People often say LOTR is a story about hope. (I'm reminded of it because someone said it in the notes of my Faramir post.) And that's true, but it's not the whole picture: LOTR is in large part a story about having to go on in the absence of hope.
Frodo has lost hope, as well as the ability to access any positive emotion, by Return. He is already losing it in Towers: he keeps going through duty and determination and of course Sam's constant help.
For most of the story, Sam is fueled by hope, which is why it's such a huge moment when he finally lets go of the hope of surviving and returning home, and focuses on making it to the Mountain. To speed their way and lighten the load, he throws his beloved pots and pans into a pit, accepting that he will never cook, or eat, again.
When Eowyn kills the Witch King, she's beyond hope and seeking for a glorious death in battle. It's possible that in addition to her love and loyalty for Théoden, she's strengthened by her hopelessness, the fear of the Nazgúl cannot touch someone who's already past despair.
Faramir is his father's son, he doesn't have any more hope of Gondor's victory or survival than Denethor does, he says as much to Frodo. What hope have we? It is long since we had any hope. ... We are a failing people, a springless autumn. He knows he's fighting a losing war and it's killing him. When he rejects the ring, he doesn't do it in the hope that his people can survive without it, he has good reason to believe they cannot. He acts correctly in the absence of hope.
Of course LOTR has a (mostly) happy ending, all the unlikely hopes come true, the characters who have lost hope gain what they didn't even hope for, and everyone is rewarded for their bravery and goodness, so on some level the message is that hope was justified. But the book never chastises characters who lost hope, it was completely reasonable of them to do so. Despair pushed Théoden and Denethor into inaction, pushed Saruman into collaboration, but the characters who despaired and held up under the weight of despair are Tolkien's real heroes.
(In an early draft of Return, Frodo and Sam receive honorary titles in Noldorin: Endurance beyond Hope and Hope Unquenchable, respectively. Then he cut it, probably because it was stating the themes of the entire book way too obviously, because this is what Tolkien cared about, really: enduring beyond hope. Without hope.)
Also, people who know more than me about the concept of estel, feel free to @ me.
Chapters: 4/?
Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Bow & Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Characters: Catra (She-Ra), Adora (She-Ra)
Additional Tags: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Manipulative Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Memory Alteration, Post-War, The Horde as a Sovereign Nation, Adora is in Love with Catra (She-Ra), Catra is in Love with Adora (She-Ra), Therapy Cat Melog (She-Ra), The Horde as a Functional Society
Series: Part 12 of Tell Me Everything, Part 7 of Unchained Heart
Summary:
The war is over, and the Spire Accords have ushered in a fragile peace. Rebuilding lives and trust is just as challenging as the battles fought.
Adora and Catra join their old squadmates at a settlement camp on the edge of former Horde territory, where displaced families and rescued children struggle to recover.
While Catra works to bridge the gap between the Horde and the Alliance to prevent new hostilities, Adora wrestles with the guilt she has yet to process fully. Together, they face the difficult task of mending fractured bonds and building a future from the ruins of the past.
PSA. Do not be embarrassed about going to the ER because of sexual misadventures. Whatever it is, they've seen it. They literally know who to call for this.
"We/I was playing , it got out of hand. " is a perfectly valid thing to say.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 2/?
Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Bow & Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Characters: Catra (She-Ra), Adora (She-Ra)
Additional Tags: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Manipulative Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Memory Alteration, Post-War, The Horde as a Sovereign Nation, Adora is in Love with Catra (She-Ra), Catra is in Love with Adora (She-Ra)
Series: Part 11 of Tell Me Everything, Part 7 of Unchained Heart
Summary:
The war is over, and the Spire Accords have ushered in a fragile peace. Rebuilding lives and trust is just as challenging as the battles fought.
Adora and Catra join their old squadmates at a settlement camp on the edge of former Horde territory, where displaced families and rescued children struggle to recover.
While Catra works to bridge the gap between the Horde and the Alliance to prevent new hostilities, Adora wrestles with the guilt she has yet to process fully. Together, they face the difficult task of mending fractured bonds and building a future from the ruins of the past.
