thinking that they want to be feminine. Let’s stop denying women their own autonomy by telling them that their expressions of femininity are bad and wrong.
Antifemininity is misogynist. What you are saying when you engage in this type of rhetoric is that you think things traditionally associated with women are wrong. Which is misogynist. By telling feminine women that they don’t belong in the feminist movement, you are reinforcing the idea that to be feminine and a woman is wrong, that women who want to be taken seriously need to be more masculine, because most people view gender presentation in binary ways. This rewards the ‘one of the boys’ type rhetoric I encounter all over the place from self-avowed feminists who seem to think that bashing on women is a good way to prove how serious they are when it comes to caring about women and bringing men into the feminist movement.”
— Get Your Anti-Femininity Out Of My Feminism by S.E. Smith
(Source: thechocolatebrigade, via incomprehensiblelentils)
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‘At least Black Widow will be good.’ THAT’S WHAT EVERYONE SAID THE MOMENT THEY HIRED JOSS WHEDON.
AND THE FUNNY THING ABOUT EVERYONE WHO MADE THAT BLIND ASSUMPTION IS THAT THEY WERE ULTIMATELY RIGHT. AFTER ALL, JOSS WHEDON HAS HAD HIS FAIR SHARE OF FEMALE ASS-KICKING HEROES, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY HE ALWAYS HAD A PENCHANT FOR MAKING THEM COMPELLING PEOPLE. IN HER PREVIOUS ROLE IN IRON MAN 2, BOTH SCARLET AND THE BLACK WIDOW CHARACTER WERE, WELL, FINE. BUT THERE IS NO DENYING SHE WAS PRETTY MUCH ONLY REQUIRED TO ALTERNATE BETWEEN SEXY/PROFESSIONAL AND KICK-ASS/PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS HOW MOST WOMEN’S ACTION ROLES ARE WRITTEN.
SO HOW DOES JOSS GO BEYOND THAT?
LOOK PEOPLE, IT’S NOT MAGIC. IT’S NOT EVEN THAT HARD. IT ALL COMES FROM A PLACE OF RESPECT. YOU BASICALLY SIT THERE AS A WRITER AND SAY THE FOLLOWING: “I will not take the easy route because I assume that is all that is expected of me. I will make this character a fully-realized person. I will give her a range of emotions. I will give her capacities beyond being sexy and kicking ass. I will give her great moments. I will not make her fight the other woman. I will give her the same stuff I’m required to give all the other characters.” THAT’S IT.
AND THAT’S HOW WE GOT A BLACK WIDOW WHO HAS GREAT MOMENTS, A SENSE OF HISTORY, A SENSE OF EMOTIONAL GRAVITAS, A RANGE OF EMOTIONS, AND HEY, WOULDN’T YOU KNOW IT? ALSO HAPPENS TO BE SEXY AND ASS-KICKING TOO. WHODATHUNK?
”
Film Crit Hulk (via fuckyeahblackwidow)(Source: badassdigest.com, via incomprehensiblelentils)