Hello, and welcome to my blog. You can call me Silv or Dove.
I am a communist, and queer. I love history, and studying the history of socialist experiments.
This blog is NSFW. 18+ only, please.
A new world is in birth, be apart of it.
"I had long been convinced that revolution was a science. Generalities were no longer enough for me."
Due to my name change coming in the far-off Soon™️future, I am changing my @ to "doveoftheheadquarters68" in the near-future. Don't lose my blog if ya like me <3
i really thought the point of "being lgbt+ doesn't absolve you of racism as a white person" was that white people arent absolved of racism by being marginalized but it really seems like people think other marginalizations make it okay. no being disabled doesn't do it. no being poor doesnt do it. we need to fight against racism actively no matter what.
big joel being a member in defense of the petite-bourgeoisie is not revolutionary, nor is it unexpected, but it is very funny that one of his main arguments seem to be that "people can't make money off of their own property if other people copy it" man i hate to break it to you. your "property" wouldnt be stolen anyways because every video is literally just you talking into your camera for an hour
(link in screenshot leads to his entire bsky tweet thread)
if you ever have the conniving and, dare i say, sadistic idea of re-uploading his almost completely unedited videos, where he sits in his living room and talks about Avatar:TLA live-action for an hour, be warned: he will retaliate. and his blade is Just.
unfortunate truth of reality is that oftentimes 15 year olds will say/do/believe some stupid bullshit because they are 15 but telling them that they believe that because they are 15 is probably the most counterproductive thing in the entire universe
-> listening to a jaunty country style song
-> hear the lyrics wrong
-> pause. frown. go back a few seconds to relisten
-> hears the same fucked up lyrics
-> check the actual lyrics to see what it ACTUALLY says
What is the singular complaint you mentioned having with the game? I haven't finished it yet but so far i've been enjoying all the art and analysis a lot!
(For context this is regarding a feminist analysis of the game rather than a more general one.)
Trigger warnings for discussion of non-graphic sexual violence and communal dismissal of victims.
Scene recap
So basically there's a Flea named Kratt you can rescue. When you do so, he sets up a bath service you can access for 10 rosaries.
However when Hornet goes into the bath, Kratt appears in the upper window of the room and proceeds to perv on Hornet.
After he appears, the player can make Hornet attack him. Kratt will wait outside, now injured. He claims he was just doing maintanance. Hornet tells him that if he does it again he will be killed on the spot.
From then on, the bath will be free to use and pervertless.
Analysis
The intended tone of the scene seems to be comedic, and Kratt the butt of the joke. He's a freak and he gets beat up! You can even beat him up more after for fun.
That combined with the themes of Silksong including a lack of autonomy and objectification: I can see why team cherry chose to add this scene to the game.
However, I don't like it.
A) Silksong before this is a largely safe game for a woman or woman-raised person to play.
Often media wont grant us a female protagonist without believing they have to "capture the female experience" and do so by including some kind of sexual violence done against her.
Sure stories like that have their place in media, but for 20+ hours of Silksong I'd thought this wasn't that kind of game and that I was safe. That I'd get to play a female lead game where I felt truly equal, and not like some strange Other or Object. Usually stories start with something gruesome to set a viewer's standard for what to expect. Being blindsided with content of this nature so far in is... cruel. 🤷♀️
But, okay. Silksong wants to have commentary on sexual violence. Sure, but... What is the message the game ends up sending?
B) This scene makes sexual violence a joke and offers a nothing solution.
Potraying it as a comedic scene even with Kratt as the butt of the joke does not free the scene from what happens in it. A man believes he has the right to oogle at a woman's body and does so with outright glee.
Yes, Team Cherry thankfully avoided the common (and disgusting) trope of making this into eye candy for the audience. Hornet isn't even undressed.
However what's the joke? That there's a man who thinks he can do this? That's not funny. That's a reality so many people have to live with.
Is the joke that he thought he can do it to Hornet specifically? Haha look at this warrior! He really dun-goofed now! That's not funny either. Its entierly possible he'd do this to any female bug that wanted a bath. The implication he'd do this unpunished if it was someone other than Hornet is gross.
In real life the likelyhood that someone can get away with violently punishing a predator is very low. The consequences for the victim are too awful. What if the predator turns violent? The victim could die. The predator could press charges for assault and the oogling be ignored as "nothing violent" by the courts. The community may paint the victim as a violent and overly emotional fool.
But noo, the solution should be to stab Kratt. 🤨 If you panic and leave he'll just keep charging you 10 rosaries and perving on Hornet.
You can't tell the other Flea Caravan members of what happened. Maybe an oversight by the devs but the message it sends is that they don't care or Hornet shouldn't speak up. Not to mention that even if you do beat Kratt up, he's allowed to stay with the Caravan? What kind of message is that supposed to send? That they don't care if he did it? That they think he won't do it again just because one woman fought back? This is NOT a healthy enviorment to raise fleas, Imma be honest.
