Public feminism post is public

[anythingbutgrey]

ahoy! i have more on this post, wherein Stephen Moyer of HBO's True Blood seemed to think rape was a ~classical way of men being Manly and Poetic and Shit~

Those of us who watch HBO's True Blood would have a hard time denying the show's sex appeal (or at least, sex). After all, Bon Temps, Lousiana (the fictional setting for the show) is one seeexxxy town. Vampires banging humans? Check. Humans banging shape-shifting farm animals? Check. A racy sex website hosted by a main character? Check. A crazed ancient goddess who makes everyone around her bang each other? Check. But female rape fantasies realized by gentlemanly Civil War-era vampires? Um, no, actually.

... MOAR


LET'S DISCUSS HOW MAD THIS MAKES ME. and you. AND THE PLANET. i hope ONTD is talking about this.

Comments

[zauberer-sirin.livejournal.com]

it’s looking back at a romantic time when men were men, but they were still charming.”

er... god, so much FAIL, Stephen Moyer, so much FAIL.

[backtograce.livejournal.com]

I keep reading Stephanie Meyer.

I haven't watch True Blood and don't really want to, especially after one of the people involved thinks that rape is A-OKAY as long as you're being ~classy~. Fuck that.

Once again, I find myself regretting not having a feminist icon. D:

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

I keep reading Stephanie Meyer.

I did as well in the comments just now! Their names are spelled similarly, and they have similar ideas about women...

[mojotastic.livejournal.com]

.....WHA NOW? WTF? Stephen Moyer shut your mouth and buy some accent tapes!

Firstly, that was totally not even a rape. I don't think anyone really read that scene as rape. So double WTF.

Also I love how Moyer is like "Doesn't it suck how now, in modern times, we can't just go around raping people to our hearts content? Those vampires! So lucky!" WTF TIMES ONE MILLION.

So much fail. SO much.

[gwendolynmstacy.livejournal.com]

And again I say what the hell

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I didn't see that scene as rape either (especially when she was so into it, and even says later it was some of the best sex ever), though in the books he *does* rape her at one point--straight up penis-penetration-against-her-will-while-she-struggles-and-is-in-pain rape, none of that "mouth rape" bullshit people accuse Jacob of....true, he was waking up dazed after being tortured and claims he didn't know it was her, but obviously that doesn't make it okay! *eyeroll* He shouldn't have done it with any woman!

I doubt that part is going to make it to season 3 though, since Ball is so hell-bent on sanctifying Bill and raising him on a pedestal while lowering all the other males (Eric and Sam weren't nearly as a-hole-ish in the books)....

In any case though this is messed up, I hadn't seen it, and just makes me all the more concerned for Anna Panquin getting married to him!

[anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

and just makes me all the more concerned for Anna Panquin getting married to him!

that was the first thing that entered my head. this whole marriage thing seems like a recipe for complete disaster.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

I know, I mean there's a reason he's already wed and shed two wives, Anna! And he's so much older than her to boot....

And I don't know if it will last past when there relationship on the show ends...

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Wait. They're engaged? I want to grab her and shake her and yell, "Girl, THIS IS A VERY BAD SIGN. GET OUT NOW."

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I AM STILL MAD, TOO.

Where Bill goes off the rails in this interview, IMHO, is when he implies that the modern woman fantasizes about rough sex but is unable to realize that fantasy (if she wants to) without a vampire in the mix. What's so interesting about this is that vampire fiction originated because writers couldn't explicitly explore the idea of women's sexuality in print--therefore, vampirism was a metaphorical way of doing so. The often unwanted bite was written as unwanted primarily to exonerate the female character (and, by extension, women in general) of any actual responsibility for the bite/sex.

I can't decide if Stephen Moyer is aware of that history and is riffing on it or if he's just talking out of his ass. If he is referencing that, he's still doing a bad job of it. Because of so many things, most of them mentioned in that excellent article that you referenced--rape was never the point of those stories (women wanting to have sex at all was intense enough and the entire point of vampire stories was letting women explore that), women are perfectly capable of asking for whatever they want sexually, and RAPE IS NOT THE MAN'S PROBLEM.

THAT, I think, is what makes me so upset. The quote is so, "Woe is men, we can't rape women without it being frowned upon by society." IT IS NEVER OKAY TO RAPE ANYONE, SO THERE'S NO WAY OF KNOWING WHEN IT IS OKAY SINCE IT NEVER IS. GRRRR!

I'll say it again: DIE IN A FIRE, VAMPIRE BILL.

Apparently, my rage mixed with my memories of the British Gothic Fiction class I once took makes me very, very rambly.

[corleones.livejournal.com]

Stephen Moyer needs to shut up and sit down. Really. Same for vampire Beel.

I don't even understand what it is he's trying to say with all of this.

[noblealice.livejournal.com]

At least the article seems to get the right idea (ie. Stephen Moyer is a crackhead) and is like "Ummm.....no."

THIS is my biggest problem:
However, my own reading of the scene doesn't change the fact that one of the actors construed it as a rape, and he thinks that is what women want. It's just that modern men are somehow unable to give it to them.

I AGREE, BITCH MAGAZINE, I AGREE!