Sunday is Kids’ Day at ECCC, the family friendly Seattle comic convention.
That’s right, comics fans! Teach your kids early that women are fodder to be raped and assaulted for the entertainment of male readers! I mean, that’s what comics are about, right?
Hey, at least ECCC is being honest about how they view us.
Oh wait, they issued a statement. That this was a mistake and they certainly don’t mean to tell women we’re not part of the community they want and we’re not safe at their convention–
“We are aware that some Fans are uncomfortable with the art depicted on the ECCC Sunday Badge. The art on the Badge is from the Image Comics’ series The Discipline. Within the context of the comic, it is understood that these images do not depict non-consensual acts or sexual assault. Without that context, such as on the face of a Sunday Badge, that is not clear.”
Oh. It’s AMBIGUOUS as to whether it’s sexual assault. I see. That makes it okay.
I mean, it’s like showing a consensual rape-play scene, right? It’s supposed to look like rape, it’s supposed to look non-consensual, but I mean, the participants know it’s fine and sure, if you have that context, you do too.
EXCEPT THERE’S NO FUCKING CONTEXT ON THE BADGE, AND EVEN IF THERE WERE, HOW THE FUCK WOULD THAT BE OKAY ON A KIDS’ DAY BADGE?
Or, on a badge at all.
Presumably you wouldn’t show a super-graphic scene of a torso being torn open on your badge, even if the context of the image was actually that it was surgery saving a life. So why a terrified woman having her blouse pulled open by a claw any different?
But hey, like I said, at least they’re being honest about the culture they’re proud of.
the man: no no you see, I get off on doing that also
everyone: OH okay! carry on
btw we’ve all had fun with some flippant replies to some of the more asinine responses to this post but what a lot of these people are missing is that the focus of the post is not really on bdsm itself so much as what goes on in the minds of men who get off on harming women. a lot of people would acknowledge that a desire to hit women is troubling (at least in theory–in practice those men are likely to escape without seeing too many consequences), but as soon as that same violence is sexualised, any critique of it mystically, alchemically becomes out of bounds. this isn’t a post about the logistics of bdsm, or its “culture” or w/e, or consent (which I would obviously never claim doesn’t matter, but it’s certainly not the whole story). the post is about the impassible divide that a lot of people, including a lot of self-styled feminists, seem to believe exists between sex & the rest of our lived experiences & material circumstances. but such a division doesn’t exist & it isn’t tenable to act as if it does. to claim that sex, our attitudes towards it, what regulates it and how, etc. has no bearing on gendered oppression is demonstrably, historically false. & just to make it clear in case anyone doesn’t read that link, this is not a moralistic injunction that seeks to regulate anyone’s behaviour but rather it applies to everything relating to sex & our attitudes about it–to try to sort out “morally pure” from “morally impure” sex is to create a no less absurd division than to cordon sex off from everything else
Chelsea G. Summers wrote a really great piece about men, especially self-styled feminist men, who use kink to channel and cover their misogyny (cw for sexual assault):
Even in the context of BDSM, especially in the context of BDSM, why somebody is interested in “rough sex” is an important point that cannot be brushed off.
Unpopular opinion: I am realizing that the Harry Potter fandom villains the fact that Voldemort’s father, Mr. Tom Riddle, has abandoned the mother.
But he had no obligation to stay since he was drugged and raped to have a son who is Voldemort.
He is the victim of this whole situation, not Marope Gaunt, let’s stop minimizing male suffering, It not only applies to this situation but also to Severus Snape, that character who was sexually assaulted by James Potter and whose suffering is also minimized.
I’ve thankfully seen people point out Merope is a rapist many times before in fan spaces, though a lot of fanfics seem to have not caught on that Tom Riddle Sr had no obligation to stay with Merope or Jr. Which sucks, but might not necessarily be a lack of recognition that he was a victim … because I’ve seen a lot of people demonize cis women/other pregnancy-capable folks, for not wanting children conceived by rape.
But you’re not wrong that people minimize rape/sexual assault against men - which probably plays a part in the way some people seem to view Tom Sr.
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673) was a scientist, prolific writer, and early feminist who wrote what was arguably the first science-fiction novel in the English language, The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666). Her position of privilege and wealth gave her the means to publish her works under her own name – and to attend Royal Society lectures wearing a gown with an eight-foot train, a cavalier hat and a riding coat. She was eccentric and audacious, and many of the proto-feminist concepts found in her fiction were years ahead of her time.
Today I am not going to talk about her science-fiction novel, or her scientific leanings, or her ideas about natural philosophy. I am going to talk about her brilliant and bizarre allegorical romance, Assaulted and Pursued Chastity, first published in 1656.
Assaulted and Pursued Chastity was actually the novel that led me to pursue my master’s degree in renaissance literature. A lot of people think sixteenth and seventeenth-century literature is Shakespeare, tricky to understand, Shakespeare, religious, Shakespeare, and boring. The truth is that these days it is a field with an immense amount of feminist study and interest. As the years go by we are unearthing and exploring more and more work by women writers, and moving away from the concept of the English literary canon. We find women like Aphra Behn, the first English novelist; Emilia Lanier, the first Englishwoman to publish a collection of her poetry; and Katherine Philips, an immensely popular poet whose works explore love between women (a point of much debate in modern academia).
