kadv

your abuser could have gone thru life without abusing you. this was an option all along. they didn’t have to hurt you, they didn’t have to be cruel, they didn’t have to declare themselves an authority for what is and isn’t good for you and decide that abuse is what you deserve, they didn’t have to manipulate you, they didn’t have to lie to you, they didn’t have to insult, criticize or humiliate you, they didn’t have to control you, they didn’t have to crush your self confidence, they didn’t have to scare or hit or push or torture or gaslight you, they didn’t have to do any of it. they could have gone thru their life without doing it. nobody forced them to do it. it was their own decision to do those things. they are the sole person responsible for doing all of it. they would have lost nothing if they didn’t do those things. it wouldn’t take anything away from their life not to destroy yours. hold. them. responsible.

“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.” - Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

why does this communicate the universal mood we women experience so perfectly

This is doubly annoying because she’s clearly in mourning; look at her clothes. those are mourning clothes. The way she clutches her handkerchief. The wetness of her eyes. She’s not a lark to the seaside, she’s traveling to or from a funeral. And this dandy fuckboy can’t look beyond his own nose and have some fucking respect.

This is why I support artists.  You can tell a story without any words at all.  You don’t even need to title this piece “The Irritating Gentleman” and yet most 21st Century women will know exactly what this 19th Century woman endured on the day of that painting.

The young lady is even meeting the eyes of the viewer, as if to say (in a less amusing way than I may explain here) “Look - see what is being done to me, what I must endure. I, who am in mourning for the sudden death of _______, my love. This man who has four eyes somehow cannot look beyond his own nose and curiosity to notice my woe. Please, viewer, see me, for this man does not.”