I Know There Are A Lot Of Complaints About The “Not Like Other Girls” Era Of Books Aimed At Women,

Ugh literally. Like as a writer and aspiring author myself (it’s my hope to get a novella self published within the next year, even if that’s just uploading it to Wattpad bc idk how I feel about self publishing through Amazon like many ppl do) I’m going to go out on a limb and say that reductionism isn’t even necessarily bad. It can be a literary tool, and the problem is overusing it, like any other literary tool. The reductionism of the one girl being different was supposed to make a sense of isolation easily understood by the reader, and oftentimes it wasn’t meant to be a direct mirror to real life. It depends on your audience and what you’re trying to do but I don’t even think it’s always bad.

And just as you said, nobody cares about reductionism unless it’s to point out a problem, reductionism that benefits the status quo is completely fine.

I know there are a lot of complaints about the “Not Like other girls” era of books aimed at women, some I disagree with, some I don’t. But I’m rereading one of those types of books right now (technically re-listening bc I’m using an audiobook but same idea) which I absolutely adored the first time I read, and honestly I kind of miss that time period.

Like sure it was reductionist at times, but at least the women were unabashedly themselves and pushed back against gender stereotypes. This book is set in a fantasy past based off of Medieval Germany (from what I can tell) and with that obviously comes the sexism of the period, and she had actually realistic feelings on the matter. She thinks about how she wishes she’s a boy because she wants to have a career, specifically a farrier or a hunter, and criticizes the fact that she’s living in a society in which her value is through marriage. She’s practical minded, she looks up to her father and male relatives because she wants the freedom they have, but also feels a sense of displacement and disgust from them because of their sexism, and in general just has so much more energy as a character than I often see in more mainstream books now. And she’s STILL a woman and eventually finds her power as a woman.

Idk this is just a personal pet peeve of mine but I don’t like our current idea of rejecting surface level femininity = rejecting womanhood, either positively or negatively. On the one side you get shamed for it because you’re a pick me, on the other side you get told you’re just a man. And it’s made characters really really bland.

(Also maybe I just am the problem, idk, but I have had the experience of feeling left out and not like my female peers growing up because they were content to uphold patriarchal ideals and I wasn’t. I still put up a good effort when it came to talking about crushes and doing all the fun sorts of “girly” things they liked, but I had trouble finding anyone who reciprocated that energy towards me when I wanted to talk about my interests that didn’t necessarily fall into that category. So imo there is a kernel of truth in the “not like other girls” stereotype, not because other girls are INHERENTLY bad, but because of how our current societal pressures work on young girls.)

I’m currently on dating apps and have been very frustrated to find out how true this is. The amount of, “Just a doggy with no brain :3 I want to be tied up and then jacked off UwU” transfemmes I’ve come across is crazy. And I’m not on kink apps, just the usual (Hinge, Bumble, HER, I’m not even on tinder). It’s also really frustrating because I already have the fact that I’m not kink friendly in my bio so I wish they’d stop liking my profile and leaving odd messages.

I’ve also gotten a lot of trans men? Despite the fact I have “lesbian” in my bio, which confuses me because if you believe yourself a man, and I am a person only attracted to women, wouldn’t that make you feel invalid?? Confuses me.

Just an observation. Why are such a significant amount of trans people (specifically TIMs) so engrossed in fetishes? Why is ‘puppygirl brat transfem’ so common? I’m supposed to believe it isn’t a fetish for 75% of them when the most popular trans-identified creators on twitter and tiktok post fetish shit. And I wondered this when I was a TRA too.

Update!!!

I did have my crashout and I cried in the bathroom at work!!

I love old media warning society of ✨ dangerous butches ✨ bc it’s always

“this woman WILL wear mens shoes and will STEAL YOUR WIFE”

“butch dykes are HANDSOME and GOOD IN BED”

“you WILL be seduced and they have a HIGH SUCCESS RATE”

“they prey on women DISAPPOINTED IN MEN and give them WAY MORE ORGASMS”

“DON’T let your loved ones receive LOVE from AFFECTIONATE LESBIANS”

Me when I fall down the stairs due to my fainting disorder

the terf terfed terfily down the staircase

Y’all I think that fuckin “spoon bread” person made a new account 😭😭😭 i already blocked them once and they’re back reblogging my posts with complete slop that’s genuinely impossible to read

4, 15, 32

4) I wouldn’t really say I am insecure anymore. I used to be super insecure about everything for years but eventually I realized that I was wasting my time and that life is about experiencing the world, and not about how people experience me. There’s a few things I’d like to change (like becoming more muscular) but I don’t see my lack of my desired musculature as a source of insecurity like I might have before.

15) I do have pets! 2 Guinea pigs, and they’re lesbians for each other lol

32) I don’t really have a singular favorite color but I’m currently really into red and blue, specifically the tones I have my blog themed to. Also loves good moss green. Basically colors you can find in nature, I have a hatred for neons and unnatural colors.

no the female character who is a masculine woman is not secretly a transgender man and yes you saying that she is is misogynistic <3

someone: don’t u think it’s disturbing how in the past few years the level of femininity women are expected to perform and the industries they’re expected to contribute to in order to be taken seriously, especially on platforms like social media, has skyrocketed to the point that perfect makeup, contouring, acrylic nails, and eyelash extensions have become almost a social expectation and when women express no interest in adhering to those standards they’re met with vitriol and scorn straight woman who thinks Legally Blonde is the apex of feminist media: okay but it’s my choice? if i want to be feminine i should have the right to choose to do that because feminism is about choice