Getting this out of my system real quick.

[shamanicshaymin]

Notice how all those recent bestsellers romanticizing abuse are written by women for women?

We work our fucking asses off for equal rights for all genders, and then we get female writers going "Tee hee!" and worship abusive manchildren simply because they're hot and dismiss other female characters for being "slutty" or "ZOMG IN DA WAY!!11!1" You know, those very things we've been fighting against. What are men supposed to think if we say, "Don't treat me like a child" while the most popular book written by women for women showcases the "perfect" romance by having the "hero" treat the heroine like a child?

It's like if black people wrote best-sellers glorifying slavery and saying it's the utopia we should aspire to.

How can we stand up for ourselves if we treat our own gender like crap?

If we're going to put an end to misogyny, at least give a serious talk to the women who have internalized it, not just sexist men.

Sorry I'm being bitchy. But my computer's on its last legs and I don't know when it'll randomly shut down again. And after many years of following, I've left weepingcock. This is supposed to be a comm for hilariously bad sex scenes, and over and over and over again, people have broken that rule. It clearly says in the user info that it's not a gross-out community, and yet, people post the Pokemon Story and the Other Story. 'Cause brutal Gardevoir rape and Videl discovering her abortion fetish is funny. There are plenty of comms where you can freak about horrific pornfic, but weepingcock? No. Basically, it's become a generic bad sex comm, and it's boring. So yeah, I'm done. Truly a shame. Do people think generic rage and pointless nitpicking is funny now? Truly sad.

Comments

[sarajayechan]

D: Damn, weepingcock really went the way of fanficrants and marysues, didn't it? I haven't followed it in ages but I'm sad to hear that.

And wow, I knew 50 Shades was a huge deal among women but I didn't realize it was spawning so many copycats who believed in the same shit. *facepalm* THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS. I get that romance novels don't have to be perfectly PC and that women are allowed to like trashy fantasies, but to me there's a difference between a trashy fantasy and just plain uncomfortable. :/

The written word is just one part of media and society in general, but even if TV and movies and other people were more aware and progressive about women, the fact that women still think women want to read about other women being abused and mistreated is still a big fucking worm in the apple.

[jack_of_none]

I really, really don't want to engage with your first argument for various reasons but I will agree that weepingcock is terrible.

90% of the stuff that gets posted is poor grammar + unusual kink, and sure it's pretty lulzy that people jerk off to balloons or whatever but come on. A world full of hilarious sex and you're getting your kicks on kinkshaming?

[shamanicshaymin]

D: Damn, weepingcock really went the way of fanficrants and marysues, didn't it? I haven't followed it in ages but I'm sad to hear that.

That's a good way to describe it. It just wasn't fun anymore. :/

I was actually referring to Twilight copycats (I don't think 50 Shades has as much yet, and so far not nearly as disturbing as the Twilight clones), but 50 Shades is also part of the rant. :P Trashy fantasies and dysfunctional relationships are perfectly a-okay as long as we distinguish between fantasy and reality, but unfortunately, people like Stephanie Meyer and E.L. James truly do believe that their romantic heroes are perfect and that men should be more like them. :(

[shamanicshaymin]

Poor grammar is rarely funny anyway. :/ For all we know, the balloonsex could be really hot. People just got nitpicky like crazy and freak out over the tamest fics.

[sarajayechan]

Aah. I know 50 Shades inspired a lot of published parodies, at least. Yeah, that's the thing-acknowledging that it's fantasy. Fictional. Idealizing an abusive stalker isn't "just fiction", it's creepy shit. Most women I know would call the cops the moment Christian discovered their phone number or address without it being given to him.

[swordianmaster]

All I will say is one thing.

Internalized sexism. It's real, and people do it.

[redwoodalchan]

Based on my own experience, a lot of internalized sexism is so pervasive that the women who write like this may not even be aware of it. Case in point: I've corresponded with the author of a Pokemon Lifetime-rape-fic that I'll be sporking in a little while. When I pointed out the blatant sexism in her story she claimed she had no idea how sexist it was, that she wasn't even thinking of it in those terms. What I found suspicious is that she claimed it was okay to write Dawn as a docile sex slave because she was passive and submissive in canon, something which isn't true because Dawn is a player character and has no innate personality.

The moral of the story, I guess, is that women having the same "rights" as men is only part of the battle. Earning equal rights and being treated truly equally are actually two separate things, if you think about it.

It is a shame about Weepingcock. The last two entries didn't seem to even bother explaining what was supposed to be funny about the works--all they did was link to internet video reviews. Maybe I should complain to the mods....

[shamanicshaymin]

Based on my own experience, a lot of internalized sexism is so pervasive that the women who write like this may not even be aware of it. Case in point: I've corresponded with the author of a Pokemon Lifetime-rape-fic that I'll be sporking in a little while. When I pointed out the blatant sexism in her story she claimed she had no idea how sexist it was, that she wasn't even thinking of it in those terms.

Sadly, it sounds accurate. :( On the surface, having someone watch you in order to protect you sounds pleasant. Many are fortunate enough to have never been stalked, so they don't know how invasive and uncomfortable the act actually is. Then there's tearing the engine out of your car so you can't hang out with people he doesn't like, and it's impossible for me see Edward on only his "surface values" that fangirls adore about him, such as his "richness" or "politeness."

Jacob is the perfect example. Like Mervin said, Meyer didn't make Jacob sexually assault Bella to make him look bad compared to Edward, she was making him more desirable. So we've got Edward 2.0 because Meyer thought it made him more romantic.

...I think I have to hide in a hole now. *curls up and hedgehog hisses*

*STANDING OVATION* This!!

[guardians_song]

P.S.
"Do people think generic rage and pointless nitpicking is funny now? Truly sad."
Have you seen Das Sporking recently?

EDIT: In all fairness, the "Let's worship abusive womanchildren as STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS GRRR" trend wasn't any better (Hello, Cori Falls), but the "manchildren" one seems to have come into prominence.

[sarajayechan]

When you said Pokemon Lifetime-rape-fic I assumed you meant this author.

[redwoodalchan]

Actually, no. Yes, I'm familiar with the author you mentioned (I've even sporked a few of her works) but this particular author I referred to above isn't her. In fact, the author I ended up corresponding with doesn't even make writing Lifetime-rape-fics her MO (in fact, a lot of her work actually isn't that bad), which makes it seem like she was suffering from completely uncritical internalized sexism when she wrote the Lifetime-fic in question (the author you linked to never even responded to my reviews, so she's likely beyond hope at this point).

[sarajayechan]

Aaah. *nods*

Sporkings? Where?

[redwoodalchan]

They're at Das Sporking, a LiveJournal community. If you look in the tags for "suethor: of broken love" you'll see my entries.