the road to hell is paved with good intentions

friend sent me an Instagram reel yesterday with 1000s of likes that was basically like "pride and prejudice is timeless actually because it's about an autism4autism romance 🥰" and then the creator proceeded to cite moments in the book and film where Lizzie and Darcy are "socially awkward" and....listen. I'm far from an Austen scholar, but I have taught Austen novels as an educator and this kind of psycho-pop analysis that views characters as individuals with autonomy over their actions, rather than tools in a story written at a particular time to say something about that time, pisses me off more than I can say without sounding like an asshole. I'm sorry but Darcy isn't rude and awkward and even cruel to Lizzie because he has autism, he says and does those things because he's a wealthy upper class land owning man raised to see a middle class woman from a large family with no male heirs like Elizabeth as inherently beneath him which he expresses to her multiple times because it is socially acceptable for him to do so in a society where someone like him is privileged above almost all others. He is "socially awkward" around her because of misogyny and classism (PREJUDICE) and she is "socially awkward" around him because a woman of her standing at that time simply wouldn't have had much to do with the gentry but to actually push back against the shit that Darcy says would be social suicide for her whole family so she protests the only way she can which is refusing his advances (PRIDE). not to be the "context collapse is the death of media literacy" guy. But this is the problem with the kind of head empty, let people enjoy things, if I can't relate to it what's the point type crowd. Youse think you're being so quirky justifying incoherent and anachronistic interpretations with your rampant individualism, ensuring that other people never confront anything that challenges them in these stories like patriarchal misogyny and classism. Pride and Prejudice becomes an "autism4autism romance", completely undermining the historical context of its status as one of the great social satires about the class and gender politics that Austen so expertly observed around her. This attitude is why we have nonsensical historical dramas that actively hate history like fucking edgy bdsm "Wuthering Heights", Bridgerton, The Buccaneers, and even a 2025 Frankenstein movie where the monster is just misunderstood and does no wrong uwu etc. because individual relatability and catharsis is king over anything actually saying anything about anything now. Everything is relatable and nothing is meaningful.

Your blorbo is a narrative tool, not a person, you dummy!

here’s my #problematic opinion of the day but men talking about how much they’d like to commit violence against women they disagree with is always a sign these men are not committed to politics and instead would like a “moral” justification to abuse women lol

and when i phrase it like this, i feel it’s an easy sentiment to agree with. the thing is: this applies to all men and all women. i am not comfortable with leftist men talking at length how they would like to beat radfems. i am not comfortable with leftist men making sexually aggressive jokes about megyn kelly. i am not comfortable with any man making these comments for any broad range of moral justifications & i hate that we’re all willing to give these idiots passes to enact violence because it’s targeted against the proper ideology. it’s not about the ideology! these men just want to scare & harm women!

🤗

one of the most gender non conforming things a woman can do is refuse to suffer lol

always reblog

What are you reading rn, why are you reading it, and what format are you reading it in (physical book, ereader, on your phone etc)

a squirrel or perhaps a cardinal posted this

what you need to be a manager as well, if you're managing things you know well but aren't personally an expert in.