rusty_halo

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The other day I was so upset by this example of misogyny in Supernatural fandom that I thought I might quit watching the show. Not really in protest, because my watching or not makes no difference whatsoever, but because things like this make me feel so sick that it kills my ability to enjoy the aspects of the show that I do love. (Link via cofax7; more discussion in comments.)

Then today I saw the raging cesspit of homophobia in many of the comments to this doctorwho entry and was reminded that it’s not just SPN fandom that has problems. *sigh* (How can people say “they erased the queer because it’s a family show” and not realize how grotesquely homophobic that statement is?)

I’m almost tempted to watch when Torchwood returns, even though I freaking hate that show. They’re bringing Gwen back and not catering to their fandom misogynists–see SPN? It can be done!

(I want Russell T Davies to run every show ever. *misses him*)

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=3189

So, there’s this, which you’ve probably read by now, and if you haven’t you probably should, because it involves the fandom community and it’s important.

rm responded by saying pretty much everything I was thinking.

I’ll add one thing, which is that it is both the concom’s right and responsibility to ban someone who behaved so inappropriately. I applaud the Wincon organizers for doing so, for making a responsible choice to keep their con safe for their attendees.

I’ll also say that, when something like this happens, I feel that it’s my responsibility to follow the links and understand as much as I can about what happened before I speak out about it. It’s clearly not appropriate to respond to this by criticizing how the victims handled the situation. Here is post that gets to the heart of why victim-blaming is so fucked up and horrible: Saying No by fickle_goddess. (Thanks to a_white_rain for linking to this.)

Here is a post about how rape culture works and here is a post about misogyny in fandom, both of which have been sadly demonstrated in action in this debacle.

Also, here is one of my favorite links ever: Sexual Assault Prevention Tips, Guaranteed to Work! (Thanks to jolielaide for pointing me to it.)

I feel so sick and sad about this whole thing.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

I’m having some sort of values dissonance with parts of White Collar fandom. I keep reading these critiques that are like “Neal Caffrey is a thief, he’s selfish, he’s messed up, he has serious ethical and emotional problems!” and I’m like… yeah, and? Why is that bad?

Perfect characters are boring. Flawed characters are interesting. Why do people want flawed characters to be “fixed”? Presumably its those flaws that draw people to the characters in the first place. Real people are flawed and complicated, and they may grow up and deal with their problems in better ways, but people don’t become perfect. They keep most of their core issues throughout their lives, and the people who love them love them anyway. And of course, plenty of “flaws” are just personality traits that can be expressed in both positive and negative ways–take away the personality trait because you dislike its negative expression, and you lose the positive aspects of it, too.

I mean, yes, Neal Caffrey is a con artist. The Tenth Doctor was an arrogant know-it-all, Logan Echolls was a bully, Brian Kinney was an asshole, Sirius Black had the emotional maturity of a sixteen-year-old, Spike used to kill people and drink their blood, Jaime Lannister fucked his sister and threw a seven-year-old out a window, and Methos was a Horseman of the Apocalypse (hahaha, oh, Highlander, I miss you). I probably wouldn’t want to know any of these people in real life, but this is fiction–the more complicated and fucked-up they are, the more interesting they are to play with as characters.

This seems to come up in every fandom I’m in, to the point where I start wondering if there’s something wrong with me, like am I missing some core ethical understanding that comes naturally to other people? But, um, no, it’s just that fiction =/= reality, and I wouldn’t want it to.

Anyway, in other news:

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

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* This just made me choke on my coffee. I think I enjoy The Meathead Perspective far more than I enjoy the actual band Nine Inch Nails.

* I’m not an Avatar fan, but I’m still upset by the blatantly racist movie casting. Just… what the hell? I’m glad to see that the fandom has already launched a letter writing campaign.

* This xkcd comic is awesome and totally nails the “nice guy” phenomenon. The wank it’s generated is severely depressing, though. “Women have nearly exclusive control over the nation’s sex supply, and that will never, ever change“???? *headdesk*

* jaydk and kalichan came over to my place on Saturday night for a very fun evening of wine and television. We watched the first episode of The Devil’s Whore, after which jaydk declared that she couldn’t stand to continue watching history be raped in such a blatant manner, so we switched to the first episode of Life on Mars (which kalichan had never seen!) to get the bad taste out of our mouths.