Btw I think it's worth mentioning that I'm like. In some ways an extremely cynical person:
Literally, one of my major opinions on humanity is "Humans really seem to like committing genocide???" (Looks, obviously genocide is a fucking atrocity, and I'm in no fucking way diminishing that. It's just also something that people keep fucking committing.)
I work professionally with survivors of abuse, rape, and incest.
I think that most people are (by design, aka evolution!) fundamentally self-interested (and also that that's usually okay)
I am more caught up on the news than like/at least 90% of people.
So when I say that I think that:
Hope is real
There is real, substantial evidence for hope
I think we're going to beat climate change
There is a ton of evidence that supports us beating climate change,
We're going (continue) making the world a better place
The good of humanity and the world ultimately outweighs the bad
It's not because I'm sticking my head in the sand. It's really, really not!
I'm saying that in very real knowledge of how fucking shitty things are and can be.
And despite all that, I'm still hopeful. I'm still optimistic.
I still think hope is going to win.
You don't need to be some huge optimist to have hope.
Anyway here's a link to my masterpost on why we're going to beat climate change,
And here's a link to a great article on all the reasons that this century is, on average, the best time to be alive in human history.
I used to get called cynical and asked "can't you be positive" when I talked about historical events like wars and disasters.
Then whenever thing shifted to politics everyone around me went "Oh humanity is genuinely evil and deserved to die :) :)" sometimes with that expression.
As a historian, who studies things like the Aberfan Disaster, who studies the US Civil War and how those echoes still continue to this day, how racism and class are inextricably linked in the US, I say...
DO NOT. EVER. GIVE UP.
JRR Tolkien lost nearly all his friends in WWI. He saw WWII. He saw the Cold War. And after all that he said, "For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more--remembering my own sins and follies; and realize that men's hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words".
If a man who has seen so much death and horror can have hope like that, we should take a lesson.
I don’t know how many boys follow me, but I gotta bet there’s some. I just wanna tell y’all to be careful.
Abusive girls exist and what they’re doing is seen as like “badass tough don’t take no shit” but your girl should not hit you. Ever.
She should not demand for you to hand over your phone to look through.
She should not yell at you and humiliate you either alone or in front of people.
She shouldn’t make you distance yourself from your friends or family.
She shouldn’t scratch you or twist your arms.
She should not call you names.
She shouldn’t tell you ‘she’ll kill herself if you break up’
These are just a few examples of abuse and it’s just seen as okay when girls do it and god knows I’ve fallen victim to it a few times, but you shouldn’t have to.
Never worry about not being in a relationship. If they’re worth it, they won’t hurt you.
I wish someone had told me that these things are actually abuse. I would have been able to escape my ex so much sooner. Reblogging to help other people in similar situations
also please note that making excuses for this behavior, on a macro, All Of Society level, is rooted in misogyny, not feminism
the dual idea that women are weak in every way and therefore incapable of causing harm, and that it’s “embarrassing” or even impossible for a man to be hurt by a woman, is not something feminism came up with. it stems from a misogynistic society just as much as overt hatred of women does
be aware of the behaviors. get out if you’re experiencing this. stay safe. and also be aware of exactly what ideology enables it
I might get a lot of hate for this, but I want Helluva Boss to explore the myriad of reasons cis women get abortions. I want it to be explored in a healthy way
Because I feel in the current climate (especially politically) people don't want to ever think of the possibility that a woman won't want children. Millie isn't happy about this news.
And I'd absolutely love for Millie to not tell Moxxie she had an abortion, I want her to feel guilty about it and talk to Blitzø about it, worrying that if Moxxie knew he'd hate her.
And I want Blitzø to convince her that because he loves her he would support her no matter what. And when she tells Moxxie he just says "it's your body so it's your choice, but next time let me know so I can help you through this."
Not all cis women want nor can physically have children. We need to talk about abortion in a much healthier way than the current climate allows.
