#keep talking please

[heshefey]

This man actively flirting with me and telling me I intimidate him, and I find that kind of flattering

[letheanlake81]

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[messithehumble]

I've learned a lot from Messi, things like modesty and comradeship. He's a normal, simple guy. He has a great emotional balance.

Diego Milito

[vengarl-of-forossa]

father-of-humanity replied to your post:what is your best physical feature?

I’d say your best feature is the ability to somehow sell stuff without a body.

// Could we not attribute that to his silky voice?

[purgatorical]

How does such a harsh, husky voice come from a cute, rogue-like elf????? I like it a lot, holy crap

[vanchlo]

I bet you like Niall Horan.

I bet you're right.

[katrinapavela]

Quite. With them talking about Olivia and Fitz and all the sex they have (that’s all I can see on my dash most days), it’s really reductive , especially since the character is a black woman- and um- it’s strange that people are all, “Olivia is no Jezebel!” but her sexuality and availability to Fitz is what is focused on and celebrated the most. I will be the first to say that it’s complicated, in that it can be argued that black women are seeing Olivia’s sexuality via their own gaze. However, since we don’t function in a vacuum, and our views are shaped by media, history and present, one should always try to interrogate that place/gaze with ruthless insight. I don’t see that at all, in this fandom, no matter how lauded certain essayists are. With regards to Fitz and Olivia, I keep telling people that the personal is the political, and that Fitz and Olivia embody it as well as living it. Okay, so it’s not Hemmings and Jefferson, in that Olivia is a free and independent woman, but Fitz has done some disturbing things to Olivia, taking advantage of his power and position. Getting his friend to spy on her, dragging her out of her bed so that he could have an audience with her over the Thorngate situation. There’s a power dynamic in that which is unsettling, no? Like a bit Hemmings and Jefferson unsettling that Olivia opined back them? In that Olivia has tried to leave and call the relationship off at turns, and Fitz refusing at turns and she feels powerless*? I am aware that I’ve lost followers due to my increasing brusqueness (and people just being tired of Scandal on their dash), but it would have been erroneous to have people’s careless talk about Rhimes and the show go unchallenged. I still stand by my surprised and saddened statement, because I expected better from a predominately black, female fandom. Oop at me. *watch people misread this and say that jp says that Fitz is raping Olivia. Watch.

—jazzypom (click name to see entire conversation)

I’m quoting some folks today because of the points they are making, not that agree with it all. I find this response interesting for a couple of reasons, the absolute least of which is the (presumed) indirect mention of me and my writing:

1) The fact that some people in the fandom choose to celebrate the sexual relationship between Fitz and Olivia is their business. You can’t insist on how people personally relate to Scandal , or how they choose to express their fervor in the fandom. You are expressing your fandom fervor in your own way just as they are. To think that their way of expressing their joy, or annoyances with the show is reductive, is besides the point. Continue to make your points known because no one is trying to bury your voice. On the contrary, it is you who so wishes to change the voices of others because you deem those voices counterproductive to some imagined agenda that we are all assumed to share for this show. No one is representative of this entire fandom, no matter how many reblogs they get. You should also consider the fact that Tumblr is kind of space that invites all types of fandom fervor—be it intellectual discourse or aggressive reblogs of Scandal porn. Thems the breaks of this space. I’m sure you’ve carved out your niche. If you don’t like the Scandal porn that is overwhelming your dash, start looking for new people to follow, and unfollow others.

2) Does Olivia’s sexuality somehow compromise her awesomness for you? People’s celebration of Olivia’s sexuality and Olitz sex is not an indictment of Olivia’s sexual availability to Fitz. Nor is it a reflection of what the show runners actually think about Olivia. It is a reflection of what some people respond to. Newsflash: people overwhelmingly respond to sex! Why do you think it’s sprinkled into so many shows? Copulation=titillation and some people like it. That does not mean Olivia is a ‘jezebel’. What would you have her be instead? A pearl-clutching asexual? A sassy sex-less ‘sistah’? You want to disregard that aspect of the Olitz relationship because it’s not important to you, then please go on. But don’t opine others for choosing to do so. People enjoy different aspects of this show.

3) I’m fairly confident that you have misread the Jefferson-Hemmings mention by Olivia in HBMP. She specifically used that example to throw a dagger right at Fitz because she wanted to hurt him by using a gross example that was not at all equivalent to their situation. I can’t recall the interview, but Kerry Washington said as much. She knew that to use that relationship as a way of conveying how overwhelmed and lacking in control she was, that that would push Fitz back. She—Olivia—doesn’t like lacking control, and she doesn’t like feeling fearful (who does?!) which is exactly what she was feeling while being with Fitz when she was at the WH. Her decision to leave was about factors that were connected to the relationship (what it represented), not the interpersonal dynamics of the relationship itself. I can’t even begin to tell you how Olivia is not physically arrested by that man, but she is the one who REFUSES to emotionally de-invest in Fitz. And clearly Fitz refuses to de-invest himself emotionally of her. Do you actually think that Fitz could make her be in a relationship with him if she did not want to? Did he not let her go when she demanded it in Beltway Unbuckled ? Did SHE not bring herself to him again after that? This is what I mean by people like you taking away her agency and making the black/white power dynamic so absolutely rigid. It’s not that clear cut on this show.

4) You are not at all being brusque—at least I don’t think so. I find what you have to say readable because you generally don’t insult people. Now, with regard to expecting “better from a predominately black, female fandom” are you not rendering our opinions monolithic? Are you not saying that we need to fall in-line and get with the programme? By the way, what is the programme because I missed the secret black-women-who-watch-Scandal meeting. I’m not trying to be cute, but It really gets on my tits when I see other black women act as if we need to all express ourselves in the same way because surely we must all feel the same. Are we black-checking? gender-checking? black feminist/womanist-checking? Because some type attempt at ‘checking’ is going on in your statement. Believe me, I understand the way you feel. I just don’t think your view (or mine for that matter) is supremely right, or somehow the paragon of positioning about the representation of black femininity on Scandal. Nor should it be.

[thissanctuary-blog]

OFFICIAL RUMOUR TEASER. SEPT 1.