How I would change it
If Kratt HAS to be in the game and this scene HAS to exist for "thematic reasons," then here's what I suggest would be changed, (Although Id prefer it wasn't there at all.)
1. Give the player some warning of this kind of content being in the game. Maybe Kratt has a little assistant Flea who warns you before you make the payment that Kratt is gross. Hornet could then tell the little assistant she'll handle it. This would give both Hornet and the player agency.
You can of course argue the lack of agency is a part of the scene, but... listen. Maybe it'll help an audience member who's never been in such a situation to relate and understand the topic better, but that would be at the cost of every other audience member. People shouldn't face unprompted triggering violence for Stephen Gamer to get the smallest vaguest hint of what other people go through.
2. Whether the player chooses to bathe after the warning or not, there should be a way to talk to the Caravan leader about this.
Option A, Kratt isn't punched. The Caravan leader is told that the little assistant has seen things and the leader believes them and Hornet. Kratt is kicked out and the little assistant becomes the little bath owner.
Option B, same as above but the Caravan leader sees the commotion and that prompts sending Kratt away.
This way the gameplay mechanics stay the same, Kratt is punished properly and the message isn't that the victim should just handle it with violence and not expect the community to care.
Final thoughts
Team Cherry has gained enough good will from me with all their other excellent efforts in writing diverse peopl-- bugs, so I doubt this scene was intentionally as bad as it was. I'd like to think they'd be willing to rework it in an update, but wont get my hopes up.
I also want to aknowledge that sexual violence is faced by all genders and done by all genders. I apologise if my clumsy writing made it seem like an issue only caused by men towards women.
Finally although as a woman: I've grown with the fear and stories of this sort of violence, I'm also one of the few who have not faced it to a notable degree. I'm working with what I've heard from others, so if I got something wrong feel free to correct me.
Ultimately I hope this can open a discussion. I want to hear what others think.
Speaking as someone with experience in this context, I'm actually really fond of the Kratt segment, and the way Hornet handles it is a masterclass in character writing on top of being very empowering in my eyes!
Hornet has a system for how she handles characters who invade her boundaries in Silksong: She lays an obvious boundary and makes it clear there will be consequences if that boundary is crossed, then returns initial instances of boundary-crossing with a physical strike. We don't see what happens of someone dares continue to disrespect the boundary she makes obvious in that moment a second time, but it's safe to assume she'd deliver justice to the perpetrator even faster than she does to the wardens in the Slab. And if someone later oversteps again despite her previous warnings (Nuu), or blatantly does something literally everyone in polite society would frown upon (Kratt), she goes straight for physical deterrence.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that the way Hornet handles this stuff is amazingly empowering to see for me. She asserts herself in no uncertain terms without a hint of apology and is not afraid to lay hands to deter someone who dares try to do the same to her. And if someone acts in an outright malicious way that they absolutely know is wrong, she skips the niceties and cuts straight to punishing the slight.
It's safe to assume that Kratt peeped on Hornet in the spa because he assumed she wasn't a threat to him. By reacting with physical aggression and telling him if he dares peer again he'll die (no if's, and's, or but's about it--- if he does that again at all, not just to her, she said she'll kill him), it's safe to assume she's impacted the confidence he has in judging who is safe to prey upon, and the safety in spying on people at all. Hornet also doesn't seem the type to leave loose ends in this situation--- I don't think she'd let Kratt stick around in any way if she deemed him a continued threat to herself or others. It's a funky bit of writing, but Hornet's unspoken confidence in the matter is a good metric of assessment on whether Kratt needs to be dealt with further— and Hornet not speaking to the other Fleas about him also indicates they would be little to no help if they believed her at all, or even prove themselves detrimental, given their values as a group. That fact feels like a respectful nod to how many victims of these forms of abuse remaining silent out of survival instinct, though Hornet's choice to be silent feels like its made out of pragmatism instead of fear.
There's other points to be made in this discussion, but Hornet's handling of Kratt and various other characters who cross her boundaries feels like a wonderful character study of her specifically, which is ultimately all that a story really needs to be in this situation--- but on top of that, it feels like an outright power fantasy, too! Hornet speaks her boundaries without kneecapping them at all, she doesn't hesitate to enforce them, and if you continue to disrespect or blow past her verbal and physical warnings, she has the means to repay the offense tenfold. I'm sure every survivor would love to have that be their reality.
TL;DR— I personally adore the brief storyline with Kratt, and it makes me love Hornet as a character and Silksong as a game even more :>
I kept forgetting my nighttime antidepressant so I set an alarm where the sound was a recording of me saying "HEY. TAKE YOUR FUCKING PILL" because I thought it would be funny. It was funny about three times, and then it started making me mad and I'd dismiss it right away to make it stop. So I handed my phone to my partner, who made another recording sweetly saying "Okay Shira, it's time to take your medication" and now I don't get mad anymore and I take my pill. The "compassion over punishment" camp has gotta get something wrong one of these days
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