Sans Obscurities

tags via @humanbeanisnotamused

June's Strawberry Moon ©

your dashboard is mothed ི༘ ࿔̥̊ཐི༏ཋྀ󠀮

i have! i thought it was a great entry in the small canon of narratives that dissect the enduring misogynistic concept of the "ideal woman" who is essentially an uncompensated 24/7 on-demand sex doll; a corpse given the illusion of life to mask the abject horror of her rapist's necrophilic perversion; an optimally attractive and perfectly submissive accessory to her (usually male) owner with no concept of resistance or any meaningful interiority (if she ever had any to begin with, it's been lobotomised out of her) that would require considering her personhood at all to speak of (other works in this "genre" being the likes of companion, and arguably pluribus, although it isn't the sole focus upon which the entire narrative hinges + is a somewhat more nuanced take on the idea). it's been refreshing to see these stories being written from a perspective that reflects the social anxieties of these (typically) female victims rather than their (typically) male perpetrators and acknowledges the severity of the damage that this kind of entitled dehumanisation does. there have been more than enough depictions of women like this who are simply "too good to be true" - sirens and succubi and vampires with blood-red painted lips - where she's a sinister, conniving monster scheming to steal our poor hero's life and material wealth with weaponised seduction tactics, who must be executed with extreme prejudice for her crimes, or else tamed and brought to heel by her master. to quote one of my favourite video essays, man bad horror (which manages to be both a blisteringly well written critique and an extremely entertaining dramatic presentation without ever feeling tone deaf), "to survive, misogyny, like any social illness, sheds its skin and takes new forms to adapt to modern sensibilities" - so it's a relief to see that horror creators are adapting alongside it.

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