#tw;rape

[allovesthings]

There has been several clues in Ned’s chapters that shows that he seems to think that Rhaegar was not a rapist (like that one time he legit compared Rhaegar to Robert in the brothel and essentially said that he doubted Rhaegar would ever do what Robert did) but the fact that Jorah compare Dany to Rhaegar when she is saving girls from being raped just shows it even more.

Robert’s story about Lyanna and Rhaegar seems more and more false.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I’m not quite sure what to make of that Casualty episode. I didn’t hate it, but I can’t say I was a fan. I think it just had too many Casualty tropes that I despise for me to fully appreciate it. I’m also not quite sure what to make of the new character yet. This is not an episode for which I can sum my opinions up quickly, so here I go into analysing my episode thoughts.

Welcome, Dr. Max Cristie! AKA, to many, Dennis Rickman from EastEnders. Lol. I think I’m gonna be calling this guy by his full name, surname, or “Dr. Cristie” a lot, because it’s already inconvenient enough having to differentiate between Max Walker and Max McGerry without adding a third Max into the mix (I think there have been more, but I’ve only watched these three). Honestly, they’re getting almost as overloaded as the Sams at this point.

Anyway, Max (who gets called by his first name for his first review post) is... interesting so far. He feels a bit generic and bland, to be perfectly honest, but his connection with Dylan keeps me intrigued. Some part of me is still convinced they’re exes after seeing this first episode, especially as the history between them still hasn’t been explained yet. It wouldn’t be the first time a long-running Holbyverse male character has been established as bi through the introduction of a male lover from med school - Henrik and Gaskell, anyone?? Though obviously I hope Max doesn’t turn out anything like Gaskell. The closest to Gaskell that Casualty should ever go is Stevie.

They really went out of their way to establish Max as very protective over children, first with the little girl he brought in (whose hair he was awkwardly stroking??) and then the teenager being groomed by her football coach. I’m almost certain Max will have a backstory where either he had a child who died, or he suffered some sort of trauma in his childhood (possibly abuse-related as it would add further complication between him and Dylan due to their similar trauma, and the useage of this SA storyline in his first episode, and how angry he was at the football coach, and also he reminds me of Greg Douglas, but it could be something else) that’s made him protective towards kids. It’s one of those Holbyverse cliches - if a character is protective of children, you know they have some sort of trauma.

Anyway, it’s not this guy’s fault so I’m trying not to hold it against him, but the introduction of a new character named Max really, really worries me because the most obvious option for who they could declare as CEO now that Henrik’s left is Max McGerry. But they wouldn’t want a new character and a CEO with the same name, as that could get confusing. So this makes me think it’s more likely that Casualty will retcon Henrik leaving, and we’ll have to be burdened with the knowledge that he’s still stuck in the job that he is utterly incompetent at and literally hates, rather than away from Holby with the man he loves. Sigh.

Robyn may or may not be leaving, Paul almost definitely is. Meh. I don’t really have strong feelings about Robyn, but I despise Paul. I’ll accept Robyn leaving if it means we don’t have to put up with Paul anymore. It would be a shame for the show to lose Amanda Henderson, as she is a very good actress when they actually give her worthwhile material, but Robyn as a character has hardly had any decent storylines or development since the excellent Glen story.

I don’t know why Robyn would want to marry Paul. He’s so annoying and irritating and bland. But if he makes her happy, then, er, good for her I guess??

I am really, really angry that the show had Faith turn out to be right about the football coach grooming the teenaged patient. Portraying a character who is literally an attempted rapist as some kind of hero to a rape victim is absolutely disgusting. I was hoping that this would be a story where Faith got it all wrong and ended up with egg on her face, so to speak, but evidently not. If anything, it feels like they’re saying “see, Faith’s not an abuser, look at all these men, that’s what a real abuser is!”. And as disgusted as I was with the football coach tonight, or the man hurting his daughter in that storyline a few months ago, I am equally disgusted with Faith and find it disturbing that the show wants to paint her as a hero to abuse victims.

Not only is this deeply frustrating, it feels like an utter letdown coming from Jon Sen, who did one of the best female-on-male sexual abuse stories I’ve ever seen on TV during his time at EastEnders (Mick’s storyline about being groomed by his foster worker). I know he can tell stories about female abusers better than this. So why is the show still romanticising and glorifying Faith? As a queer person whose abuser was a woman, I hate that the show doesn’t seem to care about people like me or Lev.

