@sigsonfire / sigsonfire.tumblr.com
Posts that Tumblr will blaze:
• Blatant NSFW that breaks community guidelines
• Christian proselytizing
• Vent posts
Posts that Tumblr won't blaze:
• Spoilers for a shitty game that lines a transphobe's pockets
Who is Ted Hughes and why do you hate him so passionately?
WELL... ted hughes was a british poet, as well as the husband of sylvia plath & the father of her children; some have claimed he drove her to suicide. plath had a history of mental illness & suicide attempts in her earlier life, so i dont want to ascribe her suicide to just marital problems. BUT nonetheless hughes did have affairs with other women while plath, struggling with depression, was left to care for the children at home. hughes inherited plath's literary estate since he was her widower; it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to know that he edited her unpublished work & journals. (he even burnt her last journal, saying he didnt want their children to read it.)
after plath's death in 1963, hughes moved in with his mistress assia wevill. again he had affairs & left wevill to care for the children (plath's & her own). this article in the guardian describes him as "a domestic tyrant" who was borderline psychologically abusive. & in 1969, wevill ended up killing herself & her four-year-old daughter. so.
aside from his repugnant personal life, hughes's writing could be pretty damn misogynistic. my threshold of tolerance for """problematic media""" is quite high & i rarely condemn writers/artists for being bad people irl or for writing iffy stuff (plath, for instance, was kind of antisemitic, which of course im not thrilled about, but i still love her writing). but i mean just look at this:
We didn't find her - she found us. She sniffed us out... She sat there... Slightly filthy with erotic mystery... I saw the dreamer in her Had fallen in love with me and she did not know it. That moment the dreamer in me Fell in love with her, and I knew it.
this is from a poem hughes wrote about wevill. not only is it... really fucking shitty stylistically speaking, its also just a gross way to describe a woman. moreover, to get annoying for a second, wevill was a jewish immigrant, so the fact that he calls her "filthy" & oh so erotically mysterious skeeves me out even more.
& then theres his poem "the lamentable history of the human calf":
O there was a maiden, a maiden, a maiden And she was a knock-out. Will you be my bride, I sighed, I cried, I was ready to die. And she replied, what did she reply? ‘Give me your nose, for a kiss,’ she sighed. 'It’s a fair pawn!’ So I sliced off my nose And she fed it to her puppy. Lady, are you satisfied? 'O give me your ears, to share my fears, in the night, in my bed, where nobody hears, my darling!’ So I sliced off my ears And she fed them to her puppy. 'Now let me have your legs, lest they carry you far, О my darling, far from my side,’ she cried. So I chopped off my legs and she gave them to her puppy. Lady, are you happy? 'O I want your heart, your heart, your heart, will it never be mine? Let me hold it,’ she cried. So I sliced me wide, and I ripped out the part And she fed it to her puppy. Lady, are you satisfied? 'O give me your liver, or I’ll leave you forever. Give me your tongue, your tongue, your tongue Lest it whisper to another. Give me your lungs that hurt you with their sighs,’ She cried. With tears of love, with tears of love, I hacked out those dainties And she fed them to her puppy. Lady, are you satisfied? 'O give me your eyes, your rolling eyes, That splash me with their tears, that go roving after others. And give me your brains, that give you such pains With doubting of my love, with doubting of my love. And give me your arms, that all night long when you’re far from my side they’ll clasp me, clasp me’ And she cried, 'I’ll be your bride!’ So I tore out my eyes and I gouged out my brains and I sawed off my arms and I gave them to my darling And she fed them to her puppy. Lady, are you satisfied? 'No, give me your skin, that holds you in, О pour out your blood in a bowl and let me drink it, be mine. О slice off your flesh and I’ll nibble your bones, my darling!’ So I dragged off my skin and I brimmed it with my blood and I rolled up my flesh and I basketted my bones and I laid them at her door and she cried and she cried Puppy, puppy, puppy. Lady, I said, though I’m nothing but a soul, I have paid down the price, now come to be my bride. But the puppy had grown, the puppy was a dog, was a big fat bitch, and my darling wept 'Take my dog,’ she wept, 'O take it. You are only a soul, how can we now be married? So take my dog for this dog it is my soul, I give you my soul!’ And she gave me her dog. Lady, are you satisfied? Now I live with a bitch an old sour bitch now I live with a bitch a bitch a bitch so I live with a bitch an old sour bitch and there was a maiden a maiden a maiden…
this was written around 1975, after the deaths of plath & wevill, when hughes was married to carol orchard (who outlived him). i dont know who this poem is supposed to be about, & of course it might not be autobiographical at all, but it doesnt have to be specifically about any woman from hughes's actual life to be overtly misogynistic & suggest some troubling things about the way hughes viewed women. of course the "maiden" turns into "an old sour bitch," of course the male speaker gives her everything, conceding to her unreasonable demands like a martyr, mutilating himself, giving her his soul, oh me oh my, arent women such horrible harpies, the old ball & chain, am i right fellas?
