Blackmail, Manipulation, & Witchcraft. Sounds Like A Fun Year😅

so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what

i’m not saying canon pairings don’t have nice vibes as well, i’m just unhinged and find joy in shipping a certain sun god and hero… (≖ᴗ≖)

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

I've been doing a lot of historical/cultural deep dives into the places that I'm (mostly sure) my familys are from & at this point I think the only thing stopping me from full on converting to Catholicism is that I'd have to worship the Christian god. The pre-British rule of Ireland portion of this did not help.

I'm from the south & most people in my area insist on using first names, but I've NEVER heard anyone say only the name. Honorifics were mandatory for anyone older & unrelated to you, but last names were for teachers or bosses (depending on your age). It's always been "Mr/Ms Name" with adults, but every time I see people in media use first names they use JUST the first name. It's Weird & I refuse to believe that people talk like that in real life

sorry, just using this simple map to make things easier lol, if you don't like the divisions take it up with...study.com or whatever

Me: lives in a community where Spanish is the most popular second language, the only option for high schoolers that want to learn a language, & most of my friends speak it

Also me: tries to learn every language other than Spanish

Rachel has ace/lesbophobic energy and I don’t like it.

I feel like this is not talked about enough and there are about a thousand things to unpack in regards to this one idea, but with the treatment of TGOEM, to the secret relationship hiding within, by proxy the erasure of asexuality and the demonising of lesbians, so on, it paints something of an unflattering image for Rachel and her thoughts and feelings towards these groups.

Beginning with the matter of erasure, Rachel has a problem with that throughout the entirety of this series. The entire cast has been stripped of any bisexuality previously there, most notably done with Apollo, which is strange on its own. Especially if you’re considering that this comic is praised for "really pushing the boundaries" and whatever else. But then we land on the matter of the goddesses of eternal maidenhood, the virgin goddesses, the asexual goddesses.

Speaking of, let’s start by clarifying that fact as people tend to get a little pissy about the matter. They are in fact asexual to some extent or the other. They actively of their own volition chose to take a vow of eternal chastity, no one forced their hand, there was no patriarchy that backed them into a corner, they chose that way of life. The only goddess that argument can sort of maybe be made for is Hestia due to how she ended up taking the vow. And yet, she still made that choice and it still needs to be respected. It is no one's place to disrespect that vow just because you personally feel like it regardless of how that path was chosen. It is highly disrespectful to treat and depict the virgin goddesses as anything but their given title. Furthermore, for more clarification, I am not associating asexuality with virginity. The connection exists with these goddesses due to the fact that with how things worked then, it makes sense to take a vow of celibacy if you’re not interested in the matters of sexuality. Notice how all of the virgin goddesses are women, it’s almost pertinent that they make their status as utterly disinterested clear. It did them no harm, it was honorary, in fact.

Furthermore, no, “virgin” did not simply mean “unmarried” in ancient Greece. Yes it was treated differently then and there, no it did not have the exact same context as it does in a Christian context (speaking of which, explain to me why a Christian version of "purity culture" exists in a Hellenistic space. That has forever felt utterly ridiculous to me), all the same, it did in fact relate to a being who has not been involved in matters of sexuality, or in some cases relating directly to the hymen. There are several examples throughout writing and stories that showcase the idea of virginity as it is commonly used. The virgin goddesses in general, but also Hera becomes relevant to this. It was said that she bathed in a bath which restored her virginity. And as is well known, she is married. Then further seen in non-mythic context, the Vestal Virgins. the marital age being so low (out of men being strange, but also) out of men specifically making sure that their brides would be virgins. Then there’s further examples that basic deduction skills hand to you: Aphrodite was not considered a virgin, not pre- or post-marriage to Hephaestus. The same story for any of the unmarried male gods. And so on and so forth. The point is that’s a nonsense notion (likely only existing because of the fact that if you were to be wed it was assumed that your virginity would be lost. People simply took the idea and ran with it being exclusive to one another) and is not relevant to the topic of asexuality among the gods.

With that clarified, let’s actually begin on Rachel’s asinine abstraction of asexuality.

