Perfectly Imperfect

I just...I don't even have words for how angry this makes me.

Originally posted by black_sluggard at Wtf: TV Tropes deletes rape tropes

Dear Project Runway,

Ever since I watched the first episode of the first season I've loved you. I've loved you madly, deeply, and passionately. I gasped at Jay's Chrysler building dress, coveted Austin's gowns and Seth Aaron's jackets, and gaped at Kenley's offensiveness. I laughed at Santino's Tim Gunn impressions, wished time after time that Tim Gunn was my uncle or at least a family friend, and wondered aloud 'what the hell is Heidi wearing' more times than I can count. I've watched models sewn into dresses, models go missing, models completely fail to keep their opinions off their faces during judging.

And I loved it. That's why it pains me so much to say this:

I think I need to see other creativity/talent-based reality shows.

Don't get me wrong; it's not me. It's you. You've changed. I've always known there was producer manipulation, but until the last couple of years it wasn't enough to get worked up over. There are so many things I want to say to you, but they're all sticking in my throat. I thought you did your worst to me when Gretchen's hideous collection won out over Mondo's gorgeous one for the flimsy and patently untrue reason that hers was more 'on trend'. I thought wrong.

Again, don't get me wrong. I liked Anya's collection well enough. It's very pretty; how could it not be when she basically remade one pretty dress over and over again in different fabrics? BUT it was even prettier back when Uli did it back during season 3 and lost for not being diverse enough.

Uli did it first, Uli did it better, Uli did it with more diversity, Uli did it with a hell of a lot more skill and quality, and Uli was eliminated because the judges thought it still wasn't enough. Anya winning was a complete farce and stinks of producer manipulation and the judges being taken in by a pretty face. She seems like a nice enough woman and I wish her all the success in the world with her career, but the fact remains that there is absolutely no reason why she should have even made it to the finale after the utter disaster she presented last week that the judges hated 2/3rds of. The fact that they made it a final four instead of a final three screams of the producers sticking their noses in where they didn't belong, because there was no way they could justify cutting anyone other than her and of course the former beauty queen who's been sewing for less than a year just has to be kept around.

I want to love you, Project Runway. I do. But I just can't do this anymore. I want to see talented designers completing ridiculous challenges and getting stressed out and pulling it all together at the last moment and getting rewarded for their hard work. I don't want watch consistently strong competitors being just as consistently overlooked and disregarded in favor of someone who only appears to still be squeaking through because they're more dramatic.

If that's what I was looking for in my reality tv, I'd watch some shit like Jersey Shore. I've stuck by you for years now, but I don't think I can anymore.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you've turned into such an unenjoyable fucking joke.

I had a whole long post typed up that basically just made me want to cry and be emo in a corner, but instead I'm just going to post a picture of Tom Hardy, because if I'm going to hate myself tonight, then I might as well hate myself while looking at some fucking pretty.

Someone is plagiarizing one of my stories over on ffnet. I'm so pissed off that I actually feel numb.

The Mouths of Babes: LJ/FFnet

The copy: FFnet

Reposted from allira_dream:

Four months ago, CBS reporter Lara Logan was separated from her camera crew while covering the revolution in Cairo, Egypt, and brutally raped by a crowd of men.

Two months ago, Logan bravely began speaking out in the media about her assault in the media to help end the stigma surrounding rape.

Two weeks ago, Dan Rottenberg, editor-in-chief of Philadelphia-based online arts magazine Broad Street Review, posted a letter blaming Logan in part for the sexual violence committed against her -- equating her gang rape with "getting laid."

(....)

Rottenberg's editor's letter, published on June 6th, is titled 'Male Sexual Abuse and Female Naivete,' six words that from the get-go suggest if women were to act more responsibly, men wouldn't commit "sex abuse," i.e rape. The letter is accompanied by a photo of Logan (above) on the red carpet, wearing a v-line neck dress and smiling for the cameras. The caption under the photo reads, "What message was the TV journalist Lara Logan sending here?"

Rottenberg goes on, "Earth to liberated women: when you display legs, thighs, or cleavage, some liberated men will see it as a sign you feel good about yourself and your sexuality. But most men will see it as a sign you want to get laid. Forewarned is forearmed."

I'm too pissed off to think of something to add to this other than what I said over on allira_dream's post. I've said it a thousand times before and I'll probably say it a thousand times again: It is never anyone's responsibility to keep themselves from being raped. It's other people's responsibility to not rape them. Added to that, rape is almost never about sexual attraction so much as it is about control, and to say otherwise is just grossly ignorant.

SIGN THE PETITION FOR THIS RAPE-APOLOGIST ASSHOLE TO GET FIRED.

It's late, I'm tired, and I've seen this way too many times today to not want to hit something with a tuba.

Guys. Warning for slash in your headers? Is fucking repugnant.

Let's take a look at some things that are typically warned for and see if you can't figure out why that is without my spelling it out for you.

• Rape/noncon/dubcon/sexual assault
• graphic violence
• character death
• child abuse
• emotional/mental abuse

Basically, these are all things that are generally acknowledged to be potentially triggering for readers. Can we all parse out why lumping a same sex relationship into the category of 'things that need to be warned for' with things like that might possibly be offensive as all get out?

If you want to say that your story contains slash, then have at it. Include it in your summary, in your notes, or in an actual 'Contains' line. But don't fucking warn for it like it's something offensive and triggering.

I want to stab something in the face with a fucking fork.

I'm so far outside my happy place that it isn't even a little funny. I don't want to talk about it, but if anyone wants to send anything happy--gifs, fic recs, dirty jokes, etc--my way, that would be appreciated.

Fuck.

Just.

Just.

FUCK.

I'll try to get back on the ball tomorrow.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD ONE OF THOSE NIGHTS WHERE YOU KNEW YOU NEEDED TO BE WORKING ON MULTIPLE COMMENT FICS, CHARITY FICS, AND BIG BANGS IN ADDITION TO SCOURING THE INTERNET LOOKING FOR JOB OPPORTUNITIES BECAUSE YOU'RE UNEMPLOYED AND YOUR SAVINGS FOR COLLEGE IS OFFICIALLY EMPTY, BUT INSTEAD YOU SPEND IT READING FIC ABOUT HOW GOD IS A DUCK, EATING CHOCOLATE, DAYDREAMING ABOUT A FIC THAT WILL NEVER BE WRITTEN BECAUSE THE OC IN YOUR HEAD IS THE QUEEN OF THE MARY SUES, FEELING TOO HERMITY AND ANTISOCIAL TO ANSWER COMMENTS, AND LISTENING TO CRACKY SONGS?

I try to keep my private life fairly private, but with as erratic and emo as I've been lately, I feel like I owe you guys an explanation, especially since so many of you have been so kind while I've been wailing all over my journal.

I have a problem with depression. A few years ago it got so bad that I could barely make myself get out of bed, much less function on any sort of significant level. It's something that I thought I had under control, but it's becoming more and more apparent that I don't anymore. I'm probably going to be around a lot less for a bit while I try and get back to the point where I don't curl up in bed and cry at the smallest things.

No Daily Drabble today guys. I'm in a completely foul mood that has me scowling at my word processor like an angry Sherlock every time I even think about writing anything. Someday I'll get my emotions under control. Today is not that day. There will be words tomorrow when I'm not feeling like hitting something.

Also, my freaking eye has been twitching for the past week at least. I've honestly lost count at this point. It had mostly stopped until earlier today, and now it's back with a vengeance. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get it to stop?