& if it is about a real woman from hughes's life? imagine. imagine writing this drivel after not one but two of your partners killed themselves while you were cheating on them in both instances.
so there you have it. i think ted hughes was obnoxious at best & abusive at worst. as for him as a poet - some of his stuff, like the crow poems, is great; he was very good at playing with sound & rhythm. i still think plath was better at that & a superior poet in general, but thats a matter of personal taste. im not about to "cancel" a man who died over 20 years ago & whos already famous anyway, & i wouldnt judge anyone who really likes his work - i have my fair share of problematic faves - but nonetheless its important to at least acknowledge these things. &, for me personally, its enough to really put me off ted hughes both as a poet & as a historical figure.
what happened with judith butler??
Okay, here we go!
(For those who don't know who Judith Butler is, they are the author of Gender Trouble (1990) who famously wrote on the constructedness of gender/ gender as performance).
Judith Butler had an interview published with The Guardian. In this interview, they talked about TERF shit/gender-critical ideology as the new front of fascism. In their own words:
After this article was published, this section got deleted without commentary. Given the extent to which many of The Guardian's columnists have unfortunately become spokespeople for TERF ideology (particularly Hadley Freeman, who is second only to J.K Rowling) this has become a question of censorship in a newspaper that was otherwise championed for journalistic integrity.
I hope this is okay to reblog. I've been looking for the deleted text from that interview!
I'm re-typing the text of that screenshot below for folks with screen readers:
"It is very appalling and sometimes quite frightening to see how trans-exclusionary feminists have allied with rightwing attacks on gender. The anti-gender ideology movement is not opposing a specific account of gender but seeking to eradicate "gender" as a concept or discourse, a field of study, an approach to social power. Sometimes they claim that "sex" alone has scientific standing, but other times they appeal to divine mandates for masculine domination and difference. They don't seem to mind contradicting themselves.
The Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and the so-called gender critical writers have also rejected the important work in feminist philosophy of science showing how culture and nature interact (such as Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, EM Hammonds or Anne Fausto-Sterling) in favor of a regressive and spurious form of biological essentialism. So they will not be part of the coalition that seeks to fight the anti-gender movement. The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times. So the Terfs will not be part of the contemporary struggle against fascism, one that requires a coalition guided by struggles against racism, nationalism, xenophobia and carceral violence, one that is mindful of the high rates of femicide throughout the world, which includes the high rates of attacks on trans and genderqueer people.
The anti-gender movement circulates a spectre of "gender" as a force of destruction, but they never actually read any works in gender studies. Quiet and fearful conclusions take the place of considered judgements. Yes, some work on gender is difficult and not everyone can read it, so we have to do better in reaching a broader public. As important as it is, however, to make complex concepts available to a popular audience, it is equally important to encourage intellectual inquiry as part of public life. Unfortunately, we are living in anti-intellectual times, and neo-fascism is becoming more normalized."