I know the storyline was more to provide an establishing moment for Max when he confronted the coach in the hall (and I was totally cheering him on when he did!) than it was anything for Faith, but in that case, why include Faith at all? Why not use a character who wasn’t an attempted rapist - someone like Marty, perhaps - to recognise the grooming situation? Or it even could’ve been Jacob! That would tie into all the Tina aftermath lately as well.

On the subject of domestic abusers in Casualty, Marcus is becoming more of a disgusting monster by the episode. Poor, poor Stevie. It was so upsetting tonight, seeing Stevie in one of the most vulnerable moments she’s ever had, and Marcus using it against her to isolate her. This storyline is so hard to watch, although I suppose that’s a good thing with a topic like this, but it’s still distressing. Stevie deserves so much better. <3

It looks like in the next episode, we get those scenes from the trailer with Jacob trying to use his own experiences with Tina to help Stevie see that Marcus is controlling her. I’m very interested to see how that plays out - it’s a genius bit of writing, and I’m glad the writers are having someone other than Faith help Stevie.

[suzuki-violin-school]

Important Shit Masterlist

I decided to compile a bunch important/useful posts into one big list so it's easy to find resources I may have posted or reblogged.

"Through a rapist's eyes" - what rapists look for and how they attack, along with a list of ways to deter them and defend yourself

"Life skills" - ways to avoid kidnappers, rapists, or other attackers

"Pride month" - a reminder of the validity of bisexuality

"About that law in Tennessee..." - some stuff about a transphobic law that was passed in Tennesee

"Christianity: fear or faith?" - light debate about the nature of christianity and its teachings

"Fanfiction guidelines to help avoid discourse" - a list of what some would call the Unwritten Rules

"Safe sex" - the problem with sex ed classes

"Helpful tip" - quick tip on leaving toxic situations

"If you're looking for a sign"

"Kent State" - school shooting tw

"Karen" - the problem with being/not being a Karen

"You're brave" - ableism comic

"Stop Recording" - information about reporting/recording police brutality

"Red Flags" - tw: abusive relationships

"Reminders for anxious or depressed content creators"

"Safe sex" (again) - specifically about anal sex

"Mental illness is NOT"

"What happens when you die?" - tw; suicide

"Abortion info" - Aidaccess

"To anyone chatting online" - tips about internet friendships and meeting with someone for the first time

"Abortion is healthcare"

"When "terfs dni" is in your bio" - the deal with transmisogynists

"Attention content creators" - tag problems

"How to adult" - life advice about important things

"Tumblr tags iOS"

"Educate yourself" - life before google

"Tumblr tag problems" - true/false statements

"Banned tags" - the Listᵀᴹ

"Transandrophobia" - selfish transmisogyny

"do not interact (dni)" - internet safety

"exposing the losers .tumblr" - tumblr virus/hacking awareness

"Salvation Army" - this is not 'salvation'

"Genres" - reminder that all genres are valid (yes, genre, not gender, but that too)

"Dangerous websites" - totally illegal post that definitely doesn't contain valuable information

"Salvation Army 2" - really? homophobic shit on christmas?

"Oppressed being oppressors" - lateral aggression

"Nonbinary tips for young enbies" - or nonbinary people who only recently came out and could use a tip or two

"Tumblr tags" - a fourth one about tumblr tags? @staff get your shit together

"Age indicators"

"Autism awareness" - listen to what the people with autism say about autism, not what the neurotypical people say about autism

"Kink Shaming"

"Sex, gender, presentation"

"Don't do any of this" - a bunch of things you totally should NOT do if adobe says what you've got is outdated and you should buy the newer worser version

"Opressive religion" - it's not just christianity

"Vagina owners" - is it period cramps or appendicitis?

"The 19th century Jewish trans man from Ukraine"

"Fanfiction" - smut or no smut?

"New blogs" - tumblr newbies: how to not get blocked on sight based on pfp alone (because it happens)

"New blogs 2" - how tumblr works for dummies

"Give black women credit" - hhhhhh black girls are so pretty

"How to put out a fire"

"Age of consent"

"Billionaires" - the redacted bible

"Trans people!"

"Trans women" - the problem with passing

[tetchingmad]

Jervis Dark Past.

Here i have a basic outline of things Jervis has done. These are all canon things that can be found in the comics. There is some things that i wont write but he has previously done.

He is not a nice Character, even in all his child like glory and if you continue reading you will find out why.

Pass this point will be trigger warnings. Please do not read if you feel like you will get triggered.

