indigobluerose:

Weird observation:  Bertie Wooster refers to women with phrases like “the delicately nurtured,” and on numerous occasions as “females” or “the female of the species” and for some reason this doesn’t annoy me.  (I would say it even comes across as adorable at times, but that is almost certainly pure bias on my part; Bertie Wooster’s entire existence overloads my adorability senses)

When I read The Last of the Mohicans, Natty Bumppo frequently referred to the women in the story as either “the females,” which made it sound like he was talking about livestock, or “the gentle ones” which was so damned condescending that it made me want to barf.  It is, of course, a much older book than any of Wodehouse’s work, and sexism is sadly just to be expected, but that book stuck in my craw as astonishingly sexist (and racist, for that matter) even for its time.

Why does Cooper’s usage of these phrases bother me so much — oh my lord so much — while Wodehouse’s doesn’t?  I’ve been pondering this… Bertie’s use of his phrases is usually referring to women in general, while Natty Bumppo’s are used to refer specific women, whom he knows personally, and who have names and a part in the story.

James Fenimoore Cooper’s treatment of female characters was so utterly dehumanizing; a double-whammy of objectifying and idealizing.  Through the whole book Natty Bumppo’s attitude toward Cora and Alice Munro is as if someone has asked him to look after a small herd of glass sheep.

And WOW, those two stories have no relation to each other whatsoever, but those phrases in The Code of the Woosters made me think of TLotM, and I have really really wanted to complain to the world about that book for a long time.

(By the way, I’m not trying to suggest that those types of phrases in Wodehouse aren’t problematic, or that everyone is or should be affected by either of these stories the same way I am.  Just rambling.)

I think about this frequently.  I haven’t read the TLotM, and can pretty safely say I never will, but I’ve definitely read some Jeeves and I’ve experienced the same feelings.  I’m always sort of expecting a certain level of sexism in something written so long ago, but I’m usually surprised that there isn’t as much as I’ve braced for, a lot of the recurring girls have real personalities, and that I’m almost never frothing mad at Bertie.  I’m glad you’ve thought about it too! Also glad you mentioned this pattern of Bertie being general where other people are specifically reducing people they know. I think I didn’t know what it was for me that made Bertie so okay until now either.

What gets me a lot more often is how much MORE sexist the comment threads about this series get when people are trying to ape the vocabulary. LiveJournal entries in which you can see people slinging ‘beazel’ about in particular rub me the wrong way so aggressively that it leaves rug burn.  I think they’re trying to be period and cute, but the way they use it and load it with disgust it is usually interchangeable with 'Beezelbub’, even if it kind of seems to just mean 'chick’ according to the internet.  I have a weird suspicion the words are related, though.  

It’s probably because I’m reading comments on a *LiveJournal* from a period in which it was normal to see yaoi fangirls just launch into female characters as being 'evil’ and 'bitches’ just for existing, but I’m always struck by how much more venom for women the (frequently women themselves!) commenters there have than Bertie ever seemed to. 

You can see it in some fanfic too, of course, where it’s obvious the author could barely contain some raging hate and their Bertie comes off as really gross.

pleasespellchimerical said:What would digital prices look like, since you wouldn’t be buying materials?

 It’s not the materials that would affect the price in most cases, but the time involved. I don’t buy new materials for every piece, especially not watercolors.  When I say that my prices include cost of materials, that pretty much means that everyone who buys something from me pays a little bit that goes toward the cost of maintaining my supply of materials in general. It’s not generally for that painting in specific, unless it’s something massive that takes up all my paint or I have to buy special paper just for that project.  Materials are generally not a large portion of the cost, basically. It’s usually something like three dollars.

HOWEVER, PRICING: 

This is the first time I’ve felt good enough about images I’ve made digitally to consider that someone might want one, so I apologize for not having a digital ballpark already on my page. Judging by all the color memes I’ve done in the last month, I think digital prices could end up 10 dollars cheaper if not more, just because they aren’t taking me nearly as long as traditional work.  This isn’t an exact quote, and this is part of what I have to work out in order to make the post about commissions, but it’s likely.   Especially if people will want things in the style I’ve been using on my color memes.

I, like most other artists on the internet, am charging under what I should already, but we could all come to a good spot if I do a special digital event or something! 

auronlu replied to your post:Hi Lady! The other week you were new shows to watch and I was curious … did you settle on anything? I’m just asking because I’m looking for a new show too and we seem to have the interests/expectations. Thanks!

The thing is, Babylon 5’s author pitched B5 to Paramount a couple years before DS9, and it was very, very clear that DS9 lifted concepts and even some *names* directly from that pitch, but the two shows quickly go off in different directions.

…and I say this as a lifelong Trekkie who loves DS9. But what happened with the development of B5 vs. DS9 was rather a sore spot for me for a few years until each show found its own footing.

Oh, I knew about the whole Paramount questionable shit that went on with the births of these two shows, I just hadn’t been aware it was soooo similar at the start and I wasn’t able to stop laughing at everything without sufficient preparation. It’s why I’m not just grumpily writing it off from the awkward start it got this afternoon.  From the little I remember of B5, I know it goes in other places.   I want to be fair to it since I’m already judging everything against DS9 and this is in a special sort of circumstance in that regard.

I grew up with Star Trek (we had an Enterprise phone and enough ornaments that we should have considered another tree among other things) and B5 (action figures in my grandmother’s kitchen), so I was surrounded by both of these shows as a kid and didn’t know then that there was any problem, so it’s a weird place for me as an adult, haha.

Just a heads up, since I’m discussing it with someone: 

I’ll be opening commissions again super soon thanks to that really impressive car repair bill and my continued unemployment adventure.  If you’ve been considering something, consider yourself warned that I’ll be available!  I’m thinking I’ll have something up if not this week, then next.

Here’s my info in general.  It may change a little when I get the proper post up, but this will be good to reference beforehand and I’ll make you read it if you decide to commission me anyway!