Casey said just gals being pals
And Izzie said omg you're insufferable, clearly we're dating
Sims 4 page on Steam. Not to be controversial but I think the CEO of EA should be beheaded for this
reblog if you're an autistic person who would make a better snl host than elon musk, know an autistic person who would make a better snl host than elon musk, or just really hate elon musk
Buckingham Palace: Good news, everyone, we're going to schedule a a few sessions for the royal family to complete some diversity and inclusion training!
Prince Philip:
we're really never gonna get something as iconic and perfect in canon as this but like fucking fuck please, DC. being Stjepan back and let him write a Harlivy comic. It's what the gays deserve. it's what we want. give us a harlivy comic. 🔪
“I had…given a piece of myself… to you…”
So I found this caterpillar on my way to class
We’re bros
I named him chicken nugget
Aaaa he’s turning a duller color… I hope he’s alright
So apparently chicken nugget is a spicebush swallowtail and they turn yellow before they pupate. He was making little silk things everywhere Bruh this caterpie is going to evolve to metapod today my boy isn’t messing around
update hes entirely yellow now
i made him a tube room
hes crawlin all over the place checking it out
its happening
False alarm he moved a bit This guy
??? caterpie doesnt evolve into kakuna
whats he doing
its happening part 2 For Real This Time
chicken nugget using those advanced tactics balancing my man doesnt do anything halfway
i put on some tunez for him so he can get into the metamorphazone
sorry for keeping you all in suspense but chicken nugget is doing fine and he has a cool hat now
hes been chillin like this for a couple days
hes been in cocoon for 10 days now 🎉🐛🎉
let me know how he’s doing soon
HES BUSTIN OUT
im going to sleep, chicken nugget is snoozin and ill check up on him as soon as i wake up
hope he doesnt party too hard
🐛 💤 💤
hes gone goth hes in his emoteen stage
CHICKEN NUGGET IS A CHICKEN WING NOW BABY WE HAVE LIFTOFF!!!!!
hes’s in a bigger container than the one in the pic now but im gonna let my home boy find his way in the world after he gets used to his wings a little bit
this kid doesnt have a bad angle dang
there he goes he’s free and im so proud and a little sad
this was an incredible experience
(thats my family oohing and ahhing in the background)
I’ve seen yall reblog the unfinished ones SO MUCH that I’m getting pissed, anyway here’s the full chicken nugget saga.
Awesome! Hope you’re happy somewhere, Chicken Nugget!
I have missed this post so much! Let’s all celebrate Chicken Nugget!
do you guys realize that,,,, chicken nugget is one of those butterflies that is perfectly half female and half male?? nugget’s left wing is typical of a female spice bush swallowtail and the right wing is typical of a male
a gender role smashing icon
I wondered why the wings looked different
Incredible
intersex icon
He’s a bilateral gnandromorph!!
WE STAN?????
chicken nugget said intersex rights
This whole post is wonderful, but I think a lot of people don’t realise just how rare bilateral gynandromorphs are. Research has shown that only approximately 1 in 6,000 butterflies is a bilateral gynandromorph! So thanks so much @oddity-txt for sharing this wonderful being with us!
Reblog if you support intersex butterflies like this awesome chicken nugget 🐛✨🦋
i think gay movies and other media should actively start het-baiting. this belief of mine is motivated exclusively by a lust for revenge
anyone else remember being a child and seeing the very neat handwriting of other little girls and somehow knowing that you were a different genre of person than they were
wow yeah
HA SHE'S GONNA KILL HIM DO IT BABY FUCKING TORTURE HIM
why do anime girls from the 80s and 90s look so much better than anime girls today
okay but seriously when did this
become hotter than this
Pedophiles
You KNOW they messy...the way they all tuned tf in to find out 👀😂😂
mans in the back breaking his neck for the tea 😭
I didn’t even peep 💀💀
