This is the most beautiful, necessary thing I have read in a while.

Also:

“I don’t know how you’re always so right about basketball,” Kal Penn would say, his voice filled with admiration, as he PayPal’d you your winnings. “Dude, you should have listened to her when she told you not to bet against Michigan State in the tournament,” John Cho would tell him."

You found it right there, that's my biggest fantasy I am not even kidding.

I don't really know what to type here? I read this last night and then just didn't sleep because it brought back memories of just.. well. Lots of stuff buried? I don't know. I feel like I should leave a comment whenever a piece of writing really touches me, and this did.
--
"“Don’t be clever,” the king said. “Go and play outside, where people can see you.” A girl is least safe at the age when men begin to notice her while she is trying to play. A man who wants to notice something cannot be talked out of it. He notices, then he remarks, and then he acts. Always in that order. He cannot be talked out of it. A girl who wants to play has no chance against a man who wants to notice her. His game will beat hers, every time."
--

I've looked "adult enough" since I was eight years old. I have been told and taught that I would need to field men's desires and wants since I was too young to even understand what that meant. Reading this made me want to vomit because it just reminded me of when I learned that it wasn't lies-- all the times my mother said, "Watch out" and "Be wary" and "Watch everything they do"--at the time, I thought that she couldn't possibly be serious all the time. What could people possibly want from me? I was a kid, I thought that exaggeration was just something that mothers DID.

Around the time I started being "noticed" as a girl was the time I started feeling like prey. And every time I tried to break from that, people would make an effort to remind me that I was still prey, that I was still vulnerable, that I was still in danger, and, most of all, that it was all up to me to decide what this meant because it was going to happen whether I liked it or not.

Because of all of this shit happening so early as a child, I didn't know how to differentiate "interest" from "wanting to take advantage." And I still don't know if I do. What happens when people who are used to being treated like prey want to find intimacy with another person? How do you even navigate that and know when you're taking something for yourself versus learning to grin and bear encroachment on your space with brash words and a false sense of "empowerment" and "liberation." Being treated like prey and being taught that "love is being wanted" keeps the cycle going. Is this just a thing that so many woman share?

The most upsetting part of this story, for me, is that despite it being a take on a fairy tale it feels too real. And I feel like I know the person this girl grew up to be in her early 20s, and I wish I didn't.

Oh my gosh, this is fascinating. I was raised Jewish, and something about reading about these books just strikes a similar chord. It's a weird mix of strangeness and familiarity, I guess.

I don't know how to describe the uncomfortable twilight-zone feeling when it comes to memories of organized religion. It's such a weird mix of the comfort of being a part of something and bizarre conditional-kindness and arbitrary, often subjugating/oppressive rules.

Thank you for writing about these// sharing this.

"Reasonable Space Economies and Maze-Prison Sissy Boys" is a movie I would watch again and again

Oh god, lost it at "highest quality heroin." This piece is pure gold.

I just got even gayer
I didn't think it was possible but I think I leveled up

Hi this is my favorite comment.

"FEMINISM! IN MY BACKYARD! JUST...PRANCING ABOUT!" *WAVES CANE*

Just reading that made me feel peaceful! :D

Oof, congratulations and my condolences. Treat yourself to the finest pulpy books/movies/etc, and some sunshine if that is a thing where you live?

Oh man, let me know if you want tarot deck recommendations. I have been doing tarot for like 14 years which means I have tried a lot of decks (It's really hard NOT to accumulate them, even if I give some away!)

Reading this comment gave me a weird amount of peace and made me want to browse a lipstick aisle. I forget about shopping but it is fun!