Projections of a Bibliophiles Mind

Beautifully written poem that deals with the subject of purity and temptation in the Victorian era.

In my opinion this poem is a slight parallel of Eve and her fall from grace when she was tempted by the snake. Purity was an important virtue during the 1800s, so the fruit (instead of representing knowledge) represents sex and being tempted by passion.
Once someone tastes the fruit, this person is doomed to a life of misery as a form of punishment for not being able to restrain their urges. In a way the moral of the story is that if you fall into temptation and lose your purity you will die. Obviously now a days the moral of the story sounds drastic, but in the 1800's a true lady had to keep herself pure and innocent till marriage so having a poem teach "sex kills" was logical.
Even though this moral seems a bit out of date it also has insight into human nature. In a way, it's basically a reflection of what happens when you allow the Id to determine your choice of action without having listened to the ego or superego. Sure, repressing every urge is unhealthy but we can't let our animal instincts reign free. People now a days seem to confuse freedom with letting our instincts take hold, but human's are rational and can only achieve real freedom by mediating and thinking about what they should do. Everything in excess can be harmful for the mind and the body. Drinking to oblivion because you can is basically choosing to experience life through a caged perspective, when you are drunk the choices you make are basically taken by the Id, and your mind has less control and freedom over what you are doing.
Of course, sex is different to drinking, but I think this poem doesn't necessarily have to be applied to sex (even if it was written for that purpose), it can apply to anything that can tempt a person and cause addiction.

Anne Eliot, Unmaking Hunter Kennedy

Dear diary,

DAY #1

Today I decided to start my journey to become that paragon of all women, the epitome of all feminist ideals--

That's right, diary. Today, I become Anastasia Steele.



---

DAY #2

A creepy man came into my workplace today. He was buying rope, gags, a Barney singalong, a bone-saw, and the complete works of the Marquis de Sade. I didn't even know we sold books here! He looked very surprised when I gave him my number. We're going out to dinner tomorrow.



---

Day #3

On the car ride over (he drives a Yugo! a YUGO! he must be an undercover billionaire), he played a mixtape of Kenny Loggins and Tom Jones. He has the best taste in music. Nothing is as inspirational as elevator music.

You can, of course, imagine my surprise when he stops at an abandoned shed in the middle of nowhere. I suppose this must be his summer home. After all, I am so special and amazing, only a billionaire would fall for someone as insipid and completely plain as me. They would find my bland normality refreshing and down-to-earth.

---

Day #7

Creepy man and I had sex after two dates. He seemed frightened when I dragged him into the staff elevator where I work and screamed out, "Paint me like one of your French girls!" Oh, wait. That was Titanic, wasn't it? I get my horrendously over-hyped romances mixed up when I get excited. She didn't end up with the billionaire in that one, though. She ended up Forever Alone. So I shouted, "One BILLION dollars!" and put my pinky to my mouth. Oh wait--that wasn't...

Oh well. At least he had money.

---

Day #8

The creepy man has stopped returning my calls. He must be getting ready to propose.

---

Day #9

Drove up to the creepy man's summer shed today. All the lights were dark. I could hear strains of Barney's "I love you," coming from inside. My inner goddess starts square-dancing in a feather boa and galoshes.

I open the door. He jumps out wearing a woman's nightdress. In his hand is a mummified skull. "This is my mother," he says. "I am her special, special boy. She made me what I am! She wanted to protect me! All women are whores! Isn't that right, mummy? I mean mommy?"

"Hey!" I said. "I'm not a whore. I only slept with you because I thought you were rich."

The creepy man blinks. The skull stares.

"You're not a billionaire, are you?"

Barney's singing fills the silence.

My inner-goddess stops dancing. She lets out a fart. "Right, then. Thanks for, well, nothing really." I let the door slam closed behind me.

Creepy man comes running out with the saw he bought when we first met. He runs towards the car. I grab my whip from the passenger seat and snap it out at him Indiana Jones style. My inner-goddess makes guns with her fingers and says, "Pow! Pow! I got you!"

---

Day # 10

One day, I will find the psychotic man of my dreams. One who is good in bed, has billions of dollars, AND buys me whatever I want.

Instead of the kind who, you know, is just a psycho.

A girl's gotta have some standards, you know.

A reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother (Julianne Moore), who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.

This is literature analysed as you've never heard it before..

 

    (Warning, occasional rude word (bleeped))

 

 

thanks The stories of my life...

This is honestly what I believe would happen if zombies attacked STGRB supporters...

On the top of your homepage you’ll notice your navigation bar.

 

 

 

This will bring up your Settings page.

 

 

Now Scroll down a bit until you see this:

 

 

 

That’s going to bring up the template customization page. In the upper left hand corner, you’ll see this:

 

                                                               

Once that is done, beneath the above posted menu you can scroll down. Do so until you find this:

 

 

 

DON’T FORGET TO CLICK SAVE!!!

 

 

 

Now comes the fun part, making that image static. Click on the Edit HTML button.

 

 

This is going to split your screen, with your blog showing below and the code window at the top. Don’t freak out. Scroll down through the code until you find these lines:

 

 

Now, where you see the green word ‘repeat’, replace that with ‘fixed’. It should now look like this:

 

 

DON’T FORGET TO HIT SAVE!

 

 

Okay, so as you’ll notice in the screenshot above there’s a drop down menu with the word Blog selected. In order to assure that your background is fixed for all your pages you have to select that drop down and repeat the code change for each one listed:

 

 

DON’T FORGET TO HIT SAVE FOR EACH ONE!!!

 

 

Good luck, everyone. Hope this helps! 

 

 

*Trigger Warning: This review contains strong themes, to include rape.*

To those that followed my reading progress, thank you. Many of the conversations we had in the comments sections of my status updates got my mind churning and were what led to the amount of research I did on the subjects I plan to cover here.

Before I begin what will likely become a very long rant/public service announcement, let me first say a few words. I have nothing against E.L. James. Nothing. She’s said that this series is a fantasy she managed to put on paper and that she never expected it to gain such momentum. Good for her for perusing her dream of writing. If this book also fulfills one of your fantasies or if you just plain enjoyed it, good for you too. This review is in no way meant to belittle or condemn you for liking these books and nor is it an attack on the author. These are solely MY OPINIONS about how dangerous FSoG is to society and specifically to women. 

Needless to say, this book does not fulfill one of my fantasies. It’s pretty much my biggest nightmare.

“But it’s just fiction!”

No. You can’t use that argument with me. Not anymore. This book is not “just fiction”. This book has become a frigging phenomenon. As I write this, over 70 million copies have been sold in the United States alone, hardware stores have run out of“natural fiber” rope and there are even ‘BDSM for Beginners’ classes cropping up in small town America.

So excuse me, but I can’t just read this and think of it like a fantasy, not when it’s become a reality for so many people and not when I was so enraged by what I found within it.

*Part one of the review* 

Okay everyone, take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in. We’re going to be here for a while. First up is probably the most inflammatory of the statements I’m going to make so we might as well rip the band aid off.

THIS BOOK PERPETUATES THE RAPE CULTURE WE WERE ALL RAISED IN.

There, I’ve said it. I’m not taking it back and I’m not apologizing. If you’re unfamiliar with this phrase, allow me to elaborate.Wikipedia defines rape culture as:

“A term used within women's studies and feminism, describing a culture in which rape and other sexual violence (usually against women) are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media condone, normalize, excuse, or encourage sexualized violence.”

Let’s look at the first half of that definition. As much as we may want to ignore the facts, rape and sexual violence are common in America. According to RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes. On average that’s about 207,754 sexual assaults each year. 54% of sexual assaults are not reported, 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail and 2/3 of these assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.

I could go on for days about how prevalent attitudes, practices and the media condone sexual violence but I won’t because I’m really going to try and keep my words and links relevant to FSoG. Thankfully, throughout my research, I found several…hundred.

The University of California has an interesting article about how social and cultural norms perpetuate rape and rape culture. In it, they specifically address how women are conditioned from early ages to be passive and accept and affect certain attitudes and behaviors. Here are some of the social rules they list and elaborate on:

1. When spoken to, a woman must acknowledge the other person with a gracious smile.
2. Women must answer questions asked of them.
3. Women must not bother other people or make a scene because they are uncomfortable.
4. When in trouble, it is best to defer to the protection and judgment of men.
5. Casual touching or suggestive comments in social settings are meant as a tribute to a woman’s desirability.
6. It is the natural state of affairs for men to carry the financial burden of social situations.
7. When engaged in a social encounter, it is not proper for a woman to superior in any game, sport or discussion if she wants to be accepted.
8. Women should always accept and trust the kindness of strangers if they offer help.

