So I know I do this every Monday

[stoney321]

but this is how many of you remember to come to HDJM and read all of the awesome writing there. (Hannibal continues to be CRAZY popular, which is awesome.) I'm proud of all of my girls, for sure. <3

Game of Thrones is here, btw, and it took me FOREVER to get it done because I am a total drag-ass today.

Instead of complaining, I will simply point you to this amazing post on TUMBLR (read the comments below the quote) and say that it's just wonderful to see people get that. It took me a while to get that (it took me having teenagers, honestly) and seriously, nothing has been pissing me off more in fandom that seeing people write boys saying that when they're doing something perceived as negative (or simply emotional) that they're being like a "little girl."

My girls love what they love, and don't know that they shouldn't love it. Them feeling passionately about their interests shouldn't be seen as being less important or valuable as a teenage boy loving baseball or cars or whatever. How ridiculous. STOP SAYING THINGS ARE LIKE A GIRL/GIRLY IN A NEGATIVE WAY. It's weak, it makes you look like an asshole, and you're a huge part of the problem females everywhere face.

There's no such thing as "I'm not one of those girls." Because there's a bunch of girls that say THAT, so you're one of THEM. And you're someone that is siding with misogyny when you do say that, by the way.

LET PEOPLE LIKE WHAT THEY LIKE. It doesn't take anything away from YOU if someone likes something you don't. (Unless it's liking your things once they're out of your possession. In that case, it absolutely takes away from you.) :)

Comments

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

That is a REALLY good post.

And you? Are REALLY awesome.

And I love you.

LIKE A GIRL.

BECAUSE I AM ONE.

AND IT'S AWESOME. :D

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Isn't that a great statement? And the comments after, too. It really made me happy to see that people are standing up for girls. EVEN THE ONES WHO LIKE PINK AND ONE DIRECTION.

I LOVE YOU, TOO. You are SUCH a girl. :D

[fiveandfour.livejournal.com]

Hooey, was I steamed about this very thing over the week-end! A "friend" from my husband's past likes to make statements in response to my husband's Facebook posts about how a man liking this or doing that makes him "a pussy".

My anger on this issue started awhile ago - thanks to some earlier comment made by this guy asshole (<--let's just call him something descriptive based on his behavior) - and once I started paying attention to this specific concept, I started to realize just how often our culture reaches for a feminine term when the desire is to put a negative light on something. There's evidence that this very tactic of demonizing female sexuality is thousands of years old (http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/03/maybe-cleopatra-didnt-commit-suicide/) (as if the Bible's not proof enough - I'd really love to hear the story of Lot's daughters (http://www.netplaces.com/women-of-the-bible/adulteresses-harlots-and-deceivers/lots-daughters.htm) from the daughters' point of view), and yet the tactic is still so very effective...

That low level anger kind of exploded over the week-end when the asshole made yet another comment of that kind while thoughts were still simmering about the horrors those women in Cleveland endured along with Elizabeth Smart's comments (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/09/purity-culture-bad-for-women-worse-for-survivors-of-sexual-assault/) about how purity crusades for girls can do so much harm.

I think it's all of a piece, really: all these little instances of negative judgment for anything feminine, and especially for anything sexual and feminine, add up and add up and by the time a girl hits puberty it seems like it's kind of a miracle if she feels any agency at all (much less any positive thoughts on her own sexuality).

In the case of the asshole, I think the fact that he's twice divorced speaks a lot for the notion that while some women may put up with jerkhole behavior for awhile, they do learn they don't have to take it and move the hell on. Or at least, that's what I like to think so as to preserve my own sanity...

Hmmm. Looks like I'm still steamed; sorry about the anger explosion all over your LJ!

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

And again I use this icon titled: Like a Girl.

It's a good lesson to be reminded of.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

That tumblr post is fantastic.

[lynnenne]

Teenage girls RULE.

On another subject, have you read this? It's the tale of renowned author Dan Brown, written in the style of - renowned author Dan Brown.

I think my favorite bit is, "He gazed admiringly at the pulchritudinous brunette’s blonde tresses, flowing from her head like a stream but made from hair instead of water and without any fish in."

[bienegold.livejournal.com]

If only Hannibal were crazy popular on not-the-internet.