[ SECRET POST #3026 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3026 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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03.
[Time Team]


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04.
(Transformers: Windblade)


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07.
[Sesame Street]


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08.
(Transformers: More than Meets the Eye)


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10.
(Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2015)


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16. [ SPOILERS for Aldnoah.Zero ]



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17. [ SPOILERS for Classic Who ]



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18. [ SPOILERS for Inuyasha ]



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19. [ WARNING for abuse, suicide ]



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20. [ WARNING for abuse ]












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #432.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

20. [ WARNING for abuse ]
http://i.imgur.com/2RkP5CT.png

Transcript by OP

[fscom]

I'm an abuse victim with serious anger issues who is still learning to not lash out. I identify with Anthy because she is an abuse victim who DOESN'T remain ~sweet and pure~ after being treated like shit for so long.

So it hurts a lot to see the fandom insist that she's helpless and blameless 'BECAUSE AKIO!!!111': for me, it denies what makes her meaningful and upholds crappy stereotypes about abuse.

(Secret because I've been called 'liar' and 'abuse apologist' for this. Not taking any chances.)

Re: Transcript by OP

[quirkytizzy]

Same. It often shocks people to see just how angry I still get, decades later, about it all. It infuriates me that the only way to be a good abuse survivor is to be full of sweetness, "lessons", and forgiveness. I always wonder if it's worse for me because I'm a woman and people DOUBLE expect that we shouldn't be pissed off or have to learn how to not lash out.

Sometimes the road to peace isn't filled with light and sweetness. It's filled with a lot of cursing, rage, and and absolutely unapologetic attitude towards the anger. Hear hear.

[ozaline]

If people haven't watched to the last episode, or the movie I can understand why they might think she's a doormat *on a literal level the rules of the contest made her so*, but god damn that last scene when she walks out on her brother at the end of the TV series.

It's one of the things I remember the most about the show.

Crowning Moment of Awesome for her to be sure.

[(Anonymous)]

I know right? I love Anthy. ;___;
And man I really wanna watch Utena again.

[(Anonymous)]

This. This, so much.

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds like classic Lifetime-style feminism to me, victimizing people who have suffered trauma and homogenizing their responses.

[(Anonymous)]

Goddamn feminists! Who will end their reign of terror?!

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

I probably could have phrased that better. There are lots of collections of ideas that make up lots of different feminisms; Lifetime seems to use the idea of women as angelic martyrs a lot. It's an idea find particularly frustrating, because it wants to be pro-equality but really simplifes the diversity of women's experiences. And sometimes gets pretty Madonna-whore-y.

[(Anonymous)]

I hear you. People have told (self-proclaimed feminists) that I shouldn't be angry at my abuser because that' perpetuating the cycle, also that I should be king because I obviously don't know how "abuse works".

sa

[(Anonymous)]

So many typos! (I do want to be king, heh). But basically people tell me that I should be kind, forgiving and positive, and a "better, bigger person just like in the Cinderella movie".
Yes, they actually used the recent movie to shut down my anger.

Re: sa

[(Anonymous)]

...Damn. That's tremendously shitty. I think the fact that people like this are well-intentioned almost makes it worse. It's one thing if you actually mean to be hurtful and invalidating. But people who think they're offering helpful advice can be really blind to how awful they're really being.

[(Anonymous)]

That's a really interesting point and perspective.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm totally with you, anon. I'm also an abuse survivor, and the POOR FLAWLESS BB response to Anthy honestly disgusts me. Especially the idea that if you don't think she's flawless, you're blaming her for her abuse. No, seriously, the waifish perfect woobie victim type is actively harmful, and I'm so glad Anthy isn't that.

[(Anonymous)]

It also has the unfortunate implication that says that flawed beings are more deserving of abuse, and that you only deserve to be rescued if you're a perfect woobie. No thanks.

[diet_poison]

Sounds like you have every right to be upset, anon.

(Also, her hair is so cool)

[bio_obscura]

That's an interesting read of Anthy. I never interpreted her as bitter, just twisted and frustratingly deluded.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the night scene when she tries to kill herself and utena saves her comes off pretty much as her being bitter. She feels helpless, because she knows what will happen (it probably has, before), so she just wants to end it all, and even though utena tries to comfort her, we learn that she couldn't believe in her, at least not until the very end. I'd say she was pretty bitter at that point.

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, this is one of the reasons why I don't read fic about abuse survivors much. As badly as I want fic to identify with (and I totally get you about Anthy being bitter about her situation), I don't chance it. I usually write a bit and just share it with myself.

I find most fic about abuse survivors to be oddly patronizing and condescending. Of course, most of the authors I've come across legitimately don't mean it to read as such but I often like a child being talked down to. And I hate that because I've tried to escape that attitude for years.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, i remember being fascinated by her passive-aggression, she was my favorite character in Utena

[(Anonymous)]

So in other words, Anthy is basically a person.

From one abuse survivor to another, I feel you OP.

[(Anonymous)]

I could've written this word for word. I am so sick of the parts of Utena fandom that think Anthy must be a woobie in order to be a "good victim". There is such a split for "good victims" and "bad victims", especially for women. Women are never allowed to be angry or bitter or express maladjusted coping methods. As an abuse survivor who had the same issues, and who's still trying to unlearn all the anger, Anthy is the one female abuse survivor character I could relate to. It's really important that she gets to be bitter and have vindictive feelings, since in fiction the only "nonproblematic" type of female victims have to be girls who remain pure-hearted through it all.

[(Anonymous)]

and not just vindictive feelings! I love how she messes with Nanami. In fact, I love both Nanami and Anthy, because they both do really mean things, in their own way, for their own reasons, and at the same time are so incredibly tragic... they're so very human.

[(Anonymous)]

What? People actually think that? Do they miss the fucking scene where she literally stabs Utena in the back?

Honestly, I'm not in the fandom, but I would have thought there would be more Anthy haters who just couldn't forgive her for that betrayal.

Anthy has never been innocent, and characterizing her as such is so missing the point of the show. The POINT is that although they start out acting out roles of "Prince and Princess", the deeper you get the more you realize those roles - and by extension gender stereotypes - are full of holes. Utena is not a selfless hero, she pushes her ideals on Anthy for most of the show for the sake of her ego. She even spells it out for the viewers after Anthy tries to kill herself. "I never asked you what you want."

And Anthy is not a innocent, passive victim - she has her own will and she expresses it again and again, often in twisted, negative ways. She lies and manipulates Utena, even as she's clearly conflicted about it to the point of despair.

Seeing her as an innocent denies ALL of her depth of character. I can't even.

[solarbird]

Seriously. I mean, like, at the end of the Black Rose arc, in that final scene, one of the people I was watching with even said, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the last fan theory Anthy is secretly the hero just died." I don't see how you get past that arc thinking that way about Anthy.

(I also have rage issues from childhood abuse. I'm a supervillain, go fig, which is why I am torn between Utena-and-Anthy icons and Shego icons here, but went with Shego. Harnessed, rage can be useful, and like many here, it took a while to be able to acknowledge and express just (in the sense of justice, not in the sense of only) anger.

I'm also pretty bitter about it, and while I feel no guilt about that - nor should you, OP - it's still one of the things I deal with in therapy. Because, at least in my experience... it's not as useful. Rage motivates. Not always wisely, but it motivates. Bitterness doesn't - at least, not for me.)