It honestly feels like Rachel kind of hates ace people, cite her obsession with whatever she’s calling purity culture. It’s not a stretch to say that she believes asexuality is a part of that culture. From the moment TGOEM is introduced, it is meant to come off as this imposing, oppressive monolith that crushes the minds, spirits, and freedom of young girls across the nation. The same treatment is given to the main goddesses within the program, namely Hestia and Artemis who are treated as mild antagonists. Hestia is completely divorced from her warm and caring nature, being twisted in a hypothetical, vindictive, manipulative, and greedy shell which doesn’t represent the actual Hestia in the slightest. Artemis is depicted as an awful and ignorant friend, and it seems Rachel’s poking at her title of protector of young women constantly. Athena just doesn’t get that much screen time so alas, there’s not much to say regarding her, and yet Rachel still finds the time to make her into a deceptive liar. These are all very clearly malicious depictions of goddesses who in reality rarely cause all that much trouble at all. This also leads back to sexism laced throughout the comic because of course it would be the independent women who are watered down and villainised in this series.

Rachel goes out of her way to treat these goddesses and all they stand for as a direct hindrance to the ways and lives of women, and that’s kind of gross. Women are allowed to be disinterested in sexuality, regardless of if they’re ace or not, they don’t have to be a part of anything they don’t want to be. Being disinterested in, disgusted by, or avoidant of sexuality is not a crime against women as a whole, it is a personal and valid choice, and it is not Rachel or anyone else’s place to treat it as otherwise. Rachel then doubles down on this by further implying that all ace people, or those who have chosen a life of celibacy, are egotistical liars who are hiding their true feelings deep down anyway. Cite the relationship between LO Athena and Hestia, and Rachel confirming LO Artemis is a lesbian in response to an ask. The simultaneous erasure, denial, and villainising in this ordeal is quite disgusting, really. Asexuality is already talked about so little, and rarely in a positive light, and these three are excellent representation and are a source of pride in asexuality, as well as aromanticism. And yet Rachel chooses to make demons out of all of them for no other reason than her weird gripes with people who aren’t hyper sexual. All for poor lesbian representation which fell flat on its face and was more damaging than anything. Speaking of which

There is only one lesbian couple in this series, and it is a horrific butchering of the matter. As stated, she has depicted them as liars and literal frauds. She also further pushes the notion that lesbianism is to be secret, something taboo. Honestly I have no idea how she landed here in the first place, I truly don’t. For someone who claims to be bi, with how aggressively hetero everything has to be in order to be appropriate in her eyes, I really can’t tell. And again, it is incredibly disrespectful to the actual goddesses to depict them like so given their vows and personal decisions. I’ll say it again, it is not Rachel’s nor anyone else’s place to make those sorts of decisions for or depictions of them.

Why people persist in the belief that “asexual = blank slate I can project whatever I want on” is beyond me. I will never understand the hellbent nature of those who are utterly determined to have the virgin goddesses made out to be lesbians, especially with Artemis. It simply isn’t the case. And what confuses me the most about it is the fact that there is an entire pantheon of gods who are from a time where gender didn’t have much to do with who you had relations with,

but their status. Why do you need a lesbian Artemis which isn’t a reality in the first place when Aphrodite is right there? You genuinely want to die on the hill of the ace goddesses being lesbians whenever a very likely bisexual Aphrodite is right there. And so on. I dare say really the only members of the pantheon which don’t really have room for bi depictions would be the virgin goddesses and Hera. Outside of that, you genuinely want to sit there and try to convince me that absolutely no other goddess could be a lesbian? Sure. Alright. That within itself as lesbophobic undertones. You’re implying that lesbian relationships/relations aren’t real because a man wasn’t involved by plastering those relationships and feelings over ace and virgin individuals. It’s weird. Any excuse will be made to erase ace people from existence and it’s kind of old and tired by now. Get over yourselves.

Though, as a closing thought, it breaks my heart that LO Athena’s design is actually sort of rad. I think the silver effect is cool. That is maybe the only time you will hear me compliment an LO design.

Tumblr.com rn