One of the core values that Cavendish sets into the novel is the concept that a woman cannot be chaste if her virtue is not actively challenged: a woman must live her life actively protecting her chastity for it to have true value, not sit at home passive and protected. Her heroine, Travellia, is an heiress who constantly endures the unwelcome overtures of a prince: when he attempts to sexually assault her, she shoots him with a pistol.
…but considering with himself that her words might be more than her intentions, and that it was a shame to be out-dared by a woman, with a smiling countenance, said he, you threaten more evil than you dare perform; besides, in the grave honour will be buried with you, when by your life you may build palaces of pleasure and felicity; with that he went towards her to take away the pistol from her.
Stay, stay, said she, I will first build me a temple of fame upon your grave, where all young virgins shall come and offer at my shrine, and in the midst of these words shot him…
The Prince sends Travellia away while he decides what to do with her, too admiring of her bravery to try again. Travellia, not sure if she will live or die, devours all of the scholarly literature that she can find. The Prince attempts to woo her – badly – and she slowly falls for him, but refuses to give in while he is still married and does not respect her own moral values.
So! She dresses as a boy and stows away on a ship travelling to a faraway land. Her good nature quickly finds her an adoptive father, but they are quickly catapulted into a grand adventure when they are shipwrecked and washed ashore on a new land. The people there lack any exact analogue to the races that Cavendish would have been familiar with: they are a deep purple, with white hair like wool, thin-lipped and sharp-nosed, with teeth and nails as black as jet. The aristocrats are tall and orange, black-haired and white-toothed. The land itself is hot and beautiful, filled with fantastical creatures and stunning architecture. I would like to say that this is a fairly positive representation of a foreign culture, but unfortunately they are also cannibals and practice human sacrifice.
Travellia, kept in captivity by their king for over a year, learns their language and talks her way out of danger, becomes a human god, reinvents their religion, and “civilises” them. (This is an unfortunate racist trend of works from this period, where foreign cultures are presented as primitive, decadent, and “barbaric”, and must be “civilised” by European contact.) After manipulating the country to her satisfaction, Travellia departs, and after a whirlwind of adventures including meeting and rejecting the Prince once again, she comes into the service of the Queen of Amity and takes on the role of her favourite. The Queen of Amity is at war with the King of Amour, who is pursuing her relentlessly in a mirror to Travellia’s own story. The Queen’s main reason for refusing to marry, though, is her desire to maintain her sovereignty and independence.
In deference to a long tradition, the Queen of course falls madly in love with Travellia, who is still pretending to be a boy. She is taken prisoner by the King, and Travellia takes on the role of general to get her back…while the Prince leads the King’s army against her. And penetrates her with his sword (to cap off a long series of metaphors) leading her army to rise up in vengeance and win the battle. The Prince is distraught, and eventually our entire cast congregates at the King’s palace. The Queen is greatly distressed by the reveal of Travellia’s gender and wishes that Travellia was a man, praying to the gods to transfer her affections to another…the repentant King. The story ends with our two opposing couples married, two kingdoms united, and the unsettling feeling that these women have made terrible matches indeed…but when we examine it through a seventeenth-century lens, we can also understand that by strong will and intelligence Travellia and the Queen have transformed their suitors into men worthy of them, who acknowledge women’s equal right to power and freedom. Cavendish works within the framework of her time, wherein a woman must come under a man’s protection, but still aims to subvert that convention by showing the power that they have within the private and public spheres.
Then there was a declaration read to the army of the agreement of peace: and when it was read that the Prince should be Viceroy in the Kingdom of Amity, all the soldiers, as if they had been one voice, cried out, Travellia shall be Viceregency; which was granted to pacify the. Whereupon there were great acclamations of joy.
But the Prince told his mistress, she should also govern him.
She answered, that he should govern her, and she would govern the kingdom.
If you want to read this text and form your own opinions, it is free to read online in a number of places including Google Books. My own copy of the text is found in the 2004 Penguin Classics edition of The Blazing World and Other Writings.
Assaulted and Pursued Chastity is certainly a problematic text, particularly when we begin to examine its representation of race and colonialism, but it is certainly a unique exploration of radical gender politics in seventeenth-century England. Another text that readers might want to examine for a (still problematic) deeper examination of other races and cultures is Oroonoko, by Aphra Behn.
Users honeyb33jenni, @buyo-art, and @ratsinatub have a history of virulently racist content. Many are taking personal gratification from inexcusable depictions of PoC. The fetishisation and dehumanisation of said PoC is rampant, thoroughly enjoyed and encouraged by this collection of individuals at large, and is mostly concentrated in @adira-tyree’s fanfiction server. They have not been called out in any manner, and are actively encouraged by several other members, such as @istalkpeople and @fatherkirbussy.