One such example; it could even be that she just doesn't want kids right now! I know a few people who have kids now who got abortions when they were younger simply because it wasn't the right time. If they hadn't, odds are they wouldn't be as successful in life as they are right now.
An attempt at a plain language breakdown of H.B. 9218 plus commentary
One of my sisters asked me if I could do a plain language breakdown of H.B. 9218, the bill that was introduced in July (that I only recently found out about) that is meant to legally define biological sex, male, and female regardless of what science itself says.
Disclaimer: this is one recovering attorney's take and understanding of the bill.
So below is the text of the bill with my commentary and breakdown in bolded italics. I'm putting it below a cut as it will be long.
A BILL
To establish a clear and consistent biological definition of male and female.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. Short title.
This Act may be cited as the “Defining Male and Female Act of 2024”.
SEC. 2. Findings.
Congress finds the following:
(1) In human beings, there are two—and only two—sexes: male and female, which refer to the two body structures (phenotypes) that, in normal development, correspond to one or the other gamete—sperm for males and ova for females.
Clearly establishes that legally there can only be two sexes, male and female. Further defines that these sexes are to be determined based on sperm or ova. Implied that this determination is based on what gamete the person produces, but this is unclear as written.
(2) Every individual is either male or female.
Reinforces that there can only be male or female, completely eradicating intersex and nonbinary people.
(3) An individual’s sex can be observed or clinically verified at or before birth.
Legally a person’s sex can be determined at or before birth by observation. Essentially what you see is what you get. Again ignores intersex issues. Implies that sex must be assigned at birth and leaves open the likelihood that intersex children will likely be surgically assigned a gender, meaning that more intersex children will face genital mutilation in the name of affirming the gender binary.
(4) Rare disorders of sexual development are not exceptions to the binary nature of sex.
Explicitly notes that intersex issues are not exceptions and classifies them as disorders of sexual development rather than a normal variation of the human genome.
(5) In no case is an individual’s sex determined by stipulation or self-identification.
Removes the ability to transition, even socially. Would mean that all documentation that requires legal sex to be listed could only ever bear whichever sex you were assigned at birth.
(6) There is increasing confusion about the definition and implications of sex as a biological truth and its relationship to concepts and terms including but not limited to sex assigned at birth, gender, gender identity, gender role, gender expression, and experienced gender.
Claims to offer a reason why this law is needed. Apparently if people are confused then we need to make laws simplifying things rather than improving our education system so people can better understand complex phenomena.
(7) Confusion and ambiguities surrounding the definitions of sex, male, female, and related terms can hinder individual efforts to enjoy equal treatment under the law.
Claims that confusion about a person’s sex makes it hard to enforce equal rights. The reality is that the definitions and limitations offered by this bill will hinder individual efforts to enjoy equal treatment under the law far more than any confusion about biological sex and gender would ever do.
(8) Legal equality of the two sexes—male and female—does not imply that the sexes are identical to each other or are the same in every respect.
Explicitly states that regardless of legal equality, the two sexes are not equal. This is incredibly dangerous. Opens up the door to “separate but equal” laws like segregation and banning gay marriage but allowing civil unions. Also opens up room for legislation that defines gender roles and “protects” women by doing things like removing women’s right to hold credit on their own, etc.
(9) With respect to the two sexes—male and female—separate facilities or sports leagues established because of or organized according to physical differences between the sexes do not constitute unequal treatment under the law.
Builds on the idea that there are inherent differences between male and female, and enshrines in law that sports and other gender segregated activities and facilities can not be deemed unequal even if they receive very different treatment under the law. Potential consequences include but are not limited to no more title 9 actions for equal pay for women athletes and making it harder for intersex and trans people to participate in such activities if not outright banning them. Because a group that banned people, including cis women, with elevated testosterone levels from female activities/facilities to “protect” it’s members based on the so-called physical differences of sex, would not constitute unequal treatment under the law on this.
(10) Physical differences between males and females are enduring, and the two sexes are not fungible.
Whatever you are assigned at birth is your sex. Sex is not changeable. This means you legally cannot transition. Period. Also completely irradicates the existence of intersex and nonbinary people.