To be honest, I didn’t mind The Devil’s Whore–probably because I’m woefully ignorant about that period of English history, and because I was only watching for John Simm. He had his shirt off for a whole scene, so I got what I wanted out of the deal. :P

* This panel description has me dreading Gallifrey One. I think it might be best if I spend this convention drinking and chatting and avoiding most of the actual programming. >:( Still looking forward to seeing Phil Collinson, though. And hopefully to hearing interesting insights from the various new series writers who are attending.

* I’ve kind of reluctantly gotten into Spooks–I actually went out of my way to watch the season finale as soon as possible. I don’t love the show by any means. It’s pure genre, which makes it incredibly predictable; it never does anything that a spy drama wouldn’t do. But it’s quite a good example of a spy show, which makes it entertaining for what it is. Well, okay, mainly the entertaining thing is the lovely contrasts between Richard Armitage’s pale skin, black hair, and blue eyes. But occasionally he even gets to do some actual acting! And I kind of love the character of Ros–her competence and snark make her one of the more appealing female characters I’ve seen in quite a while.

* I’m re-reading Pawn in Frankincense despite myself. I forgot how funny this one is as it starts off! In fact, I think I forgot almost everything that happens except for the ending, which kind of blew the rest of it out of the water. It’s a totally different experience to read this series for a second time; everything makes so much more sense when you already know what’s going to happen. Dunnett’s style of keeping the reader completely in the dark for 90% of each book (and the series as a whole) is incredibly frustrating, but definitely rewarding if you’re able to put up with it. It also makes re-reading a whole new experience–you can actually appreciate the subtleties instead of just wondering what the hell is going on. It also helps that I’ve got a book of translations with me this time around, so I can figure out what the hell they’re saying when the characters suddenly switch to French or Latin.

* I’m resisting the urge to write a long song-by-song analysis of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” I know that no one cares about my interpretation of a 35-year-old classic album that I’ve only been listening to for two weeks. Still. It’s all I’ve been thinking about. I haven’t even turned it off at night, because it’ll play in my head if I don’t have it actually playing from my speakers.

* 5years.com is an incredibly helpful website if you suddenly decide to get obsessed with “Ziggy Stardust” 35 years too late. Plus I’m learning all this stuff about glam rock–now I totally get that scene in Life on Mars where Sam meets Marc Bolan!

* I bought this Best of Bowie DVD. It’s all so totally totally awesome for about the first 50 minutes, and then… 1974 happens. Good god. I think maybe I’m a fan of Ziggy Stardust, not of David Bowie?

* I wish I’d gone to the Bowie Ball last weekend. I totally want to go see this all-female Ziggy Stardust cover band in January. And I want to go see this thing at MOMA even though I doubt 1) I can get tickets, 2) that it’s anything I haven’t already seen on the Best of Bowie DVD.

* I finally figured out how to connect my computer to my TV wirelessly. It’s a combination of this and this and it totally works! My TV is a second monitor and I can just drag video files over to it and play them. Now I should probably cancel my cable TV, but I’ve gotten addicted to The Rachel Maddow Show and now I kind of don’t want to give it up. I suppose I could just watch that online too. And I might actually continue catching up on more of those old Doctor/Master episodes now that I don’t have to waste CDs on burning them.

Although I might just watch lots of YouTube clips of young David Bowie instead.

Current Mood: bored

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I’m still floating on a high from Obama’s election. I know he won’t be perfect and a few months from now I’ll probably be bitching about mistakes he’s made, but right now I am just going to enjoy the incredible thrill of his election for as long as possible. I honestly didn’t think America would progress this far within my lifetime. And, speaking as a New Yorker, it’s so good to count as a “real American” again.

I watched the whole Indecision ‘08 special at home last night, and… you guys… Stephen Colbert was crying. Have I mentioned how much I adore him?

I’m also really enjoying all these articles about how the GOP is falling apart. My entire life has been dominated by the rise of the Republican party; Reagan was elected two years before I was born. I’ve dreamed of watching them crumble, and now–HA! FINALLY.