Jervis is a kidnapper, that much is obvious. If he finds someone he believes is Alice he will take them and try to make them be his.

Of course this is never they way and a few things could happen once he realises they are not Alice.

First is selling them to a sex trafficker, next is killing them and theirs bodies disposed of any way possible.

He is a rapist but in his mind it is consensual.

Next be aware is that he is technically a pediophile. His Alices are young to stick with the Lewis Carrol story. This is something I will not write. I absolutely refuse to but it is something that he has done.

[wearepaladin]

I just found out that a very dear friend was sexually assaulted (coerced/forced consent, refused to stop harping her) recently by someone she's been seeing casually. As a man of honor, I consider this man's actions abhorrent and may or may not want his blood for what he's done, but so far I have focused all my efforts on comforting her. But she's bothered by my hatred of this guy cuz she believes "People are not all good or all bad", whereas I feel certain evil acts outweigh any good. Thoughts?

God, that’s fucking horrible. I hope your friend is ok, and this jackass gets what’s he deserves.

but to answer your question, I would preface this with being careful with how you bring this up with her: she’s been through a traumatic experience. Everyone has the potential for good, bad, etc. My whole code of ethics, virtue ethics, is about finding the balance between being excessive or deficeint in core human traits. To find that balance is to be virtuous. This jackass is what would be called vicious in the classical sense, he’s let his vices override his personality to the point that he assaulted your friend. It means he’s fucking weak of character because he could have chosen to step back, but instead chose to hurt her to fulfill his needs: that’s the key thing, that everyone does have the potential for good and bad, as your friend said, but he CHOSE to do evil to her, and that’s unacceptable.

[lcnelyheart]

A letter to my ex boyfriend.

Today, I was asked about my first love. “Who was he? Why did you guys break up? What made him your first love?” They asked and I hesitated. I hesitated because I never talk about you. I’m never asked about you. Half the time, I pretend like you don’t exist. That I didn’t waste three years of my life on you and honestly? I forget that it’s only be 2 years away from you. Anyways, this is a letter to my ex boyfriend. I could sugar coat this, block out his name and make you believe I lived a fairytale - but you asked, I’ll answer.