There’s a blog post by Harriet Jacobs that also speaks to this and I urge you to read it in its entirety. In short, it says “…women are raised being told by parents, teachers, media, peers, and all surrounding social strata that:

· it is not okay to set solid and distinct boundaries and reinforce them immediately and dramatically when crossed (“mean bitch”)
· it is not okay to appear distraught or emotional (“crazy bitch”)
· it is not okay to make personal decisions that the adults or other peers in your life do not agree with, and it is not okay to refuse to explain those decisions to others (“stuck-up bitch”)
· it is not okay to refuse to agree with somebody, over and over and over again (“angry bitch”)
· it is not okay to have (or express) conflicted, fluid, or experimental feelings about yourself, your body, your sexuality, your desires, and your needs (“bitch got daddy issues”)
· it is not okay to use your physical strength (if you have it) to set physical boundaries (“dyke bitch”)
· it is not okay to raise your voice (“shrill bitch”)
· it is not okay to completely and utterly shut down somebody who obviously likes you (“mean dyke/frigid bitch”)

Now how do these two examples relate to FSoG? Simply put, Ana, the main character in this series, continuously exhibits the behaviors listed in the rules and seems to have the mentality of those listed in the bullets. She might as well be the case study on which both were based.

Early in the book there’s an interaction between her and a young man named Paul, the son of the couple she works for. This is someone she says has “always been a buddy”. Just after they greet each other with a hug “he releases me but keeps a possessive arm draped over my shoulder. I shuffle from foot to foot, embarrassed. It’s good to see Paul, but he’s always been overly familiar”

Does she tell him that she’s uncomfortable or step out from beneath his arm? No, that’d be going against everything that rule number three has taught her. Plus, she wouldn’t want to come across as a “mean bitch” now would she? 

Just after this, Paul asks her out. “Whenever he’s home he asks me on a date, and I always say no. It’s a ritual.” Is it a ritual? Or is it something more than that? Has Ana, like many of us, been conditioned to follow the rules to such a degree that she doesn’t know how to tell him “It’s not okay to keep asking me out”? Is she so terrified of breaking cultural norms and coming across as a mean-crazy-angry-dyke-shrill-frigid bitch that she’ll put up with his pursuit of her indefinitely? Or does she just not know to put a stop to it because she hasn’t been taught to?

When she turns him down, yet again, he goes on to say “Ana, one of these days you’ll say yes.” Creeped out yet? You should be. How does Ana respond to this declaration? By escaping the room they’re in and getting back to a crowded store floor. What does this tell us? She felt the need to flee. She felt the need to not be alone with him. Part of her clearly recognized the danger of the situation and the repeated advances of her “friend”. But instead of speaking up, she fled.

She never voices her discomfort. She is the submissive, quiet person that society has taught her to be. And 70 million people have read about her and have had these dangerously passive behaviors reinforced, yet again, through her actions, behaviors and words (or lack thereof).

How will this same mentality play out in a situation involving sexual assault? I can tell you, because just a few chapters later, she’s sexually assaulted, by another of her “friends”.

“José, I’m okay. I’ve got this.” I try to push him away rather feebly. 
“Ana, please,” he whispers, and now he’s holding me in his arms, pulling me close.
“José, what are you doing?”
“You know I like you Ana, please.” He has one hand at the small of my back holding me against him, the other at my chin tipping back my head. Holy fuck…he’s going to kiss me.
“No, José, stop – no.” I push him, but he’s a wall of hard muscle, and I cannot shift him. His hand has slipped into my hair, and he’s holding my head in place. 
“Please, Ana, carińo,” he whispers against my lips… He gently trails kisses along my jaw up to the side of my mouth. I feel panicky, drunk, and out of control. The feeling is suffocating.
“José, no,” I plead. I don’t want this.

