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Yeah, so I'm a a bit of a feminist -- not in any studied way. But a lot of my thoughts tend to lean in that direction. And yeah, I did get a tad worked up about seeing some people (not just one person), calling Lori a "whore" or "slut" on The Walking Dead. And I guess there's two reasons that this sort of thing bugs me. And it's not specific to this show, or to any of my lovely flisters. Lori is just a convenient example.
One reason can be (mostly) summed up by what I saw someone post today about the Fringe fandom:
-- Hm, well, coming from the perspective of someone who gets upset when people use words like ‘slut’ and ‘whore’ at any time—not just in Fringe fandom, or in fandom in general, but whenever—it’s because such words carry baggage with them, whether we intend them to or not. They carry negative implications about female sexuality. One of my favorite quotes about the use of these words is this: “[Slut-shaming] is about the implication that if a woman has sex that traditional society disapproves of, she should feel guilty and inferior.”
Whatever our reasons are for calling a character a slut or a whore are, the fact of the matter remains that we are, in the process, promoting a worldview that shames female sexualities, especially those that are considered to be “untraditional”. I understand that this is most often not the intention when calling someone a slut, but in the end, it’s not the intention behind the action that matters. It’s the results of the action. - vengeancebuiltmehastily
And that really is a huge part of why it just makes me crazy when I see this sort of thing. But on top of that , situationally, it just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I am too open minded or too into the whole breakdown of what happens to people when they are thrust into these unimaginable fight-for-your-life hopeless situations. To me, Lori hooking up with Shane after weeks of thinking her husband is dead makes absolute sense to me. It's not discarding her life with Rick, and in fact, when she took the necklace off during the sex scene at the beginning of episode two, the way she handled it, I mean literally the way she touched the object, the way she moved, the way she laid it down, her body language was almost apologetic (if body language can be considered apologetic) and it was almost even what I would call reverent.
I don't have any strong feelings about the character, and I'm pretty sure that I don't even really like the show that much. But I was still shocked to see people reacting in such a negative way to her.
In the end though, I know the specific details don't really matter. No matter what a character has done, what her motivations are, or what kind of a person she is, when I hear those words it's always incredibly offensive to me. I have the same problem with the b-word the majority of the time -- but not always. Even when used in a supposedly positive manner. (Or maybe even especially.)
And don't even get me started on the whole "hbic" thing.
I don't really have much more to say on the matter except that 99% of the time I'm most likely to ignore it. There have been a lot of fictional ladies before Lori that have faced the same judgment -- Kate from Lost being a big one, along with Dexter's Rita -- whether they're being called sluts or bitches or whatever. So it's not exactly a shocker.
My thoughts on this matter are in no way comprehensive, but seeing that Fringe post made me feel like I should address it.
One reason can be (mostly) summed up by what I saw someone post today about the Fringe fandom:
-- Hm, well, coming from the perspective of someone who gets upset when people use words like ‘slut’ and ‘whore’ at any time—not just in Fringe fandom, or in fandom in general, but whenever—it’s because such words carry baggage with them, whether we intend them to or not. They carry negative implications about female sexuality. One of my favorite quotes about the use of these words is this: “[Slut-shaming] is about the implication that if a woman has sex that traditional society disapproves of, she should feel guilty and inferior.”
Whatever our reasons are for calling a character a slut or a whore are, the fact of the matter remains that we are, in the process, promoting a worldview that shames female sexualities, especially those that are considered to be “untraditional”. I understand that this is most often not the intention when calling someone a slut, but in the end, it’s not the intention behind the action that matters. It’s the results of the action. - vengeancebuiltmehastily
And that really is a huge part of why it just makes me crazy when I see this sort of thing. But on top of that , situationally, it just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I am too open minded or too into the whole breakdown of what happens to people when they are thrust into these unimaginable fight-for-your-life hopeless situations. To me, Lori hooking up with Shane after weeks of thinking her husband is dead makes absolute sense to me. It's not discarding her life with Rick, and in fact, when she took the necklace off during the sex scene at the beginning of episode two, the way she handled it, I mean literally the way she touched the object, the way she moved, the way she laid it down, her body language was almost apologetic (if body language can be considered apologetic) and it was almost even what I would call reverent.
I don't have any strong feelings about the character, and I'm pretty sure that I don't even really like the show that much. But I was still shocked to see people reacting in such a negative way to her.
In the end though, I know the specific details don't really matter. No matter what a character has done, what her motivations are, or what kind of a person she is, when I hear those words it's always incredibly offensive to me. I have the same problem with the b-word the majority of the time -- but not always. Even when used in a supposedly positive manner. (Or maybe even especially.)
And don't even get me started on the whole "hbic" thing.
I don't really have much more to say on the matter except that 99% of the time I'm most likely to ignore it. There have been a lot of fictional ladies before Lori that have faced the same judgment -- Kate from Lost being a big one, along with Dexter's Rita -- whether they're being called sluts or bitches or whatever. So it's not exactly a shocker.
My thoughts on this matter are in no way comprehensive, but seeing that Fringe post made me feel like I should address it.
no subject
The idea here, though, that people are calling Lori a slut or a whore? That's crap. Absolutely absurd. End of the world setting where your odds of survival are sporadic at best, she thinks her husband is dead (for a month or two, going by the comics, which is a lifetime in their new setting), and she appears to be monogamous with the person she's currently sleeping with (someone who from her perspective has done nothing but help her AND her son stay alive through everything)... that doesn't at all scream slut to me. Was it because she immediately slept with her husband when he returned, effectively cutting Shane off? Having Rick show up, after she was told he was dead, was a complete game changer. Not only in terms of her resurfacing loyalty to her still-breathing husband, but also in terms of what she's realizing about Shane.
I've not been into the fandom to see these thoughts on Lori, but I have to wonder... what do they think of Shane? From the very start, they show that he has no respect for women and is quite a misogynist. Now, he's no Ed (Carol's husband, that Shane beat up at the waterside) but he certainly has a possessive, manipulative, controlling nature about him when it comes to women. It's obvious he feels he's superior to all women, and probably even most men for that matter. At least with Ed, you know you're dealing with a dumb asshole. But with Shane, it's hard to tell what to expect. He's the type of person that seems like a good guy - and still kind of is - but you can tell things just aren't right with him. What makes him so scary is that you don't really know how far he will take his opinions and ideals. How much of his 'ways' is he hiding?
I think having these harsher stereotypical characters from the onset of the series is a sort of commentary on human nature, that will also allow for character growth as these stubborn cliches will be forced to change and reassess their previous ways. We're in Oz: things start out black and white, then color will be added as the characters evolve. Which has the possibility for some to become worse, not better, simply by how they perceive their new environments but I think that will provide a great contrast to those that are changing for the better. This variety is my favorite thing about character studies.
no subject
I don't really know if I believe it will be resolved in a more three-dimensional way. I don't have a lot of faith in that.