(11) To prevent further efforts to undermine the longstanding meaning and understanding of sex, male, female, and related terms, it is necessary for Congress to reaffirm and codify the meaning of these terms.
A bullshit paragraph attempting to confirm why this bill is needed. Claims that the confusion about the terms sex, male, and female is such a problem that congress needs to pass a law defining these terms. Again, we could just pay for better education and dictionaries.
SEC. 3. Definition of “sex”, “male”, “female”, and related terms.
Chapter 1 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“§ 9. Definition of ‘sex’, ‘male’, ‘female’, and related terms
“In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word—
Rather than rely on dictionaries and actual science, we’re going to insist on the following legal definitions. We’re adding this to Title 1, and it will impact every single law we already have, including laws regarding equal protection like those provided under Title 9.
“(1) ‘sex’, when referring to individual’s sex, shall be understood to refer to either male or female, as biologically determined and defined by this section;
Reiterating that sex can only be male or female and must be “biologically” determined and defined as in this section (meaning how male or female is defined in this section).
“(2) ‘female’, when referring to a natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization;
Female means anyone who has, had, will have, or would have (read this as should have) produced ova for reproductive purposes. Because later sections of this law state that this will be assigned at birth, you can almost guarantee that this will translate to ‘has a vagina at birth’ or ‘has enough of a vagina for us to assign them female because that will be easier for us doctors’
“(3) ‘male’, when referring to a natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization;
Male means anyone who has, had, will have, or would have (read this as should have) produced sperm for reproductive purposes. Like "female" this will need to be assigned at birth and will essentially translate to ‘has a penis and testes at birth’
“(4) ‘woman’ means an adult human female;
“(5) ‘girl’ means a minor human female;
“(6) ‘man’ means an adult human male;
“(7) ‘boy’ means a minor human male;
“(8) ‘mother’ means a female parent;
“(9) ‘father’ means a male parent;
“(10) ‘gender’—
“(A) means—
“(i) males, females, or the natural differences between males and females, unless such term is otherwise specified or used alone (rather than with or as an adjective modifying other words); and
“(ii) a synonym for sex; and
“(B) does not mean a synonym for terms or ideas such as gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender roles; and
“(11) ‘gender identity’ does not mean sex or gender.”.
This section completely eradicates anything but the binary system of gender and means that there is no way to transition, or to be intersex or nonbinary. It specifically states that gender is the same as biological sex under the law and that no amount of claiming a different gender identity , experienced gender, gender expression, etc will allow you to be anything but your assigned at birth sex. Also leaves room for legislating gender roles. We could return to “women belong in the home raising children while men work” and “women’s roles do not include leadership or running a business” and other such nonsense. This law is terrible for everyone, not just trans, nonbinary, and intersex people.
New bill has been introduced to the House of Representatives Defining Biological Sex
This is something that has potential to harm a lot of people, including but not limited to, intersex folks, trans folks, and even cis folks. Laws like this can be built on and used to rigidly enforce very specific gender roles and hierarchies.
They can also be used to enact stronger limitations on very specific health care procedures, including necessary hormone replacement therapy for cis people who have medical conditions requiring hormone replacement therapy. People of all genders experience changes in their hormone cycles as they age and frequently need hormone replacement therapy to help improve their day to day life. This sort of law would help make outlawing hormonal treatments across the board. Already people, cis and otherwise, are having difficulty getting progesterine and/or testosterone. I know my very cis brother-in-law has had difficulties getting testerone treatments, which again, are frequently a necessary thing for aging men. Similarly, menopausal cis women are struggling to get progesterone.
Laws like this will also mean that all children must be assigned male or female at birth. This is incredibly harmful to intersex children in particular and can result in genital mutilation and forced surgeries.
If you live in the US, it is important that you contact your congress person and tell them that you want them to vote no on this and why. You can find out who your congress person is here.
Here is a link to the full text of the proposed bill:
Text for H.R.9218 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Defining Male and Female Act of 2024
janainaart
baratheonpilled
pixelskylines
