November 8, 2010

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  I've been seeing a trend lately (and lately is meant entirely in my poor perception of time) of, when insulting Twilight (and, more recently, the Bieb), harping precisely on what is recognized as femininity.

  I suppose it's one of those thing I should've recognized and just don't, but, to me, the reason to mock Edward sparkling is just that, in the context of the vampire legend, it makes no sense. Or it breaks from the legend, whatever.

  Alright, fine, even if we want to take the sparkling-isn't-aggressive route, I could buy it to an extend. While there are ways to be powerful while being passive, or not being traditionally aggressive, the fact is that more (traditionally) feminine traits aren't aggressive. I mean, I'm viewing femininity and masculinity here in terms of traits, divided along the lines of passiveness vs. aggressiveness (to speak utterly generally) - and, very importantly, completely divorced of sex. A woman can be masculine and a man can be feminine.

  Now, if you want to argue that vampires have usually been traditionally masculine (not really, but, you know...part of the reason I don't believe in inherent gender roles), then yes you could say sparkling isn't so and, thus, not acceptable for a vampire.

  I'm willing to buy that.

  The implication that one or the other is tied to a biological sex is problematic. Because they're making the extended argument that the femininity implied in sparkling isn't a problem because Edward is a vampire - but because he is male. God, are we so damn archaic…?

  Ignoring the restricting gender roles this creates for males, even, let's consider what this means. While not as readily apparent in the above two images, what's implicitly assumed is that the opposite of masculinity is bad. Vampires are supposed to be strong - femininity is not. Not that the legend is simply traditionally that vampires are aggressive but that Edward is weak and ineffective because he is feminine.

  

  Fear Dexter. You don't have to face Edward. He's ineffectual; he's effeminate.

  So, of course, since the root of the apparent problem here is that Eddie's problem is that he's male and effeminate, what comes bundled in this ingenious argument is that WOMAN IS WEAK. Woman in ineffectual. Female = bad.

  ("Eww, period; and Edward HAS one! Hahahaha" How fucking old are you??)

  What tends to get associated with this is the idea of that Cullen is gay (because apparently the concept of gay men wanting to become women still can't die in some minds). And, invariably, the F word gets tossed around quite easily. Which, again, is a severely disturbing phenomenon. Let me put it this way - if you wouldn't say the word nigger without worrying about everyone in the room beating the shit out of you, I don't want to hear faggot breathed from your lips (so this excludes you 4chan...). I don't understand how we seem to find that an acceptable term to just be tossed around - ever. If you wouldn't say the racial epitaph (including all the historical hate and struggle that includes), I don't understand why you'd utter the other one.

  Of course, I like inappropriate humor well enough. Anyone who knows me tends to know that's the humor I tend to ship. The below picture?

  

  Hilarious. And maybe it's partially because child molestation is one of those that everyone understands that you're an abject monster if you ever found that acceptable, the joke can never enter that ambiguous zone. Obviously it's not serious. Hence we can laugh at it and enjoy the inappropriate humor.

  That's not quite the same with sexualism and (mind-blowingly to me) sexism.

  I went through a tumbler account by some random girl where nearly every other post was an anti-Twilight image. And nearly every single one was about Edward sparkling. And nearly every single one about Edward sparkling was something about how he's gay or effeminate. And, of course, nearly every single one attacking his femininity was, by dualism, insulting femininity and, by extension, implying that women were weak with traits no one should ever want.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  I'm sure the feminists who fought for you to simply represent yourself would be proud.

  Of course, no one wins, really. Part of what's implied, too, is the old paradigm of "I want a real man".

  While you work on that, excuse me while I go write poetry. After all, I'm just a faggy English major, right?

  • 8:28 pm
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