Why yes there are meta & other icontests out there and here be necessary reminders

[red_satin_doll]

Your Madame Ambassador of Meta (according to punch_kicker15) and Patron Saint of Icons (per eilowyn, and when the heck did this happen anyway?) has been remiss in her duties. And is speaking of herself in third person. This cannot stand. So herewith:

** Foz Meadow's essay, Gender, Orphan Black and the Meta of Meta says everything I want to say, beautifully, cogently and eloquently, about our cultural aversion to supposedly "unlikeable" female characters, how we hold them to harsh judgements whether as protagonists/heros or villians, how we protect male characters and tend to forgive all their sins (Buffy gets a mention, of course, but so do Darla and Dru) Required and necessary reading for anyone who cares about the subject. Contains mild spoilers for all of S1 Orphan Black.
.
"And the more I watched, the more I found myself thinking: why is this quality, the idea of likeability, considered so important for women, but so optional for men – not just in real life, but in narrative?"

** Entries for otherworldlyric Challenge #175 are due TONIGHT, Friday the 20th midnight EST US.   dragonydreams says that they could use a couple more entries for this challenge. (My beta-muse-god wickedbish has thankfully NOT been remiss in his duties, quite the opposite, and so I may be able to pull one or two out of the hopper, we shall see. )

** Deadline for slayerstillness Challenge 26 "The Same but Different" is tomorrow night, Saturday the 21st, midnight in your respective time zones. There are four sets so far from three people, which isn't very much. Remember, you can enter two sets in this challenge! However, due to RL stuff and lack of reminders starry_night is willing to extend the deadline a week if folks ask.


And here be some icons, musings, prayers. verbiage and bonus questions for the final round of the home game version after the teaser and the cut:







Speaking of icons, I made some during the same session that produced "...by any other name..." and thank you everyone who stopped by to comment! Also thank you to everyone who responded to my silly Get it Done poster inspired by infinitewhale's infinite wit, and turned my journal into a coffeehouse. Tis great fun!

    01-03

04-05


(Can I get a job in this? Maybe at the Sears Photography Studio? Is Olan Mills still around?)
 4 & 5 are *AHEM* not great, to say the least, *COUGH* but combining that light effect with the "snow" effect in ipiccy as fun and worth giving another try sometime.

Dear Powers that Don't Actually Be or At Least I Don't Believe You Be But How Would I Know, I Could Be Praying to a Bunch of SIngle-Celled Plankton or the Flying Spagetti Monster for All I Know:

Please don't let me look on this two months from now and only see the flaws and feel embarrassed, the way I now do about the Spuffy banner I made for comlodge's birthday that I was so proud of at the time  - and definitely the one I made for velvetwhip's birthday because gee whiz I thought that was decent?- and 98% of the icons I've ever made - but now I want to tear up and start from scratch because I can do better than that.

Please let my VampWillow set for Round 2 of btvsats20in20 be as good as my friends think it will be, and not in a "gee that's nice, you tried honey" kind of way.

And please don't remind me that moaning about how ashamed I am of an artwork whilst simultaneously linking to it and self-pimping is, well, definitely sending a mixed message and hypocritcal at best. Because I already know. And please don't take me too seriously when I pray that my ex-boss' product be half-rotten by the time he gets to the market.  Or do, your choice.  Thanks bunches!

PS: I'm already embarrassed by #4  & 5 above anyway. Do I need to pray harder? Do you want cake?

And now, questions for those of you playing along with the home version:

1) Don't I have the BEST f'listies? I do. My peeps totally rock. (So technically that was a statement disguised as a question. Moving on...)

2) Should there be a law against white, middle-aged, college-educated, working or middle class suburban women using phrases like "my peeps totally rock"? Or at least a stern warning?

3) New LJ feature I LOVE: I start typing in a friend's name and LJ now brings up options for me to chose from NIFTY! Feature I hate: The new friends feed page:  the whole damn thing, basically.  Anyone else agree with me? What are you lovin'/hatin'/mehin' on with the changes?

3) If the world actually had been created by single-celled plankton, do you think it would operate more efficiently?

4) If the Powers that May or May Not Exist actually exist, would they eat cake?

Comments

[tigerpetals.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the birthday wish! It was nice; I took a walk by the beach at sunset. I'm glad you enjoyed the read. I've only read one of Gillian Flynn's books so far--Sharp Objects--and it lived up to what people had said about it; I loved the heroine. I'm looking forward to reading the rest, as well as some of the other books mentioned in the essay. By the way, here's Gillian Flynn's brief article talking about female violence and bad girls: http://gillian-flynn.com/for-readers/ It's what finally made me read Sharp Objects

Predictably enough, someone complained about her turning the article into a "feminist rant". There's always at least one of those in the crowd.

But of course! I avoided the comments.

So we dislike in female characters what we dislike in ourselves, whereas we can like flawed male characters because there's a degree of difference (ergo safety) in identifying with them. And we've been taught that "boys will be boys."

Yes. I try not to do that but it does happen to an extent. Not so much the male characters part because I've grown less drawn to them over the years and have become quicker to see their flaws without the "boys will be boys" glasses to add endearment. But sometimes I do get irritated or angry at a female character being unpleasant. I'm not supposed to be unpleasant, I don't get away with it, so why should she? There are times when that makes me root for her instead, and I work against the negative reactions when I have them, but I can and do have them. It's usually expected, even. Add the message "she gets away with it because she's beautiful or wealthy" and the character is often deliberately made unsympathetic unless or until punishment is dealt out to make her a damsel and perhaps reform her. Not necessarily a character arc from her point of view exploring her flaws and good traits and how she navigates them, but a parade of suffering to humble and scare her.

It hasn't been safe for us to be angry and we haven't been trained in being assertive, in saying no.

What we have been trained to do is to defend men and to be angry at other women on their behalf. Which we end up using as indirect ways to defend ourselves or gain protection. Other women aren't just competition--they're potential threats to the rules. If the rules are uncertain, what can we depend on to give us protection and guarantee rewards? If they're there and other women are rewarded or go unpunished for not following them, it's not fair when we get punished, and then what?