Dear Andrew Marshall,

I never thought I’d say that name again. I never thought i’d be writing to you again. Remember when you went off to bootcamp, not once but twice? And we had to write letters to each other. First time was for only three months, the second time was for six months. Yeah, I remember that time vividly because those times were the only times I was able to breathe. You were 17 when I met you. I was turning 13, what made you think it was okay to date me? Honestly? Of course back then, I had no problem falling head over heels for you - and jumping to answer you when you asked if I’d be your girlfriend. But being 18 now, I can only look back on that time and ask myself, “What the fuck?” Not only was it completely awkward, it was more along the lines of disgusting. I was a little girl, even if then I screamed at the top of my lungs that I wasn’t. I was! And you took complete advantage of that. When I was 13 I should have been experiencing life, getting my heart broken by a few idiotic boys and screaming into my pillow that my life was over. I should have been going out with friends, dancing at 3 in the morning when we were drunk off soda or some shit. I should have been finding myself, not conforming myself into someone you wanted me to be. I used to apologize for wanting to be more like myself, now I’m searching for an apology from you. Our first few months together was beautiful… As beautiful as a 13 year old can imagine. You told me EVERYTHING I wanted to hear. Right down to, “You’re beautiful.” But that only came after you got what you wanted, didn’t it? You brought me followers, picked me up from school - took me on “dates,” the whole nine fucking yards, didn’t ya? You scurried your way into my mind, made me close my eyes and before I knew it, you made yourself a nice home inside the dark parts of my mind. You knew what I battled with every day, you knew what went on inside my home behind closed doors. You knew and you used that to your advantage, again - I would apologize for this, but now i’m searching for your apology? Like I said before, our first few months were great - I’ll give you that. But it was only because you were so good at keeping up a facade. But your true self slowly started to break through and I should have ran, but I was 13 and had no idea what this all meant. But god, do I wish someone could have pulled me aside and told me to RUN. Guys would hit me up, look my way or speak to me on the street and suddenly you were doing a 180 on me and making me out to be a slut. For a guy wanting to talk to me, even though I never looked there way. You would chase cars down, screaming vulgarities at them, searching for a fight - only because they glanced out their window and our eyes meant in a passing. Warning sign number 1. I remember when my best friend got a boyfriend and she was dying for me to met him, we went to a park and you called me. We were just texting previously and you were fine with it, until I told you i was with her boyfriend as well. I answered the phone, “Why are you calling? Everything okay?” You hung up on me and FREAKED out because I answered the phone asking why you were calling around a guy. I must have been cheating, right? Warning sign number 2. I couldn’t leave the house with my phone on less than 50% charged because god forbid my phone would die. I used to have panic attacks while I was out and my phone started to die, because I knew it was coming. I knew the accusations were coming. I knew the voicemails would pour in, right along with the numerous texts. If my phone died, it meant I was cheating - even if i only went to a grocery store with my mother. I was definitely screwing some random guy in the public bathroom because my phone died. Warning sign number 3. I could list warning signs, all day - for hours. I could probably write a novel on all the warning signs I should have picked up from you, but i’ll stop here. Because 3 warning signs, that’s enough right? That’s enough to make any normal, brain developed, girl - run straight for the door… Right? I hope. I hope because I wish I did and i hope any girl you deal with now, runs for the door because I don’t believe you will change. Because I dealt with you for three years. The lies, the cheating, the accusations, the controlling, the mental abuse, the physical abuse and lastly, the sexual abuse. I dealt with it all and maybe you have changed. Maybe I was used as your punching bag and your way of developing. Either way, it isn’t fair. It isn’t fair that I was used as your way of letting anger out. It isn’t fair that another girl gets to be treated like fucking royalty when I was treated like a god damn punching bag. Anyways, I wanted to thank you. Not a sincere thank you but a big FUCK YOU! thank you. Because, because of you - I can no longer accept love. Because when I walk into a room full of males, i immediately have a panic attack and I can no longer breathe, because maybe their eyes have fallen to my legs, thighs, or my chest. Either way, their eyes are on me and it reminds me of you, and my stomach wrenches together and i forget to breathe, and suddenly i’m outside or locked in a bathroom stall - throwing up. And half the time, I imagine i’m throwing up your words. Because of you, i am a walking mess. I suffer from PTSD because of you - all of those words, hits, and lies, pushed me to my limit and every time i see another guy, I think of you. I believe no guy is a good guy, I believe they all have an amazing facade like you did. I believe they’ll all turn around and end up being just like YOU! Because of you, I have ruined every relationship i’ve been in. Even if they weren’t great - most of the time, i’ve ruined it anyways. What’s worse is when I find someone amazing and can’t even accept him into my life because I expect the worst. I expect him to turn out to be you, i expect his sweet words to turn into knives piercing my heart. I expect his hands to wrap around my throat and shove me into the wall. I imagine him ripping out my heart and stomping on it because i’m no good for love, because you made me feel like I would always be WORTHLESS! This is my last ‘because of you,’ and I want you to take this to your heart. I want this to glue itself to your brain and you can never get rid of it. When you close your eyes, I want you to see my face and all of the bruises you left - I want you to see the flowers poured on my bed and the chocolates stacked high on my nightstand. I want you to see my bloody lip, the holes in my wall, me screaming “NO!” as you forced yourself into my anyways. Because of you, I can no longer sleep. Once every month on the 13th, I have a nightmare. I see your face, I hear your voice. I see the walls close in around me, I begin to sweat and I hear it, “I love you,” And I panic, i try to run for the door and you pull me in. Your hand turns into a beast and it tears at my face - it tears at my body and you’re screaming, “YOU HAVE TO HAVE SEX WITH ME BECAUSE YOU’RE MY GIRLFRIEND!” and i’m begging you, i’m pleading with you, i’m telling you no. But you don’t care, you make me anyways because like you said, I was your girlfriend. I was only 13. I was supposed to have sex with you every fucking day because if not? I was fat. I was ugly. I was worthless. I would never find love. I would never find anyone to accept me for who I was. And after your vulgar sayings, you were on top of me. And you were fucking me, and I was just lying there. Not looking at you. my head turned, my lips pursed shut. And if you were in a particular bad mood, I would have to force my moans because if not - you would get rough and I would have another bruise to make up an excuse for. So thank you Andrew James Marshall, because you took a young girl and you corrupted her. You made me believe I would never be good enough for anybody. You took my self esteem and you threw it away. You took my heart and made sure I would never be able to trust another male again. You made sure that when a man told me he loved me, I would be prepared to lie down in bed - naked and ready for him to have his way with me. because that’s all I was good for. That’s all i’d be good for, right? I wish I could tell everyone my first love was sweet. Romantic. Something that walked straight out of one of my favorite romance movies. but it wasn’t. It scarred me for the rest of my life and i will always be recovering from this for my entire life. I just hope you all take the warning signs and run for the hills before it’s too late. My first love left me with bruises, my face - eyes, lips, cheeks, thighs and arms. It wasn’t only with his fits but his mouth and words too. Now tell me, how am i ever supposed to love again?