This virulent racism extends to their fanfiction, where “tribals” are characterized as “stupid” and “horny” for their own sexual gratification. This is not ignorance, they have acknowledge that their “tribal” influence is directly referential to Indigenous American communities.
As a fandom our space should be safe for everybody. Bethesda’s failure to check their own content does not extend to us. Further evidence can be found in the album below— e.g: failures to consider handling Mormonism, a literal cult, with respect.
I talk frequently about how ignorant most Global North citizens are about the immigration policies of their own and other countries. When my husband and I (Global North citizens of different countries) got married, we had conversation after conversation with people who assumed that by producing our marriage certificate we could simply become residents of each other’s countries— and that we could not be refused residence in each other’s countries, as separating a husband and wife could surely not be allowed.
More interestingly, a lot of people seem to refuse knowledge about immigration, perhaps because it can’t be integrated into some deep and important picture of the world that they have. My parents can’t make themselves believe that my British husband would get in trouble if he overstayed his visa “just a couple of days” in the US, or that I (an American) would ever get deported from the UK, no matter what the circumstances. This is not only because they believe that British and American citizens, as Global North citizens, are specially exempt from the systems that are “meant” to regulate other kinds of people, but also because fundamentally they believe that government and its processes are rational and just. They must believe that government and its processes are rational and just, because otherwise their whole picture of the world— the means by which they understand it— would collapse.
This is all fairly simple and obvious. What is notso simple and obvious is the way that their privileged ignorance, the hothouse resilience of their fantasy world, is part of a mechanism through which the “work of knowing” in our society is outsourced to the underprivileged. (The privileged do not have to know in a way that disrupts their fantasy, because not-knowing has no consequences for them.) This is an interesting dynamic, because many postcolonial theorists (Sara Ahmed, Dipesh Chakrabarty, etc) have explored how the Global South is typically portrayed as that-which-is-known-by-the-Global-North, and therefore as not capable of knowing.So what does it mean that the tools of regulation remain in the hands of the Global North, but that the knowledge of regulation is a burden borne by the Global South? There is an element here of knowing as knowing-your-place, for sure— learning to be interpellated as the illegal and the undesirable. The knowing that is happening also constitutes the production of the illusive “just and rational” world that sustains the Global North. I’m interested in the way that the dehumanization of the Global South therefore serves to sustain the rational and just Human and humaneness of the Global North. There’s an abjectification that is necessary for this— as anyone who has experienced universal healthcare knows, more just and equitable care/distribution of resources often means that more privileged people get less-nice things than they have been led to expect, so if they want to continue to enjoy the same standard of living allowed them by unjust and non-equitable care, they must rationalize this somehow. And how does one rationalize having been, by chance, born in the right geographic area? One can’t. One must, instead, believe that this is not how privilege is allotted, which required not-knowing that this is how privilege is allotted.
Not to take away from the vital conversation about immigration here, but this also applies to criminal justice. The amount of privileged people who don’t realize how standardized government-mandated procedure like sexual assault (strip and cavity searches) and dehumanization (probation checks in the middle of the night, visitation privileges hinged on DMV fees) is staggering when you consider how many millions of people are living with these abuses as mundane facts of life.
Please spread this shit like wildfire. People go on and sit through the whole experience and they’re uncomfortable because they just want to please their partner and they don’t tell them that they want to stop because they are not ready. It’s okay not to be ready.
notice here that consent is revoked without ever saying no and consent goes so far beyond yes/no!!!!!!
this is my favorite comic on tumblr because the person initiating is the one stops it because the other person is uncomfortable and that’s just a fantastic message to spread.
i went to like the 3000th page of this tumblr because i remembered this comic and wanted to reblog it. i know im not active on my blog anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but this is important. a couple of years ago, i was sexually assaulted by somebody who was a good friend of mine at the time. my now ex-girlfriend pushed me way past my sexual comfort zone and boundaries without asking consent, in a place i couldnt cause a commotion or even protest too loud (movie theatre). im a cis male and it took me years to realize that the things that were done to me absolutely count as assault. theyve left me with a shitload of mental issues that have affected me for years and im only recently realizing are not normal, and are rooted in these events. this comic is helping.
Please spread this shit like wildfire. People go on and sit through the whole experience and they’re uncomfortable because they just want to please their partner and they don’t tell them that they want to stop because they are not ready. It’s okay not to be ready.
notice here that consent is revoked without ever saying no and consent goes so far beyond yes/no!!!!!!
this is my favorite comic on tumblr because the person initiating is the one stops it because the other person is uncomfortable and that’s just a fantastic message to spread.
i went to like the 3000th page of this tumblr because i remembered this comic and wanted to reblog it. i know im not active on my blog anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but this is important. a couple of years ago, i was sexually assaulted by somebody who was a good friend of mine at the time. my now ex-girlfriend pushed me way past my sexual comfort zone and boundaries without asking consent, in a place i couldnt cause a commotion or even protest too loud (movie theatre). im a cis male and it took me years to realize that the things that were done to me absolutely count as assault. theyve left me with a shitload of mental issues that have affected me for years and im only recently realizing are not normal, and are rooted in these events. this comic is helping.
