quote of the morning

[kate_nepveu]

From Tiger Beatdown:

Desdemona [*] is not the person you want to bring into your "ladies cheat too" argument.

Truer words.

[*] ETA: from Othello, people.

Comments

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

I honestly read this first time through and thought "Why would desdenova be particularly relevant to this topic?"

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

Me too! glad I'm not the only one... phew.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

Not only is this a "me three," but (probably because I'm verra sleepy) I actually had to go to the article in question and read up to that point (not that I stopped there) before I realized the mistake.

[cvantien.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad I read the comments before the article, I also thought she was talking about desdenova and had a WTF? moment.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Note to spectators: I am *also* not somebody you want to bring into your "ladies cheat too" argument, although for totally different reasons.

[mswyrr]

It's interesting how some people believe the nasty things villainous male characters say about victimized female characters as if they're true. Prior to this, I thought the effect was limited to Dolores Haze. Most people know her by the name her molester gave her and genuinely believe his opinion of her as some kind of nympho child seductress, rather than a kid some bastard abused.

And now Desdemona is a cheater! Ugh. Cultural osmosis is an imperfect and misogynist little enterprise.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

Also, thanks for the blog pointer. I'm allergic to the IM conversation-style posts, but the rest is great.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Ever see this Pandagon thread on the subject? (http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2005/09/24/public-service-announcement-lolita-is-a-comedy/)

[kate_nepveu]

Welcome. That and http://www.racialicious.com/ are two good new discoveries for me.

[kate_nepveu]

Alas, I had to look up Dolores Haze, so yes, your point is well-taken. (I have no interest in reading it.)

[mswyrr]

Excellent post and discussion! Thank you for linking to it. I was pleased to see someone mention "Reading Lolita in Tehran" in the comment thread; I thought the interpretation there was bang on in its emphasis on male erasure of female identity through coercion. I think that, in particular, the way that HH is unable/unwilling to see Dolores as herself and the justifications he marshalls for what he does are a really accurate depiction of the mind of an abuser in a patriarchy: he uses the Virgin/Whore dichotomy, for instance.

[mswyrr]

I've got to admit that at a certain point in it (about a third of the way in?) I just had to stop reading. Once I got what I was being said, I didn't want to hear any more from the inner workings of an abusive fuck's mind, even if I thought it was very authentically depicted and intended as a condemnation of the self-delusion and dehumanization abusive men practice.