[lonelier-version-of-you]

"You should get someone to look at those bruises." "Get out... get out!" "I'm worried about you. Truly." "Well, that's the funniest thing I've heard in a very long time." "What did he do to you?" "Nothing a sharp elbow couldn't deal with." "You're in shock, you shouldn't be here." "You want me to accept sympathy from you?" "Alan Clooney is a dangerous man. You need to make a statement to the police." "No, I need you to disappear so I can get ready in peace." "This goes beyond any argument that you and I may have-" "I have to go to the lab and collect a stent for Dan Clifford, so if you don't mind..." "Please. I'm trying to do the right thing here." "Obsessive-compulsive morality, you need help with that." (S9E48)

[lonelier-version-of-you]

That episode wasn’t nearly as good as it sounded in the spoilers. The spoilers made it sound like it would be more about Ollie’s funeral. Instead, the episode focused mainly on Faith, and on the show STILL asking us to view her as a good, sympathetic person AFTER SHE LITERALLY TRIED TO STRANGLE A TEENAGE BOY FOR MAKING A MISTAKE. What the FUCK.

I’m convinced the show and the fandom would let Faith get away with literal murder at this point. I mean, hell, she nearly did tonight - all her yelling about how Tristan could’ve killed Natalia through what he was doing, but Tristan didn’t know how dangerous it was. Faith DID. She knew full well that she could have SERIOUSLY hurt Tristan or possibly even killed him. And she didn’t CARE.

So, fandom - am I allowed to call Faith an abuser yet? Do I get to do that? Or will any tweet I make calling her an abuser continue to get me endless replies from Faith fans saying I’m being overdramatic and all her actions ever have been 100% justified? Probably the latter. They forgave her for attempted rape and gladly victim-blame Lev for it. They’ll forgive her for this.

How fucking much can the show let her get away with? Trying to rape Lev. Outing Lev in front of all of his colleagues. Using Dylan, tricking him into thinking she loved him when she actually just wanted to use him for revenge on Lev. Neglecting her kids enough that one of them got kidnapped and nearly molested. Falsely accusing a patient of raping his wife a few months back. Bullying a grieving father for actions his son did that he had no part in. And now strangling a teenager. Faith is literally a criminal and an abuser. And everyone’s fine with it because she happens to be an attractive, white woman. (Seriously - can you imagine any of the women of colour the show has had doing even one of these things and getting away with it, let alone the whole list? No. And we know they wouldn’t, because Tina is right there, and was rightfully portrayed as a horrible person for her abuse of Jacob. Whereas Faith is portrayed as sympathetic. WTF is this double standard, Casualty??)

It comes to something that Faith’s 17-year-old daughter has more common sense than her - the scene where Faith was screaming at David and Natalia had to step in and beg her mum to stop... poor Natalia, she’s not the one who should be acting the role of the parent here.

Anyway, moving onto David’s storyline. Jason Durr is as brilliant as ever. I’m going to keep saying this: give Jason Durr a BAFTA. He’s incredible. Casualty are so lucky to have him.

Dylan setting up Ollie’s funeral on David’s behalf was so sweet. Honestly, even if you don’t ship them romantically (which I didn’t before but the Johnrik parallels are kind of starting to get to me...), I think we all have to agree that David and Dylan are soulmates of some kind at this point. I’m glad they’re getting scenes again, even if I wish it wasn’t in a storyline like this.

(Also, they continue to strongly parallel my Johnrik fics.)

The scene with David and the little girl in the cupboard... gah. By far the best part of the episode. Genuinely made me cry, that scene did.

Speaking of the little girl, though, I’m not really sure what the point of her story was... well I know the point was so David could be recognised by the parent (again, I’ve written a fic where Henrik was recognised as Fredrik’s dad before!) and then have the conversation in the cupboard, but still.

And the ending of the episode, with David walking away from the church... :(

Also, moral of the story tonight: don’t play with swords, kids. It’s not a good idea. 🤣

I’m pretty sure there’s no episode next week, though there’s supposed to be a double episode on the 16th. See you all for another Casualty review then. In the meantime, I think I’ll be making some David/Dylan gifs.