I’m also so pleased that several animal rights initiatives passed. California’s Proposition 2 was a huge victory; it requires that farm animals be confined in pens that enable them to turn around and stretch their limbs. While it’s only a small reduction in the horrors of the factory farming industry, this is still a huge step in raising awareness and reducing animal suffering. Massachusetts also voted yes on Question 3, which ends the exploitative greyhound racing industry in that state.

And I’m pleased that several anti-choice initiatives were rejected. Colorado defeated Amendment 48, which would have defined a fertilized egg as a person; South Dakota rejected anti-abortion Measure 11, which was a set-up to a Roe v Wade challenge; and California rejected Proposition 4, which required parental notifications and waiting periods.

Unfortunately my squee at all this good news is severely tempered by the passage of hateful anti-gay measures in California (Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage), Arizona (Proposition 102 to ban gay marriage), Florida (Amendment 2 to ban gay marriage), and Arkansas (Measure 1 to ban gay couples from adopting and being foster parents).

California is the biggest disappointment, since so much effort went into defeating that stupid ban, and the vote was so close. On the plus side, the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are already challenging it in court. And the one thing that really makes me feel better is that the vote was clearly divided by age–younger people voted against it while older people voted for it. Not to be too crude, but at least it’s only a matter of time before the bigots die out. :P

Current Mood: disappointed & impressed

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Palin’s Wasilla To Rape Victims: Bring Your Checkbook. This article has been making the blog rounds, and actually gave me nightmares last night. People, please, vote against this woman. Feminism isn’t about putting one woman in power regardless of how anti-woman her policies are; it’s about making the world a better place for all women.

And, via cluegirl: Lose Your House, Lose Your Vote. Just sickening.

Current Mood: sad & frustrated

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2642

Big surprise: the Bush administration is pulling more evil anti-women bullshit.

Planned Parenthood has a summary and links, NARAL has a form so you can easily write to your congresspeople, and here’s the New York Times article.

From NARAL:

“Federal law already allows doctors and even health-care corporations (hospitals, HMOs, and health plans) to refuse to provide services or make referrals for abortion. The new rule, which deliberately confuses the definitions of contraception and abortion, would cause disarray in law, regulations, and policy, and make it more difficult for women to obtain birth control.”

Current Mood: pissed-off

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2607

Um, people? Disliking a character because she’s ugly* is just as dumb and misogynist as disliking a character because she’s “blonde and curvaceous.” Can we please try judging female characters based on their personalities and not on their looks?

* Link goes to the doctorwho LJ comm. It's about River Song; you have to join to read it.

Current Mood: cynical

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2590

I’m not really pleased about Steven Moffat taking over Doctor Who, mainly because I don’t think better writing is worth giving up the awesome three-dimensional female characters. (And whatever your complaints are about RTD, he’s presided over the creation of a wonderful variety of diverse and interesting female characters–Mrs. Moore, Harriet Jones, Blon Slitheen, Queen Victoria, Ida, Jackie, Rose, Donna…)

From Moffat:

“There’s this issue you’re not allowed to discuss: that women are needy. Men can go for longer, more happily, without women. That’s the truth. We don’t, as little boys, play at being married - we try to avoid it for as long as possible. Meanwhile women are out there hunting for husbands.”

Before I read this, I loved his work. Now… I still think his writing is awesome, but Reinette seems accidentally cool, and Sally Sparrow’s “Sally Shipton” slip goes from cute to offensive.

And don’t forget:

“Well, the world is vastly counted in favour of men at every level - except if you live in a civilised country and you’re sort of educated and middle-class, because then you’re almost certainly junior in your relationship and in a state of permanent, crippled apology. Your preferences are routinely mocked. There’s a huge, unfortunate lack of respect for anything male.”

*sigh*

Whatever. I’ll be good and give him the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully the women on the staff will reign in his sexist tendencies, and we’ll get lots of good time travel stories. And if it sucks, I’ll stop watching. Life’s too short to put up with something that makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Current Mood: sad

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2545

The comments here make me lose what little faith in humanity I had left.

This brings a tiny little bit of it back.

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Current Mood: sick