Spinning Roses N' Vines @rosesnvines - Tumblr Blog

itsapmseymour

Still wrapping my head around the fact the phrase "Hold Your Horses" is a play on the word Stable...

To be stable.

zzoupz

actuallyapathy

obsessed w how none of these are the real origin of the phrase

swanpaw

1americanconservative

lakevida

i think its charming when peoples personal lives improve and they get drastically worse at posting

nature-travel-photography

The Lake Pukaki on the South Island New Zealand. - Author: CosmicCoquettee

acatholicrose

#Sacred heart

maddie-grove

I think an experience I had at a book club recently exemplifies the problems faced by today's romance novelists. One month we read a historical romance novel from 2021 that was fairly typical of 2010s historical romance in terms of gender/sexual politics. The heroine has sexual experience, her own money, and a group of female friends who are supportive but have their own stuff going on. The hero is a decent hunky guy whose worst fault in the relationship is emotional avoidance due to a Big Secret. There are background lesbians and the protagonists are chill about it. The sex is enthusiastically consented to. Most of the book club had a very "meh" response to it, mainly due to reasons that didn't have much to due with said politics (like not finding the relationship very interesting or thinking there weren't enough sex scenes), but, crucially, some people zeroed right in on two moments that could be considered in bad taste. The first one: the hero admires the heroine's silhouette while she's changing behind a screen and talking with him. The second one: the hero tries to curb his sexy thoughts about the heroine by getting her a glass of warm milk, reasoning that this is a very unsexy thing to do because it's the sort of thing you would do for a sick child. I personally thought the first thing was a total non-issue in context (he's looking towards her because they're talking, she knows he's there and how shadows work) and the second was kind of a silly, overdone joke but not creepy or offensive. But the people who took issue with it were genuine in their disapproval, even citing our current climate of misogyny as why it rubbed them the wrong way.

The following month, we read a dark romance where the hero (who briefly met the heroine while she was dating his friend/roommate and became obsessed with her after she started commenting on his kinky online account where he wears a mask but no shirt) uses his near-supernatural hacker skills to put secret cameras in her house and otherwise stalk her. Her reaction is "this guy is fucking insane and probably dangerous...but this is really hot and actually I have a feeling he's not dangerous." Which is validated by the story. The handling of the dark subject matter is basically a shrug before a continuous jerk-off sesh. And the book club LOVED this story. Everyone was like "oh, he's not really a bad guy and this is barely a dark romance."

And it's not that I think this is an entirely unreasonable response. If something's labeled "dark romance," most readers willingly engaging with it aren't going to be bothered by the romance being dark. Whereas an iffy moment in a "normal" romance novel might be an unpleasant surprise. But it does create a situation where characters in a "regular" romance novel can't do anything problematic or even anything giving the appearance of problematic-ness, even if it would be natural and/or interesting for them to do so, and where characters in a "dark" romance commit shocking crimes and it's never taken seriously either by the narrative or the audience. So the stories that get rewarded are (a) frictionless, pedantic "regular" romance and (b) equally frictionless set-ups for erotic scenarios. Which is a shame if you want to read a real fucking book, however lighthearted or pulpy.

fake-married-my-dead-fiance

I've noticed this a lot with dramas, that if the audience labels the male lead as a "green" flag, they will be super critical of anything he does even slightly over the line, but if he's a "red" flag he can do almost anything and it's fine.

But some of these characters are really just realistic humans who mess up sometimes, yet it'll be a huge deal because they aren't perfect. It feels like only perfection or terrible as possible, but in between is somehow wrong.

sandmandaddy69

cryptvokeeper

uwillneverknowwho

Not only should teachers be paid more, they should have paid work hours dedicated to lesson planning and paperwork. Drops mic and walks away

micael23

The Galaxy's Best Love Story💖

Un dibujo de Luke y Mara Skywalker estilo Art Nouveau que hice el año pasado.

Epero que les guste 😊😊😊

feminismisstillahatemovement

my-dailydreams

angeltreasure

We know not the day or hour when we will be called and also, there is no vocation without the Cross. Place your trust in God, always.

cvbarroso

Mes de junio... mes del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

“Sacratissimum Cor Iesu in te confido”

June... month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

portraitsofsaints

Saint Justin Martyr

c. AD 100 - C. AD 165

Feast Day: June 1

Patronage: philosophers. lecturers, orators, apologists, speakers

Saint Justin Martyr was the son of pagan parents that came to the faith through Platonic intellectual philosophy. He was the first great apologist and his writing today continues to teach and defend the faith. His writings describe the Catholic Mass and the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Justin died after being scourged and then beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to the gods.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)