I had some thoughts sparked by @deadendtracks post but I figured it might be rude to pile on in a reblog so anyway here they are:
I would also like to add that not only does fandom have some class issues with Peaky women, but Steven Knight himself appears to have those issues too. Like, the shittiest things always happen to the women if they’re lower class, while the upper class women are mostly unscathed? This is particularly true of sexual violence and intimate partner violence. I can’t get into the Linda stuff because it will literally ruin my night to think on it, but re: Lizzie:
I think, as you’ve pointed out, that Lizzie has made choices about Tommy and his bad treatment of her that absolutely make sense given her background as a poor sex worker. Like 100% makes sense. I really feel for her and I don’t cast judgment on her character for that.
I also think that Steven Knight has presented this pretty uncritically in the show, when I think he could have, as the creator of the narrative, presented it much more critically. Like I, as a viewer, understand why she stays with him, but I still fault him for doing these things to her and I wish the show would in some way acknowledge that no matter what profession your partner has previously held, you should treat them with basic respect!
I absolutely cannot get over the way that Tommy manipulates her specifically in light of her past as a sex worker. Like in s2, she’s extremely proud and excited about her new work with the company; you can see her light up when he tests her typing. But then at the end of the season he puts her in a horrible situation with a man he already knows to be violent, and he does this because he knows that she would rather endure this one very risky sexual situation rather than go back to a life with several risky sexual situations a day. (Possibly he’s also aware of her feelings for him, I don’t deny that, but I would argue that her financial situation with the Shelby company is at least as important a factor in her decision to do as he says.) And then you can see him in s5 being quite protective of Lizzie in regards to Oswald Mosley and Mosley’s insinuations about Lizzie’s past as a sex worker--but in the same season, when she bursts out of the house in a panic about having gun violence so close to her children, he intentionally hurts her feelings by basically saying he will always think of her as a sex worker rather than a wife (”I pay for it in my head”) so like...he’s just using it to get her to do what he wants, which includes hurting her when she steps out of line.
This is simply presented by the story without much condemnation and it fucking annoys me.
Thoughts! Feelings! I have them!