mcity

For some reason, female characters seem to have rape, pregnancy, and miscarriage in their top five choices for character growth. In my opinion, that's bovine-sourced organic fertilizer.

I'm just going to name some female characters. How many were or were implied to have been canonically raped, pregnant, or miscarried by way of character development? If its so prevalent, it should be most of 'em, right?

Chell (Portal)
Glados (Portal)
Alyx Vance (Half-Life)
Jade (Beyond Good and Evil)
Nariko (Heavenly Sword)
Faith Connors (Mirror's Edge)
Samus Aran (Metroid)
Princess Peach (Super Mario)
Jessie (Pokemon)
Misty (Pokemon)
Dawn (Pokemon)
Marge Simpson (The Simpsons)
Lois Griffin (Family Guy)
Meg Griffin (Family Guy)
Beverly Crusher (Star Trek)
Tori (Star Trek)
Jane Eyre
Portia (Merchant of Venice)
Juliet (Romeo and Juliet)
Batwoman (Batman)
Stephanie Brown (Batman)
Cassie Cain (Batman)
Catwoman (Batman)
Wonder Woman
The vast majority of Joss Whedon characters
Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games, though I still haven't finished the third book)
Uhura (Star Trek)
Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (BSG)
Eliza Doolitte (My Fair Lady)
Anya Stroud (Gears of War)
Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)
Molly Weasley (Harry Potter)
Bellatrix Black (Harry Potter)
Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
Martha Jones (Doctor Who)
Astrid Peth (Doctor Who)
River Song (Doctor Who)
Sarah Jane Smith (Doctor Who)
Donna Noble (Doctor Who)
Amy Pond (Doctor Who)

Please note that I actually had to remove some of the Doctor's female companions.

I'm not sure what's so wrong with pregnancy to advance the character development. It's not like men often get pregnant, and an SO's pregnancy is often used as character development for men as well.

The odd thing is that I've seen plenty of people say women's rapes aren't discussed enough (it's not like there's a Law and Order show focused mainly on sexual assault or anything), but then they turn around and complain that it's used too much. I've had someone who agreed with the former move goalposts to say they were doing it "wrong" and they should "fix" the new Tomb Raider game by removing any explicit reference to Lara being sexually assaulted. And, as always, there's nary a peep when media show men being sexually assaulted. Heck, it's often played as a joke.

I've been hearing this a lot lately, except it's just been "sexual assault". Dornbeast tacked pregnancy and miscarriage onto it by way of moving goalposts (note that the post she was responding to said nothing about pregnancy or miscarriage), and it's still wrong.

I mean, you could even include Ellen Ripley, under a very loose definition of "pregnancy", except she's commonly cited as one of the best Strong Female Characters ever.

Personally, I think male sexual assault should be discussed more, and shouldn't be a joke. You want equality, you got it; let's make male rape as bad as female rape. Let's get the FBI to change their definition so women can actually rape by envelopment, as well as the other places where men can't be RBE, like the UK. Let's devote more resources to male victims of domestic abuse, which make up around 40% of the total in the US. Let's try to end prison rape, which disproportionately affects men. Let's ask why men who have been raped, including a then 12-year old boy, have been forced to pay child support. Lets change the Safe Haven laws so they're unisex. Lets give men as many contraception options as women. Lets have women added to the draft.

Of course, people will then start asking why feminism, which is supposedly about equality, wasn't doing all of this already.

Rape is part of our culture. It’s normalized to the point where men who are otherwise decent guys will rape and not even think that it’s wrong. And that’s what terrifies me.

-Jessica Valenti, as quoted by a Voice For Men

Maybe it's a bit of a radical notion, but I don't consider someone who's committed rape without a qualm to be a "decent guy". Or, for that matter, girl.

“Masculinity has become so intertwined with violence that it becomes invisible.”

- Linda Ann Scacco and Molly Turro, same

This is a textbook "dragon in my garage" argument. "You can't tell masculinity is the same as violence! That's because you can only see the violence! But I can see it because I've taken the red pill!"

There may be panting involved at this point. Possibly on their part, possibly as you run away.

There was a post on Tumblr about how opposing gay marriage = homophobia.

The logic ran that since people who opposed gay marriage wanted to deny gay people of their rights, that meant they hated gays.

Of course, by that logic, the officer who arrests a suspect, depriving them of their freedom, must also hate the suspect, right? How about banning smoking? What about tresspassing?

But all of those things are illegal, you say?

Not exactly; an officer does not need to have a guilty suspect to arrest them, just probable cause. The original premise did not say it was okay to deny people their rights when it was legal, only that wanting to do so necessarily indicates that one is doing so out of hate.

Not to mention the sheer tautology of the idea; people who oppose gay marriage must hate gays, or else they wouldn't oppose gay marriage. Most of the arguments I've heard in favor of gay marriage aren't actually very logical; they mostly consist of declaring the opposition bigots and homophobes. For some reason, such arguments aren't convincing to the people on the other side.

I have heard that gay marriages will stimulate the economy, and it occurs to me that so wserill gay divorces. Think about medical insurance; premiums spiked rapidly once the lawyers got involved.

In the interests of fairness, the idea that "traditional" marriage is inherently "better" is just as flawed. In fact, Appeal to Tradition is a recognized fallacy. Ultimately, both sides' positions are almost entirely subjective.

Public: No one should hire people based on their race, their color, or their sexual preference!
Hollywood: Okay.
Public: Well?
Hollywood: Well what?
Public: Why aren't you hiring more minorities?

Piece of publicity art shows Black Widow in a pose that shows off her butt.
Lots of discussion about the apparent sexism ensues.

Tumblr has hundreds if not thousands of posts drooling over Jeremy Renner's butt.
No one says a thing.

I just got in an argument with someone on Youtube who said that people who cross the border illegally into the US aren't criminals.

Or course, they also said that crack cocaine only exists because drugs are illegal, and all the problems with drugs and prostitution are caused by them being illegal, so I'm assuming they ain't long on the smarts.

He doesn't know who Himmler is.

This is like claiming to know about American government under Bush and not knowing who Dick Cheney is.

Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, [among other things], the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it.—Ashley Judd Slaps Media in the Face for Speculation Over Her ‘Puffy’ Appearance

I'm kind of ambivalent about this. For on thing, I know that societal prejudice exists against men too. A woman getting raped is a tragedy, a man getting raped is a joke. A woman abused by a male SO is a victim, a man getting abused by his female SO is weak.

On the other hand, I do believe that the patriarchy, as defined in feminist discourse, has women participating too. For all it is used as a synonym for "men", any societal-level system of oppression has to have women participating in it. And despite the fact that the patriarchy is broadly defined as "the collective societal systems which privilege men over women", even when women are given advantages over men. For example, most teachers are women, yet when one hears about a teacher abusing a student, one thinks of a male perp. Men accused of rape are generally presumed to be guilty in the court of public opinion, and have their lives put under a microscope just like feminists claim the alleged victim is subject to. Yet when you bring this sort of thing up in feminist discussions, the cry rings out "the patriarchy hurts men to!" despite that being self-contradictory to the very concept. I've seen one feminist blog insist that the same horrible treatment they complained about a false rape accuser getting didn't really hurt the accused at all.

And if patriarchy privileges both men and women, then what's the point of making it a male-gendered term? I'd use "kyriarchy", but I really hate how social justice discussions tend to spring up new vocabulary like weeds. I prefer to just use "society".

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with Judd looking puffy, though.