they should put this next to the doors of every grad school building. there should be a legal requirement to put it on the admissions website like a surgeon general's warning
I hate to do this genre of ventposting on here but too many people in real life would Not Like Hearing This and at least there’s a smaller chance of the people I am around in real life seeing this. I feel so fucking suffocated because I am in this nightmare fucking situation and I am going absolutely crazy insane and I can’t even kill myself I can’t even think about killing myself! And that’s so. Like yes obviously it’s good that I don’t have an actual plan and I know I won’t actually do it but I feel fucking crazy because I can’t just say it without getting these sad pitiful looks from everyone around me like “no don’t do that” and it’s like I hate it! I hate it so much! Like oh wow I have people who love and care for me who would be incredibly hurt if I hurt myself and it feels like a fucking curse it feels like a death sentence. And then I feel so ungrateful for that I feel like a fucking nightmare because I get upset when my friends don’t want me to [checks notes] kill myself.
and the thing is I’m not going to I know I’m not going to and so all of this feels so fake and like such a put on performance like oh are we mad that we can’t even pretend about wanting it? fuck, man. go to hell.
Camp aside I do think Dark Betty was a compelling route for Betty’s character. Throughout the comics and various adaptations, she has always been depicted as the domestic option in the love triangle. White picket fences, settling down with a couple of kids and a dog. The safe option, the less “exciting” option. Veronica frequently wins Archie over with sex appeal, something Betty is shown to lack (at least when compared to Ronnie). And so to take that character and depict her as being so severely sexually repressed that she can only express her sexuality when she’s pretending to be someone else…I think it goes a lot deeper than most viewers realize
Archie Comics are my go-to example for the Madonna/Whore complex. For those of you who don’t know, it is the idea that society characterizes women as either the “Madonna” (wife) or the “Whore” (mistress). Is Archie going to choose the sexy socialite or the girl next door? He’s crazy for Veronica, but Betty is frequently written to be the smarter option. Again, the safer option. The option that may not be as exciting, but is ultimately more realistic. Both these archetypes are rooted in misogyny (tho I must stress, it’s not always written that way), they express the concept that some women are not meant to be lusted after, and some women are not meant to be loved
When women irl are pushed into these roles, it can understandably cause a lot of issues. For women pushed into the Madonna role, it can lead to sexual repression. Hence why Betty has to become the “Whore” in order to express her sexuality. She even wears a black wig, Veronica’s signature hair color. Veronica, the mysterious new girl who Archie is crazy for. I also like that Veronica’s alter ego, Monica Posh, wears a blonde wig. To me these choices speak to the admiration Betty and Veronica have for one another
Betty’s sexual repression is a consistent part of her character, at least during her teen years in both timelines. It’s more explicit in season 7, seeing as her entire arc centers around repression and purity culture (shoutout to the bathtub masturbation scene). But it’s present in more subtle (or more obvious) ways in the early seasons. She’s the only character who really gets an arc with losing their virginity. Veronica and Archie have both had sex before the series begins, and with Jughead it’s never treated as a big thing. With Betty though, the first time she brings up (almost) sleeping with Jughead, her mother says something along the lines of “I hope you didn’t let that hobo defile you.” This is another form of misogyny irl, using extreme language to describe a woman losing her virginity. Before she’s even done it, she’s hearing sex described with degrading words like “defile” by the person who’s supposed to teach her about those things. Her main role model. It’s said as somewhat of a joke, but given that Alice is extremely critical of Betty, I wouldn’t be surprised if that attitude had a deeper effect on her
Later on, when Alice finds out Betty is in fact having sex with her long-term boyfriend, she freaks out about this. She accuses Betty of distracting herself when she’s supposed to be applying to colleges (despite the fact that Betty is valedictorian), even getting mad at her for using birth control to protect herself. It’s understandable that Alice would react this way, given that she had a teen pregnancy at Betty’s age. I do believe she is trying to look out for Betty, and that she’s having a hard time watching her grow up. But again, that attitude from a parent does have a massive effect on a child. If we can assume that Alice has held this attitude on sex throughout Betty’s upbringing (which is likely given the teen pregnancy backstory), then it’s no wonder Betty grew up feeling repressed. Add that to her perfectionist complex and need to fulfill everyone’s expectations, and you’ve got a severely traumatized young girl! And that’s before we get into all the serial killer stuff!
TW: CSA
I’m not gonna go into the Hal thing because that’s a whole other can of worms, but I do think the interpretation of Betty being a CSA victim adds another layer to her arc with sexuality. I think she knows that she’s sexually repressed, but she may not realize why she can’t express her sexuality in a healthy way (at least to begin with). She needs to be desired so deeply that at one point, she resorts to filming herself online for strangers- while she’s still 16, mind you. So she’s groomed not only by her father, but by her faux-brother who teaches her how to let more people take advantage of her. This could also be why Alice is so wary of Betty having sex, even when it’s in a committed relationship. It could be why, according to Bret, she “can’t go more than two hours without it.” Sexual trauma isn’t the only thing that can lead to hypersexuality, sexual repression can do the same on its own, but given the dynamic between Betty and Hal, I do think it’s very likely that her childhood plays a role in why she behaves this way
End of TW
These issues with sex follow Betty all the way into adulthood, as seen when she’s talking to Polly about all the bad things she’s done in the past. Of course, she can’t think of many, because her darkness is mostly in her head. But when she gets to the part where she kissed Archie, she says “that’s definite whore behavior” (in reference to her being the Whore of Babylon) (she might have said harlot instead here, I’m paraphrasing). It was one kiss, they never even slept together, and yet Betty thinks of herself as a whore for it. After subconsciously characterizing herself as the Madonna for so long, it makes perfect sense that she’d take innocent acts as more extreme than they are. Sexual repression isn’t something that entirely goes away once you start having sex, sometimes it creates trauma that can follow you into adulthood. It’s not easy to stop thinking of sex as dirty and defiling when you’ve had that idea reinforced so strongly, especially at such a young age
Though not at the forefront of her character in seasons 1-6, sexual repression is still an important part of Betty’s arc. It’s part of the meta Riverdale does on the comic characters; comic Betty is a freak too, one who handcuffs Archie on their dates and ties him up to film “love scenes” to send to Veronica. But she still maintains her good girl image. No matter what she does, she can’t escape the Madonna archetype. Not until Riverdale, where viewers are met with Dark Betty before the fourth episode airs. Right away, our expectations of Betty are subverted; and thus, she’s allowed to step away from her domestic future-housewife image. It doesn’t entirely forget this image though, instead the show uses it to further Betty’s arc with her sexuality. Characters like Veronica and Archie also have issues with sex to some extent, but with Betty her issues stem very clearly from the strict expectations that have been forced on her…the expectations born from her comic counterpart. It’s a really interesting meta and I wish more fans were able to look past the shock-value to see that
a few months ago my best friend turned 21 and obviously we were drunk out of our minds and she was crying so much telling me that i wasn't allowed to die before i was 33. and like. that felt crazy. it still feels crazy to even remember
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