Even professors can be gamers

You take one look at that little man and his giant pink frills and tell me he and Cressida DIDN’T spend the whole carriage ride from Wales coordinating their looks.

They are, in my mind, the textbook definition of a lavender marriage. Lord Penwood, terrified of being unable to navigate society without bringing ruin and scandal to his family name, is finally given the courage and opportunity to return when he finds a woman who is not only brave and outgoing, but also not in the least bit interested in sleeping with him.

“Are you prepared to see her again?” he asks as they prepare for the ball.

AND THEN ELOISE ROYALLY FUCKS UP AND IGNORES THE PERIL SHE IS IN.

And yet somehow, Cressida heals from that. She comes back from Wales having been betrayed by the only person to ever make her feel safe and secure, ready to meet the Ton again and participate in Society. This narrative choice has some implications I love.

1) It implies Wales was a healing place for her, despite it being a punishment. Whatever she found there (maybe Eweloise?) helped her recover from that betrayal

2) The people she encountered in Wales helped her feel brave enough and secure enough to confront people she had wronged (Penelope) and people that had wronged her (Eloise), all with the grace and poise of Cressida’s authentic self—a woman unabashedly in love with fashion and a touch of drama (the whole Mama, It Is I, Anastasia appearance in Penelope’s house and the over-the-top party invitations)

I choose to focus on Cressida’s relationship with Lord Penwood as the catalyst for this change, but it is also informed by her relationship with Eloise given she clearly remembered every damn book Eloise told her about and read them religiously during her exile.

Personally, I think Lord Penwood is a more fun character to focus on in the moment because there’s absolutely 0 info on this guy. No first name and no speaking lines. He is a blank check for fandom to run with. Whether he’s a homosexual man who is united in a platonic love with his fruity wife or (my personal headcanon) a butch lesbian in disguise who is getting her world rocked by Cressida every night, the fan theories are near-limitless.

yes baby you keep telling yourself that

AND YOU

you are a mess

GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY

the relieved smile.. Eloise come on now you’re happy so see her too

OH and may I point to the fact that it was ELOISE who stepped forward and stopped Cressida in her tracks

And then there's the narrative where detransition is essentially a retreat back into the closet (or eggshell), a thing that someone does when they can't handle the social prejudice and the very real challenges and risks that go along with transness. (The novel Detransition Baby leans into this second narrative).

Both of these narratives, in different ways, frame detransition as evidence of some form of failure. And neither is exactly a lie, since there are detransitioners who do fit into these categories. But there also are many who don't fit into either.

I believe that, despite the current political climate, transition will become increasingly common in the future, and this means that detransitioners will also become increasingly common, because some percentage of people will inevitably change their minds. And so I think it's helpful to have a narrative around detransition that doesn't frame it as something intrinsically negative.