Luckily, Ana is spared further abuse because the one and only Christian Grey arrives on the scene and saves her. How? By saying “I think the lady said no.” That’s right. Ana can try to push José away and tell him ‘no’ multiple times but that’s not good enough. One sentence from a man and José immediately releases her, bringing us back to rule number four: When in trouble, it is best to defer to the protection and judgment of men. You got that, ladies? Don’t try to fight back because you’ll just be ignored, rely instead on a man. Sort of a catch 22 when the one who’s going to get you into trouble will likely also be a man.

Bear in mind that this little scene takes place in the parking lot outside of a crowded bar, just a shout away from salvation. You’re probably wondering why Ana didn’t scream. Why she didn’t fight harder. Well, I’d like to bring up Harriet Jacob’s blog post again because just after her “bitch list” she says this:

“If we teach women that there are only certain ways they may acceptably behave, we should not be surprised when they behave in those ways.

And we should not be surprised when they behave these ways during attempted or completed rapes.

Women who are taught not to speak up too loudly or too forcefully or too adamantly or too demandingly are not going to shout “NO” at the top of their goddamn lungs just because some guy is getting uncomfortably close.

Women who are taught not to keep arguing are not going to keep saying “NO.”

Women who are taught that their needs and desires are not to be trusted, are fickle and wrong and are not to be interpreted by the woman herself, are not going to know how to argue with “but you liked kissing, I just thought…”

Women who are taught that physical confrontations make them look crazy will not start hitting, kicking, and screaming until it’s too late, if they do at all…

Nobody obtains the superpower to behave dramatically differently during a frightening confrontation. Women will behave the same way they have been taught to behave in all social, professional, and sexual interactions.”

Eerie, isn’t it? I sure thought so. Hopefully by now you’re beginning to understand the inflammatory statement this all started with.

Not only do Ana’s actions and behaviors throughout the book reinforce the horrible societal conditioning that I mentioned earlier but this series also contains a lot of the other facets of rape culture, like victim silencing. For instance, once she’s collected herself, this happens:

“Turning, I glance at José, who looks pretty shamefaced himself and, like me, intimidated by Grey. I glare at him. I have a few choice words for my so-called friend, none of which I can repeat in front of Christian Grey, CEO. Ana, who are you kidding? He’s just seen you hurl all over the ground and into the local flora. There’s no disguising you lack of ladylike behavior.”

That’s right folks. It isn’t ladylike to yell (shrill bitch). It isn’t ladylike to swear (crazy bitch). It isn’t ladylike to defend yourself after you’ve just been sexually assaulted (mean bitch). Leave that to the menfolk. Surely they’ll defend you. Surely they’ll be the ones to address the fact that you were just sexually assaulted. Men, you know, the other sex, the ones that have been raised to talk about emotions. In public.

And while we’re discussing this scene we can’t forget about rule number eight: Women should always accept and trust the kindness of strangers if they offer help. That’s what Christian is to her at this point in the book. A stranger. She’s seen him only three times, in formal or work-related settings, and knows nothing about him other than he’s rich, good looking and that his shopping list resembles those of serial killers (I’ll get to that last part later in the review). But accept his help and trust his kindness she does. She lets this complete stranger remove her from the bar, assuming that as he’s just saved her from a sexual assault, he's not planning one of his own.

When she wakes up in his suite the next morning, pantsless by the way, she accuses Christian of stalking her. He defends himself by saying:

“…if I hadn’t come to get you, you’d probably waking up in the photographer’s (José’s) bed, and from what I can remember, you weren’t overly enthused about him pressing his suit,” he (Christian) says acidly. 
Pressing his suit! I glance up at Christian. He’s glaring at me, eyes blazing, aggrieved. I try to bit my lip, but I fail to repress my giggle.
“Which Medieval chronicle did you escape from? You sound like a courtly knight.”

You got that? Stalking’s okay. Because it’s better than being raped.

*facepalm*

I’m almost at a loss at how to address the rest of this without copious amounts of swearing. How little she’s concerned with her “friend’s” behavior is appalling. That there’s no thought on her end about Christian’s allusion to her rape escape is appalling. How she glosses over it all and makes a fucking joke about it is appalling. It continues by the way.

“I would have been fine. I was with Kate.”
“And the photographer?” he (Christian) snaps at me.
“José just got out of line.” I shrug.

