Misplacedgamer

But existing alongside it is another prominent fantasy that is rarely subjected to an unfair level of scrutiny simply because it is more socially acceptable: the fantasy of an unproblematic and good guy - the eternally green flag - who won't give you any drama or trouble and who is non threatening, who offers stability and, most importantly, represents security and safety. And honestly, this is understandable because many women are conditioned since an early age that they are to avoid danger and risks at all costs. Protecting them, at times unintentionally, becomes an excuse to keep them confined within the walls of their household. The promise of safety becomes the cage and comfort its furnishings. Yet, even that cage doesn't make women less vulnerable to harm.

This is why fiction matters because it is one realm where there is room for every kind of fantasy. Here, women can be safe and protected till the end of their days. Simultaneously, they can also partake in dangerous relationships and situations and end up victorious. Yet, it is the latter that gets subjected to derision, judgment and policing while the former is not only left unchecked but is arbitrarily imposed on every story.

There is an expectation placed on fictional female characters across genres, and irrespective of background and personality, to stick to safe and 'vetted' relationships, if they are to have a romance at all. In a dark and messed up dynamic with a male character, their only identity can be that of a victim and everything else must cease to exist. It is also expected from creators and audience to not 'romanticize' the said dynamic. It shackles these characters and strips them off their individuality. It turns them into one homogenous symbol and restricts their potential for complexity. Worse is when real women who write and enjoy such stories are punished in a bid to 'protect' the fictional woman who doesn't need their protection in the first place. It is tiresome.

For example, some of you may remember an advertisement campaign from Dr Pepper from the early 2010's that "Dr Pepper is not for women!". A friend of mine wrote a very lengthy, yet calmly and rather academically written essay on why this wasn't harmless fun, and actually quite damaging and misogynistic. She posted it on her blog and shared the link over social media, and everywhere people tore her to shreds for committing the cardinal sin of being offended by something.

That was it. They had no other argument on why her essay or points were wrong or bad other than "she's offended aha!!" and then acted like they totally just owned her and put her in her place by pointing this out. Am I missing something? Why is it worse to be offended than to be offensive?

For example when I was taking a media class here at the University of Iceland, I had a few French classmates in that class, and one time for class we had to watch something were there were ableist jokes about a man with cerebral palsy, and one of my French classmates said "I'm not American and don't want to sound like a whiny American who gets offended at everything, but I thought it was insensitive how they made fun of and beat up that man with cerebral palsy and we were supposed to find that funny, sorry to sound like an American!"

When I lived and worked in Finland for about half a year I heard from multiple Finnish colleagues how ridiculous it was that Americans are so sensitive and uptight they actually get upset when you use the r-slur around them, what a bunch of uptight whiny babies!

When I worked retail at a souvenir shop in central Reykjavík one of my Australian co-workers asked some of our other co-workers from many various countries across Europe to stop saying racist things about customers of color, to which more than one responded something along the lines of "Oh come on you're not American, are you? Oh don't act like a sensitive American who has to cry racism at every little thing!"

When I worked an office job in the tourism sector, several of our tour groups coming from the U.S. in 2023 still had mask mandates while on the tour bus, especially when most of the people in those tour groups were elderly and/or disabled. Or many tour groups coming from the U.S. required the group to start wearing masks if someone in the group tested positive for COVID while in tour. And again, most of the people in these tour groups were elderly and/or disabled. None of our tour groups from other parts of Europe had policies like this.

My (all Icelandic) co-workers laughed and made jokes about this non-stop, things like "I can't believe Americans are so crazy and uptight that they're still afraid of a little germ in 2023! Come on it's Iceland, we're not still doing ridiculous things like that here because we're not still scared of a little germ in 2023!". One of my co-workers would specifically say things like "Well I'm a viking so I'm not scared of a little germ! Come on, they should come and cough and breath on me because we're vikings here, and vikings aren't scared of a little germ!", and generally endlessly talking about how still requiring (elderly & disabled) people to wear a mask in 2023 is proof of how ridiculous and uptight USAmericans are.

fuck it god of war comic

Wei Wuxian and a little radish

So yes, I struggle covering the boobs of the characters.