A shrug is a dismissive gesture, just in case you were wondering. She dismisses sexual assault as ‘getting out of line’. She downplays the severity of what happened. Why does she do this? Because it’s awkward to talk about it? Because it’s scary to think that someone she knows and trusts assaulted her and that when she tried to push him away and said ‘no’ he ignored her? Guess what? It’s always going to suck to talk about. It’s always scary to realize that statistics say that if you’re raped, you’ll know your attacker. But we need to talk about these things because if we don’t, nothing will ever change.

And now the grand finale, victim shaming and blaming. You see, José feels bad for what he did. At first, Ana is pissed at him, as she should be, and even after he calls her numerous times and leaves several messages, she continues to ignore him, deciding to “let him stew”. Then the NEXT DAY, this happens:

"The memory of José’s attempted kiss haunts me. I’m beginning to feel a bit cruel not calling him back."

She feels cruel? She feels cruel for not returning the calls of the man that forced himself upon her? Well, of course she does. She's been trained to be gracious and polite. He's addressing her. Rule number one has taught her that she should smile in this situation so it would make sense that she feels bad for not doing so. 

Two days later, they talk:

“Can I see you? I’m sorry about Friday night. I was drunk…and you…well. Ana – please forgive me.”
“Of course, I forgive you José. Just don’t do it again. You know I don’t feel like that about you.”

Here’s where I start to get really angry. “..and you…” what exactly? Were there? Were breathing? Had tits? How can José’s behavior in any way be blamed on Ana? This is the “she deserved to be raped because she was wearing a skirt” mentality that needs to be burned from our collective minds. No one can ever make you do anything. Everything you do, every way you behave is a choice that you and you alone make. So no, there is no “…and you…”.

Books like this, with scenes like the ones I’ve spoken about only perpetuate our silence, our ignorance, our discomfort, and our complicity. They reinforce unhealthy behaviors and thinking patterns and they perpetuate rape culture. 

Authors, I beg you, don’t cover tough issues and strong themes if you can’t do them justice. Grant them the depth and the severity they deserve. Please.

Looks like a dream!

Now that I've done my first reblog I know I can get addicted to this site. I just love how similar to tumblr this is!

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."
— Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

As a preface I'd like to inform you that I was given this book for an honest review from the author. I honestly think this book deserves 4.5 stars because I was seriously debating whether I should give it five or four. In the end I settled for four stars because even though I think the book is superbly written, there is still room for improvement. The writing is rich and the prose entertaining but there were certain moments when I longed for things to slow down a bit in order to get a better feel of the story and characters (Mind you that they are very easy to fall in love with). The quality of the author's descriptions is wonderful and you can get a clear picture of the incredible surroundings and characters in the book, which I personally think is great because I've read a few self-published authors that don't manage to create the same effect in their writing. The story itself is very entertaining and if you are looking for an adventure I really recommend that you give this book a read if you like young adult or teen fiction. I do think I may have been a little too old for this book in a way, but as a lover of young adult fiction this book was interesting and unique. I haven't really read a lot of steampunk fiction but this certainly opened my eyes to the genre and I will definitely explore it a bit more. The concept of sky pirates really captivated me and I sincerely think anyone can have fun with this story. I really love it when an author can create a strong female character that young girls can look up to and I like to believe that Lara DeLarose is an exceptional girl who is brave enough to face her fears to fight for what she believes in. I'd like to think that many young girls/women who read this will identify with Lara or will look up to her and try to imitate her ways and take risks in life. When Daniel Patrick requested that I read and review he said that this book had the spirit of Pullman's book The Golden Compass and I'm happy to confirm that it does, so if you liked The Golden Compass or the whole trilogy then I think you should definitely give this book a try! I really enjoyed this experience and I certainly look forward to Daniel's books in the future!

I wasn't really sure what to expect for the second part of the trilogy... I have to say I had high hopes for it, but I wasn't really sure if anything unexpected would happen since feelings seemed pretty clear from Maxon's perspective and I thought America was the one who would have to clear her thoughts. I never expected Maxon to change his attitude towards America or for him to suddenly take an interest in the other girls. I also wasn't expecting myself to believe Maxon was a bad choice for America. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed this part of the trilogy, because being surprised by the author is always a positive experience in reading. I will definitely be waiting for part 3.

I little slower to engage than book one but I'll probably still keep reading the series because the plot is interesting.